GOP primaries

A mailer sent to Louisiana Republicans by the pro-Romney super-PAC Restore Our Future misstated the day of the week the election will occur.

The mailer, obtained by The Hill, states the correct primary date, March 24, but says that the primary is on Tuesday. March 24 is a Saturday.

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Former Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle (R), who is running for Senate, won't say which presidential candidate she's backing in Hawaii's Republican caucuses.

Lingle spokesman Lenny Klompus told The Hill that Lingle would vote in Tuesday's caucuses but that she was keeping her choice private.

"Yes, she will vote," Klompus said. "She's not going to endorse until the convention."

He declined to say who she was backing.

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The American Conservative Union's political action committee endorsed Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) over Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) Tuesday morning, making it the latest conservative group to jump in for Manzullo in the member-vs.-member primary.

The group joins the Tea Party-affiliated Freedomworks, the anti-abortion-rights Eagle Forum and the 60 Plus Association, a conservative seniors group, in supporting the longtime congressman.

Kinzinger has the backing of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) as well as fellow Illinois Republican Reps. Aaron Schock and John Shimkus. The Campaign for Primary Accountability, an anti-incumbent super-PAC, is also backing him.

The race has turned into a proxy war between conservative groups and Republican House leaders. Kinzinger has received donations from House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) as well, although neither has endorsed in the race and Boehner has declared he is neutral.

Kinzinger decided to run against Manzullo in a new district encompassing part of both their old districts after his district was dismantled by a Democratic gerrymander. The two will face off in a primary next Tuesday.

Mitt Romney described two National Football League owners as "friends" during a Monday evening radio show, a comment that echoed one made earlier that he has "some friends who are NASCAR team owners."

The comment came on an Alabama sports talk show, while Romney was discussing where former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning should sign.

After joking he hoped Manning would sign somewhere where his New England Patriots wouldn't have to face him often, Romney mentioned the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins and said "both owners are friends of mine."

The former Massachusetts governor was criticized for NASCAR remark because some saw it as reinforcing the image that he is out of touch because of his immense wealth. It will be interesting to see how the comment will play one day ahead of primaries in Alabama and Mississippi, two states with high unemployment and poverty rates.

Freedomworks, a national Tea Party-affiliated group, has endorsed Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) over Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), making it the latest major group to weigh in on the primary.

"It's not difficult to recognize that Manzullo is the fiscal conservative and Kinzinger is the moderate," said Freedomworks PAC Executive Director Max Pappas in a statement. "When it came to the big spending votes last year, Don Manzullo said, 'Enough is enough.' Kinzinger too often voted for more of the same."

The group's endorsement comes a day after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) threw their support to Kinzinger. House Republican leaders have identified Kinzinger as a rising star and have been increasingly public in helping his campaign against the longtime congressman.

"We work on a regular basis with both Adam Kinzinger and his opponent. We join our colleague Congressman Aaron Schock of Illinois in the judgment that Adam Kinzinger is the right choice to keep advancing our conservative movement," Cantor and Shimkus said in endorsing Kinzinger.

The two were thrown together after the Democrat-controlled restricting process was finished. Their primary has turned into a funhouse-mirror image of many races between older establishment Republicans and younger Tea Party challengers.

Kinzinger won his seat in 2010 with strong Tea Party support but has developed a more centrist voting record since he entered the House, making establishment Republicans happy but angering his Tea Party base.

His decision to quit the conservative Republican Study Committee and join the centrist Tuesday Group after a fight between the RSC and House GOP leaders pleased Boehner but infuriated groups like Freedomworks, which cite that switch as one reason they've endorsed Manzullo. He's also angered local Tea Party groups with some of his votes; the Illinois Tea Party, a confederation of statewide Tea Party groups, is also backing Manzullo.

Illinois's primary is on March 20.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) endorsed Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) over Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) Thursday, the latest sign of establishment GOP support for the freshman congressman.

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) also endorsed Kinzinger. In a joint statement, the two took a shot at Manzullo.

"We work on a regular basis with both Adam Kinzinger and his opponent. We join our colleague Congressman Aaron Schock of Illinois in the judgment that Adam Kinzinger is the right choice to keep advancing our conservative movement," they said in the statement. "Adam Kinzinger is hands down the candidate the conservative cause needs to win the primary for Congress on March 20th and he has our enthusiastic endorsement for a second term in Congress."

