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:
* In Colorado, former Denver District Attorney [tag]Bill Ritter[/tag] (D) continues to look surprisingly strong in against Rep. [tag]Bob Beauprez[/tag] (R) in the state’s gubernatorial race. A new Rasmussen poll shows Ritter ahead, 48% to 39%.
* A new Quinnipiac poll shows state Treasurer [tag]Bob Casey[/tag] (D) leading an increasingly tight, three-way Senate race in Pennsylvania. Casey is out in front with 45%, Sen. [tag]Rick Santorum[/tag] (R) is second with 39%, and Green Party candidate/GOP ally [tag]Carl Romanelli[/tag] garners 5%.
* In Ohio, embattled Rep. [tag]Bob Ney[/tag] (R) officially requested that his name be taken off the November ballot yesterday, sparking a special primary election to choose the GOP nominee. Had he waited until after Aug. 19, party leaders would have been able to choose a replacement.
* Desperate for any traction at all, former Yonkers Mayor [tag]John Spencer[/tag] (R) launched a vitriolic new ad against Sen. [tag]Hillary Clinton[/tag] (D) yesterday, which juxtaposes slides showing Clinton and Osama Bin Laden, and accuses the senator of wanting to eliminate Bush’s warrantless-search program (she doesn’t; she wants it to be legal). State Dem Chairman Denny Farrell said, “This is a smear, and the voters are not going to accept it.”
* Nevada holds today’s only primaries today, but few expect any real surprises. In the gubernatorial race, Rep. [tag]Jim Gibbons[/tag] (R) and State Senator [tag]Dina Titus[/tag] (D) will probably win their party’s respective nominations without too much trouble. As Taegan Goddard noted, the race to watch may be the three-way GOP primary in Nevada’s 2nd district to replace Gibbons, with Gibbons’ wife Dawn Gibbons, Assemblywoman Sharron Angle and Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller facing off.