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, a new Quinnipiac poll shows Hillary Clinton holding onto a pretty comfortable lead over Bernie Sanders, 52% to 33%. This is, however, a much slimmer margin than the 45-point advantage Clinton enjoyed a couple of months ago.
* In Madison, Wisconsin, yesterday, Sanders spoke to an enormous crowd of nearly 10,000 people. "In case you haven't noticed, there are a lot of people here," the Vermont senator said.
* A new Gallup poll shows Democrats regaining an advantage over Republicans in terms of Americans' party affiliation, 46% to 41%. For the last year ,the two were effectively tied, including the period around the 2014 midterms.
* A new Monmouth poll in New Jersey found 69% of Garden State voters believe Gov. Chris Christie (R) would not make a good president.
* Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign reportedly raised $45 million in the second quarter of the year, her first as an announced candidate. That's even better than the $41.9 million President Obama raised in his first quarter as an announced candidate four years ago.
* On a related note, projections suggest 91% of Clinton's donations were $100 or less, which is pretty impressive.
* Retired right-wing neurosurgeon Ben Carson also announced his quarterly fundraising haul yesterday, pointing to his $8.3 million total.
* Appearing on msnbc yesterday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was asked what role Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) might play if Graham is elected president. "He'd be like the uncle you put in the basement," the senator replied. "I'd put him in the basement of the White House -- call him when I needed him."
* Jeb Bush may be the presumptive choice of the GOP establishment, but he doesn't have many congressional endorsements yet. That changed a little yesterday, when Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) overlooked her four Republican colleagues already in the race and threw her support to the former Florida governor whose powerful family takes vacations in Maine.
* In early May, I came up with a list of 22 possible/likely Republican presidential candidates. Since then, four have announced they're not running, including Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), who announced yesterday that he will not be a candidate. Of the remaining 18 Republicans, 14 have launched campaigns, and four more have not yet announced.