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
* On Saturday morning, Wesley Clark, the retired four-star general who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, announced his endorsement of Hillary Clinton<\/a>. “I’m very pleased today to announce my endorsement of Senator Clinton to be our next President of the United States,” Clark said on a conference call (which I was on). “She’ll be a great leader for the United States of America, and I think she’ll be a great commander in chief for the men and women in the armed forces.” Asked if he would consider a role in a future Clinton administration, Clark said he had not considered it.<\/p>\n * After a tense showdown with the DNC, the Florida Democratic Party appears to be backing down<\/a> over the date of its presidential primary. Faced with the prospect of losing all of its convention delegates, the state party will apparently hold a non-binding “beauty-contest” primary on January 29, and will be delegates at a state convention on February 5.<\/p>\n * Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.), the last House Republican from New England and perennial DCCC target, is threatening<\/a> not to seek re-election unless the House GOP leadership agrees to make him the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “I’m 61 years old. I’ve been in Congress 20 years,” Shays told the Hartford Courant. “If I have to fight to become chairman of a committee, given the job I’ve done, I need to move on.”<\/p>\n * The Clinton campaign quietly dropped Angelique Pirozzi, the senator’s Iowa field director, from the team late last week. Clinton’s campaign would not confirm whether Pirozzi had resigned or had been fired; “She is no longer with the campaign,” was all spokesman Mo Elleithee would offer. The WaPo noted<\/a>, “Pirozzi, often described as a protege of uber organizer Michael Whouley, has a long history in Iowa Democratic presidential politics, having served as caucus manager for Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 victory and as deputy caucus manager for then-Vice President Al Gore in 2000. In between those races, Pirozzi managed Kerry’s 2002 re-election race to the Senate.”<\/p>\n