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
* Former Sen. Fred Thompson’s staffing trouble got worse yesterday when his lead political advance operative resigned unexpectedly<\/a>. The staffer, Sam LeBlond, who is George W. Bush’s nephew, joined Thompson’s campaign committee less than two weeks ago. The news came just as Thompson’s fundraising was reportedly coming up short<\/a>.<\/p>\n * And speaking of Thompson, is he ever going to actually announce he’s running for president? The former senator told Hannity last night that he’ll probably kick things off in September<\/a>. “August is kind of a down month, not much going on, so it wouldn’t make sense to do it in August,” Thompson said.<\/p>\n * Chris Dodd unveiled<\/a> his universal healthcare plan yesterday. “The pillars of his plan are: 1) creating a heath insurance marketplace called Universal HealthMart, based on the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan; 2) basing individual and business contributions to the Universal HealthMart on their ability to pay; 3) driving down premiums by leveraging negotiating power and reducing costs; and 4) making coverage portable — that is, insurance would follow individuals, not jobs.” The plan is estimated to cost between $40-$70 billion a year over the first four years.<\/p>\n * Mitt Romney started hitting Rudy Giuliani where he’s vulnerable<\/a> yesterday. “I think we can’t win the presidency without a pro-life, pro-family Republican,” Romney said, referring to the former mayor. Asked to respond, Giuliani adviser Jim Dyke said, “cleaning up Times Square porn and prostitution, making the streets safe, leaving more money for the family budget by cutting taxes, moving people from welfare to work — sounds pretty pro-family to me.”<\/p>\n * In a setback for the NRCC, Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) announced today<\/a> that he will not seek re-election next year.<\/p>\n