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:
* With Sen. Jon Corzine (D) doing well in New Jersey’s gubernatorial race, Rep. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) is working furiously to position himself as Corzine’s replacement. As part of his efforts, Menendez has been showing up on the Senate side of the Hill with increasing frequency, hoping to make connections and prove he belongs. The initiative has included Menendez weighing in on the nuclear option so much that he was the lone House member among leading senators in a photo op after last week’s compromise was struck. If Corzine wins, he’ll tap his own replacement to serve out the balance of his term, who will in turn have to run for re-election a year later, in 2006.
* Illinois state Sen. Steve Rauschenberger (R) has put the likelihood that he will run for governor next year at “90 percent or better.” He already has money in the bank, a finance committee, top-level campaign staffers, and some experience in statewide politics after his unsuccessful Senate campaign last year. Dairy owner Jim Oberweis is the only other announced Republican in the race, though others are likely to throw their hats into the ring, including state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, Rep. Ray LaHood, DuPage County State Attorney Joe Birkett, businessman Ron Gidwitz, state Sen. Bill Brady, and former state Sen. Patrick O’Malley.
* Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist (R) is hoping to get a boost for his gubernatorial campaign in two weeks with an appearance by Donald Trump. Crist forged a relationship with Trump in 1998 at a charity event and the two have remained close.
* Speaking of Florida, Rep. Katherine Harris (R) is moving closer to a Senate campaign and will sit down this week with her family and political advisors to plot a strategy for the coming months.
* Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), unlike most of his colleagues, isn’t shy about sharing his ambition for higher office. During a recent visit to Harvard University, where he went to undergrad and law school, Davis acknowledged that he plans to run for either governor or the U.S. Senate by the end of the decade. If he pursues the statehouse, Davis would be Alabama’s first black governor.
* And once again proving that the race is being fueled by pure enmity for one another, New Jersey’s Republican gubernatorial primary produced more fireworks yesterday, when Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler and businessman Doug Forrester interrupted a Bergenfield Memorial Day celebration with a heated impromptu debate. The two argued literally in the middle of a street, delaying the town’s annual parade.