Veterans Group To McConnell: Take Down Ad That Uses Our Name
The Military Order of the Purple Heart is demanding that the campaign of Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell pull an ad in which a McConnell supporter identifies himself as a member of the organization and appears to speak on its behalf:

"I am a member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the official organization of combat-wounded veterans," says Lee Moore. "Our veterans demand an investigation into the negligent care that Bruce Lunsford's clinics provided." Moore then goes on to accuse Lunsford of manipulating an 83-year old veteran who appeared in a Lunsford ad defending the candidate. Lee Moore is not a spokesman for the group, and furthermore its bylaws forbid it from being involved in partisan politics.

Poll: Dem Narrowly Ahead For Heather Wilson's House Seat
A new Albuquerque Journal poll shows a close race for the open seat of Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM), who left the seat open when she ran unsuccessfully in the GOP primary for the Senate. The numbers: Democratic Martin Heinrich 43%, Republican Darren White 41%, within the ±4.9% margin of error.

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With the economy continuing to dominate the political discourse, Republicans are taking two tacks: Proclaiming their heroism in killing the bailout, or just plain changing the subject.

Bachmann: Pelosi's Speech Did Not Make Us Vote No
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is directly contradicting the party leadership's notion that Nancy Pelosi's speech yesterday led to Republicans voting against the bailout. "I want to assure you that was not the case," Bachmann said at a Republican Study Committee press conference yesterday. "We are not babies who suck our thumbs. We have very principled reasons for voting no."

Davis Iglesias Bashes GOP House Nominee
Here's a video making the rounds, in which former U.S. Attorney goes after Darren White, the Republican nominee for the close open seat of Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM), for overzealously wanting to prosecute accusations of voter fraud:

"So I've been very disappointed in Darren. He doesn't understand his duties as a sheriff," Iglesias says. "He put -- and this is why I'm very critical about people like Gonzales -- they put loyalty to the party at a higher plane than their loyalty to the Constitution. Darren did the same thing. So I hope the voters understand that come November."

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Here's today's rundown on the Congressional races: The money is flowing like water, as more and more candidates in close races are hitting the airwaves.

Senate GOP Candidates In Possible Financial Hot Water Over Ad Errors
The FEC and FCC are now examining complaints in four states -- Minnesota, Oregon, Colorado and Virginia -- involving the failure of Republican Senate candidates to have their approval disclaimers run for the appropriate length of time in their ads. If the complaints pan out, these candidates would have to pay a higher rate for their TV advertising for the rest of the campaign -- though it's unlikely that the agencies will actually take such a step over this error.

Millions of Dollars Being Pumped Into New Hampshire Senate Rae
The money is flowing heavily into the New Hampshire Senate race, where first-term GOP Sen. John Sununu has trailed former Dem Gov. Jeanne Shaheen in the polls. Between the candidates themselves, their party committees, and outside groups, over $5.4 million has been spent for TV ads on the state's biggest station, WMUR.

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Tonight: Palin's Big Speech
Sarah Palin will be delivering her acceptance speech as the Republican vice-presidential nominee tonight, a second chance to make a good impression on the voting public after a very tumultuous last few days.

Obama In Ohio Today
Barack Obama is campaigning today in the big swing state of Ohio, where polls have shown a close race, with stops in New Philadelphia and Dillonvale.

McCain Arriving In Minnesota Today
John McCain is scheduled to arrive in the Twin Cities today at 12:45 p.m. ET.

WaPo: Palin Was Only Interviewed By Campaign This Past Wednesday
The Washington Post reports that Sarah Palin was only interviewed by John McCain's vetting team this past Wednesday, the day before John McCain asked her to be his running mate. It's hard to believe that the full ramifications of picking Palin were properly deliberated by the campaign.

Reid "Disappointed" With Lieberman
Harry Reid's spokesman told CNN that Reid is "very disappointed" with Joe Lieberman's speech last night at the Republican Convention. "As the American people have made very clear, the last thing this country needs is another four years of the same old failed Bush-McCain policies of the past."

Obama To Appear On O'Reilly
Barack Obama will reportedly be going where not too many prominent Dems like to venture: The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News. Obama will be sitting down with O'Reilly for an interview set to air tomorrow night, in an attempt to counter John McCain's speech at the Republican Convention.

Poll: Dem Has Narrow Edge For Heather Wilson's House Seat
A new SurveyUSA poll shows the Democratic nominee narrowly ahead in the race for an open House seat of New Mexico's GOP Rep. Heather Wilson. Democratic Albuquerque City Councilor Martin Heinrich has 51%, while Republican Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White has 46%, in a campaign that will probably be close all the way to Election Day.

