Georgia holds a special election today to fill out the remainder of former Rep. Nathan Deal's (R-Ga.) term.

The district is one of the most Republican in the country but with six Republicans, one Democrat and one Independent on the ballot, it's unlikely anyone will garner a 50-plus-one majority to avoid a June 8th runoff.

Complicating the matter, all six Republican candidates qualified for the July 20th primary, which will decide the candidate for the November general election.

Deal resigned to concentrate on his campaign for governor. Republicans are expected to hold the seat. Polls close at 7 p.m.

Also on the ballot in Georgia is a familiar name to voters. Jason Carter (D) -- the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter -- is running for a vacant state Senate seat in a special election.

If he wins, he would be the first member in his family to hold elective office since his grandfather left the white House.

First he has to get by three opponents in the heavily-Democratic district.

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch (R) Tuesday would not say which candidate he supports to replace his ousted colleague, Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah).

Delegates at the state GOP convention this weekend did not select the three-term senator to appear on the primary ballot, meaning that political newcomers Mike Lee and Tim Bridgewater will vie for the party's nomination.

Observers say Bennett's stunning defeat is a further sign incumbents will be in trouble this fall.

"Either one of them would be a good senator and I have to go by what the population says," Hatch said on MSNBC.

The senior senator said that he too would have trouble winning reelection in this political climate.

"If I would have been up this year, it would be difficult for anybody," he said.

Hatch lamented the loss of his colleague, saying he "felt very badly for Sen. Bennett."

Cross-posted to the Briefing Room

Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.V.) and JFK have something in common, Hawaii's Colleen Hanabusa (D) has friends in high places, if not at the DCCC, and Vice President Biden doesn't know if his boss is going to Pennsylvania this week.

Wild and wonderful

West Virginia primaries can be unpredictable, just ask Ted Sorensen. The former presidential advisor was in Charleston, W.V., Monday giving a talk about how John F. Kennedy pulled off an upset in the state's 1960 Democratic primary.

"Why did John F. Kennedy enter the West Virginia primary with so much at stake? In early 1960, almost nobody gave John Kennedy a chance," Sorensen said.

The same could be said for Mollohan, who faces state Sen. Mike Oliverio in the Democratic primary. Both camps have released polls showing their candidates ahead. But in the aftermath of Sen. Bob Bennett's (R) downfall in Utah last weekend, incumbents are the underdogs. Meanwhile, six Republicans are seeking the GOP nod in Mollohan's district.

Polls close at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

She's our girl

Rep. Michael Honda (D-Calif.) is backing state Sen. Hanabusa (D) to win Rep. Neil Abercrombie's (D-Hawaii) seat. Honda, in a statement: "Colleen has distinguished herself as an honest, trustworthy leader and fighter for the people of Hawaii."

It doesn't seem like Hanabusa's willing to drop out, despite the DCCC saying that two Democrats on the ticket equals a Republican victory. Meanwhile, Republican Charles Djou is "surging" in fundraising.

Djou raised $525,150 in April and had $362,700 banked at the start of May, according to the Honululu Advertiser. Hanabusa pulled in $349,000 in April and former Rep. Ed Case (D) raised $287,400 in April and had $153,500 cash on hand. The special election is May 22 and is winner take all.

Apparently not a BFD

Vice President Joe Biden won't say if President Obama is planning to campaign for Sen. Arlen Specter (D) in Pennsylvania this week.



Biden said he planned to stump for Specter, but he didn't know if Obama's schedule would let him make it back up to the Keystone State. "The president, I'm sure, will be reaching out," Biden said on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday. "Whether the president's going to go up there physically again between now and Tuesday, I don't know the schedule."


Biden noted, "He already has gone out and campaigned for Arlen Specter."

President Obama may have handed Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) the issue he needs to help win Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate primary.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) made a crack about Arizona's new anti-illegal immigration statute during a commencement speech at Emory University in Atlanta Monday.

"I was also going to give a graduation speech in Arizona this weekend," Schwarzenegger said, according to the Sacramento Bee. "But with my accent I was afraid they would try to deport me."

The Service Employees International Union will turn its attention from healthcare to immigration reform ahead of the 2010 midterm elections.

"We are stepping up our immigration reform efforts as a union-wide national campaign the same that way we did for healthcare," Javier Morillo, the union's immigration campaign director, told The Ballot Box. "We are full-bore working on this. We are moving to get this done this year."

SEIU will use member education, canvassing and paid media as part of its effort.

One of the top priorities of the SEIU's immigration reform "war room" is stopping the copycat bills similar to Arizona's anti-illegal immigration measure that other states have introduced. "It's about using it on [the GOP] side for short-term electoral gain," he said.

Morillo noted 14 states have proposed similar legislation, including such midterm battlegrounds as Pennsylvania, Colorado, Missouri and Ohio.

"We're taking on these Arizona copycat laws to make the case for why we need a comprehensive solution and that it can really only be done by the federal government," he said.

Union officials and some conservative Democrats have expressed concern that taking up immigration reform could hurt the party's chances in 2010, but Morillo said the opposite is true. "The politics of this are such that the Republican Party will relegate itself to minority status if they continue to do things like Arizona."
 
Union members understand why immigration reform needs to happen, he added.

"Rooting out those who exploit our broken system for profit, that is important to all workers," Morillo said. "Comprehensive immigration reform is just one key piece of something that needs to happen that will benefit all workers."

The White House has reassured union officials it considers immigration reform a legislative priority, Morillo said.

"We've had assurances from the very beginning that they're serious about getting it done," he said. "The White House can't move this alone, they understand this."

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) is tapping another "Saturday Night Live" alumnus to fundraise for him. And this time it's Conan O'Brien.

Utah Republicans defeated an "outstanding conservative" in Sen. Bob Bennett, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell said Monday.

Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court presents a new problem to Sen. Arlen Specter’s embattled re-election campaign.
 
Specter (D-Pa.) was one of 31 Republicans who voted against Kagan when President Barack Obama nominated her last year to the post of solicitor general.
 
Specter, who has fallen behind Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) in recent polls for Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate primary, now must defend that vote.
 
Sestak said the vote shows that voters can’t trust Specter to serve as a loyal Democrat after the May 18 primary.
 
"My opponent, Sen. Specter, has already made his views about the president's nominee clear by voting against her confirmation to be solicitor general, even as seven of his fellow Republicans approved her nomination,” Sestak said in a statement.
 
“I expect Senator Specter may backtrack from his earlier vote on Ms. Kagan this week in order to help himself in the upcoming primary election, but the people of Pennsylvania have no way of knowing where he will stand after May 18,” he added.
 
Specter said in March of last year that he opposed Kagan because she was not forthcoming enough in discussing her legal views.