Another poll-less day on the Wrap, but there is a handful of campaign news to peruse as we finalize our plans for New Year's Eve....
- It has been forty-eight whole hours since I have reminded you that you can follow me over at Twitter. Forgive me for that horrific oversight...
- KY-Sen: In a move that will surprise absolutely no one, doctor Rand Paul, the son of 2008 presidential aspirant Ron Paul, filed paperwork to run for the U.S. Senate in Kentucky today. In a postscript that could only happen with someone like Rand Paul or his father, however, he was met at the state capitol by protestors who were contesting the fact that Paul was registering to run as a Republican. According to protestor Mike Bryant: "I was actually going to offer to pay for Rand's registration myself today with a personal check if he would file what he really is - a Libertarian."
- MD-Gov: Some news out of the great state of Maryland: first of all, Democratic Governor Martin O'Malley will have a primary challenger. Unlike most primary challenges, there is no appeal to the base from his opponent: former state delegate and Ehrlich cabinet member George Owings III is going to primary O'Malley from the right. Meanwhile, O'Malley cites another potential opponent in a year-end fundraising appeal: Robert Ehrlich. The former GOP Governor has been frequently mentioned as a possible 2010 opponent, but has not made an official declaration as of yet.
- WY-Gov: In the first time in a long time that we have looked at politics of the Equality State, we get an interesting indication of Governor David Freudenthal's intentions. On the surface, it is not an immense deal: Freudenthal's campaign committee has hired well-known Dem pollsters the Global Strategy Group to do some numbers in the state. In context, though, it is a very big deal. Freudenthal is ending his second term in office, and term limits are supposed to kick in. This move by his campaign makes it appear more and more likely that the Democrat will challenge the state's term limits statutes. He is one of the few politicos in America who could pull this off--Freudenthal has been one of the most popular governors in America throughout his eight-year tenure in office.
- AL-05: The Democrats got their second disappointment of the week out of Northern Alabama with the announcement today that Public Service Commissioner Susan Parker, arguably the highest-profile potential Democratic candidate in the 5th district after Ron Sparks demurred yesterday, would seek re-election to the PSC rather than make a Congressional bid. Democratic overtures are now most likely to fall on 2008 Supreme Court nominee Deborah Bell Paseur, who narrowly was defeated in her bid for the bench but carried the counties of the 5th district in her effort. It is worth noting, however, that local blog Doc's Political Parlor is hearing that Paseur isn't going to run, either. Other names getting floated include state legislator Randy Hinshaw, Madison County Commissioner Bob Harrison, and former Congressional aide Steve Raby.
- TX-10: In other less-than-savory news for the Blue team, Democrats are struggling to find a replacement for Jack McDonald, who made the late decision to parachute out of a Congressional challenge to fourth-term GOP incumbent Michael McCaul. The latest candidate to decline a bid was Dan Grant, who ran a respectable campaign in 2008 before losing to Larry Joe Doherty in the Democratic primary.
- LA-03: The open seat race to replace Democratic Congressman Charlie Melancon (who is challenging David Vitter in a much-anticipated U.S. Senate showdown) got one of its first high profile candidates today. Nicky Monica, a second-term GOP state legislator, has filed for the seat. It might be a temporary assignment for whomever emerges victorious in the district--the 3rd is a district that is likely to be fundamentally altered, or even axed, when redistricting takes place after the 2010 elections.
- VA-05: The Virginia Republican Party's rather transparent decision to hold a primary to select the opponent of Tom Perriello is now getting criticized as a waste of taxpayer money. The Charlottesville Daily Progress received cost estimates from the counties of the 5th district, and found that a primary would cost taxpayers between $185,000 and $262,500. The GOP is calling for a primary here, rather than the more typical method of convention, because of fears that their frontrunner, state Senator Rob Hurt, might not be able to survive an activist-driven convention. Hurt raised the ire of the teabagger contingent of the GOP by supporting a tax increase while in the state legislature.
- CA-19: The already contentious GOP primary to replace retiring Congressman George Radanovich might get a real wild card thrown into it: former Congressman Richard Pombo is flirting with the race. In a pre-emptive strike, the environmental group Defenders of Wildlife promised that they will get involved in the race if Pombo is involved.
- OH-06/OH-16/OH-17: Talk about your peculiar political second acts: Jim Traficant apparently made his 2010 intentions clear this weekend by telling an Ohio business group that he was running for Congress next year. There were just two small details omitted: where he would be running, and what party affiliation he would claim. The likely places for the disgraced former Congressman to land are in three southern/eastern Ohio districts represented by Democrats: the 6th (represented by sophomore Rep. Charlie Wilson), the 16th (represented by freshman Rep. John Boccieri), and the 17th (represented by his former staffer, Tim Ryan). As for his partisan leanings, his recent pronouncements put him in common cause with the teabagger crowd, which might make one wonder if he will file either as a Republican or as an Independent. Traficant does have a history as an Independent candidate for office--after being sentenced to prison in 2002, he filed for election to his old Youngstown-based 17th district as an Independent. Tim Ryan won the seat easily, and Traficant notched just 15% of the vote.
As for Traficant's motivation for a political comeback? Animus towards the government that prosecuted him nearly a decade ago might be a part of the impetus for a bid:
“I want to get these suckers!” Traficant thundered. “You are being addressed by a very bitter guy.”
Traficant needs to get cracking, if he plans on running as either a Democrat or a Republican: the filing deadline for partisan candidates in Ohio is next Monday.