Other races

Voters cast ballots Tuesday in Arkansas, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Oregon, The New York Times torpedos Connecticut's "golden boy" and Nevada Senate candidate Sue Lowden's campaign bus may not be street-legal.

Gray Tuesday

Turnout is expected to be about 30 percent in the Kentucky Senate primary, where much of the attention is focused on the GOP power struggle between Rand Paul and Trey Grayson. On the Democratic side, the nominee will likely be either Attorney General Jack Conway or Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo.

In Arkansas, the focus has been on the state's two Senate primaries, but there are also House primaries for its three open seats.

The weather in Philadelphia on Tuesday is in the 50s, which could hurt Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) as the less-motivated Dem primary voters stay home. Specter's last-minute pitch to voters? He went after Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) for not saying he'd endorse him after the primary during an interview with CNN on Sunday. "Now who is the true Democrat?'' Specter asked Monday. ''Who is the true team player?''

A self-Swift-Boating?

Connecticut Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal (D) is pushing back against a New York Times report that he routinely mischaracterized his service in the Marines during the Vietnam War.

"The New York Times story is an outrageous distortion of Dick Blumenthal's record of service," Mindy Myers, Blumenthal's campaign manager, said in a statement Monday. "Unlike many of his peers, Dick Blumenthal voluntarily joined the Marine Corps Reserves in 1970 and served for six months in Parris Island, S.C., and six years in the reserves. He received no special treatment from anyone."

He's holding an event Tuesday with veterans where he'll address the allegations. Republican Senate candidate Linda McMahon's campaign is taking credit for putting the paper on the trail.

Girl on the bus

Lowden is being attacked for accepting the use of a tan, 2001 Monaco campaign bus as an in-kind contribution. A supporter of her Senate campaign is leasing her the bus, but its value likely exceeds the amount allowed under campaign finance rules. Moreover, Lowden's GOP rivals are beginning to attack her use of the bus.

"Like a typical insider, Sue Lowden doesn't think the rules apply to her," a spokesman for Republican Danny Tarkanian told the Las Vegas Sun. He referred to the bus as a "free ride."

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has already drawn its conclusions about Tuesday's primaries, Dr. Rand Paul (R) is ready to host a tea party in Kentucky, and Pennsylvania's special election is heading to a "photo finish," according to a new poll.

Heads we win, tails you lose

The NRSC believes the closely fought primaries in Pennsylvania and Arkansas have exposed fissures in the Democratic Party.

"At best the White House political operation will narrowly win two Democratic primaries tomorrow, at worst they lost both after being heavily involved at the outset," Rob Jesmer, NRSC's executive director, wrote in a memo released Monday. "It should raise serious questions in the minds of Democratic Senate candidates whether the President and the Democrats' Washington agenda will be a benefit or a detriment to their campaigns this November."

The committee also happily pointed to Organizing for America's efforts on behalf of Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), who is polling neck-and-neck with Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) ahead of Tuesday’s vote.

"The perception that the president's vaunted grassroots organization and his fundraising ability which led him to victory in 2008 would somehow transfer to Democratic candidates in 2010 has been exposed to be a paper tiger," Jesmer said.

From Utah to Kentucky

Paul told the New York Times this weekend that he plans to ride the "wave" of Tea Party support to victory in Tuesday's primary with Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R).

"There's a Tea Party tidal wave coming. It's already hit Utah and it's coming to Kentucky," Paul told the paper. "The day of reckoning is coming."

What's interesting about Kentucky is that only voters who registered as Republicans before Dec. 31, 2009, can vote in the GOP primary, which means that latecomers to the movement will be shut out. If Paul does win, it may say more about the changing mood of the GOP than the power of the Tea Party movement.

And the winner is …

Republican Tim Burns has a slight edge ahead of Tuesday's special election for the late Rep. John Murtha's (D-Pa.) seat. He leads Democrat Mark Critz 48-47 percent in a new Public Policy Polling survey of the race.

