President Obama is adding another stop to his midterm campaign swing next week. On Monday, the president will stop in Milwaukee, Wis., to headline a fundraiser for Mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett. 

Wisconsin is one of five states Obama will visit next week. He also has fundraising stops planned for Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). 

The president will also attend a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser in Los Angeles Monday along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). 

Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.), who is running in a special election this fall to fill Vice President Joe Biden's former Senate seat, told a liberal blogger that he would consider supporting filibuster reform if he wins in November.

Castle called it "something I would certainly look at" regardless of which party controlled the Senate. 

"That's an issue that transcends Republicans or Democrats," Castle said. "It's a question of how well does the Senate function?"

The Delaware moderate said he does see some value in the argument that the filibuster rule is a good one, but said from the outside looking in "it looks as if it can distract from pursuing an agenda."

Some Senate Democrats, frustrated by an inability to move major pieces of the party's legislative agenda this year, have brought up the idea of eliminating the 60-vote threshold. But the Senate leadership admits it doesn't have the votes to do it just yet.

A spokeswoman for Castle said she couldn't confirm when the interview took place, but she didn't dispute its content.  

Castle's comments are likely to cause more grumbling among conservatives who are already warning that Castle could partner with Democrats in an attempt to pass tough agenda items like cap-and-trade in a lame duck session. 

A state lawmaker in New Hampshire resigned from the legislature Thursday after posting comments on his Facebook account that alluded to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's (R) death.

From the Associated Press:

Rep. Timothy Horrigan of Durham posted a comment Wednesday that a "dead Palin wd [sic] be even more dangerous than a live one" and she "is all about her myth & if she was dead she cdn't [sic] commit any more gaffes."

Horrigan apologized Thursday and resigned. He is also discontinuing his reelection campaign. The state Democratic Party chairman calls the remarks "out of line."

Another New Hampshire Democrat has also been criticized this week for a Facebook comment about Palin, the former governor of Alaska. 

House candidate Keith Halloran apologized Thursday for posting a death wish for Palin in response to a post about the plane crash that killed former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens. 

Republican Michael Grimm is still hammering Rep. Mike McMahon (D-N.Y.) over a list of Jewish donors to Grimm that a former McMahon campaign aide forwarded to a reporter.

Grimm, one of McMahon's potential GOP challengers, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over the list last week and now wants the House ethics committee to look into whether the list was compiled using government resources. 

Grimm faces a September primary against Republican Michael Allegretti. 

Last month, campaign spokesman Jennifer Nelson was fired by McMahon after sending the New York Observer a spreadsheet labeled "Jewish money Q2." Nelson said it was intended to demonstrate Grimm's lack of financial support in the district.

More from the Staten Island Advance:

Grimm noted U.S. House of Representative rules forbid official resources, such as House offices, to be used for campaign or political purposes.

Former McMahon campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Nelson has been quoted as saying a list of "Jewish money" Grimm donors was compiled after a discussion with McMahon's Washington staff in his House office.

Grimm served up a letter to the House Office of Congressional Ethics penned by one of his campaign supporters calling for an investigation into the possible use of McMahon's government resources for political purposes.

The McMahon campaign has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Grimm previously raised the ire of New York Democrats when he said in an interview with The Hill that had McMahon voted in favor of healthcare reform, he likely would have been in physical danger. 

Republican Sharron Angle released a new TV ad Thursday hitting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Social Security. 

In the 30-second spot, Angle pledges "to stop Harry Reid from raiding the Social Security trust fund," alleging Reid wants to redirect money for seniors to "his own pet projects."

The ad is another in a series of spots that features Angle speaking directly to a small crowd of voters.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee pushed back against the ad Thursday.

“Phasing out Social Security is in Sharron Angle’s DNA," DSCC press secretary Deirdre Murphy said in a statement. "Less than three months ago, Angle said Social Security was ‘hard to justify’ and should be ‘phased out.’ Far from being a friend to Nevada’s 375,000 Social Security recipients, Angle is actually their worst nightmare.”

The Angle ad comes a day after Reid released his campaign's latest attack ad, which features a GOP critic hitting Angle over her comments on the 2nd Amendment. 

The spot is narrated by Bill Ames, president of a group called the peace officers research association and a member of "Republicans for Harry Reid," according to the campaign's website.

