Republicans have turned out 3 million more voters, but Democrats have more money for get-out-the-vote efforts.

California Republican Carly Fiorina skewered Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) for being a bitter partisan short on legislative accomplishments during an hourlong debate Wednesday.

Boxer defended her record and repeatedly accused her opponent of behaving like a "Wall Street CEO" during her time at the helm of Hewlett-Packard.

During a spirited exchange on stage at Mary's College in Moraga, Fiorina called Boxer "one of the most bitterly partisan members of the U.S. Senate."

"That is why after 18 long years in the Senate, 28 years in Washington, D.C., she only has four relatively insignificant bills with her name on them," she said.

Fiorina said the Senate Democrats' energy bill was Boxer's "signature piece of legislation."

"She could not shepherd that to a conclusion," Fiorina said. "That bill was taken away from her and given to [Massachusetts Democrat] John Kerry [because] he had a better chance of getting bipartisan support."

Boxer responded that she has been influential in shaping the language of numerous bills.

"The fact is 1,000 Boxer provisions have been enacted," Boxer said. "I'm very proud of those provisions."

Boxer said the way Fiorina was determining ownership of bills would have precluded Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) from claiming ownership of the legislation that bears their names, the McCain-Feingold Act. "Neither of them would have gotten credit," she said.

Boxer tried to paint the $21 million dollar severance package Fiorina received when she left Hewlett-Packard as excessive in light of the jobs that were lost during her tenure as CEO.

"If she’s calling for accountability with teachers, there ought to be accountability of CEOs," Boxer said. "My opponent, we know that she shipped jobs overseas — thousands of them — we know she fired workers — tens of thousands of them. But we also know she has opposed every jobs bill we voted on."

Fiorina defended her leadership of the technology company, as well as her compensation.

"Every dollar that I earned at Hewlett-Packard was voted on by shareholders and every dollar was tied very specifically to performance," Fiorina said. Read more...

There's still no official word on whether Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) will offer her support to Tea Party-backed Joe Miller, who defeated her in the state's Senate primary. But Miller spokesman Randy DeSoto said Wednesday, "I think it will happen at some point." 

In her short concession speech Tuesday night, Murkowski did not endorse Miller, who was able to hold his lead throughout the day Tuesday even as thousands of absentee ballots were added to the vote tally.

"I know that we on the other side were saying that we would support the Republican ticket if we lost the primary," said DeSoto. "We'd certainly like her endorsement and support."

In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Miller also expressed confidence that the party would be unified ahead of November. "I'm certain that we're going to have a unified front in the fall election," Miller said. 

A spokesman for Murkowski declined to comment.  

Murkowski's endorsement undoubtedly holds value for Miller, who doesn't want to begin the general election contest with a divided state party. Democratic nominee Scott McAdams is already making a pitch to more centrist Murkowski backers that they should line up behind his candidacy in the general election.  

After a contentious primary and an additional week of tension between the national party and the Miller campaign, the National Republican Senatorial Committee threw its support behind Miller Tuesday.  

"The NRSC is committed to doing everything that we can in order to ensure Joe Miller’s victory this November, and I have no doubt that he will be elected as the next U.S. Senator from Alaska," Chairman John Cornyn (R-Texas) said in a statement Tuesday night.

Republican Dan Maes, who is running for governor in Colorado, lost an influential endorsement after the Denver Post questioned his claims that he worked as an "undercover" police officer 25 years ago.

Former Sen. Hank Brown (R-Colo.) had backed Maes but said on Wednesday he was withdrawing his support.

"I'm concerned about the revelations. I'm withdrawing my endorsement," Brown told the paper. "I'm beginning to find that [Maes’] explanations are not adequate."

Maes was already facing a threat to his right flank from Tom Tancredo. The former Republican congressman asked Maes to withdraw over his campaign finance violations, and when he refused, Tancredo entered the race as a third-party candidate.

According to the Post, the Maes website biography stated: "At one point in my 2 years there I was place (sic) undercover by the Kansas Bureau of Investigations (sic) to gather information inside a bookmaking ring that was also allegedly selling drugs. I got too close to some significant people in the community who were involved in these activities and abruptly was dismissed from my position. ... I was blindsided and stunned to say the least."



The Kansas Bureau of Investigation, however, said it has no record of Maes working with the agency during his service as a police officer from 1983 to 1985. The chief of police in Liberal, Kan., where Maes worked as a cop, did not remember his department ever being involved in the investigation Maes described in his biography. 

"Some people are probably taking that a little too literally," Maes said. "I was a city police officer providing information to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation."

But Maes admitted that he may have made some "incorrect comments."

Referring to his website biography, he said, "Whoever typed it, typed it. That's all I've got to say."

But Maes spokesman Nate Strauch later confirmed that Maes had written the comments.

Maes is up against Tancredo and Democrat John Hickenlooper in November. 

Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller (R) labeled President Obama "bad for America" in an interview Wednesday with CNN's John King. 

