CA-Sen: No one does weird-ass like Carly Fiorina, who has another web video out that hails from the land of the bizarre.
CO-Sen: Seventh CD Rep. Ed Perlmutter has endorsed Sen. Michael Bennet over Andrew Romanoff in the Dem primary.
FL-Sen: It looks like Marco Rubio is finally starting to come in for some serious scrutiny. The St. Pete Times has a lengthy examination of the corporate money that has flowed Rubio's way, and the irregularities which have riddled his campaign finance reports.
IL-Sen: Alexi Giannoulias says he's going to return all campaign contributions from, as Politico puts it, "accused bank fraudster Nick Giannis and his family."
IN-Sen: Ah, this is good. Dan Coats is trying to run as hard as he can against the bailout... but back in 2008, he was lobbying the government on behalf of a hedge fund which owned 80% of Chrysler - a huge recipient of bailout funds. (He didn't do a very good job, it seems, considering that the fund, Cerberus, has its equity stake wiped out.) As Texas Dem astutely noted the moment Coats rumors started flying, "Usually retired senators get rich in some unseemly way that makes them unelectable in the future." Sure looks like the case here.
NY-Sen-B: I hope all those Democrats who supported Mike Bloomberg over the years are happy: The NYT has an in-depth look at Bloombo's hostility to Kirsten Gillibrand, and all the candidates he has tried to push into running against her. The latest is his own girlfriend, Diana Taylor. The Times fails to find any rational reason for why His Bloominess has chugged so much haterade, but devtob points out that they ignored a key item: Bloombo was a big backer of Caroline Kennedy, who of course was snubbed in favor of Gillibrand.
RI-Sen: Don't look to retiring Dem Rep. Patrick Kennedy to share any of his spoils with the DCCC. Calling his decision not to seek another term in the House more of a "sabbatical" than a retirement, Kennedy says he plans to transfer his $500K campaign purse into an interest-bearing account, just in case he should need it for a Senate campaign someday. This is total bullshit. (Thanks to SSPer Andrew for this one.) (JL)
ID-Gov: Dem Keith Allred has made it official. Allred, a former Harvard professor, had spent five years running a non-partisan "citizens group" called The Common Interest which he left to pursue a gubernatorial run.
MI-Gov: Virg Bernero locked down another big union endorsement: the AFL-CIO took a vote, and it was "overwhelming" (their words) in Bernero's favor. The United Auto Workers union, itself a member of the AFL-CIO, had already gotten behind Bernero, but now the entire umbrella organization (which also includes AFSCME, IBEW and AFT) is doing so. Bernero's been running exactly the sort of populist campaign his supporters would have hoped, lately proposing that Michigan establish a state-run bank, modeled after the Bank of North Dakota.
NM-Gov: Doña Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez won the support of 47% of the delegates at the state GOP convention this past weekend, while former NM Republican Party chair Allen Weh pulled in 26%. Pete Domenici, Jr. took less than 5%, but still plans to file petitions to get on the ballot. Because Martinez and Weh got over 20%, they only have to file half as many signatures, but as Heath Haussamen points out, no candidate who hasn't scored 20% at the convention has ever come back to win the nomination.
OH-Gov: A voluminous auditor's report on the demise of Lehman Brothers was published last week, documenting all of the company's shady financial practices which led to its doom. Why does this matter to the Ohio governor's race? John Kasich was a managing partner at Lehman for several years, right up until the bitter end in 2008. Ted Strickland is putting some pointed questions to Kasich, whose response so far has been extremely feeble.
FL-08: Sarah Palin's gotten mixed up in the race to take on Rep. Alan Grayson, firing some broadsides at the Democrat during a recent trip to Orlando. Grayson did not let this challenge go unanswered.
KY-03: Tacked on to a Louisville mayoral poll, SUSA included a sort of unusually-worded question about Dem Rep. John Yarmuth's re-elects. They asked voters if they would vote for or against Yarmuth "no matter who else is on the ballot," with a not sure "until I know who else is on the ballot" option. Yarmuth scored 27-23-48. It still seems that Yarmuth's only challenger so far is a dude who owns a bunch of Pizza Huts.
NY-14: EMILY's List has finally done something right: They're endorsing Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a longtime advocate for women's issues, in her primary fight against Some Dude Reshma Saujani.
NY-23: After months of sounding pretty serious about a bid, state Assemblyman Will Barclay has decided to pass on a race against Dem Rep. Bill Owens. Barclay's exit greatly improves the chances of Club For Growth nutter Doug Hoffman in the GOP primary, where his main rival now appears to be investment banker Matt Doheny, who lost the special election nomination to Dede Scozzafava last fall. (JL)
OK-05: The Republican primary to succeed Mary Fallin in the House just gets bigger and bigger. State Rep. Shane Jett is now the sixth candidate in a field that includes state Rep. Mike Thompson, former state Rep. Kevin Calvey, and Some Other Dudes. (JL)
IL-Lt. Gov: The 38 members of the IL Dem central committee will hold interviews with prospective candidates around the state next week and then pick a replacement Lt. Gov. nominee on March 27.
