WEDNESDAY’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. George Radanovich (R-Calif.) became the 13th House Republican to announce he won’t seek re-election yesterday. Though there will likely be a crowded GOP primary, the district is expected to remain in GOP hands — McCain won here with 52% last year, and Bush won the district with 61% in 2004.
* Massachusetts state Sen. Scott Brown, the Republican nominee in the special election to fill Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat, launched his first television ad of the race today. The GOP candidate uses the ad to try to tie himself to JFK’s legacy. Brown will face state Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) on Jan. 19.
* Former Sen. Mark Dayton (D), as part of his gubernatorial campaign, announced yesterday that he’s been taking medication for many years to treat depression. Dayton, a recovering alcoholic, also conceded that he briefly began drinking again towards the end of his one term in the Senate. “I am a candidate for governor and I think people have a right to know this about me,” he said yesterday.
* Perhaps concerned about this standing back home, Sen. Ben Nelson (D) of Nebraska is launching a new television ad tonight explaining his position on health care reform. In light of all the distortions, Nelson says in the spot, “I want you to hear directly from me.”
* And while there’s still no official word, former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R) continues to move closer to challenging Sen. John McCain in a Republican primary in Arizona next year. Hayworth, who became a right-wing radio talk-show host after losing his re-election bid in 2006 told his listeners this week that “we may have moved past due diligence into something that is more than a legal term of art … something called ‘testing the waters.’ So stay tuned on that.”
