"What's the difference between selling out your party's values and the oldest profession?" Murkowski primary challenger Joe Miller tweeted.

"The health care bill was too big, too expensive, and expanded the role of government far too much," Crist said in a statement.

NBC's "Meet the Press" announced its Senate debate series for the 2010 election cycle.

The first debate will be on Sept. 5 between Florida Senate candidates Kendrick Meek (D) and Marco Rubio (R). The network said in a release that Charlie Crist (I) has been invited but has not committed to the debate.

Then, on Oct. 10, Illinois Senate candidates Alexi Giannoulias (D) and Mark Kirk (R) will face off.

On Oct. 17, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) will debate Republican candidate Ken Buck.

The debates will be moderated by host David Gregory and will originate live from the NBC Studios in Washington, D.C.

The network said other debates could be announced if dates are confirmed.

The show has also partnered with Facebook to bring in questions from the voters. Viewers can go to www.facebook.com/meetthepress to suggest a question.

"Meet the Press" created its "Senate Debate Series" in 2002 and continued the series in 2004, 2006 and 2008.

The Democratic campaign chief said Friday "reports of the House Democrats' demise are greatly exaggerated.”

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) slammed Fox News host Glenn Beck's planned rally in the nation's capital this weekend as "blatantly political."

The head of Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also predicted that "outrageous rhetoric on the right" will prove a turnoff to swing voters this fall. 

Beck and the organizers of this weekend's "Restoring Honor" rally are billing it as a "non-political" event. 

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is among the planned speakers and Tea Party activists and organizers have helped put the event together.

"Let's call it what it is," Van Hollen said of the rally during an appearance at the National Press Club Friday. "It's a blatant political effort." 

The Democratic campaign chief said for the past 15 months, Beck and other conservative talk hosts have offered nothing more than "a constant tirade against the president, against Democratic efforts to get the economy turned around." 

Van Hollen predicted "Americans are going to be turned off by just the outrageous rhetoric on the right," ahead of November, much of which he characterized as "conspiracy theories, rants."  

He said while it fires up a certain portion of the electorate, he called it "a turnoff to the sensible center." 

The congressman predicted Friday that Democrats will retain their majority in the House this fall.

Florida's Senate candidates are debating a debate schedule.

Debates can be hard enough to arrange between two candidates, but Florida's Senate race features three — Democrat Kendrick Meek, Republican Marco Rubio, and independent Charlie Crist.

So far, all three have agreed to only one debate, an Oct. 24 forum in Tampa hosted by CNN's Candy Crawley, according to The Palm Beach Post. 

Rubio says he's accepted seven debate invitations, Meek has agreed to five and said he'll do the other two if the dates can be changed, but Crist has only agreed to the Tampa one, although his spokesman told the paper Crist isn't ruling out the others. 

After the jump is a full list of the proposed debates and the candidates scheduled to attend (courtesy of the Post):

The Republican challenging Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) has a lengthy list of traffic violations, including two arrest warrants.

Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R) headlined two fundraisers for the Senate campaign of Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) Thursday. The events were expected to haul in some $200,000 for Kirk's campaign against Democrat Alexi Giannoulias.    

Brown, who won a special election to fill the seat of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), has angered some national Republicans by breaking with the party on some votes, including financial reform.

But on Thursday, Brown suggested Kirk was cut from the same fiscal conservative, social moderate mold. 

“There are a group of about 20 of us who are fiscal conservatives and social moderates, on both sides of the aisle — Democrats and Republicans," Brown said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. "We’re making a nice little bond so we can make some changes next session.”

The suggestion came fresh off criticism from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R). On Wednesday, Palin suggested Brown's Senate voting record isn't conservative enough, but that she expected Massachusetts to "put up with Scott Brown and the antics there."   

Brown hasn't responded directly to Palin's broadside, but a spokesman made it clear Brown isn't worried about the former governor's critique of his voting record.

"Senator Brown's votes are based on what's in the best interests of Massachusetts and he has made his priorities job creation, controlling spending and reducing the deficit. All Republicans can agree on that," said Brown spokesman Colin Reed.  

Meanwhile, Massachusetts Republicans defended Brown from Palin's critique Thursday. State GOP Chair Jennifer Nassour told the Boston Globe that "Brown is the most popular political figure in the state for a reason — he’s an independent voice for our state and we stand by our Republican US senator from Massachusetts."

Joe Miller said Thursday he is concerned she will launch a protracted legal battle to save her seat.