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2Q Fundraising:
• CA-11: Ricky Gill (R), $420K raised (note: this is the 24-year-old kid)
• CO-04: Cory Gardner (R), $316K
• FL-Sen: Adam Hasner (R), $560K raised, $460K cash-on-hand
• FL-22: "No, not that" Patrick Murphy (D), $450K raised (that brings him to an eye-popping $800K over about 16 weeks)
• IN-Gov: Mike Pence (R), $1 million raised; Jim Wallace (R), $500K raised; John Gregg (D), $717K raised
• ME-Sen: Olympia Snowe (R), $1 million raised, $2.7 million cash-on-hand
Senate:
• CT-Sen: Connecticut's firefighters union just endorsed Dem Chris Murphy's campaign for Senate, the latest labor group to do so.
• ME-Sen: Two non-Some Dude Maine Democrats say they are each "seriously considering" a run against Sen. Olympia Snowe: state Rep. Jon Hinck and former SoS Matt Dunlap. Glad to see this, since the last six months have been filled with little more than speculation and declinations. Meanwhile, Snowe still seems concerned about protecting her right flank, co-authoring some op-ed with Jim DeMint in the WSJ. If I could ratfuck any primary in the nation, I think I'd go all-in on whichever teabagger looked most promising in the Republican senate race here.
• TX-Sen: No surprise: Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst leads the GOP primary field in PPP's latest, with 40% of the vote, compared to 11% for Ted Cruz and Dan Patrick. Tom Leppert takes just 5% and Elizabeth Ames Jones 3%.
Gubernatorial:
• WA-Gov: We've got our first Elway Poll of Washington's open seat gubernatorial race, and contrary to PPP and SurveyUSA, they find not a lot of people engaged in the race yet. Rather than doing an Inslee/McKenna head-to-head, they do a kitchen-sink version of the state's Top 2 primary, running just about everyone who's been associated with the race, and find that 49% have no opinion. Among those who do, Republican AG Rob McKenna leads Dem Rep. Jay Inslee by a whopping 20-17. Throwing in all the other Dems (Brian Sonntag, Dow Constantine, Lisa Brown, Aaron Reardon) and GOPers (Clint Didier, Bill Bryant), though — none of whom individually tops 3% — gives the Dems a 26-25 cumulative edge, for whatever that's worth. Generic Dem also leads Generic Republican 48-36 (although, interestingly, they break that down to Generic Liberal Dem 22, Generic Moderate Dem 26, Generic Moderate GOPer 16, and Generic Conservative GOPer 20). As for the current governor, Chris Gregoire posts her worst approval numbers yet, at 36/58 (although — dubious method alert — that's counting "fair" as a negative response).
House:
• CA-North Coast: Marin County Supervisor Susan Adams says she'll run in the open seat (currently the 6th CD) being vacated by Rep. Lynn Woolsey. She joins fellow Democrats Jared Huffman and Norman Solomon.
• CA-36: I was under the impression that local FOX affiliates didn't have much to do with FOX News Channel, but why should I trust any part of the Rupert Murdoch empire? A local station in Los Angeles aired a nine-minute long piece purporting to "set the record straight" about Janice Hahn's involvement in a gang intervention program (a report the L.A. Times called "discredited"). Meanwhile, a group called the National Republican Trust PAC seems to be the only outside GOP group coming to Craig Huey's aid, airing a radio ad on his behalf.
• CA-Orange County Coast: Irvine Mayor Sukhee Kang, a Democrat, announced he'd run for Congress… but against whom is unclear. This new district (which of course only exists in draft form) is now home to two Republican incumbents, Reps. Dana Rohrabacher and John Campbell. Kang is the second Korean-American with mayoral experience to announce a run as a Democrat for Congress this year; former Edison, NJ mayor Jun Choi previously said he'd challenge GOP Rep. Leonard Lance in NJ-07.
