Virginia Republican Rep. Eric Cantor, the House Minority Whip and one of the GOP's most potent fundraisers, used his leadership PAC last month to donate mostly to Republican candidates who are challenging Democratic incumbents in the 2010 election.

Cantor's organization, known as Every Republican Is Crucial (ERIC) PAC, reported Monday that it donated $2,500 apiece to five GOP challengers about whom the congressman and other national party officials are bullish.

They are Andy Harris of Maryland, a state senator challenging Rep. Frank Kratovil Jr. in a rematch of their close 2008 race in the 1st District; Martha Roby of Alabama, a Montgomery city councilwoman who is taking on Rep. Bobby Bright in the 2nd District; Steve Pearce of New Mexico, a former House member who lost a Senate race in 2008 and is seeking to reclaim his old 2nd District seat, now held by Rep. Harry Teague; Steve Stivers of Ohio, who is waging a rematch campaign against Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy in the Columbus-area 15th District; and Van Tran of California, an assemblyman who is taking on Rep. Loretta Sanchez in the 47th District.

The conservative Family Research Council's political action committee plans to target 16 congressional races in 2010. The group's president, Tony Perkins, said the PAC has a goal of raising $1 million to boost grassroots activity in targeted races.

The group wants to spend money to help favored candidates take over the seats now represented by:

Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat who is running for a full term in Colorado after his appointment this year;

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, a Democrat who is running for re-election in Connecticut;

New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, a Republican who is retiring;

Missouri Sen. Christopher S. Bond, a Republican who is retiring;

Rep. John Boccieri, a Democrat who represents Ohio's 16th District;

Back from another trip to the Senate's public records office, which is busy processing the dozens of campaign finance reports that senators and candidates had to mail by a July 15 deadline.

Most of the reports, which cover receipts and expenditures for the second quarter of 2009 and often run into the hundreds of pages, aren't yet available for viewing. (Unfortunately, the Senate doesn't mandate electronic filing of campaign finance reports). But here are some useful nuggets of information from campaign reports I did view earlier today.

Alabama: Talk about low overhead. Republican Sen. Richard C. Shelby, a shoo-in to win a fifth term in 2010, raised $1.4 million and spent just $96,000 doing so. That's less than 7 percent of his second-quarter receipts. Even at this early stage, most campaigns spend a larger percentage of their receipts on fundraising and staff expenses. (For example, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid raised $3.3 million and spent $976,000, or about 30 percent.) Shelby has a whopping $14.8 million cash-on-hand as July began.

The number of Democrats interested in running for Alabama governor is shrinking.

Alabama Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb, who had expressed interested in running for the seat being vacated by term-limited Republican Gov. Bob Riley, told local media outlets last week that she will remain on the job in the state's court system.

"I am honored to have been sought out and encouraged to run for governor by so many Alabamians from all walks of life," Cobb said in a prepared statement. "Their support has been humbling and perhaps made this decision the most difficult I have ever been called upon to make."

While members of Congress are home for recess, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) is using a $2.5 million ad campaign to boost the health care records of several potentially vulnerable House Democrats.

Television commercials began running June 27 in six members' home districts and will air for two weeks. Accompanying mailers were also sent to voters.

"On health care there are two sides of the coin. On one side, do nothing. On the other, move forward- like Congressman Jim Himes, who's making real progress on reform," said the voiceover in one targeted television ad. The commercial continues by crediting Himes for expanding coverage for children, veterans, and protecting Medicare.

Alabama Republican Bill Johnson, a member of Republican Gov. Bob Riley's Cabinet, is entering the already jam-packed field of candidates for the 2010 GOP primary to succeed the term-limited incumbent chief executive.

Johnson is a former Birmingham city councilman and was director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs until Friday, when he stepped down to prepare his bid for governor .

He is the sixth Republican candidate overall, the fourth state official and the second Riley appointee to enter the race.

Bradley Byrne, a former state senator, was chancellor of the state's two-year college system before he resigned in May to run. His candidacy announcement came between those of state Rep. Robert Bentley and state Treasurer Kay Ivey, both elected officials. The current field is rounded out by Greenville businessman Tim James, a son of former Gov. Fob James, and former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who now heads a religious conservative advocacy group.

Republican Roy Moore, a conservative activist and formerly a controversial jurist, announced Monday that he will again seek the Republican nomination for Alabama governor after falling well short in the 2006 primary.

Moore, who heads a religion-oriented conservative foundation, was ousted as chief justice of the state Supreme Court by a state judicial panel in 2003. This occurred after he defied a federal court ruling ordering the removal of a monument to the biblical Ten Commandments that he had installed in the court building. The dispute brought Moore national attention and a base of like-minded supporters, but lost his 2006 primary challenge to Republican Gov. Bob Riley by a ratio of 2-to-1.

Moore -- who this time will be running in the 2010 open-seat race to succeed the term-limited Riley -- kicked off his campaign by unveiling a high-tech Web site that includes feeds to popular social networking sites such as Twitter.

Alabama Treasurer Kay Ivey, a Republican, on Thursday became the latest candidate to join the fast-growing field for the state's open-seat race for governor in 2010. She is the second Republican this week, and the third in two weeks, to state publicly that they are running to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Bob Riley.

Ivey's decision to run was first reported by the al.com Web site and was confirmed to CQ Politics by her office.

Ivey, a former banker and a 1967 graduate of Alabama's Auburn University, was elected state treasurer in 2002 and was re-elected in 2006. She has focused her efforts in office on revamping Alabama's unclaimed property program and two of the state's college savings plans.

Bradley Byrne, until recently the chancellor of Alabama's two-year college system, announced Wednesday he is running for the 2010 Republican nomination for governor.

The 54-year-old Byrne resigned from his post as chancellor earlier this month, signaling his intention to run. In his candidacy announcement, he said he would make education, ethics and economic development priorities if he were to win the race to succeed term-limited Alabama Republican Gov. Bob Riley.

"We have made great strides in cleaning out the corruption of the two-year college system," Byrne proclaimed in his prepared remarks. "And now, I will take our fight for reform to the next level."

Scratch one potential candidate from Alabama's 2010 Democratic primary for governor.

State Sen. Roger Bedford, who had said he was seriously thinking about a run for the open seat, told the Political Parlor blog in his home state that he would defer. He said in the interview that he "didn't think that was what the Lord had" in store for him.

Had he entered the contest to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Bob Riley, Bedford would have competed with two other experienced Democratic officeholders who already have announced their candidacies: Rep. Artur Davis, who if elected would become the first black governor of the Deep South state, and Ron Sparks, the state commissioner of agriculture and industries.

Sue Bell Cobb, chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, is still deciding on whether to enter the Democratic primary for governor.