Eye on 2010

New York Assemblyman Greg Ball (R), the controversial conservative who had been waging an aggressive campaign against Rep. John Hall, announced Saturday that he would abandon his bid for Congress and run for state Senate instead.

In a statement posted on his campaign Web site, Ball said he thought he could have the greatest impact in Albany fighting against "a handful of insiders" who are intent on destroying the state.

Ball's decision also short-circuits a potentially nasty and destructive Republican Congressional primary. Although Ball had the GOP field to himself for months, Westchester County physician Nan Hayworth entered the race in late September, with the apparent blessing of some GOP officials who felt Ball was too controversial a figure to mount an effective campaign against Hall.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's October fundraising report, which it filed Friday evening, includes a number of sports figures.

Jason Taylor, a defensive end for the Miami Dolphins football team, gave $10,000 to the DCCC last month. (Football fans, especially those in the nation's capital, will recall that Taylor played last year for the Washington Redskins, who probably wish they had him this season.)

Robert Kraft, the owner of the perennial powerhouse New England Patriots, also gave $10,000 to the DCCC. Kraft contributes frequently to Democratic Party organizations and candidates.

Doug Hoffman will likely make a decision "over the weekend" about whether or not he will challenge the results of the New York 23rd district special election, the Conservative Party candidate's spokesman said.

Hoffman conceded to Bill Owens (D) after election night returns on Nov. 4 showed a comfortable margin for the latter. Owens has since been sworn in to Congress.

But amid absentee ballot counting and allegations of voting machine glitches, Hoffman decided to un-concede earlier this week. His Web site home page now declares "Election Day is NOT over" and encourages supporters to donate. Hoffman's campaign plans to "take a close look" at the count once the last batch of absentee and overseas ballots have been tallied, "hopefully today," said spokesman Rob Ryan.

The campaign of state Sen. Andy Harris (R) on Friday circulated an internal poll showing Rep. Frank Kratovil (D) down by double digits in a hypothetical rematch of their 2008 race in Maryland's Eastern Shore based 1st district.

Harris earned 52 percent to Kratovil's 39 percent with just 10 percent undecided according to a survey of 300 likely 1st district voters. The poll, which was conducted Nov. 15 - 17 for Harris' campaign by the Tarrance Group, had a 5.8 point margin of error.

In further bad news for the freshman Congressman the survey found that just 29 percent of voters said they believe Kratovil deserves to be re-elected. Twenty-three percent were unsure and 49 percent believed a new person deserved a chance.

Kratovil defeated Harris by less than 3,000 votes in one of the closest elections of the 2008 cycle. This year, Harris is back for a rematch and has the support of much of the state and national party establishment. Still Harris may not have the primary field to himself. Wealthy state Sen. E.J. Pipkin (R), who was involved in a nasty three-way primary with Harris last cycle, is rumored to be considering making another run at the nomination.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee outraised its GOP counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee in the month of October, according to disclosures by both parties.

The DCCC will report raising $3.8 million last month, compared to $3.4 million for the NRCC. That's about the same amount both committees pulled in at the same point in the 2007-08 cycle, despite the fact that the economy has soured significantly since then.

However, like the NRCC, the DCCC spent more than it took in -- $4 million total in disbursements. A big chunk of that went to the hotly contested Nov. 4 special election to replace Rep. John McHugh (R) in New York's 23rd district. The DCCC reported $1.1 million in independent expenditures, total, on the race, which its candidate, Bill Owens (D), narrowly won.

The DCCC still has more than three times the cash-on-hand as the NRCC, with $14.5 million in the bank, and $3.3 million in debt. The NRCC will report $4.2 million cash on hand and $2 million in debt.

UPDATE: The Democratic National Committee reported Friday night that it had $13 million cash-on-hand as November began, and not $12.3 million as it said earlier in the day.

The Democratic National Committee outraised the Republican National Committee in October, a month in which both national party committees ramped up their fundraising and spent lavishly just ahead of the momentous Nov. 3 elections in Virginia and New Jersey.

The DNC will report later Friday to the Federal Election Commission that it raised $11.5 million and spent about $14 million in October, leaving it with about $12.3 million in the bank and $4.4 million in debts.

A party source said that was the DNC's largest one-month take in an odd-numbered year since an overhaul of campaign finance laws in 2002 banned the national political parties from accepting so-called "soft money."

A Colorado music promoter is weighing a Republican campaign against two-term Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D).

The Denver Business Journal reported Thursday that Jimmy Lakey, who owns concert promotion and artist management companies, has formed an "exploratory committee" to prepare for a possible run in Colorado's 7th district, which includes suburbs of Denver.

The report said that Lakey is concerned about "reckless spending" in Washington, D.C.

Newly filed campaign finance reports show that Republican senators moved quickly last month to boost the 2010 Senate campaign of Rep. Michael N. Castle (R-Del.), one of the party's strongest candidates to capture a Democratic-held seat.

Eager to increase their ranks beyond 40 seats, several GOP senators donated to Castle through their leadership political action committees, according to reports the organizations filed before a deadline today.

Among those senators who reported giving to Castle in October were Thad Cochran (Miss.), whose Senate Victory Fund PAC gave $10,000; Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), whose OrrinPAC donated $5,000; Pat Roberts (Kan.), whose Preserving America's Traditions PAC gave $5,000; and Mike Johanns (Neb.), whose Prairieland PAC donated $2,000.

The National Republican Congressional Committee spent more than it raised in the month of October, according to fundraising numbers due to be reported to the Federal Election Commission today.

The NRCC raised $3.4 million in October, but spent $3.6 million. That's only slightly more than what the committee brought in during the month September. The committee will report having $4.2 million cash on hand and $2 million in debt at the end of the month.

Much of those expended funds came from the NRCC's independent expenditure in the special election in New York's 23rd congressional district. The committee spent almost $900,000 on the GOP nominee, Dede Scozzafava, who dropped out of the race the weekend before the election and now-Rep. Bill Owens (D-N.Y.) went on to win the seat.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is expected to release their fundraising totals later today.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry's first television ad of his 2010 re-election campaign touts his record on fiscal matters and subtly links Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to "Washington politics."

Perry's ad, released Thursday, says that he cut taxes, created jobs and balanced the budget in Texas, where Perry is seeking a third full term but faces serious intraparty competition from Hutchison, a senator since 1993.

Though the governor's ad doesn't specifically mention Hutchison, Perry's chief opponent in the March 2010 primary, it does briefly display a picture of Hutchison, presumably at a press conference in the nation's capital, as a narrator says the words, "While Washington gives us politics."