West Virginia Democratic Senate candidate Gov. Joe Manchin's campaign has announced that former President Bill Clinton will be appearing at a rally with the governor on Monday, in Morgantown, WV
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is attempting to teach Alaska voters how to spell her name. In this new ad, she uses adorable children to try and make her case. Watch it here.
We learned yesterday that the Republican running against Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) has the unique hobby of donning an SS costume to honor fallen Nazis. Until last night, the GOP included the candidate, Rich Iott, on a list of promising potential members called Contenders -- a notch below their so-called Young Guns. Now he's gone, without a trace.
Well that didn't take long. Gov. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who's trailing Republican John Raese in the West Virginia Senate race, is up with a new ad today ripping Raese for a Republican commercial that sought "hicky" actors to play West Virginians.
Watch:
The Washington Post reports that Republicans are capitalizing on a financial advantage this year by directing resources at "an unusually large number of races, including many considered safe for Democrats just weeks ago."
Colorado third-party gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo is announcing several appointments he would make should he win the race, The Denver Post reports. Tancredo passed Republican Dan Maes in the polls weeks ago, and has now set his sites on the frontrunner, Democrat John Hickenlooper.
CNN reports that Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) is in Connecticut today, appearing at a rally alongside Republican Senate nominee Linda McMahon.
While President Obama hammered the U.S. Chamber of Commerce this week for taking donations from foreign corporations, a New York Times report argues "there is little evidence that what the chamber does in collecting overseas dues is improper or even unusual."
Trailing in the polls and fundraising, plus struggling with hoarseness after picking up a cold last week, Ohio Democratic Senate candidate Lee Fisher appealed to voters' emotions at a debate last night with Republican Rob Portman, The Columbus Dispatch reports.
"They're mad as hell that we're giving tax breaks to large companies to send jobs overseas but not giving tax breaks to companies that put their jobs right here," Fisher said. "They're mad that we're giving tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires, but the same people are refusing to extend unemployment benefits for millions of Americans. And they're mad that we're bailing out the Wall Street banks and shortchanging small businesses."
Portman argued that Fisher was trying to dodge talking about his past record.
"Let's cut through all of this," Portman said. "He doesn't want to talk about his record and I can see why - because it's a record of failure for Ohio's workers."
In the first of three debates in the Wisconsin Senate race, Sen. Russ Feingold and Republican Ron Johnson argued over the new health care law, the Associated Press reports. Feingold stood by his vote for reform, saying "we finally get control of the insurance companies." Johnson, meanwhile, said he now favors a repeal and replace approach to doing away with the legislation.
"If the Republicans take over one of the houses of Congress, they start writing the replacement bills from day one so we can show the American people, 'this is what we intend to do,'" Johnson said.
The Atlantic's Josh Green reports that millionaire businessman Rich Iott, the Republican nominee challenging Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D) in Ohio's Ninth District, has an unusual hobby: He likes to pretend he's a Nazi.
The vice president will attend a DNC rally in Philadelphia with President Obama on Sunday.
On Monday, he'll attend events in Pennsylvania for Reps. Chris Carney, Kathy Dahlkemper and Mark Critz, and an event for gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato.
On Tuesday, Biden's at an Iowa event for Rep. Leonard Boswell and a rally in Chicago for Gov. Pat Quinn.
On Thursday, Biden's attending a DC event for Indiana Senate candidate Brad Ellsworth.
And on Friday, Biden and Obama are going to Delaware to help out Senate candidate Chris Coons. Later, Biden will attend an event for Congressional candidate Julie Lassa and Rep. Steve Kagen in Milwaukee.
Roll Call reports:
Congress could see a decrease in women Members for the first time in 30 years next year and EMILY's List President Stephanie Schriock contends it is partially due to the number of Republican women unable to make it through conservative primaries.
"But what we've seen is a number of Republican women who ran but did not make it through their primaries," Schriock said. "And that is something to be said about what is going on in the Republican Party, and how very conservative the nominees of the Republican Party have become to get through those primaries. And that's where we lost a lot of Republican women."
HBO's Bill Maher said tonight he won't be showing a new Christine O'Donnell tape despite saying he would show a tape each week until she agreed to come on his show. "I'm not going to show a Christine O'Donnell tape this week," Maher said.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin this week "implicitly addressed questions about her own electability by noting that critics also said Ronald Reagan couldn't win in 1980" at a private dinner with Republicans in Florida, Politico reports tonight.
Jonathan Martin reports that three attendees say Palin told a group organized by Newsmax "that those who don't have the same convictions will always say a true conservative can't win."
