Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio (R) on Jeb Bush's announcement he won't run for president in 2012:

"I respect his decision if that's what he's announced, but of course we all secretly hope he will reconsider," Rubio told Fox News' Neil Cavuto on Tuesday.

Even though Rep. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho) became the second House Democrat to call for Rep. Charles Rangel's (D-N.Y.) ouster Tuesday, he said he is confident the embattled congressman won't be a campaign problem for Democrats in the fall. 

Asked whether Rangel could be a distraction for House Democrats on the campaign trail, Minnick told The Hill, "I don't think so."

"In my state, most people don't even know who Congressman Rangel is," he added. 

Minnick represents a largely conservative district and is a top Republican target this fall. 

The freshman Democrat said while he still thinks Rangel should step down "if the facts are as alleged," he said government spending and fiscal responsibility are more important issues for voters in his district. 

On Friday, Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio) became the first House Democrat to call for Rangel to resign his seat.

Republicans are working to tie congressional Democrats to Rangel in light of the ethics charges, and the congressman's woes are likely to be a major part of the GOP's message this fall.  

President Obama will be in Columbus next month to help Gov. Ted Strickland (D) and the Ohio Democratic Party (ODP).

Obama is set to deliver a speech Aug. 18 on the economy and then host a fundraiser for Strickland’s reelection bid and the ODP, a White House official told the Columbus Dispatch. They’ll be separate events.

The ODP is one of the largest state parties in the country. It’s been raising money to help Senate candidate Lee Fisher in his race against Republican Rob Portman. Fisher clearly needs all the fundraising help he can get, as he’s at a 9-to-1 money disadvantage. 

Obama’s expected to have a busy travel schedule in August. He’s already set to appear in Atlanta for Democratic fundraisers on Aug. 2 and Chicago for an event benefiting Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias (D) on Aug. 5. Obama is also set to headline an Aug. 9 fundraiser in Austin for the DNC and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

--Updated at 10:21 p.m.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) met privately with a group of his top political advisers last week to discuss the possibility of a run for president in 2012, according to CNN.

The former senator, who lost his bid for reelection to Sen. Bob Casey (D) in 2006, has made repeated trips to all three early primary states in recent months. 

Longtime Santorum adviser John Brabender told CNN the senator is "actively considering" a 2012 bid. a

Still a favorite of many grassroots conservatives, Santorum has made four trips to Iowa this year alone. His leadership PAC also raised almost $400,000 during the second quarter of the year.

But while a slew of other potential GOP presidential contenders have donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates in 2010 through their PACs, Santorum has taken a somewhat different tack thus far.

Instead of spreading his PAC money around to candidates across the country, Santorum has spent close to $1 million on direct mail expenses to help build a national fundraising base that might aid his presidential run. His PAC spent almost all of what it raised during the second quarter. 

Santorum's America's Foundation PAC gave to just three Republican candidates during the second quarter of this year.

Santorum donated $1,000 to Senate candidates Roy Blunt and Sharron Angle. He also gave $1,000 to Iowa Republican Brenna Findley, a candidate for state Attorney General. 

Going into Tuesday’s Oklahoma primary vote, former state Rep. Kevin Calvey led the field of Republicans jockeying to replace Rep. Mary Fallin (R-Okla.), who is leaving her Oklahoma City seat after two terms to run for governor.

Calvey, who ran for the GOP House nod in 2006, led in the SoonerPoll’s most recent survey with 27.8 percent support. Youth camp director James Lankford (R) was in second place with 19.9 percent, while state Rep. Mike Thompson (R), who has spent the most money of the top three candidates, was in third with support from 14.1 percent of respondents.

The July 7-9 phone survey of 309 likely GOP primary voters has a margin of error of 5.6 percent.

Calvey, who led the first SoonerPoll of the race in March, is expected to take the top spot in the race, but will likely face a runoff against either Lankford or Thompson. There are seven Republicans running for the nomination.

The race has primarily been a contest over which candidate is the most conservative. Oklahoma’s 5th district went for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the 2008 presidential election by almost 20 points. 

Democrats Billy Coyle and Tom Guild are competing for their party’s nomination. 

The polls close at 8 p.m.

New numbers from Public Policy Polling give New Hampshire Senate candidate Kelly Ayotte (R) just a 3-point lead over Rep. Paul Hodes (D).

Ayotte leads Hodes 45 percent to 42 percent. A PPP survey in April gave Ayotte a 7-point lead over Hodes — 47 percent to 40 percent.

Most notably, the poll found a sharp increase in Ayotte’s negatives, jumping 15 points since PPP last polled the race in April. Her favorability now stands at 36-39. 

Pollster Tom Jensen points the finger at former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), who endorsed Ayotte earlier this month. He notes that Granite State centrists have moved away from the Republican since she won Palin’s backing.

Jensen writes: “51% of voters in the state say they’re less likely to back a Palin endorsed candidate to only 26% who say that support would make them more inclined to vote for someone. Among moderates that widens to 65% who say a Palin endorsement would turn them off to 14% who it would make more supportive.”

While Jensen says numbers set for release from PPP Wednesday will show Palin’s support has helped Ayotte in the context of the Republican primary, there’s still a major question as to how much Palin’s backing could hurt in a general election.

Ayotte has been taking fire from all sides during the past few weeks. One of her Republican primary opponents — self-funder Bill Binnie — has spent heavily on TV ads, and Democrat Paul Hodes has already gone after Ayotte on the airways. 

For her part, Ayotte certainly hasn’t run away from Palin’s backing. Her campaign website prominently displays a picture of the former governor on its splash page with the text, “Help Sarah Palin fight to elect a true conservative in New Hampshire.”

A Republican close to the Ayotte campaign downplayed the poll, saying it oversampled Democrats. The source also rebuffed the notion that Palin’s backing is a negative for the campaign, noting that the campaign sought Palin’s endorsement and “is honored to have it.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told Dem supporters she's worried about a “disturbing surge in Republican fundraising.”

Washington GOP Senate candidate Dino Rossi said Tuesday he'd favor repealing both healthcare reform and Wall Street reform.

Rossi, who's challenging top Sen. Patty Murray (D) in this fall's elections, said he'd favor repealing the two signature issues Democrats have made into law this year.

"We need to repeal that bill," Rossi said of healthcare reform on ABC News's "Top Line" webcast.

He also said, when pressed, that Wall Street reform legislation signed into law last week by President Obama should be repealed and replaced with different reforms.

"I think we should," he said of repealing the financial reform package. "I think we should put reforms in that actually protect the public."

Democrats have sought to put pressure on top-tier Senate candidates like Rossi to say whether or not they would look to dismantle some of the reforms in those pieces of legislation. They've made the specter of repeal a key part of their election year argument against many GOP candidates.

Republicans including Rossi have, for their part, steadily maintained that for the legislation they would look to repeal, they would want it replaced with new legislation.

Ohio Senate candidate Lee Fisher (D) continues to shed staff.

He’s already on his third campaign manager, and by the end of the week he’ll have his second press secretary of the campaign.

John Collins, who had been the lieutenant governor’s spokesman, is leaving the campaign to go work for Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Jack Conway, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

A Fisher campaign source told the paper that the parting was “mutual and amicable.” Collins had been on the job for the past eight months.

Fisher earlier this month lost his research director.

His latest campaign manager, Lynne Bowman, said Collins’s departure was nothing to worry about.

“Ohioans aren’t the least bit concerned about campaign staffing,” Bowman said.

Collins did not respond to a request for comment.