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.
* Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-S.C.) office insists it had nothing to do with Alvin Greene winning the Democratic Senate nomination in South Carolina this week. I’m inclined to believe that, since DeMint had no incentive to launch such a scheme, but that doesn’t make Greene’s success any easier to explain.
* On a related note, Greene is starting to talk to the media more, and he appears to be … how do I put this kindly … in way over his head.
* In Nevada, unhinged Senate nominee Sharron Angle (R) not only promoted a controversial, Scientology-backed drug rehabilitation program as a lawmaker, she also appeared in a promotional video on its behalf.
* Speaking of Nevada, a new Rasmussen poll shows former federal judge Brian Sandoval (R) with a big lead over Clark County Commission Chair Rory Reid (D) in their gubernatorial race, 54% to 31%.
* California Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Jerry Brown yesterday compared Meg Whitman’s (R) propaganda efforts to Joseph Goebbels. He later said it was “jogging talk” that was “taken out of context.”
* The latest “Birther” to run for Congress? Republican Andy Harris, who’s challenging Rep. Frank Kratovil (D) in Maryland.
* A Democratic group called Commonsense Ten is getting to work, intended to counter some of the independent groups raising money to support Republicans in the midterms. The founding members of Commonsense Ten are “former Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee executive director Jim Jordan, Monica Dixon, a former aide to Al Gore and Sen. Mark Warner, and veteran party operative Jeff Forbes.”
* And in South Carolina, more than half of Republican voters want someone more right-wing than Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) representing them, suggesting he might have trouble in a primary. Fortunately for him, he’s not up until 2012.
