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:
* Karl Rove is not leaving the White House quietly. As part of his farewell tour, the man the president affectionately calls “Turd Blossom” stopped by Rush Limbaugh’s show to take a few rhetorical shots at Hillary Clinton. Rove said the senator is “fatally flawed” and would ultimately lose the race for the White House. “She is going into the general election, depending on what poll you look at, with high forties on the negative side and just below that on the positive side. There is nobody who has ever won the presidency who has started out in that position,” he said. Given Rove’s recent track record, the Clinton campaign should be thrilled.
* On a related note, the Clinton campaign is hoping to capitalize on the White House’s recent attacks on her first TV ad of the season, sending out a fundraising letter to supporters yesterday. “Every time Hillary tells it like it is, the Republicans attack,” wrote campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle. “We know there’s more to come. The best way you can help her respond today is by making a contribution.”
* CNN: “Likely Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson says September 5th is ‘in the neighborhood’ for the announcement of his official bid, and says he doesn’t believe he’s too late to the dance. Thompson told a Nashville radio station Wednesday, ‘I can’t give you a particular date, but sounds like you’re in the neighborhood.’ On The Steve Gill show on WLAC Radio, Thompson said, ‘I’m taking the time that I’ve got allotted to me to get my team together, to get my act together.”
* Kudos to Chris Dodd for articulating a sensible policy position on Cuba: “For more than forty-six years, the United States has maintained an isolationist policy toward Cuba, which I believe has not achieved its intended objectives, namely to hasten a peaceful and democratic transition on the Island of Cuba. Rather, it has solidified the authoritarian control of Fidel Castro, and has adversely affected the already miserable living conditions of 11 million innocent men, women, and children on the Island.” Good for Dodd.
* And Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio) is poised to announce this afternoon that she will not seek re-election in 2008. Pryce, a top target last year, eked out a narrow victory over Mary Jo Kilroy, who plans to now run for the open seat.