Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:
* Over the weekend, New York gubernatorial candidate William Weld’s (R) campaign was caught manipulating news accounts before publishing them on the campaign’s website. Without notifying readers, Weld’s campaign removed anything negative relating to the candidate, but presented the articles as if they were complete. Yesterday, the site was changed and the campaign pledged to end the practice.
* North Carolina Democratic congressional hopeful Heath Shuler has enjoyed unusually strong fundraising of late and seems to be raising concerns among Republicans who think he might win. Shuler, a former University of Tennessee football star and NFL quarterback, raised nearly $175,000 in the last three months of 2005, as part of his campaign against eight-term GOP incumbent Charles Taylor.
* How bad are things going for Ralph Reed’s campaign in Georgia? On Friday, 21 of Georgia’s 34 Republican state senators signed a letter urging Reed to withdraw from the race, saying his involvement in the Abramoff scandal “threatens to impact the entire Republican ticket.”
* New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) has announced that he will not call for a special election to fill the seat left vacant by Sen. Bob Menendez (D). Corzine said the election would cost $2.6 million, which is too much. On a related note, Corzine and several top party leaders have thrown their support behind Assemblyman/West New York Mayor Albio Sires (D), who plans to run in November.
* The WaPo’s Dan Balz and Chris Cillizza did a good piece today on how just “a handful” of races may tip control of Congress in November. Balz and Cillizza list several of the closest races to watch.