Today's installment of campaign-related news items that won't necessarily generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:
* In the new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Jeb Bush leads the Republicans' presidential field with 22% support, followed by Scott Walker with 17%. Marco Rubio is third with 14%, followed by Ben Carson at 11%. No other candidate reaches double digits. Remember, though national polls may seem unimportant at this stage, this year, they'll determine who gets to participate in primary debates.
* In the same poll, 75% of Republican voters said they could possibly see themselves supporting Bush in the GOP primaries. In March, that number was just 49%, which is a helpful reminder about the dubious reliability of early national polling.
* Campaigning in Iowa on Friday, Ted Cruz was comfortable already making gun jokes, telling an audience, "You know the great thing about the state of Iowa is, I'm pretty sure you all define gun control the same way we do in Texas -- hitting what you aim at."
* If Democrats are going to win back the Senate in next year's elections, they're almost certainly going to need to win in Ohio. With this in mind, a new Quinnipiac poll shows former Gov. Ted Strickland (D) leading incumbent Sen. Rob Portman (R) by six, 46% to 40%.
* In Florida, where there will be an open-seat Senate race, Quinnipiac shows Democrats with an early advantage. Rep. Patrick Murphy (D) has relatively comfortable leads over the likely Republican nominees in head-to-head match-ups.
* In Pennsylvania, Quinnipiac offers Republicans some more encouraging news, with results that show incumbent Sen. Pat Toomey (R) leading former Rep. Joe Sestak (D) by double digits, 47% to 36%.
* Bernie Sanders was in Denver over the weekend, and "drew an estimated crowd of more than 5,000 people." Colorado is a Super Tuesday state that will vote on March 1, 2016.
* On a related note, Gallup reported late last week that a greater number of Democrats self-identify as "liberal" than at any point since Gallup starting asking the question in 2001.