Illinois Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias (D) released tax records Friday showing he's getting a $30,000 refund after suffering losses related to the collapse of his family's bank.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Giannoulias says he will donate the $30,000 to charity. He released his tax returns on Friday, as well as a financial disclosure statement that reveals that he lost nearly half of his net worth.

The state treasurer’s fortunes were tied up in his family-owned Broadway Bank, which the federal government seized and sold earlier this year.
Giannoulias’ share in family trust funds plummeted from an estimated "$8 million to $40 million" down to an estimated "$2.5 million to $11.5 million," according to the financial disclosure form he is required to file as a candidate for U.S. Senate.

Other family trusts are doing well enough that his net worth could range from $7 million to $29 million, the report said. That's down from the $13 million to $62 million range he reported last year.

Giannoulias' income tax returns show he earned $119,000 from his job as state treasurer. He reported $414,757 in capital gains.
But he also reported a loss of $2.7 million from his holdings in his family's Broadway Bank.

Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk's (R) campaign wondered why it took Giannoulias until the Friday before the July 4th long weekend to release the records.

"Alexi Giannoulias wants to raise our taxes but doesn't pay any taxes himself," Kirk spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski said in a statement. "After costing the FDIC $394 million and wiping out $73 million in college savings, Illinois voters can no longer afford Alexi Giannoulias."

The Democratic Governors Association trailed badly in second quarter fundraising. It pulled in $9.1 million, which is less than half what the Republican Governors Association raised. 

The RGA announced Thursday it has raised $18.9 million since the end of March and now has some $40 million cash on hand. The DGA, meanwhile, has $22 million cash on hand.

The RGA holds the overall lead for the year, too, having raised $28 million in 2010 to the Democrats' $17 million. Still, this is the DGA's "best-ever fundraising for the first six months of the year," according to a release.

Republican strategists have spoken openly about the importance the party places on gubernatorial races this cycle with redistricting looming after the Census is complete in December. But DGA executive director Nathan Daschle said the RGA may have gotten an added boost from the controversy surrounding the party's other campaign committees.

"To be honest, given the mass donor exodus from the RNC, we never expected to outraise the RGA. But we have marshaled historic resources to compete aggressively across the map," Daschle said in a statement. "With marquee states like California, Florida and Texas up for grabs, more Americans could have a Democratic governor after November than ever before."

--Updated at 5:23 p.m.

In an interview with conservative blogger Ed Morrissey on Friday, Nevada Senate nominee Sharron Angle (R) said she believes President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Here's what Morrissey wrote on hotair.com this afternoon: 

I asked her “flat out” whether she believed Barack Obama was born somewhere other than Hawaii, and she replied, “No. Is that flat-out enough for you?” 

Angle says she “wasn’t dodging” the caller on the radio show now being parsed by the media, in which she replied that the Supreme Court had already ruled on that issue, but instead wanted to talk about Obama’s political qualifications and wanted to politely redirect the conversation. 

On a radio show Thursday, Angle didn't directly answer a question from a caller who asked whether she believes the president was born in the U.S. 

Instead, Angle said in response, "You know, I think our Supreme Court has pretty much made that decision." 

A new campaign ad rolled out Friday by the Reid campaign touts Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's ability to deliver for his home state courtesy of his position in Washington.

In the new spot, Reid touts a veterans hospital currently under construction in the state. The ad features a Vietnam veteran from Nevada who has to travel to a hospital in San Diego for treatment.

The spot concludes with the campaign's new slogan, which has been much derided by Republicans: "No one can do more." 

President Obama had an animated discussion with the top Senate Democrat en route to the memorial service for the late Sen. Robert Byrd (W.Va.) at the West Virginia State Capitol.

Obama and Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) were seen "chatting animatedly" on the short plane ride to Charleston, W. Va., according to the pool report. 

Reid faces a tough reelection race against Republican Sharron Angle. Meanwhile, the White House is awaiting action on major pieces of legislation, including the Wall Street reform conference report that passed the House earlier this week and an energy and climate bill.

But it wasn't clear what the two men were discussing.

