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
* Democratic chances of beating California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) in November appear to be slowly fading away. A new San Jose State University poll<\/a> shows the incumbent with a 13-point lead over Phil Angelides (D), 46% to 33%. Schwarzenegger is, oddly enough, garnering about 20% support among California Dems. “They know he’s a Republican, but they don’t see him as Bush’s evil twin,” said Phil Trounstine, who heads the San Jose State research center. “To some degree, he has neutralized his Republican partisanship.”<\/p>\n * Last month, a Rasmussen poll showed Charlie Crist’s (R) lead over Rep. Jim Davis (D) in Florida’s gubernatorial race narrowing to just five points. Today, a new Rasmussen poll<\/a> shows Crist surging to a huge lead, 54% to 38%. The poll was taken before the Foley sex scandal broke, though it’s unclear if the controversy will affect state races.<\/p>\n * Speaking of Florida, the Senate race continues to be hardly worth watching. Incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson (D) now leads<\/a> Rep. Katherine Harris (R), 54% to 37%. The 17-point margin is smaller than Nelson’s 23-point lead a month ago, but no one seriously expects the gap to narrow much further.<\/p>\n * In Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court rebuffed<\/a> Green Party Senate candidate Carl Romanelli’s bid to get on the November ballot for the U.S. Senate campaign, delivering another setback for Sen. Rick Santorum (R), who wanted to use Romanelli to cut into Bob Casey’s (D) support.<\/p>\n