The Tea Party-backed Miller, whose Republican primary win became official late Tuesday after Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) conceded defeat, called Obama "one of the major forces moving this country toward socialism."

The interview is set to air on CNN's "John King USA" Wednesday night. 

"He's expanding the entitlement state," Miller said. "The growth of stimulus programs, the growth of basically government bailouts to industries that are failing. It's not the American way, it's not the free market way, and it's killing the competitive edge."

"I think our president has actually put our country down, not advanced it in the standing of the nations," Miller said of Obama. 

Democrats in-state and nationally have worked quickly in an attempt to frame Miller as an "extremist" as they have painted other Tea Party-backed candidates this cycle such as Nevada's Sharron Angle and Colorado's Ken Buck.

The party has hit Miller on Social Security, accusing him of wanting to "phase out" the program, a charge the candidate addressed Wednesday. 

Noting that his parents are dependent on Social Security and Medicare, Miller said, "this is not a Joe Miller comes to D.C. and Social Security is gone, Medicare is gone. But what Joe Miller does do, and what those that I think are joining in this message do is get this government back from the fiscal brink, back from bankruptcy so that we can ensure that the contracts that we've made with our seniors, that we can honor those."

Ultimately, Miller said, he favors transferring power "back to the states so that states can take up the mantle of those programs if they so desire."

Asked by King whether it would be fair to say a person born tomorrow might grow up in an America without a federal social security program if Miller had his way, the candidate responded, "Absolutely."

Miller faces Democrat Scott McAdams in the fall in a race that is undoubtedly made more competitive by Murkowski's primary defeat. Miller is one of several Tea Party-backed candidates to oust establishment-backed Republicans in a Senate primaries this cycle.  

The AFL-CIO will have a "massive mobilization" program to get out the vote this fall, according to its president.

Former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) denied Wednesday he is engaged in an effort to oust Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. 

In an interview on ABC's "Topline," Coleman said, "There is no effort to replace Michael Steele" before November.

"The pundits can talk about the leadership of the RNC, they can talk about fundraising, a whole group of things, but the bottom line is we’re all working together," he said. "I’m working with Chairman Steele. We’re going to have a very good November if we stay focused on issues such as the economy, national debt and health care."

However, Coleman didn't rule out a bid for RNC Chair next year.

Coleman, who lost reelection to Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) in 2008, now heads American Action Network, one of a handful of conservative independent expenditure groups bucking up Republican candidates across the country in 2010.

On the primary defeat of Sen. Lisa Murkowski (D-Alaska), Coleman expressed surprise and said he expected Rep. Mike Castle, who's running for Senate, to survive a challenge from conservative commentator Christine O'Donnell later this month.    

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's Senate campaign seized on the Republicans' financial commitment to GOP candidate Marco Rubio and incorporated it into a fundraising push.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee on Tuesday promised to invest $2.5 million in TV ads backing Rubio.

"That's just another 2.5 million reasons why Marco Rubio will be a lockstep vote for the political party bosses and Washington special interests that got America into this mess in the first place," Dane Eagle, Crist's finance director, wrote in an e-mail. "The Rubio campaign has already spent millions of dollars distorting the governor's record, and make no mistake, there's more to come —more of the same old cynical, attack politics that our opponents would bring to the United States Senate if they were elected."

A spokesman for Rubio's camp noted that Crist has also accepted donations from so-called "party bosses."

At the start of August, Crist had more cash on hand than Rubio — $8 million to $4.5 million — and Democrat Kendrick Meek, who had $2.5 million. But the governor, running as an independent, remains at a disadvantage without a party's infrastructure behind him. 

--Updated at 3:27 p.m.

Now that Tea Party-backed Joe Miller is officially the Republican nominee for Senate in Alaska, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and his Senate Conservatives Fund are getting behind his bid.

The Senate Conservatives Fund, which is aiding at lest eight Republican Senate candidates this cycle — including Sharron Angle in Nevada, Ken Buck in Colorado and Rand Paul in Kentucky —endorsed Miller shortly after Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) conceded Tuesday. 

"Joe Miller was able to accomplish this remarkable victory because Alaskans, like most Americans, have grown tired of the spending, bailouts and debt being forced on them in Washington," DeMint said in a statement endorsing Miller. "This should be a wake-up call to Republicans that politicians who go to Washington to bring home the bacon aren't wanted — even in a state like Alaska that has gotten so much pork under its recent senators." 

DeMint remained neutral in the Senate primary despite meeting with Miller several months ago in Washington.

The Senate Conservatives Fund launched a fundraising appeal on its website late Tuesday night for Miller, with a goal of raising $25,000 for the candidate ahead of Election Day. 

Miller will face Democrat Scott McAdams in November, who is betting the anti-spending message will not resonate with the majority of Alaska voters. 

“One-third of our state’s economy is based on federal spending. To say we're going to do away with that, I don't think is in the interest of Alaska. In fact, I think it would bankrupt our state,” McAdams said Tuesday.