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
* John Edwards’ presidential campaign has criticized Hillary Clinton’s campaign for stealing the former senator’s ideas, and yesterday, Team Edwards went after Barack Obama for the same reason<\/a>. “If you need any more proof that John Edwards is shaping the race for the Democratic nomination, you don’t need to look any further than Senator Obama, who has followed Edwards’s lead on healthcare, poverty and, today, eliminating nuclear weapons,” Edwards spokesperson Colleen Murray told The Hill. “Next thing you know, he’ll be rooting for the Tar Heels.”<\/p>\n * Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign distributed<\/a> a strategy memo to political reporters, giving its take on the political landscape. Surprise, surprise, Giuliani’s aides believe Giuliani is going to win.<\/p>\n * New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is the biggest campaign spender<\/a> among the Democratic presidential hopefuls, having bought 3,780 TV spots in Iowa and New Hampshire, totaling $2 million. Barack Obama is the next biggest, with nearly $2 million in ads, primarily in Iowa.<\/p>\n * The Des Moines Register’s David Yespen, the Dean of Iowa media, had an interesting piece<\/a> this week, suggesting that Chris Dodd still has a shot at pulling an upset, in part because of the perception that the top tier is too timid on Iraq policy: “It could happen. It’s happened before. In this deadlocked race, the front-runners could fizzle if liberal Democratic activists think they’re wimping out on Iraq – or would be wimps in November.”<\/p>\n