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:
* When the National Republican Senatorial Committee reported its fundraising totals for April, the campaign arm apparently inflated the actual total by $2.6 million. Republicans claimed to raise $21.9 million, when in fact it was $19.2 million.
* Las Vegas and Cincinnati are now out as finalists to host the 2016 Republican National Convention, leaving just four cities in contention: Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, and Kansas City. Up until fairly recently, Las Vegas had been considered the favorite.
* Gov. Jerry Brown (D) looks very strong in the new Public Policy Institute of California poll, leading his closest challenger by 33 points.
* Senate Majority PAC is launching a new ad in New Hampshire, going after former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) for recently lobbying against a bipartisan energy-efficiency bill. "Scott Brown lobbied Republican leaders to kill the bill," the ad's narrator says, "hurting Shaheen and helping himself gain another Senate seat."
* Just how unpopular is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)? In Colorado, Sen. Mark Udall's (D-Colo.) campaign is launching a new offensive against Rep. Cory Gardner (R), asking whether the Republican congressman supports "McConnell's prideful legacy of grinding Washington to a halt."
* Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), still seeking re-election despite facing multiple criminal counts, was filmed running away from a reporter this week. That's never a good sign.
* In Michigan, Rep. Kerry Bentivolio's (R) difficult re-election bid just grew more challenging: his campaign manager quit.
* In related news, it turns out that Bentivolio's primary challenger, David Trott, is eagerly touting his background as a successful businessman. And what business might that be? "Trott is an attorney and his specialty is foreclosing on homes on behalf of banks and other lenders -- as many as 80,000 in Michigan in a single year, by his own count, during the peak of the housing crisis."