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.
* To the delight of the DSCC, Iraq war veteran and former state Sen. Cal Cunningham (D) announced that he’s running to take on Sen. Richard Burr (R) in North Carolina next year. Cunningham will face Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and attorney Ken Lewis in a Democratic primary.
* Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) is still looking extremely vulnerable in his re-election fight next year. A new Mason-Dixon poll shows his approval rating at just 38%, and he trails both of his Republican challengers in hypothetical match-ups.
* A Research 2000 poll for Daily Kos shows Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D) of Arkansas faring better against her GOP rivals than this week’s Rasmussen poll, but just as important, it also shows her vulnerable to a possible primary challenge by Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, who has expressed an interest in the race.
* The DSCC’s loss is the DGA’s gain — Houston Mayor Bill White (D) will end his Senate campaign in Texas today and announce that he’s running for governor, instead.
* It appears that former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) may not be running for governor after all.
* Former Rep. John Hostettler (R), who suffered a crushing defeat in 2006, has decided to take on Sen. Evan Bayh (D) in Indiana next year. Bayh remains the favorite.
* Illinois state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (D), the frontrunner for the Democratic Senate nomination, launched his first television ad yesterday. The primary is in February.
* And Lou Dobbs’ political career is apparently off to a rough start — yesterday, he lost the support of anti-immigrant group Americans for Legal Immigration.
