House races

The National Republican Congressional Committee has launched a March-Madness-themed attack on Democrats, asking supporters to fill out their "Liberal Madness" brackets by choosing from "32 of America's worst liberals."

Comedian Stephen Colbert is dropping his right-wing pundit act to help his sister's House campaign.

Colbert has been helping Elizabeth Colbert Busch (D) fundraise for her campaign to fill the seat formerly held by Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.). He rarely breaks character in public, but told CNN he's happy to make an exception for her.

"She's my sister, and I'm willing to, you know, break the jewel of my own creation to try to do something for her," Colbert said on CNN Monday afternoon. "I'm not worried what it would do to me or my show to try to help her as myself, not as my character, and to help her as myself."

The former South Carolina governor is expected to advance from the first round of the GOP primary for a special House election. 

President Obama will headline his first Democratic fundraiser of the 2014 election cycle at an event next month in San Francisco with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif).

Invitations for the April 4 event, to benefit the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, were obtained by the Associated Press and Buzzfeed. According to the invitation, Obama will attend both a small brunch limited to 30 people that will carry a $32,400 price tag, and a lunch later in the afternoon with escalating prices of admission.

For that event, $1,000 will get donors in the door, while $5,000 will secure a photo and lunch. Couples can have a meal and attend the photo reception for $7,500, while $20,000 will buy entrance to the "co-chair clutch reception" for one guest.
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Former Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.), the 2008 libertarian nominee for president, will take a shot at returning to the House.

Barr told a group of Georgia Republicans on Wednesday that he'd run for the seat currently held by Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), according to the Georgia blog Peach Pundit. Gingrey is expected to run for the Senate.

Barr, who served in Congress from 1995-2003, briefly considered a run against Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.) last election before deciding against it.

The former congressman's office reached out to clarify that he's not officially announcing for the seat.

"It is certainly my strong intention to run for Congress, but I would not make a formal announcement before my good friend and the current 11th District Congressman, Phil Gingrey, formally announces his intentions," he said in an emailed statement.

This post was updated at 4:05 p.m.

Former Rep. Allen West's (R-Fla.) nonprofit will engage in the 2014 elections, supporting potential candidates and "advocating on behalf of minorities and veterans," according to a release.
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 Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) offered his most bullish appraisal to date of Democrats' chances to win back the majority in the House. 

The House Democratic campaign arm raised $6.3 million compared to $5 million for House Republicans.

Alex Mooney, former chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, may run for the seat vacated by Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) when she runs for Senate in 2014.

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) has raised more than $330,000 since he began his campaign for Congress, his campaign announced Friday morning.

Sanford has $365,000 on hand for the campaign's key stretch, and has spent slightly more than $90,000 so far, most of it on outreach rather than internal operations.

The haul isn't as important for Sanford as the other candidates in the race — his name recognition couldn't get much higher in the state. He's always run low-budget campaigns, and most people have strong opinions one way or the other about the fiscally conservative former governor, whose personal life was engulfed in controversy after he revealed an affair in 2009 with an Argentine woman.

But the fairly strong fundraising haul shows he still has some support and can raise money — and will be able to match his opponents in the final weeks of the campaign. 

Self-funding former South Carolina state Sen. John Kuhn (R) loaned himself $500,000 and could go higher. State Sen. Larry Grooms (R) raised more than $200,000 from the beginning of January through mid-February and has that much left in the bank. State Rep. Chip Limehouse (R) loaned his campaign $400,000, on top of $100,000 in dollars raised.