House Republicans raised more than their Democratic counterparts for the first time in several months during February, when the health care debate was dominating Capitol Hill.

The National Republican Congressional Committee reported raising $5.1 million last month compared to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's $4.4 million haul. However, House Republicans still have a fraction of the Democrats' cash on hand, with $6.1 million in the bank compared to the DCCC's almost $20 million war chest.

The NRCC spent $3.2 million in February and is carrying no debt. The committee also boasted almost $1 million in transfers from their own Members last month, including $200,000 from Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), plus $100,000 each from NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions (Texas) and Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Spencer Bauchus (R-Ala.).

The DCCC reported $667,000 in debt at the end of February after spending $2.9 million last month. The DCCC barely raised more than the NRCC in January.

Longtime state Rep. Rick Berg (R) will be North Dakota Republican's standard bearer in the race against Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.).

The state party endorsed Berg over Kevin Cramer, chairman of the North Dakota Public Service Commission, and two other GOP contenders at its convention in Grand Forks, N.D. on Saturday afternoon.

Cramer, Berg's main rival for the nomination, has already said he would not run in the primary if he did not win the party endorsement.

Berg, the former state House Majority Leader, led Pomeroy in Rasmussen Reports poll conducted in early February, which may have helped him convince delegates that he represented the party's best chance to beat Pomeroy in November.

Pomeroy has held his seat for nine terms, but his 2010 re-election is shaping up to be one of his toughest.

CQ Politics rates the general election contest Leans Democratic.

To follow all the 2010 House races, check out our election map.

Indiana state Rep. Jackie Walorski (R), who is challenging Rep. Joe Donnelly (D) in the 2nd district, was in the nation's capital Saturday to participate in a tea party rally against a health care bill the House is expected to pass Sunday afternoon.

In an interview with CQ Politics, Walorski described the D.C. rally as a "last-ditch effort" to stop a bill Democratic leaders say they have the votes to advance despite determined Republican opposition.

"I came here to stand with folks in Indiana, in the 2nd district and some of the surrounding areas, to just tell Joe Donnelly to vote 'no' and to add my support to the fact that 75 percent of Americans don't want anything to do with this bill. They want Congress to start over," Walorski said.

New York progressives are not only withdrawing support from House Democrats who plan to vote against the health care overhaul legislation, they're moving forward on threats to find primary challengers from the left.

The local Oneonta Daily Star reported Friday afternoon that Columbia University Professor Les Roberts (D) is considering a challenge to Rep. Michael Arcuri (D) in New York's 24th district.

Roberts will speak to the Working Families Party, a third party closely affiliated with New York's labor unions, on Monday.

Other candidates have also expressed interest in running against Arcuri, according to a Working Families Party source, but have not yet gone public.

The Working Families Party voted last Sunday to prohibit the endorsement of any House member who votes against the health care legislation. Arcuri ran on the Democratic and Working Families party lines in 2008, and a source for the third party noted that the congresoman defeated businessman Richard Hanna (R) by just 10,000 votes, while winning 9,500 votes on the Working Families Party line.

The National Republican Congressional Committee will be putting its 2010 independent expenditure operation in the hands of veteran Republican strategist Mike Shields, a committee source confirmed.

Shields was tapped at the beginning of the cycle to serve as the NRCC's director of special projects and previously served as chief of staff to Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.).

Shields previously worked at the NRCC as the Research Director during the 2004 cycle and has also served as communications director for the Republican Party of Virginia and as a spokesman for former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).

In his IE roll, Shields will be operating behind a firewall to decide where and how to spend the NRCC's precious resources as staffers at the committees are prohibited by law from being involved in those decisions.

Earlier this week, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced that veteran party strategist Brian Smoot will manage its independent expenditure arm.

Former one-term Rep. Bill Sali (R-Idaho) announced Friday that he will not try to reclaim the seat he lost in 2008 to Democrat Walt Minnick.

Sali has kept a low profile since losing to Minnick in Idaho's strongly conservative 1st district, but he resurfaced Friday at the state capitol building in Boise to announce his political plans just hours before the deadline to qualify for the May 25 primary election.

Sali instead endorsed the 2010 campaign of state Rep. Raul Labrador, one of five Republicans who had filed for the race as of Friday morning.

A day after his top rival in the Republican primary dropped out, state Rep. Clay Cox is laying further claim to the status of frontrunner for the nomination in Georgia's open 7th district seat.

Cox announced the endorsement of well-known state Sen. David Shafer (R).

"Clay Cox is a good friend and he will make an outstanding Congressman," Shafer said in a release on Friday. "When I decided three weeks ago not to enter this race myself, I encouraged Clay to run. I am counting on him to fight for our conservative principles and help bring fiscal sanity to Washington."

Shafer's been a rival of state Sen. Don Balfour, who's no longer challenging Cox for a shot at succeeding retiring Rep. John Linder (R).

But more challengers could surface; Gwinnett County Commissioner Mike Beaudreau and ex-Gwinnett Co Commissioner Tommy Hughes are still considering throwing their hats into the ring.

Georgia state Sen. Don Balfour (R), the first candidate to jump into the open-seat race for retiring Rep. John Linder's (R) seat, announced Thursday that he is dropping out of the contest and will retire from the state legislature at the end of his term.

"Being a congressman has been something I thought I wanted to do," Balfour said in a statement posted on his Web site. "Needless to say, when John Linder announced that he was not running for re-election, I jumped at the opportunity to be the new voice of leadership. However, for the past three weeks, I have not been at peace about this decision. I feel this is an appropriate time to let all my supporters know that I will also not be seeking reelection for the 9th district senate seat."

