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
* Last week, the Republican establishment denied rumors that it was giving up on Sen. Mike DeWine’s (R) campaign in Ohio, but this week, the rumors were confirmed. The RNC announced yesterday that it will not<\/a> run any TV ads in Ohio on DeWine’s behalf during the final week of his reelection campaign.<\/p>\n * Though several recent polls have shown Sen. Bob Menendez (D) will all of the momentum in New Jersey’s closely-watched Senate race, a new poll<\/a> from the New York Times shows the race almost tied, with Menendez leading state Sen. Tom Kean Jr. (R), 40% to 39%.<\/p>\n * In Tennessee, the Senate race is close, but the gubernatorial race is not. The latest Mason-Dixon poll<\/a> shows incumbent Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) leading state Senator Jim Bryson (R), 62% to 27%.<\/p>\n * For months, it appeared that former Rep. Chris Bell (D) was trailing badly in Texas’ wild four-way gubernatorial contest, running fourth in several statewide polls. A new Rasmussen poll<\/a>, however, shows Bell moving up and incumbent Gov. Rick Perry (R) dropping. At this point, Perry still leads with 36% support, Bell is second with 25%, followed by Carole Keeton Strayhorn at 22%, and Kinky Friedman fourth with 12% support.<\/p>\n