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.
* Two more extreme candidates in Tennessee’s gubernatorial primary effectively knocked each other out, clearing the way for Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam to win the GOP nomination. He’ll face businessman Mike McWherter (D) in November.
* Also in Tennessee, Rep. Steve Cohen (D) easily won his primary fight against former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton, who hoped to make the election about race. It didn’t work.
* The DSCC is now weighing whether to give up entirely on Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s (D) struggling re-election bid in Arkansas.
* Colorado’s Democratic Senate primary may experience a shake-up in light of reports that Denver’s school system, in 2008, relied on an “exotic” financial transaction that put the district in deeper debt. Sen. Michael Bennet (D) was superintendent of the school system at the time.
* Speaking of Colorado, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper (D), this year’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee, has asked university president Joe Garcia to be his running mate. Garcia would be the state’s first Hispanic lieutenant governor.
* Despite being a D.C. corporate lobbyist, Dan Coats (R) is still leading Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D) in Indiana’s U.S. Senate race, 50% to 35%.
* In Florida, the latest Mason-Dixon polls show Rick Scott leading the Republican gubernatorial primary, and Jeff Greene leading the Democratic Senate primary.
* Scott, meanwhile, is being accused of hiding details about nearly a dozen lawsuits, which portray his company “as a ruthless employer who discriminated or cut corners in pursuit of profit.”
* In Arizona, U.S. Senate candidate John Dougherty has accused his Democratic primary challenger, Rodney Glassman, “of being homophobic, and said he needs to address a comment he made about openly gay Tucson Councilwoman Karin Uhlich.”
* And speaking of Arizona, former Vice President Dan Quayle’s son, Ben Quayle, is a 33-year old Republican congressional candidate, with a new direct mail piece. It shows him with two young girls, along with text that notes how proud he is to be raising his family in the district. The mailing is drawing attention, though, because the girls in the picture are someone else’s daughters.
