Maybe Sue Lowden won't have trouble getting through the Nevada GOP Senate primary after all.
One of her top rivals for the nomination, the Tea Party Express-backed Sharron Angle, is being questioned by the Federal Elections Commission about discrepancies in her campaign finance reports, according to KRNV News 4. The Reno NBC affiliate obtained a letter the FEC sent the Angle campaign asking for clarification on four different items reported on her fourth quarter fundraising report last year.
The items ranged from information on her donors to questions regarding whether her debts were paid.
In one section of the report, the campaign filed very different numbers for cash on hand. The filing says the campaign ended the third quarter of 2009 with $76,000 in cash, but started the next quarter, which began the very next day, with negative $45,000; a $121,000 difference.
There was also a long list of debts that weren't reported, that ranged from $700 to $30,000. The letter asks the Angle campaign why these debts-listed on one report-were not listed as paid or still outstanding on the following report.
Angle has six more days to respond to the FEC letter. News 4 contacted the Angle campaign and asked for a response to the letter; a spokesman said all of the issues were just bookkeeping errors, and they would correct the problems before the FEC's deadline.
Meanwhile, the Lowden camp is launching a new TV ad aimed at rebutting the "chickens for checkups" line of attack being used by Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and GOP rival Danny Tarkanian. In the ad, Lowden calls it a "statement they've taken of context" and says it's time "we pulled the plug on these boys."
The 30-second spot goes up this weekend statewide on cable and broadcast. The Reid campaign didn't wait to challange its claim.
"The hard reality that Sue Lowden's campaign has spiraled out of control -- and that her shot at the GOP nomination is now circling the bowl -- doesn't change the indisputable fact that she said those words, and was, in fact, quoted in context," Reid spokesman Kelly Steele said in a statement.
Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul (R) is using the second last weekend before the May 18 primary to hit GOP rival Trey Grayson with a new TV ad.
The 30-second spot, which goes up statewide Saturday on broadcast and cable, says the secretary of state will support "big government" if elected to the Senate. The ad was produced by the Strategy Group for Media, an Ohio-based firm.
Meanwhile, Rand is getting hit by a TV ad launched by the American Future Fund, an Iowa-based 501(c)(4) group. The ad says Paul isn't standing up for "real Kentucky values."
Paul has been leading in most recent polls but Grayson was recently endorsed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who made a rare foray into a contested primary.
The Susan B. Anthony List unveiled two elements of its aggressive midterm advertising campaign this week.
In West Virginia, the anti-abortion group is targeting Rep. Alan Mollohan (D) for his vote in favor of healthcare reform. It made a $30,000 radio buy that is airing on AM and FM stations, and could be heard more than 100 times a day because of the size of the markets. The minute-long ad says the 14-term Democrat "betrayed" his constituents.
"Alan Mollohan betrayed us and voted to spend federal dollars -- our dollars -- on abortions," the announcer says. The GOP primary to decide who faces Mollohan is May 11.
In Nevada, the group spent $50,000 on a spot praising Republican Senate candidate Sue Lowden. It's airing on talk and Christian stations.
"In the state senate Sue Lowden led the fight for legislation that required parents be notified if their teen daughter was seeking an abortion," the announcer says in the ad.
RNC Chairman Michael Steele stayed neutral today when asked about Sen. Bob Bennett's (R-Utah) primary showdown.
The Utah GOP convention will vote tomorrow on the party's nominee. Any candidate in the three-way race could win the nomination outright if they receive 60 percent of the vote. If not, the top two candidates will head to a runoff.Polls of the delegates indicate that Bennett is in serious trouble.
Steele declined to endorse Bennett's bid today in an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell.
"That's a decision that the GOP members of the
Utah party decide," Steele said. "We don't make those decisions at the national level.
Those are constituents on the ground. I wish the senator well tomorrow."
Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) has pulled even with Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) in the Muhlenberg College/Morning Call daily tracking poll released Friday. The rivals for the Pennsylvania Senate nomination are tied at 43 percent with 13 percent undecided.
Sestak has been trailing consistently behind Specter, who has wider name recognition. But his TV ad blitz in recent days may have had an impact.
California gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner was trailing his GOP rival Meg Whitman by some 50 points in recent polls but not anymore, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Whitman's lead over Poizner has shrunk to some 8-10 points in polls by the Poizner camp and labor organizations obtained by the paper. The tightening comes just days before absentee ballots can be cast in the June 8 primary.
The Whitman camp disputes such a seismic shift has happened, but if the polls are correct it could be attributed to this ad the Poizner camp started running last week. It's been airing statewide on cable and broadcast.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) gets more help from the White House, California Senate candidate Carly Fiorina (R) wants everyone to know she's more conservative than Tom Campbell (R) and former Rep. Ed Case (D-Hawaii) shares a fake phone call with President Obama.
Buffalo's lovely this time of year
President Obama travels to Buffalo on May 13 -- apparently at the request of New York's junior senator.
The Buffalo News reports, "An array of local politicians, including [Buffalo Mayor Byron] Brown, have made a pitch to the president for a visit, but a White House official said Obama was going to Buffalo at the behest" of Gillibrand.
"This shows his strong commitment to the region," Gillibrand told the paper. "It is something I advocated for, because I believe Western New York can play a leading role in America's economic recovery."
Earlier this year the White House moved to dissuade possible primary challengers not to run against Gillibrand. She now has a clear path to the nomination and hasn't drawn a top-tier Republican challenger.
Card carrying conservative
California Republicans run to the right in their primaries, but always the risk is that they won’t be able to pivot to the center in the general election. It seems Fiorina is taking that risk now.
On Thursday she locked up the endorsement of Sarah Palin and then burnished her conservative credentials in a debate with GOP rivals Chuck DeVore and Tom Campbell.
At one point the candidates were asked whether individuals on the no-fly list should be permitted to buy firearms, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Campbell, who has been leading in several polls, said they should not, but both Fiorina and DeVore disagreed.
"Oh my goodness," Campbell said after the other two candidates answered. Fiorina added, "That's why Tom Campbell has kind of a poor rating from the National Rifle Assn., right there."
'Ed, great to hear from you'
Ed Case has emerged as the Democratic establishment candidate in the Hawaii special election set for May 22. Not only does he have the backing of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he's also got the White House on his side, that's according to a new TV ad his campaign released Thursday.
During a montage of photos of Obama and the White House, the narrator says, "only one candidate's strong enough to stand with the president: Ed Case."
The 30-second ad also says that Republican Charles Djou wants to be the "exact opposite" of Obama. It ends with a split screen of Obama and Case both talking on the phone.
The Hawaii Republican Party called it a "Hail Mary" pass by Case's campaign.
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Charlie Crist "have agreed to keep in touch" as the Florida governor pursues a renegade Independent Senate bid, with the possibility of a highly prized endorsement that could tip a close three-way race.
Lieberman told The Hill he spoke to Crist just hours before the governor's April 29 announcement. Boating on Tampa Bay at the time, Crist reached Lieberman through his office.
"He said, 'I just want you to know I'm going to do this, and I'd like to keep in touch with you, and obviously you've done it,' " Lieberman said of Crist. "I wished him well and I did say, which he repeated -- which was OK -- that when I lost the primary in '06 it was probably the most difficult moment of my political career but on the other hand when I won in November as an Independent it was probably the best moment of my career. And I've been lucky enough to have had a lot of moments. I was just, you know, so grateful for the opportunity to have come back as an Independent. Ultimately, it was liberating. When you're an Independent, you can do what most people do, which is take every issue on its own."
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