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.
* The final poll in Massachusetts from Public Policy Polling shows Republican Scott Brown leading Democrat Martha Coakley by five, 51% to 46%.
* Independent political handicapper Stu Rothenberg rates the race a “Lean Takeover,” and predicted this morning that Brown is “headed for a comfortable win.”
* Former Sen. Norm Coleman (R), who was considered the Republican frontrunner in this year’s gubernatorial race in Minnesota, has decided not to run this year. State lawmakers Marty Seifert and Tom Emmer are now considered the two most competitive remaining Republicans.
* In New York, a Marist Poll shows Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) leading former Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.) in a hypothetical primary, 43% to 24%. A third of Dems polled were undecided.
* The latest Rasmussen poll in California shows Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) with fairly narrow leads over her likely GOP challengers.
* In Colorado, the latest Rasmussen poll shows former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton (R) leading appointed Sen. Michael Bennet (D) in this year’s Senate race, 49% to 37%, despite Norton’s shift to the hard right.
* Sen. Russ Feingold’s (D) re-election prospects in Wisconsin improved when it was reported that his Republican challenger failed to pay state income tax in four of the last five years.
* And in Nebraska, Sen. Ben Nelson (D) isn’t up for re-election until 2012, but in the meantime, his approval rating has dropped to 42% in a new Omaha World-Herald poll. The drop is attributed to public attitudes about Nelson and the health care reform bill.
