OVERNIGHT CAMPAIGN: Biden gaffes up Iowa return

Vice President Biden gaffed up his return to Iowa, a sign of the troubles he’d face if he decides to undertake a third presidential bid.

Biden referred to parts of Asia as “the Orient” during his speech to a group of liberal Catholic nuns, drawing GOP rebukes, just hours after he apologized for the use of the controversial term “shylock” that drew criticism from Jewish groups.

{mosads}Both overshadowed Biden’s visit to the Hawkeye State, which was largely seen as a testing of the waters after making a similar trip to New Hampshire earlier this year. Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) were both in the state this week, and Biden hasn’t hidden his own presidential ambitions.

These comments specifically might not haunt him long (or in Biden parlance, they may not be a BFD). But if this week is any preview, it will be a rocky ride for the gaffe-prone vice president.

 

SENATE SHOWDOWN

GA-SEN (OPEN): Neil Bush, son of former President George H.W. Bush and head of a charity that was run by Senate candidate Michelle Nunn (D), called “shameful” and “disrespectful” an ad businessman David Perdue’s (R) campaign and the National Republican Senatorial Committee is running accusing the charity of giving “money to organizations linked to terrorists.”

KY-SEN (MCCONNELL): Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes got a boost from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who praised her for her “commitment to coal” in a statement issued by the campaign. Republicans took aim at Grimes for appearing at a fundraiser where billionaire Warren Buffett was scheduled to speak via conference call. One of Buffett’s companies is closing a plant in Kentucky, costing the state jobs. Grimes’s campaign said the invite listing Buffett as a speaker was incorrect, however, and he isn’t involved in the event.

NH-SEN (SHAHEEN): American Democracy Legal Fund, a group with ties to American Bridge, wrote a letter to the IRS calling for an investigation into Republican Scott Brown’s campaign expenses, pointing to “haircuts and nail maintenance” that the letter says are “inherently personal expenses, and repeatedly have been determined to be non-deductible.”

SOUTHERN STATES: The path to a GOP Senate majority runs through the South — and Republicans are feeling good about most of their races down there.

OUTSIDE GROUPS: The pro-Clinton group Ready for Hillary is dispatching field staffers to 14 states with competitive Senate and gubernatorial races this fall, and sent out a fundraising email for Rep. Bruce Braley’s (D-Iowa) Senate campaign.

NRSC: Senate Republicans have agreed to transfer more than $3 million in personal campaign funds to the National Republican Senatorial Committee after a plea from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), according to the Washington Examiner. 

 

BATTLE FOR THE HOUSE

DCCC: Rush Limbaugh’s spokesman slammed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for using his comments on rape in a fundraising email, calling it “a disturbing and cynical attempt to fundraise from the serious problem of sexual abuse.”

NY-21 (OPEN): Democrat Aaron Woolf owed the state of New York more than $130,000 in back taxes, interest and penalties from 2005-2007 related to his health food business, according to conservative news site the Washington Free Beacon.

 

AD WATCH

AK-SEN (BEGICH): Republican Dan Sullivan’s campaign is out with an ad featuring an X Games snowmobile (or snowmachine, in Alaskan parlance) star attacking Sen. Mark Begich’s (D-Alaska) voting record and accusing him of “pretending to drive” a snowmobile in an earlier ad. Begich fired back, saying he “rode it for a long time out there and in weather that was very cold that day to the point where I frostbit part of my ear.”

AR-SEN (PRYOR)/NC-SEN (HAGAN)/CO-SEN (UDALL): The NRA is out with ads saying Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and North Carolina Speaker Thom Tillis (R) “will stand up for us against President Obama’s extreme gun control agenda.”

IA-SEN (OPEN): Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) cuts an ad for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce praising Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst (R).

Planned Parenthood hits Ernst on employer-covered birth control in a new spot.

American Crossroads hits Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) on the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

GA-SEN (OPEN): Businessman David Perdue (R) has a new ad featuring his cousin, former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R), singing his praises.

CA-21 (VALADAO): Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) is out with a spot touting his background as a farmer and son of immigrants.

FL-18 (MURPHY): Rep. Patrick Murphy’s (D) newest ad features Republicans touting his work for the district and endorsing him for reelection, while Republican Carl Domino released a new ad fashioned after a preview for an action movie.

IL-12 (ENYART): Illinois state Rep. Mike Bost (R) responds to attack ads showing him yelling on the statehouse floor, saying he’s “disappointed and even angry about the direction” Democrats are taking the country.

TX-23 (GALLEGO): Rep. Pete Gallego (D-Texas) touts his work to improve the Department of Veterans Affairs in a new ad. 

AZ-01 (KIRKPATRICK): The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee charges Republican Andy Tobin voted to cut funds for child protective services and suggests that caused hundreds of cases of abuse to go uninvestigated. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick’s (D) new ad hits Tobin for “letting special interests walk all over us.”

 

POLL POSITION

NATIONAL: A new New York Times/CBS News poll shows President Obama’s approval rating is at 40 percent with 50 percent disapproving, and Republicans leading the generic congressional ballot 45 percent to 39 percent among likely voters.

IA-SEN (OPEN): Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst (R) leads Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) 50 percent to 44 percent in a new live-caller poll from Quinnipiac University. 

A Fox News poll has them tied at 41 percent apiece with likely voters, in line with what most other public and private polling has shown.

AK-SEN (BEGICH): Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) leads Republican Dan Sullivan 41 percent to 36 percent with likely voters, according a live-caller poll conducted for the AFL-CIO.

CO-SEN (UDALL): A Suffolk University/USA Today poll gives Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) 42 percent support among likely voters to Rep. Cory Gardner’s 43 percent, within the poll’s 4.4 percentage point margin of error. The rest of the candidates on the ballot earn about 5 percent of the vote, and another 10 percent of respondents remain undecided. Udall’s campaign manager tweeted that the campaign’s last two internal polls have shown him leading by 5 and 6 points.

NC-SEN (HAGAN): Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) leads North Carolina Speaker Thom Tillis (R) 41 percent to 36 percent in a new Fox News poll, with Libertarian Sean Haugh at 6 percent support.

NY-11 (GRIMM): A poll conducted by Siena College for NY 1 News and Capital New York gives Rep. Michael Grimm (R) 44 percent support to Democrat Domenic Recchia’s 40 percent support among likely voters, with Green Party candidate Henry Bardel taking 4 percent and another 12 percent are undecided. 

CA-17 (BERA): Former Rep. Doug Ose (R-Calif.) leads Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) 48 percent to 44 percent among likely voters, according to an internal poll from Ose’s campaign obtained by The Hill.

 

2016 RUMBLINGS

BIDEN: Vice President Biden will hold a roundtable discussion on domestic violence in Denver this Friday.

CHRISTIE/WALKER: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) will stump with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), who’s facing a tough reelection battle, later this month.

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“You know what I say? ‘That’s my boy Grimm.’ Nobody is perfect. He didn’t murder anyone.” — a Staten Island constituent defending Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), who’s facing indictment but is still in his House race