Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:
* Florida’s gubernatorial race appeared to be leaning the GOP’s way, but the latest Quinnipiac poll shows it’s still anybody’s race. In the Dem primary, Rep. [tag]Jim Davis[/tag] leads state Sen. [tag]Rod Smith[/tag], 27% to 17%. In the Republican primary, Attorney General Charlie Crist is ahead of state CFO Tom Gallagher, 34% to 30%. But in general election match-ups, each Dem vs. GOP pairing shows the race within a couple of points. “Although the changes from our last survey two months ago are small, U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, and to a lesser degree State Sen. Rod Smith, the Democrat, have improved their standing versus the Republicans,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Obviously this remains a very close race.”
* Businessman [tag]Harris Miller[/tag] formally kicked off his Senate campaign in Virginia yesterday, poking incumbent Sen. [tag]George Allen[/tag] for rubber-stamping the Bush administration’s culture of “corruption, partisanship and special-interest priorities,” and for spending far too much time on the presidential campaign trail. Miller will face former Secretary of the Navy [tag]James Webb[/tag] in a Dem primary.
* Speaking of Virginia, a new Rasmussen poll shows Miller and Webb starting the race at a considerable disadvantage. As of now, Allen leads Miller, 51% to 34%, and is ahead of Webb by an even larger margin, 50% to 30%.
* In California, a new Field Poll suggests Sen. [tag]Dianne Feinstein[/tag] (D) should have no trouble cruising to re-election this year. Feinstein leads retired state Sen. Richard Mountjoy (R), 59% to 31%. Feinstein led by a similar margin last month.
* Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice [tag]Roy Moore[/tag] was supposed to be a power-house gubernatorial candidate this year, but the polls show his support dwindling. A new Mobile Press-Register/University of South Alabama poll found that Republican primary voters prefer incumbent Gov. Bob Riley (R) to Moore by a wide margin, 64% to 20%. “These poll results suggest that Moore’s campaign has pretty well tanked,” said USA political scientist Keith Nicholls, who directed the polling.