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
* In the latest Gallup Poll Daily, Barack Obama has his largest lead to date<\/a> over Hillary Clinton, 53% to 42%. John McCain, meanwhile, continues to lead both Dems by similar margins in hypothetical match-ups.<\/p>\n * When McCain delivered a speech last week on the mortgage crisis, he neglected to mention that two of his top campaign advisors were up until recently lobbyists for Ameriquest Mortgage<\/a>, one of the nation’s more notorious lenders in the mortgage meltdown.<\/p>\n * Obama will pick up another Senate endorsement today, when Sen. Amy Klobuchar<\/a> (D) of Minnesota announces her support for him.<\/p>\n * Al Gore doesn’t seem to have any interest intervening in the race for the Democratic nomination. “I’m trying to stay out of it<\/a>,” Gore told “60 Minutes.” Asked if he might intervene to help the party and the campaign strike some kind of arrangement, Gore added, “I’m not applying for the job of broker.”<\/p>\n * In New Jersey, Rasmussen shows McCain leading both Dems<\/a> in hypothetical match-ups, though Obama fares slightly better than Clinton against the Republican nominee in the Garden State. * The former president wants everyone to take a deep breath<\/a>: “Former President Bill Clinton twice told Democrats at the California Democratic Party convention in San Jose to “chill out.” He also displayed a remarkable memory for the rest of the nominating-contest calendar…. ‘Chill out,’ Clinton continued. ‘We’re going to win this election if we just chill out and let everybody have their say. This is a good thing.'”<\/p>\n * Bob Novak believes former Rep. Rob Portman<\/a> of Ohio has the inside track on being McCain’s running mate. “Portman’s background is legislative, serving in the House Republican leadership as a representative from Ohio; executive and economic, serving in George W. Bush’s Cabinet as director of the Office of Management and Budget, and diplomatic, serving as U.S. trade representative. He comes from Ohio, a swing state, is young enough at 52 to contrast McCain, and conservative enough, earning an 89 percent lifetime American Conservative Union rating.”<\/p>\n * Bush Pioneers aren’t<\/a> exactly rushing to help McCain out: “Even though he all but secured the Republican nomination by mid-February, Mr. McCain has so far managed to enlist only a fraction of the heavyweight bundlers of campaign contributions who helped drive President Bush\u2019s two runs for the White House, an examination of Mr. McCain\u2019s fund-raising network shows.”<\/p>\n * Did Obama blow it with John (and Elizabeth) Edwards? Maybe<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\n* I’ve pretty much given up trying to understand the details of Texas’ Democratic caucuses and the delegates awarded at the state’s convention, but it appears that Obama won 38 pledged delegates<\/a> in the caucuses, to Clinton’s 29. (Clinton won the Texas primary by four delegates, 65 to 61, meaning that Obama’s net gain from the state is five.)<\/p>\n