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:
* Joe Trippi, best known for his work as one of Howard Dean’s campaign managers in 2004, didn’t expect to work for any of the 2008 aspirants, but announced yesterday that he is joining John Edwards’ team. Trippi will serve as a senior adviser to the campaign and be a “key member” of the media team, the campaign announced Thursday.
* I’m trying not to pay too much attention to any of the early presidential polls, but I nevertheless found it striking that a new Suffolk University poll in Massachusetts shows Bay State Republicans preferring Rudy Giuliani to their former governor, Mitt Romney, 33% to 21%. In fact, Romney’s hold on second place is precarious — John McCain was right behind him with 18%. Not a good sign for Romney.
* New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson will be the first Democratic presidential candidate to air a TV ad, with two modest buys. As MSNBC reported, “Two ads will begin running on Monday — a 60-second one that describes his record and a 30-second that tells viewers why he’s running and what he’ll do about Iraq.” Richardson is scheduled to hit the airwaves in New Hampshire next week, as well.
* Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning (R) has made no secret of his plans to run for the U.S. Senate, but said he’d wait to see what Sen. Chuck Hagel (R) planned to do about next year’s race. Now that Hagel has backed a withdrawal timeline for the war in Iraq, Bruning says he might challenge Hagel in a GOP primary. “Senator Hagel voted with the Democratic leadership against President Bush on the most important issue facing our country,” Bruning said.
* In Louisiana, state Sen. Walter Boasso has been running for governor as a Republican, but now says he may consider switching parties.
* And the Washington Post reports today that for the “first time since the passage of campaign finance reform in 2002, national Democrats have outpaced their Republican rivals in the race for campaign cash in the first three months of an election cycle.” The combined efforts of the DNC, DCCC, and DSCC raised $47.7 million, while the comparable Republican committees collected $47.4 million.