PPP points out in a release: "There's been very little movement in the race since PPP polled it a month ago. The main difference is that negative campaigning has driven up both candidates' negatives by 10-11 points. Where Burns' favorability was a net +19 in April it's now just +8. And where Critz was previously at a net +7 it's now -6."

Democrats are trying to the keep the U.S. Chamber of Commerce out of the midterm elections, according to its president.

Sarah Palin teams up with the Susan B. Anthony List in D.C. Friday, the recession is apparently over for California Republicans and Chuck Norris returns to Iowa.

Choose life, choose to run for president

As Palin prepares to address the anti-abortion-rights group's "Celebration of Life" breakfast Friday, a new Gallup poll shows that more Americans call themselves "pro-life" than "pro-choice."

The survey, conducted May 3-6, had 47 percent of respondents as "pro-life" and 45 percent as "pro-choice." The two-point margin doesn't seem that significant, but Gallup notes "it represents the third consecutive time Gallup has found more Americans taking the pro-life than pro-choice position on this measure since May 2009, suggesting a real change in public opinion."

Palin will leave D.C. for South Carolina, where she's expected to endorse state Rep. Nikki Haley (R), who's running for governor.

A very private fundraiser

Fiorina took a page of out Meg Whitman's playbook Thursday and cut another personal check for her campaign. The former Hewlett-Packard CEO added an additional $1.1 million to her campaign coffers, according to the Los Angeles Times. Taken with the $2.5 million loan she made to her campaign last fall, Fiorina has lent $3.6 million of her own money to her effort to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

And the well hasn't run dry. Her filings with the Senate Ethics Committee show Fiorina has assets of $27.7 million to $121 million.

The Ranger is back

Terry Branstad should watch his back. Bob Vander Plaats, his rival for the Iowa GOP gubernatorial nod, is bringing in actor/martial artist Chuck Norris for four campaign events in June, according to the Des Moines Register. Norris will also help Vander Plaats raise money — there will be a $500-per-couple private reception with Norris before the appearances.

Norris famously campaigned with Mike Huckabee during the 2008 Iowa caucus race. The former Arkansas governor went on to win, and subsequently kept making campaign appearances with Norris throughout the GOP presidential primary.

Sarah Palin goes RINO hunting during her event at the Rosemont Theatre in suburban Chicago, Colorado Senate candidate Jane Norton looks to assemble the fundraising dream team and California Republicans have money to burn.

'In his absence, let me just say'

During her open-press event in the Chicago suburbs Wednesday, Palin said she was supporting GOP candidates in contested primaries who were running against "Republicans in name only." As she said that, several people in the crowd shouted "Mark Kirk," according to the Chicago Tribune. Palin laughed, but did not mention Kirk, who was unable to attend the event because he was in DC.

The North Shore congressman had sought her endorsement during his primary but didn't get it. As he pivots towards the center in the general election, Palin's support would likely be more of a liability.

Before starting her speech, Palin acknowledged that she was appearing on President Obama's "home turf." It wasn't that bad, she said. "It's Chicago, not MSNBC."

The GOP Dream Team

Norton is teaming up with fellow GOP Senate contenders Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Pat Toomey (Pa.) for two June fundraising events.

The Denver Post notes it's a bit of a odd arrangement. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is backing both Rubio and Norton's primary opponent, Ken Buck. And, according to the paper, "his staff promises heavy fundraising and advertising buys for Buck in coming weeks."

As a way of explaining the joint event, Norton's camp said she is "a conservative, surrounding herself with conservatives, and will govern as a conservative."

Keeping up with the Poizners

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman (R) is determined not to be outspent by opponent, Steve Poizner, in California's GOP gubernatorial primary.

After Poizner announced Wednesday he was putting another $2.5 million of his own money into his campiagn, Whitman doubled down. She injected another $5 million into her effort, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Whitman has now spent an estimated $64 million of her own money on her campaign; Poizner has dropped close to $22 million.

The Carter family has returned to Georgia politics.

Jason Carter, the 34-year-old grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, won Tuesday's special election for an open state Senate seat.

