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.
* Howard Dean argued yesterday that “there will be primaries” for Democratic lawmakers who oppose a public option as part of health care reform.
* It’s a Democratic pollster, so take the results with a grain of salt, but a Democracy Corps survey shows New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) trailing former U.S. attorney Chris Christie (R) by just six points, 43% to 37%. Obviously, an incumbent with 37% support is awful, but the margin suggests the race may be getting closer.
* A new Research 2000 poll for Daily Kos shows the Democratic Senate primary in Pennsylvania getting much more competitive. Sen. Arlen Specter now leads Rep. Joe Sestak by 15, 48% to 33%. That may sound like a large gap, but the same pollster showed the incumbent leading by 45 points in May. While Rasmussen recently found Republican Pat Toomey leading either Dem in a hypothetical general election match-up, R2K found Specter and Sestak with narrow leads.
* In California, a Research 2000 poll for Daily Kos shows a wide-open contest in next year’s gubernatorial campaign. State Attorney General Jerry Brown seems to enjoy an edge in the Democratic primary and in hypothetical general election match-ups, but it is still, as Markos put it, “anyone’s ballgame.”
* On a related note, the same poll looked at next year’s Senate race in California. At this point, incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) enjoys leads of over 20 points against both of her likely Republican challengers.
* In next year’s Senate race in Connecticut, the Republican field may get a little bigger, with Linda McMahon, the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, weighing a campaign. A source close to McMahon said that she is “seriously considering” the race.
