Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher (D) doesn't need to sweat his primary on Tuesday, according to a new poll.
The Suffolk University poll shows Fisher with a nearly 30-point lead, 55-27, over Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.
The two had polled within single digits of each other since the start of the race, but now two polls this week show Brunner fighting a a losing battle. Quinnipiac University had him up 41-24, and now Suffolk shows him in with a clear lock on the nomination.
Carly Fiorina, who's running to replace Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), will be in Washington Saturday night for the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner.
Fiorina, the former head of Hewlett-Packard, will be the guest of Fox News Business Channel, according to the news organization.
Before Fiorina can get to Boxer, she has to make it through the June 8th GOP primary, where she's running neck-and-neck in the polls with former Rep. Tom Campbell.
Fiorina also is the subject of an in-depth profile in the Wall Street Journal magazine. The piece examines both her personal life (her battle with cancer, the death of her step-daughter, her two marriages) and her professional life (how she rose from a receptionist to a CEO).
Fiorina says of her decision to pursue public office: "I studied this race a lot because I kind of like a tough challenge, but I don't take on things I don't think I can accomplish. I don't take on a fight just for a fight. I don't tilt at windmills."
Businessman Bill Binnie says that the fate of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has forced the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) to become neutral in the New Hampshire Senate primary.
“I think that they are moving to a neutral stance in the race,” Binnie said in an interview Thursday, adding: “And I think that the Rubio-Crist parallels have taught everybody a lesson.”
The NRSC endorsed Crist a year ago when he got in the race and was a huge favorite over Marco Rubio. But after Rubio overtook him in the polls and the race appeared lost, Crist on Thursday switched to running with no party affiliation.
The NRSC has since pulled its endorsement of the governor and is backing Rubio.
Similarly, Binnie has emerged as a roadblock between the GOP nomination and the party favorite in his state, former state Attorney General Kelly Ayotte. He has self-funded $3 million and raised another $730,000, giving him a big cash advantage in the race and allowing him to climb in early polling.
Democrats aren't the only ones using their opponents' connections to Wall Street as a political attack.
California gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner is up with a new TV spot that attacks his GOP primary rival Meg Whitman for making "easy money" with Goldman Sachs's "vulture funds, profiting from California foreclosures." The ad features some graphic footage of an actual vulture ripping flesh off a carcass.
The 30-second spot, which is airing statewide on cable and broadcast, also notes that executives at the investment bank donated $100,000 to Whitman's campaign.
Stevens & Schriefer Group is creating TV spots for Poizner's campaign.
The Whitman camp called the ad a "distortion."
"This type of pathetic distortion is exactly what Republicans expect from Team Brown and it's convincing evidence that Steve Poizner has joined it," Whitman spokeswoman Sarah Pompei said in a statement. "The truth is that Jerry Brown's union allies and Steve Poizner will say and do anything to try and defeat Meg Whitman who is the only fiscal conservative running for Governor."
Gov. Charlie Crist's decision to run as an Independent in the Florida Senate contest has cost him the services of top consultant and pollster.
The Stevens & Schriefer Group will no longer produce Crist's TV spots or advise his campaign, according to Russ Schriefer.
"We have ended our relationship with the campaign," Schriefer confirmed in an email. "We have worked with Governor Crist for a decade, we respect him and wish him well."
Glen Bolger, a partner at Public Opinion Strategies, confirmed his firm also will stop working with Crist.
While the DC-based consultants abandon Crist, some of his Florida allies are reportedly sticking with him.
[S]ome Crist supporters, particularly in his Tampa Bay area home turf, feel more loyalty to Crist than to the party.
Tallahassee lawyer-lobbyist Brian Ballard, long an influential fundraiser for GOP candidates including Crist, said Crist's most important financier will stick with him – "The guys who really raise the money aren't abandoning him," he said. "I have no doubt of that."
Orlando lawyer John Morgan of Morgan & Morgan, a Democrat who has backed Crist for years, said the move will enable Crist to get more support from Democrats and independents.
The debate over Arizona's new anti-illegal immigration law is reverberating around the country and Pennsylvania is no exception.
Republican Senate candidate Pat Toomey backed the controversial statute when asked about it during an interview on Glenn Beck's radio show Wednesday.
"If you have a federal government tha's not enforcing the law, and does not preserve the integrity of its own borders then naturally states are going to take matters into their own hands," the former congressman said.
Arizona's statute mandates that local police enforce federal immigration laws if they determine a suspect is in the country illegally. Critics have said it will promote racial profiling and drain resources away from local law enforcement.
"The fact is Arizona has been bearing an awful brunt of the problems that arise from the lack of federal enforcement," Toomey said. "It's recently escalated to the point where people are getting killed. So why should we be surprised that Arizona is deciding it has to take measures into its own hands?"
The day before Toomey spoke with Beck another prominent Pennsylvania Republican expressed concern about Arizona's law.
"I'm uncomfortable with it from what I've seen and heard," former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told the Associated Press. "It's ridiculous to think ... we're going to identify 12 million to 14 million people and send them back."
In a statement issued Thursday, Toomey said illegal immigration is a problem in Pennsylvania, but not on the same scale as it is in Arizona and California.
"We are not at such a crisis point where we need to take the kind of steps that Arizona did, but I can certainly understand why state lawmakers in Arizona felt they had to take action," he said.
Toomey noted he was sensitive to concerns about the law's potential impact on civil liberties but called for a wait-and-see approach.
"Let's see whether responsible law enforcement officials in Arizona act properly, and let's see if this makes an impact on illegal immigration," he said. "If Arizona can implement its law without civil liberties abuses, then they should have the right to do that, and to address a serious local problem that Washington has completed failed on."
Charlie Crist tried to contact Rahm Emanuel as he made his decision to become an independent, Marc Ambinder reports:
Charlie Crist, soon to be independent Senate candidate from Florida, tried to reach White House chief of staff Emanuel through intermediates. WH refuses to take the call. Dems plan big talent/money blitz for Kendrick Meek. BTW: Obama's approval rating in FL is in high 40s, per internal Dem polling.
Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-S.C.) Senate Conservatives Fund has raised more than $200,000 for Indiana Senate candidate Marlin Stutzman as the state senator looks to pull an upset of former Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) in the GOP primary.
The haul equals the $200,000 that Coats loaned his campaign and should allow Stutzman to continue to build up his name ID in advance of Tuesday's vote. Stutzman has emerged over former Rep. John Hostettler (R-Ind.) as Coats's biggest obstacle to the GOP nomination.
The endorsement of DeMint has paid big financial dividens for Stutzman. Through April 14, Stutzman had raised just $260,000 and had just $45,000 on hand.
Before loaning his campaign $200,000 last week, Coats had raised $445,000, albeit in a shorter time period than Stutzman.
"This race is still wide open, and Marlin is gaining momentum with a clear conservative message," DeMint said. "The response from the grass roots in Indiana and across the nation has been remarkable. Marlin is raising money $25 at a time from thousands of people who want to send a new generation of conservative leaders to Washington."
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