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
* AP<\/a>: “Democrat Barack Obama said Wednesday that as president he would spend $210 billion to create jobs in construction and environmental industries, as he tried to win over economically struggling voters. Obama’s investment would be over 10 years as part of two programs. The larger is $150 billion to create 5 million so-called ‘green collar’ jobs to develop more environmentally friendly energy sources. Sixty-billion dollars would go to a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to rebuild highways, bridges, airports and other public projects. Obama estimated that could generate nearly 2 million jobs, many of them in the construction industry that’s been hit by the housing crisis.”<\/p>\n * On a related note, the Clinton campaign responded by arguing that Obama’s plan was similar to theirs, and in an odd twist, distributed talking points<\/a> from a prominent John McCain supporter criticizing Obama’s speech.<\/p>\n * Former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee<\/a>, who left the Republican Party last year, will endorse Obama today.<\/p>\n * The Clinton campaign is putting enormous emphasis on winning states like Ohio (in March) and Pennsylvania (in April), and she apparently starts off in a very good position in both. A new poll from Quinnipiac<\/a> shows Clinton leading Obama in Ohio by 21 points (55% to 34%) and in Pennsylvania by 16 points (52% to 36%).<\/p>\n * Though there was talk of Clinton boycotting MSNBC last week, her campaign announced yesterday that she will, in fact, participate<\/a> in an NBC-sponsored debate in Ohio on Saturday, Feb. 26. (This will apparently have no effect on the campaign’s decision to air an ad in Wisconsin accusing Obama of avoiding another debate with Clinton.) * Apparently, the McCain campaign is feeling a little sensitive<\/a> about their candidate’s age: “McCain campaign manager Rick Davis today sent an unmistakable message to Barack Obama over the Illinois Democrat’s effort to stoke the obvious age contrast between himself and the 71-year-old McCain: Bring it on. ‘It’s nice of him to constantly point out how nice he thinks of John McCain and his half-century of service to our country,’ Davis said sardonically. ‘I don’t think he can get that [“half-century” line] out enough.'”<\/p>\n
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\n* More fodder for the electability argument — a new Rasmussen poll<\/a> in Colorado shows McCain leading Clinton in the state by 14 points, 49% to 35%, but the same poll shows McCain trailing Obama in Colorado by seven points, 46% to 39%. Bush won the state twice, though John Kerry only lost by five.<\/p>\n