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
* Encouraging registration shift<\/a>: “Well before Senators Barack Obama and John McCain rose to the top of their parties, a partisan shift was under way at the local and state level. For more than three years starting in 2005, there has been a reduction in the number of voters who register with the Republican Party and a rise among voters who affiliate with Democrats and, almost as often, with no party at all.”<\/p>\n * John McCain hung out at the 68th annual Sturgis Rally in South Dakota yesterday, and I suspect McCain’s religious right buddies won’t be thrilled with his choice in company<\/a>: “One woman wore little but a deep tan. Tattoos reigned, as did black leather. The emcee praised America for its ‘beautiful roads, beautiful bikes and ice-cold beer.'”<\/p>\n * McCain called a Wisconsin woman who lost her delegate seat at the Democratic National Convention because she’s vowed to support the Republican after Hillary Clinton ended her presidential campaign. McCain told the woman, “Perhaps your reward will be in heaven — not here on Earth<\/a>.” My hunch is, if Obama had said those exact same words, we’d be hearing quite a bit about it.<\/p>\n * I found this<\/a> absolutely fascinating. The Boston Globe’s John Schwenkler compiled a graphic showing which words appeared the most frequently on the official McCain campaign blog and the official Obama campaign blog. As it turns out, one word appeared the most often on both: “Obama.”<\/p>\n * SurveyUSA shows McCain leading Obama in Florida<\/a> by six, 50% to 44%. * Rasmussen shows Obama leading McCain in Connecticut<\/a> by 15, 51% to 36%.<\/p>\n * Rasmussen shows Obama leading McCain in Massachusetts<\/a> by nine, 47% to 38%. <\/p>\n * Rasmussen shows McCain leading Obama in Arizona<\/a> by 16, 52% to 36%.<\/p>\n * The Republican Party of Delaware expelled<\/a> its Senate candidate from the party because he was spotted at an Obama rally.<\/p>\n * Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R), occasionally rumored as a possible McCain VP, was surprisingly complimentary<\/a> of Obama’s energy policy.<\/p>\n * Joseph Romm described<\/a> Obama’s energy policy as “easily the best energy plan ever put forward by a nominee of either party.”<\/p>\n * If House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) is named to the McCain ticket, let’s not forget some of the insane lies<\/a> he’s told about Obama.<\/p>\n * Like Eve Fairbanks, I prefer Kathleen Sebelius<\/a> to Tim Kaine on the Democratic ticket.<\/p>\n
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\n* Rasmussen shows McCain leading Obama in Alabama<\/a> by 18, 55% to 37%.<\/p>\n