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:
* The reports of Roy Moore’s popularity in Alabama may have been exaggerated. A new poll conducted by the Mobile Register and the University of South Alabama shows incumbent Gov. Gov. Bob Riley (R) with healthy leads in hypothetical general election match-ups over the two most likely Dem gubernatorial candidates, former governor Don Siegelman and Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley. Moore, meanwhile, in the same poll, trailed Baxley by 11 points (44% to 33%) and was tied with Siegelman at 40%.
* Former Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Bill Scranton (R) formally announced his candidacy for governor last night. Scranton, predictably, criticized Gov. Ed Rendell (D) and lamented he termed “Pennsylvania’s tradition of automatic re-election.” A recent statewide poll showed Scranton trailing Rendell by 13 points, (47% to 34%).
* In Washington state, Republican National Committeewoman Diane Tebelius announced that she is giving up her Senate campaign. Tebelius has been under pressure from the state GOP to clear the way for former Safeco insurance company executive Mike McGavick (R). She endorsed McGavick upon her withdrawal.
* In related news, the candidate McGavick is taking on, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), has the opposite problem — Washington businessman Mark Wilson is making plans to challenge Cantwell from the left. It’s hard to gauge just how serious a threat Wilson might be. He ran against Rep. Jay Inslee (D) in 2002 as a libertarian and generated very little interest, then ran as independent against Sen. Patty Murray (D) last year with about as much success.
* A Chicago Tribune/WGN poll shows Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s (D) approval rating improving a little, to 39%, while only 35% of Illinois voters support giving him a second term. Illinois Republicans, meanwhile, strongly favor State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka (R) as their gubernatorial nominee over dairy magnate Jim Oberweis, but Topinka has not yet said whether she’ll run.