WRTV News in Indianapolis reports that the field is getting crowded as the Republican caucus prepares to meet Friday to choose a candidate to run against freshman Democratic Rep. Andr?? Carson in November. Last month, Jon Elrod, the Republican who lost to Carson in a special election for the 7th District seat in March, said he would not seek a rematch. This week, four candidates are seeking support at the GOP caucus, including Gabrielle Campo, a social worker who announced her candidacy Monday. Carson replaced his grandmother, Julia Carson, who died of lung cancer in December 2007. She represented the district for 11 years.

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that Bruce Lunsford, the Kentucky Democrat trying to oust Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., contributed $2.5 million of his own money to his campaign in the second quarter. The campaign said he also raised $600,000. McConnell’s campaign raised $3 million in the quarter, increasing the total raised for his re-election run to $15 million — “a record in Kentucky.” The newspaper quotes a political analyst who describes Lunsford’s fundraising for the quarter as “certainly not impressive,” but she noted that money buys the same things, whether raised by the campaign or contributed by the candidate.

The Ashville Citizen-Times in North Carolina reports that Carl Mumpower, the Republican trying to oust freshman Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., is scaling back his campaign dramatically until GOP leaders in the district “commit to core party principles.” “Citing core principles of small government, fiscal restraint and stricter immigration enforcement, Mumpower said his party has strayed from what the American people want,” the newspaper said. Mumpower’s fundraising has been limited — he raised about $22,000 in the second quarter — but he said his campaign hiatus has nothing to do with his campaign coffers, adding that he never intended to “buy a seat in Congress.” Shuler, meanwhile, had $736,000 in cash on hand as of April 15. He is expected to file his second quarter fundraising report today.