Parry is so far the only challenger to Rep. Tim Walz, a DFLer who first won election in 2008 and was re-elected in 2010.

“After five years in Washington, Congressman Tim Walz has represented the values of Washington liberals like Nancy Pelosi and not the values of southern Minnesota,” Drazkowski said in a statement. “I’m convinced that Mike will build the grassroots campaign to defeat Congressman Walz. As a small business owner, he is best equipped to go to Washington and rein in wasteful government spending and jump-start our economy.”

Both Drazkowski and Parry are among the most conservative members of the Minnesota Legislature. Minnesota’s First Congressional District is one of the state’s most moderate. Since 1980, the district has been held for an equal number of years by both the DFL and the GOP.

Bachmann’s campaign has been struggling since her win at the Iowa Straw Poll in August, largely sunk by a series of gaffes. Though Bachmann isn’t the only candidate without congressional endorsements, she’s the only current member running without such support.

Mitt Romney leads the race with 18 congressional endorsements. Rick Perry has 9, Newt Gingrich has 4, and Ron Paul has 3, including his son Sen. Rand Paul. Former Sen. Rick Santorum hasn’t picked up the support of any of his colleagues and neither has Rep. Thaddeus McCotter. Several other candidates including Herman Cain, Fred Karger and John Huntsman also lack congressional endorsements.

Bachmann founded the House Tea Party Caucus and has yet to draw any of those members to her side. However, other candidates have enticed members of Congress to support them.

Rick Perry has drawn the support of Tea Party Reps. John Culberson and John Carter of Texas, and Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana.

The majority of Newt Gingrich’s support comes from Tea Partiers. Reps. Joe Barton and Michael Burgess of Texas are backing him as well as Rep. Tom Price of Georgia.

Even Mitt Romney, whose campaign has often been criticized by the Tea Party has picked up three endorsements from Bachmann’s caucus: Reps. Rob Bishop of Utah, Ander Crenshaw of Florida, and Wally Herger of California.

Iron Range natives Veda Ponikvar, former state Sen. George Perpich and former state Rep. Joe Begich have all declared their support for Nolan in recent days.

Joe Begich is a former state legislator and current member of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board. He’s also the uncle of Alaska U.S. Sen. Mark Begich. Joe Begich announced his support for Nolan on Monday.

“With unemployment across the Range and throughout the Eighth District in double digits, with hardworking middle class families losing jobs and homes and hope, Iron Rangers need a leader and a champion again in Washington, and Rick Nolan’s the one,” Begich said in a statement. ”Rick Nolan was born here and grew up here. He lives here. He’s raised his family here. He hunts and fishes here. Rick understands our hopes and dreams and aspirations on the Range because he holds those same feelings for his family.”

Nolan glowingly accepted the endorsement.

“Joe Begich and his family helped inspire me to enter politics and public service,” Nolan said in a statement. “They set an example for me in terms of what it takes to fight for people and confront the special interests that continue to damage America.”

Nolan also picked up the support of another icon of the Range, Veda Ponikvar.

The Minnesota Historical Society described Ponikvar in its celebration of Minnesota’s 150 years of statehood back in 2007:

Writer, activist, historian and keeper-of-the-culture are only a few of the words which describe Veda Ponikvar and the deep influence she has had on the fabric of the Minnesota Iron Range and the entire state. At 28 she became the youngest and the first female newspaper publisher in the nation. Nicknamed the “Iron Lady”, Veda is an adventurous pioneer newspaperwoman who never forgot her love of country and her deep roots in Chisholm’s Mesabi Iron Range.

Ponvikar said in a statement that Nolan is a fighter for the people of the region.

“He will always fight for the Iron Range and do whatever he can to make it prosper. Rick understands that by strengthening northern Minnesota mining, we strengthen our state and nation’s economic stability,” Ponvikar said. “I urge Iron Rangers to support Rick Nolan for the DFL endorsement to defeat Chip Cravaack in 2012, and be our next truly great, caring, hard working congressman.”

The Minnesota Progressive Project notes that another Ranger has offered his support for Nolan. Former state Sen. George Perpich, brother of Gov. Rudy Perpich, hosted a fundraiser for Nolan in South Minneapolis Thursday.

Nolan has picked up the lion’s share of endorsements on the Range thus far in the 2012 election cycle. Also running are former state Sen. Tarryl Clark who lost a 2010 bid to oust Rep. Michele Bachmann, and Jeff Anderson, a member of the Duluth City Council.

Cravaack won the district in 2010, defeating James Oberstar who had held the seat for decades. The district had been represented by a DFLer for much of the 20th Century.

The press release did not mention Rick Scott by name, instead calling him a “multi-millionaire with a questionable past.” Here it is:

The votes today have been tallied and I accept the voters’ decision.

This race was one for the ages. No one could have anticipated the entrance of a multi-millionaire with a questionable past who shattered campaign spending records and spent more in four months than has ever been spent in a primary race here in Florida.

While I was disappointed with the negative tone of the race, I couldn’t be more proud of our campaign and our supporters for fighting back against false and misleading advertising when we were down by double-digits.

