Today is Utah's candidate filing deadline, and the North Dakota Democratic Party (which officially is called the Democratic-Non Partisan League Party) is wrapping up its state convention, which began Thursday in Fargo.
After that, there's a 10-day break before we get to see completion of the next three batches of primary election lineups.
Candidates have to file by March 30 in Missouri, South Carolina and South Dakota.
Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) has performed an impressive political magic trick: He turned what sounds like a pretty serious adversary into an ally.
Check out this Associated Press story about a high-profile partisan who last year called Blunt a "big-spending Republican," and said the public was "sick and tired" of Washington experience. Now she's part of Blunt's Senate campaign.
Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) has a small lead over Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan (D), according to a Rasmussen Reports poll taken March 9.
Blunt had 47 percent support and Carnahan had 41 percent, according to the survey of 500 voters who Rasmussen identifies as likely to participate in the November election. Blunt and Carnahan are favored to win primary elections in August.
A slight majority of respondents said they strongly opposed a Democratic-written health care bill and also said President Obama has handled the issue poorly.
Reps. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Mark Steven Kirk (R-Ill.) will be raising some campaign funds jointly as they campaign for Senate seats this fall.
The Blunt Kirk Victory Fund was recently organized as a joint fundraising committee that will divvy up proceeds between the candidates' Senate campaign committees.
Kirk last month easily won a Republican primary and will face Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (D). The winner will succeed Sen. Roland Burris (D), who is holding the seat on an interim basis and retiring at year's end.
Tommy Sowers (D), a Missouri educator and military veteran, was in the nation's capital on Monday to build support for his upset-minded campaign against Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R).
Sowers told CQ Politics that he recently finished up a 28-day, 28-county campaign in Missouri's 8th, a mostly rural, economically struggling and culturally conservative area area of southeastern Missouri. He said he worked alongside district residents and listened to their concerns.
"The anti-incumbent sentiment," he said, "is there, and specific."
The filing deadline to run for major office in Missouri is five weeks away. So why did hundreds of candidates queue up in Jefferson City today, the first day to qualify for the Aug. 3 primary?
The answer: they all want to secure the top ballot position in their races. Under Missouri election law, candidates who qualify on the first day of filing receive lottery numbers that will determine ballot position. The lower number a candidate draws, the higher that candidate will appear on the ballot.
The idea is that a candidate with the top slot might squeeze out some extra votes from indifferent voters who would opt for the first candidate they see on a multi-candidate primary ballot.
Democrat Tommy Sowers is enjoying some fundraising success as he bids to upset Republican Rep. Jo Ann Emerson in the southeastern Missouri's 8th district.
Sowers, an educator and Army veteran, raised $179,000 in the final three months of 2009, bringing to his campaign-to-date receipts to $384,000. He had $264,000 cash-on-hand as 2010 began.
Sowers' campaign said that it raised 98 percent of its fourth-quarter receipts from individual donors and the balance from political committees.
Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan's Senate campaign got a nice chunk of change from a political committee that also raised money for the state Democratic Party.
Missouri Victory 2010, which was organized last summer as a joint fundraising committee, said in a filing to the Federal Election Commission Thursday that it raised $201,900 in late 2009 and donated about $55,000 to Carnahan's campaign and about $54,000 to the Missouri Democratic Party.
The joint committee raised $181,900 from individual donors, including $12,000 from St. Louis homemaker Juliet Angelides, $10,000 from St. Louis real estate developer Robert Guller and $10,000 from Independence lawyer Kenneth B. McClain.
One of the Democratic Party's most politically vulnerable senators has established a fundraising link with one of the party's top prospects to win a Republican-held open seat.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), who is in a tough fight for a third term, and Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, who's running to succeed retiring Sen. Kit Bond (R), will be sharing receipts that accrue to the Missouri Arkansas Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee recently established with the Federal Election Commission.
Lincoln and Carnahan are from neighboring states. Lincoln in 2001 and 2002 served in the Senate with Carnahan's mother, Jean Carnahan (D).
Politicians prefer to control the timing when they have news. But holding off on a big announcement doesn't just build suspense -- it also encourages gossip and guessing.
