Simpson in trouble, 2008, and others

O.J.'S daughter in trouble with the law.

Senator Frank Lautenberg backs fellow Senator Jon Corzine:

Angered by acting Gov. Richard J. Codey's suggestions that he might challenge him in a primary, U.S. Sen. Jon S. Corzine is accelerating his gubernatorial bid by naming fellow Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg chairman of his campaign.

Democratic sources said Lautenberg would endorse Corzine today in Newark and be named chairman, raising the stakes in the increasingly contentious Democratic standoff in New Jersey between Corzine and Codey.

The move, in effect, is a power play by the state's two Democratic U.S. senators against the party's incumbent as he decides whether to seek a full gubernatorial term in the 2005 election.

Corzine has said Codey, in the weeks after Gov. Jim McGreevey announced his resignation last summer, told him that he had no interest in a full term.

But Codey began reconsidering after replacing McGreevey in November and has been sending signals that he may run after all. Codey's extended run of positive publicity since taking office has further encouraged him and his Essex County allies to challenge Corzine in the June primary.

From the Providence Journal (I'd like Senator Lincoln Chafee to switch parties):

A public opinion survey commissioned by U.S. Senate Democrats shows Republican incumbent Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee to be vulnerable to a Democratic challenge in 2006, especially if the candidate is U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin, of Warwick.

The poll numbers released yesterday by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee show Langevin with 52 percent, Chafee at 32 percent and 17 percent undecided, said Cara Morris, spokeswoman for the committee.

The survey was done by Mark Mellman, a Washington, D.C.-based Democratic pollster who is familiar with Rhode Island politics. The poll of 500 registered voters was done from Jan. 11-13, Morris said. (The numbers do not equal 100 because of arithmetic rounding.)

Mellman asked this question: "If the November 2006 election were held today and the candidates were James Langevin and Lincoln Chafee, who would you vote for?"

The poll also tested two other Democrats who have expressed an interest in running against Chafee -- Secretary of State Matthew Brown and Sheldon Whitehouse, the former attorney general. The Democratic committee refused to release those numbers, but party sources -- and Chafee's staff -- said those results showed the senator with a big lead over Whitehouse and an even larger margin over Brown.

I like Secretary of State Matthew Brown myself. Langevin is anti-choice though.

There is no apparent heir to the throne in 2008.

The list is almost certain to include senators, a few House members, a governor or two and a former mayor. It also could include other politicians who have taken care to harbor their presidential aspirations with discretion.

The mayor cannot be Jerry Springer.