Senate:
• MA-Sen: I'm sure in polite circles it's unacceptable to criticize Scott Brown over something like this, but I think his request to do his annual National Guard training in Afghanistan is really insulting to his fellow servicemembers. As the Globe notes at the very end of this article, Brown's request "could create additional risk for the troops serving with him" because he's a "high-value target." No kidding. But Brown is a clever, cynical politician, and this move will almost certainly generate good press for him.
• MO-Sen: PPP will have new MO-Sen numbers out tomorrow, but from Tom's teaser on Twitter, it sounds like little has changed.
• PA-Sen: It'd be pretty surprising if either Reps. Tim Murphy or Charlie Dent got into the Republican primary, but given the weakness of the GOP field, I can understand why both men are still refusing to rule out a race against Sen. Bob Casey, according to this new AP report.
Gubernatorial:
• IN-Gov: Mike Pence just got utterly pwned by the news cycle. The Republican congressman was all set to announce a gubernatorial run yesterday, but a little something intervened… what was it? Anyhow, Pence says he'll reschedule his conference call (what a lame way to announce, huh?) for "later this week."
House:
• NV-02: This got lost in the shuffle last week, but 2006 and 2008 Dem candidate Jill Derby, who I believe is now over 70, said she'll run in the special election to replace Dean Heller. The AP also says that 2010's sacrificial lamb, a former regent named Nancy Price, will also seek the seat again, but notes that she "did not actively campaign last year." Hopefully both of these candidates will clear the way for Treasurer Kate Marshall, since our only hope here is to present a united front.
Other Races:
• NJ-St. Sen.: A New Jersey appellate court affirmed SoS Kim Guadagno's ruling which denied Carl Lewis a spot on the ballot for failing to meet residency requirements. Lewis says he will appeal to the state Supreme Court.
• Wisconsin Recall: No surprises: Organizers fell short of collecting enough signatures to recall Republicans Glenn Grothman and Mary Lazich, both of whom sit in very red districts. This means that there's only one active signature drive left, against Dem Julie Lassa.
Redistricting Roundup:
• Arizona: Arizona is holding a redistricting contest. Click the link for their online app. More details here.
• Florida: Not long ago, we discussed some proposed Republican-sponsored legislation in Florida that would split the state Supreme Court into separate civil and criminal divisions, a move which would create a much more conservative civil branch. In theory, this would help the GOP if redistricting litigation ever reached the high court. Fortunately, it looks like the state Senate doesn't have enough votes to pass the bill (which would require putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot), so this idea is dead for now.
• Michigan: Michigan is holding a redistricting contest. Click the link for their online app and more info.
• Missouri: It seems like I read Jay Nixon's move incorrectly. Yesterday, I theorized he was boxing the GOP in with a quick veto, but state Democrats are actually quite pissed at him for acting in such haste. Unnamed sources tell the Hotline they think Nixon only vetoed the Republican map so as to appear only as minimally partisan as necessary—enough to look like he tried to stop the GOP, but giving the opposition enough time to over-ride his veto and take this issue off the table so that he doesn't have to go to the mat later.
This is just really disappointing. And it's no conspiracy theory, either. For evidence of Nixon's bad faith, he instructed a staffer to stick around his office last Wednesday to wait for the Republican map, which they didn't deliver until 10pm. Had he not taken delivery until the next day, an over-ride vote would have gotten kicked to September at the earliest. Even though I had thought an over-ride would have been difficult, the Hotline says (citing no one in particular) that "most expect" such a vote to succeed. This seems to sum things up:
One said that when Russ Carnahan's father Mel was head of the party as governor and senator, "We wouldn't take a bullet for each other but we'd take a few stab wounds for the greater good." Nixon, the Democrat said, "isn't even willing to even take a paper cut."
Sigh. Anyhow, Dave Catanese works up three other theories of what happened here, two of which don't really square with the first (which falls along the lines of what I've outlined above). The second is that Nixon's top donor and supporter, Tom Green, is a Russ Carnahan ally and didn't want to see this map screw over his buddy. The third is that Nixon himself is worried about a primary challenge from Carnahan, which would only happen if Carnahan is left seat-less. I'll just say I'm skeptical about both.
Site News:
• Welcome! The Swing State Project has officially become Daily Kos Elections. We'll have a more detailed post on the transition a little later this morning.