FRIDAY’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.
* Former Sen. Norm Coleman’s (R-Minn.) lead attorney now assumes his client will lose its case pending before the three-judge panel. He also assumes that Al Franken’s lead is going to get bigger. But the lawyer is nevertheless looking forward to additional litigation on appeal.
* The National Republican Senatorial Committee had a fairly strong fundraising month in February, and was able to bring down its post-election debt from $4 million to $2.7 million.
* Gentry Collins, a prominent Republican activist in Iowa and the former political director of the Republican Governors Association, is joining Michael Steele’s team at the RNC as political director for the national party.
* Actor and former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) said a Republican victory in the special election in New York’s 20th later this month would be “a very public repudiation” of the Democratic Party. Does Thompson realize it’s a pretty conservative district that Republicans are supposed to win?
* Businessman and venture capitalist Rick Snyder, decrying “professional politicians,” is eyeing a gubernatorial campaign in Michigan. If he runs, Snyder will join a crowded Republican field.
* California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) seemed awfully impressed with President Obama yesterday.
* In the campaign to support the Employee Free Choice Act, labor activists are planning to use the “Rush Limbaugh strategy.”
* Mitt Romney’s political action committee has raised $571,000 this year, but he’s only distributed $16,000 of the haul to Republican candidates.
* At least one Republican lawmaker, Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.), is already running anti-Obama robo-calls in her district about an administration proposal — charging insurance companies for troops’ service-related industries — that the White House has already dropped.
