Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is taking time away from his own campaign to help an ally in Colorado, perhaps the clearest sign yet the Arizona Senate primary may be all but over.
McCain will join former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton (R) on Sunday for stops in Denver and Grand Junction, Colo. The senator's appearance for Norton, according to her campaign, "will highlight fundamental differences between her and Ken Buck regarding the war on terrorism, especially the central front of the fight in Afghanistan."
Norton has sought to burnish her foreign policy credentials as she began trailing Buck in the polls. "Ken Buck's fundamental misunderstanding of the fight against terrorism is both reckless and dangerous. Terrorists aren't taught the tools of 'cost-benefit analysis' at terror training camps; terrorists are taught to kill American citizens," she said in a statement Tuesday.
One of the undercurrents in the Colorado Senate primary is the rivalry between McCain and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who has endorsed Buck. DeMint stumped for the Weld County district attorney last month.
The Senate campaign of Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) is out with a new bio spot Tuesday that features his mother and a photo of Meek with the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).
It comes on the heels of a Monday fundraiser in Washington headlined by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and is part of a closing pitch that Meek is "the real Democrat" in his primary contest against self-funder Jeff Greene.
The campaign noted that Ted Kennedy's wife, Vicki, gave Meek permission to use the photo of Meek and Kennedy in his new ad.
The ad is one of two the Meek campaign has on the air in Florida. Both are running in the state's major TV markets, with the exception of the Fort Myers market.
Along with the Emanuel fundraiser, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) also sent out an e-mail appeal to his fundraising list for Meek.
"Make no mistake about it, I am supporting Kendrick Meek for U.S. Senate in Florida, and so is President Obama," Reid wrote in the e-mail that went out ahead of Monday's fundraiser with Emanuel. "President Obama's support is why Rahm Emanuel will be attending a fundraiser for Kendrick today to help ensure a real hardworking Democrat is elected to the U.S. Senate."
Ahead of the Aug. 24 primary, the campaign is working to demonstrate that it has the full support of the Democratic Party and the White House.
In an interview with The Hill last week, Meek said Florida Democrats were looking for some direction in the Senate primary and that help from the White House would offer that.
Some Democrats, including a couple members of the Congressional Black Caucus, have suggested President Obama has not been forceful enough in his support of Meek.
Obama endorsed him earlier in the year, but has not held a fundraiser or campaign event for Meek.
The president will be in Florida for a fundraiser on Aug. 18, where Meek will also be in attendance.
Indiana Rep. Mike Pence (R) accused MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and "the Radical Left" of trying to "destroy" Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle (R).
Olbermann "labeled Sharron Angle his 'Worst Person in the World,' " Pence wrote in a fundraising pitch for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (Nev.) challenger. "Now, you and I know that's a badge of honor coming from a liberal like Olbermann, but it demonstrates an important point: The Radical Left will stop at nothing to destroy conservatives like Sharron Angle — just like they've done to Sarah Palin, and yes, just like they've done to me sometimes."
Pence, the House Republican Conference chairman, called Angle a "dedicated Reagan conservative."
"Sharron Angle can win. Harry Reid knows it," he wrote, asking for donations of $35 to $500 from townhall.com readers. "I'm not talking about tomorrow or the next day either. She needs it urgently, because even as I am writing this, people in Nevada are seeing ads from Harry Reid smearing Sharron Angle's character."
Angle raked in money in the aftermath of her surprise victory in the GOP Senate primary. She reported having close to $2 million cash on hand in her second-quarter report, but Reid reported some $9 million banked.
After former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff (D) sold his house last week to help prop up the finances of his campaign, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) has loaned $300,000 to his ahead of the Aug. 10 Democratic primary.
The move from Bennet shows just how worried the candidate is about Romanoff's recent surge. The latest polling numbers in the race showed the two in a dead heat, after months of Bennet holding the lead in the race.
Romanoff has spent the last week hitting Bennet with negative ads. The sharpest attack came over Bennet's work for investor Phil Anschultz. A Romanoff spot accuses Bennet of "looting" the company Regal Cinema by helping secure a billion dollars in dividends for the company's board members.
Bennet has responded in kind, hitting Romanoff over ties to lobbyists during his time in the Colorado state House.
The one thing Bennet still has is a fundraising edge. While Romanoff raised more than $600,000 in the second quarter and received some high-profile help from former President Clinton in the form of a fundraising e-mail, Romanoff reported less than $500,000 cash on hand at the end of the quarter.
Bennet raised $1.2 million over the quarter and reported a hefty $2.6 million cash on hand. Bennet is likely to put his cash to use on TV down the stretch in the hopes of blunting Romanoff's momentum.
The wildcard in this race is the role of mail-in and early voting. Ballots were mailed to most of the state's primary voters two weeks ago, and early-voting centers in the state have been open since then, too. That means plenty of voters have already weighed in ahead of the volley of attacks Bennet and Romanoff are now trading.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) was supposed to be on hand to help rally supporters for fellow Rep. Roy Blunt (R) in Missouri over the weekend, but after she was briefly hospitalized for what her office called a sudden illness, she campaigned for Blunt via Skype instead.
Appearing on a large video screen at Blunt's campaign headquarters, Bachmann ripped Secretary of State Robin Carnahan (D) and encouraged President Obama to make "15 more trips" to Missouri on Carnahan's behalf.
Bachmann's support has caused a stir amongst some Tea Party activists in the state, who are backing Blunt opponent, state Sen. Chuck Purgason in Tuesday's Republican primary.
According to the St. Louis Beacon, a couple of dozen protesters rallied outside Blunt's campaign headquarters protesting Bachmann's backing of Blunt.
