MONDAY’S CAMPAIGN ROUND-UP….Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers.
* It seems very hard to believe, but a new Suffolk University poll shows Gov. Jon Corzine (D) leading the New Jersey gubernatorial race by nine points over Republican Chris Christie, 42% to 33%. No other poll shows Corzine with anything like that kind of lead.
* On a related note, with just eight days left before voters head to the polls, Corzine is blanketing the airwaves with four new television ads, one of which prominently features President Obama.
* If newspaper endorsements were a deciding factor, Creigh Deeds’ (D) gubernatorial campaign in Virginia would be in great shape. After having already earned an endorsement from the Washington Post, Deeds also got the nod over the weekend from the editorial boards of the Virginian Pilot and the Roanoke Times, two of the state’s largest papers.
* Despite far-right activists flocking to Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman in New York’s 23rd, the National Republican Congressional Committee says it remains committed to GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava.
* The primary isn’t until December, but in the Senate special election in Massachusetts, the Boston Globe reports that state Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) has positioned herself as a strong frontrunner.
* In Iowa, Christie Vilsack has decided not to take on Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) next year, disappointing some leading Democrats who thought she’d make a very credible candidate. However, Roxanne Conlin, an attorney who ran an unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in Iowa in 1982, says she is “more likely than not” to take on Grassley in 2010.
* She’s been running for months, but former New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte (R) formally launched her Senate campaign over the weekend.
* And disgraced former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) is once again toying with the idea of running for president. He made similar noises in advance of the 1996, 2000, and 2008 presidential campaigns, which is why this probably isn’t worth taking seriously.
