House races

Former NFL star Jon Runyan (R) raised more than $500,000 in the last quarter, outpacing Rep. John Adler (D-N.J.) for the first time. 

Runyan, however, continued to use his own money to flesh out his campaign coffers. He raised $301,409 from supporters and contributed $200,000 of his own money, according to a release. He currently has $472,056 banked for his challenge to Adler. 

Meanwhile, the freshman Democrat raised $415,000 for the quarter and has more than $2 million cash on hand, according to his campaign.

An internal poll released by the Adler campaign shows the congressman holding a 17-point lead over Runyan in a three-way contest that includes independent Peter DeStefano, who bills himself as a Tea Party candidate. Adler leads Runyan 51 to 34 percent in the survey, with DeStefano receiving 12 percent of the vote. Moreover, 58 percent approve of Adler’s job performance.

Runyan’s campaign called the poll “bogus.”

“John Adler is running scared and that’s why he’s releasing bogus, internal polls in July that aren’t worth the paper they are printed on,” Chris Russell, a spokesman for Runyan, said in a statement. “Two years ago he was the beneficiary of a split Republican Party and a terrible national environment for Republicans — yet he still only won by 3.5 points. This year, Republicans are united.”

A new poll shows Bachmann ahead in her reelection bid, but hovering below 50 percent.

One of the GOP’s top House targets this cycle, Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.) raised an impressive $660,000 this quarter, his campaign announced Monday. Perriello’s campaign will report $1.7 million cash on hand. 

Perriello is near the top of the National Republican Congressional Committee’s (NRCC) list of targets, given his votes in favor of the healthcare bill and the stimulus. But even some Republicans say they’re impressed by Perriello’s organization and ability as a campaigner.  

Perriello’s opponent, state Sen. Robert Hurt (R), had to endure a multi-candidate primary. Hurt has not reported his numbers for the quarter yet. 

In New Jersey, freshman Rep. John Adler (D) raised $415,000 for the quarter and will have more than $2 million cash on hand, according to the campaign. 

Adler is also a national GOP target in 2010, but he could slide off the NRCC’s radar given the fundraising lead he is amassing. 

Adler is facing a challenge from former Philadelphia Eagle Jon Runyan (R), who has not released his second quarter figures yet. Runyan had just $134,692 on hand before the GOP primary June 8. 

And over the weekend, Rep. Betsy Markey’s (D-Colo.) campaign reported raising $530,000 in the second quarter. That leaves Markey with some $1.5 million in the bank. 

But her GOP challenger, Cory Gardner, isn’t expected to be too far behind. Gardner’s campaign said it will release its second quarter numbers later in the week. According to Federal Election Commission reports, Gardner raised $860,000 through the end of March. 

Democrats won’t lose control of the House in this fall’s midterm elections, their campaign chief said Monday.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), dismissed Republican hopes of a takeover, as well as a White House acknowledgement this weekend that such a scenario was possible. 

“Democrats are not going to lose the House; the answer’s ‘no,’” Van Hollen said Monday during an appearance on MSNBC.

Van Hollen said he was unsurprised by what White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said on Sunday, when the Obama administration official said there was “no doubt” that enough seats were in play for Republicans to win back control of the House or Senate. 

Democratic sources said that Gibbs’s acknowledgement was in line with their election year messaging, which focuses on warning voters of what Democrats fear would be the negative consequences of GOP control. 

“I was not surprised he said that,” Van Hollen explained. “What he said was there are a lot of seats out there, and it’s a dogfight out there.”

The expectation-setting came as the second-ranking House Republican, Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.), predicted the GOP would win back control of the House.

Van Hollen said that such a threat has provided Democrats an opportunity to highlight what GOP rule would mean for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, healthcare reform and other issues.

“What this debate does is focus the voters on the choice they have,” he said. “Their goal is to stop the Obama agenda in its tracks. ... They have told us what they’re going to do.”

"I think we retake the House, as Mr. Gibbs suggested yesterday from the White House," says second-ranking House Republican.

Alabama House candidate Martha Roby (R) continues to gather support as her primary rival banks on Tea Party activists to push him over the line.

Roby was endorsed Friday by the Montgomery Advertiser’s editorial board, which noted her “strong work ethic and her ability to grasp public issues.”

“Based on her proven work ethic and her experience as a Montgomery City Council member for the past seven years, Martha Roby is the best candidate for the Republican nomination,” the board wrote.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is also backing Roby, who finished first in the June 1 primary but faces businessman Rick Barber (R) in the July 13 runoff.

Barber has generated national attention with his unconventional advertising strategy. He released a minute-long TV ad that features him yelling about being taxed without representation to a group of men dressed as America’s founding fathers. The ad closes with an actor dressed as a young George Washington murmuring “gather your armies.” He also released a recent Web ad that equates taxation to slavery and features an actor playing Abraham Lincoln.

He boasted to a reporter this week that members would take notice when he arrived in Congress.

