SSP Daily Digest: 6/26

CT-Sen: Gov. Jodi Rell just signed into law an important piece of legislation (and, in doing so, reduced her own power): from now on, in the event of a Senatorial vacancy, the void will be filled by a fast special election instead of a gubernatorial appointment. The farcical Rod Blagojevich affair in Illinois was apparently the genesis for this new law.

KS-Sen: Rep. Todd Tiahrt, facing a big primary fight for the GOP nomination against fellow Rep. Jerry Moran, got a key endorsement that will help him out-conservative his red-state colleague, from prominent anti-abortion group Kansans for Life. Moran, meanwhile, got another establishment endorsement of questionable utility to the Kansas electorate, from South Dakota Sen. John Thune.

NC-Sen: Insider Advantage polled Richard Burr’s approvals, and like many other pollsters (including PPP, the messenger that the Burr campaign has chosen to attack), found that Burr’s approvals are low and his unknowns are possibly catastrophically high. Burr clocked in at 39/31 approval, with 30% with no opinion.

NH-Sen: John Sununu Sr. now says that John Sununu Jr. will make a decision (or will have his daddy make a decision for him, more likely) “within a week or so” as to whether or not he’ll run for Senate next year. Sr. also says that AG Kelly Ayotte will step aside if Jr. runs, which may be news to Ayotte. GOP insiders seem to think that odds are against Sununu running.

OH-Sen: Rob Portman, G.W. Bush’s former trade rep and OMB Director, has taken on a strange approach to selling himself to voters: that he’s a consummate Washington insider, going so far as to say that he knows “where the bodies are buried” (way to write the opposition’s advertisements word-for-word for them!). In a state where there’s a lot of populist indignation over job losses and outsourcing, emphasizing your technocratic elitism is somewhere past tone-deaf and out in the realm of political malpractice.

PA-Sen: More signs that the party is finally coalescing around Pat Toomey as nominee: another endorsement from one its sitting Reps., Joe Pitts. (Pitts is probably the most conservative GOPer left in the PA delegation, so no surprise here.)

WV-Sen: With 91-year-old Robert Byrd still in the hospital, Gov. Joe Manchin sought to tamp down speculation that he was looking into potential replacement Senators (such as ex-Gov. Gaston Caperton).

IL-Gov: Bob Schillerstrom became the third Republican this week to announce his gubernatorial candidacy. The DuPage County Board chairman had had an exploratory committee open for several months, so this was expected. A 4th entrant, State Sen. Kirk Dillard, also from Chicago’s western suburbs, says he’ll announce his candidacy on July 8.

MI-Gov: A third Democratic candidate got into the governor’s race today: state Rep. (and former state Senator) Alma Wheeler Smith. Smith, who’s the only African-American in the field, also ran in the gubernatorial primary in 2002.

NJ-Gov: Strategic Vision polled the New Jersey governor’s race; no surprises here, as they found Chris Christie beating Jon Corzine 51-39. Christie was also busy yesterday in Washington testifying before the House on the no-bid monitoring contracts that Christie awarded while US Attorney (including to his former boss, John Ashcroft); look for this to become a prime issue in the race (if Corzine has even half-a-clue how to campaign).

NM-Gov, NM-02: Ex-Rep. Steve Pearce, last seen getting annihilated in last year’s Senate race, says he’s pushing back his announcement on whether he’ll run for governor, for his old House seat, or something else to somewhere between July 20 and July 27.

PA-Gov: Here’s one state where the gubernatorial field is actually managing to get smaller: Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham opted out of the Democratic primary race (and said that he isn’t interested in the Lt. Gov. slot). This may give a small boost to Philly-area businessman Tom Knox, as the Dem side’s two biggest-names, Allegheny Co. Exec Dan Onorato and state Auditor Jack Wagner are both from the Pittsburgh area.

CA-10: Rep. Ellen Tauscher was finally confirmed as Undersecretary of State last night, after Sen. Jon Kyl dropped his hold on her. (She’s also getting married on Saturday, so it’s a big week.) Tauscher’s last day in the House is today, so this means the wheels are now officially in motion for the CA-10 special election.

FL-12: Looks like the GOP will have a primary in the race to replace Rep. Adam Putnam, depsite their efforts to grease the skids for former state Rep. Dennis Ross. Polk Co. Commissioner Randy Wilkinson has been taking steps to enter the race as well.

LA-03: Here’s a potential Dem contender for the potentially open seat currently occupied by Rep. Charlie Melancon, who hadn’t been mentioned in previous discussions (either from SSP or Roll Call or The Hill): Steve Angelle, who heads the state Natural Resources Department and used to be President of St. Martin Parish.

