Toomey unveils 1st ad in Pa.; GOP fundraising on Supreme Court pick

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Toomey’s Pa. ad; GOP fundraising on Obama pick

WASHINGTON — Republican Pat Toomey sums up his campaign in his first commercial — “more jobs, less government.”

The former head of the anti-tax Club for Growth unveiled the ad Monday. Toomey is the likely Republican nominee for the Senate seat in Pennsylvania; five-term Sen. Arlen Specter and Rep. Joe Sestak are locked in a close race for the Democratic nomination with the primary May 18.

Toomey’s 30-second spot shows images of corporate logos such as General Motors and Goldman Sachs, a nurse pushing an empty hospital bed and the latest unemployment numbers as a voice intones, “Trillion dollar bailouts and deficits, government-run health care, record unemployment. Had enough?”

The campaign said the ad will air statewide on broadcast and cable television and run for an indefinite period. The campaign refused to disclose the amount of the ad buy.

At the end of the spot, Toomey looks into a camera and says “future generations deserve better.” His 9-year-old daughter, Bridget, then pipes up: “And I agree.”

Toomey reported $4 million cash on hand in a fundraising report for the first three months of the year. Specter had more than $9 million in the bank and Sestak had $5.2 million.

House Democrats are abandoning efforts to win a special election in Hawaii as a party feud threatens their prospects in President Barack Obama’s native state.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman Jennifer Crider on Monday said the organization would stop spending for the May 22 contest to replace Rep. Neil Abercrombie, who left Congress to run for governor. National Democrats have been smarting over the messy Democratic fight between state Senate president Colleen Hanabusa and former Rep. Ed Case.

Hanabusa is favored by the state’s two senators, Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka, as well as labor. The DCCC blamed local Democrats for infighting.

Republican Charles Djou is leading in the polls. The Democratic campaign committee has spent more than $300,000 on the race, much of it for ads critical of Djou.

Don’t dare compare what happened in Utah to Sen. John McCain’s bid in Arizona. That’s the message from McCain’s campaign after Republicans in Utah defeated Sen. Bob Bennett’s bid for a fourth term. McCain is facing a similar conservative charge in Arizona, with tea party favorite J.D. Hayworth challenging the GOP’s 2008 presidential nominee.

Utah, though, was not a primary; it was a convention, McCain spokesman Brian Rogers emphasized to reporters.

“Not only will Senator McCain and Congressman Hayworth face all Republican voters in the state this August, but the Arizona Republican Party recently announced that they would keep the primary open to independents as well,” Rogers wrote in a memo playing down GOP-on-GOP contests in neighboring states.

McCain was at Ohio Wesleyan University near Columbus on Sunday, urging graduates and their parents to stand up to injustice and work to boost the United States’ image.

“You might think that I’m now going to advise you not to be afraid to fail. I’m not. Be afraid,” McCain said. “Speaking from considerable experience, failing stinks. Just don’t be undone by it. Failure is no more a permanent condition than is success.”

McCain’s 2000 presidential bid ended with a loss to then-Gov. George W. Bush. His 2008 presidential bid fell short to Barack Obama.

Senate Republicans are using President Barack Obama’s pick of Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court to raise campaign money.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee on Monday announced it had relaunched the website ProtectThecourts.org just hours after Obama announced his selection of Kagan to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. The committee charged with helping Republicans win Senate races used the site during the confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor.

The site includes video clips from GOP senators, news reports favorable to Republicans and a link to donate to the NRSC.

Republicans have said they will give Kagan a thorough hearing. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., announced his opposition. Seven Republicans voted for Kagan’s solicitor general nomination.

South Dakota Secretary of State Chris Nelson says determining whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States is an important issue for his state. He’s the only one seeking the state’s at-large House seat who seems to think so.

Nelson and two other GOP hopefuls looking to knock off Democratic Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin spoke to the Rapid City Journal about the value of probing for more information about Obama’s birth certificate. Only Nelson took the bait: “If President Obama isn’t constitutionally qualified, it would be the biggest scam ever perpetuated on the American people.”

His two primary opponents, Kristi Noem and Blake Curd, dismissed the issue. A spokeswoman for Herseth-Sandlin likewise told the Journal, there’s no question Obama was born in the United States. Hawaiian officials said the president was born in the state in 1961 and they have his birth certificate.

The South Dakota primary is June 8.

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Associated Press writers Henry C. Jackson contributed to this report.