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:
* Four new Time/CNN polls show Newt Gingrich leading Mitt Romney in three of the four early nominating contests. Gingrich leads Romney by 13 points in Iowa, 23 points in South Carolina, and 23 points in Florida. Romney still leads in New Hampshire, but his margin over Gingrich has shrunk to just 9 points.
* New Quinnipiac polls also show Gingrich well ahead of his Republican rivals, leading Romney by 13 points in Florida, 18 points in Ohio, and 14 points in Pennsylvania.
* The same Quinnipiac poll tested Gingrich and Romney against President Obama in hypothetical general election match-ups. Both GOP candidates have one-point leads over the president in Ohio; Obama leads the Republicans in Pennsylvania; and in Florida, Romney has a small lead over the president while the president has a slight lead over Gingrich.
* The Romney campaign’s new ad emphasizes the former governor’s stable family life, a subtle dig at a certain thrice-married former House Speaker.
* Gingrich, meanwhile, said yesterday Romney would “certainly” be on his short-list for vice presidential candidates.
* Gingrich also said yesterday he’d like to see former Bush administration UN envoy John Bolton as his Secretary of State.
* In Massachusetts, a new UMass-Lowell/Boston Herald poll shows Elizabeth Warren (D) leading Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) by seven points, 49% to 42%.
* Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus spoke out this morning against the upcoming debate being moderated by Donald Trump.
* The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has begun buying television time in Oregon’s first congressional district, in advance of the upcoming special election.
* And Ohio Democrats have put together a pretty hilarious video targeting Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel, who broke his vow to serve a full four-year term in state government after less than a year.
