Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* As if the first day of the Republican National Convention weren't messy enough last night, note that many party activists tried to force a roll call on party rules, only to find their efforts crushed by party leaders. They weren't pleased.
* The latest Monmouth University poll, released yesterday, showed Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump nationally by only two points among likely voters, 45% to 43%, with third-party candidates in the mix.
* The Trump campaign's new director of African-American outreach is a reality-show personality who appeared on "The Apprentice."
* Ted Cruz, John Kasich, and Marco Rubio built up sizable voter lists during their respective presidential campaigns, and as of this week, not one of them has turned over his list to the Republican Party to help with the 2016 effort.
* In the spring, Republican consultant Brian Seitchik said Trump's candidacy could prove "disastrous" to the GOP's down-ballot candidates. This week, Brian Seitchik became the Trump campaign's new state director in Arizona.
* The Tampa Bay Times put together an interesting report that found Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) missed "20 of 23 classified Intelligence Committee meetings" between October 2015 and March 2016, despite the senator publicly insisting in the fall, "We do all the intelligence briefings."
* Former President George W. Bush recently spoke to a group of former officials from his administration who gathered for a social event in Dallas. According to Politico, Bush told attendees, "I'm worried that I will be the last Republican president."
* And since 1952, the candidate who led in the polls after both parties' conventions ended up winning the presidential election in every contest except one. The exception was Al Gore's 2000 candidacy -- and he won the popular vote.