State by State

National

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) has been chosen to chair the 2008 President’s Dinner, National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.) announced Wednesday.

The dinner will be held June 18 and is a top fundraiser for the Republicans’ House and Senate campaign committees. The fundraising goal is $7 million.

{mosads}Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) will serve as vice chairman, and more than two dozen members will serve as “team captains.”

“This event will help raise the funds necessary to support our incumbents and ensure that voters in the 61 Bush districts that are held by Democrats know the facts about the empty promises of Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi’s [D-Calif.] Congress,” Hensarling said.

— Aaron Blake

Florida

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will attend a fundraiser in Coral Gables this weekend for Raul Martinez, the candidate Democrats hope can unseat Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R), according to The Miami Herald.

South Florida Democrats say Pelosi’s presence shows the priority House Democrats are placing on the race between Diaz-Balart and Martinez, the former mayor of Hialeah, the fifth-largest city in Florida. While Diaz-Balart is favored, he’s facing a well-known Cuban-American politician with a track record of winning elections.

Getting close to the colorful and controversial Martinez could also pose some risks to Pelosi, however. Martinez was convicted in 1991 on extortion charges, but successfully appealed. That hasn’t stopped Republicans from criticizing Democrats for making the mayor their candidate, which they said runs against their promise to end a culture of corruption in Washington.

Diaz-Balart is one of three Cuban-American Republicans who have easily won reelections to several terms in Congress.

The others are his brother, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), who are also facing strong Democratic challengers. This is the first time Democrats have seriously challenged the trio.

— Ian Swanson

Kansas

Sen. Pat Roberts (R) came out swinging on the air this week after former Rep. Jim Slattery (D) officially announced his candidacy for Roberts’s seat.

A new Roberts radio ad labels Slattery a “Gucci loafer”-wearing liberal and a Washington lobbyist. It points out that he lost a campaign for governor in the 1990s.

It also speculates that Slattery might have picked Georgetown University in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, instead of his home-state Kansas Jayhawks — a nod to his time in Washington.

In the ad, one actor asks: “Did he even pick Kansas in the NCAA?”

“Or was he for Georgetown?” another asks incredulously.

“It’s sad that gas costs $3.50 a gallon, we have troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the economy is tanking, and Pat Roberts starts off his campaign with a negative ad,” said Slattery spokeswoman Abbie Hodgson. “Clearly, he’s more concerned with keeping his job than fighting for Kansas jobs.”

The Kansas race is considered a lower-tier pickup opportunity for Senate Democrats, but Roberts’s approval numbers aren’t sterling and Democrats have made significant gains in the state in recent years.

— A.B.

Kentucky

A new SurveyUSA poll in the Democratic Senate primary shows businessman Greg Fischer narrowing the gap on former gubernatorial candidate Bruce Lunsford but still trailing 43-18.

Lunsford led 47-9 in the same poll two weeks ago.

The last poll was conducted during Fischer’s first statewide ad buy in mid-April. The latest poll was conducted during the launch of his ad attacking Lunsford’s time as an executive of a nursing home company that evicted elderly patients and allegedly submitted false Medicaid claims.

A smattering of other candidates takes about one-third of the vote, while just 6 percent call themselves undecided.

The primary is set for May 20, alongside the Democratic presidential primary.

— A.B.

Minnesota

Attorney Mike Ciresi (D) this week left open the possibility that he might jump back in the Minnesota Senate race if tax issues continue to plague comedian Al Franken (D).

A series of stories on Franken’s tax history have called into question a campaign that was on course to win the Democratic nomination and provide Sen. Norm Coleman (R) with a tough challenge.

“I prefer to reserve my comments and judgment until the facts come out,” Ciresi told the Minneapolis Star Tribune when asked if he might jump back in. “At this point, I really can’t predict what the future might bring. You take a look at events and make judgments and decisions.”

The filing deadline is July 15. The primary election is Sept. 9. Franken and Ciresi both previously agreed to abide by the state party’s June endorsing convention.

Franken announced Tuesday that he would pay $70,000 in back taxes in 17 states. That came on top of his failure to pay for workers’ compensation for employees in New York and his failure to file corporate tax returns in California.

Ciresi cleared the way for Franken by withdrawing from the race last month. Franken still faces Professor Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer in the Democratic race.

— A.B.

New Jersey

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D) leads Rep. Robert Andrews (D) 35-20 in their primary match-up, according to a poll released Wednesday by Monmouth University’s Polling Institute.

The gap still favors Lautenberg significantly, but it is much narrower than a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) poll from early this month, which showed Lautenberg ahead 52-21. The DSCC is supporting the incumbent.

The newest poll showed Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello at 4 percent and, perhaps most importantly, a high number of unaligned voters. Eight percent had no preference, 6 percent wanted someone else, and 28 percent called themselves undecided.

Andrews said the poll shows his campaign has “a tremendous opportunity to make our case to the people of the state.”

“And we also see a sense that, with so many undecided voters … people want to see debates,” he said. “It’s extraordinary to have an incumbent senator where two-thirds of the voters in a primary aren’t for him.”

Andrews is also still unknown to 56 percent of Democratic voters. The primary is June 3, so he has just more than a month to change that.

Lautenberg’s favorability is much better, with 55 percent rating him favorably and 19 percent unfavorably. Andrews registered a 13-15 favorable-unfavorable.

Lautenberg spokeswoman Julie Roginsky said: “Congressman Andrews has an upside-down approval rating … and most New Jersey Democrats are unfamiliar with him. That’s quite a negative to overcome with five weeks left.”

Lautenberg’s campaign launched its first radio ads Wednesday, attacking Andrews for allegedly saying one thing and doing another on issues including the Iraq war.

The poll surveyed 720 registered voters, with a sample period of April 24-28.

It also tested the GOP primary, in which former Rep. Dick Zimmer led with 25 percent, state Sen. Joseph Pennacchio took 5 percent and Professor Murray Sabrin took 4 percent.

— A.B.