In New Jersey, where Democratic Reps. Steve Rothman and Bill Pascrell are facing off in a bitter primary, polls close at 8 p.m.
{mosads}Polls close at 11 p.m. in California, where there are two member-vs.-member match-ups for Democrats: Reps. Howard Berman vs. Brad Sherman and Janice Hahn vs. Laura Richardson. Fates of the lawmakers in both races are expected to be decided in November as the state’s “jungle primary” system sends the top two voter-getters (regardless of party) to the general election.
TOMORROW’S AGENDA TODAY: President Obama heads to California for a series of campaign fundraisers — two in San Francisco and two in Los Angeles. Vice President Biden will be campaigning in North Carolina while first lady Michelle Obama will attend a fundraiser in New York City and meet with campaign volunteers in Philadelphia.
TWEET OF THE DAY: “President Reagan died on June 5, 2004. Let’s win one for the Gipper!” — Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.).
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Joe would make a great president, I always felt. I don’t know whether this is his last campaign.” — Jill Biden on the “Today Show.”
POLL POSITION:
Two new generic-ballot polls show Democrats with a slight edge over Republicans in House races. A poll by Democratic firm Public Policy Polling showed that 48 percent of registered voters prefer that more Democrats are elected to Congress than Republicans. And a CNN/ORC poll showed a generic Democrat leading a generic Republican by 3 points.
AD WATCH:
A new $7 million ad buy from Crossroads GPS accuses President Obama of “reckless spending” and will air across key swing states.
BATTLE FOR THE HOUSE:
Arizona: The National Republican Congressional Committee has a new television ad warning voters not to trust Ron Barber, the Democratic nominee in a special election to replace former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.). The ad accuses Barber of supporting President Obama, cap and trade and healthcare reform. A GOP source said the NRCC has reserved $825,000 of airtime in total for the special election, including about $100,000 for the latest ad. The election between Barber and Republican Jesse Kelly will take place on Tuesday.
Pennsylvania: Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.) and his Democratic challenger, Manan Trivedi, released dueling internal polls on Monday showing very different results. Gerlach’s poll had him up with a huge lead, while Trivedi’s more recent poll shows a close race.
SENATE SHOWDOWN:
Connecticut: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has endorsed former Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) in the GOP primary to replace retiring Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). McCain and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) attended a fundraiser Monday for Shays in Washington, where McCain backed the former congressman. McCain appears to have moved past a remark Shays made in 2008, when McCain was the GOP presidential nominee. The Yale Daily News reported that Shays said McCain couldn’t win because he had “lost his brand as a maverick” and failed to live up to his vow to run a clean campaign.
Missouri: Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) on Tuesday said that GOP amendments to Senate legislation have been making her life miserable, and charged Republicans with trying to get her to vote against her own mother.
Missouri Part Deux: Businessman John Brunner released the first negative ad of the GOP Senate primary in Missouri, accusing Rep. Todd Akin (Mo.) and former state Treasurer Sarah Steelman of manufacturing public debt. But Brunner’s campaign insisted that it isn’t a negative ad because it didn’t use ominous music or grainy, unflattering pictures of his opponents. A source tracking the ad market said Brunner has reserved just under $200,000 to air the ad for a week. Brunner’s campaign declined to say whether the candidate had self-funded the ad.
North Dakota: Democrat Heidi Heitkamp is out with a powerful new ad about child rape in which she highlights her work as North Dakota’s attorney general and declares that “government should never wait to do what’s right.”
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Our colleague over at GOP12, Christian Heinze, has a guide to the battleground state of Virginia.
Former President Clinton broke with President Obama over the Bush-era tax rates, saying he has “no problem” with extending them temporarily. Obama only wants to extend the Bush tax rate for middle-class taxpayers — not for the wealthy — when the rates expire on Jan. 1.
Mitt Romney hammered Obama over the economy and jobs Tuesday in the Republican nominee’s first public appearance since disappointing jobs numbers were released Friday morning. Romney said blame for the economy’s continued struggles resided squarely with the incumbent president, and not the man only a few miles down the road from the Fort Worth, Texas, event — former President George W. Bush.
Obama’s campaign slammed Romney for setting a “double standard” to evaluate economic growth, blasting him with a series of three new infographics comparing the U.S. economy to that of Massachusetts’s and a video featuring Obama’s deputy campaign manager, Stephanie Cutter, charging Romney with “breath-taking” hypocrisy.
Romney is ramping up efforts to appeal to Hispanic voters, releasing a new Web ad Tuesday directly rebutting a Spanish-language campaign ad from Obama that asserts the country is on “the right path.”
A solar panel manufacturer that received state loans during Romney’s time as governor of Massachusetts has filed for bankruptcy, prompting Democrats to argue that the Republican presidential nominee has been hypocritical in his attacks on the Obama administration’s loans to failed green-energy company Solyndra.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called on Romney to clarify his position on the Paycheck Fairness Act, and said it is “shameful” that he and other Republicans are not supporting the Democratic bill. The measure failed in the Senate on Tuesday afternoon.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) broke with Romney and some Capitol Hill Republicans by expressing support for federal green-energy programs, including the one that provided loan help to the now-bankrupt Solyndra.
The Clark County, Nev., Republican Party has erected a billboard in Las Vegas criticizing Romney and touting presidential hopeful Ron Paul, the latest sign of a fractious and dysfunctional state party structure in the crucial swing state.
The Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday committed to making the “Happiest Place On Earth” a little healthier, crediting first lady Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity work in announcing revisions to nutrition standards at theme parks and resorts nationwide.
And Michelle Obama stopped short of endorsing New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s controversial proposed ban of sugary drinks sold in quantities greater than 16 ounces in restaurants and public venues within New York City.
Clinton mocked Republicans on Monday night for considering communism a current threat to the country. According to the former president, “Nobody has seen a communist in over a decade.”
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will attend a “Mad Men”-themed gala dinner Tuesday night in Washington hosted by the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute.
The judge in baseball star Roger Clemens‘s perjury trial said Monday that defense lawyers would not be allowed to call House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) as a witness.
Please send tips and comments to Emily Goodin, egoodin@digital-staging.thehill.com; Cameron Joseph, cjoseph@digital-staging.thehill.com; Josh Lederman, jlederman@digital-staging.thehill.com; and Justin Sink, jsink@digital-staging.thehill.com
Follow us on Twitter: @hillballotbox, @emilylgoodin, @cam_joseph, @josh_lederman, @JTSTheHill
You can sign up to receive this overnight update via email on The Hill’s homepage.