He is the first member of his family to win elected his office since his grandfather was in the White House. His father, Jack Carter, was the Democratic Senate nominee in Nevada in 2006 but lost to Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.).

Jason Carter won with 65 percent of the vote and celebrated at a restaurant Tuesday night with his grandparents and other family members, according to the Associated Press.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter did campaign for their grandson in the heavily Democratic district within Atlanta.

Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) blows off Sarah Palin, the GOP's chances look so good former Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.) is considering a comeback and things are going from bad to worse for Florida's GOP contender for governor.

Like ships in the night

Palin is in suburban Chicago Wednesday for a conservative radio talk show event at the Rosemont Theatre and a $500-a-plate fundraiser at the Westin O'Hare for the Illinois Republican Party. The fundraiser isn't open press, but that still didn't entice the state's top GOP contenders to attend.

Kirk, who's running for Senate, "says he will have to be in Washington, D.C., tonight to make some planned House votes," according to the Arlington Heights Daily Herald. And House candidates Randy Hultgren and Robert Dold "have other plans tonight."

That left just gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady to attend, and he "originally" didn't plan on it.

Don't call it a comeback

Fossella is considering trying to get his old job back. The former Long Island congressman was forced into retirement last cycle after a 2008 drunken-driving arrest revealed he had a second family in the DC suburbs. But he is now taking a second-look at running again.

"I have no doubt that he is looking at it," Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) told the New York Daily News. "But I also know that he has not made up his mind."

'How much did we pay him?'

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum was expected to have a smooth ride to the GOP gubernatorial nomination. Instead, he's facing a wealthy self-funder in the primary and now he's connected to a scandal involving the website Rentboy.com, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

The paper reports McCollum, "personally requested that the state's Department of Children and Families hire antigay psychologist George Rekers at $300 an hour as an expert witness to defend Florida's ban on gay people adopting."

Rekers's reputation is in tatters after reports he vacationed for two weeks in Europe with a gay male escort from Miami he hired through Rentboy.com. The 20-year-old escort told reporters he gave Rekers nude "sexual" massages every day during their European vacation.

The potential campaign isssue: Florida paid Rekers more than $100,000 over two years for his expert testimony involving a gay foster parent who was trying to adopt two brothers.

Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.V.) and JFK have something in common, Hawaii's Colleen Hanabusa (D) has friends in high places, if not at the DCCC, and Vice President Biden doesn't know if his boss is going to Pennsylvania this week.

Wild and wonderful

West Virginia primaries can be unpredictable, just ask Ted Sorensen. The former presidential advisor was in Charleston, W.V., Monday giving a talk about how John F. Kennedy pulled off an upset in the state's 1960 Democratic primary.

"Why did John F. Kennedy enter the West Virginia primary with so much at stake? In early 1960, almost nobody gave John Kennedy a chance," Sorensen said.

The same could be said for Mollohan, who faces state Sen. Mike Oliverio in the Democratic primary. Both camps have released polls showing their candidates ahead. But in the aftermath of Sen. Bob Bennett's (R) downfall in Utah last weekend, incumbents are the underdogs. Meanwhile, six Republicans are seeking the GOP nod in Mollohan's district.

Polls close at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

She's our girl

Rep. Michael Honda (D-Calif.) is backing state Sen. Hanabusa (D) to win Rep. Neil Abercrombie's (D-Hawaii) seat. Honda, in a statement: "Colleen has distinguished herself as an honest, trustworthy leader and fighter for the people of Hawaii."

It doesn't seem like Hanabusa's willing to drop out, despite the DCCC saying that two Democrats on the ticket equals a Republican victory. Meanwhile, Republican Charles Djou is "surging" in fundraising.

Djou raised $525,150 in April and had $362,700 banked at the start of May, according to the Honululu Advertiser. Hanabusa pulled in $349,000 in April and former Rep. Ed Case (D) raised $287,400 in April and had $153,500 cash on hand. The special election is May 22 and is winner take all.

