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
* With the GOP’s top tier missing, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) easily won <\/a>the religious right’s “Values Voters” straw-poll this week, winning 64% of the vote that followed the movement’s debate in South Florida Monday night. “We won huge,” Huckabee said. “I’m pleased, and proud, and honored to have this historic endorsement from America’s leading social conservatives who believe, as I do, in the core values which define American culture and life. This overwhelming vote affirms that conservatives are coalescing around one candidate and that candidate is me.”<\/p>\n * The Republican establishment has been hoping for quite a while that former Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns (R) would run for the Senate. With Sen. Chuck Hagel (R) retiring, that now appears likely<\/a>. Johanns will reportedly resign his position as Bush’s Secretary of Agriculture to return home for an expected Senate campaign, which will likely come next week. Johanns will, however, face a large GOP primary field.<\/p>\n * Fred Thompson likes to tell his life story on the campaign trail, but he somehow manages to ignore the one profession that has dominated his adult life: corporate lobbyist. The Miami Herald reported<\/a>, “Asked why he omits public mention of his long and lucrative career, Thompson chuckled: ‘Nobody asked me the question.'”<\/p>\n * Speaking of Thompson, he defended himself against charges that he’s skipping debates by noting that he’ll participate in an October 14th forum in New Hampshire sponsored by ABC News. There’s just one problem: that event was cancelled<\/a> quite a while ago.<\/p>\n