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Senate:
• MA-Sen: Let's see if it translates into real support, but for now, NY Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is offering a bunch of praise to Elizabeth Warren's nascent senatorial run. “She would be an outstanding and much needed voice in the U.S. Senate" sure sounds like an endorsement to me. Meanwhile, the other Democratic Warren — Newton Mayor Setti — says he's undaunted by Elizabeth's quasi-entry into the race and promises that he's "in this race for the long haul."
Meanwhile, Wicked Local Somerville reminds us that Dem Rep. Mike Capuano, who had promised to announce "by the summer" whether he'd run for Senate again, still hasn't made any further public statements about his intentions.
• OH-Sen, OH-16: This story looks like it could get potentially very interesting. Businessman Benjamin Suarez has long been a big Republican donor, but now it seems his employees are getting in on the act. As Tony Cook of the Toledo Blade explains:
But in the current election cycle, a large number of his employees and their wives — many of whom have never before given to federal campaigns — have contributed to two specific congressional candidates: Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, a Republican running for U.S. Senate, and U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci (R., Wadsworth), who represents Ohio's 16th District.
All together, 17 employees from Canton-based Suarez Corporation have contributed to one or both candidates, according to federal campaign filings. Sixteen of those employees (and six of their spouses) have given $5,000, the maximum amount allowed under federal election law. For some of the employees and their spouses, that adds up to $20,000. In all, Mr. Suarez, his employees, and their spouses gave $100,000 to Mr. Mandel's campaign and $100,250 to Mr. Renacci's campaign.
A company spokeswoman says the firm "did not reimburse employees or provide money for the contributions," which would be illegal… but I wouldn't be surprised if there was more to this story. I encourage you to read the article, because Cook does a good job digging deep here. (Those of you with good memories may recall the bang-up job the Blade did on the Tom Noe scandal which helped send the Ohio GOP into a tailspin in 2005 and 2006. This one doesn't look quite as big, but I'm glad the Blade is on it nonetheless.)
• UT-Sen: I actually don't think Sarah Palin holds a lot of influence among teabaggers anymore (if she ever truly did), so I'm not too impressed with her attempt to call the dogs off Sen. Orrin Hatch. Typically, unless it's a big-money group that can actually back up words with deeds, these against-type endorsements ("No, really, he's one of us!") only seem to convince the true mouthbreathers that the endorser isn't one of them any longer.
Gubernatorial:
• CA-Gov: In a move that seems like it presages a run for governor in 2014, Los Angeles's Democratic mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, launched an assault on California's notorious Proposition 13, the infamous ballot measure from the late '70s which requires a two-thirds vote in the legislature for any tax increases. The fiscal consequences of this law have been dire for the state, but no one has ever successfully taken it on.
• MO-Gov: This doesn't seem too good for Peter Kinder. David Humphreys, described as a "major GOP donor" who has given six figures to the party, is calling on Kinder to abandon his (still-not-officially-announced) gubernatorial bid — and resign as Lt. Governor. We'll see if the drumbeat builds.
House:
• CA-01: GOP Rep. Wally Herger, who seems to have been the target of some vague retirement rumors, says it his "intention to run for re-election." (You won't find that quote in the linked article, but it's in the accompanying video, at about the 0:32 mark.) The piece also notes that Herger is subject to a primary challenge from local teabagger Gregory Cheadle, but with California's move to a top-two primary, there's pretty much no such thing as a bona fide primary anymore, except in the safest of districts. Lucky incumbents!
• CA-03: Colusa County Supervisor Kim Dolbow Vann, a Republican, says she'll run for the new 3rd CD. This district looks like it will be the new home of Dem Rep. John Garamendi, though it's a bit swingier than his old 10th District seat.
• CA-07, WI-07: More ads from the House Majority PAC, this time targeting GOP Reps. Dan Lungren and Sean Duffy. You can watch the Lungren spot here.
• CA-26: David Cruz Thayne says he's running for Congress in the new 26th, and he's described as a "former professional tennis player." It seems to me, though, that if you're a tennis star of any note, you'd be likely to have a Wikipedia entry, wouldn't you? (Thayne does not, so far as I can tell.) Anyhow, he joins Moorpark City Councilman David Pollock in the Democratic field; the GOP side is unclear, since the likeliest Republican, Rep. Elton Gallegly, still hasn't said whether he'll run again.
• CA-44: Rep. Janice Hahn is touting an internal from Fairbank, Maslin which shows her leading fellow Democrats Laura Richardson and Isadore Hall in a hypothetical matchup. Hahn takes 47, while Richardson (also a member of Congress) is at 24 and Hall (an Assemblyman) is at 7. In a head-to-head, Hahn is up 47-26 on Richardson and 53-17 on Hall. Note the poll had a small sample (300) and purported to talk to likely voters (quite a stretch this far out from the primary).
• California: I'm pretty sure we've mentioned just about everyone on this list at one point or another, but the Sacramento Bee's Torey Van Oot helpfully compiles a list of all current state legislators who are considering runs for Congress — at least a dozen so far.
• IL-08: While this Chicago Tribune piece on Joe Walsh is nominally about his driver's license getting suspended for the second time in three years this past spring, it's really a hook for a more detailed look about his various issues over the years, both before, during, and after his 2010 campaign for Congress. Amazingly, he refused to provide the Tribune with a proper chronological resume, but the paper nonetheless pieces together his peripatetic career — and the guy's been all over the map.
• NC-03: Could this be the year that GOP Rep. Walter Jones's apostasies finally cost him his seat? He's been primaried several times in the past and survived, but maybe former New Bern Police chief Frank Palombo, who just announced a challenge, will be the one to make it happen. Actually, don't say "challenge" — Palombo rather cleverly invokes a bit of Scott Brown here, saying: “I’m not challenging anybody for anything. A challenge implies that someone owns the seat. No one owns that seat. It belongs to the people of the 3rd district and every two years someone makes their case as why they should be there."
• NV-02: A new survey from Republican pollster Magellan Strategies, taken on behalf of conservative dark money front group Americans for Prosperity, has GOPer Mark Amodei up 48-35 over Kate Marshall in the 2nd CD special election. Daily Kos will publish the results of a new poll (conducted by Public Policy Polling, natch) early this week.
Relatedly, Amodei is on the air with two new ads attacking Marshall over matters fiscal. You can watch them here and here.
• NY-09: A rather good get for David Weprin: Republican City Councilman Peter Koo, first elected in 2009, will endorse the Democrat. Not only is this obviously a cross-party move, but Koo is also of Chinese extraction (born in Shanghai) and one of only two Asian-Americans on the Council. As Colin Campbell points out, the Asian population in Queens is "booming," so this could be particularly helpful to Weprin. (Relatedly, Colin also has some interesting maps of "likely voters" in the 9th CD.)