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 Politico hosted a straw poll of attendees at the Take Back America conference and Barack Obama came out on top<\/a> with 29% support. John Edwards was a close second with 26%, followed by Hillary Clinton exceeding expectations with 17%. Just as importantly, the top two were also the most popular second choices. As pollster Stan Greenberg explained, “If you look at this, you see Obama’s [supporters’] second choice and Edwards [supporters’] second choice are each other — in this group, the two of them form the top tier.”<\/p>\n * A news Mason-Dixon poll in Iowa shows a very tight<\/a> three-way race among Democratic presidential hopefuls. Clinton has inched out in front with 22%, followed by Edwards with 21% and Obama with 18%. No other candidate reached double digits.<\/p>\n * Did Michael Bloomberg drop any more hints yesterday after leaving the GOP? Not really. Talking to reporters, the NYC mayor was careful, however, to talk about his intentions in the present tense<\/a>: “My intention is to be mayor for the next 925 days and 10 or 11 hours. I’ve got the greatest job in the world and I’m going to keep doing it.”<\/p>\n * In light of the multiple scandals surrounding the GOP in Alaska, Dems are starting to look anew<\/a> at the state that has traditionally been a Republican stronghold. National Dems are specifically targeting Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich to run for Congress next year, against either Rep. Don Young (R) or Sen. Ted Stevens (R). A new Hays Research poll shows both GOP incumbents falling below the 50% approval threshold.<\/p>\n