“The Supreme Court’s conservatives cleared the way Monday for Ohio to restrict early voting in the state, on the eve of the day it was to start,” the Washington Post reports.

“The court granted the state’s request to stay decisions of lower courts that threw out the state’s new plan, passed by the Republican-led legislature. But the court’s four liberal justices said they would have stayed out of the case and left those decisions in place.”

Rick Hasen: “I think it was a mistake to bring this Ohio case. I am not convinced that it is a significant burden on voters to cut back a week off early voting including the last Sunday. Really, if 28 days is too little early voting, what does this say about New York, with NO period of early voting?”

A three-judge panel “did not decide Monday whether Kansas Democrats should be required to pick a replacement for Chad Taylor (D), who dropped out of the closely contested U.S. Senate campaign against longtime incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), the Topeka Capital Journal reports.

“The court challenge seeking to force Democrats to fill the vacancy hit a stumbling block Monday when the man who filed the suit failed to show up for his day in court.”

The Cook Political Report has moved the U.S. Senate race in Kansas to a “toss up.”

“This contest has become the Rubik’s Cube of Senate races. At the end of the day, it will be solved, but no one really knows how long it will take or how many different ways to solve the puzzle there really are. As a result, this race defies traditional analyses. Given what has become a complicated two-way race, polling is of little use.”

A new Suffolk University poll in Massachusetts finds the race for governor is a dead heat, with Martha Coakley (D)tied with Charlie Baker (R), 43% to 43%.

A new Western New England University poll finds Baker ahead 44% to 43%.

A forthcoming University of Massachusetts at Amherst poll is also expected to show a dead heat.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “is running for president. The only thing left for him to do is say so,” National Journal reports.

“According to sources close to the Texas senator, Cruz could be preparing for an end-of-year announcement and is now dedicating considerable time and effort to cultivating a foreign-policy foundation that might help his candidacy stand out in what is guaranteed to be a crowded field.”

Said one adviser: “At this point it’s 90/10 he’s in. And honestly, 90 is lowballing it.”

A new Nielson Brothers survey in South Dakota finds Mike Rounds (R) leading Rick Weiland (D) in the U.S. Senate race, 39% to 26%, with Larry Pressler (I) at 24%.

If Weiland were not in the race, Rounds would be in a dead heat with Pressler, 40% to 39%.

“With a wounded candidate at the top of their ticket, Democrats in Ohio have been forced to adopt a Plan B as they seek to avoid a disastrous shutout in elections for governor and other statewide offices,” the New York Times reports.

“Democrats here and nationally had high hopes of ousting Gov. John Kasich, whose job approval was below 50 percent among voters in Quinnipiac University polls taken early this year. But that was before the challenger, Ed FitzGerald, suffered self-inflicted wounds and his campaign all but imploded. With donors fleeing, top aides to Mr. FitzGerald quit last month as it became clear there was not enough money for a hard-fought race.”

National Journal: “Democratic candidates for Congress are crushing their Republican counterparts in small-dollar donations — outraising their GOP foes by an average of more than $100,000 per candidate in the nation’s top races. That’s the finding of a new National Journal analysis of federal records in the most competitive House contests in the country. In those, the average Democrat has collected $179,300 in donations under $200; the average Republican has brought in only $78,535.”

“It would be an uphill fight, almost like climbing a wall. He would be running against someone who simultaneously has two television shows based on her. She is a political figure with such remarkable strength ahead of the campaign, unlike anything I’ve seen in my lifetime.”

— Former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-NE), quoted by the Washington Post, on the possibility of former Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Nate Silver looks at the implications of a new poll showing Joni Ernst (R) with a solid lead over Bruce Braley (D) in the Iowa U.S. Senate race.

“If Republicans are favored there also, they have a path to a Senate majority without having to worry about the crazy race in Kansas. Nor is Iowa their only option. Polls have also moved toward Republicans in Colorado, where their candidate Cory Gardner is now a slight favorite.”

“This is an awfully flexible set of outcomes for Republicans. Win the six ‘path of least resistance’ states that I mentioned before, avoid surprises in races like Kentucky, and all Republicans need to do is win either Iowa or Colorado to guarantee a Senate majority. Or they could have Roberts hold on in Kansas. Or Orman could win that race, but the GOP could persuade him to caucus with them.”

“I’ve seen him grow and I’ve seen him mature and I’ve seen him become more centrist. I know that if he were President or a nominee I could influence him, particularly some of his views and positions on national security. He trusts me particularly on the military side of things, so I could easily work with him. It wouldn’t be a problem.”

— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), quoted by the New Yorker, saying he would support Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) if he were the Republican nominee for president.

Bruce Braley (D) and Joni Ernst (R) “squared off in a lively U.S. Senate debate Sunday evening, marked by heated exchanges on abortion, contraceptives, climate change and environmental regulations — and by biting attacks and comebacks, especially in the final few minutes,” the Des Moines Register reports.

“Braley went on the attack against a rival who is ahead by 6 points in the new Iowa Poll on the race, but front-runner Ernst responded in kind in their first face-to-face match-up.”

Braley “needed to land some blows against his Republican competitor” but “he didn’t deliver,” Bloomberg reports.