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Senate:
• FL-Sen: Another big establishment name gets behind state Senate President Mike Haridopolos in the GOP primary: Rep. Connie Mack, who at one point was widely expected to run himself.
• HI-Sen, HI-02: Oy… I really don't like where this is going. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa says she's still thinking about running for Senate and will decide by August. With fellow Rep. Mazie Hirono already in the race, it's hard to see how Hanabusa wouldn't compete for the same pile of votes and risk giving the nomination to DLCer Ed Case in the Democratic primary. Meanwhile, another Dem, Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz, is refusing to rule out a run (either for Senate or the House), saying only: "I’m not talking about elections at this time. I’m focused on doing my job."
• MI-Sen: Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner (the fancy name for the position known as "Drain Commissioner" in the rest of the state) John McCulloch says he's still considering a run against Dem Sen. Debbie Stabenow and that his "deadline still is after the Fourth of July." Of course, that's a rather open-ended timeframe….
• NE-Sen: After floating the idea for quite a while, state Sen. Deb Fischer plans to formally join the field of GOP candidates hoping to take on Sen. Ben Nelson later today.
• OH-Sen: That's odd. Jim DeMint, prince of the conservacrazies, is awarding his first endorsement of the cycle to… a dude who isn't actually even running yet, Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, who has only gone as far as forming an exploratory committee. Perhaps this is DeMint delivering an exploratory kick in the pants?
Gubernatorial:
• MT-Gov: A new survey from Public Policy Polling shows the governor's race in Montana unexpectedly a tossup. (Full post at Daily Kos Elections.)
• WA-Gov: In case you missed it, Dem Rep. Jay Inslee announced his long-awaited campaign for governor. At the same time, SurveyUSA came out with a new poll showing Inslee with a tiny lead over AG Rob McKenna. Click the link for the full post at Daily Kos Elections.
House:
• CA-06: As expected, Dem Rep. Lynn Woolsey announced yesterday that she would not seek another term in the House.
• CA-36: Democrat Janice Hahn has two new "contrast" ads out — spots which start by attacking Craig Huey for his extremism and finish by touting Hahn's own credentials. Something must really be up in this race, because the second ad (both are available at the link) focuses on Hahn's "non-partisan" credentials and both shy away from mentioning her party affiliation. If an out-and-proud Democrat is having a hard time winning in this district… just oy.
• MA-07: Financial consultant and Some Dude Jeff Semon says he plans to challenge Dem Rep. Ed Markey.
• MN-05: Speaking of hopeless Some Dudes, bigoted nutfuck Lynne Torgerson says she plans to run against Dem Rep. Keith Ellison once again. Torgerson, who called Ellison a "radical Islamist" in her announcement, ran as an independent last year and took 4% of the vote. It's unclear whether she'll seek the GOP nomination this time.
• NY-13: Two big-name Republicans (indeed, the two biggest in the House) came to NYC over the weekend to raise money for Rep. Michael Grimm: John Boehner and Eric Cantor.
• TX-34, TX-35: Some candidate-related announcements in two of Texas's new districts. In the 34th, Dem state Sen. Eddie Lucio says he will not run for Congress, while over in the 35th, state Rep. Joaquin Castro is in. If this district doesn't get reshaped by the courts, Castro would likely wind up facing Rep. Lloyd Doggett in the Democratic primary. While the Anglo Doggett cannot be discounted in such a race despite the heavily Hispanic character of the district, Charles Kuffner makes a good point: If Democrats wind up with the ambitious Castro instead, the GOP's aggressive attempt to eliminate Doggett could wind up giving a rising star the launching pad he needs for statewide office.
• WA-01: As expected, state Rep. Roger Goodman switched over to the 1st CD (from a phantom run in the 8th), with Jay Inslee announcing his run for governor. It's going to be a very busy Democratic primary, I suspect.
Other Races:
• Ohio SB5: My fears, it turns out, were misplaced. Secretary of State Jon Husted rejected attempts by fellow Republicans to split the ballot referendum seeking to repeal the anti-collective bargaining law SB5 into several different questions, which would have given at least some parts of the bill a better chance of surviving when it goes before voters. Husted said such a move would be illegal, which prompted a spokesman for Gov. John Kasich to claim that they never had plans to push such a thing in the first place (despite reports to the contrary). This is the second time in recent months that Husted has put some daylight between himself and the rest of the GOP (he previously spoke out in favor of less onerous voter ID requirements). What's his deal?
• WI Recall: Some big news in the 30th SD recall election, which is targeting Dem state Sen. Dave Hansen: The GAB threw out the nominating petitions of state Rep. John Nygren, who was perhaps the biggest GOP recruitment "get." Nygren can appeal and it sounds like he will pursue "further legal options." But if he doesn't get reinstated, the general election will take place on July 19, since there won't be a primary, and it'll feature David VanderLeest as the Republican nominee — and he's got a very extensive court record (and not a good one).
Grab Bag:
• House Majority PAC: The new Dem super PAC is out with a six-figure buy against eight (mostly freshman) Republicans. Click through for the full list. Listen to a radio ad against Scott Tipton (CO-03) here and watch a cable TV spot against Chip Cravaack (MN-08) here.
• Public Financing: The SCOTUS struck down Arizona's public financing law, largely due to the fact that disbursement of public funds was triggered by opponents' spending. For the legal ins and outs, I strongly encourage you to read Adam Bonin's piece that I've linked. But note that this doesn't nuke the idea of public funding entirely, since a program without such triggers could potentially pass muster.
• Voter registration: Longtime Swingnut bonncaruso has compiled voter registration statistics for every single state in the nation, including information about partisan breakdowns where available. A fascinating snapshot.
Redistricting Roundup:
• Pennsylvania: Shira Toeplitz has some interesting color on the tug-of-war over redistricting taking place in the Keystone State. Rep. Joe Pitts, the delegation's most senior member, is balking at shedding some of his redder turf on behalf of either Reps. Jim Gerlach or Patrick Meehan, who occupy swingy seats just to the east. Pitts' reluctance makes perhaps a touch of sense, given that Barack Obama managed to lose this super-red seat by just three points in 2008… but surely that was a high-water mark, no? (Pitts won by 30, and in prior cycles, GOP presidential candidates carried the district by 20 or more.)
There's also some wrangling going on over Johnstown in southwestern PA. The Democratic stronghold (currently in Rep. Mark Critz's 12th CD) could get placed into GOP Rep. Bill Shuster's district, which would theoretically keep whatever becomes of the inevitable Critz-Jason Altmire mashup more winnable for Republicans. Of course, it would also risk screwing Shuster, and could inspire Critz to run against him rather than fellow Dem Altmire (Johnston is Critz's hometown). Indeed, Shira says such an idea has been "floated" by Critz associated, but it's been met with stiff resistance by Shuster and could just be bre'r rabbit-esque bluster by Critz.
• Vermont: If you're surprised to see Vermont showing up in the Redistricting Roundup, you'll at least be amused about the reason why. A panel redrawing the state Senate's map thought it had come up with a compromise plan that would please all those involved. There was just one problem: The new map had 31 districts… but the state only has 30 senators. Whoops! Back to the drawing board, indeed. The even more amazing thing is that something just like this happened with a state House map two decades ago. Just as long as they don't try to pull this stunt with the congressional map….
