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.
* In Nevada, a new Las Vegas Review-Journal/Mason Dixon poll shows Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) taking the lead over Sharron Angle (R), 44% to 37%. It’s Reid’s best showing in a Mason-Dixon poll this cycle.
* Multiple news outlets are reporting that West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (D) will appoint his former general counsel, Carte Goodwin, to temporarily fill the Senate vacancy left by the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D). At 36, Goodwin will be the youngest senator in the chamber, replacing the oldest.
* In Colorado, Denver’s Fox affiliate reported that the Republican Governor’s Association has withdrawn its financial support of Scott McInnis’ (R) gubernatorial campaign, and has begun cancelling fundraisers that were previously scheduled for him. McInnis has vowed to stay in the race.
* Former Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Chet Traylor, who’s taking on scandal-plagued Sen. David Vitter in a Republican primary this year, explained yesterday that Vitter has failed to be an “effective senator,” adding that the senator’s missteps amount to more than “personal sins.” Democrats have been saying the same thing for a long while.
* In Connecticut, a new Quinnipiac poll shows state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D) leading former wrestling executive Linda McMahon (R) in this year’s U.S. Senate race, 54% to 37%.
* In Wisconsin, two new polls offer conflicting results. A University of Wisconsin Badger Poll shows Sen. Russ Feingold (D) leading right-wing businessman Ron Johnson (R), 33% to 28%. Rasmussen, which should still be taken with a grain of salt, shows Johnson up by one, 47% to 46%.
* Former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio has raised quite a bit of money for his U.S. Senate race, but he’s spent nearly all of it already.
* And the DNC this morning issued a memorandum, highlighting the differences between 2010 and the last two cycles in which Congress changed party hands (2006 and 1994). It concluded that there is no GOP “wave” on the way.
