• ND-Sen, ND-AL: Interesting: PSC Commissioner Brian Kalk says he won't drop down to run for the House seat of likely Senate candidate Rep. Rick Berg. That means he'd face Berg in the GOP primary, where you'd expect Berg to have a huge advantage, so I'm not sure what Kalk is thinking. However, as we noted recently, the Club for Growth dislikes Berg, so maybe they'll rally behind Kalk. Who knows?
Shira Toeplitz also mentions one potential Berg successor we hadn't seen before, Republican state Treasurer Kelly Schmidt. Another former treasurer, the teabagging Bob Harms, says he's still thinking about a Senate race, but also considering the House contest and will decide by the end of summer. Tax Commissioner Cory Fong, whom we flagged as a potential candidate earlier, also confirms he's considering the House race.
Gubernatorial:
• LA-Gov (PDF): A poll by Southern Media & Opinion Research (paid for by conservative rich guy Lane Grigsby) finds Gov. Bobby Jindal's job approval essentially unchanged from six months earlier at 55-44. Jindal doesn't really have any opponents, though, so…. Anyhow, the full survey results are here (warning: big PDF). SMOR tested a whole bunch of other politicians as well. I note that Sen. Mary Landrieu has an implausible-seeming 55-43 rating herself, so take it for what it's worth.
House:
• CA-03: Gotta credit this guy for chutzpah, at least: Calaveras County Supervisor Darren Spellman announced that there's a "high probability" he'll challenge Rep. Dan Lungren in the GOP primary… at a Dan Lungren town hall! Much of the audience just laughed, which is probably the right response, since California's new top-two primary system makes Spellman's chances next-to-none.
• FL-11: Schrödinger's Seat or suicide run? I'm betting the former rather than the latter. Mike Bennett, the President Pro Tem of the state Senate, has filed to run in Rep. Kathy Castor's heavily-Dem 11th CD. The Republican Bennett doesn't live in the district, though, and apparently is hoping for lines to be redrawn in his favor. Explains Jeremy Wallace at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune:
But Bennett is counting on the 11th District to be redrawn to include more of Manatee County and less of Hillsborough as part of the congressional redistricting process. Bennett said, because of how big Manatee and Sarasota counties have become, the Legislature will likely have to take more of Manatee County out of Buchanan's 13th District and put those voters into the 11th District.
• FL-22: I guess Allen West's supporters think he's capable of running for Batman, but unsurprisingly, he's going to seek re-election, not higher office.
• NM-01: Dem state Sen. Eric Griego, who had previously announced an exploratory committee, has now officially entered the race. I'll take this opportunity to remind folks that there's no legal distinction whatsoever between an "exploratory" committee and an "official" one. The FEC treats them identically. It's purely a semantic distinction for media consumption. (Presumably, if you bail during the "exploratory" phase, it doesn't look as bad.)
• NY-26: What a d-bag move—but totally expectable given who we're talking about. When asked if he was endorsing Dem Kathy Hochul in the special election to replace Chris Lee, Gov. Andrew Cuomo simply refused to answer. Jeez. Even the enfeebled state Republican Party isn't being stupid: They're sending out mailers attacking Crazy Jack Davis, fearful that he's leeching votes from GOPer Jane Corwin, for his Democratic past.
• WV-01: I know you're dying to see this comeback happen: Alan Mollohan has joined a law firm with offices in DC and West Virginia, but says he's keeping his options open for a possible run in 2012 or later.
Other Races:
• Wisconsin Recall: Shelly Moore, a teacher who was poignantly laid off in January due to state budget cuts, will run for the Democrats against state Sen. Sheila Harsdorf in the upcoming recall election. More was profiled in this piece during the Wisconsin budget battle (scroll down to fifth section).
Redistricting Roundup:
• Colorado: In his overview of the redistricting battle in Colorado, Aaron Blake notes that the state Supreme Court is made up mostly of Democratic appointees, which presumably would be good for us if they wind up drawing the maps (or at least, giving final approval to maps that get drawn by some court somewhere along the way).
• Nebraska: Three congressional redistricting plans were released by the Nebraska legislature yesterday. Though it only has three districts, the state is of interest to observers because of the fate of the 2nd CD, which Obama famously won by a tiny margin in 2008, giving him an extra electoral vote. Click through the link for descriptions of the plans and copies of the proposed maps.
• Minnesota: Republicans in the state House released proposed maps for both chambers of the state legislature. You can see what the maps look like at the link. No congressional maps as yet.
Site News:
• Meta: One question that's come up a bunch from folks new to DK is "How do I make all comments in a thread permanently expanded?" Easy: Just click on the "Edit Profile" link in the "Welcome Back" box in the right-hand sidebar, scroll down to the "Comment Preferences" section, and change "Comment Display Mode" to "Expand."
Also, for folks new to Daily Kos Elections, I encourage you to read this introductory post, which explains what we're all about and details our "rules of the road." Things operate a bit differently at DKE than at Daily Kos at large, so you may find this post helpful.