• GA-14: Jim Galloway of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution takes a look at possible candidates for Georgia's pending 14th CD, which will undoubtedly be safely Republican (and will likely be centered around fast-growing Hall County in the state's northeast). Radio host Martha Zoller and state Rep. Doug Collins have already hired consultants, but they're unlikely to be the only people interested in such a seat. Depending upon how it's drawn, state Sen. Jim Butterworth and cardiologist Chris Cates (who lost last year's GA-09 special election) could also get in, but I suspect we'll hear many more names before this is done.
• IA-02: Republican John Archer, who had been considering a run, formally filed paperwork with the FEC to establish a campaign committee. He'll face Rep. Dave Loebsack.
• IL-17: Former Rock Island Mayor Mark Schwiebert says he won't join the Democratic field in the redrawn 17th CD.
• IN-05: Everything's coming up Milhouse for Rep. Dan Burton. Ex-Rep. David McIntosh, who hasn't held office in a dozen years, had been weighing a possible return to Congress and now says he's forming a committee to explore a run in Burton's 5th. It's great news (no, really) for Dan Burton because it increases the chance of another split primary field, since his chief 2008 opponent, John McGoff, is also running once more. Serious game theory fail here.
• ME-01: I don't have time for this sort of thing, but if you want to read about possible GOP challengers to Rep. Chellie Pingree, go for it.
• MI-04: This seems odd: A new anti-free trade, supposedly non-partisan super PAC called the American Jobs Alliance is airing radio ads against Republican Rep. Dave Camp over his support of a trade deal with Korea.
• MO-02: The exceptionally insane Jane Cunningham (click here for a refresher) says, contrary to prior noises she'd been making, that she'll seek a second term in the state Senate, rather than run in the GOP primary for Todd Akin's open seat. Too bad — she'd have been fun on the campaign trail!
• NC-11: Joshua Miller of Roll Call has a run-down on possible challengers to Rep. Heath Shuler, who is likely to get screwed by redistricting no matter how the inevitable lawsuits turn out. The biggest fish is Jeff Hunt, district attorney for the counties of Henderson, Polk and Transylvania, who says he's "taking a long, hard look" at the race. ophthalmologist Dan Eichenbaum (who ran in the GOP primary last year) is already running, and retired Army colonel Spence Campbell (who ran in the GOP primary in 2008) says he plans to. 2010 nominee Jeff Miller says he's unlikely to try again.
• NY-09: Ah, the New York Republican Party. They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. After the Queens Conservative Party announced they'd back 2010 nominee Bob Turner, the GOP is reportedly leaning toward… not Turner, but to attorney Juan Reyes, who served in the Giuliani administration and supposedly has big money ties. Reyes may have more chops than Turner, but nothing has been more of a nightmare for the GOP in New York special elections than split ballot lines.
• VA-02: One-term Dem ex-Rep. Glenn Nye, who lost in last year's GOP wave, says he won't seek his old seat back this cycle. Based on his comments (click through for them), it feels to me like he's not particularly interested in a return to politics in the future, either.
Grab Bag:
• Florida: A final tidbit from PPP's Florida poll: Dems hold a 45-40 advantage on the generic House ballot in the state.
• State leges: Josh Goodman, writing at Stateline, has a fascinating piece on the history of multi-member state legislative districts, which he says "not too long ago was the dominant method of electing state legislators." Multi-member districts have, however, been on the wane for quite some time, and the movement against them has been particularly pronounced this year in several states. Click the link for the full story.
Redistricting Roundup:
• New York: Gov. Andrew Cuomo once again reiterated his pledge to veto any redistricting maps that aren't produced by an independent commission, even though such legislation has long since been declared dead. I keep expecting Cuomo to trade what strikes me as a bit of calculated obstinacy for something else, but that just hasn't happened yet — and given his repeated statements, it's a lot harder for him to back down now. Meanwhile, the legislature is slated to finally begin work on the new maps, starting with a series of public hearings.
