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
* The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that the Obama campaign only raised $30 million in June, a number the Journal described as “underwhelming.” Soon after Obama spokesperson Dan Pfeiffer responded<\/a>, “The Wall Street Journal report of our fundraising numbers is way off the mark. It appears that after 18 months, some in the press still haven’t realized that anyone who is talking about numbers doesn’t know what our numbers are.”<\/p>\n * Speaking of fundraising<\/a>: “On a conference call with reporters, the McCain campaign said it has $95 million cash-on-hand, with most of that money \u2014 about $67 million \u2014 held by the Republican National Committee. Campaign manager Rick Davis also said McCain was outspending Barack Obama on the airwaves by a wide margin.”<\/p>\n * North Dakota is a solid, reliable “red” state, right? Maybe not<\/a>: “John McCain and Barack Obama are tied in the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of North Dakota voters. Both men earn 43% of the vote. When leaners are included, McCain holds a statistically insignificant one-point advantage, 47% to 46%.”<\/p>\n * Rasmussen also has good news for Obama in Wisconsin<\/a>, where Obama now leads by 10, 52% to 42%.<\/p>\n * Running-mate news<\/a>: “Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has requested information from Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd as part of its search for a possible vice presidential candidate.”<\/p>\n * More running-mate news<\/a>: “On Fox, former Clinton chief strategist Howard Wolfson indicated that Hillary Clinton is not being formally considered as Obama’s running mate, in that she has not been asked to undergo the formal vetting process.” * McCain has a new TV ad<\/a> targeting Latino voters.<\/p>\n * Phil Gramm still thinks he’s right<\/a>.<\/p>\n * Former Georgia Rep. Cynthia McKinney<\/a> is the favorite to win the Green Party presidential nomination.<\/p>\n
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\n* Yesterday, McCain went after Obama on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, saying, “This is the same organization that I voted to condemn as a terrorist organization when an amendment was on the floor of the United States Senate. Senator Obama refused to vote.” In reality, there are two lies in the same attack — McCain didn’t vote<\/a> to condemn the IRG, and Obama agrees that the IRG deserves to be labeled a terrorist organization.<\/p>\n