Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Campaigning in the Bronx yesterday, Ted Cruz struggled to defend his rejection of "New York values." The Texan, who used the line while trying to win in Iowa, said he was really just attacking "liberal Democratic" values.
* Speaking of New York, a Monmouth poll released yesterday found Donald Trump with a big lead among Empire State Republicans. The results showed the GOP frontrunner with 52%, followed by John Kasich with 25%, and Ted Cruz with 17%.
* With a few weeks remaining before the Maryland primary, a new Washington Post-University of Maryland poll shows Hillary Clinton leading Bernie Sanders in the state, 55% to 40%.
* The same poll found Trump leading Kasich among Maryland Republicans, 41% to 31%. Cruz was third with 22%.
* In Indiana this week, Senate hopeful Todd Young claimed that "politics is so new to me." For the record, Young is a three-term congressman, and a former staffer on Capitol Hill and at the Heritage Foundation.
* Speaking of Republican Senate candidates, Rep. David Jolly's (R) Senate campaign in Florida this week admitted that it touched up the congressman's Wikipedia page, removing information his aides considered potentially embarrassing.
* Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) appeared on CNN yesterday and said he can't support Trump or Kasich. Asked if that meant, by process of elimination, that he's endorsing Cruz, Risch replied, "I guess it depends on your definition of the term."
* It's pretty unusual for candidates to release the results of internal polling showing them losing, but Sen. Mark Kirk's (R) re-election campaign in Illinois did exactly that this week. The Republican incumbent was apparently pleased that his internal polling showed him losing by a little, as opposed to a lot.
* And in Florida, where Rep. Alan Grayson (D) is in a tight Democratic Senate primary, the congressman continues to face allegations of ethics lapses stemming from a hedge fund he helped run.