THURSDAY’S CAMPAIGN ROUND-UP….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:
* No one wants to use the word “Bush” at the Republican convention. I wonder why that is.
* The DNC has a solid new ad poised to air in Michigan hitting McCain on the economy.
* Former Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), a McCain advisor, is the latest to defend the media’s scrutiny of Sarah Palin, rejecting Republican accusations of sexism.
* The day after McCain campaign manager Rick Davis claimed that the campaign “is not about issues,” Barack Obama incorporated the bizarre notion into his stump speech.
* Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is done in Detroit.
* In a CNN poll taken before the start of the Republican convention, Obama leads McCain by 15 in Iowa (55% to 40%), 12 in Minnesota (53% to 41%), and two in Ohio (47% to 45%).
* In a Democracy Corps (D) poll taken before the start of the Republican convention, McCain leads Obama in North Carolina by two, 47% to 44%.
