Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) holds a seven-point lead over Republican challenger Sharron Angle in a new poll.

Mitt Romney is dominating fundraising in the nascent GOP 2012 presidential field and bolstering other campaigns as well as his own.

Congressional experience has been an albatross for the seven members of Congress running to become governors.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist again trailed Republican Marco Rubio in fundraising this quarter. Crist raised $1.8 million in the last three months and now has $8.2 million banked for his Senate campaign, according to a release.

Rubio earlier reported that he raised $4.5 million in the last three months, but he has not yet revealed his cash on hand total.

Meanwhile, Democrat Kendrick Meek raised more than $1 million in the quarter and now has some $4 million banked.

One bright spot for Crist: His quarterly haul increased by some $650,000 from the $1.15 million he raised in the first three months of 2010. That increase came despite his decision to run as an Independent.

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (D) will announce an interim replacement for the late Sen. Robert Byrd at a 2 p.m. news conference Friday.

The governor's office said Thursday the interim replacement will be present and speak to reporters, but the governor has not yet publicly announced his pick.

Senate Democrats in Washington — anxious to have another Democrat in the seat — said Thursday the interim Senator will be sworn in next Tuesday. 

Some lawmakers in West Virginia are accusing Gov. Joe Manchin's (D) office of using the special session of the state legislature as a power grab. 

The special session to address the succession process for the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D) got underway Thursday afternoon, but the Charleston Gazette reports that lawmakers of both parties continue to express unease with some aspects of the legislative fix.    

The governor's office changed a key provision of the bill earlier Thursday in an attempt to ease some concerns. Originally, the bill would have eliminated the need for a primary if just one candidate filed to run. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers objected to that provision, so the governor's office removed it before the legislature began consideration of the measure Thursday.

The bill is making its way through legislative committees and the governor's office still expects swift passage.

Manchin will announce his choice for an interim Senator by 5 p.m. Friday and Senate Democrats already have set the time and date of that person's swearing in.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) was the only potential GOP challenger that President Obama solidly beat in the survey.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) spent more than he took in over the last three months. He burned through roughly $1.7 million since the June 8 primary, much of it going into an early broadside of advertising against Republican challenger Sharron Angle.

At the same time, Reid raised $2.4 million for his reelection effort, his campaign said Thursday. Angle, meanwhile, raised $2.29 million -- the bulk of it coming from through the "web and social media," her campaign said. It's an impressive figure considering she had some $130,000 in the bank as of May 19, according to her pre-primary filing.

"I am absolutely overwhelmed that in an economy where people are hurting, they are supporting our campaign with their money and their time. That's how much people want to retire Harry Reid," she said in a statement.

Angle's campaign spent $656,773 and now has $1,767,671 cash on hand.

Reid's campaign has spent close to $3 million since March 31, mainly on TV ads, including a new spot that went up Thursday. It's one of eight post-primary ads, which represent a flurry of spending that dropped his cash on hand from $9.42 million to $8.94 million.

The senator has raised $19.2 million for his re-election campaign to date. But with less than four months to go before Election Day, he'll need to improve his fundraising to reach his stated goal of collecting $25 million for the race. He's recently gotten some help from President Obama who was in Nevada last week for a fundraiser. 

--Puneet Kollipara contributed to this post.

--Updated at 5:17 p.m.

The Democratic Governors Association was so concerned about Iowa Gov. Chet Culver’s (D) prospects in a contest against Terry Branstad (R) that it tried to scuttle his gubernatorial campaign in the primary.

The DGA funneled millions to Iowans for Responsible Government, which attacked the former governor from the right during the GOP primary, according to the Des Moines Register.

One of the group’s mailings referred to Branstad as a “liberal’s liberal.” Meanwhile, in a recent e-mail to reporters, the DGA said Branstad ran “far to the right” in the June 8 primary and “has yet to demonstrate he’s running a general election campaign.”

A spokeswoman for the DGA did not respond to a request for comment.

According to the paper, the group received all of its funding — $782,500 — for a series of ads likening the Branstad to Democrats Bill Clinton and Nancy Pelosi. The group spent $767,236 in May and June, including almost $370,000 on TV advertising.

In total, the DGA has invested some $2 million in the race, including a $750,000 donation to Culver’s campaign that accounted for more than half of the $1.5 million he’s reported raising.