WEDNESDAY’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:
* Former White House chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel won Chicago’s mayoral race yesterday, cruising to a fairly easy victory.
* Speaking of mayoral races, voters in Kansas City, Mo., ousted incumbent Mayor Mark Funkhouser yesterday. He’s the first K.C. mayor in more than 80 years to be denied a second term.
* The right-wing American Crossroads GPS, created in part by Karl Rove, is launching radio ads targeting 22 House Democrats. The attack: these Dems aren’t doing enough to support brutal, job-killing spending cuts.
* The NRSC has high expectations in the race against Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) in Missouri next year, but so far, high-profile candidates are skipping the contest. Yesterday, Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R) said she, too, isn’t going to run in the statewide contest.
* The GOP primary in Virginia’s U.S. Senate race is getting a little crowded. Virginia Beach attorney David McCormick is the latest to launch a campaign in the commonwealth.
* At an event in Nevada yesterday, scandal-plagued Sen. John Ensign (R) was asked by an elderly constituent, “Have you repented to God for your affair?” He said he has.
* On a related note, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is getting increasingly optimistic about the party’s chances against Ensign, and committee officials have lined up meetings with a series of prospective candidates, including Rep. Shelley Berkley (D).
* Republicans probably shouldn’t invest too heavily against Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D) in Rhode Island next year — a new survey from Public Policy Polling shows him looking very strong.
* And in case there were any lingering doubts about his intentions, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) was in Iowa this week, meeting with Iowa’s governor and other state GOP leaders.
