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:
* A new national poll from the Pew Research Center shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney in a hypothetical matchup by 12 points. A new national Reuters poll found similar results, with the president up by 11.
* Obama picked up a formal endorsement yesterday from the AFL-CIO, which "voted proudly and enthusiastically" to support the president for a second term.
* The next debate for the Republican presidential candidates is scheduled for Monday, but Romney announced yesterday that he will not participate.
* The Illinois primary is arguably the next big contest in the race for the Republican nomination, and Romney is already investing heavily in the state.
* Rick Santorum's super PAC, meanwhile, is going on the air in Louisiana, which will hold its primary four days after Illinois.
* Pennsylvania is likely to be a key 2012 battleground state, and new polling from PPP and Quinnipiac shows Obama leading each of his Republican rivals there.
* Faced with an uncertain future following his state's redistricting process, Rep. Bob Turner (R), less than six months into his only term in Congress, announced yesterday he's running for the U.S. Senate this year against incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand (D).
* And in Nebraska, former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D), two weeks after kicking off his comeback bid, released his first television ad, which is clearly intended to address one of his key vulnerabilities: the fact that he moved to New York before heading home.
