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:<\/p>\n
* Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) is considered a key GOP target in 2006 and has enjoyed lukewarm<\/a> poll support of late, but in a new statewide survey<\/a>, Granholm’s support appears be rebounding nicely. The governor’s job approval and favorability ratings remain above 50 percent, nearly unchanged since March, and in a head-to-head match-up against her likely Republican opponent, Amway Corp.’s Dick DeVos, Granholm enjoys a sizable 51-33 lead.<\/p>\n * Though Tennessee Republicans have had trouble recruiting a top-tier candidate to take on Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) next year, they think they may have finally found a winner: former senator and current TV actor Fred Thompson<\/a>. Bush recently tapped Thompson to lead the confirmation process for a new Supreme Court justice, renewing speculation about the Law & Order star’s interest in politics. GOP Chairman Bob Davis Jr. confirmed there has been talk about Thompson running for governor, but there’s been no comment from Thompson or his aides. (One wonders if he’d be willing to take the pay cut…)<\/p>\n * Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) looked and sounded like a presidential candidate over the weekend, campaigning in New Hampshire<\/a> for the first time. Bayh acknowledged that he’ll be coming back again (and again). “Is it early? There’s no doubt about that,” Bayh told reporters. “That’s the nature of the process. In order to do it and do it well, you have to start early.”<\/p>\n * Former FBI whistle-blower Coleen Rowley (D) made her congressional campaign official last week, announcing that she will take on<\/a> two-term GOP Rep. John Kline in Minnesota’s 2nd District. Rowley admitted to previously having been a Republican — even voting for Bush in 2000 — but has shifted her party allegiance. “What changed is not me, but the whole Republican Party has changed,” she said.<\/p>\n * In a disturbing twist on the celebrities-in-politics trend, Ted Nugent said he’s “getting real close<\/a>” to launching a gubernatorial campaign in Michigan. He even summarized his platform: “To show you how radical I am, I want carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want ’em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot ’em.” (via Taegan Goddard<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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: * Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) is considered a key GOP target in 2006 and has enjoyed lukewarm poll support of late, but in a new statewide survey, Granholm’s support appears be rebounding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4662\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}