Other races

The president and vice president will have a "tag-team arrangement" during the 2010 midterm campaign.

President Barack Obama will continue raising money while trying to rekindle the enthusiasm of his 2008 supporters. Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden will travel to working-class congressional districts that are receptive to "his blue-collar persona," according to the Los Angeles Times.

"We'll be going where candidates ask us to go," explained Obama adviser David Axelrod. "We'll raise some money. And in the end, it will be important for him to communicate to those voters who supported him in the last election and might not generally vote in an off-year election as to why it's important to come out. And only he can really do that."

Some House Democrats told the paper the tag-team plan was preferable to having Obama campaign in more conservative districts where his message isn't resonating.

"We don't want to be seen with him, but we still need our base to turn out, and our base pays attention to him," one House Democratic aide said.

Rich candidates such as Carly Fiorina and interest groups riled by the Obama administration are fueling the political spending spree.

Sarah Palin's political action committee released a video Thursday promoting the "mama grizzlies" she hopes will take over Washington.

Fundraising numbers are beginning to trickle in as candidates in New Hampshire, Colorado and Wisconsin touted their figures Wednesday.

Wisconsin House candidate Sean Duffy (D) announced he raised $470,000 in the second quarter and now has almost $670,000 in the bank. Duffy faces state Sen. Julie Lassa (D) for the seat being vacated by Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.). Lassa announced she raised $313,928 since entering the race on May 10.

Two Republican Senate candidates also released their figures Wednesday. Jane Norton (Colo.) announced she raised more than $900,000 in the second quarter. A spokeswoman for her campaign said Norton has "just over" $600,000 left in the bank. Her primary rival, Ken Buck, has not released his fundraising numbers.

In New Hampshire, former Attorney General Kelly Ayotte (R) announced she raised more than $720,000. The campaign noted it was her best quarter to date, despite being under scrutiny for her role in the Financial Resources Mortgage scandal. New Hampshire Democrat Paul Hodes has yet to release his numbers.

The second quarter ended June 30th. Numbers are due to the FEC by July 15th.

--Updated at 6:03 p.m.

Republicans in Iowa have narrowed the party-registration edge enjoyed by Democrats in that state. 

Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro said Tuesday that as of July 1, registered Democrats in the state outnumber Republicans by some 55,000. At the beginning of the year, Democrats held a voter-registration advantage of nearly 100,000.    

The shift is mostly a result of last month's competitive Republican primary for governor. Mauro said some 47,000 voters switched their registration so they could vote in the GOP primary. 

“Based on what I’ve seen as an election official, it’s really difficult to draw any definite conclusions about this year’s numbers and how it will impact [the] elections this fall,” Mauro told Radio Iowa. “But clearly the primary did have an impact on the political landscape here in the state.”

Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty — a contender for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012 — will spend a few days in Iowa this summer campaigning for state House candidates. 

His spokesman, Alex Conant, tweeted Tuesday: 

T-Paw going to help Republicans win back Iowa legislature with 3-day trip to eastern Iowa starting 7/31. Lots of good candidates to support.

On July 31, Pawlenty will appear with Rep. Steve Lukan in Dubuque, state Senate candidate Bill Dix in Waverly, and statehouse minority leader Kraig Paulsen in Cedar Rapids. The following two days, he will appear with state Rep. Jeff Kaufmann in West Liberty, and at a morning event for the Scott County Lincoln Club in Davenport.

Congress' action, or lack thereof, over the past week will offer plenty of campaign fodder as members are home this week.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has a new fundraising goal for 2010--$75 million dollars in contributions, according to a report from the Center for Public Integrity. The Chamber had previously pledged to raise and spend some $50 million this election year.  

The news came from Chamber President Tom Donohue during a meeting of members in California late last week:

If it can haul in the $75 million, which is expected to go heavily into issue ads and get out the vote efforts in a few dozen key House and Senate races, the Chamber would likely be the biggest spender among outside groups helping the GOP … The Chamber’s ambitious $75 million goal would be more than double the $36 million that it spent in 2008, the group’s previous high.

Donohue’s speech was delivered at the Chamber’s semi-annual meeting of its elite “Committee of 100” at a resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. He urged the business community to work together to “change the composition” of the Congress, the source said.

The Donohue talk also was laced with criticism of President Barack Obama “for his lack of leadership on the economy and in creating jobs and the right atmosphere,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Chamber was heavily involved in lobbying efforts against last year's health care bill and has been engaged in the legislative fights over campaign finance and financial reform.  

Sarah Palin appeared at her first post-2008 campaign rally in Georgia to help Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) in his runoff against Democrat Jim Martin.

She was back in the Peach State Tuesday night, but the former Alaska governor wasn't backing any candidates.

She didn't mention any of the state's Republican candidates during an almost hour-long appearance in suburban Atlanta, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

There are several competitive Republican House primaries in Georgia, as well as a gubernatorial contest where candidates would likely jump at the chance to have her endorsement. And while Chambliss isn't up this cycle, his colleague, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), is expected to have a competitive race against state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond (D).

Palin has campaigned for several Republicans in competitive primaries this cycle, including South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley (R).

During her Tuesday appearance, she instead targeted President Barack Obama. Palin joked that while special needs kids might not win a Nobel Peace Prize, "Nobel prizes aren't what they used to be anyway."

She was invited to the area by a local ministry.

The number of Americans identifying themselves as conservative or very conservative stands at 42 percent according to new Gallup numbers.

That's compared to 35 percent who describes themselves as moderate and 20 percent who describe themselves as liberal. The results are based on eight Gallup surveys conducted during the past six months. 

According to Gallup's Lydia Saad: "The 42% identifying as conservative represents a continuation of the slight but statistically significant edge conservatives achieved over moderates in 2009. Should that figure hold for all of 2010, it would represent the highest annual percentage identifying as conservative in Gallup's history of measuring ideology with this wording, dating to 1992."

Gallup also found that self-identified independents are slightly more likely to label themselves moderate than conservative — 41 percent to 36 percent. Just 19 percent of independents consider themselves liberal.