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
* Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) came pretty close to ruling himself out<\/a> as John McCain’s running mate yesterday. “I’m not going to be the vice presidential nominee or vice president,” Jindal told reporters. “I’m going to help Senator McCain get elected, as governor of Louisiana…. Let me be clear: I have said in every private and public conversation, I’ve got the job that I want.”<\/p>\n * On the heels of Nouri al-Maliki’s endorsement of Barack Obama’s withdrawal policy, VoteVets has a powerful new ad<\/a>, featuring an Iraq war vet. “Senator McCain would occupy Iraq indefinitely, against their wishes,” the U.S. veteran says in the ad. “That’s not what freedom means. That’s not what we fought for. Senator, I thought you would know better.”<\/p>\n * Speaking of interesting advertising moves, this is pretty unusual<\/a>: “Senator Barack Obama’s campaign will spend $5 million on advertisements during NBC’s coverage of the Summer Olympic Games next month, an NBC spokeswoman confirmed on Wednesday.”<\/p>\n * The White House announced yesterday that George W. Bush will speak<\/a> at the Republican National Convention, on Sept. 1, the opening night of the gathering. No word on whether we’ll see Bush and McCain together at any moment during the convention.<\/p>\n * About that Hispanic problem<\/a>: “Hispanic registered voters support Democrat Barack Obama for president over Republican John McCain by 66% to 23%, according to a nationwide survey of 2,015 Latinos conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, from June 9 through July 13, 2008.” * There’s been some buzz<\/a> this week about a new, coordinated “Republicans for Obama” effort. There was apparently a conference call this week<\/a>, featuring former Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island (who left the GOP last year).<\/p>\n * Rasmussen shows Obama leading McCain in Florida<\/a>, 49% to 47%.<\/p>\n * Quinnipiac\/WaPo shows McCain leading Obama in Colorado<\/a>, 46% to 44% — a seven point swing in McCain’s favor over the last month.<\/p>\n * Quinnipiac\/WaPo shows Obama leading McCain in Michigan<\/a>, 46% to 42%.<\/p>\n * Quinnipiac\/WaPo shows Obama leading McCain in Minnesota<\/a>, 46% to 44% — a 15 point swing in McCain’s favor over the last month.<\/p>\n * Quinnipiac\/WaPo shows Obama leading McCain in Wisconsin<\/a> by 11, 50% to 39%.<\/p>\n * A Monmouth University poll shows Obama leading McCain in New Jersey<\/a>, 50% to 36%.<\/p>\n * Newt Gingrich<\/a> hopes McCain doesn’t pick a running mate who is a “boring, normal, mainstream Republican white guy.”<\/p>\n * Has everyone seen the new McCain campaign poster<\/a>?<\/p>\n * Arizona donors prefer Obama<\/a> to McCain.<\/p>\n * Obama will deliver his convention speech on the 45th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. McCain will deliver his convention speech on the opening night of the NFL season<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\n* Obama, speaking in Israel yesterday, told reporters, “Just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is my committee, a bill to call for divestment from Iran, as a way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don’t obtain a nuclear weapon.” This was a gaffe<\/a>; Obama doesn’t actually serve on the Banking Committee. He was referring to a bill with provisions he cosponsored.<\/p>\n