“Conciliatory” is not the word that comes to mind here. Scott’s own relations with the Republican Party of Florida are tenuous at best; on Sunday, interim party chair John Thrasher sent out an email to Florida Republicans alleging Scott of leading “a multifaceted campaign of misinformation in an effort to mislead Florida voters and confuse the facts surrounding the arrest and indictment of Jim Greer as well as the Party’s financial situation and preparedness to support our candidates as we move towards the November election.” Thrasher told The Florida Independent Tuesday night that he would support either candidate.

McCollum said Monday that he did not know whether he would endorse Rick Scott. He gave a vague answer at a campaign stop in Orlando on Monday, as he seemed to be expecting to win:

“I don’t know Rick Scott well,” McCollum told reporters at an Orlando campaign stop. “I met him for the first time at the Univision debate. I’ve never eyed him across the table except at the debate. He ducked a big statewide debate.”

“So when the election is over with, I expect to win,” he said. “The question should be asked of him: Will he endorse me? Of course, if it were to come out the other way for some reason I would have to sit down with him and be persuaded. I see lots of problems with him, personally, right now. It would be very difficult for me.”

McCollum’s press release goes onto thank his supporters, which he did do Tuesday as well.

Michigan has the most races of interest, including a governor’s seat that Republicans hope to recapture when term-limited Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) steps down. Vying for the chance to do so today are three candidates – businessman Rick Snyder, Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) and state Attorney General Mike Cox — all of whom are still in the chase. According to Chris Cillizza, turnout will be key to the candidates’ chances:

The critical counties in the Republican race will be Kent (Grand Rapids), Oakland (Pontiac), Macomb and Wayne (Detroit); the four counties accounted for about 40 percent of the vote in the 2006 Republican gubernatorial primary. But turnout in Ottawa County on the western side of the state will be key for Hoekstra — it sits in his 2nd district base and is one of the most reliably Republican counties in the state.

Meanwhile, in Kansas, GOP voters will likely select the state’s next senator, as a Republican is virtually assured to win retiring Sen. Sam Brownback’s (R-Kans.) seat. The race between Kansas Republican Reps. Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt will be another test of Sarah Palin’s sway, as Tiahrt has been out-fundraised and out-polled by Moran but is banking on enthusiasm generated by the endorsements of Palin and of most tea party groups in the state.

The race has long been ugly, and in a state like Kansas both candidates have long focused on outflanking the other on the right, while discrediting their opponent’s conservative passion:

The biggest blow to either campaign came at the close of July when Moran’s ex-campaign manager called out his former boss on social issues, accusing him of having “winced” at being aggressive with his pro-life stance (pro-life groups largely back Tiahrt). Tiahrt’s camp used that in a TV ad to continue its relentless attack on Moran — he went negative from the start before introducing himself with a positive spot to east KS voters — and reinforce the idea that Moran may vote correctly but is not a leader on causes most dear to conservative activists within the party.

Wyoming, a Republican stronghold that has voted just once for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1952, has nonetheless had a popular Democratic governor, Dave Freudenthal, for the last two terms. His retirement — and the lack of a clear Democratic successor — make the seat quite likely to fall into Republican hands in the fall, however.

As for Palin, Chris Cillizza at The Fix notes that her endorsements are now following a rather familiar pattern:

[G]et behind a female candidate with a few weeks remaining in a crowded primary fight in hopes of using her conservative star power (and the media attention her endorsement creates) to catapult her chosen candidate to victory.

While it’s hard to credit a single endorsement with delivering a race for a candidate, it is clear that Palin’s support for former Hewlett Packard executive Carly Fiorina in the California Senate race, state Rep. Nikki Haley in the South Carolina governor’s contest and former Secretary of State Karen Handel in the Georgia governor’s race helped each of the women at the polls.

Sarah Palin has endorsed a remarkable number of women in Republican primaries this election cycle, but thanks the Washington Post’s nifty new Palin “Endorsement tracker,” I can say that she’s ultimately endorsed more men than women. The Post’s tables also indicate she’s been more traditionally conservative in her endorsement choices than one might imagine, spreading the love evenly among “Tea Party” and “establishment” candidates across the country.

Charles Fried, a conservative legal scholar, Harvard professor and former solicitor general under President Ronald Reagan, has asked to be removed from McCain’s list of advisers and thrown his support behind the Democratic presidential nominee.

From TPM:

From the new Washington Post poll:

Two in 10 independent voters said they are more inclined to vote for Obama because of Powell’s backing.

That is a huge share of a key voting bloc in an era when few people say they are swayed by big-name endorsements.  Powell retains a special appeal — especially among independents — for his reputation as a moderate, honest and respectable foreign policy figure who has served both parties. (For supportive data, see my post about Powell from before the endorsement.)

Now, I don’t think any endorsement is going to be the crucial factor for the people who truly remain undecided 12 days out from Election Day.  But the nod from a Republican foreign policy expert is clearly solidifying Obama’s support among independents — and may be helping him among military families and conservative Democrats.