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:
* The Obama campaign released this morning its third ad featuring Mitt Romney's "47 percent" remarks, and to my ear, this one's the most devastating. I don't yet have a list of states where it's airing, but readers in Ohio and Virginia confirm having seen it this morning. [Update: it's running in seven states: Ohio, Virginia, Florida, Iowa, Colorado, Nevada, and New Hampshire.]
* Romney said he's unconcerned about the polls because the race is still at an "early state." Early voting begins in much of the country this week.
* In Iowa, considered one of the eight or nine 2012 battlegrounds, Public Policy Polling shows President Obama leading Romney by seven, 51% to 44%.
* A Pew Research Center report released yesterday shows Obama's support among Roman Catholic voters growing, and he now leads Romney, 54% to 39%. The anti-contraception message doesn't seem to be working for the former governor.
* In Connecticut's increasingly-interesting U.S. Senate race, PPP shows Rep. Chris Murphy (D) up by six over former wrestling executive Linda McMahon (R), 48% to 42%.
* Depending on which poll you believe, Sen. Bob Casey's (D) re-election bid in Pennsylvania is either becoming more competitive or less. It's worth noting, however, that if the NRSC thought Tea Party Republican Tom Smith had a credible shot, it'd start buying ad time. That hasn't happened yet.
* Obama gets some backup: "A Democratic 'super PAC' is joining forces with a labor group to begin a $1.25 million radio ad campaign on Thursday that starts with a direct attack on Mitt Romney as an out-of-touch millionaire who has insulted nearly half of the country."
* Now that Todd Akin can't drop out, American Bridge is opening its oppo files and presenting voluminous evidence of the Missouri Republican's extremism.
* And it may well be little more than a strategic ploy, but the Obama campaign is apparently making noises about a possible investment in Arizona, which is generally seen as state Romney should win easily.
