Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Republican Dino Rossi will face off in November's general election after finishing Tuesday as the primary's top two vote getters. 

Tuesday's primary battle in Washington state's Senate race was all about positioning for November. Murray was ahead of Rossi, taking 47 percent of the vote to Rossi's 34 percent with 46 percent of precincts reporting. 

It's a positive for the endangered Murray heading toward November. Observers were eyeing Tuesday's vote totals as a measure of just how vulnerable Murray is this fall. 

While Republicans will argue that Murray finishing with less than 50 percent of the vote is a danger sign for the incumbent, there was at least some concern that Rossi could top Murray's vote total ahead of Tuesday.    

The state votes under a new primary system this year — the top-two vote-getters advance to November, no matter their party. And since Murray and Rossi appeared on the same ballot, observers will watch for hints of how the two will fare in the general election.

Tea Party favorite Clint Didier and businessman Paul Akers siphoned off at least some of Rossi's vote. Didier won 10 percent, with Akers taking 2 percent. 

Murray spent the day standing beside President Obama at a campaign rally and fundraiser while Rossi was counting on a strong performance to help his argument that Murray is in deep trouble this fall.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and its Republican counterpart both engaged in some pre-primary day spin Monday. The DSCC released a memo downplaying expectations for Murray, noting that if history is any guide, Rossi could get a larger portion of the vote Tuesday.

Executive Director J.B. Poersch pointed out that in 1998, Murray received just 45.9 percent of the primary vote, yet won the general election easily that year.

National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Brian Walsh shot back: "But the bottom line is that if Murray’s vote totals are behind Rossi’s, she’s in trouble," he wrote in an e-mail.

Still, it won't prevent Republicans from trumpeting Rossi's Tuesday vote total, particularly since he faced at least some GOP opposition.

Didier, a former NFL player, had the backing of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), but her support was largely a non-factor. The Didier campaign had hoped Palin would headline a last-minute campaign rally, but were forced to settle for a robocall the campaign pushed out ahead of Tuesday's vote.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who backed GOP primary winners Ken Buck in Colorado and Rand Paul in Kentucky, weighed in on behalf of Rossi earlier this month, cutting off just about any oxygen Rossi's challengers had left.

Last month, Didier and Akers joined forces and began holding joint campaign events in an attempt to gain some traction for their anti-establishment message, but Rossi remained the prohibitive favorite on the Republican side.

Murray and Rossi now head to the general election with the race in a dead heat, according to the latest polling. Murray takes 49 percent of the vote to Rossi's 46 percent in a PPP poll from earlier this month.

The contest also offers a clear contrast between a strong backer of the president's legislative agenda and a Republican candidate who wants to repeal two of Obama's cornerstone achievements.

Murray supported the healthcare reform law and financial reform — Rossi has pledged to work for the repeal of both laws if elected to the Senate.

Obama won the state in 2008, beating Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) by some 17 points. But the president's approval rating there now stands at 49 percent.

Murray will also head into the general election with a big cash-on-hand edge. Even though Rossi out-raised Murray during the month of July, the incumbent started August with $3.2 million on hand, compared to Rossi's $1.8 million.

Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.), the man Gov. Charlie Crist (I) appointed to the Senate, said Tuesday that the Republican-turned-independent governor should return the money he received from Republican donors for his Senate campaign.

Asked about Crist's decision to return some $9,600 in contributions from indicted former state party chair Jim Greer, LeMieux said, "There are a lot of Republicans who would like to have their contributions back too," according to the Orlando Sentinel. 

LeMieux is Crist's former chief of staff and managed his gubernatorial campaign, but the interim senator parted ways politically with his old boss after Crist left the GOP.

Several former Crist backers have filed a lawsuit in an attempt to get their donations back from the Crist campaign. 

President Obama went after Washington GOP Senate candidate Dino Rossi on Tuesday for having endorsed repealing Wall Street reform.

Obama, during a fundraising appearance on behalf of Sen. Patty Murray (D), made reference to Rossi, who became the first Republican Senate candidate earlier this summer to endorse repealing Democrats' financial regulatory bill.

The president did not mention Rossi by name, referring to him only as Murray's Republican opponent, but said it was strange that a Republican would want to repeal the reform package.

"Don't you think that's strange?" Obama asked. 

Former Colorado Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff (D) wants to make something clear — he doesn't need a place to stay.

"I don't need an air mattress, a futon, a spare bedroom or a basement," he wrote in an e-mail to his supporters Tuesday. "Neither does my dog. We (and by 'we,' I mean mostly Zorro) have gotten a lot of kind offers — which I appreciate very much — but we're not out of our house yet."

Romanoff sold his Denver home during his primary challenge to Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and dumped the proceeds into his campaign. He subsequently lost his bid for the nomination and has since endorsed Bennet.

Now, Romanoff would like help from his supporters to pay off his campaign debt — which includes the $325,000 he lent the effort.

The former state House speaker invited his supporters to a "thank-you party" Aug. 26, where donations, surely, will be accepted.

New Hampshire Senate candidate Kelly Ayotte (R) is again under fire for her office's response to a massive Ponzi scheme — but this time it's from her primary rival, businessman Bill Binnie (R).

