The Connecticut Senate campaign of investment advisor Peter Schiff
(R) has refunded nearly $120,000 in contributions that
exceeded campaign finance limits.
The campaign raised $563,000 in the first quarter but was forced to return $119,250.
Campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Millikin said the campaign received
checks for $4,800 and incorrectly applied all of the money to the primary, rather than the maximums of $2,400 each for the primary and general elections.
"The donors didn't specify which election, but ultimately the
campaign accepts responsibility for not catching the errors sooner,"
Millikin told The Ballot Box. "As soon as we realized the problem, the
cash was returned."
The money can still be sent back to the campaign if it is designated for the general election.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) turned down an offer from NBC to debate Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D-Ark.) on "Meet the Press."
Halter, who is challenging Lincoln in the Democratic primary, had been willing to participate in the proposed May 9 debate.
Lincoln campaign spokeswoman Katie Laning Niebaum said Monday that the two-term Democrat planned to spend Mother's Day with her mother.
"It's not surprising that Bill Halter would welcome another trip to Washington since most of his support is based there," Niebaum told the Arkansas News Bureau. "However, Sen. Lincoln will not interrupt her plans to be in Arkansas with her family on Mother's Day in order to appear before a national television audience, most of whom do not vote in Arkansas."
Halter said he is willing to be flexible in order to facilitate a MTP debate.
"We have told Meet the Press that we are available to debate Senator Lincoln any time between now and May 18th -- whether that be on a Sunday morning, or pre-taped at the Senator's convenience," he said in a statement. "We have also invited Meet the Press to come here and film a debate in Arkansas and would be proud to have them showcase our beautiful state to the entire nation."
Halter called the show a "wonderful way" for Arkansas voters to get to know the candidates. "I thoroughly enjoyed our last debate and I am looking forward to our having more of them," he said.
Halter and Lincoln had their first televised debate on Saturday in Little Rock.
Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher (D) has spent more than $3 million on his Senate primary with Jennifer Brunner, even as he is considered a heavy favorite.
A pre-primary financial report shows Fisher spent nearly $1 million in the first two weeks of April alone -- including $900,000 on a cable TV ad buy -- and is now down to less than $1 million cash on hand for the stretch run of the May 4 primary. Should he make it to the general election, he would face former Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who has $7.6 million in the bank and a clear primary.
Secretary of State Brunner has been meagerly funded from the start of the race and has spent considerably less -- about $800,000. She has not been able to muster any serious media presence, but she has stayed within single digits of Fisher in the polls.
Fisher had $906,000 on hand on April 14, compared to $59,000 for Brunner.
Fisher's campaign has insisted that it is expecting a close race next Tuesday, but if he doesn't easily clear the bar against Brunner, questions will be raised about his general election viability.
His first quarter fundraising number -- $551,000 -- has already been criticized, especially in comparison to the $2.3 million raised by Portman.
Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla.) trails top GOP recruit Allen West in a rematch of their 2008 race, according to a poll done for West's campaign.
The Wilson Research Strategies poll shows West ahead 44-42 despite being known to less than half of voters. It was conducted last week on Sunday and Monday.
Klein joins a long line of Democratic incumbents who have trailed in some early polling on their races. Much of the polls have been from GOP sources, but the surveys are still notable, especially when Democrats have shown little polling ammo with which to fight back.
Klein doesn't have particularly bad numbers -- 43 percent favorable, compated to 31 percent unfavorable -- but appears to be suffering from a poor environment. Just 21 percent of voters say they will definitely vote to reelect him.
Klein defeated West 55-45 in 2008.
Update 2:17 p.m.: Klein spokeswoman Sarah Rothschild responds: “While Allen West is focused on a poll for the November election, Congressman Ron Klein is working every day to stimulate the economy and on bipartisan solutions that will protect Florida homeowners, crack down on Medicare fraud and impose tougher sanctions on the rogue regime in Iran.”
Sue Lowden continues to hold a double-digit lead in the Nevada GOP Senate primary, according to a new poll.
The Nevada News Bureau poll, which was conducted by PMI Inc., is the first in the race not conducted by Mason-Dixon, but it shows a similar result to recent Mason-Dixon polling.
Lowden, the former state GOP chairwoman, leads businessman Danny Tarkanian 41-24. Former state Assemblywoman Sharron Angle is in third, at 17 percent. No other names were tested.
A Mason-Dixon poll from earlier this month had Lowden ahead of Tarkanian 45-27 with Angle at 5 percent.
Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D) may benefit from what's expected to be record turnout in the Arkansas congressional primaries May 18.
Secretary of State Charlie Daniels (D) said turnout for next month's primary vote could be Arkansas's highest for a non-presidential year election since 1994.
