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• FL-Gov: These numbers are so bad as to be almost comical, but Republican Gov. Rick Scott just hit an epic new low in PPP's polling, making him by far the least popular governor in America. He now stands at an abysmal 26-58 approval rating, down from 36-52 in September and eclipsing his June nadir of 33-59. There are a whole bunch of other interesting numbers in this poll, though: Marco Rubio's numbers keep sliding downward; Charlie Crist remains one of the most popular pols in the state; and on the generic House ballot, Democrats have taken a big 46-40 lead, up from 46-45 last time.
Senate:
• CT-Sen: Some good tweetage (here and here) from Aaron Blake, who says that DSCC chair Patty Murray "essentially just endorsed" Rep. Chris Murphy in his bid for the Democratic Senate nomination in Connecticut. Said Murray: "When we go out and talk to people in states, we look at who is the strongest candidate, who can win, who has the kind of support. And in that state Chris Murphy is just a great candidate, and I expect him to win." Murphy faces ex-Sos Susan Bysiewicz and state Rep. William Tong in the primary.
• HI-Sen: While we're on the topic, it may not be an official endorsement from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, but it's about as close as you can get: Patty Murray also said (again according to Aaron Blake): "I'm supporting Mazie Hirono and I believe she's going to win." Obviously she's concluded, as has just about everyone else not named Ed Case, that Hirono is more electable than Ed Case. We're fortunate here that a major party committee's interests happen to line up with those of progressives, but next time we may not be so lucky—as was the case last year, when the DCCC made the huge mistake of supporting Case in the HI-01 special election. (If you're wondering why all these comments are just now appearing from Murray, it's because she held a so-called "pen and pad" briefing for reporters on Tuesday afternoon in Washington, DC.)
House:
• AZ-03: Former state Sen. Amanda Aguirre says she's exploring a possible primary challenge to Dem Rep. Raul Grijalva, whose 7th CD would get renumbered as the 3rd under the independent redistricting commission's proposed map. It sounds like Aguirre plans to go at Grijalva a little bit from the right (“I don’t believe in his stance on open borders") and little bit on regional grounds “He has represented the Tucson part of his district OK, but not the rest of it").
• CA-30: Mentioned in passing in this piece on the Democratic primary battle between Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman is the fact that two members of California's House delegation actually did offer their backing to the latter—noteworthy because the former had been scooping up congressional endorsements like nobody's business. I had to dig up the names on Sherman's site, though, since I couldn't find any media mentions or even a press release about who the two are. Turns out it's Judy Chu and Grace Napolitano. Anyhow, Berman's way ahead on this score, with 23 representatives in his corner. Not that any of these guys actually drive votes, but it does show you who has more friends in high places.
• CO-06: Well, that was super-quick! Shortly after a new report came out that DC Dems were trying to recruit him into the race, former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff announced that he would not run in the Democratic primary for the right to take on GOP Rep. Mike Coffman. Romanoff said "It's just not the right time for me" and also endorsed state Rep. Joe Miklosi, who has long been in the race.
• CO-07: ColoradoPols says that Republican Joe Coors, Jr. is considering a run for congress against third-term Dem Rep. Ed Perlmutter. However, Coors (yes, of the Coors beer family) is 70 years old and has been retired for a decade, plus his brother Pete fared poorly in the 2004 Senate race. So take this one with a grain of salt.
• IL-08: Capitol Fax notes that GOP freshman Joe Walsh said over the weekend that he'd announce his up-in-the-air re-election plans on Monday. (Walsh had originally said he'd run in the 14th, but then word came he was looking at the 8th… as well as the 6th and the 10th!) But Monday came and went without any further word from Walsh. And time is running out, since the filing deadline is Dec. 27.
• IL-10: John Tree, the newest entrant into the Democratic primary in the 10th CD, just received an endorsement from ex-Rep. Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania, who, like Tree, is a military veteran. Tree will also appear on MSNBC's "Hardball" program on Wednesday for an unlikely reason: The show's host, Chris Matthews, recently happened to be on board the same plane as Tree when the flight crew asked Tree to help restrain a belligerent passenger, an incident Matthews witnessed first-hand.
• IN-08: Warrick County Democratic Chairman Terry White just dropped out of the race to take on GOP freshman Larry Buchshon, saying he'll run in the 50th state Senate district against Republican Vaneta Becker instead. That leaves the Democratic contest to the two remaining candidates: former state Rep. Dave Crooks and former Brad Ellsworth aide Patrick Scates. As we mentioned earlier this week, the entire Dem field had agreed to abide by the results of a vote at a local party caucus this coming weekend rather than take things to the primary; both Crooks and Scates are still sticking with this plan.
• MD-02: Republican state Sen. Nancy Jacobs, whose name emerged as a possible congressional candidate earlier this fall when she stepped down as minority leader, has formed an exploratory committee to gauge a race against veteran Dem Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger.