Balfour has served in the state Senate for 18 years and currently serves as chairman of the Rules Committee. He is also an executive with Waffle House, Inc., having worked for the company for over 25 years.

"Now I can focus on finishing [the] session well and running an efficient Rules Committee," he said in the statement. "I'm looking forward to welcoming my son home soon from his service in Afghanistan as well as continuing my career at Waffle House."

With Balfour out, the frontrunner in the GOP primary now appears to be state Rep. Clay Cox (R). Gwinnett County Commissioner Mike Beaudreau and ex-Gwinnett Co Commissioner Tommy Hughes are also considering throwing his hat into the ring.

A recent survey on the special election in Pennsylvania's 12th district shows a competitive race between Democrat Mark Critz, a former aide to the late Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), and GOP businessman Tim Burns.

Critz lead Burns, 36 to 31 percent, in the district that boasts a large Democratic registration advantage. Also according to the district-wide poll, 31 percent of voters were undecided about who they would choose to succeed Murtha in the May 18 special election.

The same poll also showed voters would like pick Critz as their Democratic nominee on May 18, which is also the same day as the statewide primary. Critz lead the field with 30 percent, while none of the other Democrats -- Navy Veteran Ryan Bucchianeri, Cambria Co. Controller Ed Cernic and attorney Ron Mackell -- did not individually score more than four points in the survey. There were 59 percent of voters undecided.

Burns appears to also be in a dead heat with 2008 GOP nominee Bill Russell, whom he defeated to get the nomination. Russell lead Burns, 32 percent to 30 percent, with 37 percent undecided.

The poll was paid for by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and conducted by Susquehanna Polling and Research on March 14 and 15. The survey asked 400 likely voters in the May 18 primary and special election, including 261 Democrats and 119 Republicans. The poll had a margin of error of 4.9 points.

CQ Politics currently rates this general election contest as a Tossup.

Arizona's testy Republican Senate primary is seeping into the GOP contest for a House seat.

Nine Republicans have filed to run for retiring Rep. John Shadegg's seat in the Republican-leaning area of northern Phoenix and its suburbs. One, former state Sen. Jim Waring, was among 35 current and former state legislators to endorse Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) over his challenger, former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.) on Thursday.

Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker (R) has also endorsed McCain, even though he and Hayworth share a major campaign supporter: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

It's not a Democrat-friendly district or a Democrat-friendly year, but that hasn't deterred Democrats from running for Michigan's 3rd district House seat.

First-time candidate Patrick Miles Jr. (D), announced his candidacy Thursday. Miles is pitching himself as an outsider, and touting his experience as "a business lawyer helping small, family-owned businesses start, grow, and create jobs in West Michigan."

He joins former Kent County Commissioner Paul Mayhue (D) in the Democratic field for the seat, which is being vacated by Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-Mich.), who is retiring at the end of his current term.

The Republican field is much more crowded. GOP contenders include first-term state Rep. Justin Amash, state Sen. Bill Hardiman, former Kent County Commissioner Steven Heacock and Air Force veteran Bob Overbeek.

CQ Politics rates the general election contest Safe Republican.

To follow all the 2010 House races, check out our election map.

One day after Colorado state Rep. Cory Gardner topped the field in a straw poll, Republican rival Diggs Brown dropped out of the race Wednesday and threw his support to Gardner, the leading Republican candidate against Rep. Betsy Markey (D).

"I am happy to unite with Cory Gardner to make our goal of beating Betsy Markey in November a reality," Brown, a former Fort Collins city councilman and military veteran who will serve as a co-chairman of Gardner's campaign.

Brown trailed Gardner in a straw poll taken at precinct caucuses in the two most populous counties that make up the 4th district. That solidified Gardner's standing as the GOP front-runner because he is from a rural part of the district.

Local Democrats in New York's 29th House district expect to unify around one candidate for the anticipated special election by the end of the month.

Hornell Mayor Shawn Hogan, the chairman of the Steuben County Democratic party committee, said the district's eight county party chairs plan to meet and interview at least six candidates on either March 27 or 29.

"I'm fully confident that we'll come away ... with a consensus candidate," Hogan said.

Hogan declined to name the prospective candidates.

Hogan, himself, decided to pass on the race shortly after first-term Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) resigned. Several other potentially strong Democratic candidates, including Monroe County District Attorney Michael Green and Assemblywomen Barbara Lifton, have also declined to run, leaving a wide-open field.

Assemblyman David Koon (D) remains interested in the seat.

Rep. Charles B. Rangel's (D-N.Y.) re-election campaign cited his contested 2010 race in an invitation to an upcoming Washington, D.C., fundraiser.

In an e-mail, the campaign appealed to donors to support the Harlem congressman by attending a breakfast fundraiser March 25, with contribution amounts set at $5,000 for an event chair, $2,500 for a sponsor and $1,000 per person.

Rangel's ethical troubles have drawn a number of challengers, though none who are likely to give the 20-term incumbent much of a contest, at least as things stand now.

Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan will get a campaign visit from Vice President Joe Biden on April 15.

A native of northeastern Pennsylvania, Biden placed a well-publicized phone call last year to recruit Callahan to run against Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.). Callahan had turned down overtures to run in previous cycles, but eventually decided to get into the race in the competitive district and now is considered to be one of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's top challengers in 2010.

Callahan also attended an official event with President Barack Obama in the region in early December at which the president mistakenly introduced his colleague, the Mayor of nearby Allentown, Pa., as a candidate for Congress instead.

CQ Politics currently rates this general election contest as Leans Republican.

To follow all of this year's House races, check out our election map.