Dispatches from the campaign trail, October 3, 2014

• The Political Action Committee headed by former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton (another possible Republican presidential candidate in 2016) endorses Thom Tillis in the U.S. Senate race.

• Tillis tries to connect his opponent, incumbent Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan, with the failures of the Secret Service. The News & Record’s Doug Clark isn’t buying it.

• Politifact rates the claim Tillis makes in an ad that Hagan missed half of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s meetings this year “mostly true.”

• Total spending on all North Carolina contests in this year’s midterm cycle is nearing $230 million, with $34 million coming from independent expenditure groups. The Center for Responsive Politics finds that Democratic-leanng groups are outspending their GOP-friendly rivals, $20 million to $14 million.