State by State

National

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) is in the process of raising money for more than a dozen of his vulnerable House colleagues, and Michigan GOP Reps. Joe Knollenberg and Tim Walberg are set to be the beneficiaries Thursday.

Knollenberg and Walberg, who emerged as top Democratic targets after surprisingly close reelection bids in 2006, will collect money from an event Thursday afternoon, according to an invitation.

{mosads}The suggested contribution at Upton’s “All Star Team Event” is $1,000 per political action committee and $500 per person.

Upton raised money for Nevada Republican Reps. Dean Heller and Jon Porter last week.

Reps. Phil English (R-Pa.) and Randy Kuhl (R-N.Y.) are on the schedule for June 5.

The only non-incumbent receiving Upton’s help is Ohio candidate Steve Stivers, who is running for retiring Rep. Deborah Pryce’s (R) seat.

— Aaron Blake

Alabama

GOP state Rep. Jay Love broke the Millionaire’s Amendment this week, opening the floodgates to larger individual contributions in the already expensive race for retiring Rep. Terry Everett’s (R) seat.

Love, who previously had come up just under the $350,000 threshold, topped the mark with a $100,000 contribution Tuesday. He reported the sum Wednesday.

State Rep. Harri Anne Smith, oral surgeon Craig Schmidtke and television executive David Woods have all raised more than $100,000 for the GOP primary, and now they will be able to ask those same donors for more money.

Woods has also loaned his campaign $250,000, while Smith and Schmidtke both raised more than $240,000 through the end of March.

The primary will be held June 3.

On the Democratic side, favorite Bobby Bright announced a significant increase in his fundraising Wednesday. The Montgomery mayor raised about $160,000 in the last month and a half after a relatively meager $50,000 raised in the first quarter.

— A.B.

Colorado

Rep. Mark Udall (D) leads former Rep. Bob Schaffer (R) 47-41 in the latest Rasmussen poll, a slight shift from previous polling on the race, which has frequently showed the two in a statistical tie.

Democrats contended that Schaffer’s drop shows the impact of the recent revelations that Schaffer went on a trip to the Mariana Islands that was partially arranged by jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s firm.

The shift is modest, though. Udall led by three points in a poll released April 16, and the two were never outside the margin of error until Wednesday.

— A.B.

Democrat Betsy Markey leads Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R) 43-36 in a poll released by Markey’s campaign Wednesday.

The poll, conducted by Washington pollster Bennett, Petts and Normington, shows Musgrave with a 37 percent favorable rating and a 48 percent unfavorable rating.

Markey is one of the top Democratic hopes in 2008. Musgrave survived the 2006 election with just 46 percent of the vote, while a Democrat and a Reform Party candidate split the rest.

There is no third-party candidate this time around.

— A.B.

Kentucky

Former gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Lunsford withstood a spirited primary challenge from businessman Greg Fischer on Tuesday, winning the Democratic nomination to face Sen. Mitch McConnell (R).

Fischer was well-funded and looked to be closing on Lunsford early in the race. But despite a series of late attack ads from Fischer, Lunsford held on to his lead and prevailed.

According to unofficial results Wednesday, Lunsford led Fischer 51-34.

Lunsford has run in a pair of Democratic gubernatorial primaries, in 2003 and 2007, winning neither.

The race against McConnell is considered a second-tier target for Democrats, who saw a series of other candidates pass on the race.

A Lexington Herald-Leader/WKYT poll from earlier this month showed McConnell leading Lunsford 48-36.

In House primaries, state Sen. David Boswell defeated Daviess County Judge-Executive Reid Haire in the Democratic primary for retiring Rep. Ron Lewis’s (R) open seat. Boswell won 59-41 and will face state Sen. Brett Guthrie, who was unopposed in the GOP primary and should be favored in the conservative-leaning district.

Former Rep. Anne Northup (R) easily won the GOP nomination with more than three-fourths of the vote and will face freshman Rep. John Yarmuth (D), who took her seat in 2006.

Northup entered the race when a previous GOP recruit was called to active duty in the Army Reserves. She unsuccessfully challenged then-Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R) in a 2007 primary.

— A.B.

Missouri

Former Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes (D) has some work to do if she wants to make it a close race against Rep. Sam Graves (R), according to a poll released this week by SurveyUSA.

Graves led Barnes 49-39 in the first public poll on the race, which has emerged as a top Democratic target thanks to Barnes’s decision to seek the seat.

Despite the early attention and Barnes’s two terms as mayor, though, she led by only one point in the Kansas City area. Graves carried the other areas of the district handily.

Graves two weeks ago went up with an ad that showed three actors meant to be San Francisco liberals dancing in a club and criticized Barnes associating with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Barnes hit back last week with an ad labeling Graves “pathetic.”

— A.B.

Oregon

State Rep. Jeff Merkley won the Democratic primary and the right to face Sen. Gordon Smith (R) on Tuesday, topping activist Steve Novick in a hard-fought contest.

Also, in Oregon’s open House race, GOP businessman Mike Erickson beat former gubernatorial candidate Kevin Mannix and will face state Sen. Kurt Schrader for retiring Rep. Darlene Hooley’s (D) seat.

Merkley led Novick 46-42, according to unofficial results available Wednesday.

He now enters a general-election match-up that began before the primary was over. Despite the close nature of the Democratic race, Smith and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) spent nearly $1 million trading barbs over the airwaves this month.

Smith isn’t letting up either, as he released more ads Tuesday touting his centrist credentials and support from some Oregon Democrats.

The Democratic nominee is the state House Speaker, and he helped deliver big electoral gains for Democrats in the state legislature in 2006. He previously worked in Washington, in the Pentagon and in Congress.

Novick was frequently dismissed early on as a novelty candidate, while national Democrats mined Oregon for a bigger and better candidate to reclaim the blue state from Smith. In the end, he nearly knocked off the establishment candidate.

Smith was elected with 50 percent of the vote in 1996 and reelected with 56 percent in 2002, a strong year for Republicans.

A DSCC poll released Wednesday echoed a previous Rasmussen poll, showing Smith leading Merkley 45-42.

In the House race, Erickson withstood late accusations from Mannix that Erickson had used drugs and paid for a woman to abort a pregnancy he caused. He led Mannix 49-46, according to unofficial results.

The Portland Oregonian reported after Erickson’s win that Mannix said he would not support Erickson in the general election, calling him a “dishonest man.”

Schrader easily defeated retired social worker Nancy Moran and former gubernatorial aide Steve Marks in the Democratic primary.

Hooley’s 5th congressional district is a bona fide swing district.

— A.B.