Calling it his most successful fundraising quarter to date, former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) announced Monday he raised $2.3 million in the last three months. The former congressman now has more than $4 million cash on hand, according to his campaign.

Toomey is running for Pennslyvania's Senate seat.

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), who rode along with President Obama to the National's home opener, and Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), who's challenging Specter in the Democratic primary, have yet to release their first quarter numbers.

President Barack Obama is throwing out the first pitch at the Washington Nationals home opener Monday and Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) is along for the ride.

Specter rode along with the president in the motorcade from the White House to Nationals Park, according to the White House pool report. And the senator was wearing a Phillies jacket to show his support for his home team.

Specter asked for the president's support when he switched parties last year. And Obama has delivered: hosting a fundraiser for the senator, having him to the White House and now bringing him along for a baseball outing. If Specter can win his tough May primary, he faces a difficult general election.

The Nationals are taking on the Philadelphia Phillies this afternoon and Specter tweeted his enthusiasm about the day: "What could be better than Opening Day with President Obama? A Phillies win. Go Phillies!"

UPDATED: Phillies win 11-1. Specter tweeted: "11-1 -- what an opener. Great game Phillies."

Rudy Giuliani hints his backing Rubio in Florida's Senate GOP primary is a political payback for the 2008 presidential race.

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Rep. Betsy Markey (D-Colo.) raised $505,000 in the first three months of 2010, according to the Washington Post.

Even more interesting, the campaign says more than $355,000 of the money came in during the final two weeks of the quarter -- after Markey announced on March 18th she was voting for the healthcare reform bill. She voted against the legislation in November. 

Markey, a first-term lawmaker, was subject of a front-page profile in Monday's Post.

She is a top GOP target this cycle and has been criticized for her healthcare vote.

Her staff touted the Markey's support in the local Colorado press.

"There have been plenty of big bills come through Congress this year, but I don't think I've ever seen grass-roots support spring up like this," Markey campaign spokeswoman Anne Caprara told the Fort Collins Coloradoan.

A vote he didn't cast could cause trouble for Republican Bill Flores ahead of the April 13 runoff election for the GOP nod to face Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas).

Flores claimed during a March debate that he voted for fellow Republican Rob Curnock in his 2008 race against Edwards. But records indicate that's not true, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald.

Flores spokesman Matt Mackowiak told the paper that Flores had in fact "been in meetings in Houston and couldn’t get back to the Bryan-College Station area in time to vote." In a recent radio interview, Flores claimed he was joking when he talked about voting for Curnock.

Flores was recruited to run by the National Republican Congressional Committee. He raised some $214,000 and spent close to $300,000 since the March 2 primary. He has about $50,000 more cash on hand than Curnock for the final stretch of the campaign.

There was some good news for Flores on Monday -- former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) announced he's backing the retired oil executive.

Vice President Joe Biden is in Miami Monday where he'll meet with community leaders at the Little Haiti Cultural Center and talk with officials about the earthquake recovery effort underway in Haiti.

One notable absentee from the event: Florida Senate candidate Kendrick Meek (D), whose House district includes the Little Haiti neighborhood.

When the massive quake struck the Caribbean nation in January, Meek rushed into the disaster zone to pitch in. He got significant press coverage as a result but since then his profile has ebbed as the state's GOP Senate primary retook the spotlight. 

The Meek campaign said instead of meeting with Biden the congressman is "taking care of personal business."

New polling in California shows Meg Whitman as a favorite for the GOP gubenatorial nomination while Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) holds a strong lead over a generic Republican candidate; and a Harry Reid challenger is dubbed the Sarah Palin of Nevada.

Whitman not just California Dreaming

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman (R) investment into her California gubenatorial campaign has paid off. She's ahead of Democratic candidate Jerry Brown 44-41 in a new Los Angeles Times/USC poll. And it appears she won't have trouble getting through the June primary -- she leads fellow Republican Steve Poizner by 40-points. As of the end of March, Whitman had self-funded $39 million to her campaign.

For the GOP nod to face Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the same survey showed former Rep. Tom Campbell with a slim lead over Carly Fiorina, 29 to 25 percent, while state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore polled 9 percent.

Meanwhile, Boxer holds a 14-point lead over a generic Republican, according to the March 23-30 survey.

New York's gubernatorial race is about to get more interesting

Buffalo developer Carl Paladino is set to announce his run for governor Monday. But preempting that announcement is a story from the New York Daily News about how he fathered a child during an extramarital affair a decade ago. Paladino has three grown children with his wife, Cathy.

"The Paladinos consider this a private family matter and ask all media to respect their privacy," said Paladino campaign manager Michael Caputo.

Paladino wants to win a spot on the Conservative and Republican ballots.

Guns and ammo

A Las Vegas Sun profile of casino executive Sue Lowden (R) calls her Nevada's answer to Sarah Palin. 

That said, Lowden, who's running for the GOP nod to face Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), continues to pick up endorsements, such as one over the weekend from the UNLV College Republicans. Moreover, it turns out one of her main primary rivals, investment banker John Chachas (R), donated to President Obama in 2007. That won't help with a GOP base angry at Washington.

Other updates

Ann McLane Kuster (D), a House candidate in New Hampshire's 2nd district, reported raising $285,000 last quarter. Her campaign is trumpeting the donor support she's getting in-state. One of Kuster's main rivals, Katrina Swett, has yet to report her first quarter numbers. 

Updated at 10:05 a.m.

The findings provide one of the most detailed portraits to date of the grassroots movement that started last year.

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Two top Republicans in Congress on Sunday said that the Republican National Committee (RNC) needs to get its fiscal house in order lest they lose the support of loyal donors.

The RNC has come under fire from some members of the GOP and conservatives since it was reported that the committee reimbursed several young donors for a party at a Los Angeles bondage-themed nightclub. The incident shined light on other examples of high-spending at the party. 

But Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and House Minority Chief Deputy Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) both stopped short of calling for chairman Michael Steele's resignation, as most Republican leaders have.

"Well, I'm not in the position of the people who elect Michael Steele to either say he should step down or not. But this kind of thing has got to stop or they won't get any contributions," Kyl said on Fox News Sunday. "The people that contribute to the committees, both Democrat and Republican, want to know that their money is well spent for the cause, and it needs to be that way."

The Republicans' comments show that, as primary contests loom, pressure on the RNC is continuing to build after a week in which the committee faced harsh criticism.

Several high-profile donors, especially those from socially conservative groups, have called on their supporters to stop giving to the RNC. Alternative Republican groups have begun to spring up that appear to have similar missions to the RNC, which are to fundraise and help elect Republican candidates.

The RNC has said that Steele did not personally know of the reimbursements and fired the official who authorized them. The committee also shined light on examples of spending at the Democratic National Committee, but critics have said they are not as risque as the RNC expenditures.

"Look, I'm very focused on House races, but the RNC does have some challenges that they need to correct. Not only does the American people request it but the Republicans requested it as well," McCarthy, who is recruitment chairman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said on Fox.

McCarthy credited Steele for raising solid amount of donations and helping elect Republicans in gubernatorial races and the Massachusetts special Senate election, but said that the RNC needs to pull itself together, perhaps with more staff shakeups, in order to have robust success in the fall.

"If we are going to show that -- the American public that we believe in accountability and bringing it back to Washington, we have to make sure that the RNC has the accountability just the same," he said. "You've got to bring the trust back, and that may mean shaking some other roles inside the RNC as well. 

Cross-posted to the Briefing Room