Binnie released two new TV ads Monday that feature testimonials from victims of the Financial Resources Mortgage collapse, which cost investors millions.  

"Because someone failed to do their job, we have lost our life savings," Susan McElvane says in one of the ads.

The second spot features Ronnie Dean, who says he has leukemia and lost his savings in the FRM collapse. "I don't want another person asleep at the wheel for six weeks in the Senate," he says. Her Democratic opponent, Rep. Paul Hodes, targeted the former attorney general earlier on the same issue. After she was forced to testified before a legislative committee about her office's response to the FRM scandal, Hodes released an ad that said Ayotte "ducked responsibility and claimed she didn't know" about the "biggest Ponzi scheme in New Hampshire history."

Ayotte will release her own ad Wednesday, but it doesn't answer Binnie's charges. Instead, Ayotte's spot talks up her conservative philosophy. "And, of course, our kids help make me really conservative," she says in the 30-second ad. "All that wasteful spending is stealing money from our children."

Binnie's ads are out at a time when New Hampshire Republicans are calling for restraint in the final weeks before the Sept. 14 primary. 

"Our mutual objective is to win all of our elections in November," John Sununu, New Hampshire GOP chairman, wrote in a letter published by the Union Leader. "The key to those victories is to run a smart, positive primary campaign. I strongly encourage you all to resist the urgings of your supporters and consultants to go negative in the last few weeks."

--Updated at 5:47 p.m.

The National Republican Congressional Committee has awarded West Virginia Rep. Nick Rahall's (D) challenger "contender" status despite him trailing by double digits in some polls. 

Former state Supreme Court Justice Spike Maynard (R) was elevated to the second stage of the committee's "Young Guns" candidate training program Tuesday. "Spike Maynard has met a series of rigorous fundraising and campaign goals that will go a long way in helping to put this seat in the Republican column," Rep. Pete Sessions (Texas), chairman of the NRCC, said in a statement. 

Meanwhile, Rahall has a solid lead over Maynard in a recent poll conducted for the conservative advocacy group American Action Forum. The July 28 - Aug. 1 survey of 400 general election voters found that 53 supported Rahall while 37 percent backed Maynard. The 17-term congressman also has almost 100 percent name recognition, compared to 72 percent for Maynard.

The congressman was ahead in an internal poll released by the Maynard camp in June. That survey, by the Charleston-based firm MBE, had 42 percent backing Rahall, 36 for Maynard and 16 percent undecided.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was at a strip mall in north Philadelphia on Tuesday to help Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) appeal to independents in his run for Senate.

But the visit may have ended up helping Sestak only with his base. During his speech, Bloomberg said he backed, among other things, Sestak's push to close a loophole in gun-control laws, according to Fox 29. The remark wasn't included in a release the Sestak camp sent out with quotes from Bloomberg.

"I'm not a particularly partisan guy," the mayor told Fox 29 after the endorsement event. "I'm supporting people from both the major parties, Democrats and Republicans."

Bloomberg said he backs people who "look at the issues, rather than what the party leadership tell them."

Illinois Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias (D) said Tuesday he supports plans for an Islamic cultural center and mosque near Ground Zero. 

At a campaign event in Springfield, Ill., Giannoulias asked, "Are we going to talk about tolerance, talk about freedom of religion, or are we actually going to practice it?"

Giannoulias faces Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) in November, who is urging an alternate location for the project. 

"While we protect freedom of religion, Congressman Kirk agrees with the Anti-Defamation League that sitting this mosque near Ground Zero causes undue pain to families of the 9/11 victims," said Kirk spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski. 

The Kirk camp is encouraging the project's leaders to "accept Governor Patterson's offer of a convenient but less controversial site."  

Former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) has opened up a nine-point lead on Rep. Joe Sestak (D) in Pennsylvania's Senate race and holds a commanding edge with independents.

New numbers from Public Policy Polling show Toomey ahead of Sestak 45 percent to 36 percent. Among independent voters, Toomey leads 50-23.

Pollster Tom Jensen points to President Obama's sinking popularity in the state as one of the primary reasons for Toomey's lead. The president's approval in Pennsylvania now stands at just 40 percent, while 55 percent of likely voters disapprove. 

There are also more disaffected '08 Obama backers in Pennsylvania than there are nationally, according to PPP.

"Our national poll last week found only 7% of Obama voters are now unhappy with the job he's doing but in Pennsylvania the figure is 15%," writes Jensen. "Toomey has a 14 point lead with those disaffected Obama voters, showing the extent to which those voters moving away from Obama are moving away from the Democratic Party in general."

One issue that could move independents is the growing controversy over plans for an Islamic cultural center and mosque near New York's Ground Zero.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the project's biggest backers, endorsed Sestak in Philadelphia Tuesday, while Toomey led the morning by denouncing plans for the mosque. 

A spokesman for the Toomey campaign called the project "provocative in the extreme." 

Sestak, meanwhile, is trying to straddle the fence on the mosque question. A spokesman said Monday that the congressman "believes there is a constitutional right to religious freedom and separation of church and state that applies equally to all Americans." 

But spokesman Jonathon Dworkin said Sestak "is not looking to say what’s best for New York as long as that right is respected — he is focused on Pennsylvania."