Don Cazayoux

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is coming to the aid of U.S. Rep. Don Cazayoux (D-La.), who is in a neck-and-neck in a race for re-election on Tuesday.

In a one-minute radio ad which hit the Baton Rouge airwaves on Friday, Obama praises the freshman congressman as being part of "the change we need."

"This is Senator Barack Obama, and I want to urge you to re-elect Congressman Don Cazayoux on Nov. 4," Obama says in the spot. "Louisiana needs Don Cazayoux in Congress to help put our country back on track."

Former Gov. Mitt Romney at the Republican National Convention: RNC Photo

 Former Gov. Mitt Romney is scheduled to embark on a three-day, eight-state trip Tuesday to campaign for Republicans in eight congressional races.

Romney, a 2008 presidential candidate, will be using a plane provided to him by the Nation Republican Congressional Committee through an arrangement with the candidates, according to Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom.

Check out which candidates is campaigning for after the jump.

In politics, money isn't everything, and it's not the only thing. But give the best candidate in the world an under-funded operation and a wealthy sub-par candidate will win an election. This year, breaking tradition, it is Democrats who enjoy a mammoth lead in the money chase,
and the party has already started flexing their financial muscle.

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Newton), the chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, reported raising more than $380,000 in the second quarter of this year, over a third of the haul coming from political action committees, according to the Federal Election Commission.

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Newton)Frank reported ending the quarter with $817,102 cash on hand, after beginning the quarter with $804,004. He raised $383,086 in the quarter, bringing his fundraising haul to $1,627,256 for the cycle.

In contributions, Frank received the majority of his funds from individuals in the second quarter ($225,255) but also brought in $142,960 from PACs. PACS have contributed $691,479 to Frank this cycle. Among his highest contributors, the United Bank of Switzerland America's Fund for Better Government gave Frank $10,000 over the course of the quarter. Pacific Life, the insurance company, gave Frank $2,000 through its PAC. Prudential Financial Inc.'s PAC also contributed $2,000 to Frank's war chest in the second quarter.

Despite his large reserve (for a freshman) in cash on hand, the campaign committee of John Sarbanes made few transfers to Democratic lawmakers around the country.

In spite of giving large sums of money to other campaigns U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Worcester) reported $303,872.98 cash on hand for the second quarter, according to the Federal Election Commission.Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Worcester)

McGovern, who represents the Bay State's 3rd Congressional District, raked in $139,203.28 in total contributions for the quarter and has collected $863,391.82 in total contributions for this election cycle.

Midway through 2006, McGovern had just $100,438.58 cash on hand.

Second district Democrat Richard Neal (D-Springfield) reported $1,878,843 in cash on hand at the end of the second financial quarter.

Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield)Neal, a member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee and chairman of the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, had a good quarter, raising nearly $225,000 up from last quarter's haul of $161,000.

As he is currently unopposed for re-election, his expenditures remained low at around $48,000, allowing his cash on hand to grow by more than $143,000 from the first financial quarter.

Besides donations to some local charities, Neal also directed some of his campaign cash to other Democratic candidates around the country.

Chicago humorist Finley Peter Dunne coined the phrase “Politics ain’t beanbag” long ago. But, sometimes in politics no matter what you throw, beanbags in the dirt are all you get.

We don’t know what type of nasty Karl Rove/Newt Gingrich campaign to expect from our local GOP candidates this year. It’s possible they’ll change course. It’s possible they’ll grow up. It’s possible a wacky out-of-state third party will choose not to spend $500,000 or more in October. It’s possible they won’t have the money to do what they want.

But if it’s true that past performance is the best predictor of future behavior, we can expect the worst.

Through his personal campaign committee and his leadership fund, AmeriPAC, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer gave out $169,000 to fellow members’ committees in the first quarter of this year alone.