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:
* The NYT reports today that the Republican presidential field is going all out in Florida. John McCain, who shut down his Florida operation last summer, opened six offices in the state yesterday and hits the airwaves today. Mitt Romney’s TV ads return on Wednesday, and he’s not planning to leave the state again until after the primary. Rudy Giuliani spent his 48th day of campaigning in Florida yesterday.
* AP: “Barack Obama is stepping up his effort to correct the misconception that he’s a Muslim now that the presidential campaign has hit the Bible Belt. At a rally to kick off a weeklong campaign for the South Carolina primary, Obama tried to set the record straight from an attack circulating widely on the Internet that is designed to play into prejudices against Muslims and fears of terrorism ”I’ve been to the same church — the same Christian church — for almost 20 years,” Obama said, stressing the word Christian and drawing cheers from the faithful in reply. ‘I was sworn in with my hand on the family Bible. Whenever I’m in the United States Senate, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. So if you get some silly e-mail … send it back to whoever sent it and tell them this is all crazy. Educate.'”
* Chuck Norris, still campaigning aggressively on Mike Huckabee’s behalf, questioned John McCain’s age at a campaign event yesterday. “If John takes over the presidency at 72 and he ages 3-to-1, how old will he be in four years? Eighty-four years old — and can he handle that kind of pressure in that job?” Norris said, as Huckabee looked on. Norris added, “That’s why I didn’t pick John to support, because I’m just afraid the vice president will wind up taking over his job within that four-year presidency.”
* Things really didn’t turn out in Nevada the way John Edwards had hoped, and now his aides concede that they expect Edwards to lose every primary contest in which he competes. But he’s still not planning to withdraw: “There’s just no reason not to go to South Carolina, pick up delegates and watch the dynamics of the race play out for a while,” one adviser said. In other words, if Edwards can’t be president, he wants to be a kingmaker.
* For what it’s worth, at least Edwards isn’t in denial: “I got my butt kicked. That is what happened in Nevada,” the former North Carolina senator told Wolf Blitzer.
* Following up on an earlier item, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, South Carolina’s most powerful Democrat, urged Bill Clinton to dial his campaign efforts down a notch. In an interview on CNN, Clyburn said, “I think they would say in Gullah-Geechee country, he needs to chill a little bit. I hope he understands what that means,” Clyburn said. “I can understand him wanting to defend his wife’s honor and his own record, and that is to be expected. But you can’t do that in a way that won’t engender the kind of feelings that seem to be bubbling up as a result of this.”
* Responding to some of the anti-Obama smears, spread via email and whisper campaigns, seven Jewish U.S. Senators released an “open letter to the Jewish community” on Saturday — none of whom have endorsed any presidential candidate — rejecting the baseless talk. “Over the past several weeks, many in the Jewish community have received hateful emails that use falsehood and innuendo about Senator Barack Obama’s religion and attack him personally,” reads the letter. “Jews, who have historically been the target of such attacks, should be the first to reject these tactics.”
* On a related note: “The military has warned soldiers not to use official computers to forward a chain e-mail that falsely accuses Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama of being a Muslim who attended a radical Muslim school, saying distribution of the information is a violation of Army regulations and constitutes unlawful political activity.” The memorandum also reminds the troops that the email smear, “like virtually all chain e-mails,” is “false.”