More 2nd Quarter Fundraising Numbers; Obama WH '12 Team is 'Ready for Hillary'; Palin Floats SEN Bid

National Journal

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WHAT'S NEWS

  • NJ SEN Special: Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) "launched" his "second statewide television ad, 'When'" (PolitickerNJ.com).

  • NJ GOV '13: A new Quinnipiac Univ. poll of RVs, conducted 7/2-7, shows Gov. Chris Christie (R) leading state Sen. Barbara Buono (D), 61-29%. In the previous poll, conducted 6/7-9, Christie led Buono, 59-29% (release).

  • VA GOV '13: MD Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), MD LG Anthony Brown (D) and "other big-name" MD Dems will headline a fundraiser on Wednesday for ex-DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe (D) in Annapolis, MD (Washington Post).

  • NYC Mayor '13: Billionaire John Castimitidis (R), ex-MTA Chair Joe Lhota (R) and The Doe Fund co-founder George McDonald (R) "will kick off efforts this week to create ... so-called third-party ballot lines ... aimed at attracting crossover" Dems and "unaffiliated voters who might be uncomfortable supporting the GOP" (Wall Street Journal).

  • AK SEN: In an interview on "The Sean Hannity Show" on Tuesday, ex-Gov. Sarah Palin (R) "indicated she might throw her hat in the ring" (Huffington Post).

  • HI SEN: Sen. Brian Schatz (D) "raised about" $911K in the second quarter (Honolulu Civil Beat).

  • ME SEN: Sen. Susan Collins (R) raised $1.04M in the second quarter and has $2.09M CoH (Hotline reporting).

  • NC SEN: The NRSC was in Raleigh "on a recruiting trip to find an opponent" for Sen. Kay Hagan (D). NRSC representatives are "talking with" state Senate Pres. Pro Tem Phil Berger (R) and Rep. Renee Ellmers (R), which "suggests" that the party "is not yet completely sold on" state House Speaker Thom Tillis (R) (Raleigh News & Observer).

  • SC SEN: '10 SC-03 candidate/businessman Richard Cash (R) raised $270K in the second quarter and has about $240K CoH (Hotline reporting).

  • AL-01: RNC dep. CoS Wells Griffith (R) "he filed paperwork declaring his candidacy" with the FEC in the expected special election and "would make a formal announcement at a news conference in Mobile next week" (Mobile Press-Register).

  • CO-06: Rep. Mike Coffman (R) raised "more than" $566K in the second quarter and has $855K CoH (KDVR-TV).

  • FL-02: Rep. Steve Southerland (R) raised $461K in the second quarter, "his best quarter ever," though his CoH figures "were not yet available" (Tampa Bay Times).

  • FL-26: Rep. Joe Garcia (D) "raised about" $440K in the second quarter and "has about" $800K CoH (Miami Herald).

  • CA-17: Ex-Obama admin. official Ro Khanna (D) "will announce Wednesday that he raised more than" $1M in the second quarter, though that's "not even Khanna's personal fundraising record" (Washington Post).

  • CA-31: Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar (D) "announced Tuesday night that he raised" $300K in the second quarter and "has almost" $290K CoH (Roll Call).

  • IL-10: Ex-Rep. Robert Dold (R) raised "more than" $540K in the second quarter (Arlington Heights Daily Herald).

  • NH-02: Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (D) raised "nearly" $350K in the second quarter and has $557K CoH (WMUR-TV).

  • MN-02: Rep. John Kline (R) raised $482K in the second quarter and has $1.1M CoH (Minneapolis Star Tribune).

  • SD-AL: Rep. Kristi Noem (R) raised $381K during the second quarter and has $525K CoH (Sioux Falls Argus Leader).

  • WA-05: Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R) raised $320K in the second quarter and "has nearly" $600K CoH (Roll Call).

  • WV-02: Ex-MD GOP Chair Alex Mooney (R) raised $65K in the second quarter and had "more than" $100K CoH (Roll Call). Del. Meshea Poore (D) announced her candidacy on Tuesday (Hagerstown Herald-Mail).

  • HI GOV: State Sen. David Ige (D), "a soft-spoken, deliberative engineer," announced Tuesday he would challenge Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) in a primary, "an unusually risky move for a lawmaker respected for his judgment" (Honolulu Star-Advertiser).

  • IL GOV: Gov. Pat Quinn (D) "raised more than" $1M in the second quarter, while AG Lisa Madigan (D) "raised more than" $600K and ex-WH CoS Bill Daley (D) "raised more than" $790K (Chicago Sun-Times). In total, Madigan has raised "close to" $5M, though she hasn't said whether she'll run (AP).

  • IA GOV: State Rep. Tyler Olson (D) "announced his candidacy Tuesday morning in his hometown" of Cedar Rapids, "then again at events" at the state Capitol and Mason City (Des Moines Register).

  • OH GOV: "Planned Parenthood will begin airing a TV ad" on Wednesday "criticizing" Gov. John Kasich (R) "for signing a two-year state budget which 'targets family planning centers' and specifically prohibits counselors at rape-crisis centers from discussing abortions as an option with victims" (Columbus Dispatch).

  • SC GOV: Ex-NC Dem Chair Andrew Whalen "will manage" state Sen. Vincent Sheheen's (D) camp (Columbia State).