Apparently not a BFD

Vice President Joe Biden won't say if President Obama is planning to campaign for Sen. Arlen Specter (D) in Pennsylvania this week.



Biden said he planned to stump for Specter, but he didn't know if Obama's schedule would let him make it back up to the Keystone State. "The president, I'm sure, will be reaching out," Biden said on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday. "Whether the president's going to go up there physically again between now and Tuesday, I don't know the schedule."


Biden noted, "He already has gone out and campaigned for Arlen Specter."

The Service Employees International Union will turn its attention from healthcare to immigration reform ahead of the 2010 midterm elections.

"We are stepping up our immigration reform efforts as a union-wide national campaign the same that way we did for healthcare," Javier Morillo, the union's immigration campaign director, told The Ballot Box. "We are full-bore working on this. We are moving to get this done this year."

SEIU will use member education, canvassing and paid media as part of its effort.

One of the top priorities of the SEIU's immigration reform "war room" is stopping the copycat bills similar to Arizona's anti-illegal immigration measure that other states have introduced. "It's about using it on [the GOP] side for short-term electoral gain," he said.

Morillo noted 14 states have proposed similar legislation, including such midterm battlegrounds as Pennsylvania, Colorado, Missouri and Ohio.

"We're taking on these Arizona copycat laws to make the case for why we need a comprehensive solution and that it can really only be done by the federal government," he said.

Union officials and some conservative Democrats have expressed concern that taking up immigration reform could hurt the party's chances in 2010, but Morillo said the opposite is true. "The politics of this are such that the Republican Party will relegate itself to minority status if they continue to do things like Arizona."
 
Union members understand why immigration reform needs to happen, he added.

"Rooting out those who exploit our broken system for profit, that is important to all workers," Morillo said. "Comprehensive immigration reform is just one key piece of something that needs to happen that will benefit all workers."

The White House has reassured union officials it considers immigration reform a legislative priority, Morillo said.

"We've had assurances from the very beginning that they're serious about getting it done," he said. "The White House can't move this alone, they understand this."

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) may have found his wedge issue in the race to usurp the Democratic nod from Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), establishment Republicans continue their embrace of Nevada Senate candidate Sue Lowden and New York Gov. David Paterson (D) didn't get his invite to President Obama's Buffalo rally.

'I actually voted against her before I voted for her'

The pending announcement of Solicitor General Elena Kagan's appointment to the Supreme Court will likely prompt a new line of attack in the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary. Specter voted against confirming Kagan as solicitor general in March of last year. He was a Republican at the time and Sestak will surely want to remind Democratic primary voters of his decision.

Recent polls have shown Sestak edging ahead of Specter with just over a week before the Democratic primary.

Kyl: Chickens are just a 'distraction'

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz) pushed back against the suggestion Washington Republicans were worried about Sue Lowden’s Senate candidacy during a Las Vegas fundraiser for her campaign Saturday.

"Heavens no," Kyl said when asked if the GOP was worried about the “chickens for checkups” controversy. "That's a distraction and I think people realize that is not her plan for health care. She was discussing a historical reality. But she was not saying it's part of her health care plan."

Without mentioning Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) by name, Kyl added, “that is the kind of distraction an opponent who doesn't have much to talk about will frequently create." 

Kyl said he and Lowden have much in common. "Her views and mine are quite close," he told the Las Review-Journal. "And she's very electable."

Must've gotten lost in the mail

President Obama will be in Buffalo May 13 for a rally in support of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (D), who's expected to run for governor, is also set to attend, according to reports. New York's current governor, however, isn't sure if he got an invite.

"I actually don't know that. I know he's coming, and I'd have to get back to you on that," David Paterson told a Buffalo radio station. "It's just not something that I happen to know off the top of my head."

Asked about the White House's attempt to discourage him from running for a full term, Paterson sounded sanguine. 

"I didn't feel snubbed, and I said it at the time," he said. "People read all kinds of things into anything, and I think the president has got a lot of things to deal with on a macro level like what we’ve got in New York State."