Congressional Campaigns

Democratic congressional leaders are celebrating Don Cazayoux's victory in a special election Saturday in Louisiana.

Cazayoux beat Republican Woody Jenkins by three points in a conservative district last represented by Richard Baker (R), who left Congress to become a lobbyist in February.

"Don will be an independent representative for the people of Louisiana's sixth district," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a statement. "They showed today that they, like the vast majority of Americans, demand a New Direction for our country."

Republicans tried to weaken Cazayoux, a state legislator, with ads warning that the Democrat had voted for tax increases in the past. Conservative advocacy group Freedom's Watch also ran ads against him, saying that he supported a measure that could make it easier for illegal immigrants to obtain state health benefits.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) charged Freedom's Watch with illegally coordinating with the Republican House campaign effort and with falsely stating Cazayoux's position on illegal immigration. DCCC Chairman Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.) reiterated his complaints in a statement after Cazayoux's win.

Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith (R) is attacking his Democratic opponents ahead of their May 20 primary, releasing a TV ad of his own after a Democratic opponent attacked him in an ad yesterday.

Smith's ad, which will began airing statewide in Oregon today, calls out Jeff Merkley for contradicting himself on a fundraising stance and Steve Novick for championing taxes. See the ad below:



Yesterday, Merkley released an ad attacking Smith. The ad said he and Smith come from "two very different places," as Merkley's father was a logger and mill worker. According to the bio page on Smith's Senate website, Smith's family owned a vegetable processing business, which Smith ran before taking office. See Merkley's ad below:

A new Rasmussen Reports poll has Former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (D) ahead of Sen. John Sununu (R) in the rematch of their 2002 Senate race.

Shaheen receives 51 percent compared to Sununu's 43 percent in the poll, taken April 30. She also led Sununu by eight points in Rasmussen surveys taken in February and March.

Shaheen lost their 2002 race by just five points. Democrats blamed Shaheen's loss on Republican efforts to jam party and union phone lines used to turnout voters on election day. Two GOP operatives were convicted in connection with the phone jamming case, though one of the verdicts was was overturned.

Michael Brodkorb, a blogger at Minnesota Democrats Exposed, is picking up some press about his efforts to bring down Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken.

Brodkorb has kept after Franken for failing to pay workers compensation to employees and for not paying taxes in various states, reports the Associated Press. This week, Franken paid back about $70,000 to 17 states.

Franken is challenging first-term Sen. Norm Coleman. Franken, the former Saturday Night Live cast member, is virtually tied with Coleman in the latest Rasmussen survey.

A Baton Rouge television station is no longer running an ad attacking Democrat Don Cazayoux (La.) after the House candidate said it was inaccurate.

Democrats said that the ad by Freedom's Watch falsely stated that Cazayoux supported public health benefits for illegal immigrants. The spot is no longer running on WAFB, but Freedom's Watch spokesman Ed Patru said that the station may run the ad again after reviewing it. At least four other stations in the Baton Rouge area are playing the ad, Patru said.

Cazayoux's campaign called it a "desperate attempt" to distract voters from the "real issues."

Americans United for Change will begin airing a radio ad in Las Vegas tomorrow that attacks Nevada Republicans Rep. Jon Porter and Sen. John Ensign for voting against the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

Porter voted against the bill when it passed the House in July, and Ensign voted against a motion to consider the bill in the Senate last week. The Senate motion failed.

The bill seeks to combat pay discrepancies for women and minorities. Americans United for Change says the ad will run for the rest of this week and most of next week. Listen to the ad here.

Minnesota Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken announced Tuesday that he will pay $70,000 in back taxes and penalties owed to 17 states. The former comedian owes state taxes going back to 2003.

The Star-Tribune has Franken's explanation:

Franken, who has earned income across the country for celebrity appearances and speeches, blamed his accountant of 18 years for failing to pay the appropriate taxes owed in each state.

The accountant, Allen Chanzis of New York, "just made a basic kind of error that had a lot of ramifications," Franken said.

Franken said that he paid federal and state taxes on all of his income, but that the accountant had failed to properly distribute the tax payments.

The net result, Franken said, was that between 2003 and 2006, he overpaid taxes in New York and Minnesota while failing to pay in 17 other states where he earned income.

According to recent polling, incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) leads Franken by 7 points.

There's a bit of worrisome news for Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) in the latest SurveyUSA approval ratings of senators up for reelection this year.

As Senate Guru points out, McConnell and Kerry both have approval ratings below 50 percent, the benchmark for safe incumbents. McConnell's approval and disapproval ratings are even at 46 percent. Kerry's approval rating is at 49 percent, five points better than his disapproval rating.

Both men, however, will go into their races as favorites. McConnell's challenger is yet to be determined; former gubernatorial candidate Bruce Lunsford and businessman Greg Fischer are vying for the Democratic nod. McConnell has raised $12 million for his campaign, while neither Lunsford nor Fischer have raised much more than $1 million.

Kerry will face former House candidate Jim Ogonowski, who narrowly lost a House special election last year to Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.). The former Democratic presidential nominee has received about $9.4 million in contributions, nearly 10 times the amount than Ogonowski has.

Both McConnell and Kerry are also poised to benefit from running in a presidential year, when Kentucky voters tend to vote Republican and Massachusetts voters lean heavily toward Democrats.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), after filing two formal complaints over ads attacking the Democratic candidate in a Louisiana House race, now wants the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the conservative advocacy group behind the spots.

The DCCC questions whether Freedom's Watch deserves its tax-exempt status after running advertisements that Democrats consider political. The ads criticize Democrat Don Cazayoux's position on health care and record on tax increases. Cazayoux is running against Republican Woody Jenkins in a special election run-off Saturday.

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Congress members worried about tax-cut craving constituencies should vote against the farm bill. The Club For Growth has come out against it.

The Club released a statement today calling the bill "a disaster for taxpayers" and urging those in Congress to vote against it. The White House has also said that President Bush would veto the $610 billion bill if it gets to his desk.

"The expiration of the 2002 Farm Bill presented Congress with the perfect opportunity to institute real reforms. Instead, Congress has decided to pile on the waste and special-interest giveaways," said Pat Toomey, the Club's president in a statement.

The Club decries much of the bill, including the billions in subsidies for farmers with high incomes and tax breaks for the ethanol and timber industries and for race horse owners.

This year, the Club's political action committee has already helped drive out one veteran GOP House member, Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (Md.), for voting for bills that the Club opposed. Gilchrest voted for a 2007 farm bill and an energy bill, prompting the Club to spend millions in ads against Gilchrest in the run-up to his February GOP primary, which he lost to state Sen. Andy Harris.