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.

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.

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.

Iowa state Sen. Brad Zaun (R) will be joining the Republican field vying to oppose Rep. Leonard L. Boswell (D) in the Des Moines-area 3rd district.

Zaun, who is serving his second four-year term in the Iowa Senate, told CQ Politics Thursday afternoon that he would make a formal announcement of his political plans after Dec. 1.

"And my intentions are to run against Leonard Boswell," said Zaun, a vice president at the commercial real estate firm R&R Realty.

Jim Gibbons wants to take down Rep. Leonard L. Boswell, (D-Iowa).

Gibbons, a former championship wrestling coach at Iowa State University, is seeking the Republican nomination to oppose Boswell in the 3rd district in and around Des Moines.

Gibbons, who left coaching in 1992 and is now a financial adviser and television analyst, told The Iowa Republican blog that he is "concerned about the direction of the country. Spending is out of control in Washington; it's unsustainable."

The Republican primary in Colorado's 4th District is getting crowded even though national Republican officials are backing the campaign of state Rep. Cory Gardner against freshman Democratic Rep. Betsy Markey.

Dean Madere, a self-described "average middle class citizen" who has been active in local conservative groups, formally kicked off his campaign Wednesday. He is the fourth Republican to announce plans to seek the district in northern and eastern Colorado that Markey won last year by beating then-Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave.

Madere's announcement came a few days after Diggs Brown, a financial adviser and military veteran, said that he would be a candidate.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is targeting three veteran Democrats who voted for the House version of the health care bill in a weeklong round of television ads that will begin airing on Thursday.

The new 30-second spots hit Democratic Reps. Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota, Vic Snyder of Arkansas and John M. Spratt Jr. of South Carolina for their votes by using the words of fellow Democratic legislators who opposed the legislation.

Among the statements the NRCC uses in it' new ad against Pomeroy is one released by the office of Rep. Dan Boren, D-Okla., when he announced he was going to buck his party and vote no on the bill two days before the vote came to the floor.

"The worst thing we could do during a recession is raise taxes and this bill does just that," Boren said in his statement.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is adding Rep. Bill Owens, the newly elected congressman from New York's traditionally Republican 23rd District, to its Frontline Program for vulnerable incumbents.

Owens is the 43rd Democratic member added to the program, which is designed to bolster fundraising and outreach and force incumbents to prepare early on for competitive contests.

The longtime attorney and first-time candidate won a tempestuous special election in the upstate district Nov. 4 to succeed Republican Rep. John M. McHugh, and has had a target on his back ever since. Hours after he was sworn in, the National Republican Congressional Committee pounced on his decision to vote for the Democrats' health care overhaul legislation.