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:
* Last month, a Rasmussen poll shows Sen. Mike DeWine (R) leading Rep. Sherrod Brown (D) by seven points in Ohio's closely watched Senate race. Now, Rasmussen shows Brown taking a narrow lead, 44% to 42%. Speaking of Ohio, Rasmussen also shows Rep. Ted Strickland (D) continuing to lead Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell by double digits, 50% to 39%. The margin is about the same as every Rasmussen poll since March.
* California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has built a modest, but hardly insurmountable, lead over Phil Angelides (D) in a new Rasmussen poll, 47% to 41%. There appears to be a significant gender gap: Schwarzenegger leads by 18 points among men but trails by six among women.
* Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), who is strongly favored to win a second term, now has an opponent. State Sen. Jim Barnett (R) won a crowded primary field yesterday to become the GOP gubernatorial nominee.
* Dems have looked to New Hampshire as a state with key House pick-up opportunities, but a new Granite State Poll offers little encouragement. Republican incumbents Jeb Bradley and Charles Bass both hold solid leads over their Democratic challengers.
* And in West Virginia, Republican congressional candidate Chris Wakim, taking on Rep. Alan Mollohan (D), is under fire for allegedly exaggerating about his academic and military careers. Most notably, Wakin claims on his official bio to be a veteran of the first Gulf War, but during the conflict, he trained soldiers in Massachusetts. Wakim believes serving in the military during the war qualifies him as a "Gulf War veteran," but an Army official told The Hill, "You need a combat patch or Southwest Asia Service Medal to be a veteran of Desert Storm." Wakin has neither.
--Guest Post by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report
