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
* Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) will officially enter<\/a> the presidential race in about two weeks. “He will be fully announcing on January 20 in Topeka, Kansas,” Brian Hart, the senator’s spokesman, said Friday. Brownback set up an exploratory committee in December.<\/p>\n * If the presidential race came down to which candidate is the least coy, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) would win in a landslide. Biden, who has been running in practice for about a year, acknowledged<\/a> on Meet the Press yesterday, “I am running for president.” He’s going to set up an exploratory committee later this month.<\/p>\n * Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) is taking his transformation from moderate to conservative head on. Speaking to a gathering of influential Christian conservatives and GOP donors in Georgia over the weekend, Romney said he’d grown<\/a> into being a right-wing leader. “Now, I wasn’t always a Ronald Reagan conservative. Neither was Ronald Reagan, by the way,” Romney said. “And perhaps some in this room have had the opportunity to listen, learn, and benefit from life’s experience — and to grow in wisdom, as I have.”<\/p>\n * Barack Obama continues to look like a likely presidential candidate. The Illinois senator has reportedly contacted Chicago’s biggest Democratic fundraisers to line up support<\/a>, and will headline<\/a> the Virginia Democratic Party’s annual high-profile Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Richmond in February.<\/p>\n * New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), another likely 2008 candidate, has traveled to Sudan<\/a> to try and get Khartoum to accept United Nations troops. As a friend of mine noted via email, Richardson’s trip was financed by Save Darfur, and “it says a lot about the Bush administration’s handling of the situation that an activist groups would approach Richardson about trying to make some headway.”<\/p>\n * Dems want a high-profile candidate to take on Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) next year, but it won’t be Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.). DeFazio, citing seniority and money concerns, said he will not run<\/a> for the Senate in 2008. (thanks to Bob for the tip)<\/p>\n