“Everybody will know when Rick Barber shows up in Congress,” Barber told the Washington Post. “I met with Martha Roby, but I wasn’t inspired by her.”

While he’s uninspired by Roby, Barber had a kind word about Rep. Bobby Bright (D-Ala.), who he would face in the general.

“I like Bright,” he said. “He’s nice. But he’s got that D by his name, and he voted for Speaker Pelosi. He’s for that agenda.”

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is headlining a fundraiser Friday night for the congressional campaign of South Carolina state Rep. Tim Scott (R). Tickets for the event start at $500 a piece. 

Even though Scott is not expected to have a tough race in November, national Republicans see him as a rising star and have showered him with attention this cycle. Scott is running in an overwhelmingly Republican district and would be the party's only black congressman if elected this fall. 

Gingrich was also scheduled to appear at a fundraiser for the South Carolina GOP earlier Friday. A potential Republican presidential candidate in 2012, this is Gingrich's second visit to the state since April.  

Alabama Rep. Bobby Bright's (D) prospects of winning a second term got a boost Friday with the backing of the Chamber of Commerce.

"In just one term, Bobby has already shown a strong record of standing up for businesses and workers of Alabama during some of the state’s most challenging economic times,” Bill Miller, the business group's vice president, said in a statement. "He has a common sense approach to job creation and getting America back on the road to recovery."

The freshman Democrat is expected to face a tough race against either businessman Rick Barber (R) or Montgomery City Councilor Martha Roby (R). The two Republicans are competing in a runoff set for July 13.

Bright voted against the Disclose Act, which factored into the Chamber's endorsement. The Chamber has said the bill places an unconstitutional restriction on free speech. The Chamber has backed other Blue Dog Democrats this cycle, including Reps. Dan Boren (Okla.) and Walt Minnick (Idaho). Both voted against the Disclose Act. 

Vice President Joe Biden praised Afghanistan war critic Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) Thursday for speaking his mind.

“I encourage you, old buddy, to speak out,” Biden said at a fundraiser for Schrader in Portland, Ore.

The freshman Democrat has emerged as a fierce critic of the war in Afghanistan.

“It’s a waste of resources, a waste of America’s best and brightest,” he recently told The Oregonian newspaper. “I’m for fighting a war on terrorism, not a war in Southwest Asia that Alexander the Great couldn’t win, the British Empire couldn’t win, the Soviet Union couldn’t win. That’s stupid. We need to be bringing these men home.”

Biden praised Schrader for being “independent.”

“You’re independent. Don’t let anybody take that out of you,” he said, according to the pool report.

Schrader last week voted against a key motion in the House version of legislation that provides funding for the war in Afghanistan. The motion ultimately passed, but by a close vote. Another “no” vote by Schrader and other anti-war Democrats could complicate the bill’s passage.

Biden said providing funding for American troops is a “sacred obligation.”

“This nation has one truly sacred obligation, that we provide for those we send into war, and we provide for those who come home,” Biden said. 

He noted that Portland recently broke ground on a new women veteran’s center. “That is, as I’m wont to say, a big deal,” Biden said, chuckling. “Thank God my mother wasn’t alive,” he joked.

The Biden event raised some $165,000 for Schrader’s campaign. The lawmaker is being challenged by state Rep. Scott Bruun (R).

One of the GOP’s handful of black candidates for Congress condemned President Barack Obama for exploiting race for political gain. 

Allen West, the Republican challenging Rep. Ron Klein (D) in Florida’s 22nd congressional district, sharply criticized the Obama administration for having declined prosecuting the New Black Panther Party on voter tampering charges allegedly for political reasons.

“For an Administration that promised a new era in race relations, Obama and the Democrats in Congress have demonstrated that race will continually be exploited for political gain,” West said in a statement. 

West was picking up on a meme that’s made its way through conservative blogs in recent days, based on whistleblower claims made by a former Justice Department employee. Charges against the New Black Panthers for their actions on Election Day 2008 weren’t pursued because of racial politics, the employee charged. The Justice Department says charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. 

West drew on his own history with race to condemn the New Black Panthers, as well as other black Democrats who he said had “remained silent” when he’d been called racially-tinged names during the course of his campaign. 

“The die has been cast in this election cycle — Democrats and their liberal progressive socialist allies will continue to play the race card when it is politically expedient,” West said. “I demand an investigation of the New Black Panther Party and the placement of it, along with any extremist group, onto the Terrorist Watch List if warranted. If that is not done prior to my taking the oath of office as a United States Congressman, it will happen soon thereafter.”

The words have more weight coming from this candidate, who’s seen as one of two black Republican candidates who have a good shot at making their way to Washington next year. 

West is seen as a top challenger to Klein after having come closer than expected to the incumbent Democrat in 2008. Republican Tim Scott is seen as likely to win his race in South Carolina’s first congressional district this fall, too. Either man, if elected, would be the first GOP African-American lawmaker in Congress since former Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.), who retired in 2003.

—Updated at 11:30 p.m. July 10

This post has been corrected from an earlier version