Republican nominee Dan Coats holds a 14-point lead in the Indiana Senate race, a new Rasmussen poll finds (June 2-3, 500 LV, MoE +/- 4.5%). The former senator, running for his old seat following the retirement of Democrat Evan Bayh, so far has a sizeable edge over the man hoping to keep the seat on the Dems' side of the aisle, Rep. Brad Ellsworth.

Coats 47
Ellsworth 33
Und 14

RCP currently rates this race Lean Republican.

A Public Policy Polling (D) survey on the eve of next week's Iowa primary shows Sen. Chuck Grassley comfortably ahead of potential Democratic opponents.

General Election Matchups
Grassley 57 -- Conlin 31 -- Und 12
Grassley 56 -- Fiegen 28 -- Und 17
Grassley 56 -- Krause 26 -- Und 17

Roxanne Conlin (D) is thought to be the favorite heading into the Tuesday vote. She actually outraised Grassley in the most recent fundraising quarter. A Research 2000 poll showed the race between those two within single digits.

RCP rates the race as Likely Republican.

After losing his party's endorsement at the state Democratic convention, Ned Lamont has taken a hit in the latest Rasmussen poll (500 LVs, 6/1, MoE +/- 4.5%) of the Connecticut governor's race.

General Election Matchups
Foley (R) 38 (+3 vs. last poll, 5/4)
Lamont (D) 36 (-6)
Und 17 (+4)

Malloy (D) 44 (+6)
Foley (R) 35 (unch)
Und 17 (+1)

Lamont (D) 43 (-5)
Fedele (R) 34 (+6)
Und 19 (+4)

Malloy (D) 42 (-2)
Fedele (R) 28 (+1)
Und 25 (+5)

Former Ambassador Tom Foley won the GOP endorsement at his party's convention. But all four candidates will still battle one another in their respective primaries on August 10.

RCP rates the general election as lean Democratic.

"After this Obama nightmare, the Bush brand is looking pretty good." - An anonymous Republican at the NY GOP convention after hearing Jeb Bush deliver the keynote address.

A new Rasmussen poll (June 2, 500 LV, MoE +/- 4.5%) in Pennsylvania finds Republican nominee Pat Toomey leading Democrat Joe Sestak by 7 points in the competitive Senate race. Sestak held a 4-point lead just after the May 18 primaries.

Toomey 45 (+3 vs. last poll, May 19)
Sestak 38 (-8)
Und 12

RCP currently rates this race a Toss Up.

Illinois Rep. and Senate nominee Mark Kirk (R) is still on the front page of state newspapers after revelations that he embellished his military record. He met yesterday with editorial boards, including the Chicago Sun-Times and Tribune, to apologize for what now appears to be multiple instances of errors.

"I simply misremembered it wrong," Kirk told the Sun-Times.

Kirk's situation has been a welcome reprieve for Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Senate candidate under the microscope for similar military record exaggerations. In Kirk's favor is that he has actually served overseas, but he did not receive "Intelligence Officer of the Year," an award he's touted in public appearances, on the Senate floor and in campaign ads.

However, the Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet takes note of other apparent contradictions, such as whether or not he was fired upon while flying over Iraq (he says no now, but said on the House floor in 2003 that he had been) and whether or not he served in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom (he didn't).

With only days left before the California GOP gubernatorial primary, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman holds a two-to-one lead over state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, a new Field Poll finds (May 27-June 2, 511 GOP LV, MoE +/- 4.5%).

Whitman 51
Poizner 25
Other 6
Und 18

A handful of polls in early- and mid-May found the race within 10 points, but the last five public polls have shown Whitman leading by at least 24 points. The last Field Poll in March had Whitman up 63%-14%.

Whitman and Poizner have both spent record amounts on the primary, together totalling $110 million. As the San Francisco Chronicle reports, Whitman's "presence on statewide television has been virtually nonstop for months."

In the past two hours, two interesting travel tidbits from the White House. First, in a speech to the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue in Washington, President Obama said that he plans to visit India in “early November." Shortly after, press secretary Robert Gibbs announced that the United States would be hosting the annual meeting of APEC in Honolulu from November 12 to 13.

Already, Obama would likely be planning to attend the G-20 Summit in Seoul, South Korea, scheduled for November 11 to 12. The "early November" trip to India might then precede these two summits.

All that points to an extended presidential trip beyond the Continental United States within a week of the midterm elections November 2. If the early projections hold that Democrats are in for a drubbing, it might be a welcome escape for Obama.

For the second time today, a new poll finds Sharron Angle out in front of Tuesday's Republican Senate primary in Nevada. This time the pollster is Research 2000, polling for Daily Kos (May 31-June 2, 600 LV, MoE +/- 4%), but the result is close to the Suffolk poll out this morning.

Angle 34
Lowden 25
Tarkanian 24

As for the general election, Sen. Harry Reid leads all three Republicans but still polls in the low 40s. R2k included third-party candidate Scott Ashjian, running on the Tea Party line, and he took 2% in all three scenarios.

Reid 43 - Angle 37 - Ashjian 2

Reid 42 - Lowden 38 - Ashjian 2

Reid 43 - Tarkanian 39 - Ashjian 2

A new Rasmussen poll in Missouri (500 LVs, 6/2, MoE +/- 4.5%) shows Democrat Robin Carnahan with her strongest showing this year, having pulled to within 1 point of Rep. Roy Blunt (R).

General Election Matchup
Blunt 45 (-5 vs. last poll, 5/3)
Carnahan 44 (+2)
Und 6 (+2)

Blunt has led Carnahan in every Rasmussen poll since December 2009, when Carnahan had a 2-point lead. Carnahan has been on a new offensive of late over Blunt's status as a Washington insider.

President Obama's numbers have also improved in the Show Me State. His job rating stands at 46 percent approve, 54 percent disapprove, up from 42 / 56 in May.

RCP rates the race as a Toss Up.