Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) issues an "ultimatum" to Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D), Washington state Republican Dino Rossi's entrance into the GOP Senate primary doesn't clear the field and Newt Gingrich is still putting his money on a Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Lincoln: Come clean, Bill

Lincoln's refusal to support the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) was one of the issues that prompted labor groups to back Halter's primary bid. "My stand on this legislation is the reason D.C. unions are in Arkansas spending nearly $10 million attacking me and misrepresenting my record," Lincoln said in a statement Wednesday.

Before she agrees to another debate with Halter before the June 8 runoff, Lincoln wants her opponent to say definitively whether he supports the legislation. "Arkansans know my record, and they deserve to know where Bill stands. If we are going to debate the issues, we both have to be willing to take a stand on the issues," she said.

The Halter camp called the tactic "typical Washington hypocrisy."

Halter spokesman Garry Hoffmann: "This is exactly why we need to have a debate and exactly why she’s trying to avoid one."

Everyone's accounted for

At least five active Washington state GOP Senate candidates said they'll stick in the race after Rossi's entry, including former NFL player Clint Didier (R).

In fact, shortly after Rossi's Web rollout, the Sarah Palin-backed Didier hit him for being a party insider. Voters will now have a choice between a "GOP established candidate or a citizen statesman who is a part of the grassroots movement," Didier said in a statement published by the Spokane Spokesman-Review.

One candidate decided to get out. Ed Torres (R), a general superintendent for a plumbing firm, said he would put his support behind Rossi.

What are the odds?

Gingrich told reporters in Des Moines on Wednesday that Republicans still have a "great chance" to regain control of the House.



"I think the odds are at least even money that you're going to get John Boehner as Speaker," Gingrich said, according to the Des Moines Register. "The Democrats are going to run this fall with the worst unemployment record since the Great Depression, they're going to run this fall having failed in the Gulf, having failed to control the border, having failed to stop Iran and having failed to keep spending under control."

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) may be the GOP’s favorite congressional punching bag, but she won’t be enough to carry the party into the majority, Republicans say.

Read more...

Former GOP Senate candidate Rob Simmons (Conn.) said Wednesday he does not think his ex-primary opponent Linda McMahon can beat her Democratic opponent.

In an interview with the conservative National Review, the former congressman said McMahon cannot defeat state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic nominee:

Former Rep. Rob Simmons (R., Conn.) tells National Review Online that he does not think that Linda McMahon can win in the Nutmeg State. “No, I don’t think so at all,” he tells us. And if McMahon asks Simmons for help on the trail, he says he’ll say he is “preoccupied.”

On Tuesday, Simmons suspended his campaign against McMahon, the former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO, who has spent a good deal of her personal wealth on the race.

In his remarks, Simmons was noncommittal about endorsing or campaigning for McMahon.

A Vietnam combat veteran, Simmons thinks he would be a better candidate against Blumenthal, who came under fire for repeatedly misrepresenting his service record during the Vietnam War.

“He blinked when I challenged him and issued an apology,” Simmons told National Review. “It is an issue of character. He has every reason to be proud of the service he has done, so to embellish it to get support from veterans is just wrong.”

But the ex-congressman said McMahon could also face attacks on her character on the trail due to allegations of suspect activity during her tenure running the wrestling circuit.

“While she was there, they had a mentally-handicapped character, Eugene, who they thought was humorous," he said. "I find that whole issue, and how it was handled by [McMahon], severely disappointing," adding that she has "countless entertainment products that she’ll have to defend, especially when Democrats make them known to the public in coming months."

Cross-posted to the Briefing Room 

Nevada Senate candidate Sue Lowden isn't the only Republican under scrutiny ahead of the June 8 primary.

The Tea Party-backed Sharron Angle (R) is being forced to answer questions about why her campaign website removed claims that she, together with actresses Kelly Preston and Jenna Elfman, lobbied Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) to sponsor legislation prohibiting school employees from requiring students to take psychotropic drugs.

From the Las Vegas Sun:

_{Preston and Elfman are high-profile members of the Church of Scientology, which does not believe in the use of psychiatric drugs.}

_{Instead, Angle's website, sharronangle.com, says only that Ensign sponsored a bill "at Angle's request."}

_{(In 2001 and 2003, Angle introduced legislation in Nevada similar to the federal legislation, which passed.)}

_{The apparent scrubbing of her website of the potentially controversial issue — critics of Scientology call it a cult — comes as Angle gains ground in the Republican primary, which has narrowed to a three-way race to take on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.}

_{Angle's surge has been fueled in part by the missteps of her opponents and a spate of national endorsements, including from the Tea Party Express and conservative Club for Growth.}