  • WH '16: "The daily operations" of Ready for Hillary "will be overseen" by Obama WH '12 nat'l field dir. Jeremy Bird and Obama WH '12 battleground states dir. Mitch Stewart, in "the latest sign that Ready for Hillary, the super PAC seeking to pave the way" for ex-Sec/State Hillary Clinton (D), "is serious. ... Bird and the team at his new firm, 270 Strategies, will seek to use their on-the-ground organizing methods from the last two Obama campaigns to help bring together Clinton supporters from across the country" (ABC News).

  • WV SEN '16: The NRA "plans to mail" 200K letters to West Virginians this week, "stepping up its attack on" Sen. Joe Manchin (D) "over the gun purchase background check measure he's co-sponsored" (AP).

OUR CALL

Hotline editors weigh in on the stories that drive the day

• BCRA fans, your best-laid plans have gone awry. A momentary dip in spending on political races after the soft money ban took effect in '04 has given way to an explosion of new cash. Together, the two parties spent 833% more on contributions, independent or coordinated expenditures on federal candidates in '12 than they did in '02, the last year soft money was allowed. And that old soft money is finding new ways into politics: Since '02, non-party independent expenditures have risen from $16.2M to $457M, according to the Campaign Finance Institute.

• Mike Rounds should be cheering on any new SD SEN GOP primary challengers: With conservative South Dakota state Rep. Stace Nelson (R) now exploring a Senate run, state Sen. Larry Rhoden (R) announcing a bid today, and physician Annette Bosworth also considering challenging Rounds from the right, it looks like the conservative, anti-Rounds vote in the primary will be splintered.

• Garcia raised an impressive $440,000 last quarter. But it's too early to judge the damage done by the absentee ballot scandal. The Miami Herald first reported on the scandal on May 31, but a string of details and new allegations continued to appear in the press through mid-June, just weeks before the quarter's end. Yes, Garcia had a strong quarter, but he raised $110,000 less than he did in the first three months of the year. Contributions made in the last weeks of June and next quarter's report will be much more instructive.

HAIR OF THE DOG

FRESH BREWED BUZZ

  • "A prominent political donor" gave $70K "to a corporation owned by" VA Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) "and his sister last year," and McDonnell "did not disclose the money as a gift or loan, according to people with knowledge of the payments." Star Scientific CEO Johnnie Williams "also gave a previously unknown" $50K check to VA first lady Maureen McDonnell in '11 (Washington Post).

  • McDonnell son Sean McDonnell was arrested early Saturday in Charlottesville, VA, "on a public drunkenness charge" (Charlottesville Daily Progress).

  • Ex-FL Gov. Charlie Crist (D) "has a book coming out this winter. The title: The Party's Over: How the Extreme Right Hijacked the GOP and I Became a Democrat. Published by Dutton, the book promises to be "a no-holds-barred memoir of his journey from Republican to Democrat. He will name names and offer a frank indictment of the failings of the Republican Party" (Tampa Bay Times).

  • The gov't "watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed" complaints with the IRS, the IN state AG, the U.S. atty for the Southern District of IN, the IN sec/State and the DC Dept. of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs "alleging that" GOP atty Jim Bopp "has violated nonprofit tax laws." Bopp "defended himself when he crashed a conference call for reporters held by CREW" (Huffington Post).

  • "An 'intimate apparel boutique' called Naked Undies is registered" to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's (D-NH) "home address" in Madbury, NH. Shaheen husband Bill Shaheen said "the business is run by their daughter, Molly, and her business partner" (Buzzfeed).

  • Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) is taking his kids to next month's Justin Bieber concert at Verizon Center and turning it into a campaign fundraiser for his Senate account (National Journal).

  • "Baseball cards depicting" George H.W. Bush as a Yale Univ. first baseman "have fetched thousands of dollars each since they were specially-made" for the WH in '90, but "experts now believe that many of cards in circulation were not part of the set presented" to Bush (AP).

  • "A gun rights activist who loaded a shotgun" in downtown DC was arrested in Fairfax Co., VA, late Tuesday (WRC-TV).

  • Ex-LBJ speechwriter Robert Hardesty died Monday in Austin, TX, at the age of 82 (Washington Post).

  • "One week after boosting its broadcasting holdings with the announcement of a deal to purchase 19 television stations, Tribune Co. said Wednesday morning it intends to spin off its publishing business into a separate company. The move would separate Tribune Co.'s publishing assets, including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and six other daily newspapers, from the Chicago-based media company's more profitable broadcasting holdings, ending decades of evolution together under one roof" (Chicago Tribune).

SWIZZLE CHALLENGE

  • The Pelissier Brothers abandoned the Tour de France in 1924 and gave an interview in which they were quoted as saying "we keep going on dynamite" and revealed the use of cocaine, chloroform and other drugs by riders in the Tour.

  • The winner is Bill Pascoe, and here's his Swizzle Challenge: "Only twice since 1866 has one of the two major parties gained more seats in the U.S. Senate than it did in the U.S. House in a midterm election. In which two election years did this happen, which party gained seats, and how many seats did the party gain in each House?" The 3rd correct e-mailer gets to submit the next question.

NJ'S EARLY BIRD SPECIALS

SHOT...

"I can't give you specifics, but believe that it is well in hand" -- Spitzer spokesperson Lisa Linden, on Spitzer's (D) last-ditch efforts to collect enough signatures by Thursday to get on the ballot for NYC comp. (Buzzfeed).

...CHASER

"Remain calm. All is well!" -- "Chip Diller" ("Animal House")

Reid Wilson, Editor-in-Chief

Steven Shepard, Executive Editor