| Senate
AK-Sen: Go away, Joe Miller!
AR-Sen: Lt. Gov. Mark Darr says "all options are on the table," including a run for Senate or the House (if Steve Womack or Tom Cotton goes for the promotion), as well as re-election.
GA-Sen: PPP's first look at the race shows Dems John Barrow and Max Cleland (who held this seat for one term in the 90's) competitive, with lots of undecideds. Cleland is unlikely to run, while Barrow would be a Joe Donnelly-type recruit for the DSCC. Jack Kingston, the only Republican from Southern Georgia considering, puts up the strongest numbers for Team Red.
KY-Sen: Mitch McConnell has a pretty funny web video attacking potential Democratic candidates. Apparently Alison Lundergan Grimes likes to refer to herself in the third person by all three of her names, which would be entertaining over the course of an 18-month campaign.
MA-Sen: There's momentum on Stephen Lynch's side: a new PPP poll has him making up 18 points on Ed Markey in under 3 weeks, and last week's MassINC poll had him within 38-31. This is still Markey's race to lose, but Bay Staters like to be asked for their vote...and Lynch is the only one bothering to ask.
MT-Sen: Sen. Max Baucus (D), who hasn't faced a real challenge since 1996, has very shaky numbers, trailing new Rep. Steve Daines and ex-Gov. Marc Racicot by 5 points each. (Daines, with his short voting record, would presumably be tougher to attack than Racicot, with his years as a lobbyist.) Corey Stapleton, who's already in the race, comes within 45-38 even though 66% of the state doesn't know him.
NE-Sen: Bob Kerrey (D-CA) left the door open, if only by the slightest of cracks, to yet another homecoming Senate bid. I think he'll find San Francisco too charming this time.
More NE-Sen: Usually Politico is the target of my accusations of lazy journalism, but this piece from The Hill is pretty terribly written. It seems like the editors wanted a story about the potential GOP field that included as many tired references to the Tea Party and internal conflicts as possible.
WV-Sen: Ex-Sen. Carte Goodwin and his cousin Booth are both out. With Nick Rahall unlikely to run, Dems are looking at Ralph Baxter, a lawyer who's moving back into the state from...(wait for it)...San Francisco. WV did elect a member of the New York Rockefeller dynasty, so Baxter (who grew up in Wheeling) may not be a bridge too far.
Governor
MA-Gov: Scott Brown, who recently signed on as an FNC contributor, is still thinking about running for governor next year.
VA-Gov: Another day, another favor repaid by Bill Clinton. This time it's a fundraiser for Terry McAuliffe, one of his oldest allies.
House
AZ-09: It's only the third-best target in Arizona, but Kyrsten Sinema's (D) district has seen the most early play. 2012 nominee Vernon Parker is running again, as is Marc Victor, who ran for Senate as a Libertarian last year but will run for Congress as a Republican.
IA-01: There's another Democrat named Patrick Murphy to keep track of, but fortunately this one goes by Pat. He's the early frontrunner for Bruce Braley's medium-blue open seat.
IL-02: Patrick Brutus, one of the also-rans in the Democratic field, dropped his bid yesterday. Reports that Rahm Emmanuel has been behind the recent spell of dropouts (clearing the field for Robin Kelly) should come as no surprise.
IL-13: David Gill did a great job of hiding his "perennial candidate" side during his well-waged 2012 campaign (seriously, his consultants deserve a lot of credit), but the craziness is coming out now.
NH-01: The first NRCC target of the cycle is Carol Shea-Porter, who is the subject of a small $20K TV buy. These early buys generally test the water to see what messages work and which incumbents have a glass jaw.
SC-01: Elizabeth Colbert Busch donated to Mark Sanford shortly after he launched his first gubernatorial bid in 2001. She claims that Sanford winning was in the best interest of her employer at the time.
VA-10: Rep. Frank Wolf, fortunately, has no intentions of retiring any time soon. His and Jim Moran's long tenures in NoVa have created a backlog on both sides of the aisle, and this seat in particular will be a free-for-all whenever Wolf vacates it.
Miscellaneous
Committees: The DCCC won January, $6.1M to $4.4M. Dems handily won the cash battle in 2012, although they also finished the year with more debt.
Campaign Finance: SCOTUS will hear a case challenging the limits on how much an individual can donate to candidates and parties each cycle. If the limits are overturned under the 1st Amendment, expect to see a reduced role for SuperPACs in the near future.
Massachusetts: In a move that seems tailor-made for RRH, which has a ridiculously high MA quotient for a Republican site, stats are now available for all Bay State elections since 1979. Have at it.
Mississippi: As of February 7, the State of Mississippi has banned slavery. |
