Wednesday’s political round-up

My new daily feature about campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may nevertheless be of interest to political observers:

* Doris Matsui, the widow of Rep. Robert Matsui (D-Calif.), cruised to an easy victory yesterday in a special election to fill her late husband’s seat. She avoided a run-off by winning about 72% of the overall vote and 88% among Democrats. She will be sworn in officially tomorrow.

* In the Los Angeles mayoral race, Antonio Villaraigosa ran well ahead of the pack, and won a spot in a May run-off election. It’s unclear whether he’ll face incumbent Mayor James Hahn or Bob Hertzberg, who were running neck-in-neck for second place.

* Howard Dean hasn’t been chairman of the DNC very long, but party fundraising is already going very well under his leadership. (Say one thing about those Deaniancs, they put their money where their mouths are.)

* Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) is supposed to be a key target for Republicans next year, but his chances keep improving as would-be rivals take a pass on the race. First, Agriculture Secretary (and former Nebraska governor) Mike Johanns (R) said no, then Rep. Tom Osborne (R) withdrew his name from consideration. Yesterday, State Attorney General Jon Bruning (R) announced he’d run for re-election instead of challenging Nelson.

* No one’s sure if New York Gov. George Pataki (R) will run for re-election in 2006, but if he does, he’ll enter the race as a big underdog — a new Sienna College poll shows Attorney General Elliot Spitzer (D) leading Pataki 53% to 30%.

* Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) pledged in 1994 that, if elected, he’s only serve two terms. With 2006 approaching, and Democratic Rep. Mark Udall’s announcement that he’ll seek the seat, Allard is under all kinds of pressure from his party to break his promise. If Allard does keep his pledge, Republicans are expected to turn to Rep. Bob Beauprez as their candidate, unless he runs for governor.

* California Treasurer Phil Angelides (D) plans to announce next week that he’s taking on Arnold Schwarzenegger in next year’s governor’s race.

* Erik Winborn, Wal-Mart’s chief lobbyist, just resigned.

* Joe Piscopo said yesterday he’d actually consider running for governor in New Jersey if enough voters ask him to. “If there were enough people that said, ‘Run, Joe, run! We are so ticked off. You’ve got to be there for us,’ then I would consider it very seriously.”