The Eye

Georgia state Sen. Don Balfour (R), the first candidate to jump into the open-seat race for retiring Rep. John Linder's (R) seat, announced Thursday that he is dropping out of the contest and will retire from the state legislature at the end of his term.

"Being a congressman has been something I thought I wanted to do," Balfour said in a statement posted on his Web site. "Needless to say, when John Linder announced that he was not running for re-election, I jumped at the opportunity to be the new voice of leadership. However, for the past three weeks, I have not been at peace about this decision. I feel this is an appropriate time to let all my supporters know that I will also not be seeking reelection for the 9th district senate seat."

Balfour has served in the state Senate for 18 years and currently serves as chairman of the Rules Committee. He is also an executive with Waffle House, Inc., having worked for the company for over 25 years.

"Now I can focus on finishing [the] session well and running an efficient Rules Committee," he said in the statement. "I'm looking forward to welcoming my son home soon from his service in Afghanistan as well as continuing my career at Waffle House."

With Balfour out, the frontrunner in the GOP primary now appears to be state Rep. Clay Cox (R). Gwinnett County Commissioner Mike Beaudreau is also considering throwing his hat into the ring.

Even if you don't like reading about polls, you may enjoy checking this one out.

The Pew Research Center asked 749 Americans to offer just one word to describe their current impressions of Congress.

Turns out no one word dominated the list, but the sentiment was consistent:

Dysfunctional (chosen 21 times.)

Corrupt (20)

Self-serving, self-centered or selfish (19)

Inept (16)

Confused, confusing, confusion (15) was tied with incompetent, ineffective and lazy

And some of the terms were just insulting. Check it out here to see the full list.

Meanwhile, the latest Gallup tracking poll finds Congress' approval rating at a skimpy 16 percent.

A recent survey on the special election in Pennsylvania's 12th district shows a competitive race between Democrat Mark Critz, a former aide to the late Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), and GOP businessman Tim Burns.

Critz lead Burns, 36 to 31 percent, in the district that boasts a large Democratic registration advantage. Also according to the district-wide poll, 31 percent of voters were undecided about who they would choose to succeed Murtha in the May 18 special election.

The same poll also showed voters would like pick Critz as their Democratic nominee on May 18, which is also the same day as the statewide primary. Critz lead the field with 30 percent, while none of the other Democrats -- Navy Veteran Ryan Bucchianeri, Cambria Co. Controller Ed Cernic and attorney Ron Mackell -- did not individually score more than four points in the survey. There were 59 percent of voters undecided.

Burns appears to also be in a dead heat with 2008 GOP nominee Bill Russell, whom he defeated to get the nomination. Russell lead Burns, 32 percent to 30 percent, with 37 percent undecided.

The poll was paid for by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and conducted by Susquehanna Polling and Research on March 14 and 15. The survey asked 400 likely voters in the May 18 primary and special election, including 261 Democrats and 119 Republicans. The poll had a margin of error of 4.9 points.

CQ Politics currently rates this general election contest as a Tossup.

Arizona's testy Republican Senate primary is seeping into the GOP contest for a House seat.

Nine Republicans have filed to run for retiring Rep. John Shadegg's seat in the Republican-leaning area of northern Phoenix and its suburbs. One, former state Sen. Jim Waring, was among 35 current and former state legislators to endorse Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) over his challenger, former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.) on Thursday.

Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker (R) has also endorsed McCain, even though he and Hayworth share a major campaign supporter: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

A fascinating online discussion is unfolding in Jim Galloway's "Political Insider" blog at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Galloway reported on two candidates for governor, one a Republican and one a Democrat, who were accused of misconduct with female students when they were teachers.

The blog outlines two very different sets of circumstances, and is provoking a considerable amount of reader conversation, including a long response from one of the candidates. It begins:

"I am Carl Camon, and when I made a decision to run for governor, I prepared myself for this day. I knew that the story would be onesided, as it always seems to be when a teacher is involved."

You can read it here.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) would be hard-pressed for re-election if challenged by former Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) but has the edge over two lesser-known Republicans who have announced their candidacies, according to a Rasmussen Reports survey taken March 16.

According to the poll of 500 likely voters, 47 percent said they would vote for Thompson and 45 percent preferred Feingold, who is seeking a fourth term.

Thompson still has strong name identification and is viewed favorably by most Wisconsin voters nearly a decade after he ended a 14-year run as Wisconsin's governor in 2001 to become President George W. Bush's first secretary of Health and Human Services.

The Republican primary for the Senate in Arizona is tightening up, according to a new Rasmussen Reports poll released Thursday.

The poll found that former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.) has closed to within single digits of incumbent Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), after trailing by 22 percent in January.

McCain now leads Hayworth 48 to 41 percent among likely GOP voters, with 8 percent undecided. The poll, conducted March 16, has a margin of error of 4 percent.

Veteran party strategist Brian Smoot will manage the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's independent expenditure operation for the 2010 cycle, officials confirmed on Thursday.

Smoot served as political director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2008 cycle. He has most recently worked at the Democratic firm 4C Partners and as executive director of the National Democratic Redistricting Trust, a newly-formed group to tackle the legal side of the party's redistricting effort.