Michael Moore To Lieberman: Stop Talking About Me!
Michael Moore has responded in a blog post to Joe Lieberman's mentioning of him during last night's Republican convention speech. "What is it with you and your Republican friends always bringing me up?" Moore writes. "Can't you stop thinking about me? It's starting to sound like a fetish! Stop it!"

The DCCC is going up on the air with a second radio ad targeting New Mexico GOP Rep. Heather Wilson for her role in the Attorney Purge. You can listen to it here.

Transcript:

In Washington Alberto Gonzales, the Attorney General of the United States, is testifying under oath about his role in the firing of U.S. Attorneys.

But here in New Mexico, no one is getting the truth about Heather Wilson’s involvement in the scandal.

Wilson said a constituent’s complaint led her to call Republican U.S. Attorney David Iglesias about an ongoing federal corruption investigation.

But Heather Wilson won’t identify the constituent … she still refuses to release her phone records … and many important questions remain unanswered.

In Washington Attorney General Gonzales is being asked to tell the truth …

Isn’t it time we asked Heather Wilson to tell the truth in New Mexico?

Check the facts at www dot Heather Wilson watch dot com.

The ad reflects the belief among Dem strategists that -- contrary to some pundits who think corruption has run its course as a potent political issue -- the Attorney Purge has created a political environment in which corruption could indeed drive voters in 2008, just as it did in 2006.

The ad started running this morning during drive time in Albuquerque and will run through Tuesday -- that is, the day Alberto Gonzales is scheduled to testify. The earlier ad is here.

Paging all Attorney Purge and Heather Wilson junkies: Everything you could ever want to know about Wilson is now being collected for your convenience in one, handy place: The DCCC's new Heather Wilson Watch Web site.

The site reflects the belief among national Dem strategists that thanks to the Attorney Purge scandal corruption as an issue -- a deciding one in 2006 -- will continue to be a potent one in the 2008 Congressional elections, a view pooh-poohed by some pundits. The DCCC's new site is here.

GOP Rep. Heather Wilson has succeeded in hanging on to her seat in the face of a fierce challenge from Dem Patricia Madrid. CQ Politics reports that Madrid conceded defeat today after the count of ballots showed her lagging behind Wilson by all of 879 votes. Wilson's win means there are six House races which remain undecided. Two of them -- in Louisiana's 2nd District and in Texas' 23rd District -- will be resolved by runoffs in December.

Here's a rundown of the latest developments in the yet-to-be officially decided House races:

Fl-13: Problems still abound in this district, where about 15 percent of all Sarasota County voters using touch-screen machines didn't register a choice in the Congressional race. Lawyers for Dem Christine Jennings recently complained that GOPer Vern Buchahan is purposely stalling the audit of the voting machines by failing to offer up his an expert to participate in the process. A manual recount is underway, but the audit by the state is Jennings only real chance to successfully contest the election. Paul Kiel has more on this race over at TPMMuckraker.

LA-02: The runoff election between two Democrats, Rep. William Jeffereson and Karen Carter, will occur on Dec. 9.

NC-08: GOP Rep. Robin Hayes' lead over Dem Larry Kissell narrowed to 400 votes Friday after six counties reported official election results. Four more counties still need to report their official results. The Hayes campaign has petitioned for the majority of provisional ballots to be thrown out.

NM-01: Republicans are again claiming victory for Rep. Heather Wilson as the final tally is expected to be finished Friday afternoon.

OH-02: Local boards of elections will begin counting more than 8,200 provisional ballots on Monday. Democrats are complaining that confusion of voter ID laws will cause many votes to not be counted.

OH-15: The final count will be delayed until Nov. 27 because of new rules for counting provisional ballots. About 19,500 absentee and provisional ballots remain to be counted in the district. GOP Rep. Deborah Pryce currently leads Dem Mary Jo Kilroy by 3,536 votes.

TX-23: The runoff election between GOP Rep. Henry Bonilla and Dem Ciro Rodriguez has not been officially scheduled yet, but will occur no sooner than Dec. 12.

WY-AL: Dem Gary Trauner has officially decided against seeking a recount solidifying GOP Rep. Barbara Cubin's victory.

For a complete look at all the results of the midterms, check out TPM's Election Central Scoreboard here.

