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:
* In Wisconsin, potential U.S. Senate candidates are scrambling for position in the wake of Herb Kohl’s retirement. On the GOP side, Rep. Paul Ryan will announce this week whether he’s running, and if he doesn’t, former Gov. Tommy Thompson is reportedly interested. On the Democratic side, Reps. Tammy Baldwin and Ron Kind are both eyeing the race, with former Sen. Russ Feingold also in the mix.
* West Virginia held its gubernatorial primaries over the weekend, and acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin easily won the Democratic nod. Among Republicans, the GOP establishment rallied behind former Secretary of State Betty Ireland, but drilling executive Bill Maloney won fairly easily.
* Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney tried to resolve his health care troubles last week, but Fox News doesn’t appear to be buying it.
* South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) was asked yesterday whether she’d consider a GOP vice presidential nomination in 2012. She said she would not, adding, “I plan on committing to the people of this state my full four years in office.”
* With Rep. Thad McCotter (R) announcing he will not run for the Senate in 2012, Michigan Republicans still don’t have a top-tier opponent to run against Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D).
* One of Newt Gingrich’s daughters insists the GOP presidential candidate didn’t dump his first wife when she got cancer. That’s true, but Gingrch did argue with his first wife at the hospital as she recovered from cancer surgery over the terms of their divorce.
* Rep. Michele Bachman (R-Minn.) hasn’t decided whether to run for president, and she’s asking donors to help her out. In an email last week, the right-wing Minnesotan wrote, “If you want me to continue fighting the big-government Obama agenda in the U.S. House of Representatives, please make a generous donation of $25. If you want me to seek the Presidency, please make a donation of $50 or even $100 to let me know I can count on you.”
