Ahead of Wednesday's second quarter fundraising deadline, EMILY's List — a group advocating for the election of pro-choice women to political office — is making a last-minute fundraising appeal for Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) and candidates Julie Lassa in Wisconsin and Terri Sewell in Alabama.
EMILY's List President Stephanie Schriock made the appeal in an e-mail to its members Wednesday afternoon.
In Nevada, Titus is facing a challenge from Republican Joe Heck and is high on the National Republican Congressional Committee's list of targets. Americans for Prosperity and other third-party groups have already run ads attacking Titus.
Lassa, who won the backing of retiring Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) on Monday in the race to replace him in Congress, is expected to have a close contest against Republican Sean Duffy. Duffy's first-quarter fundraising numbers were impressive, and he has the attention of some national conservatives after winning the backing of Sarah Palin.
The National Republican Congressional Committee now has 39 challengers who it considers "Young Guns." The committee's candidate training and promotion program added 16 members to its top echelon Wednesday.
Not coincidentally, it's the number needed for the GOP retake control of the House.
"The latest Young Guns class is a testament to the strength of our candidates this year," House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said in a statement. "When these 16 Young Guns come to Washington as new members of Congress, they'll join our fight to change the culture of spending that the Democrat majority has forced on our country."
There were three candidates from Illinois promoted, including state Sen. Randy Hultgren (R), who defeated the NRCC-backed Ethan Hastert in the February primary and will face Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) in November.
An official with the committee told The Ballot Box this won't be its last round of candidates elevated to full Young Gun status.
Rep. Charles Djou (R-Hawaii) praised President Barack Obama on the House floor Tuesday for pressing ahead with negotiations on a trade deal with South Korea.
In a floor speech, Djou said he was "encouraged by the opportunity which has happened this past weekend and compliment President Obama for committing to a free trade agreement between the United States and South Korea."
Noting that his congressional district "lies within the flight arc of North Korea's ballistic missiles," Djou said it was time for the U.S. to "further cement our bonds and our relationships" with South Korea "and make sure that we change the dictatorship in North Korea for the benefit of our nation and the world as a whole."
In May, Djou won a special election in the president's hometown congressional district. Colleen Hanabusa and former Rep. Ed Case split the Democratic vote, which helped Djou to a win with less than 40 percent.
In November, Djou faces a tough race against Hanabusa in the heavily Democratic district now that Case has opted out of the race.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed Blue Dog Democrat Rep. Walt Minnick (Idaho) Tuesday.
Minnick voted against the Disclose Act last week, the Democrats' campaign finance legislation that was strongly opposed by the Chamber. The powerful business trade group scored the vote, which meant it factored lawmakers' vote into its endorsement decision.
Minnick is a top GOP target this cycle. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) carried his district in the 2008 presidential election by 26 points.
But the first-term lawmaker has amassed a conservative voting record. He voted against the healthcare reform bill, the stimulus package and climate change bill.
He is the only Democrat to be endorsed by the national Tea Party. However, he will face Republican Raul Labrador in November. Labrador has local Tea Party backing.
The Chamber endorsed conservative Democratic Rep. Dan Boren (Okla.) before the House voted on the Disclose Act, in what some saw the move as a way of pressuring lawmakers who were undecided about the legislation.
Rep. John Shadegg's (R-Ariz.) pending retirement prompted a stampede of candidates vying to succeed him. In the hopes of standing out, former state Sen. Pamela Gorman (R) has put together an action-packed Web video.
Scenes vary from her blasting the desert with what appears to be a Tommy Gun, to her emptying the clip from a pistol, to her firing an M-16 assault riffle.
"Rated 100 percent by the NRA, conservative Pamela Gorman is always right on target," the announcer says.
Gorman has trailed in fundraising but she has the support of conservative blogger Erick Erickson.
Democratic strategists call it a sign the primary field is shifting to the right.
The field includes Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker (R), who has fundraised with controversial Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and attorney Ben Quayle (R), the son of the former vice president. The vote is in August.
Vice President Joe Biden was in Indiana Monday to campaign for Rep. Baron Hill (D-Ind.).
He spoke at a fundraiser attended by about 200 people, promising that Hill would be going back to Washington D.C., after the midterm elections.
"He is an independent voice in Washington," Biden said, "someone who will serve the best interests of his people at home."
He also praised Hill for being “one of those deficit hawks,” creating a bipartisan debt commission, and voting for healthcare reform and the stimulus package.
Tickets to the reception cost $250 per person, and supporters could also pay $2,400 to get their pictures taken with Biden.