Before working at the DCCC, Smoot served as campaign manager and later as chief of staff for Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla.). He also worked as campaign manager on Pennsylvania Democrat Ginny Schrader's 2004 campaign in the 8th district and was chief of staff for then-Democratic Rep. Rodney Alexander (La.) from 2003 until Alexander switched parties to become a Republican in August of 2004.

"The DSCC will use every available resource to make sure that voters face a choice in the fall between Republicans standing with Washington special interests and Democrats who stand with them," DSCC Executive Director J.B. Poersch said Thursday. "Brian Smoot is someone who oversaw dozens of competitive races last cycle and will bring that expertise and leadership in his new role."

Officials at the other three Congressional committees said this week they have not yet decided who will handle their independent expenditure work this cycle.

Selecting an operative to run their independent expenditure operations is a particularly important decision for the campaign committees because these individuals must operate behind a firewall in deciding where and how to spend precious resources and staffers at the committees are prohibited by law from being involved in those decisions.

Nathan L. Gonzales contributed to this post.

It's not a Democrat-friendly district or a Democrat-friendly year, but that hasn't deterred Democrats from running for Michigan's 3rd district House seat.

First-time candidate Patrick Miles Jr. (D), announced his candidacy Thursday. Miles is pitching himself as an outsider, and touting his experience as "a business lawyer helping small, family-owned businesses start, grow, and create jobs in West Michigan."

He joins former Kent County Commissioner Paul Mayhue (D) in the Democratic field for the seat, which is being vacated by Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-Mich.), who is retiring at the end of his current term.

The Republican field is much more crowded. GOP contenders include first-term state Rep. Justin Amash, state Sen. Bill Hardiman, former Kent County Commissioner Steven Heacock and Air Force veteran Bob Overbeek.

CQ Politics rates the general election contest Safe Republican.

To follow all the 2010 House races, check out our election map.

Three-term Sen. Barbara Boxer is getting help of the highest level as the Democrat starts what could be a tough re-election campaign.

President Obama will travel to California next month to headline a joint fundraising event for Boxer's campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Boxer is running roughly even with her potential Republican challengers, according to the latest Field Poll, which tested Boxer against three GOP candidates.

The results:

Against Tom Campbell, it was Campbell 44 percent, Boxer 43 percent.

Against Carly Fiorina, it was Boxer 45 percent, Fiorina 44 percent.

Against Chuck DeVore, it was Boxer 45 percent, DeVore 41 percent.

Margin of error: 3.7 points

CQ Politics currently rates the race Likely Democratic. Check back to see whether that changes. And you can follow all the 2010 Senate races with our election map.

One day after Colorado state Rep. Cory Gardner topped the field in a straw poll, Republican rival Diggs Brown dropped out of the race Wednesday and threw his support to Gardner, the leading Republican candidate against Rep. Betsy Markey (D).

"I am happy to unite with Cory Gardner to make our goal of beating Betsy Markey in November a reality," Brown, a former Fort Collins city councilman and military veteran who will serve as a co-chairman of Gardner's campaign.

Brown trailed Gardner in a straw poll taken at precinct caucuses in the two most populous counties that make up the 4th district. That solidified Gardner's standing as the GOP front-runner because he is from a rural part of the district.

It's a good-news-bad-news kinda day for Democrat Ned Lamont, who's seeking his party's nomination to run for Connecticut governor. On the one hand he's beating his closest primary opponent, Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy, 28 percent to 18 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll taken March 9-15.

On the other hand, Lamont is running 16 points behind "undecided" in the primary race.

Lamont's been down this road before. He became a rising star for liberals in 2006 when he beat incumbent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman for the Democratic nomination for Senate. The left wing of the Democratic Party was mad a Lieberman for his support for the Iraq war. But Lieberman ran as an independent and ended up beating Lamont in the general election.

New York gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio is about to find out how many friends he has in his own party. The former congressman has been running for the Republican nomination since last autumn. But despite the backing of ex-Gov. George Pataki, Lazio hasn't bowled over his GOP bretheran, some of whom looked around for another option and found one -- in the Democratic Party.

The New York Times reports that Steve Levy, the Suffolk County executive, will switch parties to run in the primary against Lazio. That's Levy in the photo.

... and Stuart Rothenberg, Walter Shapiro and Craig Crawford.

They'll be talking politics Tuesday at Union Station in Washington, D.C. Our partner Taegan Goddard will be the moderator.

Sign up for the event here.

Local Democrats in New York's 29th House district expect to unify around one candidate for the anticipated special election by the end of the month.

Hornell Mayor Shawn Hogan, the chairman of the Steuben County Democratic party committee, said the district's eight county party chairs plan to meet and interview at least six candidates on either March 27 or 29.

"I'm fully confident that we'll come away ... with a consensus candidate," Hogan said.

Hogan declined to name the prospective candidates.

Hogan, himself, decided to pass on the race shortly after first-term Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) resigned. Several other potentially strong Democratic candidates, including Monroe County District Attorney Michael Green and Assemblywomen Barbara Lifton, have also declined to run, leaving a wide-open field.

Assemblyman David Koon (D) remains interested in the seat.