TUESDAY’S CAMPAIGN ROUND-UP…. Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t necessarily generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:
* The 2012 Democratic National Convention will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina next year, edging out St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Cleveland.
* The Republican National Committee announced yesterday it’s now $23 million in debt, a budget hole with no modern precedent for a major political party.
* U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman formally delivered a letter of resignation to President Obama yesterday, and will depart on April 30. It is widely believed that Huntsman, despite serving in the Obama administration for more than two years, will seek the Republican presidential nomination.
* In Montana, Republicans have recruited the Senate candidate they wanted — Rep. Denny Rehberg (R) will take on Sen. Jon Tester (D) next year. Businessman Steve Daines, the other Republican in the race, is expected to drop out and run instead for Rehberg’s House seat.
* The National Republican Trust helped elect Sen. Scott Brown (R) in Massachusetts a year ago, but announced yesterday that it hopes to defeat Brown in a GOP primary in 2012.
* Sen. Herb Kohl (D) of Wisconsin hasn’t officially said whether he’ll seek re-election next year, but in the last quarter of 2010, he loaned his campaign $1 million, which should make his intentions clear.
* On a related note, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) told a local reporter yesterday that he’ll seek a 25th term next year.
* Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) says he’s not running for president in 2012, but told a group in Las Vegas yesterday, “If I ran for office, I would be a proud younger brother of George W. Bush and a proud son of George H.W. Bush.” I suspect Democrats wouldn’t have it any other way.
