Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that won’t necessarily generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:
* With just two weeks to go in South Carolina’s congressional special election, VoteVets Action Fund has a new ad, slamming former Gov. Mark Sanford (R) for having abandoned his post to meet up with his mistress. “If I had abandoned my post, I could be court-martialed,” retired National Guard Colonel Barry Wingard says in the ad.
* The VoteVets commercial comes on the heels of a similarly tough ad from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which spent $205,000 in airtime last week.
* With a week to go before the primaries in Massachusetts’ Senate special election, a Western New England University Polling Institute survey shows Rep. Ed Markey with a 10-point lead in the Democratic race, and Gabriel Gomez with a narrower lead among Republicans.
* On a related note, Markey received an endorsement over the weekend from the Boston Globe.
* House Republicans only have a 17-seat majority and are a little worried about the 2014 midterms. With this in mind, the National Republican Congressional Committee is launching its “Patriot Program,” intended to provide support to the party’s most endangered incumbents. The first round features 11 GOP incumbents, most of whom represent districts won by President Obama in 2012.
* In a bit of a surprise, auto-industry lobbyist Debbie Dingell has decided not to run for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat next year. Dingell is also married to Rep. John Dingell (D).
* Speaking of Senate races, the DSCC raised $13.7 million in the first quarter of 2013, nearly double its Republican counterparts. * Similarly, the DCCC outraised the NRCC in the first quarter, $22.6 million to $17.5 million, despite the House Republican majority. * To the disappointment of his party, Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) announced Friday he will not run against Sen. Al Franken (D) in 2014. * And former President George W. Bush really hopes his brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, runs for president in 2016. Asked if the country is ready for yet another president with his last name, George W. Bush replied, “That’s for Jeb to figure out, you know what I mean?”
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