NY 20 Update

It does not look good.  Murphy is ahead with 86 votes and they are now going through all the rejected ballots a judge ruled in favor of Murphy today.  All military and foreign ballots have been counted and it appears more foreign ballots made it in they military ones so it benefited Murphy.

GA Open Gov Seat (R)

Georgia Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle announced Wednesday afternoon that he is no longer seeking the Republican nomination for governor in 2010.

His decision, which he attributed to health problems, coincidentally came on the same day that a newly released poll showed Cagle as a leading contender for next year’s primary.

Cagle said, however, that he would seek a second term as lieutenant governor, after a 2006 victory that made him the first Republican to hold that office in state history.

IL 

Republican U.S. Representative Mark Kirk revealed on Wednesday that he is considering runningfor governor next year. Kirk, who is also weighing a run for U.S. Senate, told Fox Chicago News he will make a decision about which office he’ll seek by the end of April.

CO Bennet (D)

Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier announced Wednesday he has formed an exploratory campaign to look at running for the Republican nomination to challenge U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in the general election in 2010.

Frazier, 31, and a father of three, says he’s running because he wants to leave the country in better shape for the next generation.

TX Perry (R)

His campaign for governor as an independent didn’t work out in 2006, so humorist Kinky Friedman said Tuesday he was considering another run for the state’s top political office, this time as a Democrat.

DE Castle (R)

Just days after Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) reported raising a paltry $74,000 last quarter — a weak showing for a candidate rumored to be considering a run for U.S. Senate — he now has a challenger for his U.S. House seat, according to The Hotline.

Former Lt. Gov. John Carney (D) entered what would be a very competitive race — especially considering that the district voted for John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008.

Mo Open Seat (R)

Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, one of the Democratic Party’s top candidates for a Republican-held Senate seat in the 2010 election cycle, raised more than $1 million in this year’s first quarter.

Carnahan’s likely Republican opponent is Rep. Roy Blunt, who reported raising $542,000 in the reporting period, of which 54 percent came from individual donors and 46 percent from political committees. The latter figure is a sign that GOP establishment figures and groups are behind his candidacy.

His campaign said that it raised more than two-thirds of its contributions in the final two weeks of the quarter. Blunt was allowed to tap the $336,000 he had in his House campaign account as 2008 ended.

NY 19 Hall (D)

Assemblyman Greg Ball, R- Patterson, will be launching his congressional exploratory committee’s listening tour tomorrow. Ball is currently exploring a run for the United States House of Representatives, a possible challenge to Rep. John Hall for the 19th Congressional District.

NY Gillibrand (D)

Rep. Steve Israel had a healthy fundraising quarter for a congressman but will need to rev up his efforts if he wants to run for Senate in 2010. Israel, a Democrat representing the 2nd District on Long Island, raised $280,000 in the first three months of 2009 and closed March with $1.7 million, a Congressional aide reported.

Gillibrand announced last week that she had raised $2.3 millionsince being named to the Senate at the end of January.

To that end, Israel has signed on a new finance consultant to help with his fundraising — Lisa Gioia of the Esler Group in New York City. Gioia’s previous clients include current New York Gov. David A. Paterson and former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, as well as other prominent state Democrats.

MI 9 Peters (D)

Oakland County Republican Paul Welday is going to try to do something his former boss, ex-Rep. Joe Knollenberg couldn’t do: beat Democrat Gary Peters.

Welday announced Wednesday that he was mounting a campaign to unseat Peters in Michigan’s 9th District, which takes in suburban Detroit, including eastern Oakland County. Welday used to be the chief of staff for Knollenberg, an eight-term incumbent whom Peters upset in 2008.

AL 3 Rogers (R)

Democrat Josh Segall, who unsuccessfully challenged Republican Rep. Mike Rogers for the Alabama 3rd district congressional seat in 2008, will make a run for the seat again in 2010.

 Segall, a Montgomery lawyer, announced Tuesday that he will run for the Democratic nomination to the seat in next year’s primary. Segall pulled about 46 percent of the vote against Rogers in 2008.