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
* Remember the extraordinarily heated fight over Democratic convention delegates from Florida’s and Michigan’s non-binding primaries? Well, it’s been resolved<\/a>: “Now Senator Barack Obama, the party’s presumptive nominee, has asked the credentials committee to let the two states have full voting rights at the convention after all. The request is likely to be granted since it comes from the all-but-certain nominee, who now controls the party apparatus.”<\/p>\n * The ridiculous McCain campaign ad featuring Britney Spears and Paris Hilton was not just a “little fun”<\/a> on the part of the presumptive Republican nominee: “[I]t looks like McCain is sinking a significant proportion of his current ad spending into it. Evan Tracey, who tracks national ad buys for the Campaign Media Analysis Group, tells us that McCain is spending over $140,000 a day to run the spot. That accounts for roughly a third of his current overall TV ad spending, Tracey says.” The Spears\/Hilton ad is running in 11 target states.<\/p>\n * In VP news, House Minority Deputy Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) is among the Republicans receiving a “thorough vetting<\/a>” by McCain’s search committee. Cantor also appeared on a McCain campaign conference call this morning — on which he attacked Obama over energy policy — presumably as some kind of audition.<\/p>\n * CBS News is trying to go after Barack Obama over the size of his campaign airplane<\/a>. The criticism really doesn’t make any sense<\/a>.<\/p>\n * Gallup’s daily tracking poll shows Obama up by one (45% to 44%<\/a>). Rasmussen’s daily tracking poll shows McCain up by one (47% to 46%<\/a>). * Rasmussen shows McCain leading Obama in Alaska<\/a> by five, 44% to 39%.<\/p>\n * Research 2000 shows McCain leading Obama in North Carolina<\/a> by four, 47% to 43%.<\/p>\n * SurveyUSA shows McCain leading Obama in Missouri<\/a> by five, 49% to 44%.<\/p>\n * Siena shows Obama leading McCain in New York<\/a> by 18, 44% to 26%.<\/p>\n * The Tulsa World\/KOTV shows McCain leading Obama in Oklahoma<\/a> by 32, 56% to 24%.<\/p>\n * Speaker Pelosi still likes the idea of Rep. Chet Edwards<\/a> (D-Texas) becoming Obama’s running mate.<\/p>\n
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\n* Most of the buzz from the last several days suggested McCain may pick his running mate any day now. Jonathan Martin, however, reports<\/a> that the campaign may push off an announcement until after Obama unveils his VP pick.<\/p>\n