Treadwell Won't Run for Gillibrand's Seat

According to The Rothenberg Report, Sandy Treadwell, who opposed Kirsten Gillibrand last November in NY-20, is not interested in spending another $6 million of his own money to run for her now-vacant seat in the special election this Spring. Due to New York's somewhat bizarre election laws, neither party will have a primary. Instead, the county committees will choose the nominees using a weighted voting among the 10 counties in the district.

Minnesota Election Contest to Begin Today

The trial, or "election contest" as it is formally called, to determine who won the Minnesota Senate election will begin today. On Friday, the three-judge panel rejected former senator Norm Coleman's motion to automatically count 4500 absentee ballots that were rejected by county officials. The judges said there was no evidence that they were incorrectly rejected. Absentee ballots can be rejected in Minnesota for a variety of reasons specified in state law, such as the envelope not bearing a valid signature of the voter but the court did not hear any evidence suggesting that county officials failed to follow the law. In the trial, Coleman will have to present evidence that valid votes were rejected or invalid votes were counted or valid votes were counted twice. The burden of proof is on him.

Feingold to Introduce Constitutional Amendment to Fill Senate Vacancies to Election

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), has issued a press release stating that this week he will introduce a constitutional amendment to require Senate vacancies to be filled by special elections, the same way House vacancies are. No doubt he was inspired to do this as a result of the way appointments were handled by the governors of Illinois and New York. Logically, there is no reason that House vacancies are always filled by special elections within about 3 months of the vacancy but Senate vacancies are filled by gubernatorial appointments in most (but not all) states. Feingold's own state, Wisconsin, is one of the few that has elections for Senate vacancies.

Campaign Donation Limit Is Now $2400

The $2300 limit on donations to a candidate running for federal office became to $2400 on Jan. 1, 2009. Primary and general elections count separately, so an individual can give up to $4800 to a single House or Senate candidate in 2010. Donations to the national committees have also been raised. In all, an individual can give up to $115,500 in 2010 if he or she maxes out to multiple candidates and all the committees (DSCC, NRSC, DCCC, NRCC, DNC, and RNC).

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