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
* Perhaps the strongest part of Hillary Clinton’s stump speech continues to be her references to those who hate her most. The Politico reported<\/a>, “Campaigning in New Hampshire, Clinton claimed that she — and her husband, the former president — are the Democrats that Rove and other leading Republican handicappers fear most. ‘I know what Gingrich tells people privately, I know what DeLay tells people privately, I know what Karl Rove tells people privately,’ she said. ‘I’m the one person they are most afraid of. Bill and I have beaten them before, and we will again.'”<\/p>\n * Barack Obama took what I think was his first veiled shot at Hillary Clinton yesterday, questioning<\/a> the New York senator’s position on the war in Iraq. “I am not clear on how she would proceed at this point to wind down the war in a specific way,” Obama told reporters at a press conference in Iowa. “I know that she has stated that she thinks that the war should end by the start of the next president’s first term. Beyond that, though, how she wants to accomplish that, I’m not clear on.”<\/p>\n * The secretive right-wing Council for National Policy quietly held an informal straw poll to see which GOP presidential candidate had the broadest support from far-right leaders, mainly from the Dobson wing of the party. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee edged<\/a> former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, sources told U.S. News.<\/p>\n * Hoping to dispel any rumors to the contrary, Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), whose recovery continues to go well, is planning to seek re-election next year. To help Johnson out, several top Senate Dems will host<\/a> fundraising events on his behalf over the next few weeks, including Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, and Kent Conrad.<\/p>\n