CAMPAIGN OVERNIGHT: Mississippi Senate GOP primary up for grabs

In perhaps this cycle’s truest Tea Party-versus-establishment fight, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and his primary challenger, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, revealed this weekend why the outcome of the Mississippi Senate Republican primary is still anybody’s guess.

McDaniel’s undisciplined campaign struggled to tamp down growing controversy surrounding an apparent supporter who was arrested Friday night for allegedly taping Cochran’s infirm wife, Rose, in her nursing home room and then posting the clip on the Web in an apparent hit against Cochran.

{mosads}The controversy has overshadowed all other story lines in the race in its final days and left McDaniel explaining and re-explaining his version of events through the weekend and into the week, at a time when his attention would likely be better spent elsewhere.

But Cochran spent the third weekend out from the primary off the campaign trail, canceling all of his Saturday events and leaving the state on Sunday. It was an odd choice for an incumbent charged of being out-of-touch with his state, and one who’s faced questions about where he calls his home.

A poll from a pro-McDaniel group out Monday showed him up 4 points over Cochran.

But with two weeks left, and McDaniel still back on his heels, the outcome is far from certain.

SENATE SHOWDOWN

AK-SEN (BEGICH): Put Alaskans First, a super-PAC supporting Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska), is out with an ad featuring a hunter accusing Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan of wanting to give the federal government more control over Alaska’s wilderness. 

KY-SEN (MCCONNELL): This one’s only beginning, folks. Allies of the Senate minority leader have already purchased $5.2 million in ad time after tonight’s primary as the messy contest against Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes officially begins.

NC-SEN (HAGAN): Crossroads GPS’s new ad in North Carolina attacks Sen. Kay Hagan (D) on ObamaCare.

BATTLE FOR THE HOUSE

AL-6 (OPEN): The Club for Growth launched an ad hammering Will Brooke, a businessman running in a crowded GOP primary to replace Rep. Spencer Bachus (R), for donations he’s made to Democrats in the past. “That’s liberal, that’s Will Brooke,” the ad says. The Club has endorsed orthopedic surgeon Dr. Chad Mathis in the race.

MI-11 (BENTIVOLIO): Rep. Kerry Bentivolio’s (R-Mich.) campaign manager has resigned, the latest troubling sign for his primary prospects.

CA-31 (OPEN): A mysterious group calling itself Cal Voters for Honest Government is helping to boost former Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.) with mail ads and phone calls but isn’t disclosing how much it’s spending, a violation of campaign finance law.

VA-8 (OPEN): Mark Levine, who’s running in the crowded Democratic primary to replace Rep. James Moran (D-Va.), said he’s planning to “spend a minimum of several hundred thousand dollars over the next three weeks on TV alone,” according to The Washington Post.

WV-3 (RAHALL): A new survey from Rep. Nick Rahall’s (D-W.Va.) campaign shows him holding a 13-point lead over Republican opponent, state Sen. Evan Jenkins, and taking more than 50 percent of the vote. The poll, obtained by The Hill from a source close to the campaign, was conducted by Democratic polling firm Anzalone Liszt and gives Rahall 52 percent support among likely voters, to Jenkins’s 39 percent support.

NRCC: National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and the NRCC are launching the “Drive to 245,” with the goal of netting a dozen House seats and growing the GOP’s majority to one of the largest in the last century.

NEW DEMS: The centrist New Democrat Coalition is throwing its weight behind five new House candidates, endorsing Dr. Manan Trivedi (D) in his race for retiring Rep. Jim Gerlach’s (R-Pa.) seat, Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar (D), who’s in a crowded primary to succeed Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.), Emily Cain, who’s running to succeed Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine), former Virginia Lt. Gov. Don Beyer (D), who’s running for retiring Rep. Jim Moran’s (D-Va.) seat, and Kathleen Kane’s (D) bid to succeed retiring Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.)

2016 WATCH

PENCE PUSHES HEALTHCARE REFORM: Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) called on his fellow conservatives to offer healthcare solutions in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute, though his own Medicaid plan has been criticized by some on the right.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I have an angel out there,” Baca said. “I don’t know who it is.”

—Former Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.) of the secretive group backing his bid