As the presidential motorcade pulled into the Legislature grounds, bluegrass music played over the public announcement system. It then switched to "America the Beautiful," and back to fiddling and bluegrass.

Tributes for Byrd, who died early Monday morning, are expected to come from West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (D), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Victoria Kennedy, Sen. John Rockefeller (W.Va.), Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Reid, former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden.

The eulogy will be given by Obama. 

There will be no special election to fill the remainder of Byrd's ninth term. Manchin is expected to appoint an interim senator after tributes to the long-serving Democrat are completed.

At a campaign event Thursday, Kentucky Senate nominee Rand Paul (R) tied the federal government's efforts to stimulate the U.S. economy to those of Roman emperors during the empire's decline.

From The Associated Press:

He said Thursday that in the latter days of the Roman Empire, with the economy in shambles, emperors tried to appease people with food and entertainment to distract them.

Paul says this nation's leaders offered "Cash for Clunkers" and stimulus checks and tell people to shop at malls.

Paul faces Democratic opponent and state Attorney General Jack Conway in November's general election.


Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said Democrats are facing an "uphill slog" this cycle, but she's confident that the party's losses in November won't be enough to give the GOP a majority.

"We're facing an uphill slog; I think we'll lose some seats," Wasserman Schultz told The Hill. "I'm confident we're going to retain the House."

Wasserman Schultz is currently a vice chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In past cycles, she helped lead the DCCC's "Red to Blue" program, which supports promising challengers running in Republican-held districts.

The program is one of the reasons the Democrats won't lose the House, said Wasserman Schultz.

"Our goal was to put about 20 seats in play, and our Red to Blue program is actually grown larger than 20 seats now," she said. "We feel really good about more than 20 candidates who are running either in open seats held by Republicans or running against Republican incumbents. We have a lot of optimism."

She said Red to Blue candidates have to meet fundraising and campaign infrastructure benchmarks in order to qualify for the program.

"Unlike the Republicans, we don't just stick 104 people who happen to put their name on the ballot on our program. You actually have to earn your way onto our program," said the three-term congresswoman. "That's why we have a smaller number of candidates on our program, because our program means something."

The National Republican Congressional Committee has a similar challenger program called "Young Guns," which has more than 100 members.

Wasserman Schultz admitted the caucus is having a hard time striking a balance between conservative and progressive members on spending versus deficit reduction.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) will head to Kansas next week to stump for the Senate campaign of Rep. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.). Moran is locked in a primary race with fellow Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) in the race for Sen. Sam Brownback's (R) open Senate seat.

All of the public polling in the race thus far has shown Moran solidly in the lead. A Survey USA poll released earlier this week had Moran up 20 points. But Tiahrt's campaign is trumpeting an internal poll it says shows the race close, as well as endorsements from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Karl Rove and talk radio host Sean Hannity.

And with DeMint on one side of this primary and Palin on the other, the race pits two of the most active GOP surrogates this season against one another. Moran won DeMint's backing last September. Palin endorsed Tiahrt in June. Both have weighed in on a number of Republican primaries this year.

DeMint also has a campaign stop planned in Colorado next week for prosecutor Ken Buck (R), who's facing former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton (R) in the state's Aug. 10 primary.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has a new fundraising goal for 2010--$75 million dollars in contributions, according to a report from the Center for Public Integrity. The Chamber had previously pledged to raise and spend some $50 million this election year.  

The news came from Chamber President Tom Donohue during a meeting of members in California late last week:

If it can haul in the $75 million, which is expected to go heavily into issue ads and get out the vote efforts in a few dozen key House and Senate races, the Chamber would likely be the biggest spender among outside groups helping the GOP … The Chamber’s ambitious $75 million goal would be more than double the $36 million that it spent in 2008, the group’s previous high.

Donohue’s speech was delivered at the Chamber’s semi-annual meeting of its elite “Committee of 100” at a resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. He urged the business community to work together to “change the composition” of the Congress, the source said.

The Donohue talk also was laced with criticism of President Barack Obama “for his lack of leadership on the economy and in creating jobs and the right atmosphere,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Chamber was heavily involved in lobbying efforts against last year's health care bill and has been engaged in the legislative fights over campaign finance and financial reform.