Senate races

The Democrat who lost to unknown candidate Alvin Greene in last week's South Carolina Senate primary is formally challenging the results of the race.

Charleston City Councilman Vic Rawl said the "strange circumstances" surrounding the primary vote prompted the challenge. Greene, who didn't spend any money on the campaign besides his filing fee and had no campaign website, won the nomination by 18 points.

The state Democratic party's 92-member executive board will meet on Thursday to hear arguments and decide whether to throw out the results, according to reports.

If the state party decides against Rawl, he could take his case all the way to the state Supreme Court. If they decide for him, Greene could file a formal protest of his own.

Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said this weekend that the Democratic primary reeked of "elephant dung."

Clyburn charged last week that Greene was likely a "plant" in the race. "I never said he was a Republican plant," he said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" program. "I said he was someone's plant. And it turned up after the elections, we found out, as I said earlier, something untoward was going on."

"I saw the patterns in this," Clyburn said. "I know a Democratic pattern, I know a Republican pattern, and I saw in the Democratic primary elephant dung all over the place."

Greene also came to national attention because he was arrested in November and charged with showing obscene photos to a University of South Carolina student. He has not been indicted and declined to comment on the charges when asked about them by The Hill.

Party officials asked Greene to drop out of the race last week after reports of the felony charge emerged.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is expected to keep his seat.

Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul's (R) medical qualifications are being questioned after reports he allowed his certification from a national organization to lapse.

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that Paul, an eye surgeon, has claimed to be board-certified in ophthalmology but that "the national clearinghouse for such certifications says he hasn't been for the past five years."

Paul has said he holds certification from the National Board of Ophthalmology (NBO), a group he incorporated and currently heads. 
But the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) doesn't recognize certifications from Paul's organization, according to the Courier-Journal. 

An ABMS certification isn't necessary to practice medicine in Kentucky.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee blasted reports on Paul's certification to reporters Monday.

Paul previously had certification from the American
 Board of Ophthalmology (ABO), whose certifications the ABMS 
does recognize, but he let that certification lapse when he started the NBO. Paul issued a lengthy statement explaining his journey through the certification process.

"ABO argues that they are the legitamate [sic] organization because they are recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS)," Paul said. "They fail to explain that ABO helped found ABMS and gets to vote on who is approved by ABMS. One can imagine why ABMS and ABO would 
not want to approve a competitor."

Paul said he passed his board exam in 1995 on the first try. He then founded NBO because ABO decided to grandfather the certifications of older ophthalmologists, thereby exempting them from 
having to get recertified. Meanwhile, younger ophthalmologists would
need to continue getting recertified regularly.



"This is the kind of hypocritical power play that I despise and have
 always fought against," he said.

Paul is up against state Attorney General Jack Conway (D) in Kentucky's
 general election. Polls have shown that the race has tightened since Paul's controversial comments in late May about the Civil Rights Act.

--Updated at 4:12 p.m.

Illinois Senate candidate Mark Kirk (R) said the attacks on his military record have gone from "dirty to ridiculous."

The five-term congressman sent an e-mail to supporters Monday linking to a clip from an interview state Rep. Linda Chapa Lavia (D), a supporter of Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, gave to the Fox affiliate in Chicago on Sunday.

"What I would hope that he would come out and apologize to all the veterans, especially the veterans during the Vietnam era, because that's when he supposedly served," she said during the interview.

Chapa Lavia is the only female state House member to have served in the military.

"I was 13 years old when the Vietnam Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973," Kirk wrote to supporters. "At this point, it's hard to take what [Giannoulias] or his representatives say seriously. … In the end, we will win this election because our ideas are better."

New Hampshire senate candidate Kelly Ayotte (R) is testifying before a state legislative committee Monday about the failed mortgage lender Financial Resources Mortgage.

The company is accused of running a Ponzi scheme to bilk investors out of millions of dollars while Ayotte was serving as attorney general.

Michael Delaney, the current attorney general, told lawmakers last month that Ayotte's office had several opportunities to expose the fraud but didn't. Ayotte is defending her actions.

"If I were there today, I would be doing what this committee is doing," Ayotte said in her testimony. "Looking at what happened."

The hearing is being streamed live here.

The challenge for Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle is to maintain the appeal of an authentic, outsider candidate while getting assistance.

Republican California Senate candidate Carly Fiorina said Sunday she regretted comments she'd made mocking incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer's haircut but stopped short of apologizing.

"God, what is that... so yesterday," she was caught saying on an open microphone during a Sacramento TV appearance Wednesday.

Fiorina, on "Fox News Sunday," also defended her tenure as CEO of Hewlett Packard, during which 30,000 American workers were laid off, saying she ran the company during the worst technology slump in 25 years.

Asked about whether she would tack to the center on issues such as abortion now that the primary's over, Fiorina said she wouldn't change who she was on social issues but that the election would be fought over jobs and the economy.

And she did not back off from her controversial statement that people on the federal no-fly list should not be denied the right to buy guns, saying the list is much too broad and people shouldn't have their rights curtailed because of "government incompetence."

Alvin Greene, a 32-year-old unemployed veteran, says he spent less than $12,500 on his primary campaign.

Gov. Charlie Crist (R) vetoed a controversial abortion bill Friday, prompting an outcry from his opponents in Florida's Senate campaign.

The legislation, known as HB 1143, would have required women seeking an abortion during their first trimester to have an ultrasound and cover the cost themselves.

Crist said it placed an undue burden on women seeking an abortion, according to the Associated Press.

Crist's veto is the latest chapter in what's become a running feud with the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Crist's opponents in the Senate race were quick to react.

Republican Marco Rubio said Crist's decision "clears the way for taxpayer funding of abortion in Florida."

"Once again, Charlie Crist has put politics ahead of principled policy-making," he said in statement. "Not only would this commonsense measure have provided women with vital information as they make a critical decision, but now Governor Crist’s veto also clears the way for taxpayer funding of abortion in Florida."

Democrat Kendrick Meek called the decision a "no-brainer" but pointed out Crist's not necessarily pro-choice.

"The governor can never escape his anti-choice past however hard he tries to run away from it," he said in a statement.

Meek's rival for the Democratic nod, real estate mogul Jeff Greene, had a similar reaction. "The fact that Charlie Crist even had to think about whether or not to veto this bill is just more evidence that Crist is a flip-flopper," he said in a statement.  

Bennet can't remember how he was made aware, but knew the White House contacted Romanoff.

The White House is fighting back against Rep. Mark Kirk's (R-Ill.) allegation that the administration leaked information about Kirk's military record.

Kirk made the accusation with "no evidence," the Chicago Sun-Times reports, and White House adviser David Axelrod said Thursday is not true.

"Obviously, Congressman Kirk has some problems that are of his creation, and he can't download them on us," Axelrod told the paper. "I assure you that everyone here has plenty to do. No one is trafficking in revelatory records about him."

Kirk, who's running for President Barack Obama's former Senate seat, has been damaged by a series of revelations about his military career.

The White House has come under fire for involvement in other Senate races, including allegations it made job offers to candidates in Pennsylvania and Colorado to encourage them not to run. Administration officials also got involved in the New York Senate race, helping to clear the primary field for Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)

The Kirk campaign told the paper they will file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for all correspondence between "administration officials and Democratic campaigns or political operative regarding Mr. Kirk's personal military records."

The White House isn't covered by FOIA and neither are the campaign committees, the Sun-Times points out.

The latest poll on the race, released Wednesday, shows it's a close one. Kirk leads Democrat Alexi Giannoulias by three points, according to Rasmussen Reports.