Martin writes:
Her invoking of the Gipper at a closed-door gathering illustrates that Palin is, at the very least, thinking through how she'd make her case if she pursued the presidency.
Read the story here.
The allegation that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce violated election law by raising money from foreign donors -- an issue the FEC has been asked to investigate -- is just a "partisan attack aimed at silencing the voice of free enterprise," a representative wrote on the Chamber's blog Friday.
After rounding up commentary from six conservative groups or media outlets dismissing the charges, the Chamber's writer declared it was time to move on.
"It's been heartening to see so many well-respected commentators weigh in on this issue - all of whom see it for what it is, a blatantly partisan attack aimed at stemming the left's slide in the polls," Pat Cleary writes. "So we'll just go back to focusing on the important stuff, like creating jobs, while the left goes hunting for its next non-issue," he adds.
An MSNBC producer tweeted tonight that the Northern Virginia tea party is getting in a Delaware state of mind.
Shawna Thomas' reports:
Northern VA tea party is busing people up to help Christine O'Donnell http://plixi.com/p/49445295
Is Bill Maher hinting that Christine O'Donnell has finally agreed to an interview?
The HBO host tweeted:
Christine O Donnell clip for tonight's show? I got something better!
TPM will be watching so check back tonight.
The AP reports:
Republican Senate candidate Ron Johnson, who has campaigned against government subsidies to business, employs up to nine prison inmates at his plastics factories whose health care costs are paid by the state, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.
Check out TPMDC's full coverage of the race here.
The Palm Beach Post reports:
Democrat Alex Sink stressed Republican Rick Scott's questionable business background during the first debate of the governor's race, while Scott painted Sink as an Obama liberal.In an hour-long exchange that quickly turned testy, each candidate attacked the other's credibility.
Check out TPMDC's full coverage of the race here.
TPM interviewed Chuck DeVore about his time at the Claremont Institute, an 8-day program Christine O'Donnell said qualifies her to be a U.S. Senator.
The Wall Street Journal article suggesting a massive shakeup in the three-way Florida Senate race is looking more and more like unsubstantiated speculation. Yesterday the Journal reported that Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek might be dropping his third-place bid to endorse the second-place independent candidate Charlie Crist.
Meek's campaign told TPM the story was "nonsense" earlier today, and now it's Team Crist's turn to throw more cold water on the story, which if true would add some excitement -- and competitive spirit -- to a race that polls show is now officially Republican nominee Marco Rubio's to lose.
The site finds that Jack Conway's claim that Rand Paul supports a $2,000 Medicare deductible is "a relatively minor exaggeration."
In an interview with the National Review, Republican Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller suggested that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell "reacted in a positive way" when the idea of shutting down the government was tossed around in a private conversation.
After dropping the "@#%!"-bomb in her last ad, Democratic state Sen. Tarryl Clark has a more toned down message in her latest MN-06 House ad:
Rep. Bobby Bright (D-Al.) -- the freshman Blue Dog who joked that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "might even get sick and die" -- received campaign donations from at least three of the defendants who were indicted this week in an FBI bribery probe in Alabama, while a fourth defendant was a key supporter during his 2008 Congressional campaign.
A few weeks back, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released an ad in the Illinois Senate race, attacking Republican Rep. Mark Kirk for saying on unemployment, "I've heard very little...I have a very high income district." Once again, the DSCC is calling Kirk out on his statement:
John Boehner -- the man poised to become House Speaker if Republicans win control of the House -- slammed Democrats in a speech from his hometown in Ohio today.
CNN reports:
"Your government has not been listening. Your government is disrespecting you, your family, your job, your children," he said. "Your government is out of control. Do you have to accept it? Do you have to take it?"Responding to the crowd of supporters, cheering him on, Boehner yelled, "Hell no you don't!"
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is out with a new ad in the Illinois Senate race, calling out Republican Rep. Mark Kirk for a handful of apparent fibs.
Watch:
Taking a break from the attack ads in the Missouri Senate race, Democratic candidate Robin Carnahan's latest ad provides a list of her priorities to get the economy headed in the right direction.
Watch:
Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) is out with a new ad in the Missouri Senate race, focusing on one issue: jobs. He links Democratic candidate Robin Carnahan to President Obama, contending their mutual agenda includes "a disastrous stimulus bill that grew government, not jobs", "government controlled healthcare we can't afford", and "a job killing new energy tax."
