“Rumors and Rumblings” is a weekly feature that runs each Wednesday. It includes short nuggets of information that we glean from conversations throughout the week. Have a tip? Send it here.

1. Fundraising central:

House District 34 candidate David Standridge is holding a fundraiser this evening. Insiders expect him to pull in a solid haul. “He’s clearly the favorite and the financial backing is gravitating his way,” one GOP donor told Yellowhammer.

Thursday night features 2 notable fundraisers. House District 30 candidate Mack Butler is holding an event in Montgomery and Republican nominee for PSC President Twinkle Cavanaugh is following up string of successful fundraisers with another event in Birmingham. Joe and Vickie Fuller are hosting the Cavanaugh event.

Kate Anderson is the fundraiser behind all three of these events, continuing a strong year of pulling in the dollars for conservative candidates.

2. The Yellowhammer hotline and email account began blowing up last week after the Montgomery Advertiser posted an article quoting ALGOP Chairman Bill Armistead as saying, “For Romney to win, I think there needs to be a change in his campaign,” and that Romney needs “to be tougher to win.” Obviously Romney activists were upset, but several long-time Armistead supporters portrayed the article as a “straw-that-broke-the-camel’s-back” moment. “With no knowledge of the Romney campaign strategy, he claims Romney needs to have a change in his campaign,” one major donor told Yellowhammer. “The only change needed is a change in the leadership of the ALGOP which is why many of us donors and members of the executive committee are actively searching for a candidate for chairman.”

3. Last night’s BCA Chairman’s dinner featuring Karl Rove and James Carville was a rousing success. Rove’s recommendation for the Romney campaign was to continue hammering on the failures of Obama and to start rolling out Romney’s vision for the country. Among other things, he also noted that newspapers and television are declining quickly and that the web will ultimately supplant talk radio as the go-to source of conservative political news and commentary.

Rove’s Super PAC, American Crossroads, has used the web extensively this campaign cycle. They just dropped the devastating YouTube video below on the Obama campaign. TV is still the driving force though as Rove-affiliated organizations just launched a massive $16 million one-week ad buy in the swing states of Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia.

Rove and Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard also purportedly spent a good deal of one-on-one time together prior to the event. Rove earlier this year wrote a glowing endorsement of Hubbard’s book “Storming the State House.” [UPDATE: Speaker Hubbard posted the below on Twitter regarding his meeting with Rove]

Enjoyed spending time with @karlrove last night discussing strategy to get our GOP supermajority reelected in 2014 twitpic.com/b0oj4d

— Mike Hubbard (@SpeakerHubbard) October 3, 2012

4. Word has been circulating in GOP-circles for several months that Adam Thompson, a GOP State Executive Committee member & long-time senior aide to Secretary of State Beth Chapman, may be preparing a run for State Auditor in 2014. Thompson has been lining up support among state and county GOP leaders over the last few months and it appears that an announcement of his candidacy may be eminent. “Adam is smart, likable, and has good working relationships with GOP leaders around the state and in the State House,” said one high-ranking Republican. He’s worked in the State Auditor’s Office before and would clearly be a favorite to win the primary. Chapman would no-doubt use her influence to help him.”

5. The Speaker’s Commission on Alabama Values & States’ Rights will on Thursday continue our mission to gather feedback from folks around the state on what issues the legislature should address during the 2013 session. Thursday’s Commission meeting will be with conservative grassroots leaders from around the Birmingham area. Speaker Hubbard has also been encouraging everyone to submit ideas through the Commission’s Website.