The New York Times on how Republicans are expanding their advertising campaign to House districts that had once seemed safe for Democrats: "Republicans are expanding the battle for the House into districts that Democrats had once considered relatively safe, while Democrats began a strategy of triage on Monday to fortify candidates who they believe stand the best chance of survival. As Republicans made new investments in at least 10 races across the country, including two Democratic seats here in eastern Ohio, Democratic leaders took steps to pull out of some races entirely or significantly cut their financial commitment in several districts that the party won in the last two election cycles."
Stu Rothenberg looks incumbents who could surprisingly be in trouble on Election Night.
ALASKA: Republican Senate nominee Joe Miller said yesterday that "he won't respond to questions on personal issues in the final weeks of the campaign," the Bristol Bay Times reports. "Miller lashed out at what he called 'journalistic improprieties,' in media efforts to learn more about his tenure as an attorney for the Fairbanks North Star Borough."
More: "In recent weeks, it has been reported that Miller, who has called for an end to the '[welfare state,' received federal farm subsidies for land he owned in Kansas in the 1990s and that he and his wife received low-income hunting and fishing licenses when they first moved to Alaska and he was fresh from law school. Miller also acknowledged his family also received Medicaid for a period and that his wife briefly received unemployment benefits." And, of course, he blamed the media for "journalistic impropriety."
COLORADO: The Denver Post wraps up last night's Senate debate between Sen. Michael Bennet and Republican Ken Buck: "Rapid-fire debate questions flushed surprising answers from Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet and Republican Ken Buck on Monday, with Bennet opposing a treasured union bill and Buck endorsing big pieces of health care reform."
CONNECTICUT: Senate candidates Richard Blumenthal and Linda McMahon will face off in their third televised debate tonight, the Hartford Courant writes.
Ledes like this are still being written about the Senate race: "It's a safe bet millionaire businesswoman Linda McMahon is the first candidate for United States Senate whose job experience includes marching into a wrestling ring and kicking a grown man in the groin." More: "The race to replace retiring Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd — once thought to be a lost cause for the GOP — has been redefined by McMahon's big-spending, bare-knuckle campaign. She is drawing on her own brand-building savvy and personal fortune in a bid to systematically transform Blumenthal's public image from diligent public servant to scheming villain, someone more like a WWE wrestler — The Undertaker, perhaps, or Luke Gallows." http://bit.ly/a0WnnD
INDIANA: "U.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth on Monday used his first debate with Republican Dan Coats in the race for Indiana's open U.S. Senate seat to attack Coats for his time spent as a lobbyist," the AP writes. "Coats, as he has done for much of the campaign leading up to the Nov. 2 election, criticized Ellsworth for voting with liberal Democrats on the health care overhaul, federal stimulus and other bills. He said Democrats are taking the country in the wrong direction and that voters need bring back the principles of limited government."
MICHIGAN: "The National Republican Congressional Committee went up with new TV ads in 29 districts over the weekend, and the committee reported shelling out a total of $8.25 million to boost its efforts to regain the majority — the largest one-day spending total for the NRCC this cycle," Roll Call reports. "Included in the NRCC's Saturday independent expenditure filing was roughly $200,000 in spending to target freshman Democratic Rep. Mark Schauer in Michigan's 7th district. The new spending brings the NRCC's total IE investment in Schauer to $999,000, putting the Michigan race on track to become the first race where either party has spent $1 million."
NEW YORK: Carl Paladino didn't exactly back away from his recent controversial comments on gays. "Mr. Paladino restated his criticism of Andrew M. Cuomo, his Democratic opponent for governor of New York, for having taken his young daughters to a gay pride parade, saying that such events were inappropriate for children," the New York Times notes. 'Is that normal? Would you do it? Would you take your children to a gay pride parade?' Mr. Paladino asked the host Matt Lauer on the 'Today' show, speaking of Mr. Cuomo. 'I don't think it's proper for them to go there and watch a couple of grown men grind against each other. I don't think that's proper. I think it's disgusting.'"
"U.S. Senate hopeful Joe DioGuardi prides himself on his accounting expertise - but he has a history with a firm the feds say ran a $1.7 billion Ponzi scheme," the New York Daily News reports.
WEST VIRGINIA: The New York Times points out that accusations of stereotyping, leveled at Republican Senate candidate John Raese over the recruitment of "hicky" actors in a campaign ad, could also be warranted in Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin's latest ad, writing that "his own ads don't exactly scream urban chic either. The campaign's latest commercial features the governor on a woodsy gun range, loading bullets into a rifle while decidedly 'hicky' music plays in the background."
WISCONSIN: Ayn Rand had a big presence in last night's Senate debate between Sen. Russ Feingold and Republican Ron Johnson, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes. "While the two went back and forth on issues such as the economy, Social Security, the health care law and the war in Afghanistan, the most spirited discussion came from a book that was written in 1957 and remains popular among some conservatives and people who espouse limited government… [Atlas Shrugged] is a book that Johnson says he admires and has been a driving force in his political philosophy."

