FRIDAY’S CAMPAIGN ROUND-UP…. Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that won’t necessarily generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:
* Five Republican presidential candidates gathered for a debate last night in South Carolina. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) didn’t watch it, and I have to admit, neither did I. Apparently, the participants, mostly second- and third-tier candidates, repeated a lot of tired falsehoods.
* Fox News formally terminated its contracts with Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum yesterday, as both prepare to formally launch their Republican presidential campaigns.
* Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D) conceded on the record yesterday that he’s likely to run for another term in a state outside his Cleveland-area district. “If I don’t have anywhere I can run in Ohio, I have to start thinking about what my options are,” he said.
* To the disappointment of the state Republican Party, Nevada Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki (R) announced yesterday that he won’t run in the special election in the 2nd congressional district.
* On a related note, now that Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller (D) has said the special election will be open to all qualifying candidates regardless of party, the Nevada Republican Party has filed a lawsuit. The GOP wants to nominate its own candidate.
* Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) formally took her party’s reins this week, getting elected chair of the Democratic National Committee. She’s the first woman ever to be nominated by a sitting president to lead a national party.
* Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) this week became the first 2012 presidential candidate to open a campaign office in Iowa.
* Arizona is one of the nation’s more reliable “red” states in presidential politics, but the latest survey from Public Policy Polling shows President Obama pretty competitive in the state, leading most of the GOP field and trialing Mitt Romney by only four points in a hypothetical match-up.
* Though he continues to have trouble with his state’s redistricting map, PPP shows Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) with a big lead over Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder (R) in next year’s gubernatorial race.
