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."

Democrats have launched an early offensive against the likely challenger to Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.).

Republican Jeff Miller hasn't yet been certified as the 11th district GOP nominee but Democrats are already saying he "can't be trusted" -- an attack national Republicans call "laughable."

A story in the Hendersonville Times-News in January said that Miller "met with local political officials and representatives from the National Republican Congressional Committee." Miller and the NRCC deny any meeting took place, but the conjecture has made its way into other reports about his candidacy.

"I would like to thank Jeff Miller for making crystal clear on his first day as nominee for Congress that he can't be trusted to tell the truth to the voters of Western North Carolina," Andrew Whalen, executive director of the North Carolina Democratic Party, said in a statement Thursday.

Republicans are adamant that no meeting took place.

"We have never met with Jeff -- we look forward to doing so," said Andy Sere, a spokesman for the NRCC. "Obviously we have talked to him via phone like we do most candidates."

Brian Barrett, Miller's campaign manager, said the Hendersonville businessman participated in a conference call organized by the committee and spoke to NRCC staff in Washington over the phone while they attempted to recruit him to run. "They were trying really hard over six months to get him to run," Barrett said. "We haven't officially met with them."

Miller hasn't even been certified as the official GOP nominee. He took 40.15 percent of the vote on Tuesday but elections officials are still counting provisional ballots, which could force a runoff if they go exclusively to Dan Eichenbaum (R), Barrett said.

Meanwhile, Shuler pulled in only 61.6 percent of the vote against the unknown Democrat Aixa Wilson, who got 38.4 percent in Tuesday's primary. Shuler's performance, after more than four years in office, seems to have worried Washington and North Carolina Democrats.

Sarah Palin endorsed California Senate candidate Carly Fiorina (R) via Facebook Thursday.

"California is still Reagan Country, and Carly promises her 'Reagan Conservative' values will be put to good use for her state and for our great nation," the former Alaska governor wrote. "Shaking it up in California is long overdue. Let's help Carly do it!"

Fiorina said she was "honored and grateful" to Palin's backing.

"She, too, is a political outsider and a strong fiscal conservative, and we share a common concern for the direction our country is headed in under Barbara Boxer and her allies in Washington," Fiorina said in a statement. "Californians across the state have had enough of Washington insiders and their political games, and together, I am confident we will help restore integrity to our nation's capital by bringing Barbara Boxer's 28-year career to an end."

Palin's note includes links to Fiorina's website and Twitter feed but does not say to donate directly to her campaign.

This is the second major conservative endorsement in as many days for Fiorina. On Wednesday her campaign announced it was being supported by National Right to Life, a powerful anti-abortion group.

A spokeswoman for the Fiorina camp said no campaign events with Palin have been scheduled.

Updated at 3:05 p.m.

Conservative talk-radio host Herman Cain is considering a presidential bid, and he's getting encouragement from Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher.

Cain, who broadcasts from Atlanta and placed second to then-Rep. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) in a 2004 Georgia GOP primary, said he's looking at running in 2012 as a Republican or an independent. 

Cain told The Hill he would run because he "totally disagrees with the Obama-Reid-Pelosi agenda."

Democrats are trying to highlight the Republican rift in the California Senate race by making one of their own "demon sheep" ads.

Carly Fiorina's camp released the bizarre and much-discussed original ad in February, attacking former Rep. Tom Campbell (R) as a faux fiscal conservative.

On Thursday, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) released a sequel of sorts, called "Demon Sheep II: The Fleecing of California."

Fiorina, Campbell and state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R) will square off tonight in a debate.