Time to clear out the notebook before heading out to watch a bunch of seven and eight year-olds hit at the batting cages for All-Stars practice (who even KNEW there was an all-star team for 7-8 year-olds?!)....
NE-02: Big Democratic Get As Top-Tier Candidate Moves Toward House Bid
You have to admire the ability of House Democrats to play offense with the 2010 electoral map, and not just try to consolidate previous gains. There have to be big high-fives at the DCCC and in DC today with the news that popular state Senator Tom White has launched an exploratory committee in Nebraska to take on longtime Republican Congressman Lee Terry. Terry has survived two consecutive squeakers against Democrat Jim Esch, and is ripe for a challenge in what would have been an oxymoron ten years ago--a Nebraska swing district.
NY-03: Congressman King Says Jacko Is "Bad", Fans Want Him To "Beat It"
It might be the least consequential of the stories in today's wrap, but it also happens to be my favorite. Most probably already know about this, but bombastic Republican Congressman Peter King, one of the three remaining GOPers in New York's delegation, made some pretty harsh statements about recently departed pop star Michael Jackson (yeah...he passed away. I don't know if you heard about it or not).
Within 24 hours of King's blustery commentary (for those who have not heard, he said there was "nothing good" about Jackson, and also insisted that the pop star was a "perv"), there was already an ActBlue page up encouraging Michael Jackson fans to donate to the political demise of Peter King.
Classic.
VA-Gov/NJ-Gov: Palin to Hit The Campaign Trail?? Well, Um...Um...
The schaudenfreude will flow like water on this one: you might remember that on Friday, Michael Steele tried to make lemonade out of Sarah Palin's abrupt and bizarre resignation from her governorship by saying that:
"I plan on talking to Governor Palin very soon. She is an important and galvanizing voice in the Republican Party. I believe she will be very helpful to the Party this year as we wage critical campaigns in Virginia and New Jersey."
Count this as Whoopsie #437 for Michael Steele. He probably should have checked with the Christie and McDonnell campaigns first. Both campaigns, contacted by CNN about prospects for Palin campaign stops, were decidedly noncommittal. Christie's campaign manager was blunt: "There are no plans for Governor Palin to visit New Jersey at this time." Nothing about they'd be THRILLED if she made the trip. Nothing about plans in the works. Just that very brief remark.
By the way, Christie's old day job as U.S. Attorney might be causing him heartburn as well. Today federal authorities absolved a former prosecutorial target of Christie's of all charges. While the victim in the case, former medical school counsel Vivian Sanks King, is declining comment, one of her friends called the matter a case of "prosecutorial abuse." This was one of the more high-profile enforcement efforts made by Christie, who has made his prosecutorial experiences a key selling point of his campaign.
KY-Sen: Grayson Raises $600K--Is Bunning Laying Foundation for Departure?
Democrats eager to run against embattled Republican Senator Jim Bunning may be in danger of losing that dream. Two pieces of information emerging today may be spelling the beginning of the end for the GOP incumbent. For one thing, his likely GOP primary challenger, Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, reported that he raised $600,000 for his Senate exploratory committee (Bunning, by comparison, raised just over $200K in Q1). Also, there was a very cryptic comment in the article from Team Bunning. The article says that Bunning "has said he plans to run again but that he will reassess his campaign efforts after seeing how much money he can raise in the second quarter of the year."
The second quarter of the year, of course, is over. Which would lead a rational soul to wonder if he already knows that his fundraising was junk, and that he is softening the ground to exit the race, blaming it on his inability to raise money.
NM-02: Pearce Wants His Old Job Back--DCCC "Welcomes" Him Into Race
Former 2nd district Congressman and 2008 Senate aspirant Steve Pearce announced today that he will make another run at the House seat in southern New Mexico, seeking the job that he held from 2003 until a little earlier this year, when he was replaced by Democrat Harry Teague. It took only a couple of hours before the DCCC (more of that "staying on offense" thing!) was welcoming Pearce into the race with a pretty brutal takedown of Pearce's campaign rhetoric versus his performance as Congressman. This race, for certain, will be a first-tier race in November of 2010.
CA-10: Date Set for Special Election
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has set the date of September 1st for the special election to replace Ellen Tauscher in California's 10th district, based on the eastern end of the San Francisco Bay. If no one gets a majority of the vote (and it is likely, given the star power in the field, that no one will), the top votegetters in each party will face off on the traditional off-year Election Day in California, which is November 3rd. Since this is a heavily Democratic district (Obama took 65% here in 2008, compared to 33% for John McCain), it is a fairly likely proposition that the race will be effectively decided on the first of September.