Watch:
She may be trailing in many recent polls, but Democratic state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink still leads the Florida gubernatorial race in a newly released Mason-Dixon survey. The latest poll finds Sink leading Republican former hospital executive Rick Scott 44%-40%.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:
Karen Handel, the former secretary of state whom Deal beat in the Aug. 10 Republican runoff, spent more than $100,000 to bring Sarah Palin to town to campaign on her behalf.But it came at a high cost. Handel's campaign spent more than $100,000 for the visit by Palin, the former governor of Alaska and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate.
Handel's campaign paid an Ohio jet charter service nearly $92,000 and her latest campaign finance report shows it was for the Palin event. Handel also paid an additional $13,000 in expenses to the InterContinental Hotel in Buckhead for the event.
After facing first a web video and then a television ad "reenacting" his encounters with prostitutes from Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-LA), Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) decided to hit back with a video of his own attacking Melancon's record on immigration.
The ad, though, could be problematic for more than just Melancon, due to the way Vitter chose to portray the immigrants as question. Watch the advertisement after the jump.
Kendrick Meek, the Democratic nominee and third-place candidate in the Florida Senate race, is pushing back on a report by the Wall Street Journal that he may drop out of the three-way contest and endorse independent candidate Charlie Crist in his fight against Republican nominee Marco Rubio.
The new Rasmussen poll of the Florida Senate race gives Republican Marco Rubio a huge lead. And in this poll he doesn't even have to rely on a split Democratic vote between independent (and ex-Republican) Gov. Charlie Crist and Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek -- he's actually posting a solid 50% support in his own right.
Texas Democrats are smiling this morning thanks to a new piece in the Dallas Morning News about Rep. Chet Edwards' rival Bill Flores in TX-17.
From the piece:
The Republican challenger who has assailed Rep. Chet Edwards for supporting taxpayer bailouts once led his company through a bankruptcy that let it avoid a $7.5 million debt to the U.S. government.Although Bill Flores, a retired Bryan energy executive, has said all creditors were fully repaid with interest, court records show otherwise. The 1992 bankruptcy allowed Marine Rig 200 Inc. to repay just $3 million of $10.5 million owed to the U.S. Maritime Administration, which held the mortgage on a drilling rig the company owned.
Read the story in full here.
Remember when Republican Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle suggested that sharia law was taking hold in the U.S.? Greg Sargent has the audio.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Democrats in the state of Florida are increasingly turning to independent candidate Charlie Crist and their only hope to defeat GOP nominee Marco Rubio. The paper reports on speculation that the Democratic nominee, Kendrick Meek, may leave the race to allow Crist to take on Rubio on his own.
CNN reports:
The Democratic Governor's Association announced Friday it raised $10 million over the last three months, a cash haul that puts the organization in strong financial shape as it faces the prospect of losing control of a significant number of statehouses this November.
Reports from last night's final OH-GOV debate say that incumbent Gov. Ted Strickland (D) and his Republican rival John Kasich stepped up the attacks on each other. But one expert said the verbal jabs probably didn't move the needle much.
Holy Jeremiah Wright, Batman! In the Nevada Senate race, Republican nominee Sharron Angle is now having to put some distance between herself and her own former pastor, John Reed of Sonrise Church in Reno, after Reed attacked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's Mormon religion.
When it rains, it pours...
Check out Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's first pitch yesterday.
The independent Crist is trailing Republican Marco Rubio in the Florida Senate race.
The Chicago Tribune has endorsed Republican Mark Kirk, and the Sun-Times is backing Alexi Giannoulias in the race for President Obama's old Senate seat.
Watch Christine O'Donnell tell one big fib about the "Passion of the Christ" and insist that participating in a weeklong conservative think tank program 8 years ago qualifies her to be a U.S. senator.
A new poll of Michigan's 15th district, conducted by the Rossman Group of Lansing, finds Democratic Rep. John Dingell trailing Republican nominee Rob Steele, 43.8%-39.5%. Dingell is the Dean of the House and Congress's longest currently-serving member.
Last week, a Rasmussen survey of the Washington Senate race found incumbent Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) trailing Republican nominee Dino Rossi for the first time in nearly a month's worth of polling. Today, Rasmussen is out with a new survey and similar results: Murray is down to Rossi 49%-46%.
Stephen Colbert kicked off his show last night by showing anti-immigration campaign ads from Senate candidates Sharron Angle (R-NV) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), that use the same stock photos.
The new Rasmussen poll of the Minnesota gubernatorial race has Democrat Mark Dayton taking a narrow lead against Republican Tom Emmer.
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