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:
* Just two days after the primaries in Massachusetts' Senate special election, Democrat Ed Markey is already taking the fight to his GOP opponent, Gabriel Gomez, characterizing him as "just another Republican."
* With just five days to go before the congressional special election in South Carolina, former Gov. Mark Sanford (R) has an interesting new ad, insisting "this contest is bigger" than just him. It seems to be an implicit concession that voters may not like him very much.
* As expected, Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) officially launched his U.S. Senate campaign yesterday, vowing to help clean up the "mess" in Washington. Peters' support among Michigan Democrats is strong enough that he may not even face a primary challenge in the open-seat contest.
* Two vulnerable, red-state Senate Democrats, North Carolina's Kay Hagan and Louisiana's Mary Landrieu, both voted for expanded background checks two weeks ago. Will this help or hurt their re-election bids? According to the latest from PPP, the votes appear likely to help.
* In Virginia's gubernatorial race, Terry McAuliffe (D) is under fire for an anecdote he included in his book: "McAuliffe also wrote about the birth of his children in his 2007 book What A Party, noting on one instance he left his wife at the hospital to attend a party for Washington Post reporter Lloyd Grove before the birth of his daughter Sarah."
* And EMILY's List is launching a new initiative promoting the idea of electing a woman to be president in 2016. The group didn't mention any names, though I can probably guess which candidate it has in mind.