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Monday's Campaign Round-Up, 7.7.14

Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
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:
 
* If Mississippi's Republican Senate contest is over, no one told Chris McDaniel and his allies. On Thursday, the far-right candidate announced his intention to challenge the runoff results, and over the weekend, McDaniel held a rally with about 100 supporters. "There's no way we will abandon this cause," he said.
 
* In an unfortunate slip, Sen. Pat Roberts (R) told a radio audience in Kansas late last week, "Every time I get an opponent -- I mean, every time I get a chance, I'm home." The longtime incumbent has struggled with questions regarding his in-state residency.
 
* In Arkansas' closely watched U.S. Senate race, Rep. Tom Cotton (R) went after Sen. Mark Pryor's (D) religious beliefs late last week, using the Supreme Court's contraception case to argue, "Barack Obama and Mark Pryor think that faith is something that only happens at 11:00 on Sunday mornings." The far-right congressman has ignored calls for an apology.
 
* Now that Rep. Vance McAllister (R) has changed his mind and will run for another term in Louisiana, state Sen. Elbert Guillory (R) is getting ready to launch a campaign against him.
 
* In Massachusetts, a new Boston Globe poll shows state Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) leading Charlie Baker (R) in this year's gubernatorial race, 40% to 31%. A WBUR/MassInc poll shows Coakley with an even larger lead, 41% to 28%.
 
* Karl Rove's Crossroads operation announced its fall TV spending plans late last week, totaling about $20 million. Roughly half of that will be spent by American Crossroads in Alaska, Iowa, and Montana, while the other half will be spent by Crossroads GPS in Arkansas, Louisiana, and North Carolina.
 
* In Hawaii, Sen. Brian Schatz (D) got a boost last week with an endorsement from former Hawaii Gov. John Waihee (D). Schatz, an appointed senator, is facing a tough Democratic primary challenge from Rep. Colleen Hanabusa.
 
* And in Nevada, Democrats have nominated Lucy Flores as their candidate for lieutenant governor this year, which as Benjy Sarlin reported, is fascinating for a variety of reasons. Flores is "a Latina rising star who was born into an impoverished family of 13 children, whose mother abandoned her in grade school, who fell in with a gang, who was sentenced to a youth prison, who dropped out of high school and who became a lawyer and a state legislator -- all by age 31."