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Friday's campaign round-up

Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa. speaks after a round table discussion with Vice President Joe Biden on gun control, Monday, Feb. 11, 2013, at Girard College in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa. speaks after a round table discussion with Vice President Joe Biden on gun control, Monday, Feb. 11, 2013, at Girard College in Philadelphia.
 
* As Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D) gears up for a Democratic gubernatorial primary in Pennsylvania, she has reportedly "resigned her positions with Third Way and the New Democratic Coalition effective immediately." Both groups try to move Democrats to the right on several key issues, including social-insurance programs like Social Security.
 
* For the second time this week, a statewide poll in Virginia shows incumbent Sen. Mark Warner (D) crushing former RNC chair Ed Gillespie in this year's U.S. Senate race. In this new poll from Christopher Newport University, Warner has a 63% approval rating and leads Gillespie by 20 points.
 
* In North Carolina, Republican Senate hopeful Greg Brannon already has a reputation for fringe beliefs. Andrew Kaczynski, however, dug through some deleted online archives and discovered that Brannon led a group called "Founder's Truth" through which he wrote about some bizarre conspiracy theories.
 
* Jon Ralston reports that leaders of the Nevada Republican Party, already estranged from the party's elected leaders, intend to start intervening more in party primaries, further exacerbating tensions. It's not even clear if Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) will get his party's formal backing.
 
* And in North Carolina, former "American Idol" contestant Clay Aiken is reportedly moving forward with his plan to run against Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) in November. It's a Republican-friendly district and Ellmers would go into the race as the favorite.