• MD-04: Anne Arundel County Councilman Jamie Benoit, the potential third wheel in the Democratic primary battle in Maryland's redrawn 4th CD, has decided not to make the race. Benoit was facing the prospect of going against two heavyweights, Rep. Donna Edwards and former Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey, though as the only white candidate in the race, he might have benefitted from vote-splitting between the other two contestants. However, a recent Edwards internal may have given him second thoughts, seeing as it showed him with just 3% of the vote. It's also possible that his departure will actually make life more difficult for Edwards, since this eliminates the possibility of anti-incumbent votes getting divvied up between more than one opponent.
• NC-04, NC-13: It looks like Rep. Brad Miller is hedging his bets a bit. While he's largely treated his re-election campaign as a Democratic primary battle with fellow Rep. David Price in the redrawn 4th District, Roll Call reports that Miller is also keeping one foot in the old 13th, which he currently represents. If a lawsuit (see item below in our Redistricting Roundup) winds up untangling the map passed earlier this year by Republicans in the legislature, then Miller and Price might be able to avoid running against each other.
• ND-AL: State Rep. Kim Koppelman just became the fifth Republican to enter the race for Rep. Rick Berg's open House seat. He joins Public Service Commissioners Brian Kalk and Kevin Cramer, former state commerce commissioner Shane Goettle, and fellow state Rep. Bette Grande. With any luck, these guys'll beat each other senseless and give a boost to former state Rep. Pam Gulleson, the only declared Democrat.
• NY-13: Richard Reichard, a former President of the Staten Island Democratic Association, says he's "considering" a run against GOP freshman Mike Grimm but won't decide until January. So far, a ton of potential names have emerged on the Democratic side, but no one has really been willing to formally take the plunge yet.
• PA-10, PA-11: Dem ex-Rep. Chris Carney's name has been floating about for a possible comeback bid all year long, and now he actually appears to be taking formal steps in that direction. Roll Call's Shira Toeplitz reports that Carney met with a group of supporters on Friday, including former donors and union officials, to tell them he is considering a bid—depending, of course, on the outcome of redistricting. Carney could conceivably run against the guy who beat him last year in the 10th, Tom Marino, but he might also challenge another GOP freshman, Lou Barletta, in the 11th.
• TN-03: Not bad for a 24-year-old kid. Republican Weston Wamp says he raised a quarter million bucks in a single fundraiser on Monday night… though of course it helps that his dad is ex-Rep. Zach Wamp, who held this seat until this year. The younger Wamp is running against freshman Chuck Fleischmann in the GOP primary.
• WI-03: Former state Secretary of Veterans Affairs Ray Boland says he plans to challenge veteran Dem Rep. Ron Kind next year. Boland is a retired colonel who also used to command the Army base in Ft. McCoy, Wisconsin. In 2010, Kind survived a tough challenge from ex-state Sen. Dan Kapanke, who was recalled from office earlier this year.
Redistricting Roundup:
• FL Redistricting: It's a bit confusing, but it looks to me like the Florida state House just released no fewer than seven different congressional redistricting proposals and five separate plans for remapping its own chamber. (Basically, they acted like acted like a bunch of swingnuts playing with Dave's Redistricting App and posted a dozen different diaries bills containing various redistricting options.) To view them all, click the link, then go down to the section titled "Bills," where you can expand each of the options, which have names like "Congress: H000C9001." Inside, you'll see links to maps and other data. Alternately, you can view them all in once place if click this link for a giant, 20 MB PDF.
Anyhow, according to this press release, it sounds like the number won't get whittled at least until Thursday (if then), when the legislature's various redistricting committees meet to discuss these further. At first blush, they all look pretty similar to the state Senate map which came out last week, but we'll wait until the House gets its own house in order before doing a more in-depth analysis.
• NC Redistricting: Two likely-to-be-consolidated Democratic lawsuits challenging the legality of new Republican-passed legislative and congressional maps are starting to move forward, but the question is, how fast? Dems want the combined cases put on a fast track, since North Carolina's filing deadline is on Feb. 29, but Republicans (perhaps fearful of what's happened in Texas) are urging a go-slow approach. In any event, a three-judge panel will hold hearings on the issue on Dec. 16.
• OH Redistricting: With Democrats still gathering signatures to put the recently-passed redistricting legislation up for a popular referendum, the big question is what district lines will get used if these efforts do indeed succeed in putting the map on the ballot? Ohio law says that the new map would be temporarily suspended, just as the anti-collective bargaining bill SB5 was earlier this year (before it went down to defeat at the polls in November). But ya gotta run somewhere, and unless Ohio decides to elect all 16 members of Congress at large (a move which may not be legal anyway and would probably violate the Votings Right Act), they'll need a map. So a judge has scheduled a January trial to help determine how things ought to proceed.
• PA Redistricting: See, this is why I can't stand the darned rumor mill. Pennsylvania Republicans were supposed to unveil their new redistricting map on Wednesday but now… they're not. And no word on when they will actually do so. Obviously they're struggling to please all their incumbents, but sooner or later (and more likely sooner), they're just going to have to bite the bullet.
