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:
* As part of his ongoing pandering to the religious right, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) recruited Guy Rodgers, a former national field director for the Christian Coalition, to serve as deputy director of McCain’s exploratory committee.
* Ned Lamont, the Democrat Joe Lieberman defeated in November, continues to stay in touch with his email list, and rumor has it he’s considering a race against Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) next year. Yesterday, Lamont urged his supporters to back a campaign that encourages progressive measures in state and local legislatures. “When I said that the end of the campaign would not bring an end to our fight — our fight for an end to the disastrous occupation in Iraq; our fight for new, innovative solutions to the problems our country faces; and our fight for basic rights and equality of opportunity — I meant it,” Lamont wrote.
* Yesterday, John Edwards became the latest presidential candidate to announce that he would forgo public money for his campaign, following Hillary Clinton, who made the same decision last week. “The move by the former North Carolina senator is the latest sign of trouble for the public campaign funding system, created after the Watergate scandal to set limits and disclosure rules on contributions to presidential campaigns. Edwards said in an interview that he expects major candidates in both parties to raise unlimited private dollars rather than participate in the public system. He said he needs to do the same ‘to have the funds to be competitive.'”
* Apparently a little self-conscious, Barack Obama is trying to kick his cigarette habit once and for all. “I’ve never been a heavy smoker,” Obama said. “I’ve quit periodically over the last several years. I’ve got an ironclad demand from my wife that in the stresses of the campaign I don’t succumb. I’ve been chewing Nicorette strenuously.”
* And in related 2008 news, just about every group in every early primary/caucus wants to host a presidential debate, some as early as March. As a result, top-tier candidates are complaining that there are too many debates, too early — and they won’t appear at all of them. At this point, neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama has accepted any debate or forum invitations. “The two people who can blow up the debates are those two,” an adviser to the Obama campaign told The Politico. “All they have to do is say: ‘Debate without me. Go ahead.’ There will be some accusations that they are being arrogant, but where it is written that you have to debate this early?”