Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) is sending out a flurry of e-mails to supporters ahead of Tuesday’s primary runoff against Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D).

On Wednesday she sent a fundraising plea from Vice President Joe Biden, who noted how she stood with the administration on key priorities.

“Blanche has a consistent record of fighting for Arkansas,” Biden wrote. “That record includes standing with me and President Obama to pass the most historic health reform this country has ever seen.”

And on Thursday her campaign sent a note to supporters highlighting how she’s willing to “work across the aisle to get things done.”

Lincoln’s husband, Steven, wrote: “Blanche is a rare breed. She's one of the few senators left who are willing to work across the aisle to get things done.”

Lincoln has also brought former President Bill Clinton in to campaign for her in what is a tough election year for incumbents. She's already seen colleagues Sens. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) and Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) lose their primary bids. 

Colorado Senate candidate Jane Norton (R) is calling on Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) to reveal what he knew about the White House’s job offer to primary rival Andrew Romanoff (D). 

"Andrew Romanoff answered the tough questions, and now it's time for the appointed senator to do the same," Norton said in a statement Thursday.

Romanoff released a statement Wednesday saying White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina contacted him in September. Messina "suggested three positions that might be available to me were I not pursuing the Senate race," Romanoff said. "At no time was I promised a job, nor did I request Mr. Messina’s assistance in obtaining one."

Colorado Republicans want to make Romanoff's Washington job search a campaign issue in the Senate race.

"With all of the problems our nation is facing, the Obama administration chose to focus on business-as-usual political games," Norton said. "The back-room deals and ‘Chicago-style’ politics have to stop."

The Bennet campaign hasn't yet responded to a request for comment.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's favorability rating has actually increased over past surveys despite the recent controversy over his service in the Marine Corps Reserves during the Vietnam War. 

Blumenthal was viewed very favorably by 42 percent of 500 Connecticut voters Rasmussen Reports surveyed on June 1.  That's an increase of 7 points from a survey that was conducted two weeks before the New York Times story broke.

The Times piece reported Blumenthal misstated his service during the Vietnam War. After the story came out, Blumenthal went on an apology tour and said his "misspoke" about his military record.

He remains a strong Senate candidate.

In the new survey, Blumenthal had support from 56 percent of respondents in a match-up with former WWE CEO Linda McMahon (R) who pulled in 33 percent. Only 7 percent said they were undecided.

In a potential meeting with investment banker Peter Schiff, who is gathering signatures to run against McMahon for the GOP nod, Blumenthal dropped to 55 percent while Schiff garnered a surprising 32 percent support, and 9 percent said they were undecided.

Blumenthal started airing his first three TV ads of the Senate race on June 1.

After going dark for two days, California Senate candidate Tom Campbell (R) is back on the air.

As Ballot Box noted Wednesday, Campbell had pulled all his TV ads and was relying on Web ads and phone calls to get out the vote.

But the former congressman was back on the air Thursday with a new ad.

In it, he talks about how he has a better chance of beating Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) than his rival for the GOP nod, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.

"I do have something neither of my opponents can offer. The Los Angeles Times announced a poll that shows me beating Sen. Barbara Boxer by 7 points. Carly Fiorina loses to Barbara Boxer by 6 points. Let's not lose this historic opportunity to replace Sen. Barbara Boxer," he said in the ad.

But that same poll also shows Campbell trailing Fiorina by 15 percent in the June 8th primary.

California is one of the most expensive media markets in the country and Fiorina put millions from her personal fortune into the race.

But, because Campbell is back on the air, his fundraising appeal must have paid off.

During the weekend, Campbell wrote on his blog about how he needed more financial support.

"The situation is clear: I can win if I have the resources to communicate in these final 9 days. If I don’t, we will not win – and Boxer will breathe a huge sigh of relief. Over the next 72 hours, I need to raise the resources to stay competitive against millions in attack ads; this election literally hinges on your response," he wrote.

Fiorina's campaign fired back at Campbell's new ad.

"He doesn't have millions to spend because he didn't raise enough money despite claims to the contrary. Two words describe this ad: desperate and sad," a campaign spokeswoman said.

-- This post was updated at 12:24 p.m.

The Hill's J. Taylor Rushing recently spoke with Florida Gov. Charlie Crist about the loneliness of his Independent Senate bid, his decision to keep his old party's donations and the strength of the Tea Party movement.

Here's the latest installment:

Crist has kind words about the Tea Party movement that has buoyed the Senate candidacy of his one-time GOP primary opponent, former state House Speaker Marco Rubio, but he also notes that the movement's strength has not really been tested yet.



