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
* In an interview with the AP, Barack Obama threw a relatively sharp elbow in the direction of the Democratic frontrunner. “They want to make the argument that Senator Clinton is just an extension of the Bill Clinton presidency,” Obama said<\/a>. “They’ve been the dominant political family in the Democratic Party for the last 20 years now. So it’s not surprising that they want to focus on their longevity. [But] my belief is that the American people are looking for a fundamental break from the way we’ve been doing business.”<\/p>\n * Mitt Romney’s fundraising efforts have been less than stellar of late, but the former Massachusetts governor is reportedly supplementing his coffers by writing his own checks<\/a>: “Top Romney advisers said last week that they expected his campaign to raise almost $40 million in the first nine of months this year. And though they have not released a firm figure, they expected that Romney will have supplemented those contributions with nearly $15 million of his own money.”<\/p>\n * New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) is the first Democratic presidential candidate to divulge third-quarter fundraising totals, telling reporters yesterday that he raised $5.2 million<\/a> over the last three months, and $18 million over the course of the year so far. That’s expected to be more than the other second-tier Democrats, and should bring Richardson fairly close to John Edwards.<\/p>\n * Marc Ambinder spoke to a Fred Thompson aide who said the actor-lobbyist-politician raised about $8 million<\/a> in the third quarter. Considering Thompson’s late entry, he’ll have to do far better — in contrast, Romney and Giuliani each raised more than double this amount during the first quarter.<\/p>\n * Sen. Mel Martinez’s (R-Fla.) uneventful term as head of the Republican National Committee will reportedly end in a few months<\/a>. Once a GOP presidential nominee emerges, probably sometime in February, Martinez plans to step down.<\/p>\n