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:
* Earlier this week, New York Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R) said he wanted to see Jeanine Pirro drop out of the Senate race against Hillary Clinton. Yesterday, Rep. John Sweeney, a prominent upstate Republican, joined Bruno in calling for Pirro to give up on the Senate and run for state attorney general. “I have told her privately I think there is no doubt she could win as attorney general,” Sweeney told the NY Times. “I’m nudging her.”
* In Illinois, GOP leaders are pleased to see state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka (R) join the gubernatorial race, but are unhappy about the size of the current field. Yesterday, state party Chairman Andrew McKenna began pushing the crowded field of five contenders to take a hard look at their chances to win. McKenna has planned a meeting with the five for tomorrow, at which point he’ll show some of them polling data as a way to encourage some of them to quit the race.
* Similarly, in Ohio, state GOP leaders hope to winnow their field of three top-tier gubernatorial candidates to perhaps one. Currently, Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell (R), State Attorney General Jim Petro (R), and State Auditor Betty Montgomery (R) are continuing their campaigns, but with Dems rallying behind U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland (D), the pressure is on to avoid a bruising primary fight. The AP reported that the party plans to “conduct a poll before the Feb. 16 candidate filing deadline,” hoping that “the results will persuade at least one candidate to seek another office.” (via Taegan Goddard)
* Speaking of Ohio, with Rep. Sherrod Brown (D) running for the Senate, several Dems are planning to run for Brown’s seat. As a sign of a possible Dem resurgence in Ohio, five Dem candidates are expected to compete in the solidly “blue” district.
* Rep. Melissa Hart (R-Pa.) has been a long-time target for Dems, but she’s never finished below 59% in her three runs for Congress. According to National Journal, however, a top-tier Dem is eyeing the race. Former Rep. Ron Klink (D), who gave Rick Santorum a relatively tough Senate race in 2000, is mulling a comeback in the district he used to represent.
* And in Vermont, Dems had no intention of running a candidate against Rep. Bernie Sanders (I) for the state’s open Senate race next year, but a 61-year-old plumber intends to complicate things. Larry Drown, who’s twice run unsuccessfully for statewide office as a Republican, now claims to be a Dem and wants to be a senator. Dem officials suggested Drown may have a little trouble collecting the required number of signatures to get on the ballot.