_{Sue Lowden, formerly the clear front-runner, has begun attacking Angle, including for her support in 2003 of a drug-treatment program for inmates that included saunas and massages as treatment.}

_{Lowden’s campaign and many establishment Republicans believe it would be difficult for Angle to beat Reid in the general election. Angle has taken rigid ideological stands that may help her in the primary, but would likely alienate many independents and Democrats in November.}

_{Any ties to Scientology could be troublesome for a candidate whose biggest challenge may be convincing Republican primary voters that she can gather mainstream support.}

_{Jerry Stacy, spokesman for Angle, said the attacks are "desperate. This is what desperate people do. (Lowden) is in serious trouble. This is no longer just about who can beat Harry Reid. It’s about who will best represent Nevada."}

Arkansas Democrats are coalescing around Chad Causey in the race for Rep. Marion Berry's (D) seat.

Two of the four candidates who lost in the first round of the primary, state Sen. Steve Bryles and state Rep. David Cook, endorsed Causey on Wednesday.

Cook and Bryles finished with 15 and 10 percent, respectively, in the May 18 primary. Causey, who finished second with 27 percent, welcomed their support.

"Momentum is on our side, and we are going to be come out on top on June 8," he said in a statement.

Causey is Berry's former chief of staff. He faces former Lt. Gov. Tim Wooldridge in the runoff for the nod. Causey has the support of the Arkansas AFL-CIO and is considered the more centrist Democrat in the race.

The winner faces Republican Rick Crawford in the general election.

Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul (R) replaced his campaign manager with a veteran staffer from his father's 2008 presidential run, the Ballot Box has confirmed.

David Adams will now chair the effort with Jesse Benton coming in as manager. Benton was Rep. Ron Paul's (R-Texas) communications director during his 2008 presidential run.

Adams denied the shakeup was a result of the media firestorm that resulted from Rand Paul's comments about civil rights. "This is totally unrelated to that," he told the Ballot Box. Adams said the move had been "in the works" since before the primary vote.

Still, he admitted that word leaked out about the changes before the campaign was prepapred to make a public announcement. "We're in the process still of putting everything on paper," he said. "We're still working on this internally."

Adams said he was satisfied with his new role. "I'm very pleased with the changes. It will make my life easier," he said.

The Paul campaign is expecting to announce new hires in the coming days, he added.

Someone got their wires crossed at the DSCC this afternoon.

Earlier today, we posted a story about Vice President Joe Biden cracking a joke at the expense of Connecticut Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal. It's not the kind of story Democrats would normally be thrilled about — in fact, it's just the opposite. But for some reason the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) posted the story on their website.

The link has now been taken down, but you can see a screenshot below. We've asked the DSCC for comment and will update this post when we hear back.

 

Ending weeks of speculation, former Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.) announced Wednesday he will not run for his old seat.

"I will not seek election to Congress this year," Fossella told reporters at a press conference in New York City. "I'm frankly at a very good place in my life. I'm where I need to be and where I want to be."

The former Staten Island congressman was forced into retirement during the last cycle after a 2008 drunken-driving arrest revealed he had fathered a daughter with his mistress. Fossella is married and has three children with his wife.

Fossella said he was "humbled and honored" by the Staten Island GOP executive committee's endorsement, "but I am not prepared to run," according to the New York Daily News.

The Sept. 14 primary is now between Republicans Michael Grimm and Michael Allegretti. They’re vying for the nod to face freshman Rep. Michael McMahon (D-N.Y.). McMahon is a top GOP target and faces a tough reelection bid. He angered his party’s base by voting against the healthcare reform bill. 

Updated at 3:13 p.m. 

Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday took an unexpected dig at Connecticut Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal (D) for misstating his military service record. 

While speaking at a barbecue for wounded soldiers, he commented about veterans coming home from the Vietnam War. Biden, who has a penchant for being loquacious, veered into the Connecticut Senate race. 

"I didn't serve in Vietnam. I don't want to make a Blumenthal mistake here," he said according to a pool report. "Our attorney general from Connecticut, God love him." 

Later he said "I have a bad habit of saying exactly what I think."

Blumenthal became the brunt of Republican criticism after The New York Times reported he misstated his service record during the Vietnam War on several occasions. 

The attorney general, who is the front-runner in the race, said he served in Vietnam and gave the impression he returned from the war and was spit upon with fellow veterans. 

After receiving several deferments, Blumenthal finally enlisted in the Marine Reserves and served in Washington, D.C. 

The candidate has apologized for his comments and Democrats have stood beside him, saying the criticism against him is simply his opponents blowing matters out of proportion.

Cross-posted from the Briefing Room