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:
* With just five days until Michigan’s Republican presidential primary, the latest WXYZ/Detroit Free Press poll shows Rick Santorum with a three-point lead over Mitt Romney, 37% to 34%.
* In Arizona, which holds its primary the same day, Public Policy Polling shows the state quickly becoming a key 2012 battleground. In a hypothetical match-up, Romney is now tied with President Obama at 47% each.
* Some major players in the religious right are rallying behind Santorum’s campaign, with the Susan B. Anthony List investing $117,050 in Michigan radio spots, while James Dobson also records a radio ad for the former senator.
* The California GOP presidential primary is still pretty far off, but the new Field Poll nevertheless shows Santorum closing the gap in the Golden State. He now trails Romney, 31% to 25%.
* In Michigan’s closely-watched U.S. Senate race, the new NBC/Marist poll shows Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) with a big lead over former Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R), 53% to 32%. Hoekstra, of course, is reeling after airing a xenophobic Super Bowl ad. * On a related note, the Hoekstra campaign is apparently trying to scrub the offensive commercial from existence. * In Maine, Sen. Olympia Snowe’s (R) primary opponent, Andrew Ian Dodge, has decided to end his Republican bid and will instead run as an independent. He’s not expected to do well. * And in Florida, Alex Sink narrowly lost her 2010 gubernatorial campaign to Rick Scott, and as the Republican governor’s support collapses statewide, Sink is apparently interested in a rematch.
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