The ad seizes on Angle's comments in a January interview with a conservative talk show host where she said people might look "towards those 2nd Amendment remedies" over dissatisfaction with Congress. 

Ames calls carrying a gun "a constitutional right" that he believes in, but says Angle's comments on the 2nd Amendment are "way over the line."

"It's crazy," Ames says in the ad. "But what she's actually talking about is armed resistance." 

Angle later clarified those remarks, saying she was speaking broadly about the 2nd Amendment and was not raising the possibility of an armed rebellion against the government. 

The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO is now behind Senate candidate Joe Sestak (D) after backing his rival in the primary.

The union had supported Sen. Arlen Specter's (D-Pa.) bid for the Democratic nod, calling him a "proven leader" and the "strongest advocate and supporter for good jobs, fair trade policies, workers' rights and quality affordable healthcare for all." Sestak ended up defeating Specter in the May primary.

The congressman said he was "grateful" to have the union's backing.

"I will do whatever it takes to find practical solutions that create jobs, and will focus on the real engine of our economy by fighting with organizations like the AFL-CIO for Pennsylvania's working families," he said in a statement. 

The AFL-CIO boasts 900,000 members in the state.

New numbers show an electoral landscape that mirrors that of 1994 when Republicans took back control of Congress.

Florida Senate candidate Kendrick Meek (D) and his allies are moving aggressively to beat back rival Jeff Greene (D) ahead of the Aug. 24 primary. On Thursday, he announced the endorsement of the National Organization of Women and released a TV ad targeting Greene. Meek's also getting some help from a new Democratic independent expenditure (IE) group.

Terry O'Neill, NOW's president, called Meek "a real friend to women's rights."

"He's been an ally for us on extremely important issues," she said, citing his support for women's access to abortion and support for gay and lesbian rights. "He's been a real advocate for measures to end violence against women," she added.

O'Neil wouldn't say that Greene, by associating with former madam Heidi Fleiss or boxer Mike Tyson, was out-of-step with NOW's interests. "I don't think that anybody should be guilty by association,” she said on a conference call with reporters Thursday.

"We really need to get away from the good ol' boy mentality," she said. "Kendrick Meek is not of the good ol' boy mentality."

Meek, meanwhile, brushed aside suggestions that Democratic pollster Mark Penn hosting a fundraiser for his would-be general-election opponent, Gov. Charlie Crist, was a sign the party was hedging its bets.

"It seems to make the news when the governor can get the wife of a Democratic pollster to do an event in D.C.," he said. "My relationships with Democrats — especially high-profile Democrats — far supercede dirt-grabbing efforts the governor is trying to put out to the public. … It's not even comparable."

The Miami-area congressman has the support of the White House and former President Clinton, who travels to Florida next week for three campaign events with Meek.

"For [Crist] to have a fundraiser or two, or a supporter or two, is not something that keeps me up at night. I have Republicans who have written checks to my campaign," Meek said.

He's also getting help from another Clinton Democrat, Ben Pollara, who was the Florida finance director for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential bid. He recently filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to establish a group called Florida Is Not for Sale. It intends to run an IE supporting Meek, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The TV ad Meek released Thursday hits Greene on his real estate investment strategy and uses a damning quote from a recent St. Petersburg Times story. "All I care about is that I get my money," Greene told the paper for a story it did about his property holdings in California.

The Greene camp was quick to respond.

"Kendrick Meek continues to launch false and vicious attacks against Jeff Greene because he doesn't have a record to run on — he's a failure," a Greene spokesman said in a statement.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) wouldn't talk about his attendance at Wednesday night's fundraiser for Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.).

Schumer was chatty with Senate reporters after Thursday morning's brief special Senate session to pass a border security bill.

But he clammed up when asked about the Rangel event.

The senator was one of several politicians at Rangel's 80th birthday party at the Plaza Hotel, which doubled as a fundraiser. Among others spotted were fellow New Yorkers Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D), Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who's running for governor, and Gov. David Paterson (D).

Asked why he attended, Schumer was curt.

"I've said everything I'm going to say about that last night," he told reporters in a hallway outside the Senate chamber.

Rangel faces 13 charges of ethics violations from the House ethics committee and goes on trial in September. He gave a fiery speech this week on the House floor in which he maintained his innocence and refused to resign.