While you read this, your humble curator of the Wrap will be celebrating the boy child's 9th birthday at Dodger Stadium, watching the Los Angeles Dodgers beat a certain team from the north side of Chicago favored by a certain founder of this blog.
But that doesn't mean we go Wrapless on this Thursday. Not when even the House of Ras has to admit that Mark Kirk is in deep doo-doo in the Land of Lincoln. Not when leading Colorado Republican candidates are sprinting from the chairman of their party. And not when a Democrat is running for Congress on the promise of getting the mean old government off of Wall Street's back.
All that (and more!) in the Thursday edition of the Wrap...
THE U.S. SENATE
CO-Sen: Norton hits her stride...(running away from Steele)
What if you threw a party, and no one wanted to come? Embattled RNC chairman Michael Steele found out today, when he went to open a new GOP Victory office in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. He invited both gubernatorial frontrunner Scott McInnis and NRSC Senate darling Jane Norton. Both had pressing laundry concerns, or something else on their calendars, that prevented them from participating with Steele. Norton did announce raising a monster sum this week of just under a million dollars for the quarter, which might signal that reports of her political demise might be at least slightly premature.
FL-Sen: Jeff Greene staffs up, and hangs out with...LiLo?!
If earning your fortune profitting off of the housing crisis and supporting Republican candidates (in this election cycle!) doesn't seal the fate of nouveau Democrat Jeff Greene, then damned well ought to do so. Apparently, there are photos circulating of Greene revelling in the Caribbean on New Years Eve with none other than Lindsay Lohan. Seriously.
In other news, the uber-wealthy Greene continues to staff up. It looks like Greene will hire strategist Jessica van Denberg, who is a veteran of the campaigns of Virginia Senator Jim Webb and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar.
THE U.S. HOUSE
NY-14: Debate charges fly in bizarre Dem primary
Two stories out today draw attention to the deeply strange Democratic primary in Manhattan between incumbent Carolyn Maloney and challenger Reshma Saujani. The crew at WaPo profiled Saujani today, highlighting something that folks like DavidNYC have noted for months: she is running as the candidate who will have Wall Street's back in Congress. One might think that such a strategy would be political suicide, but Saujani is banking on it working in the very well-off 14th district. Saujani has been eager to share the stage with the incumbent, and her eagerness has apparently extended to accepting debate invitations from Maloney that evidently did not exist. Saujani sent out a press release announcing that Maloney had agreed to a debate. Team Maloney immediately countered that no such acceptance was made.
RI-01: Loughlin latest to latch onto Arizona law as lifeline
Who knew that blaming the brown folks played politically as far north as Rhode Island? GOP contender John Loughlin left the Northeast for a campaign trip...to Arizona. There, he took a helicopter tour of the desert and walked the border. Upon his return, he loudly criticized the Obama administration's decision to file a federal lawsuit against Arizona's controversial SB 1070. Loughlin faces token opposition in the GOP primary, which leads me to presume that he went the full Minuteman on this issue to attract the attention (and the dollars) of national Republicans in this open-seat race to replace the retiring Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy.
THE GUBERNATORIAL RACES
CA-Gov: Brown rips Whitman for immigration reversal
As I noted earlier today, Meg Whitman has been sprinting away from her party's Minuteman-esque positions on immigration (which she clearly flirted with during the GOP primary). Today, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jerry Brown decided to call her on it. Brown appeared with a dozen leading Latino political leaders, several of whom offered their endorsements. The line of the day goes to Congressman Xavier Becerra, who noted that:
"Jerry Brown broke bread with Cesar Chavez. His opponent breaks bread with Pete Wilson."
CO-Gov: Maes' fundraising circling the drain in gubernatorial bid
Apparently, a convention endorsement doesn't always translate to campaign momentum. Dan Maes' victory in the GOP convention over frontrunner Scott McInnis seemed to be a big boost for the underdog, but things since then have stifled any notion of momentum. Not only did he get hit with a record fine earlier in this week for campaign violation, but the Maes campaign also released campaign finance figures that...well...won't cover the fine he received from the Secretary of State. Maes only raised $32K in the past fundraising period, and is sitting on just over twenty grand.
FL-Gov: Gazillionaire challenges "millionaire's amendment"
Uber-wealthy hospital magnate Rick Scott is defending the Bill of Rights, dammit. But, before the ACLU gets ready to bestow him with an award, the "free speech" he is defending is his right to grossly outspend his rival for the GOP nomination, Bill McCollum. Scott is headed to court in order to block the state's "millionaire's amendment", which grants opponents of self-funding candidates a state-financed dollar for every dollar the self-funder spends above a predetermined limit ($24.9 million). Scott clearly fears for American democracy if he can't outspend McCollum by a eight figures. Inspirational, I think we can all agree. Alas, given court precedents in other cases, Scott is favored to win his case.
THE RAS-A-POLL-OOZA
The House of Ras checks out two high-profile Senate races. They go according to Ras-sie form in the Sunshine State, where they have Marco Rubio out in front. But even the crew at Ras has to admit that Mark Kirk has taken a hit in recent weeks. If Giannoulias is beating Kirk in a Rasmussen poll, then times must be tough for Team Kirk...
FL-Sen: Marco Rubio (R) 36%, Charlie Crist (I) 34%, Kendrick Meek (D) 15%
FL-Sen: Marco Rubio (R) 37%, Charlie Crist (I) 33%, Jeff Greene (D) 18%
IL-Sen: Alexi Giannoulias (D) 40%, Mark Kirk (R) 39%,