NRSC Investing in Pennsylvania Senate Race

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is investing $500,000 of coordinated funds to assist GOP nominee Tom Smith in his challenge to Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey (D).

The move indicates national Republicans view an opportunity to widen their path to the majority, even if the incumbent here remains favored.

CNN first reported the news.

The NRSC’s investment is about how much the Democratic-aligned Majority PAC expended this week for a television advertisement in the state, which had not broached the competitive landscape until recently. Thanks in part to the $10 million personal loan to his campaign, Smith outspent Casey, $6.8 million to $2.5 million, in the third quarter.

Casey and Smith debated for the first time today, as recent polls have shown the race pulling close. Pennsylvania is not among the states that allows for early voting, so there is truly another week and a half left.

DSCC Outraises NRSC in Pre-General Fundraising Period

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee outraised its Republican counterpart by some $1.3 million in the first two and a half weeks of October.

According to pre-general reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, the DSCC raised $7.3 million Oct. 1-17. The National Republican Senatorial Committee raised $6 million during the same period, including about $800,000 from a joint fundraising committee with GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

The DSCC has not received any money from joint fundraising committees with Obama for America or the Democratic National Committee.

Both parties are pushing for a majority in the Senate, which Democrats currently control 53-47.

DSCC Raises $15.6M in September

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised a whopping $15.6 million in September, a massive sum that elevated the committee to its best third-quarter haul ever.

In a final push to hold the party’s 53-47 Senate majority, the DSCC’s fundraising last month equaled about twice as much as it raised in the previous two months combined and boosted its third-quarter total to $29.2 million. The committee had $27 million in cash on hand left at the end of September.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has not yet released its September fundraising.

Connecticut: DSCC Makes Another Buy

Rep. Christopher Murphy talks with a school group on the West Front of the Capitol. (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is making an additional $650,000 purchase of Connecticut advertising time in support of Rep. Christopher Murphy’s (D) open-seat Senate race against former WWE CEO Linda McMahon (R).

The new buy lasts from Oct. 16 through Oct. 22 and will be on broadcast and cable. This builds on the DSCC’s independent expenditure arm’s previous $2.1 million investment in this race, according to a source who tracks Connecticut Senate media buys. Also per this source, the Democratic group Majority PAC has spent $1.1 million.

The ad spending in this race is unlike any other Senate race in the country. Because McMahon is able to self-fund her television advertising to levels that include saturating the expensive New York City media market that covers a significant portion of the Nutmeg State, national Republicans are on the offense here without having to invest a dime.

Democrats have yet to match McMahon on New York broadcast television, although they have been on the air on New York cable. This is among the reasons McMahon has made this contest competitive despite the Democratic lean of the state.

Arizona: NRSC IE Poll Shows Jeff Flake Ahead

(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

A second Republican poll today showed Rep. Jeff Flake (R) leading former surgeon general Richard Carmona (D) in the open-seat Senate race in Arizona.

Flake takes 47 percent to Carmona’s 41 percent, with undecided voters accounting for 12 percent in the survey paid for by the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s independent expenditure unit.

The survey marks the second GOP poll and third internal poll released today. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released a survey showing Carmona with a 4-point lead. But Flake’s own campaign polling gave him a 6-point lead in surveys taken the same days, Oct. 7-9.

Regardless, the dueling numbers are a sign of an increasingly competitive race. Roll Call rates this race as Leans Republican.

In the NRSC’s IE poll, respondents reported a more favorable impression of Flake. Forty-five percent deemed Flake favorable, while  36 perent gave Carmona a favorable rating.

GS Strategy Group conducted the poll of 500 likely voters Oct. 8-9. The margin of error is about 4.4 points, according to the polling memo obtained by Roll Call.

Virginia: NRSC Launches First IE Ad in Senate Race

The National Republican Senatorial Committee kicked off its independent expenditure spending in Virginia today by launching a television ad that criticizes former Gov. Tim Kaine (D) for supporting increased federal spending.

Parties Prepare to Place Debt Bets on Victory

House Democrats are confident they can put a dent in the Republican majority and perhaps flip the chamber in November.

But are they willing to bet the House on it?

In the month before Election Day, the Congressional campaign committees are set to spend millions of dollars each week on targeted races. And if past is precedent, they will exhaust more resources than they will raise before Nov. 6.

It’s a gamble: The resulting debt could mean winning more seats but also put a committee eight figures in the red for the next cycle.

“It’s always a tough decision to borrow money, but you have to weigh that decision against your opportunities and whether you’re going to have those opportunities again,” said Brian Smoot, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s political director in 2008. Full story

Roy Blunt: Missouri Senate Race Is More About Senate Majority Than Todd Akin

(Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Missouri GOP Sen. Roy Blunt today offered a lukewarm defense of his decision to campaign for embattled Senate nominee Rep. Todd Akin, saying the debate in the Show-Me State is more about who should control the Senate.

In an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Blunt said that Republicans still have a 50-50 chance of retaking the Senate and that the Missouri race to unseat Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill will “largely become a debate about the majority in the Senate.”

In August, Blunt called on Akin to step out of the race after the conservative lawmaker defended his opposition to abortion in cases of rape and incest by erroneously saying that a woman’s body is able to prevent pregnancy in cases of “legitimate rape.” But last week, after Akin let a state deadline to withdraw from the ballot pass without resigning the nomination, Blunt said he would work to elect him.

