Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.

* It’s primary day in Massachusetts, one of only four states that has yet to hold statewide primaries, and the marquee contest is at the top of the ballot: Incumbent Democratic Sen. Ed Markey is facing a challenge from Rep. Seth Moulton, who is 32 years younger and running on a platform of generational change. There hasn’t been a lot of polling, but the available data suggests Markey is the favorite.

Other contests also worth keeping an eye on in the Bay State include a Republican gubernatorial primary, as well as two Democratic congressmen facing credible primary challenges from the left: Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, who’s facing off against Patrick Roath, a Boston attorney who worked as an aide to former Gov. Deval Patrick; and Rep. Richard Neal, who’s facing a primary from teacher Jeromie Whalen.

* Amid widespread concern in Democratic circles about possible troop deployments to local voting precincts, Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan that the U.S. military has no plans to deploy troops to polling places or to seize election materials during the November midterm elections.

* In Tarrant County, Texas, the third largest county in the state, officials are weighing whether to use dozens fewer polling locations, which many local Democrats see as part of an apparent voter suppression effort. A vote on the plan is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 1.

* Despite the ongoing scandal surrounding Republican Rep. Max Miller, House Speaker Mike Johnson has reiterated his support for the Ohioan, telling reporters on Capitol Hill that he considers Miller a “great member of Congress.” Johnson added, “He has some issues in his personal life he’s working through.”

* In Michigan’s Senate race, former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers boasted in a recent fundraising pitch, “I saw the dead body of Osama bin Laden with my own eyes, knowing that together, we had delivered justice for America.” Evidently, what he meant was that he saw a photograph with his own eyes, despite the implication that he somehow accompanied Seal Team 6.

On a related note, the latest poll from Michigan State University’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research found former Democratic state health official Abdul El-Sayed leading Rogers by four points among registered voters (48% to 44%) and five points (50% to 45%) among likely voters.

As for the state’s gubernatorial race, the same poll showed Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s Democratic secretary of state, leading Republican Rep. John James by 10 points among registered voters (49% to 39%) and nine points (52% to 43%) among likely voters.

* And in Minnesota, election denier and pillow salesman Mike Lindell apparently isn’t finished trying to challenge the results of his failed Republican gubernatorial bid. Despite losing in a recent GOP primary by 11 points, Lindell took his case to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which rejected his case over the weekend. He now claims he’ll take the same case to the Supreme Court.

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