Little campaign news was made today, as the public conversation turned to remembrance of Senator Edward Kennedy. That said, there are a few items on the agenda today, so let's take a look:
AR-Sen: Lincoln All Square With Third-Tier GOP Candidates In New Poll
This is a fairly concrete sign of how unbelievably bad the Democratic brand name is right now in rapidly reddening Arkansas. Senator Blanche Lincoln is in a dead heat with any of the three little-known Republicans currently in the mix to challenge her. Her approval is weak, as the two-term incumbent manages just a 36/44 spread. Despite not having a first-tier candidate in the mix, Lincoln struggles just to break even. Arkansas, of course, was one of the few states where the Democratic presidential nominee did demonstrably worse between 2004 and 2008.
GA-Gov: GOP Pollster Confirms Long-Suspected Frontrunners
It is still about a year before the primaries in Georgia to crown the nominees in the state's eagerly anticipated gubernatorial election. That said, there has been tremendous consistency throughout the Spring and Summer on the identity of the two favorites to win the major party nominations. This continues to be confirmed by GOP pollsters Strategic Vision. On the GOP side, state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine leads the field 39%, well ahead of second-place Congressman Nathan Deal (at 13%). Meanwhile, former Governor Roy Barnes leads on the Democratic side with 45% of the vote. Unlike other pollsters, SV has second-place Thurbert Baker reasonably close to Barnes, with the state Attorney General polling at 29%.
IL-Sen: Democratic Senate Field Expands With Hoffman Entry
Rather surprisingly, the Democratic field to replace outgoing appointed Senator Roland Burris got a little bit larger today. Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman, a former prosecutor with a reputation as a corruption fighter, resigned his post in order to make a Senate bid. He won't get much help from Team Daley--Hoffman locked horns with the Chicago Mayor on numerous occasions. Interestingly, his first hire was a former Daley political strategist.
TX-Gov: Nasty Tone of Gubernatorial Campaign Concerns State House Speaker
Count the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives as someone who is deeply concerned about the rapidly deteriorating tone of the "Clash of Titans" gubernatorial primary between incumbent Rick Perry and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Joe Straus is concerned about his one-seat majority in the lower house, speculating that the combative tone between the two GOP stalwarts might turn off marginal Republican voters and send them into the arms of the Democrats. Speaking of Texas Democrats, they might finally have a compelling candidate in the race: Hank Gilbert, who ran well in 2006 in a statewide race for Agriculture Commissioner.
TX-Sen: Leading GOP Candidate Feeling Some Love From Newt Gingrich
If Republican state railroad commissioner Michael Williams runs to the center in his open-seat Senate bid next year, Democrats will be able to remind voters that one of his earliest endorsers was none other than that "uniter-not-a-divider": Newt Gingrich. The divisive former GOP House Speaker has sent out a fundraising letter on Williams' behalf this week. Williams needs all of the fundraising help he can get, though: FEC reports at the end of June had him being outraised by a nearly 8-to-1 margin by both leading Democratic candidates (Houston Mayor Bill White and former state comptroller John Sharp).
NJ-Gov: Hits Keep on Coming For Christie
Much in the way that turnovers in football and basketball seem to breed more turnovers, bad political news often becomes a cyclical thing for candidates. Once a single bad incident comes to light to sully a candidate's reputation, it seems like they come in waves. At this point, Chris Christie must be wondering when the waves will stop. The latest revelation: Christie was stopped in 2005 for a speeding violation, and was subsequently found to be driving an unregistered and uninsured vehicle. Despite this, he was allowed to drive from the scene of the violation. According to PolitickerNJ's coverage of the story, it appears as if Christie may well have traded on his status as a U.S. Attorney:
Christie later pleaded guilty to some charges, paid a large fine and signed an affidavit. The speeding fine was reduced, McArdle reported, while the unregistered vehicle charge was dismissed. A spokeswoman for Christie acknowledged to McArdle that "the fact that Christie was U.S. Attorney did come up."
VA-Gov: Deeds To Be Attacked Using Party Money, Despite Earlier Denials
Just over a month ago, it was revealed that the Republican Governors Association had created a separate PAC for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell. Normally this is not a big deal, but it became relevant because the RGA and McDonnell had savaged the Democratic Governors Association and Creigh Deeds when they had formed such a PAC, calling it a "shadow organization."
When confronted with the evidence that they had formed a PAC of their own, the RGA went on the defensive, telling Jennifer Skalka of Hotline On Call that it was not a big deal, because the PAC was dormant. At the time, yours truly wrote the following:
Of course, that doesn't mean it will be dormant in August, September, October, and November. Indeed, if they filed the paperwork for the PAC, with no intention of ever using it, then someone at the RGA apparently just likes to fill out and submit paperwork.
The RGA did not wait very long. They began an ad buy this week, and will smear Deeds on both radio and television.
Battle For The House: Two Top-Tier Races Get Challengers
Both the DCCC and the NRCC can smile at least a little bit today, as they found challengers for potentially vulnerable incumbents for 2010. For the GOP, after a string of failures, they finally landed a challenger for Larry Kissell in North Carolina's 8th district. He is Lou Huddleston--a retired Army colonel, an African-American (important in a district that is nearly 30% black) who lost decisively in a bid for the state legislature last year. Meanwhile, the DCCC has to be happy to see that they have landed a legitimate challenger to embattled Republican incumbent Don Young in Alaska. The Democrats are turning to state legislator Harry Crawford, who was arguably the top recruit for House Democrats after 2008 nominee Ethan Berkowitz elected to run for Governor instead of seeking a rematch with Young.