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:<\/p>\n
* The AP explains<\/a> today that former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) “already is” running for president, he just hasn’t said so yet: “Thompson is hiring staff, speaking to conservative groups, writing online columns on topics of the day and staking out positions on issues like the Senate immigration overhaul.” Chris Cillizza adds<\/a> that Thompson hired former Federal Elections Commission Chairman Michael Toner “to serve as the lead lawyer for his increasingly likely campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.”<\/p>\n * The Boston Globe’s James Pindell notes<\/a> that Rudy Giuliani will host “a town hall meeting” in New Hampshire today — but the public isn’t invited. “Apparently to Giuliani, speaking to insurance company employees and spouses in the office cafeteria counts as a town hall meeting,” Pindell said. Meet America’s next Bubble Boy.<\/p>\n * Indicative of the directions of the two major parties, the AP reports<\/a>, “National Democratic Party committees raised nearly $60 million in the first four months of this year, one-fourth more than two years ago and twice as much as they collected during the same period in 2003. Republican Party committees, on the other hand, collected a quarter less than in 2005, placing them at near parity with Democrats for the first four months of this year.”<\/p>\n * Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) is launching a new TV ad<\/a> in New Hampshire today, taking credit for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama voting for the Feingold bill on Iraq war funding. (I doubt he’s right, but at a minimum, it takes chutzpah to make the claim.)<\/p>\n