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Leading Off:
• Brooklyn: This Esquire piece by Dave Wondrich is a little bit outside our usual scope, but I think it's the kind of thing DKE readers would appreciate. Wondrich is best known for his writing on cocktails (something also of great importance to us!), but here he turns his keen eye and deft pen to the topic of Brooklyn—or more specifically, the evolution of Brooklyn the place to "Brooklyn" the concept, and the contradictions this metamorphosis has engendered. Wondrich moved to Brooklyn back in 1986, long before the exodus of gentrifiers from Manhattan began to reshape the borough, so he had a front-row seat to watch its transformation. The article can't be summarized beyond that, so I strongly encourage you to click through and catch a glimpse of what Wondrich has seen with his own eyes.
Senate:
• IA-Sen: State Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey's name has come up a couple of times as a potential GOP Senate candidate; now he confirms that he's "thinking about it." He doesn't sound that excited and actually sounds pretty effusive about his current job, but more importantly, as we keep saying, Iowa Republicans are still nervously waiting for a decision from Rep. Steve "King of the Wingnuts" King. That includes incendiary radio host Steve Deace, who probably isn't at all serious but says he might run if King does not. I suspect Deace is just looking to raise his own profile a bit, though.
• LA-Sen: Well, damnit. This isn't good. Last month, PPP's inaugural Louisiana poll showed Dem Sen. Mary Landrieu looking surprisingly comfortable against a whole mess of congressman who are either unknown, nuts, or both. One guy did perform better than the rest, but he'd never made so much as a peep about running for Senate: Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne, whom Landrieu edged only 46-43.
Dardenne wouldn't be the first person to rethink things thanks to a PPP survey, and indeed, he now says he's "pondering" the race. I'll bet the NRSC would like to recruit him, and Dardenne may be amenable, since he waxed rhapsodic about his time in the state Senate and says he "misses" being in a legislative body—even when he was in the minority! But observers have long pegged Dardenne as being chiefly interested in the governor's mansion, which will become open in 2015, so hopefully he'll stick with that plan instead.
Gubernatorial:
• FL-Gov: Florida CFO Jeff Atwater says "I see no conditions" under which he'd challenger Gov. Rick Scott in the GOP primary, but like I said the other day, at least the local press keeps asking prominent Republicans this question... and none of them have offered anything resembling a defense of Scott.
• PA-Gov: So now we sit here and wait as the tea brews, but really, the leaves have already spoken. There's really no way Dem Rep. Allyson Schwartz isn't running for governor at this point, but she's refusing to just rip off the band-aid in one fell swoop and make a formal declaration, which is always my advice to candidates. Instead, she's engaging in a ridiculous amount of dragging things out, telling the AP that she will create a state-level fundraising committee "in the next few weeks"—not even that she has created one!
It's one thing if you need time to make up your mind (even though I think most pols still dally far too long), but that's not what's going on here. Schwartz's public statements and actions (particularly the fact that she stepped down as DCCC finance chair) have demonstrated she's intent on doing this thing. So she shouldn't quash her momentum and play games for weeks. The best way to capitalize is to make a big, powerful splash all at once and tell the press and your supporters "hell yeah!" Enthusiasm can be infectious.
House:
• CA-17: The New York Times takes a look at the possible battle between Rep. Mike Honda and fellow Democrat Ro Khanna in Silicon Valley; what stands out to me most is that, at least as the paper frames things, Khanna's potential challenge seems to be largely rooted in the idea that the area's Indian-American population would prefer to see one of their own in Congress rather than Honda, despite Honda's strong ties to Asian communities generally. To the extent ideology's even an issue, one local polisci professor offered this interesting take:
"The question is what Asian Indians feel ideologically aligned with," [James] Lai said. "This election could be an example of whether Asian Indians see themselves along the lines of pan-Asian, progressive politics that are part of what Mike Honda stands for, or whether they will they go for his challenger's politics, which are more conservative and pro-business."
But as is often the case, demography shouldn't be viewed monolithically. Not far to the north, voters in California's 7th District just elected Democrat Ami Bera, the first Indian-American to serve in Congress since Bobby Jindal and just the third overall. Bera had some very kind words for Honda:
[Bera] said he approached Mr. Honda for advice four years ago when he was considering running. Speaking after a panel on Asian-Americans and politics with Mr. Honda here recently, Mr. Bera said of the Asian-Americans serving in the House, "Each of us has our own unique story of how Mike took us under his wing, mentored us and then was out there probably the most active of any member of Congress helping us getting elected."
Given Honda's stature, remarks like this indicate that Khanna may have a harder time lining up support from members of his own community than might otherwise be the case.
• FL-02, -18, -26: Roll Call's Joshua Miller takes a look at the Florida House picture for 2014, where he expects there will be fewer competitive seats than last cycle (though there's still a pending redistricting lawsuit which could really stir things up). At least some Democrats are still quite interested in trying to unseat FL-02's Steve Southerland, who turned back an underfunded challenger by only 5 points in November. And there's a potentially interesting name who could make a go of it: Gwen Graham, a daughter of former governor and senator Bob Graham.
Indeed, a profile from last month by Peter Schorsch for SaintPetersBlog confirms that the DCCC is trying to recruit Graham, who was touted for a potential congressional bid back in 2006 but never pulled the trigger. Schorsch notes that Graham doesn't seem to have amassed much of a public profile since then (she now works for the Leon County school system), but with a name like hers, she definitely has the connections to run a real race if she wants to.
Meanwhile, down in South Florida, Miller plays a little Great Mentioner in FL-18, the district where Democrat Patrick Murphy knocked off Allen West last fall. He names three possible GOP candidates: state Rep. Gayle Harrell, businessman Gary Uber, and state Sen. Joe Negron, who nearly won a predecessor version of this seat as Mark Foley's substitute in 2006, even though his name wasn't actually on the ballot. (The disgraced Foley quit too late to have his name removed, so Negron came up with what was actually a brilliant slogan: "Punch Foley for Negron.") And further south still in FL-26, Miller adds one more person to the long list of Republican potentials: former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Joe Martinez.
• MI-07: I think this is going to be a new thing: Republicans who voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act claiming they voted for it because they instead voted in favor of a failed poison-pill GOP "alternative" that (a) was never going to pass the House and (b) was never going to pass the Senate, either, because it deliberately left out LGBT and Indian women from its protections. Case in point is Rep. Tim Walberg, who made exactly that claim. If you spot anyone else trying this bullshit, let us know.
Other Races:
• Pittsburgh Mayor: Democrat Luke Ravenstahl, who became one of the youngest mayors of a major American city in 2006 when he ascended to the top spot in Pittsburgh at the age of 26, has surprised the political establishment by announcing he won't seek another term in office. The Democratic primary—Pittsburgh hasn't had a Republican mayor in a zillion years—is May 21, and now, of course, the field is wide open. Click through for some information about possible successors if you are interested.