Senate

With just days until the May 29 Texas Republican primary for U.S. Senate, former state solicitor general Ted Cruz is focused on one thing: denying his opponent, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, the 50 percent share of the vote needed to win the GOP nomination outright. "Politically, the only thing that matters is, does this race go to a runoff?," Cruz says in an interview with THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

A new poll from Suffolk University shows incumbent Republican senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts remains neck and neck with his Democratic challenger, Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren. Forty-eight percent of likely voters support Brown, placing him in a statistical tie with Warren, who earned 47 percent support. A Suffolk poll from February showed Brown with a more substantial lead, 49 percent to Warren's 40 percent.

Ted Cruz, the Republican candidate for Senate in Texas, has a new ad out highlighting the former state solicitor general as a "fighter." The ad focuses on Cruz's Cuban immigrant family. "Tortured and imprisoned by a Cuban dictator, Ted Cruz's father fought back, escaping to America," the voiceover says. "Ted Cruz: A proven fighter for liberty because his family knows what it means to lose it."

The ad closes with a snippet from a recent robocall made by Sarah Palin on behalf of Cruz. Watch the ad below:

Earlier this month, Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein made quite a splash with a lengthy piece that, when boiled down to essentials, blamed the Republican party for what’s gone wrong in Washington, D.C. This weekend, they were back with a list of reforms to fi

The Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Texas is now within nine points, according to a new poll. A University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll shows Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst with 40 percent, while his challenger, former state solicitor general Ted Cruz, is at 31 percent. Former Dallas mayor Tom Leppert is in third at 17 percent.

St. Cloud, Minn.
Kurt Bills, a high school economics teacher and state representative, is the enodrsed Republican for U.S. Senate in Minnesota. Bills won 64 percent of the delegates on the second ballot at the state convention Friday afternoon.

Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren was criticized by a fellow Democrat over her inability to explain the recent controversy over Warren's disputed Native American heritage.

St. Cloud, Minn.
As they have been at state conventions throughout the country, Ron Paul supporters are out in full force here at the Minnesota Republican party convention this weekend. But one might hardly know that from being on the convention floor. The only sight of Paul’s name here is on a brochure sticking out of a lone delegate’s pocket and two small “Ron Paul 2012” posters hanging haphazardly on the right-side wall.

A new ad from Crossroads GPS is targeting Nebraska Democrat Bob Kerrey for his support for the Wall Street bailout of 2008. "Bob Kerrey supported the Wall Street bailout while serving on the board of a company that tried to exploit it," the voiceover reads. Watch the ad below:

On Tuesday night, Nebraska state senator Deb Fischer unexpectedly won the Republican primary over a better-funded establishment favorite, attorney general Jon Bruning. Folks curious to know just who Fischer is might want to watch a few her debates with her Republican primary opponents—many are available on YouTube. Fischer’s performances reveal a serious conservative, with populist tendencies.

Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren contributed a number of recipes to "Pow Wow Chow," a cookbook edited by Warren's cousin:

Republican Senate candidate Denny Rehberg of Montana has a new television spot out taking on his opponent, first-term Democrat Jon Tester, for bringing back home "Washington bologna."