Sarah Palin will head to California on Friday and Democrats are using the visit to hit Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina.

Sen. Barbara Boxer's (D-Calif.) campaign released a Web video Monday linking Fiorina to Palin on issues such as gun ownership rights and offshore oil drilling. "Given Palin's pivotal role in the GOP Senate primary, we thought she might be campaigning for Carly Fiorina on this trip," Rose Kapolczynski, Boxer's campaign manager, said in a statement. 

But it turns out, they're not. Fiorina will be in private meetings that day, according to her campaign.

That doesn't matter, according to Kapolczynski. "They're already together on the issues — and out of step with Californians."

The Fiorina camp said it was "glad" to have Palin's endorsement, which came during the primary campaign.

"While Carly Fiorina is on the campaign trail talking to voters about the issues they care about most — creating jobs and reining in an out-of-control government — Barbara Boxer is trying to shore up a base of voters that should already be supporting her," Amy Thoma, a spokeswoman for the campaign, said in a statement. "That Boxer’s support base is so apathetic simply underscores just how endangered she really is."

Palin is set to speak at a $500-a-plate fundraiser for California State University, Stanislaus, as part of the school's 50th anniversary. The event generated controversy after documents showing the indulgences Palin asked for were discovered by students back in April. 

Palin reportedly demanded, among other things, first-class plane tickets for two from Alaska, a one-bedroom suite plus two rooms in deluxe accommodations, and bottled water with "bendable straws" at the podium.

Four Virginia House members are top GOP targets this year.

Does Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul (R) support bartering for healthcare?

He did in 2002, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal, which conducted a review of Paul's public appearances from the last dozen years.

From the paper’s Sunday edition:

_{Paul has condemned Medicare as ‘socialism;’ denounced seat-belt and anti-smoking laws as ‘Nanny-state’ paternalism; called for voluntary, rather than mandatory, accommodation of people with disabilities; and suggested using satellites to monitor America's borders for illegal immigrants.}

But what may be more troubling for the National Republican Senatorial Committee is that Paul also "criticized private health insurance, saying it keeps patents from negotiating lower prices with their doctors."

"We need to get insurance of out of the way and let the consumer interact with their doctor the way they did basically before World War II," he said during a local TV appearance on Dec. 2, 2002.

A spokesman for the Paul campaign did not respond to a request for comment. 

Bartering comments have caused problems for other Republicans this cycle.

Nevada Republican Sue Lowden was the frontrunner for her party's Senate nomination until she made similar remarks at a town hall event in Mesquite, Nev.

She continued to expand on the bartering theme during the campaign.

"Before we all started having healthcare, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor," Lowden said during a TV interview. "I'm not backing down from that system."

Lowden subsequently lost the primary to former state Assemblywoman Sharron Angle (R) by 14 points.

In North Carolina's Democratic Senate primary, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall is banking on what her campaign is billing as its superior ground game to carry the candidate to victory in Tuesday's runoff against former state Sen. Cal Cunningham. The winner will face Sen. Richard Burr (R) in November. 

It's a grassroots surge the Marshall camp said is a result of voter anger over the national party's role in the primary. Marshall has worked to label Cunningham as the candidate of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), pointing to financial support his campaign has received from a handful of sitting Democratic senators. While the committee has not weighed in officially, the DSCC played a hand in convincing Cunningham to jump into the race last year.  

"We've got a large volunteer base and we're basically on the phones around the clock," said Thomas Mills, an adviser to the Marshall campaign, which has been pushing the anti-establishment line hard. "I don't think the folks at the DSCC realize how angry people are down here." 

Publicly, the DSCC denied it has a favored candidate in the race. In a statement, DSCC national press secretary Deirdre Murphy said, "Given Richard Burr's blank slate of North Carolina accomplishments and his anemic approval numbers, we believe either Democrat who wins the runoff could make this a competitive race." 

But privately some national Democrats have indicated they view Cunningham as the more electable candidate against Burr.  

Mills said the storyline is motivating Marshall supporters ahead of a runoff where turnout is expected to be low. Reports out of the state over the weekend showed the early voting numbers were even lower than expected. Party officials said the best-case scenario is that 100,000 voters come out Tuesday.     

The Marshall camp has longtime Democratic consultant Jim Spencer running its voter contact effort, which is focused heavily on phone contact. Spencer heads the Boston-based firm The Campaign Network. "I don't want to sound overconfident, but the numbers are trending stronger our way," Spencer told the Ballot Box. "We've invested a lot in this program."  

Cunningham, meanwhile, has been on a "Beat Burr" bus tour for the campaign's final stretch, criss-crossing the state with the argument that he is best positioned to defeat Burr. Campaign spokesman Jared Leopold said he is confident Cunningham's voter contact effort is more robust than Marshall's and that he does not think the "Cunningham as establishment candidate" storyline is selling in the state. 

