Vice President Joe Biden sought campaign cash for Senate Democrats on Tuesday by reminding supporters of how close Republicans are to winning a majority in 2012.

Biden, in an e-mail on behalf of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, noted the 23 seats Senate Democrats must defend in 2012, sought donations ahead of the end-of-March fundraising deadline.

"Democrats are defending 23 seats in 2012, five of which are open. Republicans only need to pick up four to take control of the Senate," Biden wrote in a fundraising e-mail.

The vice president called the Senate the "firewall" for Democrats against Republican inroads and called the 2012 Senate elections "the toughest electoral climate we’ve seen in a long time."

Republicans are optimistic that given the broad turf Democrats must defend in 2012, and given the GOP's own recruitment of top-tier candidates in Senate races so far, they'll make inroads and possibly win the Senate majority in the congressional elections next fall. Republicans would need to win four seats as long as they hold their own seats.

Biden set up the fundraising deadline at the end of March as a crucial metric of Democrats' strength. Last month's figures emerged in the past week, showing the DSCC as having bested its GOP counterpart in February.

"The end of the month’s FEC deadline is a crucial test of our strength," Biden wrote. "By giving to the DSCC, you have the power to prove to the pundits and our opponents that grassroots Democrats are standing together to defend our firewall."

As former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty gets a jump on his prospective 2012 opponents and works to present himself as the one candidate who can unite Republicans next year, he stands out from the early pack for another reason — so far, he's just about the only gaffe-less Republican of the group.  

Look at practically every other candidate in the field of rumored Republican hopefuls and at least one misstep from the past few months should come to mind. 

Republican Jane Corwin has sought to quickly define her Democratic opponent as a "career politician" that was "handpicked" by her party's Washington leadership.

Corwin went up with a new TV ad Tuesday hitting Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul for voting to raise property taxes in "eleven town budgets" when she was a Hamburg town councilwoman.

The attack comes after the National Republican Congressional Committee released a Web video that accused Hochul of "learn[ing] how to tax and spend as a Washington lobbyist."

Hochul lobbied for technology firms for less than a year more than two decades ago, according to WIVB-TV 4 in Buffalo. The Senate Office of Public Records does not having documentation stretching back to the early 1990s.

Hochul also spent time on the staff of former Rep. John LaFalce (D-N.Y.) and the late Sen. Pat Moynihan (D-N.Y.).
 
In Corwin's second spot of the special-election campaign, she accuses Hochul of "trying to fool you."

"Kathy Hochul and Nancy Pelosi: Now that's a team with a history of raising our taxes," the female announcer says in the 30-second ad.

Hochul's camp dismissed the ads as "smear tactics."

"Kathy Hochul is no one's handpicked candidate and has never shied away from standing up to her own party," Fabien Levy, a spokesman for Hochul, said in a statement. "She saved motorists $129 million when she stood up to Governor Paterson's plan to mandate new license plates. And she stood up to Governor Spitzer's ill-advised plan to give drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants."

Democratic officials confirmed Hochul as their nominee in the special election for New York's 26th congressional district seat on Saturday. She has yet to release a campaign ad. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee hasn't indicated it will spend money on the race.

Corwin's spot is airing districtwide on broadcast, according to her campaign.

--Updated at 4:21 p.m.

Campaign committee is targeting Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and nine other Republicans on plans to tackle entitlement spending.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Monday the only decision he's made about a potential 2012 presidential campaign is that he won't run against his father — Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). 

The elder Paul is seriously weighing another run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, while his son, Tea Party star Rand Paul, has teased the idea of his own campaign next year. 

During an appearance Monday in South Carolina, the first-term senator said part of the reason he's traveling to early primary states is because he wants the Tea Party "to have an influence over who the nominee is in 2012," according to the South Carolina Post and Courier. 

On his own aspirations, Paul said, "The only decision I've made is I won't run against my dad." 

In an interview with ABC News last month, Rand Paul said of a potential presidential campaign in 2012, "Come back and ask me in a few months."

A potential Republican presidential candidate said he "resents" Muslim attempts to "convert the rest of us" to their religion.

Herman Cain, a one-time Senate candidate and former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, is the most prominent African-American considering a run for the GOP presidential nomination. During an interview with Christianity Today, Cain said the country needs to overcome "the challenges of intentional divisiveness."

"People use the race card, they use the class warfare card, to divide us," he said. "Do people still discriminate in some small ways against certain people because of their color or their religion? Yes. But it is nowhere near where it was 235 years ago."

The Georgia Republican then went on to talk about the "role of Muslims in American society."

"The role of Muslims in America is not to convert the rest of us to the Muslim religion. That I resent. Because we are a Judeo-Christian nation, from the fact that 85 percent of us are self-described Christians, or evangelicals, or practicing the Jewish faith. Eighty-five percent. One percent of the practicing religious believers in this country are Muslim," he said.

Cain continued: "And so I push back and reject them trying to convert the rest of us. And based upon the little knowledge that I have of the Muslim religion, you know, they have an objective to convert all infidels or kill them. Now, I know that there are some peaceful Muslims who don't go around preaching or practicing that. Well, unfortunately, we can't sit back and tolerate the radical ones simply because we know that there are some of them who don't believe in that aspect of the Muslim religion. So their role is to be allowed to practice their religion freely, just like we should be allowed to practice our religion freely, and not try to convert the rest of us."

Cain also said that "evangelicals can offset" the vote of traditionally Democratic groups.

"Evangelical Christians have the potential, if they vote in large numbers, to offset the union vote, to offset the gay vote, and to offset the vote of those that don't particularly have any religion at all," he said.

Earlier this year, the 65-year-old formed a presidential exploratory committee and said he's considering launching a bid for the GOP nod.

(h/t Political Insider)

Indiana Republican Jackie Walorski wants another shot at Rep. Joe Donnelly's (D-Ind.) House seat.

After losing by a slim margin to the centrist Democrat in 2010, Walorski announced Tuesday that she's running again in 2012 amid speculation that Donnelly could jump ship for a Senate or gubernatorial bid next year.

The district could end up more Republican once the boundaries are redrawn ahead of 2012, potentially easing the path for Walorski and making Donnelly more likely to launch a bid for higher office. But Walorski insisted that redistricting didn't play into her decision to launch another campaign for the seat.

"I really want to be out before those [redistricting] numbers are out, because I'm really committed to fighting for this district," Walorski said in an interview with WNDU-TV Tuesday morning.

The Republican alluded to the possibility that Donnelly could decide against running for reelection next year, noting that she's already raising money and will begin campaigning in earnest as Donnelly "ponders his future."

At least some Indiana Democrats are working to convince Donnelly that a run for Senate might be the better play for him in 2012. With a contested GOP primary between Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock and Sen. Dick Lugar, Democrats in the state see a chance to put the seat in play should Lugar lose the nomination.

The Republican had a testy relationship with local reporters during her 2010 race against Harry Reid.

Pawlenty said his presidential candidacy will be "unique" in its ability to "appeal across that whole spectrum" of conservatism.