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.
* In March, DNC fundraising was even stronger than RNC fundraising, $13 million to $11.4 million. Given that this was the RNC’s strongest-ever March in a non-presidential-election year, the DNC’s total — driven in large part by the success of health care reform — is pretty impressive.
* In Illinois, the latest survey from Public Policy Polling shows Rep. Mark Kirk (R) leading state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (D) in this year’s Senate race, 37% to 33%. Undecided voters total 30%.
* Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate primary appears to be getting increasingly less competitive. A new Quinnipiac poll finds Sen. Arlen Specter leading Rep. Joe Sestak, 53% to 32%.
* Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has invested another $20 million from her own bank account into her Republican gubernatorial campaign in California. Whitman has now spent $59 million of her own money on the race — and it’s only April, and she hasn’t even won her primary yet.
* Rumors are getting pretty loud about Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) considering retirement.
* Speaking of Michigan, a new EPIC/MRA poll shows Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R) out in front in the state’s gubernatorial contest.
* With former Rep. Eric Massa (D) gone, Democratic officials in New York’s 29th are rallying behind Matthew Zeller, an Army veteran with family roots in New York’s Southern Tier, to run this year.
* As expected, Stephene Moore announced yesterday she will run for the seat currently occupied by her husband, retiring Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kan.).
* And in Louisiana, porn star Stormy Daniels had talked about running against scandal-plagued Sen. David Vitter (R), but yesterday, Daniels said she’s joining the GOP. The announcement appeared to be tongue-in-cheek: “It is time again to inspire positive risks and out-of-the-box thinking in the interest of growing a strong economy and a strong America,” Daniels said in a press release. “For me, this spirit can be summed up in the RNC’s investment of donor funds at Voyeur.”
