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.
* Vote counting continues in New York’s 23rd. The chances of overturning the results appear, at this point, to be “highly remote.”
* A new Rasmussen poll in Texas shows incumbent Gov. Rick Perry (R) leading his primary challenger, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) by double digits, 46% to 35%.
* Taking the Republican divisions up a notch, Florida’s Marco Rubio (R) has been named the keynote speaker for next year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, which will no doubt be a boost for his Senate campaign against Gov. Charlie Crist (R). As Evan McMorris-Santoro noted, “It’s hard to overstate the importance of a CPAC appearance for a conservative politician.”
* In the upcoming special election in Massachusetts to fill Ted Kennedy’s old Senate seat, state attorney general Martha Coakley (D) is the frontrunner, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will throw her support to Coakley’s principal rival, Rep. Michael Capuano (D), in the Democratic primary.
* Former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R) is apparently thinking about running for governor next year in Colorado. If Tancredo runs as a Republican, he’ll face former Rep. Scott McInnis in a GOP primary.
* Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-N.C.) will make an announcement either today or tomorrow as to whether he’ll run for the Senate next year against incumbent Sen. Richard Burr (R). If Etheridge runs, he’ll start off as the underdog — a new survey (pdf) from Public Policy Polling has Burr leading Etheridge by 10.
* Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) claims he’s not moving sharply to the right in advance of next year’s Senate race. There’s ample evidence to the contrary.
* Florida Republicans have a candidate to take on Rep. Alan Grayson (D) next year; they just don’t like him very much.
* Might Ralph Nader run for the Senate in Connecticut next year? It’s possible.
