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."

The White House is ready to deploy first lady Michelle Obama on the midterm campaign trail, but expect her to leave the partisan knocks to other surrogates.

The Chicago Tribune's Peter Nicholas has some details on White House plans to use the first lady to stump for Democratic candidates this fall. 

Her campaign schedule won't be a heavy one, the White House said Monday. She makes public appearances about three days a week, and any campaigning she does for the midterm election will be within that time frame, a White House official said in an interview.

The first lady's itinerary won't be set until Labor Day, when the White House political team determines travel plans for the president and vice president, the official said. The idea is to deploy all three in ways that avoid overlap.

Michelle Obama will deliver a campaign speech that is largely upbeat. She won't castigate individual Republicans, said the White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

The first lady is no doubt in demand on the campaign trail as several Democrats facing tough races this fall have publicly expressed a desire to have her campaign with them.

A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that Michelle Obama is more popular than her husband and Democratic leaders in Congress.

A full 50 percent of the poll's respondents viewed Michelle Obama favorably. Just 19 percent viewed her unfavorably, while 31 percent had no opinion.

In contrast, President Obama's negatives stand at 41, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's at 45 percent and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's at 31 percent.

"I've been asked so many times, 'What are you doing with your bus?'" former Ohio Senate candidate Jennifer Brunner (D) wrote in an e-mail to supporters Tuesday. Turns out, she's going to sell the bus — known as "Courage Express" — to a Columbus, Ohio, TV station so it can be used in a voter registration drive.

Brunner lost to Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher (D) in the May Senate primary. Since then, she's remained somewhat politically active but has not endorsed Fisher.

She referenced the primary in her note to supporters.

"We found a way to campaign that helps Ohioans win in the future, so candidates can campaign with confidence, not overcome by special interest money or consultants who insist that it is only money at all costs that wins campaigns," she wrote.

Fisher has bigger problems than Brunner in his race against Republican Rob Portman. A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows Portman increasing his lead over the Democrat. Portman got 45 percent support to 37 percent for Fisher in an Aug. 16 survey of 750 likely voters in Ohio. The Republican had only a 4-point advantage in July.

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean warned Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) Monday that the left won't forget his role in blocking a public option during the healthcare debate should he run for reelection.

"Remember who sold you out on healthcare," Dean said at a state convention of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, according to the Connecticut Mirror. "We're not going to forget in 2012."

The early electoral threat from Dean comes even as Lieberman hasn't announced whether he'll seek another term in 2012. Earlier this month, Lieberman said he was leaning toward running for another term, but did express some hesitancy.

“The question is, at this stage in my life, do I want to do it one more time?” Lieberman said after a speech in early August.

After defeating Lieberman in a primary in 2006, businessman Ned Lamont wasn't able to beat back the Democrat-turned-Independent in the general election.

Liberal activists are certainly primed for another chance to take Lieberman out in 2012.

"I live in perpetual fear that Joe Lieberman will retire, thus depriving us the opportunity to help kick him to the curb," Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas wrote earlier this month. "I want his exit from politics to be as humiliating as possible."

If Democrats really hope to push Lieberman out, they may want to lay off the threats, given that the senator has often relished his role as an on-again, off-again thorn in the side of Senate Democrats.

The Democratic establishment abandoned Lieberman in favor of Lamont ahead of the 2006 general election, something Lieberman didn't exactly let go of once he made it back to the Senate as an Independent.

It still isn't clear who would run against Lieberman in 2012, but Democrats are batting around the name of Rep. Chris Murphy (D) as a potential primary challenger.

George W. Bush, who was president during 9/11, isn't talking about the proposal as GOP leaders denounce the plans.

Rep. Dina Titus's (D-Nev.) focus on home foreclosures in her first TV ad should come as little surprise in light of a new report that ranks her district as one of the hardest-hit by the mortgage crisis.

A Deutsche Bank analysis notes that 26 percent of home loans in the freshman Democrat's district are seriously delinquent (90 days or longer). Titus's Nevada district has the eighth-highest delinquency rate in the country.

"Dina helped us renegotiate our loan," says one woman in the 30-second ad, which starts airing Tuesday. "And she saved our home," says another. "Thank you, Dina, for helping us keep our home," says one man.

There are two other states where foreclosures may be a major issue. Florida and California are home to the other districts in the top 25 in Deutsche Bank's ranking of those with the highest mortgage delinquency rates. 

Meanwhile, Republicans accused Titus of spending "taxpayer dollars recklessly."

"Southern Nevada can no longer afford Dina Titus because under her policies Nevada's foreclosures and unemployment rate are the highest in the nation," Joanna Burgos, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a statement. 

--Updated at 1:50 p.m.

Washington State Republican Dino Rossi isn't worried about losing Tuesday's Senate primary.

"We're confident that we'll do well on Tuesday," Rossi told The Ballot Box. "I've built some real relationships with people around the state over the years, so we've been out talking to them."

More than just relationships, Rossi has built up name identification with voters during his two decades in politics. "This is my sixth election," he noted.

Rossi lost his initial state Senate run, but later won the first of two terms in 1996. He then embarked on a pair of unsuccessful runs for governor. Most observers believe his familiarity with voters presents an insurmountable obstacle to Republican rivals Clint Didier and Paul Akers.

Didier, a former Washington Redskins tight end, got the backing of Sarah Palin and state Tea Party groups before Rossi entered the race in May. His campaign has since faded from the headlines — so much so that Didier and Akers actually joined forces and began holding joint campaign events in an attempt to gain some traction for their anti-establishment message. But most observers believe it'll be Rossi versus Sen. Patty Murray (D) in the general election. 

With that in mind, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has tried to portray Rossi's jaunt through the primary as bruising. "The damage in the primary is already done," J.B. Poersch, the DSCC's executive director, wrote in a memo Monday. "Rossi is running as an unabashed far right conservative."

But the state's unique top-two primary system — in which the two highest vote getters from any party advance to the November ballot — dissuades candidates from tailoring their appeal exclusively to a base electorate.

"They're looking all around the political spectrum to get their votes," said David Ammons, a spokesman in the secretary of state's office. "There's one single ballot with everyone that filed back in June." Each candidate has 16 characters to explain their party affiliation on the unified ballot. It's the third time the state has used the system since it was adopted in 2004 (legal action delayed its implementation).

The secretary of state's office is expecting 38 percent turnout Tuesday, according to Ammons. Observers will be watching the tallies accrued by Murray and Rossi for indications of how well each will perform in November.

—Shane D'Aprile contributed to this post.