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• CO Redistricting: Late last week, a Colorado judge hearing the redistricting lawsuit (necessitated months ago by a legislative deadlock) ruled in favor of the Democrats, adopting their proposed congressional plan. The maps are below, both in full statewide form and a detail inset of the Denver area (with cities shaded). Click for larger versions:

CO-01: 71 (74)

CO-02: 61 (64)

CO-03: 48 (47)

CO-04: 42 (49)

CO-05: 40 (40)

CO-06: 54 (46)

CO-07: 57 (59)

Commenter sawolf calculated some preliminary Obama percentages for these new districts using Dave's Redistricting App. I've put the old Obama numbers in parens:

At first blush, it looks like state Rep. Joe Miklosi, running against Republican sophomore Mike Coffman in the 6th, is the biggest beneficiary. Much more surprising is the change in the 4th, which seems to utterly screw state Senate President Brandon Shaffer, who was considered a strong recruit against GOP freshman Cory Gardner. And State Rep. Sal Pace gets no help in the 3rd, where he's running against another first-term Republican, Scott Tipton. So perhaps this is the strongest map Democrats imagined they could get, but it really only gives us one good pickup opportunity. Anyhow, Republican are saying they may appeal, so obviously that means things could still change.

Senate:

• MI-Sen: Good catch by Sean Sullivan, who spots Republican Clark Durant pulling a Fred Heinemann:

In regards to the Occupy Wall Street movement, Durant said the protesters should "go find a job." In regards to the wealth gap the movement decries, Durant said, "I think it should be wider."

• MT-Sen: GOP Rep. Denny Rehberg finally had the sense to drop his moronic suit against local firefighters for, he alleges, mishandling a wildfire on his property. Rehberg failed to understand that suing first responders was not really a winning move for a public official and had taken a lot of heat for it. Evidently someone pounded some sense into his head, but that doesn't mean this issue can't be used in attack ads down the line.

Gubernatorial:

• MO-Gov: Republican gubernatorial still-not-yet-a-candidate Peter Kinder has had some past problems with injudicious Twitter usage... and also past problems with drinking establishments with scantily clad women in them. And now those problems have merged into one place, with his campaign's decision to retweet news of a special "free wings" day at Hooters. (It's been taken down, but its memory lives on, hewn in the living rock of screen shots.) (David Jarman)

On a possibly related note, Republican state House Speaker Steven Tilley just dropped out of the Lt. Gov. race very unexpectedly. He'd raised $1.5 million and was unopposed for his party's nomination. Tilley cited the usual "spend time with his family" line, though perhaps there's some truth to this, seeing as he and his wife filed for divorce in September. Whether Tilley intended this or not, his move would also clear the way for Kinder to abandon his very wobbly plans to run for governor and instead seek a third term as LG. Kinder has previously said he wouldn't run for his old post again, but he's been very cagey about his intentions for some time.

• UT-Gov: Aww yeah! Get yer fresh hot cat fud right here! State Rep. Ken Sumsion, who happens to be the author of Utah's new congressional map, says he'll run against Gov. Gary Herbert in the Republican primary. This move is something of a surprise—a primary challenge to Herbert had long been discussed, but Sumsion's name hadn't really come up, particularly since he'd said that this term in the legislature would be his last. But with the contentious redistricting process finally out of the way (an episode which pitted the governor against the legislature, even though Herbert eventually conceded), perhaps he's had more time to consider his future. In any event, in announcing his run, Sumsion avoiding attacking the incumbent, but presumably immigration will wind up as issue #1. Movement conservatives have long been enraged about a guest worker program Herbert signed into law earlier this year, something they view as "amnesty." (Sumsion voted against the bill, known as HB 116.)

House:

• MD-01: Former Dem Rep. Frank Kratovil says he will not seek his old seat back next year. Back in August, he was still holding out the possibility that he might, but after redistricters didn't make the 1st CD any bluer (instead preferring to focus on the 6th), it's no surprise that Kratovil isn't interesting in a comeback bid. Instead, he's seeking a judgeship in Queen Anne’s County District Court.

• NV-04: Republicans have found a candidate to run in the new, Dem-leaning 4th CD: state Sen. Barbara Cegavske. Two Democrats are already running here: state Sens. Steven Horsford and John Lee.

• OR-01: Suzanne Bonamici, who won last Tuesday's special primary going away, must be feeling very confident about her chances against Republican Rob Cornilles in January's special election to replace David Wu because she just resigned her state Senate seat. It sounds like she's doing this at least in part to be a real team player, though: Democrats have a narrow 16-14 majority in the Senate, and if she wins the congressional seat and then resigns, Dems wouldn't have enough votes to get anything done when the legislative session resumes in February. (You need 16 votes to pass legislation, even with vacancies.) Oregon fills vacancies by appointment, and the successor has to come from the same party as the departing member, so a Democrat will replace Bonamici no matter what.

• TN-05: Republican state House Speaker Beth Harwell says she isn't ruling out a run against Dem Rep. Jim Cooper, but cautions that it's not "high on my agenda." Presumably, though, such a run would depend on the GOP cracking Nashville in redistricting so as to create a much redder seat that someone like Harwell would want to run in (a plan which apparently has been on the table for some time).

Grab Bag:

• Crossroads: Just when you thought that Karl Rove-linked dark money group American Crossroads couldn't get any more brazen, now they're asking the FEC for an advisory opinion to completely redefine one of the best-defined precepts in campaign finance law: no coordination between campaigns and groups making "independent expenditures" on their behalf. Under their proposed changes, new Crossroads ads would be able to be "fully coordinated" with Republican candidates—where the candidates would not only have rights to consult on the script but even appear in the ad—and yet, somehow, they would still be considered independent expenditures not subject to campaign contribution limits. As chutzpadik as this request may seem, it appears to be Crossroads' expected response to ads from the Nebraska Democratic Party which were filmed in coordination with Sen. Ben Nelson's campaign—a move which similarly pushed the envelope. (David Jarman & David Nir)