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
* Barack Obama may announce his presidential plans as early as this week, according to several published reports. Bob Novak reported<\/a> that Obama “informed a major Democratic financial contributor that he probably will announce formation of a 2008 presidential exploration committee” this week, with a formal campaign announcement at a later date. There’s additional speculation<\/a> that Obama may kick off his campaign on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show.<\/p>\n * It looks like Hillary Clinton’s and John Edwards’ teams are subtly trading barbs<\/a>. Edwards offered veiled criticism of Clinton, chastising those who fail to “speak out” against the war in Iraq. “Silence is betrayal, and I believe it is a betrayal not to speak out against the escalation of the war in Iraq,” Edwards told a crowd at Manhattan’s Riverside Church, where Martin Luther King had declared his opposition to the Vietnam War. Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson responded, “In 2004, John Edwards used to constantly brag about running a positive campaign. Today, he has unfortunately chosen to open his campaign with political attacks on Democrats who are fighting the Bush administration’s Iraq policy.”<\/p>\n * Newt Gingrich told the Washington Times that the GOP has to move away<\/a> from Karl Rove’s strategy of winning elections exclusively through the base. “A base-motivation party inherently, in the long run, drives away the non-base,” Gingrich said. He said he prefers wedge strategies, focused on issues like the Pledge of Allegiance.<\/p>\n * A series of presidential candidate forums and debates in Nevada will kick off on February 21<\/a>. That’s just five weeks away. Nevada, of course, is scheduled to hold its caucus after Iowa, but before New Hampshire’s primary.<\/p>\n