"I don't hear people talking about Washington, unless I'm in Washington, North Carolina," said Leopold. 

The fight over Arizona's controversial immigration law has helped boost Gov. Jan Brewer's (R-Ariz.) standing among GOP voters, according to a new Rasmussen poll.

Brewer now ganers 61 percent support in a three-way GOP primary. That's up from 26 percent two months ago.

Beyond signing the bill into law, Brewer has engaged in a high-profile spat with the Obama administration over a potential lawsuit.

Brewer became governor when Janet Napolitano accepted a position as Homeland Security secretary. She has yet to be elected in her own right.

More from Rasmussen:

Brewer has had a remarkable surge in support since signing the state’s new immigration law and becoming a forceful national advocate of the measure despite criticism from President Obama, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and others.

Eighty-nine percent (89%) of GOP Primary voters support the immigration law, and 66% of those voters favor Brewer.

The 61% support for Brewer is up from 45% last month and 26% support the month before.

In March, before the health care law and immigration issues began to improve her standing, Brewer was in a virtual three-way tie for the nomination. She had drawn primary competition because of her unpopularity amidst the state’s budget problems.

The Chamber of Commerce is becoming more active as this primary season wears on. On Monday the business group announced it is backing state Rep. David Rivera for the GOP nod in Florida's 25th district.

And over the weekend, the Chamber endorsed businessman Tim Bridgewater to win Tuesday's Senate primary in Utah.

Mario Diaz-Balart (R), who currently represents the 25th, announced in February he would run for his retiring brother's seat in the 21st district. Rivera is expected to be the nominee in the GOP-leaning district.

Rivera recently made news when it was reported that he failed to pay his mortgage for five months on a house in Tallahassee he co-owned with Marco Rubio, the Republican candidate for the Senate.

The Tea Party Express launched a get-out-the-vote effort on behalf of Utah Senate candidate Mike Lee (R) on Monday.

The group, which helped Sharron Angle win the GOP nod in Nevada, will get its 375,000-strong national membership to call in to Utah to encourage Republicans to get to the polls for Lee on Tuesday. "Our membership is excited about Mike Lee's candidacy, and we're working hard to get his supporters to the polls," Bryan Shroyer, the group's political director, said in a statement.

The group has also spent "tens of thousands of additional dollars" on radio ads supporting Lee.

Lee faces businessman Tim Bridgewater in the Republican Senate primary for Sen. Bob Bennett's (R-Utah) seat. 

A large turnout isn't expected for tomorrow's vote. 

"Unfortunately, I think that the turnout is going to be fairly low," Dave Hansen, chairman of the Utah Republican Party, told the Ballot Box. "Some are predicting around 10 percent, some are saying it could go as high as 15. We're all doing everything we can to encourage everyone to vote. We'll have to wait and see — the weather will be good."

The Bridgewater campaign said it's also focused on turnout. Bridgewater is appearing at several honk-and-waves around the state Monday and his campaign plans to make 50,000 calls Tuesday, according to Tiffany Gunnerson, a spokeswoman for his campaign.

A Deseret News/KSL-TV poll released over the weekend showed Bridgewater with a nine-point lead over Lee.

The June 12-17 survey of 581 highly likely GOP primary voters statewide found that 42 percent planned to support Bridgewater and 33 percent were going for Lee.

Economist and author Peter Schiff has qualified to be on the ballot against former WWE CEO Linda McMahon in Connecticut's Republican Senate primary.
 
Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz confirmed Monday that Schiff earned a position after gathering more than the required 8,268 signatures.
 
"I look forward to waging a competitive campaign and defeating Linda McMahon August 10th," Schiff said in a statement. "I am confident as voters learn more about me, they will like what they see and hear."
 
A Tea Party favorite, Schiff did not win enough delegates at the Republican State Convention to qualify and therefore had to gather signatures.
 
Former Rep. Rob Simmons (R-Conn.) is also running against McMahon. He qualified for the ballot at the convention, but has since suspended his campaign. He does, however, plan to remain on August's ballot.

McMahon is the favorite to win the nomination and has invested millions of her own money into the race.

Iowa Republican Terry Branstad borrowed from "Saturday Night Live" for his campaign's latest TV spot, countering Gov. Chet Culver's (D) opening ad salvo with a one-word answer — "really?"

"Chet Culver is criticizing Terry Branstad's accounting practices? Really?" the female announcer says in the spot. It goes on to tout Branstad's record as a fiscal conservative.

Spending is likely to be a central issue in the race.

SNL's Weekend Updated segment had a long-running bit called, "Really!? With Seth & Amy." A spokesman for Branstad declined to say whether it provided the ad's inspiration.

Branstad's new 30-second spot is running statewide on network and cable television. Kim Alfano of the Delaware-based firm Alfano Communications is producing his ads.

Watch the ad and a vintage clip of SNL's segment after the jump.