CAMPAIGN OVERNIGHT: Kiss and hide?

Rep. Vance McAllister (R-La.) is adhering to a tried — though perhaps not true — strategy to weather the storm he’s facing after a video of him kissing a married staffer emerged: bunker down and hope it passes.

His chief of staff, Adam Terry, told The Hill Wednesday night that McAllister had spent most of the week back in the district with his wife, focusing on mending his family, after the video went public in a local news report on Monday.

{mosads}The video significantly damaged his political standing and caused a number of his former opponents in last year’s special House election where he won his seat to float potential rematches. And it prompted Roger Villere, chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party, to try to get in touch with the congressman Tuesday night and through much of Wednesday to ask for his resignation.

He couldn’t reach McAllister, Terry confirmed to The Hill, and McAllister has no plans to tender his resignation anyway. Instead, he’ll spend the next two weeks “taking some time to be with his wife” and will arrive back at the Capitol for votes when recess ends.

“He’s got a job to do, one he was elected to do and he plans to continue to do that,” Terry said.

Time may heal wounds at home, but if the pressure intensifies on him to resign or another damaging detail emerges, he could be out of time. 

 

SENATE SHOWDOWN

ALASKA/LOUISIANA/MICHIGAN: Freedom Partners, a conservative group backed by the Koch brothers, expanded its attack ads to three new states on Wednesday with new ads hitting Sens. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) for backing ObamaCare.

GEORGIA (OPEN): American Future Fund is reportedly preparing to throw its support behind former Secretary of State Karen Handel (R) in the state’s fractious GOP primary. 

IOWA (OPEN): Republican Iowa Senate candidate Sam Clovis says President Obama’s race is standing in the GOP’s way of its goal to impeach him. A number of people in the House want to start the process, he said in an interview with The Daily Times Herald in Carroll, Iowa. “And I think the reason that they’re not is because they’re concerned about the media,” he said.

A poll of the GOP primary finds Iowa state Rep. Joni Ernst (R) has a narrow 25 percent to 23 percent lead over businessman Mark Jacobs (R) in the state’s primary, with Clovis and two other candidates in the single digits, according to a new Suffolk University poll.

NC-SEN (HAGAN): Tea Party candidate Greg Brannon (R) was endorsed by the Tea Party Patriots on Thursday.

NH-SEN (SHAHEEN): Former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) skipped a New Hampshire GOP primary debate, leading the other Republicans running to hammer him.

Brown is set to retire from the National Guard on June 30.

 

BATTLE FOR THE HOUSE

FL-13 (JOLLY): Newly elected Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.) would start off with a 2-point lead in a potential rematch against Democrat Alex Sink, whom he beat earlier this year, according to a new poll.

MI-3 (AMASH): Businessman Brian Ellis (R) is out with a new ad attacking primary foe Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), saying Amash “is not who you think he is.”

VA-10 (OPEN): Conservative commentator Sean Hannity has endorsed Virginia Del. Barbara Comstock’s (R) House bid, the latest big-name boost to her campaign.

 

FOLLOW THE MONEY

CA-21 (VALADAO): Former Hill staffer Amanda Renteria (D) raised $300,000 in the last three months for her bid against Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) in the Central Valley swing district. She didn’t release her cash on hand numbers.

CO-6 (COFFMAN): Former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff (D) raised $600,000 in the first quarter of 2014 and ended with nearly $2.1 million in the bank for his campaign against Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.). 

DSCC: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee outraised its Republican counterpart by $1.78 million in March, bringing in $8.1 million. That marks the DSCC’s best month of the cycle so far, and leaves the committee with $22.2 million cash on hand and no debt.

RNC: The Republican National Committee raised $10.2 million in March, bringing its quarterly haul to a hefty $25.2 million overall. The group has raised just shy of $106 million since the beginning of 2013, and has $12.3 million in the bank after spending heavily to update its tech and field programs.

GA-SEN (OPEN): Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) raised $1.1 million for his Senate bid, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) raised $326,000 for the quarter, and Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) raised $345,000 and has $230,000 cash on hand. 

MI-SEN (OPEN): Former Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land (R) raised $1.5 million in the last three months, including $100,000 from her own pocket. She’s now raised a total of $5.7 million, including $1.7 million from her own pocket. She didn’t announce her cash on hand figures.

VA-SEN (OPEN): Sen. Mark Warner (D) raised $2.7 million in the first quarter since former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie jumped in. The Democrat has $8.8 million in the bank. 

WV-3 (RAHALL): State Sen. Evan Jenkins (R) raised $200,000 in the first quarter and has $500,000 cash on hand for his bid against Rep. Nick Rahall (D).

HOUSE MAJORITY PAC: The House Democratic super-PAC raised $5.2 million in the first quarter, three times what it raised during the same period in 2012.

 

2016 WATCH

CLINTON: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday said she is “thinking about” a presidential bid. Clinton said she would “continue to think about it for a while” because she is enjoying ordinary life at the moment.

She’ll publish her new memoir June 10, which will share “candid reflections about key moments during her time as Secretary of State as well as her thoughts about how to navigate the challenges of the 21st century.” 

WALKER: Though he’s still working on getting his own, Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) said Wednesday that a college degree is not a requirement for higher office. “I got to be governor without it,” Walker said, according to CNN. “So I don’t think it’s any base requirement out there.” Walker said he’s going for the degree to “send a message encouraging others.”

BIDEN: Vice President Biden will deliver the University of South Carolina’s commencement speech in May, getting him in front of a big audience of young potential voters in the early primary state.

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY 

“I think Steve LaTourette may have eaten a lot of paint chips as a kid.” — Club for Growth spokesman Barney Keller on former Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio), who is running a centrist super-PAC