Friday Late Night Round-Up

Readers: The Guru is going to be traveling extensively over the next two weeks, keeping me from posting every day. Please treat every post as a wide open thread, and offer links to any stories I might miss! And please contribute via the Expand the Map! ActBlue page.

New Mexico: With Pete Domenici having announced his retirement yesterday, we know that Republican Heather Wilson will run for the Senate in 2008 and Democrat Tom Udall will not run for the Senate. Governor Bill Richardson, focused on his Presidential campaign, is adamant that he will not run for Senate in 2008 either. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish, who has been running for Governor, is considering the possibility of shifting gears and running for Senate. Also, the DSCC reminds us that the allegedly-moderate Heather Wilson, who is embroiled in the same U.S. Attorney scandal as Domenici, has a record of supporting George W. Bush 85% of the time. There is even a Heather Wilson Quiz to test your knowledge of her real record.

Colorado: A new poll puts the Colorado race in a statistical dead heat, with Congressman Mark Udall leading former Rep. Bob Schaffer 36-35. The percentage of undecided voters seems rather high, but it is worth noting that even this close poll also finds that Udall has almost double the support of Schaffer among independent voters, 34-19. Further, Udall raised in Q3 over a million dollars and has over $3 million on hand. No word yet on Schaffer's take.

Idaho: Larry Craig is resolute on finishing the rest of his term. Can we expect GOP Lt. Gov. Jim Risch to enter the 2008 Senate race next week? I have a theory that we can, for now, label as "whacky until it actually happens." It goes like this: expecting an open seat, a few Idaho Republicans enter the 2008 Senate GOP primary, fracturing support among the candidates. (So far, this is not too implausible given that a number of Republicans interviewed with Gov. Butch Otter when it looked like there would be an appointment.) With support fractured amid the Republican primary combatants, Craig recognizes that the diminished support he has among the ID-GOP is still strong enough to win a (relatively) widely contested primary. So Craig runs for re-election. Whacky? Maybe. Impossible? Hardly.

Idaho & Alaska: Incompetent NRSC Chairman John Ensign commented on Larry Craig's decision to serve out the remainder of his term rather than resign as he originally suggested it was his intention to do:

He gave us his word that he would do something. He's backing out on us, and I don't think it is the right thing to do.

So Ensign says that when a Senator suggests that he will resign, he ought to follow through, huh? Because I distinctly remember one Ted Stevens threatening to quit the Senate if his precious ANWR drilling bill didn't get passed (which it didn't). In fact, he's threatened to quit time and time again. I wonder if Ensign has any comment on that.

Oregon: Speaker Jeff Merkley, despite the later start of his campaign, raised almost a quarter-million dollars in September alone. He has solid momentum going into a critical Q4.

Minnesota & New Hampshire: Norm Coleman and John Sununu happily take dirty money. Now, I agree that a campaign can't scrutinize over and research the background of every contributor; but when you see "VECO" as an employer, given everything going on in Alaska, it should be a major red flag. (HT: MN Blue)

Kentucky: Mitch McConnell raised $1.55 million in Q3, bringing his cash on hand to $6.8 million. Nevertheless, all the money in the world won't put Mitch on the correct side of the issues.