Hill faces GOP candidate Todd Young in the general election.
Hill, a Blue Dog Democrat, is thought to be vulnerable thanks to growing dissatisfaction with his liberal support of President Barack Obama's initiatives. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) carried his district by one point in the 2008 presidential election. Hill voted against the Democrats' campaign finance legislation, the Disclose Act, last week.
"We know things are going in the right direction and the Republican Party did not [do] a single solitary thing,” Biden said, contrasting the economic climate today with the beginning of his term.
Hill echoed Biden, "it is my hope and prayer between now and this next election, people will see what Democrats are doing,” as the benefits of recent reform legislation become more apparent.
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) also spoke at the event.
Poker-playing could be a controversial issue in the debate between Alabama House candidates Rick Barber (R) and Martha Roby (R) Monday night at Troy University in Dothan.
Barber has come under fire for hosting poker tournaments at his DeJa Vu pool hall in Montgomery.
The Concerned Women Political Action Committee, which has endorsed Roby, said hosting the nightly games showed Barber doesn't have "commonsense values."
Barber has said he didn't make any money directly from hosting the games. "This is a bunch of folks getting together just like you would at home," he told WSFA TV.
The Washington-backed Roby finished first in the June 1 primary with about 48 percent of the vote, just shy of the 50 percent she needed to avoid meeting Barber in the July 13 runoff.
The runoff campaign has seen Barber release some colorful ads. His latest, released online with a plea to supporters for donations to get it on the air, features an actor playing Abraham Lincoln likening taxation to "slavery."
The winner of the July 13 vote faces Rep. Bobby Bright (D-Ala.) in November.
Gen. Wesley Clark has been enlisted to fight back assertions
by Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) that her Democratic opponent “never commanded
anyone” in the military.
Clark issued a fundraising appeal on Friday for Democrat
Tommy Sowers, who is challenging the eight-term Republican.
The appeal from Clark, a 2004 Democratic presidential
nominee who commanded U.S. troops in Kosovo, praised Sowers’s military
background and responded to comments Emerson made in a newspaper interview.
Emerson told the Southeast Missourian in a May interview
that Sowers “never commanded anybody” during his time in the military in a May
28, 2010 article.
Clark, who wrote in the letter that he campaigned for Sowers
in Missouri, criticized Emerson for going “down a shameful route” by attacking
Sowers, an Iraq war veteran and Green Beret.
“Tommy’s proven his integrity, toughness, and skill, from
Kosovo to Iraq,” Clark wrote. “He’s new blood that will turn things around for
his district.”
Emerson’s campaign responded that she respected Sowers’s
military experience and that his campaign was exaggerating her comments.
“General Wesley
Clark's statement goes on to say that Emerson has …‘attacked Tommy's 11-year
career as a Special Forces officer.’” the statement said. “Emerson has done no
such thing, repeatedly saying she honors Tommy's service to our nation, though
she was not aware that he was a Special Forces officer for all 11 years of his
service in the U.S. Army.”
Though Clark wrote that “Tommy’s opponent is getting desperate,”
Emerson is not seen as vulnerable in November. The Cook Political Report does
not rate the race as competitive.
The South Carolina Republican being touted as the next J.C. Watts called President Obama's administration a failure.
"You think about the move toward socialism. Our country can't afford it. We have been brought to the brink of bankruptcy," state Rep. Tim Scott (R) told Fox News' Sean Hannity Thursday night.
Scott defeated Paul Thurmond, the son of one-time segregationist Strom Thurmond, in the June 22 runoff for the Republican House nomination in South Carolina's 1st district.
He's expected to replace retiring Rep. Henry Brown, Jr. (R-S.C.), becoming the first black Republican House member since J.C. Watts (Okla.) left the lower chamber in 2003.
Scott said he's been called a "Judas" for running under the GOP banner.
"The first time that I was elected I was called the Judas Iscariot of the black community because I took a stand that was inconsistent of cutting across the grain," he said to Hannity. "Now in my community, I probably receive between 25 and 30 percent of the African-American vote because I consistently stand on the principles and the issues.
"I think the black community by and large is a very conservative community. We have to consistently engage all Americans on the issues that we stand for as a party. And I think if we consistently do that, everywhere in this country we will find that people and our message resonates with the people."
Despite his criticism of Obama, Scott credited him with inspiring more African Americans to run for office -- as Republicans.
"The truth is that all across America we've had more African-Americans running as Republicans this year than any year since Reconstruction," he said. "So my perspective is that this is the turning year because the Obama administration is driving more people to take a serious look at the Republican Party."
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