A lively three-way Republican primary is taking shape in Michigan, where attorney Brian Rooney, who made his candidacy official on Thursday, is running against former Rep. Tim Walberg and rancher-real estate investor Marvin Carlson.

The winner of the GOP primary will face Rep. Mark Schauer next November.

The prospect of taking on Democrat Schauer is pretty inviting to Republicans in the 7th District, which includes the cities of Battle Creek and Jackson. Another GOP prospect has been considering getting in the race, too -- Bill Martin, CEO of the Michigan Association of Realtors. However, sources on the ground say Martin is leaning against a run.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., in town for an economic pep talk, raised an estimated $318,000 for two Michigan congressmen on Monday. Biden attended back-to-back fundraisers in Detroit for freshman Democrats Mark Schauer and Gary Peters before giving a speech to Democratic donors at the MGM Grand Casino Hotel.

Both Schauer and Peters have built up big financial cushions going into the 2010 election where both are expected to be targeted, Schauer more aggressively than Peters. Peters reported $1.1 million in cash at the end of the third quarter, while Schauer banked $900,000.

The Republican National Committee is running a radio ad in Michigan Monday saying, "Vice President Biden, Congressman Peters, and Congressman Schauer should stop wasting time with political fundraising and get back to work. Michigan needs jobs, not more political speeches."

CQ Politics rates Michigan's 7th District general election contest Leans Democratic and Michigan's 9th District Likely Democratic.

Michigan's 19th District state Senate race received some extra attention on election night from national Republicans, who hope a big win by GOP state Rep. Mike Nofs, is a harbinger for the area's 2010 House race. Nofs defeated Democratic state Rep. Marty Griffin, by double digits to win the open seat previously held by Democratic Rep. Mark Schauer.

Republicans say their win in the Democratic-leaning state district, which encompasses the key counties of Calhoun and Jackson, shows that Schauer is in trouble in his first re-election bid.

Schauer won the two counties in both his successful state Senate re-election in 2006 and his upset of Republican Tim Walberg, in 2008.

House Democrats have to be pleased with the fundraising performances by a pair of vulnerable freshmen from Michigan. Seventh District Rep. Mark Schauer and 9th District Rep. Gary Peters both outraised their GOP challengers in the third quarter and reported cash-on-hand figures in the neighborhood of $1 million.

Schauer raised $347,000 between July and October, compared to $206,000 for his challenger, ex-Rep. Tim Walberg, who is seeking a rematch after losing the 2008 race by 2 percentage points. Walberg's campaign noted, however, that the Republican candidate actually raised more among individuals than the incumbent, $199,000 to 197,000.

Schauer now has $903,000 in the bank, while Walberg ended the quarter with $203,000 in cash.

The NARAL Pro-Choice America Political Action Committee has announced its first round of endorsements for the 2010 election cycle.

The pro-abortion-rights group has endorsed freshman Reps. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Betsy Markey, D-Colo., Scott Murphy, D-N.Y., and Mark Schauer, D-Mich.

Republican challengers have already filed to challenge Heinrich, Markey and Schauer, and Murphy is expected to have a tough race if local GOP leaders can find a top-notch candidate.

Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said in a statement that Markey and Schauer defeated anti-abortion incumbents in Colorado and Michigan, respectively, while Henrich "is likely" to face an opponent who opposes abortion rights. The PAC contributed $5,000 each to the campaigns of the four Democrats, according to the news release.

South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson has raised more than $1 million for his own campaign treasury since his "You lie" shout during President Obama's address to Congress two weeks ago. And now Wilson is spreading the wealth with his Republican colleagues.

Wilson is headed to Michigan Oct. 2 for a fundraiser with Tim Walberg, a Republican who held the 7th District seat for one term before he was ousted by Democrat Mark Schauer in 2008. Walberg is now seeking a rematch in what is expected to be a competitive race.

According to Walberg's Web site, the event in the 7th District city of Jackson, "will feature Congressman Wilson and Tim Walberg discussing health care and the need to stop a government takeover."

For $150, attendees would get two tickets and a photo with Wilson.

Wilson chief of staff Eric Dell told CQ Politics that the four-term congressman -- who is seeking re-election next year -- will then head to Missouri later that week for a speaking engagement with local politicos at the request of Rep. Roy Blunt, the likely GOP nominee in the state's open-seat Senate contest.

Facing little political risk, but sensing the opportunity for free press, some 2010 Republican House challengers are holding their own health care town hall meetings.

Hoping to highlight the incumbents' decision not to hold similar meetings, New York Assemblyman Greg Ball, former Michigan Rep. Tim Walberg and Florida U.S. Army veteran Allen West announced this week that they are holding their own health care events.

Ball, who is challenging second-term Democrat John Hall, said in a statement that he "will be addressing the current Congressman's failure to engage the public in dialogue regarding H.R. 3200, derisively known as 'ObamaCare,' by hosting a series of town hall meetings next week throughout the 19th congressional district." The Hudson Valley's Times Herald-Record noted that Hall is "steering clear of town-hall-style meetings," though he has conducted a listening tour on health care throughout his district and is soliciting feedback from constituents via his congressional Web site.

Some former senators who left Congress years ago are still keeping campaign money in motion.

Democrats Donald Riegle of Michigan and Robert G. Torricelli of New Jersey and Republican Ben Nighthorse Campbell are among the former senators whose fundraising reports for the second quarter of 2009 were on file Wednesday with the Senate Office of Public Records in Washington.

Riegle, who served three Senate terms and retired at the end of 1994, gave $10,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), the campaign arm of the 60 Democratic senators, and $1,000 to Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, who faces a tough 2010 re-election.

Tim Walberg

Walberg's decision to run in 2010 -- which he had signaled was likely -- will be one of the key rematches in districts that the Democrats captured from the Republicans last year, expanding the House majority they claimed in the 2006 elections.

Schauer won by just more than 2 percentage points, and Democrat Barack Obama won the presidential vote by 6 points in the largely rural 7th District, where the biggest city is the cereal-making capital of Battle Creek. But the south-central Michigan district has a heritage as GOP turf that dates way back to the 1850s, when one of the founding meetings of the Republican Party was held in the city of Jackson.

Terri Lynn Land

The unexpected move by Land -- who was widely assumed to be a candidate in the open-seat race -- came with another surprise, as she endorsed one of the declared Republican contenders: Michael J. Bouchard, the sheriff of populous Oakland County in suburban Detroit and a former state senator, who was the GOP's unsuccessful challenger to Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow in 2006.

Bouchard on June 3 officially launched his campaign for the 2010 contest to choose the successor to two-term Democratic incumbent Jennifer M. Granholm, who is barred from running again under Michigan's term-limit law.