OR-5

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Chris Van HollenState Sen. Kurt Schrader, a Democratic hopeful in the 5th Congressional District, got a little help from a friend when U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, came to town to spread the word that the 5th will stay Dem-territory.

Schrader-who has a bit of personal wealth of his own in the form of a family trust-is running against businessman Mike Erickson, who spent over a million dollars of his own money in the Republican primary.

"Sometimes you have self-funded millionaires on the other side and we just want to send a clear message that this is a priority for us. This is for keeps," Van Hollen said, managing a jibe at Erickson and an expression of the national importance of the district at the same time.

Although last night Kevin Mannix would not let hope die, pledging to wait until every vote in the 5th Congressional District's Republican primary was counted, he conceded this morning to Mike Erickson. But, according to his campaign, Mannix will not endorse Erickson for the general election.

Erickson received 48.35 percent of the district's votes, according to the Secretary of State's unofficial results, while Mannix, got 46.05 percent.

A nonpartisan analyst said today that Republican U.S. House candidate Kevin Mannix’s distribution of a woman’s allegations that primary rival Mike Erickson provided funds for her to get an abortion did not change the fundamental contours of the race.

“Most people in the mainstream press will treat the allegations as unsubstantiated and they won’t get that much play,” said David Wasserman, who monitors House races for the Cook Political Report.

Wasserman, who said he believed Erickson had an advantage heading into next Tuesday’s primary, also said the unsubstantiated nature of the allegations might make it difficult for Democrats to play up the affair in advertisements in the fall.

And click here to view a bonus cartoon on McCain's $33,100 "Victory Dinner".

Rumors of drugs, sex and an abortion: the Republican primary in the 5th Congressional District got ugly eight days before the primary.

Today Kevin Mannix went public with accusations that his opponent Mike Erickson impregnated a young woman and then paid for her abortion. The campaign based the accusations on an e-mail from a friend of the young woman in question that details a list of offenses by Erickson.

"I was surprised to see that the Mike Erickson, who in 2000 was having wild parties involving cocaine use on his house boat, was running for office," the e-mail states.

The author said she was driven to speak out by campaign literature that discussed Erickson's pro-life stance. According to the Mannix campaign, the woman wrote "where were these ideals in the year 2000 when he drove my friend (whom he impregnated) to an abortion clinic in NE Portland, handed her some cash, and left her at the door."