Friday’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:
* Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D) will announce today that he is retiring at the end of this term, ending a 30-year career in the Senate. His departure is sure to spark a massive party scramble in this very Blue state, further complicated by the fact that there’s also a governor’s race next year. Possible Dem candidates include Reps. Albert Wynn and Chris Van Hollen, Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan, and Kweisi Mfume, a former congressman who recently stepped down from the presidency of the NAACP. Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley could be in the mix, except he’s more likely to run for governor (see below).
* The Georgia House of Representatives, as expected, endorsed its newly-drawn district map yesterday. The vote, also as expected, came largely along party lines and moves to the Georgia Senate before heading to the governor’s desk.
* Karen Hughes, Bush’s closest advisor, is returning to help counsel the president. (She returned to Texas in 2002, citing family responsibilities.) The Washington Post said Hughes will not be a formal member of the White House staff but “will take on a specific and particularly important assignment involving international affairs.” (Considering that Hughes has no foreign policy experience, one has to assume she’s the ideal person for the job.)
* An early SurveyUSA poll in Pennsylvania showed state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. (D) leading Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum (R) in a possible match-up for next year, 49%-42%. Casey campaign spokesman Marc Farinella said the campaign is “gratified by the results of the surveys,” but said it’s too soon to take anything for granted.
* Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley (D) has begun making phone calls to lawmakers and state players, telling them he intends to run for governor next year, taking on the hapless Bob Ehrlich (R).
* Thomas Kean Jr. (R), a New Jersey state senator and son of the state’s former governor, said yesterday that he’s planning to run for the U.S. Senate next year. You might recognize the Kean name because Thomas Kean Sr. chaired the 9/11 Commission.
* Charles McGee, the former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party was sentenced to seven months in jail yesterday for his role in jamming Dems’ get-out-the-vote phone banks at five state Democratic offices and the non-partisan Manchester Professional Fire Fighters Association on Election Day 2002. The same debacle led to a five-month jail sentence for former GOP marketing specialist Allen Raymond and the indictment of James Tobin, a former high-ranking national GOP operative, who is slated to stand trial in June.
* Dan Cox, a former reporter for Variety and the New York Post, is currently putting the final touches on “Running With Arnold,” a documentary on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s gubernatorial campaign. Lloyd Grove got an advance screening and said he found the movie “an entertaining, if unsettling, account of how Schwarzenegger’s fierce ambition, celebrity, media control and discipline conquered the California electorate and bent it to his will — never mind allegations of groping women, sexual peccadilloes and an alleged past admiration of Adolf Hitler.”
* The fact that Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) voted against Condoleezza Rice’s nomination to become Secretary of State and against that ridiculous bankruptcy bill is further proof that he’s probably running for president.
* Frank Rich is finally returning to the New York Times’ op-ed page.
* And House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, whose arrhythmia was diagnosed years ago, was treated yesterday at Bethesda National Naval Medical Center after experiencing minor fatigue. He underwent some tests, was released, and plans to stick to his plans to go to Florida, Georgia and Texas this weekend.