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
* Al Franken announced yesterday that he is running<\/a> for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota and unveiled an excellent web video<\/a> explaining why. Franken will likely face attorney Mike Ciresi in a Dem primary for the right to take on incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.).<\/p>\n * Hillary Clinton took a firm line<\/a> yesterday on a possible conflict with Iran, giving a strong speech on the Senate floor in which she insisted that Bush had to seek congressional authority before any kind of military confrontation.<\/p>\n * As part of the ongoing GOP suck-up to the party’s religious right base, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will deliver<\/a> a commencement address at Regent University, a school founded by TV preacher Pat Robertson. According to Regent spokeswoman Sherri Stocks, Robertson made the decision after Romney met with him at the University last December. “The meeting went very well and the decision was made to invite him back and speak to our students,” Stocks told CNN.<\/p>\n * Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine (D) is reportedly prepared to endorse Barack Obama<\/a>, perhaps as early as this weekend. Obama will headline the Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson Day fundraising gala in Richmond on Saturday night, an event Kaine will attend along with Democratic Sen. Jim Webb and former Gov. Mark Warner. Obama frequently campaigned on Kaine’s behalf in 2005.<\/p>\n