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
* A week after Hillary Clinton’s campaign was embarrassed by an Iowa country chair spreading the ridiculous Obama\/Muslim email, it’s happened again<\/a>. “Hillary Clinton’s campaign on Sunday requested the resignation of a second Iowa volunteer coordinator who forwarded a hoax e-mail saying Barack Obama is a Muslim possibly intent on destroying the United States.” Said Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee, “We’ve made our position on this crystal clear. Our campaign does not tolerate this kind of activity or campaigning.”<\/p>\n * Mitt Romney, slipping further and further behind, has decided to air his first negative ad of the season. The new commercial<\/a>, which will air in Iowa, targets Mike Huckabee on immigration. “Mitt Romney stood up, and vetoed in-state tuition for illegal aliens, opposed driver’s licenses for illegals,” the ad says<\/a>. “Mike Huckabee? Supported in-state tuition benefits for illegal immigrants. Huckabee even supported taxpayer-funded college scholarships for illegal aliens.”<\/p>\n * Speaking of Huckabee, his pardon record is drawing increased scrutiny<\/a> in the wake of the Wayne Dumond scandal. As Arkansas governor, he was involved in twice as many pardons and commutations as his three predecessors combined. “It seems to be true at least anecdotally that if a minister is involved, (Huckabee) seems likely to grant clemency,” prosecutor Robert Herzfeld said in 2004 after successfully battling the then-governor over the release of a killer.<\/p>\n * A new national CNN\/Opinion Research shows the Republican race very close<\/a>. Rudy Giuliani is now ahead with 24%, followed by Huckabee at 22%, and Romney third at 16%. John McCain is fourth at 12%, followed by Fred Thompson with 10%. The three remaining candidates are in single digits.<\/p>\n * Speaking of national polls, a new NYT\/CBS poll<\/a> shows Clinton leading the pack with 44%, followed by Obama at 27% and Edwards at 11%. The rest of the field was in low single digits. Clinton’s 17-point lead is sizable, but smaller than the 28-point lead she enjoyed in an NYT\/CBS poll in October.<\/p>\n * The same poll<\/a> showed Giuliani leading the Republican field with 22% support, followed very closely by Huckabee at 21%, and Romney at 16%. * Speaking of Obama, Chris Bowers raised the prospect yesterday that the Obama campaign had done some opposition research on progressive bloggers a couple of months ago. Obama aides strongly denied<\/a> the claim, and Bowers walked back his charge a little bit, noting that his charge included “a bit of speculation on my part.”<\/p>\n * And speaking of opposition research, Bob Nash, Clinton’s deputy campaign manager and a top-notch researcher, sent an email to some supporters yesterday, hoping to gain more background<\/a> about Obama’s work as a community organizer in Chicago.<\/p>\n * In an interesting contrast<\/a>, Democrats nationally believe Clinton is running the most positive campaign of the Dems’ field. In early primary states, they believe Clinton is running the least positive campaign.<\/p>\n * A new South Carolina poll<\/a> from InsiderAdvantage, a Republican pollster, found Obama ahead with 28%, Clinton second with 22%, Edwards third with 14%, and Joe Biden fourth with 10%.<\/p>\n * Clinton is hitting Nevada’s TV airwaves<\/a> this week, too.<\/p>\n * It looks like Fred Thompson is giving up on New Hampshire<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\n* Obama got a boost in New Hampshire yesterday, picking up Rep. Carol Shea-Porter’s (D-N.H.) endorsement<\/a>. Obama now has the support of both of the Granite State’s House delegation, following Rep. Paul Hodes’ (D-N.H.) endorsment in July.<\/p>\n