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
* Florida’s Republican presidential primary, which is tomorrow, is going down to the wire and John McCain and Mitt Romney are battling it out for first place. McCain may have gained a slight edge in recent days, though, with endorsements from Florida Gov. Charlie Crist<\/a> (R) and Sen. Mel Martinez<\/a> (R).<\/p>\n * On a related note, there have been rumors that Crist could be a possible McCain running mate. Asked about this over the weekend, Crist responded<\/a>, “It\u2019s not something I\u2019m thinking about.” Pressed if he would rule out accepting the vice presidency, Crist again dodged: “I\u2019m not even focused on it.”<\/p>\n * Barack Obama has been picking up a few big endorsements lately, but this is one to keep an eye on: Rep. Xavier Becerra<\/a> (D-Calif.), the highest-ranking Latino lawmaker in Washington, endorsed the Illinois senator over the weekend. Given the importance of California’s primary, and Obama’s tepid support in the Latino community, this was certainly welcome at campaign HQ.<\/p>\n * It may not be quite as significant, but this endorsement<\/a> is bound to get more media attention: “Barack Obama is picking up the endorsement of author Toni Morrison, who won the Nobel Prize in literature for her writings on African-American life. The endorsement is special due to some famous words that Morrison wrote about Bill Clinton in 1998: ‘White skin notwithstanding, this is our first black president. Blacker than any actual person who could ever be elected in our children’s lifetime.'”<\/p>\n * There were some rumors yesterday that Ted Kennedy decided to endorse Obama after hearing Bill Clinton’s odd remarks connecting Obama to Jesse Jackson. That’s apparently not the case<\/a> — Kennedy told the Clintons about his decision last Thursday. * There was some talk yesterday that Hillary Clinton would violate her pledge and make a campaign appearance in Florida. That’s not quite right — she’s traveling to Florida on Tuesday night, after the primary<\/a>, where she’ll presumably try to draw attention to the state’s primary results, despite the fact that none of the Dem candidates have campaigned in the state.<\/p>\n * Bill Clinton caused a little trouble for John McCain over the weekend, saying that HRC and McCain are “very close<\/a>.” “They always laugh that if they wound up being the nominees of their party, it would be the most civilized election in American history, and they’re afraid they’d put the voters to sleep because they like and respect each other.” For the Republican Party, that didn’t help improve McCain’s cred.<\/p>\n * John Kerry has been stepping up and challenging the Clintons, specifically the former president, more forcefully<\/a> than expected.<\/p>\n
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\n* And speaking of the Jesse Jackson comments, Obama was asked about it yesterday, and brushed it off<\/a>.<\/p>\n