“I think anybody else would have been a candidate that clearly would have won, and Todd very well may win,” Blunt told CNN. “He’s on a ticket at a time when people look at a Senate that’s not doing its work, and the only way to change that is to change the majority in the Senate.”

When accused by co-panelist Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) of flip-flopping and now endorsing Akin’s candidacy, Blunt attempted to clarify: “What I said was that the national issues are big enough that we need to have a discussion of these issues rather than those that Todd managed to bring to the table.”

Maine: DSCC Moves in With Ad Buy

National Democrats have bought TV time in Maine, ostensibly to help boost former Gov. Angus King, an Independent. (Joshua Miller/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has bought $410,000 worth of television time in Maine, where a political triangle in the Senate race has created an unpredictable dynamic.

The DSCC ad was not immediately available, but the committee is likely to use the Oct. 2-12 buy to directly target Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers (R), who has been climbing in the polls in the race for the seat of retiring Sen. Olympia Snowe (R). The DSCC ad is not expected to mention either former Gov. Angus King (I), who is expected to caucus with Democrats, or state Sen. Cynthia Dill, the Democratic nominee. King is the frontrunner but has seen his lead shrink in the past few weeks as the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have spent money on advertising. Full story

Indiana: New Independent Poll Shows Tied Senate Race

A new poll showed Rep. Joe Donnelly ahead of Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock by 2 points. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Rep. Joe Donnelly (D) led state Treasurer Richard Mourdock (R) by 2 points  — a stastical dead heat — in a new bipartisan poll of the Indiana Senate race released today.

Donnelly led Mourdock 40 percent to 38 percent in the Howey/DePauw University Indiana Battleground Poll. Libertarian candidate Andrew Horning received 7 percent in the survey.

The results mirror several Democratic internal polls released over the past several months. Sensing an opportunity, Democratic groups spent heavily to boost Donnelly’s campaign over the summer. Full story

Missouri: NRSC Expresses Hope Todd Akin Will Defeat Claire McCaskill

(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Republicans continued to circle the wagons behind Rep. Todd Akin (Mo.) in his bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill Tuesday, but it remained unclear if they would reverse course and put money behind his candidacy.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee was the latest to issue a statement today, following an endorsement by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) this morning and a statement of support late Tuesday from Missouri’s other Senator, Republican Roy Blunt.

“There is no question that for Missourians who believe we need to stop the reckless Washington spending, rein in the role of government in people’s lives, and finally focus on growing jobs in this country that Todd Akin is a far more preferable candidate than liberal Senator Claire McCaskill,” NRSC Executive Director Rob Jesmer said.

Full story

Missouri: Jim DeMint, Rick Santorum Throw Support Behind Beleaguered Todd Akin

(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has decided to wade into the Missouri Senate race in support of GOP Rep. Todd Akin.

DeMint is joining former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, a fellow social conservative who sought the Republican presidential nomination this year, in endorsing Akin’s controversial candidacy.

In a statement released through Santorum’s Patriot Voices PAC, DeMint and Santorum made a fundraising appeal for the beleaguered Republican Senate candidate. Full story

Virginia: DSCC Launches First Ad in Senate Race

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is making its first foray into the Virginia Senate race with an ad accusing Republican George Allen of supporting the privatization of Social Security.

The ad, launched today, is part of the committee’s $8 million reservation of TV time in the state on behalf of Democrat Tim Kaine. Kaine has also received significant support from the Democratic-aligned Majority PAC.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has not yet made any independent expenditures in the state but has reserved about $5.5 million of TV time. Republican-aligned groups American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS have spent significant resources to help Allen.

Allen also released a TV ad today featuring a 60-second testimonial from the mother of a Marine killed in Iraq.

The Tossup race between the two former governors is likely to go down to the wire in one of the top presidential and Senate battleground states.

Missouri Senate Race Moves to Leans Democratic as Todd Akin Stays Put

Rep. Todd Akin confirmed once and for all today that he will be the GOP Senate nominee in Missouri. (Whitney Curtis/Getty Images)

Rep. Todd Akin reaffirmed for the final time today that he will be the irrevocable Republican Senate nominee in Missouri, despite the best efforts of national Republicans to get him to step aside after he made now-infamous comments about “legitimate rape.”

At a press conference in St. Louis, where he didn’t take any questions, Akin pledged to push forward in the face of today’s 5 p.m. CDT deadline to remove himself from the ballot.

National Republicans have refused to support Akin ever since he made the widely publicized comments about rape in August, with both the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Republican National Committee saying they will stay out of the race as long as he stays in.

Akin faces Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, who began the cycle as one of the most vulnerable Senators up for re-election. With it now clear that Akin will be on the ballot in November, Roll Call is changing its race rating for the Missouri Senate race from Tossup to Leans Democratic. Full story

DSCC Outraised NRSC in August

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee outraised its Republican counterpart by almost $2 million in August, as both parties fight for control of the Senate.

According to figures released by the committees, the DSCC raised $7.7 million and ended last month with $31 million in cash on hand. The National Republican Senatorial Committee raised about $6 million last month, ending August with close to $29 million in the bank.