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:
* Barack Obama struck a fairly aggressive tone towards John McCain at an event in Reno, Nevada, yesterday: “[A]fter praising the Arizona senator as a ‘genuine American patriot,’ the Democratic presidential hopeful got back to business — methodically tearing into McCain’s health care, tax and energy policies and criticizing his advisers.”
* Obama sat down briefly with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network on Saturday night, after the event at Saddleback. Brody brought up charges from a right-wing pro-life group, and Obama was visibly frustrated: “I hate to say that people are lying, but here’s a situation where folks are lying.”
* Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (R) said yesterday that he thinks the party would accept a pro-choice running-mate for McCain. “At the end of the day, I think the Republican Party will be comfortable with whatever choice John makes,” Ridge said. We’ll see.
* Obama held a series of fundraisers in San Francisco yesterday
, collecting money for both his campaign and the joint effort between Obama and the DNC. “John McCain, all he wants to do is talk about me,” Obama told supporters. “They know they can’t win on the issues. So what they’ll do is they’ll try to scare people: ‘He’s risky. He’s risky. We’re not sure.'” In all, Obama raised a combined total of $7.8 million between the various events.
* Last week, Joe Lieberman suggested Obama has not always put the country first. Yesterday, Dick Lugar, a conservative Republican from Indiana, rejected Lieberman’s remarks on CNN: “I think that was clearly a partisan statement at a rally. I respect everybody [has] their opinions in a political campaign
, but that’s all that was.”
* Obama chatted with T. Boone Pickens to chat about alternative energy. Pickens’ support for the Swiftboat liars apparently didn’t come up. “Everybody knows that if we keep on going on the same track that we’re going
, that we are giving our wealth away, we’re funding both sides in the war on terror. We’re going to be — over the long term — putting enormous pressure on ordinary families…. That’s what we’re going to be talking about,” Obama said before the meeting.
* Obama isn’t writing off any states, but his campaign has apparently decided to practically ignore Arkansas.
* Public Policy Polling (D) shows Obama and McCain tied in Ohio at 45% each.
* A poll from the Rocky Mountain News shows McCain leading Obama in Colorado by three, 44% to 41%.
* Rasmussen shows McCain leading Obama in North Carolina by four, 46% to 42%.
* Rasmussen shows Obama leading McCain in Maine by 13, 49% to 36%.