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Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* With only six days remaining before Election Day in New Jersey, a new Monmouth poll shows Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy leading his Republican challenger, Jack Ciattarelli, 50 percent to 39 percent. The same poll found the incumbent governor more popular than President Joe Biden in the Garden State.
* In this year's other gubernatorial race, a new poll from the Christopher Newport University's Wason Center finds former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe with the narrowest of leads over Republican Glenn Youngkin, 49 percent to 48 percent. The same survey showed similarly competitive contests up and down the commonwealth's ballot.
* Similarly, the latest Virginia Commonwealth University poll, released yesterday afternoon, showed McAuliffe narrowly leading Youngkin, 41 percent to 38 percent.
* Biden campaigned with McAuliffe in northern Virginia last night and tried to tie the GOP nominee to Donald Trump, who lost the commonwealth by nearly double digits last fall.
* Though there wasn't any real question about his plans, former New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof formally kicked off a Democratic gubernatorial campaign in Oregon this morning. Kristof, who has not previously held elected office, joins a crowded Democratic primary field.
* Sen. Rick Scott, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told NBC News yesterday that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's contrarian role in the Build Back Better talks will help Republicans go after her fellow Arizona Democrat, Sen. Mark Kelly, who'll face voters next fall.
* In New Hampshire, Republican Gov. Chris Sununu hasn't yet said whether he'll run for the U.S. Senate next year, but a new Saint Anselm Poll shows him leading incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan in a hypothetical race, 46 percent to 41 percent.
* And in Nebraska, where Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry is facing federal criminal charges, the congressman recently boasted to donors that his legal defense team includes former Rep. Trey Gowdy. Evidently, that's not true.