Blunt and his campaign — and Bachmann's staff — denied that her change of plans about Saturday's visit had anything to do with the opposition of at least 30 Missouri Tea Party groups to Bachmann's decision to campaign for Blunt.
About two dozen Tea Party activists waved signs critical of Blunt and Washington just outside the Sunset Hills building housing his campaign headquarters, as well as a satellite office for the Missouri Republican Party. Declared one sign: "No more RINOS," (Republicans in Name Only).
Bachmann is chair of the House's recently formed Tea Party Caucus, which boasts close to 30 Republican House members.
Blunt faces a field of eight Republicans in Tuesday's primary, but none have been able to gain much traction against him. The last poll in the Republican primary had Blunt ahead of Purgason 62 percent to 13 percent.
Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond (D) opted to attend President Obama's Atlanta fundraising event Monday despite not getting an initial invite.
Thurmond, the Democratic nominee for Senate, joined Atlanta-area Reps. David Scott (D-Ga.) and John Lewis (D-Ga.), as well as southeastern Georgia Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) at the event, according to the pool report. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), who represents the nearby 4th district and was endorsed by the president during his primary, did not attend.
Former Gov. Roy Barnes (D) also skipped the event, opting to campaign on his own instead.
There had been some confusion surround the visit. Lewis told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he learned second-hand of the trip. "They [White House officials] usually inform us," he said. "It was unreal."
A spokesman for Thurmond, at the time, said he too was overlooked when the fundraiser was first announced.
The event raised some $500,000 for the Democratic National Committee, according to the report.
One other interesting point from Obama's Georgia visit: He's traveling with Patrick Gaspard, the White House director of political affairs.
As President Obama prepares to travel to Chicago for a fundraiser for Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, the Illinois Senate candidate faces renewed questions about his family's bank.
New records show jailed developer Tony Rezko held an ownership stake in a development project that received a previously undisclosed loan from Giannoulias's Broadway Bank. In February 2006, the Chicago Sun-Timesreported, the bank made a $22.75 million loan to Riverside District Development LLC, whose owners included Rezko.
The Giannoulias camp denied he knew about the loan. "Alexi left daily operations of the bank in September of 2005, months before this loan was made," a spokeswoman said.
Meanwhile, the president is set for an Aug. 5 fundraiser for Giannoulias in Chicago.
Giannoulias previously has been on the receiving end of fundraising help from Vice President Joe Biden and other top administration officials. Raising money has been a problem for the Democrat since Broadway Bank's collapse in April, his most recent Federal Election Commission filings show.
Former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff (D) is now in a dead heat with Sen. Michael Bennet (D) in the state's Democratic primary, according to new numbers from Survey USA.
The latest polling shows the race has tightened considerably in the past few weeks. A Denver Post poll released Sunday (conducted by Survey USA) has Romanoff leading 48 percent to 45 — within the margin of error.
Just two months ago, Romanoff was ahead of Bennet by more than 15 points. The senator has countered with his own internal numbers, but in a danger sign for Bennet they only have him ahead by four points.
Romanoff, who sold his house last week to aid his campaign, still faces an opponent who was sitting on more than $2.5 million as of his last Federal Election Commission filing. Bennet is poised to spend that money aggressively during the final stretch before the Aug. 10 primary.
Romanoff is trying to continue the trend of knocking off incumbent senators in primaries this cycle. Sens. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) and Bob Bennett (R-Utah) have already lost, while Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) narrowly survived her primary challenge.
Colorado Republicans Jane Norton and Ken Buck are both spending heavily on ads in the run-up to the state's August 10 primary.
The Denver Post reports that Norton has raised $93,636 since July 1 to Buck's $80,966 during that same time.
From the Post:
Norton had slightly more cash on hand with $459,628 to Buck's $437,529 as of July 21. Both campaigns have ads up, Buck's camp is getting significant help from outside groups buying radio and television ads for him.
Much of Norton's $418,000 in expenditures in July is going to ad buys, said spokeswoman Cinamon Watson. Buck has spent $307,585 through July 21.
...Americans for Job Security has doled out more than $1.6 million on Buck's behalf, with almost $500,000 going out for negative Jane Norton television and radio through Aug. 2. The group is a “trade organization” that doesn't have to disclose its donor lists.
In addition, the Senate Conservatives Fund — a political-action committee started by South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint — has spent $139,000 so far to help Buck.
Republican primary rivals Clint Didier and Paul Akers areteaming upin the race for Sen. Patty Murray's (D-Wash.) seat. The two have been fighting for oxygen in a Republican primary against leading candidate Dino Rossi (R).
Didier and Akers are planning to use joint forums and radio ads in an attempt to gain some traction against Rossi, who has the backing of most of the state and national Republican establishment.
Their message: the party establishment is trying to dictate the Republican nominee.
A major stumbling bloc for that message is the endorsement Rossi won Thursday from Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). DeMint has inserted himself in a number of Republican primaries this campaign season and has not made a habit of backing the so-called establishment pick.
"Dino Rossi is a principled conservative who will help us take our country back. He will fight to stop the massive spending, bailouts, and debt that are bankrupting our country," DeMint said in a statement. "The Senate Conservatives Fund will do everything it can to help Dino Rossi. We're going to make sure voters in Washington hear his message and that freedom-loving Americans across the country support his campaign."
DeMint is backing Republican Ken Buck in Colorado's Senate primary. He's also backed Rand Paul in Kentucky, Mike Lee in Utah and Sharron Angle in Nevada this primary season.
Didier is backed by Tea Party forces in the state and has the endorsement of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
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