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
* Before the Wisconsin primary in February, Hillary Clinton made debates a central point of her campaign. She appears to be following a similar strategy<\/a> now, telling audiences over the weekend that she wants 90-minute, Lincoln-Douglas style debates — without moderators.<\/p>\n * Barack Obama, for his part, emphasizes that Dems have already broken the record for most debates ever in a presidential primary. He told<\/a> Chris Wallace yesterday, “We’re not going to have debates between now and Indiana.”<\/p>\n * The Clinton campaign suffered a setback late on Friday when a major fundraiser switched to Obama<\/a>: “NBC News has learned that a major fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, former Amb. to Chile Gabriel Guerra-Mondragon is leaving the campaign to join up Barack Obama’s campaign. Officially dubbed a “Hillraiser,” Guerra-Mondragon raised nearly $500,000 for Clinton’s campaign, according to some estimates. He has been informing people inside Clintonworld this week in what’s been described as some tough conversations. A formal announcement of a role for Guerra-Mondragon on Obama’s national finance committee will be made next week.”<\/p>\n * On a related note, the WaPo reported<\/a> over the weekend that more than 70 top Clinton donors “wrote their first checks to Obama in March.”<\/p>\n * Perhaps reflecting a post-Pennsylvania bounce, Newsweek’s latest poll shows Obama’s national lead over Clinton shrinking considerably to just seven points, 48% to 41%<\/a>. Both Dems lead McCain in general election match-ups by three points.<\/p>\n * On a related note, the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll shows Clinton and Obama tied again<\/a>. * Obama also picked up an extra pledged delegate<\/a> during Saturday’s congressional district conventions in Iowa.<\/p>\n * Speaking of Iowa, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is on the fence and planning to stay there<\/a> for a while. “I am determined to stay neutral as a superdelegate until all of the people’s votes have been counted,” he said. “We set up rules. Every state signed off, so every state ought to have their say.”<\/p>\n * Ron Paul fans remain a very lively bunch<\/a>: “Outmaneuvered by raucous Ron Paul supporters, Nevada Republican Party leaders abruptly shut down their state convention and now must resume the event to complete a list of 31 delegates to the GOP national convention. Outnumbered supporters of expected Republican presidential nominee John McCain faced off Saturday against well-organized Paul supporters. A large share of the more than 1,300 state convention delegates enabled Paul supporters to get a rule change positioning them for more national convention delegate slots than expected.”<\/p>\n * In a very odd column, the NYT’s Bill Kristol praised Hillary Clinton<\/a> today, and parroted her campaign’s talking points.<\/p>\n
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\n* Obama picked up another superdelegate<\/a> over the weekend, earning the support of Charlene Fernandez, the newly-elected first vice chairwoman of the Arizona Democratic Party.<\/p>\n