Kinzinger has quickly become a favorite of House Republican leaders, and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has also donated to his campaign. But while he enjoyed Tea Party support in his 2010 win, some have been unhappy with his relatively centrist voting record. The Illinois Tea Party, a confederation of local Tea Party groups, has endorsed Manzullo.

The district was drawn to pack as many Republicans into it as possible after Kinzinger's district was largely dismantled. The Hill rates this seat as safely Republican.

Wealthy businessman Eric Hovde has entered Wisconsin's already-crowded GOP Senate primary field, creating more chaos in an already-unstable field.

The field already includes former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson (R), former Rep. Mark Neumann (R-Wis.), and Wisconsin state Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R).

Hovde's entrance adds further uncertainty to the race: It's unclear whether he'll help the former governor by further dividing the anti-Thompson vote or find a middle path to the nomination by spending heavily to win over conservatives unhappy with the field.

A Madison native who has lived for years in the Washington area, Hovde said when he was first mulling a bid that he might spend as much as $10 million on the campaign. He's also a polished speaker who has regularly appeared on cable news shows to discuss the economy. 

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"Washington is full of career politicians who are beholden to the special interests that finance their campaigns," Hovde said in a statement announcing his candidacy. "We need citizen legislators who have spent time in the private sector and who have the skills to put our economy back on track."

A Hovde campaign source said he'd run as the only non-politician in the race, although running as a Washington outsider might be tricky for a man who's lived in the D.C. suburbs for years.

Thompson has come under fire from various conservative groups for working with former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) on a bipartisan framework for health care reform, although he denounced the bill Democrats pushed through Congress and President Obama signed. He's also been criticized by conservatives for working closely with state employee unions while governor, a hot-button issue given now-Gov. Scott Walker's (R) battle with those unions.

Neumann has the backing of many D.C.-based conservative groups including Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-S.C.) Senate Conservatives Fund, the Club for Growth and Freedomworks. But some Wisconsin conservatives are still angry at him for his testy 2010 gubernatorial primary run against Walker. Recent polls have shown him and Fitzgerald, a close Walker ally, splitting the conservative vote and giving Thompson the edge in the race.

The four Republicans are vying to replace retiring Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.). Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) is all but certain to be the Democratic nominee.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) won't pick sides in a Tea Party challenge to Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), a relief for the longtime congressman.

"No," he said tersely when The Hill asked if he'd endorse Murphy or his primary challenger, former Capital Hill staffer Evan Feinberg (R).

When asked why, Toomey pursed his lips. "I'm just staying out," he said. "It's my decision."

Toomey is beloved by many Pennsylvania conservatives for challenging Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) in 2004 and again in 2010, forcing Specter to leave the GOP.

An endorsement from Toomey would have been a huge score for Feinberg, giving him the state's most popular Republican and one of Washington's most powerful conservatives in one fell swoop.

Many of Toomey's allies are backing Feinberg: His support list includes his two former bosses, Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). The deep-pocketed, fiscally conservative Club for Growth, which Toomey headed until 2009, has already run TV ads slamming Murphy. Both Paul and Coburn compared Murphy to Specter in their endorsements.

Murphy released an internal poll in late February touting a 60-point lead in the primary, and Feinberg had only $40,000 in the bank as of last election. But if the Club for Growth decides to seriously contest the race and local conservatives get on board Murphy could face a tough race.

- This post was updated at 6:58 p.m.

A primary opponent of Rep. Stearns claims he was offered $25,000 to exit the race for Florida's 3rd district.

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Mitt Romney's campaign raised $11.5 million in February, the campaign has confirmed to The Hill.

The haul is a large one, possibly the best monthly total Romney has had since he entered the race  and a big jump from the $6.5 million he brought in during January. It also bests the $9 million Rick Santorum raised in February.

But Romney has been spending at a fast clip and his once-insurmountable cash advantage has dwindled, as the long primary has forced his campaign to spend heavily.

Romney finished January with $7.7 million cash on hand, down from the $19.9 million he had at the beginning of the month. His campaign did not report how much cash on hand they have currently, but Romney spent millions on Super Tuesday states and in Michigan and Arizona, so his war chest is unlikely to have grown much.

The former Massachusetts governor has proved to be a fundraising powerhouse, and if the primary ends soon he'll likely have plenty of time to refill his coffers for the general election. But if the primary election continues to drag, he'll have challenges keeping enough money in reserve for that race while spending on the primaries.