Senate races

Sue Lowden continues to hold a double-digit lead in the Nevada GOP Senate primary, according to a new poll.

The Nevada News Bureau poll, which was conducted by PMI Inc., is the first in the race not conducted by Mason-Dixon, but it shows a similar result to recent Mason-Dixon polling.

Lowden, the former state GOP chairwoman, leads businessman Danny Tarkanian 41-24. Former state Assemblywoman Sharron Angle is in third, at 17 percent. No other names were tested.

A Mason-Dixon poll from earlier this month had Lowden ahead of Tarkanian 45-27 with Angle at 5 percent.

Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D) may benefit from what's expected to be record turnout in the Arkansas congressional primaries May 18.

Secretary of State Charlie Daniels (D) said turnout for next month's primary vote could be Arkansas's highest for a non-presidential year election since 1994.

"I think 30 to 35 (percent of registered voters) is not unreasonable for this election, even though the trend or the stats for previous years haven't been that great," Daniels told the Arkansas News Bureau.

Thirty percent of Arkansas's 1.6 million registered voters would be 480,000 people.

"To me, it seems like an unusual year in that three of the four congressional district races are open, there's not an incumbency in those. Then you've got the U.S. Senate race, where you have a number of candidates on the Republican side, and then the Democratic primary," he said.

An influx of new voters could benefit Halter, who's challenging two-term incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln for the Democratic nomination.

The two met on Saturday for their first televised debate.

During the often-heated exchanges, Halter said his campaign has taken down a website referring to Lincoln as "Bailout Blanche" and called on her to stop calling him "Dollar Bill Halter." Lincoln refused, saying Halter's business background is a fair target for criticism, according to the Baxter Bulletin.

Nobody can say Alexi Giannoulias's Senate campaign wasn't ready for his family's bank to go under.

The Illinois Democrat's campaign on Monday launched its first general election ad, and the candidate asserts he is "very proud" to have worked for Broadway Bank.

"It's helped thousands of people achieve the American dream -- people who couldn't go to the big banks," Giannoulias says of the bank, adding that, "when I left over four years ago, it was in good shape."

Giannoulias closes by saying: "If a business like my father's that he started 30 years ago can fail, it's happening everywhere. People want someone who's going to fight for them."

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) was touted as the "best bet" for keeping his seat in Democratic hands by two major Pennsylvania newspapers.

The former Republican won strong backing in his first bid for the Democratic Senate nod from the editorial boards of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday.

The Inquirer said the "80-year-old newcomer to their party" is a "good choice for Democrats."

The Post-Gazette editorialized, "His knowledge of the state's needs, his ability to command respect on Capitol Hill and his voice for the brand of civil discourse that is too rare in America today have few rivals."

The Inquirer called Specter's primary rival, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), a "worthy opponent for the nomination." But it noted he "suffers from low name recognition and the absence of support by party leaders, from President Obama to Gov. Rendell."

The Post-Gazette said that a "true-blue" liberal like Sestak will have a hard time winning in the current national environment.

"In a different political year, his true-blue liberalism might be just the ticket for the Democratic Party," the paper said. "But in 2010, with an insurgent challenge from the right to claim the seat and with grass-roots tea party activists railing against the role of government, whoever hopes to become Pennsylvania's next senator will need to win votes from the center."

The Inquirer said Specter "is a senator for the ages. He is still a vital player and a worthy choice for Democrats."

Specter and Sestak will meet in their only televised debate of the primary campaign on May 1.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is talking up the healthcare reform law in a big way on the campaign trail.

Reid, who led efforts to shepherd the $940 billion legislation through the Senate, is facing a tough reelection battle this fall. He spoke at several Democratic county conventions in northern Nevada on Saturday.

“The most important thing we've done for the country and the world is health care,” he said according to the Nevada Appeal. 

Republicans have warned Democrats to use the healthcare law, upon which the public is divided, during the fall campaigns at their own peril.

Democrats have countered, saying that the healthcare law is one of their greatest achievements, comparing it to the passage of large, popular entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. 

Cross-posted to the Briefing Room

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), who has fundraised for Crist's Senate campaign this year, said that Cheney's statement was damaging.

Senate candidate Carly Fiorina jumped into one of the most contentious issues in the House on the day when Armenians mark the killing of 1.5 million by the Ottoman Empire.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee narrowly passed a resolution March 4 to call the killings genocide, which sparked a tiff with Turkey in which the ambassador was recalled to Ankara for a month.

Fiorina issued a statement Saturday afternoon calling on Congress to pass the resolution and calling on President Barack Obama to recognize the killings as genocide, which he didn't in his Armenian Remembrance Day statement.

“There are periods in our history that are dark and horrible," Fiorina said. "They reveal the evil that exists in our world and underscore the atrocities that humankind is capable of committing.

"It is our duty to acknowledge the contemptible, premeditated crimes and horrible acts of genocide that were committed by the Ottoman Turks when they drove Armenians from their ancestral homeland during this dark period of human history," she said.

Armenian communities are prevalent in central and southern California, with the city of Glendale hosting one of the largest concentrations of Armenians in the U.S.

Republican Senate candidate Pat Toomey came to the defense of Democrat Joe Sestak Friday and called on Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) to stop running his latest TV attack ad.

In an open letter to Specter, Toomey said the senator has "stooped to a new low" by attacking primary challenger Sestak’s military record. 

He called on Specter to "remove" the ad.

 See Toomey's full letter after the jump.
 
Read more...

Marco Rubio has spent the week rolling out a series of endorsements from high-profile Republicans.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney held an event with Rubio on Monday, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) came out for him on Tuesday, Vice President Dick Cheney released a statement of support on Thursday and on Friday former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) got on the bandwagon.

Santorum on Rubio: "He's the only candidate in this race who can be trusted to go to Washington and stand up to the reckless tax-and-spenders that treat taxpayer dollars and the federal budget like toys."

The Rubio camp tells the Ballot Box there are more to come.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) are some notable absentees from Rubio's growing list of public backers.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's Freedom First PAC has added six names to its list of endorsements for the 2012 midterm election.

The new endorsees include four top GOP House hopefuls, a Senate candidate and a senator:

-State Sen. Joe Heck, running for Congress in Nevada’s 3rd District
-Iraq veteran Adam Kinzinger, running for Congress in Illinois’ 11th District.
-Former Rep. Steve Chabot, running for Congress in Ohio’s 1st District.
-State Sen. Mick Mulvaney, running for Congress in South Carolina's 5th District.
-Rep. Mark Kirk, running for Senate in Illinois.
-Sen. Tom Coburn, running for Senate in Oklahoma.

Coburn faces no real danger this year, but the other five will be waging closely watched campaigns.

To help the candidates, Pawlenty will match donations through his website up to the $5,000 limit for each candidate. He will also send a fundraising e-mail on the candidate's behalf.

As The Ballot Box reported yesterday, Pawlenty will do an event for Mulvaney on May 8.