Wednesday’s political round-up

November 7, 2007

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* In light of Sam Brownback’s popularity among Christian conservatives, there’s been a fair amount of interest in which of his former presidential rivals he’ll endorse. Apparently, he’s made his decision — he’ll announce his support for John McCain today at an event in Iowa. The two will then travel together for a couple of campaign events elsewhere in the state.

* The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) announced in September that it would unveil a whole slew of recruiting successes, with a “flurry of candidates that will be coming forward in the next few weeks.” As it turns out, there is no flurry, and the campaign committee is struggling to find candidates to run next year: “The NRCC said in late September that it would have challengers emerge in five specific top-targeted districts within a few weeks, but so far only one of those races has a nationally recruited challenger officially in the race.”

* Hillary Clinton told CNN yesterday that she wasn’t at the top of her game during the most recent Democratic debate. “I wasn’t at my best the other night,” Clinton said. “We’ve had a bunch of debates and I wouldn’t rank that up in my very top list…. But I’ve answered probably, I don’t know, more than 5,000 questions over the last 10 months and I have been very clear about where I stand and what I want to do for the country.”

* In a surprise move, Fred Thompson is going to make some campaign appearances this week. The former senator, who mysteriously vanishes from the campaign trail for days on end, has apparently decided to pick up the pace: “Thompson plans to campaign in Iowa next week after undertaking an unusually busy week that included a day in New Hampshire, two days in South Carolina and an event at the Country Music Association Awards in Tennessee.” Why, it’s almost as if he were a real presidential candidate or something.

* Speaking of Thompson, the GOP presidential hopeful was overheard chatting with Fox News’ Carl Cameron before an interview the other day: Trying to encourage his studio to hurry up so an interview could start, Cameron said, “The next president of the United States has a schedule to keep.” Standing beside him, Thompson added, “And so do I.” It was just a joke, but comments like these only reinforce doubts about Thompson’s commitment.

* And in still more Thompson news, the former senator is poised to unveil his first TV ads this week. The spot is called, “Consistent Conservative,” and will come in 30- and 60-second varieties. Creating a distinction between himself and his rivals, Thompson emphasizes in the ad, “I’ve been a conservative my whole life.” He concludes, “Free people. Free markets and a government that doesn’t tax and regulate us to death, but defends us and protects our borders.”

* Joe Biden is quietly racking up quite a few endorsements in Iowa. Yesterday, State Sen. Herman Quirmbach, an Iowa State professor who represents the city of Ames, threw his support to Biden, the 12th legislative endorsement in Iowa for the senator.

* McCain was opposed to ethanol subsidies. Then he supported them. Now he’s against them again. Remember, he’s the principled candidate of the GOP bunch.

* AP: “Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson has moved 10 staff members from Nevada to Iowa, shifting resources to the leadoff caucus state where he’s hoping for a strong dark horse finish.”

* And Barack Obama seems to be working pretty hard to support those participating in the Writers Guild strike. Yesterday, an Obama campaign staffer unexpectedly called the WGA office to ask, “What can we do to help?” Jody Frisch, the Guild’s director of policy and government affairs, said, “We don’t even have a PAC, so why he did it is still a question. But we’re delighted.”

Wonder whose side Hillary is on in the writers’ strike… or, perhaps more accurately, I wonder how much the production companies are giving to her campaign. She’s their kind of “liberal,” after all–good enough on social issues, and totally comfortable with the stacked economic deck they’ve done so well playing with.

Also, I’d suggest she’s possibly “fielded” 5,000 questions. But “answered” implies some level of substance in the response, beyond generalities like “I do not support a rush to war, but nor do I want to do nothing.”

  • “and the unhinged, non sequitur-filled, deluded comments after the story make for some added entertainment.”

    you’re certainly right about that. i wondered which article those commenters read. it wasn’t the same article i read.

  • Defend the constitution?

    Doesn’t Dodd want to be a Democrat?

    Who’s he going to get to back him up, Kucinich?

  • “In a surprise move, Fred Thompson is going to make some campaign appearances this week.”

    What a hilarious statement about the DOA Thompson campaign.

    I really like Dodd’s stand on Constitutional matters. I just can’t believe he’s about the only one out there saying these things. It shows just how far this nation has fallen since the dawn of this new millenium.

  • “…I have been very clear about where I stand and what I want to do for the country.”

    Oh really? Maybe it’s just me, but I have been paying attention and one of the main reasons I do not support Hillary is that I have no freaking clue what it is she actually stands for, or what it is she would actually do if elected. Perhaps that’s because she spends so much time talking out of both sides of her mouth. Perhaps it’s because she feels she’s already won the nomination and is tacking center/right just a touch too early (do we get to vote?). Perhaps it’s because she inspires in me a deep and abiding feeling of distrust that I just cannot shake.

  • dajafi –

    I wonder how much the production companies are giving to her campaign.

    You don’t need to wonder – you can look it up. Opensecrets.org has pages on all of the various presidential candiates right now.

    As far as Clinton goes, the only big production company in her top 20 donors appears to be Time-Warner – though they have their hands in a lot of pies other than production. And they show up on all of the candidate’s lists across the board. They know where their bread is buttered.

    Clinton seems to be getting the bulk of her money from lawyers, investment companies, bankers, business services – though the entertainment industry seems to be within her top 10 industries overall (I wish I could tell how these things broke down at opensecrets – they seem to lump together all donations from anyone employed in an industry in these industry breakdowns – so doctors and nurses are lumped together with health insurance execs in “Health Professionals” and writers and actors would be lumped together with the production execs under “TV/Movies/Music” – not as informative as it seems like it should be).

    Interestingly enough, Obama and Clinton track similarly in their breakdown of who is giving them money – both in category and in quantities. They both get about the same amount of money in the “TV/Movies/Music” category and their Top Donors lists have a lot of crossover. Edwards certainly seems like the odd man out, getting most of his money from Lawyers and ActBlue.

  • If corporations have been designated “persons” by the Supreme Court of 1866 (Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company), why are they not limited to same campaign contributions that apply to individual citizens?

  • …Cameron said, “The next president of the United States has a schedule to keep.” Standing beside him, Thompson added, “And so do I.” It was just a joke, but comments like these only reinforce doubts about Thompson’s commitment.

    Awe c’mon. It was funny. Presidential candidates are people too even (especially?) goofy ones like old Fred.

  • Carl Cameron set nauseating new records while sucking up to Bush Jr. on the campaign trail. It’s no surprise to see him putting on the old scuffed kneepads to kiss every frogprince that he can get near.

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