SC-04: Rep. Bob Inglis is taking an unusual approach to a potentially bruising primary fight in 2010: instead of trying to out-conservative his opponents, he’s saying the GOP needs to “lose the stinking rot of self-righteousness.” In a Washington Wire interview, he said that the Mark Sanford Experience shows that “This may be an opportunity to extend a little grace to other people, to realize that maybe it’s not 100% this way or that way,” and referred to the Bob Inglis who was a zealous Clinton impeachment manager in 1998 as “Bob Inglis 1.0,” who was a “‘self-righteous’ expletive.”

TN-09: Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton announced that he’ll be resigning his job on July 10 in order to campaign full-time in his primary challenge against Rep. Steve Cohen. Since Herenton has tried to resign (and changed his mind) at least once before, after five increasingly rocky terms in office, this sounds more like a relief to Herenton instead of giving something up.

DCCC: The DCCC is running radio spots over the July 4 weekend against seven vulnerable House GOPers: Ken Calvert, Charlie Dent, Jim Gerlach, Dan Lungren, Mike McCaul, Lee Terry, and Joe Wilson. They’re getting attacked for voting for war supplementals during the Bush administration and now happening to vote against them now that a Demmycrat is in charge.

The Tubes: Hotline On Call compares and contrasts the mellifluous email stylings of Gov. Sanford with the SMS billet-doux of Detroit ex-Mayor Kilpatrick. This outlines the foundational divide between email and texting: in SMS you automatically sound crazier, but it also prevents you from banging out divinity school dropout diatribes about First Corinthians. (Ben)

48 thoughts on “SSP Daily Digest: 6/26”

  1. http://www.startribune.com/pol

    ST. PAUL, Minn. – Former Republican Congressman Jim Ramstad says he’s attended brainstorming sessions about a possible run for Minnesota governor, although he’s not ready to jump in

    If Ramstad runs and could somehow win the Rep nomination he would be tough to beat in the General (hell I might even vote for him).

  2. Inglis was NOT one of the thirteen House impeachment managers. They were Bob Barr (GA), Ed Bryant (TN), Steve Buyer (IN), Charles Canady (FL), Chris Cannon (UT), Steve Chabot (OH), George Gekas (PA), Lindsey Graham (SC), Henry Hyde (IL), Asa Hutchinson (AR), Bill McCollum (FL), James Rogan (CA), and Jim Sensenbrenner (WI).

  3. I’m against democracy in this case. lol. I love saying crap like this. What I mean by my statement is that I’m against special elections for senate seats, and I much prefer governor appointments, at least as long as the Governor must appoint someone of the same party.

    I think that special elections would be good for smaller states, that cost less money to run a campaign in, but large states, like my home state of California, it requires millions of dollars to win both a primary AND a general election for a Senate seat. Not to mention that in the short amount of time that candidates would most likely have to wage both a primary and general election, the clear advantage would be given to a person with greater name recognition. That person is not always best for the job.

    Governors do make mistakes Senator Burris is a clear example, but they also have to deal with the results of their choice and have the ability to choose an appointment that might be a candidate that would otherwise be over looked by the voters of the state. If there was some way to limit the money that a candidate could spend in one of these special elections, and also a way to counter name-recognition, then I think it would be a great idea, but in th mean time, money and fame should not buy you an election, in my opinion, that is only slightly less horrible than what happened in Illinois with the appointment of Senator Burris.

  4. He really did some self evaluation after losing to Lindsey Graham in 1998. He’s now a much more thoughtful, and sane politician, he really is, in my view, the epitome of a good conservative, though he has trouble because he’s not far enough off the deep end for the base and he doesn’t foam at the mouth with his rhetoric and truly comes across as thoughtful and sensible even when I don’t agree with him. I especially member him as being a rare voice of sanity during the torture debate when he was the only one, Republican or otherwise, to have the sense to say what was really commonsense reality of the issue and that’s the beyond any moral argument torture is an ineffective way to get information, and led to getting unreliable information.

  5. I’m with ArkDem on how impressed I am with how Inglis has matured. It’s rare to find a politician who sincerely admits he was wrong and actually does something about it.

    “Stinking rot of self-righteousness”….Couldn’t have said it better myself.

  6. I would have thought he’d be more competent than this. He seemed pretty sharp in the House, but I guess hanging around W long enough has sapped some IQ points.

    He really is turning out to be the Mark Kennedy of 2010.

  7. Ohio has a habit of electing experienced candidates from both parties.  With nearly 11% unemployment in Ohio I am guessing Portman’s experience will look good to voters seeking someone who can get things done.

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