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:<\/p>\n
* Don’t look now, but Connecticut’s Senate race is starting to get very interesting again. Though polls showed Sen. [tag]Joe Lieberman[\/tag] (I) leading [tag]Ned Lamont[\/tag] (D) by double digits a few weeks ago, a new Rasmussen poll<\/a> showed Lamont closing the gap and trailing the incumbent by just two, 45% to 43%.<\/p>\n * In Ohio, the gubernatorial race is looking less and less competitive. A new Quinnipiac poll<\/a> shows Rep. [tag]Ted Strickland[\/tag] (D) with a “commanding” lead over Ohio Secretary of State [tag]Ken Blackwell[\/tag] (R), 55% to 34%. “Rep. Strickland’s lead is solid and uniform. He is ahead among men and women and the critical independent voters. And his supporters are more likely to say they won’t change their mind than are Secretary of State Blackwell’s,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.<\/p>\n * Speaking of Ohio, Dems will also be encouraged by the latest Rasmussen poll<\/a>, which shows Rep. [tag]Sherrod Brown[\/tag] (D) leading incumbent Sen. [tag]Mike DeWine[\/tag] (R) by six points, 47% to 41%. It’s Brown’s biggest lead to date in Rasmussen polling.<\/p>\n * In Rhode Island, Sen. [tag]Linc Chafee[\/tag] (R) does not appear to be getting a post-primary bump in the polls. The latest Rasmussen numbers<\/a> show the incumbent trailing former state Attorney General [tag]Sheldon Whitehouse[\/tag] (D), 51% to 43%. A month ago Rasmussen showed Whitehouse leading by just two.<\/p>\n * In Illinois, the latest Chicago Sun Times poll<\/a> shows incumbent Gov. [tag]Rod Blagojevich[\/tag] (D), considered a very vulnerable incumbent a few months ago, with a big lead going into the campaign’s homestretch. The poll shows Blagojevich leading state Treasurer [tag]Judy Baar Topinka[\/tag] (R), 56% to 26%. Topinka suffers from her association with former Gov. George Ryan (R) who was recently sentenced to jail time stemming from a series of corruption charges.<\/p>\n * In Montana, [tag]Jon Tester[\/tag] (D) has also pulled out to his biggest lead to date over incumbent Sen. [tag]Conrad Burns[\/tag] (R), 52% to 43%, in the latest Rasmussen poll<\/a>. In last month’s poll, the two were tied.<\/p>\n