Senate races

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has almost $10 million more cash on hand than her Republican challenger, Carly Fiorina.

A new Quinnipiac University poll out Friday gives Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D) a 17-point edge over opponent Linda McMahon (R).

Blumenthal leads 54 percent to 37 percent in the survey. The race is largely unchanged from a month ago, when a Q-Poll had Blumenthal up 55-35 over McMahon.

Blumenthal also leads with independent voters — 54 percent to 35 percent.

Despite the controversy that erupted over Blumenthal’s military service, the poll found that 60 percent of likely voters agreed that Blumenthal is “honest and trustworthy.”

Still, McMahon’s major advantage is money. The former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment is self-funding her bid and has already poured millions of her money into the race. 

In a memo accompanying the results, Quinnipiac Polling Director Doug Schwartz noted that, based on the trend lines, McMahon may have the momentum. 

“She is inching up on Blumenthal,” Schwartz said. “In January, she trailed Blumenthal by 41 points. In every subsequent poll she has cut into his lead and now has cut that lead by more than 24 points.”

Earlier this week, Rep. Rob Simmons (R-Conn.) hinted in an interview with the Hartford Courant that he might jump back into the race before the Aug. 10 primary. 

He suspended his campaign after the GOP state convention in May, but his name remains on the primary ballot.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) holds a seven-point lead over Republican challenger Sharron Angle in a new poll.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist again trailed Republican Marco Rubio in fundraising this quarter. Crist raised $1.8 million in the last three months and now has $8.2 million banked for his Senate campaign, according to a release.

Rubio earlier reported that he raised $4.5 million in the last three months, but he has not yet revealed his cash on hand total.

Meanwhile, Democrat Kendrick Meek raised more than $1 million in the quarter and now has some $4 million banked.

One bright spot for Crist: His quarterly haul increased by some $650,000 from the $1.15 million he raised in the first three months of 2010. That increase came despite his decision to run as an Independent.

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (D) will announce an interim replacement for the late Sen. Robert Byrd at a 2 p.m. news conference Friday.

The governor's office said Thursday the interim replacement will be present and speak to reporters, but the governor has not yet publicly announced his pick.

Senate Democrats in Washington — anxious to have another Democrat in the seat — said Thursday the interim Senator will be sworn in next Tuesday. 

Some lawmakers in West Virginia are accusing Gov. Joe Manchin's (D) office of using the special session of the state legislature as a power grab. 

The special session to address the succession process for the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D) got underway Thursday afternoon, but the Charleston Gazette reports that lawmakers of both parties continue to express unease with some aspects of the legislative fix.    

The governor's office changed a key provision of the bill earlier Thursday in an attempt to ease some concerns. Originally, the bill would have eliminated the need for a primary if just one candidate filed to run. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers objected to that provision, so the governor's office removed it before the legislature began consideration of the measure Thursday.

The bill is making its way through legislative committees and the governor's office still expects swift passage.

Manchin will announce his choice for an interim Senator by 5 p.m. Friday and Senate Democrats already have set the time and date of that person's swearing in.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) spent more than he took in over the last three months. He burned through roughly $1.7 million since the June 8 primary, much of it going into an early broadside of advertising against Republican challenger Sharron Angle.

At the same time, Reid raised $2.4 million for his reelection effort, his campaign said Thursday. Angle, meanwhile, raised $2.29 million -- the bulk of it coming from through the "web and social media," her campaign said. It's an impressive figure considering she had some $130,000 in the bank as of May 19, according to her pre-primary filing.

"I am absolutely overwhelmed that in an economy where people are hurting, they are supporting our campaign with their money and their time. That's how much people want to retire Harry Reid," she said in a statement.

Angle's campaign spent $656,773 and now has $1,767,671 cash on hand.

Reid's campaign has spent close to $3 million since March 31, mainly on TV ads, including a new spot that went up Thursday. It's one of eight post-primary ads, which represent a flurry of spending that dropped his cash on hand from $9.42 million to $8.94 million.

The senator has raised $19.2 million for his re-election campaign to date. But with less than four months to go before Election Day, he'll need to improve his fundraising to reach his stated goal of collecting $25 million for the race. He's recently gotten some help from President Obama who was in Nevada last week for a fundraiser. 

--Puneet Kollipara contributed to this post.

--Updated at 5:17 p.m.

Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) boasted Thursday of raising $2.2 million for his Senate run in the last quarter, besting his Democratic opponent, Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, by almost $700,000.

Blunt's camp made the announcement first via Twitter, calling it his "largest quarter of the campaign."

Soon after, the campaign blasted a release to reporters noting it had more than $4.5 million cash on hand. Blunt received money from 5,000 individual donors in the second quarter. It's also spent almost $1.1 million since March 31, according to its disclosure report.

Carnahan, meanwhile, had her "best quarter to date."

She raised $1.55 million from 30,000 donors and now has $3.63 million banked, according to her campaign. She had a lower burn rate, spending $760,029 in the last three months.

Blunt spokesman Rich Chrismer said their fundraising figures are a sign that Missouri voters are rejecting Democratic policies.

"It is so clear to a huge and growing number of Missourians that the Carnahan, Pelosi, Reid and Obama policies are a disaster for jobs, the economy, healthcare and energy," Chrismer said in a statement.

A Carnahan spokesman said voters have had "enough" of Blunt.

"Missourians have had enough of Congressman Blunt's 14 years of wasteful spending in Washington and that is why he has been forced to go on TV early in the closing weeks of his primary fight to defend his record of bailouts, earmarks, and deficit spending," Carnahan spokesman Linden Zakula said in a statement.

—Updated at 1:22 p.m. and 2:25 p.m.

Rep. Rob Simmons (R-Conn.), who suspended his campaign for Senate after the state Republican convention in May, said in an interview Wednesday he is considering getting back into the race. 

“I haven’t made any final decisions,” Simmons told the Hartford Courant’s Rick Green. “I’m getting a lot of phone calls from people. Six weeks ago, the convention was over and I was very disappointed. My staff was despondent. My family was stunned.”

At the state party convention, former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon (R) won the party’s endorsement, but Simmons won enough delegate support to keep his name on the ballot. 

Because McMahon is largely self-funding her bid, she has a formidable cash advantage. But Simmons still has close to $1 million in his campaign account. 

The Republican primary is Aug. 10. 

The West Virginia Republican Party is continuing a newspaper ad campaign it began Wednesday targeting Gov. Joe Manchin (D). 

The state party took out full-page ads in several Charleston newspapers linking Manchin to President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).    

“This is just the first in what we anticipate will be a series,” state party Chairman Doug McKinney told the Charleston Gazette. “We think these are questions the governor needs to answer if he wants to run for the Senate.” 

The ads push Manchin to publicly break with the Democratic leadership on cap-and-trade and healthcare, asking “Why are you so eager to quit your job and stand with the liberal Washington Democrats?”

Manchin is an opponent of the president’s cap-and-trade proposal.

A special session of the West Virginia legislature opens at noon Thursday, and lawmakers are expected to approve a bill that would allow Manchin to call a November special election to fill the seat of the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D). 

Manchin is expected to name an interim replacement for Byrd by 5 p.m. Friday and announce his own intentions for the seat shortly after. It’s widely anticipated that Manchin will run in a November special election. 

On the Republican side, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito is the party’s best chance to defeat Manchin, but under current state law she would have to resign her House seat to run in a November special election, something she is unlikely to do.