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:
* In Iowa's U.S. Senate race, BuzzFeed discovered Joni Ernst (R) published several pieces in local newspapers with text "copied word for word" from Republican templates.
* In North Carolina's U.S. Senate race, the new Elon University poll shows Sen. Kay Hagan (D) with a four-point lead over Thom Tillis (R), 45% to 41%.
* In Colorado's U.S. Senate race, Quinnipiac continues to tell Republicans what they want to hear, this time with a seven-point lead for Rep. Cory Gardner (R) over Sen. Mark Udall (D), 46% to 39%.
* Though most recent polling shows Wisconsin's gubernatorial race nearly tied, the last Marquette University Law School Poll shows Gov. Scott Walker (R) with a surprisingly large lead over Mary Burke (D), 50% to 43%.
* In Massachusetts' gubernatorial race, the new Suffolk poll shows Charlie Baker (R) leading Martha Coakley (D), 46% to 43%. Given all of the recent data, Baker has to be considered the favorite at this point.
* As Rachel talked about on the show last night, Sen. Angus King (I) had endorsed Eliot Cutler's (I) gubernatorial candidacy in Maine this year, but with Cutler now certain to lose, the independent U.S. senator is now urging voters to support Rep. Mike Michaud (D) over incumbent Gov. Paul LePage (R).
* In related news, former First Lady Barbara Bush stars in a new ad in support of Maine's Tea Party governor, describing LePage as "blunt, direct -- like me."
* In Florida's gubernatorial race, former Gov. Charlie Crist (D) is holding onto a narrow lead over incumbent Gov. Rick Scott (R) in the new Quinnipiac poll, 43% to 40%.
* And though I find the results very hard to believe, a New England College poll found New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) effectively tied with Walt Havenstein (R). Though there hasn't been a lot of polling in this race, all other recent surveys show Hassan favored to win.