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Senate:
• IN-Sen: Teabag-doused Richard Mourdock received a minor boost the other day with an endorsement from Citizens United (yes, that Citizens United). The conservative group cited Lugar's vote for the debt ceiling "compromise" in their endorsement, saying that "at the end of the day, Dick Lugar just wants to be Barack Obama's friend".
• MI-Sen: Rob Steele, a Republican cardiologist who was last seen losing to veteran Dem Rep. John Dingell by 17 points in 2010, says that he's decided not to mount a Senate challenge against Debbie Stabenow. That leaves ex-Rep. Pete Hoekstra as the top GOP dog in the race, but several lesser-known candidates, including former Kent County Probate Judge Randy Hekman and businessman Peter Konetchy are still in the mix.
• UT-Sen: GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch is sure doing what he can to shore up his right flank in preparation for what seems to be an inevitable nomination challenge, likely in the form of Rep. Jason Chaffetz. After voting against the debt ceiling deal, Hatch scored the endorsement of world-class douchebag Sean Hannity.
• VA-Sen: In case you were hoping that George Allen might get teabagged to death in the Republican Senate primary, I wouldn't hold your breath. PPP's latest survey gives Allen a 68-6 lead over conservative firebrand Jamie Radtke.
• WI-Sen: Is Tommy Thompson for real this time? In a recent interview with a Milwaukee NBC affiliate, the creaky ex-Governor almost sounds enthused about mounting a Senate campaign. Thompson: “You can’t take over the Senate without having a Republican senator from Wisconsin... Who is the strongest candidate to win that seat? I believe it's myself.”
Gubernatorial:
• MS-Gov: In case you missed it, Mississippi held a gubernatorial primary on Tuesday. On the Republican side, Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant easily dispatched businessman Dave Dennis by a 59-26 spread, while Democrat Johnny DuPree, the mayor of Hattiesburg, edged businessman Bill Luckett by 43-39. Since no candidate finished above 50%, a runoff will be held on August 23rd to determine the Democratic nomination.
House:
• CA-38: As expected, Dem Rep. Grace Napolitano will seek re-election in the newly redrawn 38th district, a Hispanic-majority seat based in East Los Angeles. Roll Call speculates that Napolitano's decision may prompt fellow Dem Rep. Linda Sanchez to run in the new 47th CD, a Long Beach-based district where Rep. Laura Richardson lives. Quite the game of musical chairs we have going here...
• IN-06: Add another name to the list of Democrats running for Mike Pence's seat: Brad Bookout, a former member of the Delaware County Council, announced on Tuesday that he'll run for the open seat.
• MI-05: The incomparable Greg Giroux tweets that former Genesee County Treasurer Dan Kildee (nephew of Dale) has filed papers with the FEC to seek his retiring uncle's seat. In other news, Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell declined to run for the seat, but state Sen. John Gleason and former state Sen. Jim Barcia (himself a former member of Congress) are also mentioned as possible Democratic candidates.
• ND-AL: I don't know anything about Ben Vig, other than the fact that he's 28 years old and served four years in the North Dakota House before losing re-election in his rural district during the Democratic apocalypse of 2010. However, I like the cut of his jib: Saying that it's time for Democrats to "step up" for statewide campaigns, Vig says he's considering seeking the Democratic nomination for the state's open at-large House seat. Time to step up, indeed.
• NM-01: AFSCME announced their endorsement of Democratic state Sen. Eric Griego for the open seat race in New Mexico's 1st District.
• OH-01, OH-02: Two-term Democratic state Rep. Connie Pillich announced that she's running for Congress against either Steve Chabot or Jean Schmidt, depending on the results of redistricting. On paper, Pillich appears to be a solid candidate -- she won a tough race against a strong Republican candidate in 2008, helping Democrats win control of the Ohio House, and beat back a tea party challenge in 2010 despite a brutal environment. No matter the results of redistricting, Pillich says that she is "committed to doing this". Go get 'em!
• OR-01: Finally. After receiving a formal letter of resignation from Dem Rep. David Wu last night, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber announced that a special primary election for Wu's seat will be held on November 8, followed by a special general election on January 31, 2012. At the link, Kari Chisholm has more details on how exactly Oregon's vote-by-mail and "fusion lite" systems work -- check it out if that sort of thing greases your wheels.
• UT-??: Mia Love, the African-American mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, says she's close to making a final decision on a congressional campaign, but it sounds like uncertainty over the results of redistricting is the final piece of the puzzle keeping her on the sidelines. In the meantime, she's traveled to D.C. and met with NRCC Chair Pete Sessions, so it sounds like her interest is pretty serious.
Redistricting Roundup:
• Oregon: The new Oregon map appears to be lawsuit-free, with the filing deadline for legal action passing on Monday. It's still possible that a lawsuit could slip under the wire if it was postmarked on Monday, but the chances are pretty slim. This one appears to be a done deal.
• Texas: I wish we had something meatier here, but Dave Wasserman's tweet is tantalizing nonetheless: "Smart GOPers have expressed big concerns in past few wks that TX map won't get pre-cleared and federal court could draw map for '12". Wasserman speculates that a court-drawn map could cost the GOP four seats (TX-23, TX-25, TX-35 and TX-36), all because the GOP got too greedy in reaching for one extra seat in the DFW Metroplex. That'd be some pretty wild stuff if it ever came to pass.
Grab Bag:
• Ads: The Dark Money d-bags over at the American Action Network are pumping $1 million into an ad campaign defending ten Republicans on Medicare: Allen West, Chip Cravaack, Sean Duffy, Rick Crawford, Scott Rigell, Scott Tipton, Dan Benishek, Jim Renacci, Mike Fitzpatrick, and Francisco "Quico" Canseco.