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:
* Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.) may be under ridicule for her media conspiracy ideas, but not all the news was bad for her yesterday. Florida House Speaker Allan Bense (R), who had been recruited by the White House and Gov. Jeb Bush to run against Harris in a GOP primary, announced he would skip the Senate campaign. Instead, Bense said, he would stay in the state legislature.
* Sen. Hillary Clinton’s re-election prospects continue to look encouraging according to a new Quinnipiac poll. In a hypothetical match-up against lawyer Ed Cox (the only announced Republican opponent), Clinton is ahead 64% to 26%.
* Speaking of New York, in case Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) is considering next year’s gubernatorial campaign, the latest Quinnipiac poll should discourage him. In a hypothetical match-up against state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer (D), Bloomberg trails 51% to 34%. Among traditionally Republican upstate voters, Spitzer’s lead is even bigger, 56% to 27%.
* And speaking of Bloomberg, New York’s mayor got some good news yesterday when the Board of Elections removed Republican rival Tom Ognibene from the city’s primary ballot yesterday.
* In case there was any doubt about Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) growing political clout, Obama’s political action committee, Hopefund Inc., collected more than $850,000 during the first half of the year. Of the senators with such funds, only Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) raised more than Obama.
* Last year, Virginia “Ginny” Schrader gave Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) a pretty tough race in Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District. Next year, Schrader wants a rematch. Schrader will, however, probably have a primary opponent — Andrew Warren, a local county commissioner, said he would announce his intention to seek the Dem nomination “sooner rather than later.”