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:
* Colorado’s gubernatorial race got a lot clearer yesterday when the Secretary of State’s office said that that Republican [tag]Marc Holtzman[/tag] did not collect the necessary petition signatures to get on the August primary ballot. Holtzman reportedly fell 743 signatures short. His would-be primary opponent, Rep. [tag]Bob Beauprez[/tag] (R), will now be able to focus exclusively on former Denver District Attorney [tag]Bill Ritter[/tag] (D).
* Dems in California will choose their gubernatorial nominee on Tuesday, but they don’t seem sure who they’ll vote for. According to a new Field Poll, [tag]Steve Westly[/tag] enjoys a very narrow lead over [tag]Phil Angelides[/tag], 35% to 34%. With less than five days to go, more than one-in-four Dems (26%) are still undecided.
* In Massachusetts, Dems in the gubernatorial race are matching one high-profile endorsement with another. Yesterday, state House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi (D) leaked word that he will endorse state Attorney General [tag]Thomas Reilly[/tag], while Sen. [tag]Barack Obama[/tag] campaigned for [tag]Deval Patrick[/tag] at a pre-state-convention rally.
* The Dems’ Senate primary in Montana got a little thinner this week when [tag]Paul Richards[/tag], a low-budget candidate, dropped out of the race and threw his support behind state Senate President [tag]Jon Tester[/tag] (D). Tester will face state Auditor [tag]John Morrison[/tag] in a Dem primary next week, the winner of which will take on Abramoff-plagued Sen. [tag]Conrad Burns[/tag] (R).
* And in New York, gubernatorial candidate [tag]Bill Weld[/tag] (R) suffered an embarrassing setback last night when [tag]John Faso[/tag] won a surprising victory at the state GOP convention. Faso, the far more conservative candidate, drew 61.2% of the delegate vote, while Weld was left with just 38.8%. The New York Daily News noted that Faso’s emergence was a setback for Gov. Pataki and state GOP boss Steve Minarik, both of whom had been aiding the Weld effort.