Candidates vying to replace retiring Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) hold opposite views on whether the Obama administration should lift the ban.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has put his stamp on the two remaining Senate primaries where Tea Party-backed candidates are gunning for upsets.

New Hampshire Republicans are expecting near record turnout in next Tuesday's primary, which may help the moderates running for the GOP Senate nod.

Secretary of State Bill Gardner estimated 152,000 Republicans would vote in the nomination contests for senator, governor and the state's two congressional seats. The turnout record for a GOP primary in the state is 155,000 ballots cast, which happened in 2002.

"This has been that kind of year as 2002 in many respects, both the competition n the ballot and the huge volume of paid advertising by the candidates," Gardner told the Nashua Telegraph. 

An expanded voting pool could help Bill Binnie, a wealthy businessman, who has run as a socially moderate, fiscally conservative Republican. He's stood out as openly pro-choice in a contest where former Attorney General Kelly Ayotte (R) and former gubernatorial nominee Ovide Lamontagne (R) staked out firm anti-abortion stances. 

Binnie's campaign sounded confident that increased voter turnout will mean more moderate Republicans who will support him over his more conservative rivals.

A recent survey by Magellan Data and Mapping Strategies had Ayotte getting 34 percent of the vote, Lamontagne at 21 percent and Binnie in third with 17 percent of the vote. The results were based on 887 interviews of likely Republican and independent primary voters, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percent.

The Nevada Senate race has been dominated for the past two days by the drama surrounding Republican Sharron Angle's commitment and subsequent withdrawal from a debate with Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.).

Political reporter Jon Ralston had organized the meeting to take place on his interview show, "Face to Face," Oct. 21 in Reno. But Angle withdrew after agreeing to go ahead, which prompted an angry rebuke from Ralston on Twitter. "Remember 'Scanners' where people's heads exploded. That's how I feel right now. This is a Senate race, not a competition for h.s. president," he tweeted Thursday.

In his Friday column, Ralston explained the tick-tock of the debate that wasn't to be, as well as the personality conflicts within Angle's campaign.

This is all about a campaign organization riven by personality conflicts between seasoned pros and amateurs, and a candidate torn between longtime friends and operatives parachuted in to save her. [Angle spokesmen Jerry] Stacy is trying to use the campaign's previous insistence on having a debate before early voting starts as a fig leaf, but it is not a very effective one since Oct. 21 is still just under two weeks before the balloting. This is about ego and inside baseball (do they think anyone cares when the debate is or will care about Stacy's demand about the early voting cutoff?) Besides, Angle can't get away from that public commitment and I have been told it's not over yet. We shall see.

President Obama will head to Connecticut Thursday to campaign for Democratic Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal.

The White House made the announcement Friday. Obama will also attend events for the Democratic National Committee while he's in the Constitution State.

Blumenthal, the popular attorney general, seems to have weathered an earlier scandal about his military service during the Vietnam War era. In the latest poll, he leads Republican candidate Linda McMahon by nine points, 53 percent to 44 percent.

In his press conference at the White House Friday, Obama predicted his party could do well in the midterm elections as long as it convinced voters it is providing the best options for an economic recovery.

The party is planning to use the president in the runup to Dlection Day. The Democratic National Committee announced Thursday some October campaign dates for Obama. He'll be in Philadelphia on Oct. 10, in Ohio on Oct. 17, and in Las Vegas on Oct. 22. All three states have competitive November contests.

-- Michael O'Brien contributed to this post.

Democrats in closely contested races would "welcome" a visit from President Obama, according to Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

"We welcome the president [to campaign] in [our] contested districts. As he has said, he's going to take his lead from Congressional candidates," Van Hollen told Bloomberg Television's Al Hunt. "And besides, there's only a certain number of places the president can go between now and November."

Van Hollen said he "disagreed" with the prediction that Republicans would retake control of the House. 

“We're not making any predictions other than that we are going to work very hard to do as best we can going forward," he said. "I believe that when people do focus on that choice. Republicans want this just to be about the Democrats -- 'Don't listen to what we have to propose; just look at the Democrats.' We're asking them to finally listen to what Republicans would do if given the chance."

Obama said Friday he's not surprised by members of his party who are running away from the Democrats' Washington leadership. 

"Every candidate out there has their own district, their own makeup, their own plan, their own message," the president said during a news conference Friday. "In an environment where we still have 9.5 percent unemployment, people are going to make the best argument they can right now."

--Shane D'Aprile contributed to this post.

The National Rifle Association endorsed conservative commentator Christine O'Donnell Friday in Delaware's Republican Senate primary. The Tea Party-backed O'Donnell is looking to upset Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) on Tuesday.

The NRA's Political Victory Fund cited O'Donnell's "commitment to preserving the Second Amendment" in its endorsement of her Friday.

“Christine O’Donnell will be a strong voice in fighting ongoing efforts by anti-gun politicians to dismantle the Second Amendment,” chairman of the NRA's Political Victory Fund Chris Cox said in a statement. “We ask all Delaware gun-owners and hunters to vote for Christine O’Donnell in the U.S. Senate Republican primary on September 14th.”

The NRA's endorsement made no mention of Castle, but the longtime congressman earns an "F" from the gun lobby for his voting record. 

The NRA backing comes as Castle and O'Donnell are in a battle of last-minute "conservative" endorsements, which is at least one metric where O'Donnell seems to have come out on top over the past two days. 

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin officially backed O'Donnell Thursday, while Castle's campaign touted in-state endorsements from former Delaware Gov. Pete du Pont (R) and former Judge Bill Lee, who ran for governor in 2008. 

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is giving Rep. Charles Rangel (N.Y.) some last-minute help before the Democratic primary.

Another Democrat in a hotly-contested election came out on Friday against President Obama's proposal for an additional $50 billion in spending for infrastructure improvements. 

Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan (D), who is locked in a tight Senate race with Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), told The Associated Press that the plan "doesn't seem like a practical way to solve what is a huge problem in our country with this continuing high levels [sic] of unemployment and lagging economic activity." 

Blunt also slammed the idea at a campaign event Friday, telling supporters the president is "grasping at straws" and calling the impetus behind the proposal political.