BUT CAN YOU HELP?
Or mail checks to
FreeRepublic
LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO
CA 93794
STOP BY A BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD
It's on the Breaking News Sidebar
Posted on 07/09/2003 11:26:55 PM PDT by LdSentinal
WEST
Nevada. Rep. Jim Gibbons, possibly Republicans’ best hope for defeating Democratic Sen. Harry Reid in 2004, is due to arrive in Iraq today as part of a fact-finding mission.
Gibbons, who is traveling to Iraq with other members of the House Select Committee on Intelligence -- Chairman Porter Goss (Fla.) and Democrats Jane Harman (Calif.) and Bud Cramer (Ala.) -- is in his fourth term. He won reelection in 2002 with 74 percent of the vote.
Nevada Republicans say Gibbons would make a good Senate candidate because he has high name recognition and his district encompasses most of the state. Gibbons spokeswoman Amy Spanbauer said Gibbons is considering the race but "is not making any decisions until later this summer or the fall."
THE PLAINS
South Dakota. Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle will launch a $31,000, two-week television campaign tomorrow promoting his work on an ethanol bill that supporters say would create jobs in South Dakota.
Republicans portrayed the ads, which will run on three Sioux Falls stations, as purely political. "South Dakota voters are looking for a rest period," Minnehaha County GOP head R. Shawn Tornow said.
Tornow added that voters are focused on "the war effort, supporting the troops and the economy. They're not terribly worried about Daschle's political career."
Daschle's campaign manager, Steve Hildebrand, countered: "If the Republicans want us to talk about the economy, we'll talk about the economy. This legislation would triple the use of ethanol in our country."
SOUTH
Arkansas. Former Benton County Sheriff Andy Lee said Monday he will likely wait until late August or early September to decide whether to challenge Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln next year.
But Lee did say he's "leaning pretty strong on it." He added that e-mailed Marty Ryall, head of the Arkansas Republicans, after the July Fourth weekend to say he's interested in a race.
A Republican from the conservative northwest corner of the state, Lee said he'd like to take care of "a couple lawsuits" that have been filed against him before making up his mind. The lawsuits are defamation cases from his days as county sheriff, he said. Lee added that he faced more than 200 suits during his time in office.
The former sheriff also said his timing has nothing to do with Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee, the state GOP's favorite to take on the first-term Lincoln. Huckabee has indicated he will wait until September to decide whether to run for the Senate seat.
So far, Lee is hardly known outside Benton County. "We need to eliminate every federal agency we can," he said.
Kentucky. In what's become something of a biennial ritual, Democrats in the 3rd Congressional District, encompassing Louisville and surrounding areas, are gearing up to take on Republican Rep. Anne Northup.
While no one has officially jumped in the House race, at least three Democrats are taking a hard look -- Jack Conway, who ran against Northup in 2002; Tony Miller, the Jefferson County Circuit Court clerk; and Lt. Gov. Steve Henry.
The district, which includes a large black community and a strong labor presence, is "one of the most competitive districts in the country, and one that we plan on taking back," Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Greg Speed said.
Northup has said she'll need $3 million to win reelection in 2004. On Monday, her chief of staff, Terry Carmack, declined to say how much the four-term congresswoman had reeled in during the second quarter until the formal reporting deadline of July 15.
North Carolina. Overpowering his primary foes, Republican financial consultant Jay Helvey says he has amassed $466,000 in his bid to replace GOP Rep. Richard Burr, in the state's 5th Congressional District.
Helvey's chief primary opponents, Winston-Salem City Councilor Vernon Robinson, and state Sen. Virginia Foxx have raised $250,000 and $150,000, respectively.
Burr, a five-term congressman, is leaving the House to run for Democrat John Edwards's Senate seat. Edwards, who is running for president, has not said whether he will seek a second term.
Greg Speed, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman, all but conceded that the next representative from the district would be decided in the Republican primary.
"I donâ't know if any Dem is looking" at the race, Speed said. "But that is a very GOP seat."
Other Republicans in the primary include attorney and former Senate candidate Jim Snyder, businessman and radio host Nathan Tabor and attorney and former lobbyist Ed Powell.
Tabor may spend $500,000 of his own money on a campaign; for now, he's waiting to see how the race unfolds.
South Carolina. State Democratic chairman Joe Erwin told The Hill this week that "several" Democrats are lining up to run for the Senate if Sen. Ernest Hollings fails to seek an eighth term next year.
Erwin would not disclose names. But Inez Tenenbaum, South Carolina's superintendent of education, has been among those mentioned as a possible Democratic contender.
State Sen. Tom Moore, from Clearwater, also would make for a good candidate, Democratic state Sen. John Land III, the minority leader in Columbia, said Monday.
"He gave some thought to running for the seat Lindsay Graham won," Land said of Moore. Graham won his first Senate term in 2002.
While many Republicans and Democrats in Washington and South Carolina have been saying for months that Hollings, 81, would retire in 2004, Land raised doubts. He said that in his last conversation with Hollings the senator said he is not stepping down.
VVirginia. Democrat Andrew Rosenberg is leading the pack of primary challengers looking to take on Rep. Jim Moran (D), in the state's 8th Congressional District.
Rosenberg, an Alexandria attorney, said Monday he has raised $155,000 from more than 500 donors. Kate Hanley, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors chairwoman, has raised $142,000.
"What a fast fundraising start means to us is that we will have the resources necessary to bring a serious and competitive challenge to Moran and that we can turn our focus at this point on the issues," Rosenberg said.
Moran, a seven-term Democrat, will not release his fundraising information for the second quarter of 2003 until the Federal Election Commission July 15 deadline, his spokesman, Dan Drummond, said.
Drummond said Moran -- who came under fire earlier this year for saying American Jews were partly responsible for leading the nation to war against Iraq -- is focused on "serving his constituents," and not the forthcoming primary contest.
Melissa Martin, the only declared Republican in the House race, has reeled in about $20,000. Former Al Gore aide Jeremy Bash and state Sen. Leslie Byrne also are likely to run in a crowded Democratic primary.
EAST
Pennsylvania. Democratic Rep. Joe Hoeffel is likely to jump into the Senate race against Republican Sen. Arlen Specter in the next week, Pennsylvania Democratic Party head Don Morabito said.
"We're hopeful he's going to run," Morabito said. Hoeffel would be tough to beat in a primary if he joins the race, Morabito added.
Hoeffel spokesman Frank Custer confirmed that the three-term congressman from the Philadelphia suburbs would likely make a decision within days.
Democrats hope that Republican Rep. Pat Toomey's primary challenge to Specter will weaken the senator, now in his fourth term, before he gets to the general election.
Specter spokesman Chris Nichols estimated Specter had raised more than $8 million for next year's election.
Jay Helvey is running in the 5th District, which includes Mount Airy, better known as Andy Griffith's Mayberry.
Jay Helvey's campaign manager is a lawyer named Matlock.
She (Matlock) is very pretty!
His actual fundraising has been anemic...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.