House races

There's not much more Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) can do to distance himself from his party this fall.

Hollywood superstar Matt Damon released a video endorsement for the Working Families Party on Monday.

Damon, who celebrated his 40th birthday earlier this year, used the video to tell people that if they want to give him a present, they can vote along the Working Families Party line in New York.

Using signs, Damon emphasized that people who voted for President Obama and Democrats in 2008 have become disillusioned with them because of the high jobless rate, the divisive nature of the 111th Congress and the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Now, I know you think Election Day is going to just suck this year," said Damon, but, he added, if voters cast their ballots along the Working Families Party line, they will "keep change alive."

"You can be a Democrat, an Independent, or a Republican [and] you just vote for whatever candidate you want, but vote on the Working Families Party line," said Damon. "The more of us that vote on this party line, the more all of these politicians will have to pay attention to working families."

Founded in New York, the Working Families Party has endorsed Republican and Democratic candidates in the past, while successfully pushing to increase the state's minimum wage and the weakening of the state's drug laws, seen by many as harsh.

The party is also opposed to the increased cost of public transportation, and "they're the ones who helped push Democrats to pass meaningful healthcare reform," Damon said.

This year the Working Families Party has endorsed mainly Democratic candidates, such as New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who's vying for the state’s gubernatorial seat, and Sens. Charles Schumer (D) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D) for reelection. It has also endorsed Democratic lawmakers from New York, including Reps. Scott Murphy, Jose Serrano, Yvette Clarke, Anthony Weiner, Charles Rangel, Paul Tonko and many others.

Damon, who was born and raised in Boston and is a Red Sox baseball fan, said that if more than 200,000 people vote along the Working Families Party line, he will shoot another video wearing a baseball hat with the insignia of longtime rival team the New York Yankees.

Conservative Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) said he voted for GOP Sen. John McCain for president in 2008, not Barack Obama.

House Democratic campaign chief had vowed to "go to war" in district against outside group advertising. Read more...

Republicans spend another $10 million on independent-expenditure ads in districts where Dems are spending marginally or not at all.

The AFL-CIO is sending out 10 million pieces of mail during the final week of the 2010 midterm campaign.

Campaigning hard since the summer, the nation’s largest labor federation is now moving towards revving up its massive get-out-the-vote (GOTV) effort after working to persuade union members to back Democratic candidates this November.

By end of the week, the AFL-CIO will have sent out more than 28 million direct-mail pieces during the 2010 election cycle.

Included in this newest round of mail will be a “slate card” of AFL-CIO-endorsed candidates in state and local races. It will also have information for union members on how to find out where to vote and if they need to bring any form of identification to their polling places.

In addition to the slate card will be one of two letters from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

One letter will be a warning of what the Republican agenda means for the labor movement.

“Jobs legislation? Canceled. Infrastructure spending? Stopped. Davis-Bacon? Repealed. And guess what else? Another round of tax slashing for the super rich,” Trumka writes. “My message is simple. As bad as things are they can get a whole lot worse. … On Tuesday, get mad, and do something about it. Stand up for a fair break for working families. Go to the polls and vote.”

The Davis-Bacon Act requires prevailing wages be paid to workers employed by public works projects. The law often comes under attack from Republicans who see it as a giveaway to unions.

The other letter takes aim at how business groups, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have spent millions on election-year ads going after Democratic candidates.

“All that foreign money can buy TV ads. They can lie about our candidates. But there is one thing their money can’t buy,” Trumka writes. “So this Tuesday stand up and fight back. You know the stakes. You know who is on your side. Go to the polls and vote.”
 


The Chamber has denied using funds from overseas to help finance their “issue ads” this election year.
 


A union official said mailing the slate card with one of the two letters is a result of the AFL-CIO’s own testing and voter-targeting to improve their political program.
 


The official called it “the most sophisticated GOTV mail program the AFL-CIO has ever done.”
 


Despite some friction between Democrats and labor groups earlier this year — best exemplified by the primary fight between Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and a labor-backed challenger — unions have made every effort to see that the party holds onto both houses of Congress during the midterm elections.

The House is seen as likely to flip to Republican control, while the Senate is expected to remain in the hands of a smaller Democratic majority.
 


Nevertheless, labor leaders still see a electoral path for a Democratic-controlled House next Congress. They have argued throughout the year that union members, boosted by their GOTV efforts, can and will make the difference for Democrats come Election Day. 

The surfacing of a 2009 traffic stop has brought some unwanted attention on Kansas House candidate Kevin Yoder.

Biden will attend an event on Monday for the first-term Democratic lawmaker, who's made waves during his term in Congress.

SOMERSET, Pa. − Republican Tim Burns and Democrat Mark Critz sparred over taxes and spending in their only debate.

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Democratic Rep. Mark Critz is boasting about his voting record with House Republican leader John Boehner (Ohio), but he’s not ready to join other conservative House Democrats in breaking completely with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

In an interview Friday at his campaign office, Critz would not say whether he’d back Pelosi for Speaker next year.

“I have to get elected. I’m in a tight race,” the Democratic incumbent said, dodging a question that’s become dominant on the campaign trail. “I’ve never voted for Nancy Pelosi before, but I’m concentrating on my race.”