"I think 30 to 35 (percent of registered voters) is not unreasonable for this election, even though the trend or the stats for previous years haven't been that great," Daniels told the Arkansas News Bureau.
Thirty percent of Arkansas's 1.6 million registered voters would be 480,000 people.
"To me, it seems like an unusual year in that three of the four congressional district races are open, there's not an incumbency in those. Then you've got the U.S. Senate race, where you have a number of candidates on the Republican side, and then the Democratic primary," he said.
An influx of new voters could benefit Halter, who's challenging two-term incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln for the Democratic nomination.
The two met on Saturday for their first televised debate.
During the often-heated exchanges, Halter said his campaign has taken down a website referring to Lincoln as "Bailout Blanche" and called on her to stop calling him "Dollar Bill Halter." Lincoln refused, saying Halter's business background is a fair target for criticism, according to the Baxter Bulletin.
Nobody can say Alexi Giannoulias's Senate campaign wasn't ready for his family's bank to go under.
The Illinois Democrat's campaign on Monday launched its first general election ad, and the candidate asserts he is "very proud" to have worked for Broadway Bank.
"It's helped thousands of people achieve the American dream -- people who couldn't go to the big banks," Giannoulias says of the bank, adding that, "when I left over four years ago, it was in good shape."
Giannoulias closes by saying: "If a business like my father's that he started 30 years ago can fail, it's happening everywhere. People want someone who's going to fight for them."
With polls showing parts of the Democratic base apathetic about the midterm elections, President Obama urged his supporters to rekindle their enthusiasm and vote in November.
"It will be up to each of you to make sure that the young people, African Americans, Latinos, and women, who powered our victory in 2008 stand together once again," he said in a video released Monday.
Foreshadowing his likely 2010 stump speech, the president warned that a cadre of "special interests" were looking to "undo all that we have accomplished."
TOP OF THE BALLOT THIS MORNING: Alexi Giannoulias moves to explain family bank failure; Sen. Robert Bennett faces big trouble at his state GOP convention; and James Dobson endorses Trey Grayson.
Giannoulias bank fails
As expected, the family bank of Illinois Democratic Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias failed on Friday, leaving the candidate to distance himself from the practices that led it down that path.
Giannoulias sent out an e-mail to supporters almost immediately after the news broke that Broadway Bank had been taken over by federal authorities.
“It was because my father instilled in his sons the importance of helping others that I decided to leave the bank in 2005 to pursue public service,” he wrote. “At the time I left, according to every independent analysis, the bank was one of the best performing in Illinois.”
That the Giannoulias family bank folded is not necessarily a game-changer. But Giannoulias’s opponents have made great pains to point the finger at some loans to questionable characters – including a recent Chicago Tribune story about $20 million in loans made to two convicted felons while Giannoulias was still at the bank.
Poll shows Bennett in deep
A new poll of delegates to the Utah GOP convention in two weeks shows Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) may have trouble even making the final ballot there.
Attorney Mike Lee leads Bennett 31-22 in the Dan Jones and Associates poll, while former congressional candidate Tim Bridgewater got 17 percent and activist Cherilyn Eagar got 10 percent. Another 5 percent of votes split between a number of other candidates.
That means, as of right now, 63 percent of delegates are ready to vote against the incumbent senator. Once the field is whittled down to two candidates, the winner needs 60 percent to avoid a two-person primary and win the nomination outright.
Of course, whether Bennett even makes that final pairing appears to be a real question. According to these numbers, if Bridgewater can pick off enough of the Eagar and other votes (once those candidates are eliminated), he could pretty easily pass Bennett and earn a matchup with Lee.
Dobson backs Grayson
Dr. James Dobson has endorsed Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson in the GOP Senate primary there, Grayson’s campaign announced this morning.
Maybe even more so than in neighboring Indiana, where the Focus on the Family founder endorsed former Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.), Dobson’s backing could really mean something in Kentucky.
Grayson continues to run behind Rand Paul, but he hopes recent endorsements from Dobson and retiring Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) can help him pick off some of Paul’s voters.
Other updates
-Former Wisconsin Commerce Secretary Dick Leinenkugel (R) is set to announce his candidacy against Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) today. Leinenkugel faces businessman Terrance Wall in the primary.
-In Minnesota's governor's race, state House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher won the state Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party endorsement on Saturday, beating Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak. She still faces former Sen. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) and former state Rep. Matt Entenza in the primary. On the GOP side, state Reps. Tom Emmer and Marty Seifert will do battle at Friday’s state convention.
-Another poll shows Dino Rossi (R) leading Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in a prospective matchup, this time by 10 points. Perhaps more interesting is the fact that several other, less well-known Republicans are within the margin of error.
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