The Eye

Notre Dame, the famed Catholic-run school in South Bend, has taken some heat from some socially conservative Catholics for hosting the president, who supports abortion rights.

And the National Republican Congressional Committee -- which orchestrates the GOP's national House campaigns -- will no doubt try to make some hay out of his May 17 fundraising effort for Reps. Brad Ellsworth, Joe Donnelly, Baron P. Hill and Andre Carson when constructing attacks against them in 2010.

Among the four, only Carson's Indianapolis-based 7th District is a Democratic stronghold. Even as Obama in 2008 became the first Democrat to carry Indiana for president since 1964, Ellsworth's 8th District and Hill's 9th leaned to Republican John McCain, though by much smaller margins that those usually enjoyed by GOP presidential nominees.

Obama took 54 percent in Donnelly's northern 2nd District, would includes South Bend, but President Bush took 56 percent at the top of the Republican ticket just four years earlier.

Notably absent from the guest list for the fundraiser is the state's only other Democratic House member, Peter J. Visclosky. On Thursday, a set of Washington watchdog groups called for a House ethics investigation into the relationships between several lawmakers, including Visclosky, and a now-defunct lobbying firm that contributed heavily to the House members and won their backing for clients' earmarks.

Visclosky, though, has some political cushion, as his largely blue-collar 1st District located near Chicago in northwest Indiana is a Democratic stronghold where he has never faced a close contest in his 13 House victories. Obama took 62 percent there.

A Democratic source confirmed the details of the fundraiser for CQ Politics and the fact that it is Obama's first for House candidates since he became president on Jan. 20.