NATIONAL: The Plusses, and Perils, of Facebook
Rachel Kapochunas over at CQ has an interesting piece that will likely impact some campaigns in 2010, and many more in future cycles. The growing prominence of sites like Facebook is going to be a potential asset to candidates reaching out to their constituencies, but it is also an absolute boon to opposition researchers.
NATIONAL: Ranking the Presidential Timber of Republican Governors
NPR's Ken Rudin decided to rank the GOP governors from 1-22 (for some reason, he did not demote a certain Southern governor named Sanford--he checks in at #9), in terms of their potential as presidential candidates. He ranks Tim Pawlenty at the top of the list, with recent Obama appointee and soon-to-be-former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman in the second position. Sarah Palin comes in ranked #7. In a humorous twist, Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons ranks dead last. Given the trainwreck that has been his tenure as governor, this seems understandable. Until you realize, of course, that it means that he ranks BEHIND Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is constitutionally precluded from running for President.
RACE FOR THE HOUSE: A Microcosm of House Electoral History
Give Rothenberg Report writer Nathan Gonzales credit for an outstanding piece--he looks at a unique region (the Ohio River Valley) and shows how dramatic the changes of the past few election cycles have really been. Once dominated (7 of 9 districts) by the GOP, the Democrats now hold seven of the nine seats, with most of those seats now securely in the blue column.
IL-13: 2008 Sleeper Candidate Announces 2010 Rematch
Good news for Democrats looking to expand the places where they can play offense in 2010.
Scott Harper, who flew below the radar a bit and wound up giving Judy Biggert the biggest scare of her Congressional career, has launched his 2010 bid for Congress. Harper trailed Biggert by nine points (and some change) in 2008.
NC-Sen: Another Poll Confirms Burr's Brutal Political Standing
Republican Senator Richard Burr has to be considered a vulnerable incumbent for 2010, as confirmed by a new poll from Insider Advantage. Burr is slugging along with favorables only at 39%, with unfavorables at 31%. Now, all the Democrats need is an actual candidate. Yesterday, Swing State Project hinted that former state senator Cal Cunningham (whose biography is very attractive) is about to get into the race.
CA-10: Tauscher Confirmed--Game On For Special Election
Now that Ellen Tauscher has been confirmed in her new role as an undersecretary in the State Department, the special election to replace her in the Bay Area-adjacent 10th district of California can begin. Given the Democratic lean of the district, it would appear that the real contest here will be in the Democratic primary. Though there are a load of Democrats looking at the race, there appear to be four leading candidates: longtime statewide officeholder John Garamendi, newly elected state Senator Mark DeSaulnier (who has Tauscher's endorsement, according to his website), state assemblywoman Joan Buchanan, and an intriguing outsider candidate in twenty-something Anthony Woods, who has a biography that other candidates would kill for--a Harvard-educated Iraq War veteran who was discharged from the military because of DADT.