Facing a double-digit polling gap with Rubio, Crist left the Republican Party in late April, choosing to run for Sen. Mel Martinez's (R) seat as an Independent candidate. Rubio is a favorite of Tea Party activists, but Crist notes that the movement has faced few large-scale challenges.



"It's hard to say how strong it is. I don't think any of us really know, because we've only really seen it in play in primaries," Crist told The Ballot Box. "General elections are a whole different kettle of fish, as we all know. For example, if I were still in a primary, the audience would be, in terms of voters, maybe 1 million, maybe 1.5 million at the most. Whereas you go to the general election, and all of a sudden you expand to about 8 million.

"It's a whole different ballgame and a very different field of play.

 So it's hard to say what that percentage might be in a bigger audience. But let me say this, I think any increased participation in democracy is good for the country. For people who are frustrated with the current state of affairs in America, having more people participate in it only breathes new life into it. That's a positive, I think."

Colorado Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff (D) hasn’t bolstered his outsider credentials by confirming the White House “suggested three positions” he might be qualified for, South Carolina Republican Nikki Haley faces more accusations of infidelity, and a record number of candidates are taking the field this cycle.

E-mail me the details

Romanoff confirmed Wednesday what the Denver Post reported last fall: that the White House contacted him in September about possibly taking a job in the administration. He was preparing to challenge Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) at the time and subsequently decided not to pursue a position.

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) made a similar claim in February, which may have helped solidify his outside-the-establishment bona fides in the minds of some Pennsylvania Democratic primary voters. In Colorado, however, Democrats are looking at Romanoff as just another administration job-seeker (he even applied online, like countless field organizers).

From Thursday’s Denver Post:

_{Some Colorado Democrats said Romanoff's account ignores the fact the former Colorado House speaker had been seeking jobs at the same agency, elsewhere in the Obama administration, and in Denver for much of 2009.}

_{One Colorado Democratic leader said Romanoff had encouraged people to show his résumé to the State Department and USAID specifically, earlier in 2009.}

_{Romanoff frustrated many state Democratic leaders with half-hearted pursuits of public and private jobs while still flirting, over their objections, with a primary challenge of Bennet. Romanoff was also considered for the vacant Colorado secretary of state position in late 2009, and to be Gov. Bill Ritter's lieutenant governor if Barbara O'Brien stepped down.}

The story may wind up hurting Romanoff's chances of defeating Bennet in their August primary.

An affair to remember

Haley is now the front-runner in the race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, and with less than a week before the vote, her opponents are trying to slime her, or so she says. On Wednesday, Haley accused Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, her primary rival, of raising new questions about her marital fidelity in an effort to undermine her campaign, according to The State.

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Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) said he and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel discussed how to persuade Rep. Joe Sestak (Pa.) not to challenge Sen. Arlen Specter in the 2010 Democratic primary.

During an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News Wednesday, Rendell said, "I know about this. Number one, Rahm Emanuel and I had discussions about this. We very much wanted to persuade Congressman Sestak to stay in the House and run for his seat, 'cause he would have won his seat easily and now that's a seat that's up for grabs. So I know that the administration did not want to offer him a job that would have meant he would have to leave Congress."

Rendell, who recently called on the White House to publicly reveal its efforts to convince Sestak not to jump into the race against Specter, downplayed the significance of former President Bill Clinton's lobbying of Sestak to remain in the lower chamber.

"This happens all the time," Rendell said, noting that former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who served in George W. Bush's administration, has suggested that no laws were broken.

Sestak defeated Specter in the Pennsylvania primary last month. Sestak will face former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) in the general election.

Next week’s primaries could see several more establishment candidates fall to voters’ anti-incumbent fever.

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With the announced closure of the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention center stalled, a group of retired military leaders is trying to inject the issue into the midterm election campaign.

Thirteen retired generals and Navy admirals plan to meet with congressional candidates in Pennsylvania and Delaware on Thursday, hoping to build support for shuttering the Guantanamo prison and trying its prisoners in civilian courts.

Supporters of trying suspected terrorists in civilian courts have suffered several setbacks in the first 16 months of the Obama administration, most notably when its plan to try alleged 9/11 master Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a federal court in Manhattan ran into a wall of opposition from political leaders in New York.

The group of military leaders, convened by Human Rights First, acknowledges it faces an uphill battle in turning the political tide.

“We have, to some extent, succumbed to the politics of fear,” said Rear Adm. John Hutson, a former Navy Judge Advocate General who appeared at the White House in January 2009 when President Barack Obama signed an executive order ordering the closure of the Guantanamo prison.

“That’s no reason to just throw in the towel and stop the campaign,” Hutson said.

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