Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) has found memories of being a Republican, polls show the Democratic Senate primary in Ohio is widening, and, thanks to Arizona, illegal immigration is becoming a campaign issue.

Specter's nostalgia

Less than three weeks before facing his first Democratic primary vote (and a year after he switched parties), Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) sounds nostalgic for his past in the GOP.

"Well, I probably shouldn't say this,'' he lets slip in a profile in the Allentown Morning Call. ''But I have thought from time to time that I might have helped the country more if I'd stayed a Republican.''

Still, Specter goes on to defend his decision to switch parties, saying it was because a ''moderate public servant'' no longer had a place in the GOP. ''For me to say I had no place in the Republican Party was a significant commentary,'' he said. ''The party had been heading there for a long time, and this was the identification of it.''

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), Specter's primary opponent, will try to regain some momentum during a pivotal speech Wednesday night at American University in Washington.

As seen on TV

In the Ohio Senate Democratic primary, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher (D) has a commanding lead over rival Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.

Fisher's up 17 points over Brunner, a 10-point increase in less than a month.

Fisher's rise in the polls comes as he started running 30-second TV bio ads earlier in April, according to the Columbus Dispatch. But the lead has come at a cost. Fisher has dropped $3 million on his primary, while former Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the expected GOP nominee, has been able to stockpile cash.

Thank you, Arizona

From Iowa House primaries to the Georgia governor's race candidates are again talking about illegal immigration. Here's a taste of what they're saying:

Iowa Republican Pat Bertroche, who's vying to face Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa), said police should catch illegal immigrants and document their whereabouts. "I can microchip my dog so I can find it. Why can't I microchip an illegal?"

Meanwhile, former Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.), who left Congress to run for governor, came out in support of the Arizona law. "As governor of Georgia, I’d work to pass and sign similar legislation," he said in a statement.

Former Bush advisor Karl Rove sounded concerned about what the debate will do to his party's chances in November. "I wished they hadn't passed it, in a way," he said about the new Arizona law Tuesday.

Other updates

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) has reevaluated his position on offshore oil drilling. In light of what's happened off the coast of Louisiana, he's withdrawn his support for oil exploration off the coast of Florida. Crist plans to announce Thursday whether he will run as an Independent.

(Updated at 9:23 a.m.)

Republican candidates across the country are taking heat for benefiting from bailout funds even as they decry the law.

Nevada Senate candidate Sue Lowden (R) doubled down on her claim that bartering is an effective way to lower the cost of healthcare.

During an interview with Las Vegas radio host Alan Stock Tuesday morning, she said bartering for healthcare was common practice throughout the country.

"The truth of the matter is there is bartering going on in this state and in the country," Lowden said, according to a transcript posted by the Las Vegas Sun. "It has been going on for years and it was a casual statement talking about the reality of what's going on, and not in a negative way by the way. This is something ... you know when I talk about bartering like you said it's also bargaining for the price, asking doctors if there's a different price if you're paying cash or paying by check. We know this is going on."

Lowden was considered one of the leading Republicans vying to challenge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.).

During the interview, she tried to turn the notion of bartering for healthcare into a line of attack against Reid.

"It takes place throughout the country and that Harry Reid has been attacking me for saying something like that and the truth is it is happening and that's how out of touch he is," she said.

Lowden may be better off dropping the subject. Her bartering comments have drawn national ridicule. Take a look at this clip from Monday's episode of Comedy Central's "Colbert Report."

Michael J. Fox is making his return to the midterm elections after cutting ads for two Senate hopefuls in 2006. 

Young people need motivation to vote in November, according to a new Gallup poll. The April 1-25 survey found that almost half of 18-to-29-year-olds were "not enthusiastic" about casting a ballot in the midterm elections.

The poll did have some good news for Democrats. The Gallup survey confirmed that 18-to-29-year-olds prefer Dems to Republicans by a 12-point margin. The party will just need to find a way to motivate this lethargic portion of its base.

Ballot initiatives may help in some states. Young voters, California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton suggested recently, may turnout in the Golden State in order to support a ballot initiative to tax and regulate pot.

A spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project said that initiatives to legalize medical marijuana are expected to be on the ballot in South Dakota and Arizona, where there are a several competitive races.

Florida Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio criticized Arizona's tough new immigration law today, putting him at odds with the national conservative establishment that has aided his meteoric rise.

Rubio said the law could effectively "single out people who are here legally, including U.S. citizens."

The key paragraph from his statement:

States certainly have the right to enact policies to protect their citizens, but Arizona’s policy shows the difficulty and limitations of states trying to act piecemeal to solve what is a serious federal problem. From what I have read in news reports, I do have concerns about this legislation. While I don’t believe Arizona’s policy was based on anything other than trying to get a handle on our broken borders, I think aspects of the law, especially that dealing with ‘reasonable suspicion,’ are going to put our law enforcement officers in an incredibly difficult position. It could also unreasonably single out people who are here legally, including many American citizens. Throughout American history and throughout this administration we have seen that when government is given an inch it takes a mile.

While many prominent conservatives have praised the law, Florida is home to a large Hispanic population, including a large immigration population, that often votes Republican due to concerns about Cuba.

California Senate candidate Carly Fiorina (R) won the backing of the Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund.

The endorsement of Fiorina by the conservative anti-abortion group is a blow to state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R) who has tried to portray himself as the most conservative candidate in the GOP Senate primary.

"From a pro-woman, pro-life perspective, there could be no greater contrast," Marjorie Dannenfelser, the group’s president, said in a statement Tuesday. "She embraces and advances the rights of women and unborn children, following in the footsteps of the earliest women in politics. Susan B. Anthony and the early feminists understood, as Carly Fiorina does, that undermining the rights of one never advances the rights of another."

Fiorina has staked out a firm anti-abortion position during the Senate primary campaign. In an interview earlier this month, she said her views on the issue came from "experiences."

"My husband's mother was told to abort him," Fiorina told the San Francisco Chronicle. "She spent a year in the hospital after his birth. My husband is the joy of her life, and he is the rock of my life. So those experiences have shaped my view."

North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall holds a small lead heading into the final week of her Democratic Senate primary with Cal Cunningham, but the two could be headed to a runoff.

A Public Policy Polling (D) survey and a SurveyUSA poll both show Marshall with a small lead in the primary, which will be held next Tuesday. But there remain plenty of undecided voters in the state, where neither candidate has had much in the way of a media presence.

Marshall leads Cunningham 23-19 in the SurveyUSA poll and 26-23 in the PPP poll. In both surveys, 34 percent of voters are undecided.

If enough of those voters go to other candidates, like attorney Kenneth Lewis, that could hold both Marshall and Cunningham below 40 percent, which would mean a two-candidate runoff on April 22. That's a long runoff, and it would all be time that the two won't be focusing their time and resources on Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and his $5 million war chest.

It's looking especially tough for Cunningham to win the primary outright next week. He would have to win at least half of those undecided voters and/or steal some support from his opponents.

Conversely, if it does go to a runoff, Cunningham will probably be the favorite. He has suffered from a lack of name recognition, but he has been raising money faster than Marshall. Presumably, he would be on TV more during the runoff, which would help him overcome Marshall's statewide profile.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) will announce on Thursday whether he will run for Senate as an Independent.