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:
* Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) announced this morning he will not run for governor next year, and will instead “explore the possibility of running for United States Senate in 2014.” Potential problem: the Senate seat is currently held by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D), who has not yet said whether he intends to retire or seek re-election.
* With Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) likely to become the next Secretary of State, a new WBUR poll of Massachusetts voters shows defeated Sen. Scott Brown (R) as the favorite to win a special election to fill Kerry’s vacancy. Brown has strongly hinted about his intention to run if Kerry moves to the Obama administration’s cabinet.
* The latest Quinnipiac poll in Florida shows voters feeling more optimistic about the state’s future, but the trend isn’t helping Gov. Rick Scott (R), whose approval rating is down to just 36%. Even more striking: more than half of Florida Republicans hope some other GOP candidate runs for governor in 2014, when Scott’s first term ends.
* In Arkansas, state Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s (D) gubernatorial ambitions ran into a little trouble this week when he admitted he had an “inappropriate” “limited interaction” with a woman who isn’t his wife. McDaniel is the only Arkansas Democrat running for governor in 2014. * As hard as this may be to believe, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said this week he’s considering a Senate race in 2014 against incumbent Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). Harkin, for the record, has not yet said whether he’ll run for re-election, and is rumored to be considering retirement. * And in North Carolina, a Public Policy Polling survey shows Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) as the leading Republican Senate candidate to take on Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) in 2014. Foxx has not officially announced her intentions.
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