Football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann announced Wednesday that he’s seeking the Republican nomination for Governor of Pennsylvania. The May primary pits him against three other GOP candidates each hoping to battle incumbent Democrat Ed Rendell in the general election. State GOP Chairwoman Eileen Melvin says that Rendell is vulnerable because of the state’s poor economy and high taxes and calls the large primary field, “testimony to Ed Rendell’s vulnerability.”
…Swann has some strength for a campaign rookie. A Keystone Poll in November showed he’s running neck and neck with Bill Scranton, his chief rival in May’s Republican primary. Scranton served eight years as the state’s lieutenant governor, and his father, William, is a former governor.
The Political Teen has more including audio of an interview with Swann by talk radio host Sean Hannity.
USATODAY.com - Lynn Swann says he is running for Pa. governor
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (Republican) will kick his 2006 re-election into high gear with a State of the State speech designed to return him to the political center Thursday evening. The speech is expected to include a jobs package, minimum wage hike, prescription drugs program and money for roads and bridges.
Analysts suggested Schwarzenegger lost popularity because he pushed a much more conservative agenda than he had during the recall campaign in which he was elected and his initial year-plus in office. So with political strategists and his own inner circle _ including his most trusted adviser, Democratic first lady Maria Shriver _ insisting the governor must get back to the political center, the address will provide voters with their first look at the 2006 model of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Scripps Howard News Service
Republican leaders are scrambling to convince Trent Lott (Republican, Mississippi) to run for re-election to the Senate in 2006. With no decent candidate to field for the seat, the GOP is fearful that red-state Mississippi may elect blue candidate former State Attorney General Mike Moore (Democrat).
Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman pleaded with Lott last week to run again. The senator was as blunt with this emissary from President Bush as he was with me. “Where is our vision and our agenda?” he asked. The malaise afflicting the Bush administration not only threatens a Senate seat in Mississippi but impacts Lott’s decision whether to retire.
A Bush entreaty now to Lott is ironic. Lott was driven out of the Senate majority leader’s chair after the 2002 elections when the president refused to defend him from calumnies that a harmless jocular remark on the late Strom Thurmond’s 100th birthday was racist in nature.
Fears of a Lott-less election
Lack of opposition in the Democratic primary, a moderate voting record on cultural issues of concern to Tennessee voters and the political excitement of potentially being the first black Southern Senator since 1874 could combine to put Democratic Congressman Harold Ford in Bill Frist’s seat in the Senate. A recent poll conducted by his campaign showed Ford beating any of the three Republican candidates for the seat. What should be a relatively safe seat for the GOP looks like minus an incumbent it could be a real nailbiter.
Even better, Ford has no serious Democratic opposition, which means he can spend the next eight months doing what he has spent his entire House career doing: emphasizing his moderate credentials. Ford consistently votes with the GOP on matters such as gay marriage and guns; in 2004 he even supported a measure that would strip Washington, D.C. of many of its gun-control provisions. If he can play up these votes, he’ll diffuse many of Hilleary and Bryant’s talking points.
How Democrat Harold Ford could claim a GOP Senate seat
Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (Republican) announced Wednesday that he will not seek reelection in 2006, opening the field to four other likely candidates. Romney is widely expected to make a bid for the GOP Presidential nomination in 2008 and has endorsed the candidacy of Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey for the post he’s vacating.
The spotlight now falls on Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, former assistant US attorney general and Deval L. Patrick, both Democrats; Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, a Republican; and former Turnpike Authority board member Christy P. Mihos, a Republican who may run as an independent.
Incumbent’s decision puts the spotlight on four announced rivals - The Boston Globe
Welcome to Carnival of the Campaigns 13. A lack of entries led to a two week carnival.
Ferdinand T. Cat at Conservative Cat presents Desperately Seeking Community in a Fancy Box. Let’s hope the Democrats are too smart to take advice from a cat.
Josh Cohen at Multiple Mentality presents The pollsters, not the electorate, lead the queen “Protestors think they can get Hillary to say she’s against the war. Maybe they should try to influence the pollsters first.”
Mark A. Rayner at The Skwib presents Elections Canada introduces new youth voting strategy
Adam at Sophistpundit asksWhy I would vote for John McCain and has an answer worth considering.
Doug Mataconis at Below The Beltway presents Allen For President ? “Virginia Senator George Allen spoke to Virginia Republicans this weekend in language that certainly made it sound like he was considering a run for the White House in 2008.”
Mark A. Rayner at The Skwib presents Format changed for election debates
I brought the news that Giuliani could carry New York for the GOP, even running against Hillary, for the first time since 1984. Proof provided at the 2008 Election Countdown.
On the lighter side…
Jim “Suldog” Sullivan stumps for votes at Suldog-O-Rama with If I Am Elected… And btw, his running mate will be chosen by Publisher’s Clearing House. No word if Ed McMahon will deliver the news…
Don’t miss the other carnivals at the Ubercarnival page and Conservative Cat’s carnival page. And be sure to check out this Carnival’s Page at the Blog Carnival Archives.
Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum (Republican) saw some improvement in his poll numbers against Democratic rival Bob Casey, Jr. in the latest Quinnipiac University poll. Casey still holds a 12 point lead over Santorum, a very unusual position for a challenger running against a sitting Senator.
Mr. Santorum also made a slight dent in the commanding lead Mr. Casey has held in earlier polls. In the Dec. 13 survey, Mr. Casey led Mr. Santorum by 50 percent to 38 percent, a 12-point margin that was slimmer than the 52 percent to 34 percent result found by an October Quinnipiac poll.
Rendell’s, Santorum’s numbers rebound in latest poll
The GOP Governor’s Conference met last week in California, at a golf resort in the congressional district of Randy “Duke” Cunningham who pled guilty earlier this month to bribery and tax evasion charges. The location is symbolic of problems, ranging from public unrest with the war on Iraq to a multitude of GOP politicians facing legal troubles, that will challenge Republican candidates next year.
“You’d have to be really disconnected from reality to not see and admit that Republicans nationally have gone through a tough patch here the last six or eight months,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said. “We should just acknowledge that.”
GOP Governors Brace for 2006 Election Fight - Los Angeles Times
Pundits across the political spectrum are predicting a rough year in 2006 for Republican Senate and House candidates. From the war in Iraq to division within the party, there are serious issues. Fortunately for most incumbents, “all politics is local”, so a strong focus on local issues and constituent service is likely to secure their seats.
Craig Shirley, a prominent conservative consultant, is worried that the 2006 House and Senate elections could resemble 1974, when Republicans were wiped out following Watergate. He said that Bush’s big spending and record deficits (the largest expansion of government since the Democrats’ Great Society) could prompt the fiscal conservatives to stay home next November. At this point, he warned, “Conservatives are perilously close to driving a car through the front window of the Republican Party.”
Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/05/2005 | Republicans brace for a tough 2006
Representative Jim Kolbe (Republican, Arizona), chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, has announced that he will not seek re-election in 2006. Congressman Kolbe has represented part of southern Arizona for 21 years. He is also the only openly gay Republican Member of Congress.
He played a leading role in passing the North American Free Trade Agreement and is a proponent of immigration reform. In 2000, he became the first openly gay person to address the Republican National Convention, speaking on international trade.
Kolbe reluctantly announced that he was gay in 1996, amidst rumors that he was about to be outed by one or more activists and a national gay magazine. He has had cordial, but not particularly close, relations with Log Cabin Republicans, keynoting a national dinner and offering briefings at other gatherings.
ebar.com | The Bay Area Reporter Online
