MONDAY’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.
* With Dems increasingly concerned about the Senate race in Massachusetts, Hari Sevugan, the DNC’s national press secretary, is headed to Boston to help with Martha Coakley’s effort. Bill Clinton will campaign in the state on Friday. The special election is a week from tomorrow.
* Even before the “negro dialect” remarks became a story, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) continues to struggle in his home state. A new Mason-Dixon poll shows him trailing all of his Republican rivals in hypothetical match-ups, and only 33% of voters have a favorable view of the senator.
* Expect North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven (R) to kick off his Senate campaign tonight. It’s an open-seat contest following Sen. Byron Dorgan’s (D) retirement announcement last week.
* Former Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford’s (D) apparent interest in New York’s Senate race continues to grow more serious — he’s starting to staff up.
* In related news, Rep. Pete King (R) announced this morning he isn’t going to run for the Senate in New York next year. Will he change his mind again? It’s certainly possible.
* Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) is obviously worried about the GOP’s right-wing base rejecting him, so he’s trying to present himself as more conservative. Late last week, his Senate campaign launched a half-hearted “petition” campaign to stand up to “Obamacare secrecy” on health care.
* In Pennsylvania, Rep. Jim Gerlach (R) has ended his gubernatorial campaign and will instead seek re-election, but he’ll nevertheless face a primary opponent.
* In four consecutive races, former Rep. Mike Sodrel (R) has gone up against Rep. Baron Hill (D), and they’ve traded victories before Hill’s landslide in 2008. This morning, Sodrel said he’s taking on Hill once again, for the fifth consecutive cycle.