We reported this week on the direction of the latest speculation about which members of the House might end up deciding not to run in 2010. You can check out the list here, but after just a couple days it's already out of date.
An aide to Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., put out the strongest possible quote about his boss's intentions, telling KMBC-TV "without a doubt Chairman Skelton will seek re-election and will be making a formal announcement at some point next year."
Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., squashed speculation about his interest in running for governor rather than re-election to Congress, and Rep. Collin C. Peterson, D-Minn., made it clear that he's going to announce another House race, but not until February.
Clearly it's time for a new list. Any suggestions on which House members to add to the watch list? Fill the comment box below -- tell us who and tell us why you think they might want to pack it in now.
Republican kingmakers Fred Malek , an ally of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and power lobbyist Charlie Black are co-hosting a fundraising dinner for Rep. Roy Blunt's (R-Mo.) bid for Senate in 2010.
Malek, a businessman who served as a top adviser to several former GOP presidents, hosted a dinner for Palin earlier this year on one of her rare trips to Washington, D.C. Malek has defended Palin and even served as an intermediary between her another Senate candidate, Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who was seeking the former vice presidential nominee's endorsement.
According to a copy of the invitation, Malek, Black and their respective spouses "invite you to an intimate dinner in honor of" Blunt. The Dec. 10 event, for which tickets cost between $1,000 and $2,400, will be held at Malek's home.
Blunt is facing Secretary of State Robin Carnahan (D) in what is expected to be one of the most competitive Senate races of the 2010 cycle.
Add another candidate to the bulging roster of Republican candidates running for the southwestern Missouri district Rep. Roy Blunt (R) is leaving open to run for the Senate.
Michael Wardell, a businessman and retired Marine, has filed candidacy paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to formally organize a campaign in Missouri's 7th district, which includes Springfield and Joplin.
Wardell's campaign Web page says that national security "is my foremost concern" and that he supports a beefed-up presence in Afghanistan. He supports cutting taxes across the board and eliminating capital gains taxes.
They voted for the health care bill. With enough money behind the opposition, could they be voted out of office next year?
Republicans aim to find out with a new effort to raise campaign funds for challengers to two dozen House Democrats who voted for the health care bill earlier this month.
Reverse The Vote Victory Committee was established this week with the Federal Election Commission as a joint fundraising committee that will collect contributions to distribute among 24 GOP challengers.
It's still months until the first nominees will be formally selected in primary elections, so the committee for the time being will give campaign funds to 24 separate "congressional victory committees" that in turn will deliver the funds to party nominees once they are determined.
Missouri state Sen. Chuck Purgason is waging a lightly funded campaign against cash-rich Rep. Roy Blunt for the 2010 Republican nomination for Senate.
Purgason's third-quarter campaign report, which was available today in the Senate's public records office, showed that he raised just $11,035 through the end of September, spent most of it and has $1,067 left in the bank. Purgason formally organized his campaign in August.
He did get some money from two colleagues in the state legislature. Rep. Mike Dethrow gave $500 to Purgason's campaign, of which $300 came from Dethrow's campaign committee. Rep. Ward Franz gave $300 to Purgason's campaign. All three men represent parts of southern Missouri.
It's too soon to tell if Missouri Democrat Tommy Sowers will seriously threaten the re-election campaign of Republican Rep. Jo Ann Emerson. But it appears that the Army veteran will have enough in campaign funds to wage a credible effort in the southeastern 8th District.
Sowers' campaign reported Monday that it had raised $205,000 between his candidacy announcement on Sept. 9 and the end of that month, the cutoff point for this year's third quarter. Sowers' take is more than three times the amount that Emerson's 2006 and 2008 Democratic challengers raised for the duration of their campaigns.
Sowers will file a detailed report with the Federal Election Commission by an Oct. 15 deadline, though his campaign said Tuesday that it received contributions from 400 individuals in 37 states, "many of whom are current or former members of the military." Sowers served two tours of duty in Iraq and also served in Kosovo; he returned to Missouri this July to teach at Missouri University of Science and Technology in his hometown of Rolla.