Dem Patricia Madrid's hopes of ousting GOP Rep. Heather Wilson appear to be dwindling amid rising tensions surrounding the counting of the last votes in New Mexico's first district. Wilson leads by a mere 1,487 votes, but with election workers slogging their way through the remaining 3,756 provisional and absentee ballots and determining which are qualified and which aren't, Dems are conceding to the Albuquerque Tribune that they'd need to win an overwhelming majority of them to prevail. As the paper notes, tensions are rising around the legal ins-and-outs of the count -- and a final result isn't expected until Friday evening. More here.

Though the Democrats have conclusively gained control of the House with a pick up of at least 27 seats, 13 races have yet to be officially called by at least two major news sources. Here's why:

Update: CNN and NBC have both called GA-08 for Dem Rep. Jim Marshall and PA-06 for GOP Rep. Jim Gerlach.

Update 2: In PA-08, GOP Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick concedes.

* CT-02: Democrat Joe Courtney leads, but still too close to call, waiting for a recount. A Courtney victory would be another Dem pick up.

* FL-13: GOPer Vern Buchanan declared victory in this race to succeed GOP Rep. Katherine Harris, but Dem Christine Jennings won't concede until a recount, which won't be completed until Nov. 18. Voting problems are suspected to have occurred in the district.

* GA-08: Dem Rep. Jim Marshall leads GOPer Mac Collins by 2,048 votes — outside the 1% recount zone — but the race won't be certified until Friday. Called for Marshall.

* GA-12: Dem Rep. John Barrow declared victory, but it has not been confirmed by GA election officials due to server problems in one county.

* NC-08: GOP Rep. Robin Hayes declared victory, but a recount is expected as he only leads Dem Larry Kissell by 468 votes. A Kissell victory would be a surprise pick up for the Democrats.

* NM-01: No winner declared in this close race where provisional and absentee ballots are still waiting to be counted. A victory by Patricia Madrid would be another pick up for the Dems.

* OH-02: Dem Victoria Wulsin has refused to concede, but GOP Rep. Jean Schmidt leads by slim margin.

* OH-15: Fox News called it for GOP Rep. Deborah Pryce, but Dem Mary Jo Kilroy will not concede, waiting for absentee ballots to be counted.

* PA-06: The Philadelphia Inquirer has called it for GOP Rep. Jim Gerlach, but no other official source has followed suit. Called for Gerlach.

* PA-08: Dem Patrick Murphy declared victory, but GOP Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick refuses to concede. A Murphy victory would be another Dem pick up. Fitzpatrick concedes.

* TX-23: There will be a run-off election between GOP Rep. Henry Bonilla and Dem Ciro Rodriguez because Bonilla failed to win more than 50% of the vote.

* WA-08: GOP Rep. David Reichert leads Dem Darcy Burner, but more than 10,000 absentee ballots still need to be counted.

* WY-AL: Race between GOP Rep. Barbar Cubin and Dem Gary Trauner is too close to call and a recount is expected. A Trauner victory would be another Dem pick up.

A new ad from Dem Patricia Madrid bashes GOP Rep. Heather Wilson ferociously hard on both Iraq and Foleygate. Script: "Heather Wilson admitted helpong George Bush cover up the truth about Iraq. She was on the Armed Services Committee and knew the intelligence was wrong from the beginning. And Heather Wilson took more money from child predator Mark Foley than anyone else in Congress. And as one of just three members on the page oversight board, she did nothing while Mark foley preyed on children."

While Madrid tries to sink Wilson ever deeper into the Foleygate quicksand, Wilson is thrashing around to extricate herself by accusing Madrid, who is currently state attorney general, of not securing jail time for a 41-year-old man bagged for attemtpted child predation, as TPM noted yesterday. But Wilson appears to be sinking nonetheless. The last three polls of the race show Madrid with sizeable leads.

The Hartford Courant ran an interesting story on Friday arguing that the Foley scandal would be politically beneficial not just for Democrats, but specifically for female candidates:

Analysts see political gold for women in the scandal surrounding Foley, a Florida Republican who sent lurid computer messages to young congressional pages. GOP leaders - mostly men - are facing pointed questions over when they knew about the messages and what they did about it.

"Women are seen as the protectors of children, and this is the kind of thing they would not have let go," said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics in New Brunswick, N.J.

The article sites Diane Farrell of Connecticut, Patty Wetterling of Minnesota, Mary Jo Kilroy of Ohio, Patricia Madrid of New Mexico and Angie Paccione of Colorado as examples of Democratic women in close races who are addressing the issue aggressively. Chuck Todd of the National Journal pointed out the same thing in his race rankings on Friday: Democratic women are gaining.

