As the Dog Days of Summer get into full swing (is there ANY PLACE in America that is not ridiculously hot right now? If so, let me make some airline reservations...), we have a full plate for a Monday.
NATIONAL: Democrats Easily Outpace GOP in Committee Fundraising
June turned out to be a good month for Democrats at the cash register. Not only did the individual campaigns do very well (check out my Sunday Kos feature on that subject right here, but it appears that the House and Senate committees also easily outpaced their right-wing rivals. On the House side, the DCCC took in $7.2 million for the month of June, easily outpacing the NRCC, which limped in with $3.1 million. On the Senate side, the DSCC nearly doubled up the NRSC, raising $6.2 million to $3.4 million for the GOP. This is especially interesting because June was the month of the much hyped Palin-Gingrich fundraiser, which the GOP claimed brought in $14 million for the committees. Fuzzy math, indeed.
ME-Gov: New Democratic Candidate Emerges In Open Seat Gov Race
The potentially competitive Democratic Primary in Maine grew a little more crowded this morning, as Portland business owner Rosa Scarcelli entered the race. Scarcelli joins former state House speaker John Rowe in the race, as well as state Rep. Dawn Hill. Democratic Governor John Baldacci is term-limited.
NJ-Gov: Christie Names His GOP Running Mate For Fall Election
When he wasn't busy scouring Spanish dictionaries for the translation of the word Republican (more on this later this week), Chris Christie got around to naming his Lt. Governor nominee for his campaign against incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine. She is Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno who, like Christie, is a former U.S. Attorney.
NV-Sen: Ensign Becoming Less Loved, But Majority Oppose Resignation
On the polling front, here is an interesting tidbit from the team at Mason-Dixon: John Ensign's approval rating continues its precipitous slide in the wake of new and damaging revelations about his extra-marital tryst. His approval now stands at just 31%, with 38% disapproving of the Senator. That is a marked contrast from May, when his numbers stood at 53/18. Interestingly, a majority still believe that he should not resign (although that number did slide from 62% last month to 54% this month). Even more intriguing: a slight plurality favor his running for re-election. Now, this doesn't mean that he is FAVORED in that race, some folks may, after all, want him to run so that they can have the pleasure of voting him out.
NH-01: Guinta On the Cusp of Another Scandal?
Great catch by Dean Barker over at Blue Hampshire: apparently, Manchester Mayor (and much hyped NRCC recruit) Frank Guinta was delinquent on sewer taxes earlier this year. In itself, this is a small deal, especially in a rotten economy where lots of Americans are trying hard to make ends meet.
The problem for Guinta--even as he was shorting the local government of a few hundred bucks, he was also loaning his Congressional campaign a cool twenty grand. Voters can accept the occasional error in home finances by a candidate. But when said lack of payment is accompanied by lavish spending on one's own campaign? A much tougher sell. I'd have to imagine that Democratic incumbent Carol Shea-Porter will have something to say about this one.
IL-07: Prepare For a New Democratic Open Seat
This one ain't all that likely to set off alarm bells over at the DCCC, but it is worth noting that Chicago Congressman Danny Davis is trading in his slot in Congress for a 2010 bid for the office of Cook County Board President. The incumbent there is controversial Democrat Todd Stroger. The district is sure to stay in Democratic hands, as it went for Barack Obama by a mere 88-12 margin last year.
KY-Gov: Beshear Taps Big-Name Democrat for Lt. Gov Post
Never too early to think about 2011, which is why Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear announced a replacement for Lt. Governor Dan Mongiardo, who voluntarily gave up his slot, as he is in the middle of a bid to be the state's next U.S. Senator. Beshear went for a big-ticket Democrat, naming longtime Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson as his running mate. Abramson, in his early 60s, has been occasionally talked up for statewide office.
IL-Sen: Kirk Into The Race (No, Really!!)
At his boyhood home in the Chicago suburbs, Mark Kirk made it official today that he will be a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2010. It appears that behind-the-scenes efforts in the last two weeks to clear the field for Kirk (who originally balked, amid criticism from some of his fellow Republicans) were successful. The campaign arm for the Senate Democrats, the DSCC, wasted no time whatsoever in "welcoming" Kirk into the race, highlighting the facade of moderation of the new Republican candidate: