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
* Ambinder<\/a>: “‘Much needed’ and ‘long-awaited,’ Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has hired veteran Democratic strategist John Del Cecato to handle a newly created rapid response portfolio…. [T]he volume of ‘attacks’ and the degree to which they often bumped parts of the campaign off-message convinced the campaign to hire a single senior staffer devoted solely to rapid response.”<\/p>\n * John McCain’s campaign released an “internal” strategy memo from its pollster yesterday, hoping to make the argument that Rudy Giuliani’s “electability” pitch is misguided. Pointing to a Fox News poll, the memo explained<\/a>: “In a matchup against Hillary Clinton, John McCain is the only Republican candidate neck and neck with Senator Clinton and within the poll’s margin of error of +\/-3 percentage points. Rudy Giuliani trails Hillary Clinton by four points; both Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson would lose to her by twelve points.” Yes, McCain’s electability memo points to a poll in which he’s losing to Hillary Clinton<\/i>.<\/p>\n * Speaking of McCain, the Arizona senator is apparently considering “a seven-figure loan<\/a>” that would free McCain from having to accept public financing: “Rick Davis, who took over control of the day-to-day operations following a huge staff shuffle this summer, has broached the subject of a large loan to fund the campaign’s activities in early states. The idea was discussed as recently as a phone call this week with senior staffers, according to sources familiar with that conversation.” I guess McCain’s money troubles aren’t getting any better.<\/p>\n * Mitt Romney picked up another religious right endorsement yesterday, when Don Wilton<\/a>, senior pastor of the First Baptist megachurch in Spartanburg, South Carolina, threw his support to the former Massachusetts governor. “His values are my values — protecting the sanctity of human life, defending marriage and strengthening the family,” said Wilton, who is also the former president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.<\/p>\n