Is longtime Dem target GOP Rep. Heather Wilson finally within reach? A new poll by the Albuquerque Journal finds that Wilson and Dem challenger Patricia Madrid are running dead even, with 44% each. And in another hint of bad news for the gung-ho pro-war Wilson, 59% of respondents said the Iraq war was "very important" to their vote.

Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) brandished her surveillance bill as an example of her independence from the Bush administration. But just in time for the House Intelligence Committee prepares to consider Wilson's bill, Wilson has written another draft of the bill to give the President more freedom to wiretap at his discretion.

The Republican revolt continues. GOPers on the House Judiciary Committee want to kill a surveillance bill sponsored by Rep. Heather Wilson because it doesn’t do enough to protect civil liberties or to codify the program. Wilson’s bill, which she used to demonstrate her independence from the President, apparently ceded too much power to the executive for her fellow Republicans.

Earlier this week, we reported that Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) said that she in fact had questioned the intelligence in the run up to the Iraq war.  But Wilson’s Democratic challenger Patricia Madrid has come across another statement from Wilson.  In 2003, according to a Madrid press release, the Albuquerque Tribune reported that Wilson believed that “no intelligence was incorrect".  A Madrid spokeswoman asks: “Did Heather Wilson know the intelligence was faulty and still vote for George Bush’s plans to send hundreds of thousands of men and women in to harm’s way? Or are these contradictions just the missteps of a candidate scrambling to cover up her blind support for George Bush’s war?” 

This is intriguing. GOP Rep. Heather Wilson -- who's battling Dem challenger Patricia Madrid in a nationally-watched race -- has revealed in an interview that she had doubts about a key rationale for the Iraq war, but voted for it anyway. Wilson, who's getting hammered in Madrid ads for failing to question Bush's war, has just told the Alberquerque Tribune that she did in fact question it -- she says she questioned CIA officials in a classified briefing about whether the aluminum tubes supposedly sought by Saddam to enrich uranium could really be used for that purpose. Why is Wilson revealing this only now, nearly four years after her vote? "Nobody ever asked me before," Wilson claims.

Republicans are rushing to authorize warrantless wiretapping to demonize Dems as soft, but one GOPer is playing the issue on two sides: Rep. Heather Wilson, who's fending off Dem challenger Patricia Madrid. Wilson has introduced a bill that would sponsored allow warrantless wiretapping, but would restrict its length to 60 days. But while the bill's meant to burnish her national security bona fides, she's also using it to portray herself as "independent" of the Bush administration. How? By pointing out that her bill, unlike that of Senator Arlen Specter, "was not authorized by the White House."

A new independent poll of the nationally-watched race between incumbent GOP Rep. Heather Wilson and Dem Challenger Patricia Madrid was released over the weekend by the Albuquerque Journal, and it shows a dead heat: Wilson 45%, Madrid 42%. Says University of New Mexico political science professor Chris Garcia: "It is, absolutely, anybody's race. It has major national implications. It was billed early on as one of the races to watch— and it is living up to its billing."

On Sunday, the ABQ Journal released the first independent poll tracking New Mexico’s competitive first district. The poll showed Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) leading Democratic challenger Patricia Madrid by 45%-42%. Though any incumbent with less than 50% support is usually in trouble, Wilson has been in this position before, and has won earlier tight races handily. But Wilson attacked hard and early this year with negative ads criticizing Madrid, and she hasn’t managed to put Madrid outside of the 4.8% margin of error. According to political science professor emeritus F. Chris Garcia, the race “was billed early on as one of the races to watch— and it is living up to its billing”.

It's a staple of Democratic campaigns across the country to complain about high gas prices and slam Republicans for being too tight with oil companies. But state Attorney General Patricia Madrid (D), who's trying to unseat GOP incumbent Rep. Heather Wilson (R), is taking it a step further, also blaming global warming on the GOP's environmental neglect. By our estimation -- and please let us know if we're wrong -- that makes Madrid the first Congressional candidate this cycle to make global warming a major campaign issue. At the very least, Madrid is possibly the first major candidate this cycle to mention global warming -- not the sexiest of topics, obviously -- in a political ad. You can see Madrid's ad here.

Dem Congressional candidate Patricia Madrid is in a tight race with GOP Rep. Heather Wilson. But luckily for Madrid, Wilson is allied with GOP gubernatorial candidate John Dendahl, who appears to believe that people who "have Spanish last names" are more likely to drive drunk than others are.

Dems want to know if Wilson agrees with her fellow Republican. No word yet on this one from Wilson, though.