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:
* In Colorado’s open Senate race, former Denver District Attorney [tag]Bill Ritter[/tag] (D) and Rep. [tag]Bob Beauprez[/tag] (R) are just about tied in the latest Rasmussen poll, with Beauprez edging ahead, 39% to 37%. Ritter fared much better against former University of Denver President [tag]Marc Holtzman[/tag] (R), leading 41% to 36%.
* The bizarre race to replace [tag]Tom DeLay[/tag] in Texas’ 22nd — the GOP candidate will be picked by local Republican leaders, not GOP primary voters — led to a series of interviews over the weekend between candidates and the party precinct chairmen from the four counties in the congressional district. The participants were lawyer [tag]Tom Campbell[/tag], Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, state Rep. Robert Talton of Pasadena, state Rep. Charlie Howard, state Sen. Mike Jackson, businessman Timothy Turner, and Fort Bend County Commissioner Andy Meyers. The eventual candidate will face former Rep. [tag]Nick Lampson[/tag] (D) in November.
* Once thought a shoe-in for a second term in a very Republican state, Georgia Gov. [tag]Sonny Perdue[/tag] (R) seems to have slipped of late. A new Rasmussen poll shows Perdue losing his once-huge lead over Georgia Secretary of State [tag]Cathy Cox[/tag] (D), with the race down to just six points, 48% to 42%. Perdue fared better against Lt. Gov. [tag]Mark Taylor[/tag] (D), leading 51% to 36%.
* Rep. [tag]Harold Ford[/tag] (D) has still not quite broken through in the race to replace Bill Frist as Tennessee’s senator. In a new Rasmussen poll, former Chattanooga Mayor [tag]Bob Corker[/tag] (R) leads Ford 43% to 39%; former Rep. [tag]Van Hilleary[/tag] tops Ford, 47% to 38%; and former Rep. [tag]Ed Bryant[/tag] (R) is ahead, 44% to 36%.
* During his 16 years in New York’s legislature, Republican gubernatorial hopeful [tag]John Faso[/tag] missed nearly 1,700 votes — despite living just 30 miles south of the Capitol. Faso’s rival, former Massachusetts Gov. [tag]William Weld[/tag], called the record “shocking and disappointing.”
* And speaking of New York, Sen. [tag]Hillary Clinton[/tag] prepared a very funny video for Albany’s Legislative Correspondence Association (LCA), featuring an all-star cast of some of New York’s biggest players. It’s about six minutes, and there are some jokes that specifically apply to New York that the rest of us won’t quite get, but it’s still very much worth watching.