Things To Watch Today

Things To Watch Today

It's a day of deadlines today. Federal race watchers see today as the end of quarter campaign finance deadline. By coincidence, fans of courthouse politics have a county filing deadline the same day.

We won't see actual reports for a few days, but expect candidates who've had good quarters to toot their own horns. Look for full inboxes before midnight, as candidates make thir last pictches... followed by flying press releases from the candidates with good quarters. As for the dog that didn't bark, listen for the sounds of silence from candidates with bad news.

In the US Senate race, does Roxanne Conlin out-raise her rivals by 100 to 1 or by 1000 to one? More importantly, how does her fundraising compare to Grassley's?

Also look at those big-field Republican primaries in CDs 1, 2, and 3. It's too late to actually quit, but seven candidates in the 3rd CD is too much for a normal voter, or even an abnormal blogger, to keep track of. At some point anyone who can't raise the money is going to slip into insignificance.

On the local level, look for last-second surprises of commission and/or omission. Anyone who's expected to run not turned in the paperwork yet? (Not here: Johnson County is five for five on Democratic incumbents filed.) Any rumors of petitions floating around? And, since that deadline's tomorrow too, will anyone accidentally file for office thinking they were in the property tax line?