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
* The LA Times conducted a series of Senate polls<\/a> in the five most competitive states, and Dems lead in three of the five. In Missouri, Sen. Jim Talent (R) leads Claire McCaskill (D) 48% to 45%; in New Jersey, Sen. Bob Menendez (D) leads state Sen. Tom Kean Jr. (R) 45% to 41%; in Ohio, Rep. Sherrod Brown (D) leads Sen. Mike DeWine (R) 47% to 39%; in Tennessee, Bob Corker (R) leads Rep. Harold Ford (D) 49% to 44%; and in Virginia, Jim Webb (D) leads Sen. George Allen (R) 47% to 44%.<\/p>\n * In Florida’s Senate race, many of us expected a blow out, but few expected it to be this one-sided. A new Quinnipiac poll<\/a> shows Sen. Bill Nelson (D) trouncing Rep. Katherine Harris (R) by better than a two-to-one margin, 64% to 29%. The 35-point lead is even bigger than the 28-point lead Nelson enjoyed a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n * Arizona’s Senate race is getting surprisingly competitive with just two weeks to go. A new poll<\/a> from Arizona State University and KAET shows Sen. Jon Kyl (R) leading Democratic challenger Jim Pederson, by just six points, 47% to 41%. It’s the closest the race has been all year. Libertarian Richard Mack garnered 3% support.<\/p>\n * In Massachusetts, a new 7News-Suffolk University poll<\/a> shows Deval Patrick increasing his earlier leads over Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey (R) and is now up by 27 points, 53% to 26%. The key to Patrick’s latest surge is independent voters abandoning Healey in droves.<\/p>\n