Leading Off:
•SD-Sen: After the DSCC announced it would spend $1 million in support of Democrat Rick Weiland on Wednesday, we've waited to see what the GOP would do in response. David Drucker of the Washington Examiner takes the Republicans' temperature in a must-read article. There are a number of interesting details. Republican Mike Rounds' polls, conducted by Glen Bolger, consistently show him leading by 11-14 points and his party isn't panicking yet. Still, there are definitely fears that the race is getting tighter, and there's a good deal of frustration with Rounds for taking race for granted for far too long.
Former Sen. Larry Pressler's independent campaign is also a potential headache for Rounds. Many Republican voters have fond memories of Pressler's time as a Republican senator and plan to vote for him over Rounds despite Pressler's past support for Obama. The GOP does have one potential option: use ads to remind conservative voters that Pressler isn't who they think he is. Pressler is also soaking up left-leaning votes that Weiland needs, and Weiland's allies are already planning to run commercials to highlight Pressler's conservative history. Pressler doesn't have much money to defend himself with and he may have a hard time holding onto his supporters if he's being attacked from both sides.
For his part, Pressler may have just made the Republicans' job a little easier. On Thursday when asked which party he would caucus with Pressler didn't give a definitive answer, but he did declare he would be a "friend of Obama" in the Senate. If the GOP does end up running anti-Pressler ads, expect them to lead with this.