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Thursday's Campaign Round-Up, 10.23.14

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:
 
* Depending on which poll you believe, the U.S. Senate race in Colorado is either a nail-biter or it's practically over. The new Suffolk poll shows Rep. Cory Gardner (R) with a sizable, seven-point lead over Sen. Mark Udall (D), while the new Reuters poll shows Gardner's lead at just two points.
 
* In Iowa's U.S. Senate race, Quinnipiac now has Joni Ernst (D) leading Bruce Braley (D) by two, 48% to 46%. Last month, Quinnipiac showed Ernst leading by six.
 
* In New Hampshire's U.S. Senate race, the new CNN poll shows Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) leading former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), 49% to 47%. Though the CNN report on the results inexplicably failed to mention this, the last survey from this pollster showed the two tied.
 
* In his campaign-finance filings, Brown still describes himself as a Massachusetts lawmaker.
 
* In Wisconsin's gubernatorial race, the latest Wisconsin Public Radio/St. Norbert College poll shows Gov. Scott Walker (R) with the narrowest of leads over Mary Burke (D), 47% to 46%.
 
* Interesting tidbit: the recent improvement in the nation's unemployment rate "the largest ever registered by this point in a midterm election cycle, since the Labor Department started keeping records in 1948."
 
* Illinois' gubernatorial race continues to look close, with a new Chicago Tribune poll showing Bruce Rauner (R) with a narrow lead over incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn (D), 45% to 43%.
 
* Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) generally hasn't been considered vulnerable, but Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS is investing $1 million in new attack ads to go after the freshman lawmaker.
 
* In Iowa's Senate race, Braley will need all the help he can get to cross the finish line first, and VoteVets is investing $550,000 in the race to give the congressman a boost.
 
* And in Virginia, former RNC chief Ed Gillespie has effectively given up on his U.S. Senate bid against Sen. Mark Warner (D) this year -- the Republican isn't even running ads anymore -- but by all appearances, he already has his eyes on the 2017 gubernatorial race.