Welcome to our newest feature here at Election Central -- a roundup of the latest news on a lot of those important down-ballot races.

The presidential race is obviously the biggest thing out there, but all across the country there are a lot of important elections going on that will collectively have an enormous effect on the agenda this country pursues and how effectively the next president will be able to govern.

In these roundups we hope to give you an idea of the big picture going on in those races -- not to mention the individual races themselves in all their quirky, dramatic and often brutally negative glory.

Look for the roundup twice every weekday, one at roughly 11 a.m. ET and one at 6 p.m. ET.

And without further ado...

New Dem Ad Against Coleman: Forget Hockey, We Want Jobs
The DSCC is running this new ad against Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), who has been running humorous ads boasting about how he brought professional hockey back to the state. "I wish someone would bring the economy back," one woman says in the ad:

Dem Ad Against Sununu: "He Doesn't Even See Us"
Here's the DSCC's new ad against the very vulnerable Sen. John Sununu (R-NH), casting him as out of touch on the economy:

GOP Senator To Skip Debate, Opponent Will Speak Alone
Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR), who is in a competitive race for re-election in this blue state, will be skipping a debate scheduled for October 17 at the City Club of Portland. Instead, Democratic state House Speaker Jeff Merkley will stand alone and take questions from state journalists.

Smith Taking Heat On Illegal Immigration Story
Gordon Smith is also facing tough questions due to a story in the liberal paper Willamette Week that alleges his company, Smith Frozen Foods, employs illegal aliens. Smith appeared this week on the Lars Larson radio show, telling the state's premier right-wing talker that it's all a media hatchet-job, but Larson wasn't impressed and later told The Oregonian, "They've nailed him pretty well."

Poll: Dem Incumbent Up In Big Indiana House Race
A new SurveyUSA poll has Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN) ahead of Republican Mike Sodrel by a solid 50%-39% margin. This is the fourth consecutive time these two have run against each other -- Hill narrowly won in 2002, Sodrel then won in 2004, and Hill came back to defeat Sodrel in 2006.

Dem House Candidate Blasts Idaho's Sali For Staffers Doing Campaign Work
Walt Minnick, the Dem nominee running against controversial Rep. Bill Sali (R-ID), has unveiled a new pledgea in his quest to win in a deep-red district: That if elected, he will forbid or severely limit his staffers from working on his campaign. At least two of Sali's Congressional staffers do volunteer work on his campaign, saving him the campaign expense of hiring people to work full-time.

GOP Senators Still Not Paying Up To NRSC
The Senate GOP's campaign committee is still having big problems getting its members to donate sufficiently, and they've had to roll back or cancel ad reservations in important states like New Mexico. Said Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), who has nearly doubled his personal quota while others have stalled: "The Democrats want it more than we do."