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:
* Christian conservatives have catapulted Mike Huckabee to the top of the polls in Iowa, but he has apparently not yet sealed the deal: “Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee would seem to be the answer to their prayers, yet for many Christian conservatives in Iowa, he has not closed the deal for the Republican caucuses. Do they still like Mitt Romney? Are they intrigued by Fred Thompson? As always, voter uncertainty comes with the Jan. 3 caucuses, now just a week away. Huckabee, the former Baptist minister, is leading in the Republican polls here, though his advantage has narrowed. Perhaps, that’s due in part to the negative TV commercials Romney is airing.” The AP talked to one Iowa conservative who said, “Now, I know Huckabee is probably a good candidate, too, but I don’t think he’s as intelligent” as Romney.
* Speaking of Iowa, several Democratic candidates are counting on a strong showing from young voters in the state, but will they show up on Jan. 3? “Many of the presidential candidates have actively courted young voters, sending them text messages, visiting college campuses and launching Web sites that explain the complicated caucus process. The goal is not only to win over these voters but, just as critically, to get the ripe but unreliable group to turn up at caucus sites, perhaps hundreds of miles from their homes.”
* Last week, Mitt Romney was trashed by the Concord Monitor’s editorial board. This week, the conservative Manchester Union-Leader followed suit: “Romney has all the advantages: money, organization, geographic proximity, statesman-like hair, etc…. But he lacks something John McCain has in spades: conviction…. In this primary, the more Mitt Romney speaks, the less believable he becomes.”
* Al Sharpton may not be running for president this cycle, but he’s still out there having an impact. “Late last year was the police shooting in Queens of Sean Bell, an unarmed black man leaving a bachelor party, and Sharpton organized the protests. There was the spring controversy over racially insensitive remarks by shock jock Don Imus, with Sharpton leading the calls for Imus’s firing. Sharpton put together a march in Jena, La., in support of six black teenagers jailed in the beating of a white student, and he held a protest rally outside the Justice Department in Washington to demand more prosecution of hate crimes.” Leading Dems are now seeking his endorsement, though Sharpton has not yet officially expressed a preference.
* And don’t look now, but rock star Jon Bon Jovi has become quite the political player in New Jersey: “Mr. Bon Jovi, 45, whose tousled golden mane and porcelain-white smile have twice helped him earn People magazine’s award for sexiest rock star, can lay claim to an unofficial new title these days: the Garden State’s elder statesman.”