The Staten Island Advance reports that the decision of local GOP leaders to endorse “a relatively unknown former Wall Street financier in the race to replace disgraced GOP Rep. Vito Fossella may prove a fatal blow to the Republican Party’s chances to retain Staten Island’s lone congressional seat.” The candidate, Frank Powers, mostly operated behind the scenes as a political fundraiser, and his relative obscurity could hurt him as he runs for New York’s 13th District seat, the newspaper reports. Many Democrats see a prime opportunity to take over the seat, “and many of their Republican counterparts are fretting over the lack of a top-tier candidate,” according to the paper. Well-known City Councilman Michael McMahon is the Democratic candidate. Fossella goes to trial June 27 in Virginia on a charge of driving while intoxicated.

According to the Rapid City Journal, Republican Joel Dykstra will have a short time “to enjoy his role as perceived leader of the political pack” in the race for South Dakota’s Senate seat, but then “he’ll either be a loser or an underdog” against incumbent Democrat Tim Johnson. Dykstra is favored to win Tuesday’s GOP primary against “even-lesser-known Sam Kephart and almost-unheard-of Charles Lyonel Gonyo,” according to the newspaper. Johnson, meanwhile, has barely begun his campaign. “But regardless of his Republican opponent, he will start the general-election race with the lead, the name, the money and the powers of incumbency,” the newspaper reports. Johnson also enjoys widespread public sympathy for his comeback from the near-fatal brain hemorrhage he suffered in December 2006.

The Seattle Times reports that the campaign of Democrat Darcy Burner claims Republican Rep. Dave Reichert is overusing his “franking” priveleges as a House member to mail information to voters in Washington’s 8th District. “According to federal records, Reichert sent out nearly 475,000 mailers to constituents last year at a cost of almost $90,000 in postage alone,” at taxpayer expense, the paper reports. The mailers are legal and were reviewed by a bipartisan committee to ensure they did not violate rules, according to the Times. Reichert has been one of the Washington delegation’s biggest users of franked mail, the paper reports.