“Senate Republicans aren’t just widening their path to the majority with each new seat added to the competitive map, they’re also increasing the odds Democrats will have to spend money in states beyond the top battlegrounds,” Roll Call reports.

“Faced with such a lopsided map this cycle, Senate Democrats were undoubtedly budgeting to spend in at least 10 states… But as Republicans continue to fill their candidate roster in potentially competitive races — most recently adding Rep. Cory Gardner in Colorado — it means more money Democrats may have to spend on seats not among their most vulnerable.”

A new Robert Morris University poll in Pennsylvania finds Tom Wolf (D) way head in the Democratic race for governor with 51%, followed by Allyson Schwartz (D) at 17%, Bob McCord (D) at 13% and Kathleen McGinty (D) at 9%.

Meanwhile, just 21% of likely voters suggest they plan to vote for Gov. Tom Corbett (R) while 40% suggested they would vote for the Democratic candidate. Another 12% would vote for another candidate and 27% are undecided.

“Foster Friess, the wealthy conservative businessman who became a political fixture after funding former Sen. Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign in 2012, says he wants the Pennsylvania Republican to run again,” Huffington Post reports.

Said Friess: “Anything he does, I’m for. He is the most wonderful human being on the face of the earth.”

“Alarmed by the rise of noninterventionist voices in his party, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is aiming to revive his political prospects in an unlikely way: trying to become the leading voice for a muscular brand of foreign policy,” the New York Times reports.

“The road to presidential success in Iowa and New Hampshire may not run through the Crimean Peninsula or the streets of Caracas, but in recent weeks Mr. Rubio has used Russia’s incursion into Ukraine and the violent clashes in Venezuela to remind Republicans of their orthodoxy — projecting strength abroad — and of why he was such a favorite in the party before seeing his popularity slip over his backing of an immigration overhaul.”

Amy Walter: “It’s clear Rubio isn’t standing still. As many in the media have started to document, the peripatetic freshman has been busy building a robust domestic and foreign policy portfolio and remains a top guest at GOP fundraising events. ”

Wall Street Journal: “Before New Hampshire voters begin relishing their role as early vetters of 2016 presidential candidates, they may be hosting a marquee Senate race in 2014. But for now, that political show is missing a leading man.”

“No top-tier Republican candidate has yet stepped forward to run against Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, and a new poll out Thursday shows her with a double-digit lead even over the man GOP leaders most want to run.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told The Nation that he’s “prepared to run for president” in 2016.

Said Sanders: “I don’t believe that I am the only person out there who can fight this fight, but I am certainly prepared to look seriously at that race.”

He added: “The same old same old Robert Rubin type of economics, or centrist politics, or continued dependence on big money, or unfettered free trade, that is not what this country needs ideologically. That is not the type of policy that we need. And it is certainly not going to be the politics that galvanizes the tens of millions of people today who are thoroughly alienated and disgusted with the status quo.”