TUESDAY’S CAMPAIGN ROUND-UP….Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers.
* Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) will not challenge Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) next year, and it’s not altogether clear who might. Burr is considered vulnerable, but no top-tier Democrat has thrown his or her hat into the ring.
* Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) continues to struggle in his home state. A new Quinnipiac poll shows Dodd trailing former Rep. Rob Simmons (R) in a hypothetical match-up, 43% to 42%.
* If Republican Jim Tedisco loses what should be a fairly easy race in N.Y. 20’s special election in a couple of weeks, is RNC Chairman Michael Steele’s job on the line? “Absolutely.”
* Speaking of Steele, he’s now drawing fire from his party’s debt-ridden campaign committees for allegedly slashing funds former RNC Chairman Mike Duncan had offered the NRCC and NRSC before he left.
* Sen. Jim Bunning, the erratic Kentucky Republican facing a tough re-election fight next year, has done some recent polling, but he’s feeling shy about the results. Asked this morning about the poll’s results, the senator told reporters this morning, “[I]t’s none of your goddamn business.”
* Rick Santorum gave Arlen Specter a boost in 2004. Will he do so again in 2010? We’ll see.
* Is Karl Rove helping Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s (R) gubernatorial campaign in Texas?
* And Jon Vogel is returning to the DCCC, this time as its new executive director.
