Posted by Chris in Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, DCCC, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John McCain, Mitt Romney.
The latest from the ’08 race:
- The DCCC announces the 29 Democratic incumbent representatives will be part of its Frontline program for 2008 (if you want to donate, you can do it right here).
- Hillary will make her first campaign trip to South Carolina this Monday, an early primary state where Hillary, Obama, and local boy John Edwards are all likely to be competitive.
- Despite John McCain stealing a couple of Mass. state Senators from under Mitt Romney’s proverbial nose, Romney shows off his support among GOP lawmakers in the state.
- Harry Reid’s decision to schedule a Senate Iraq vote on Saturday presented several presidential candidates with a sticky choice between their current day job and the job they hope to start in January ’09 – Hillary Clinton has rearranged the time of her NH town hall to be back in Washington for the vote, and Joe Biden is also changing his plans to be in Iowa this weekend. Barack Obama and Chris Dodd have yet to say if they are modifying their schedules, while John McCain, who is set to be in Iowa too, has said he has no plans to change his.
Posted by Chris in Chris Dodd, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy.
Rep. Kennedy endorses Dodd – James Pindell – Boston.com
Ted Kennedy’s son Patrick, a member of the House of Representatives (D-RI) has endorsed Senator Chris Dodd for President. Which wouldn’t necessarily be particularly earth shattering news – certainly, smaller endorsements like this aren’t likely to make or break a Presidential campaign – except for the fact that the elder Kennedy has yet to endorse any candidate.
Kennedy was originally expected to endorse his fellow Massachusetts Senator, John Kerry, if as was at one point expected, Kerry made another run in ’08. But after Kerry dropped out, Kennedy became pretty much a free-agent. And while smaller endorsements, like that of his son, are likely to have little effect, Kennedy’s endorsement could make a big impact.
If Kennedy decides to endorse one of the frontrunners – say Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, then it might not be of massive importance to the outcome of the Democratic primary. But to a second-tier candidate, his endorsement could be the difference between being an also-ran and being a real contender.
I seem to remember it was suggested on one of the Sunday talk shows a week or two ago (I forget which one – maybe This Week?) that Kennedy might endorse Dodd and catapult the Senator into a position where he could really compete with the big boys (and girl). Could this be an indication that Kennedy might jump that way? It’s difficult to say at this point – but it’s certainly interesting that Patrick Kennedy would endorse Chris Dodd at this stage in the game.
Posted by Chris in Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich, Hillary Clinton, Iowa, John Edwards, Republicans, Wesley Clark.
Some stories I haven’t had a chance to blog on today:
- An article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (via RealClearPolitics) about not losing sight of the fact that the Republican primary is important too. It’s a good point – I’m certainly Democratically inclined, but I do find the GOP race fascinating – can they bear to nominate someone slightly more moderate such as McCain or Giuliani? Will Romney’s seemingly recent conversion to social conservatism ring true? Will a “true” social conservative come through the field to win? This is why I keep blogging on the Republican race, even though I’d rather pretty much any Democrat beat any Republican.
- Want to see how the candidates really did at the DNC winter meeting? Here’s video of Chris Dodd, Barack Obama, Wesley Clark, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, and Hillary Clinton from the first day, vie TPM Cafe’s Election Central.
- An Iowa poll from the American Research Group shows Giuliani leading McCain 27-22, Gingrich third with 16% and Romney with 11%. That’s compared to yesterday’s poll from New Hampshire in which Giuliani was joint second with Romney on 20%, with McCain leading on 27%. I mentioned how strange it was that Giuliani was doing so comparatively badly – apparently, ARG claim “voters in New Hampshire are less apt to say they would vote for Rudy Giuliani because he has not declared that he will be a candidate” – but he’s down 5% since December, when he was just as undeclared. To be honest, I’m a little sceptical about the validity of the poll…
- The same poll has Hillary leading the Dems in IA on 35%, ahead of John Edwards on 18% and Barack Obama on 14%, while Tom Vilsack claims 12% – very much at odds with other Iowa polls which have shown Edwards with a nice lead over Hillary.
Enjoy!
Campaign Memo 