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
* When the Senate voted yesterday on the president’s war-funding bill, only 14 senators opposed the measure. Among them were three of the four<\/a> Dem senators running for president: Clinton, Dodd, and Obama. <\/p>\n * Speaking of Clinton, the senator unveiled her healthcare policy<\/a> yesterday, acknowledging the fact that the issue caused her some trouble a decade ago.”Now, I’ve tangled with this issue before, and I’ve got the scars to show for it,” Clinton told an auditorium packed with medical students and doctors at George Washington University. “But I learned some valuable lessons from that experience. One is that we can’t achieve reform without the participation and commitment of healthcare providers, employers, employees and other citizens who pay for, depend upon and actually deliver healthcare services.” Clinton offered a proposal Thursday focused on reining in healthcare costs.<\/p>\n * Rudy Giuliani scored a few cheap points in the last debate at Ron Paul’s expense, but Paul is still trying to capitalize on the exchange. Yesterday, the Texas lawmaker questioned Giuliani’s qualifications to be president<\/a>, suggesting he would not support him unless he’d read several specific books and “report back to me.” He suggested that the former mayor read four books: “Imperial Hubris” by Michael Scheuer, “Dying to Win” by Robert Pape, “Blowback” by Chalmers Johnson and the 9\/11 Commission Report. Paul was joined by Scheuer, the former head of the CIA’s Osama bin Laden unit.<\/p>\n