Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that won’t necessarily generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:
* As expected, New Hampshire has set its presidential primary date for January 10, a week after the Iowa caucuses.
* Herman Cain’s Super PAC is aggressively fundraising off his sexual-harassment controversy. Cain’s campaign claims to have raised $400,000 since the reports first broke.
* While Politico was tipped off to the sexual-harassment allegations surrounding Cain, we don’t know who first made the tip. Yesterday, the Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Paul, Gingrich, Santorum, and Huntsman campaigns all denied playing a role.
* A new Quinnipiac poll shows Cain leading the GOP field nationally with 30% support, followed by Romney at 23%. Gingrich is a distant third with 10%, and no other candidate reached double digits.
* Quinnipiac’s latest polling also shows President Obama’s approval rating up to 47%, and he leads all of his Republican challengers in hypothetical match-ups, by margins ranging from five points (vs. Romney) to 16 points (vs. Perry).
* ThinkProgress has a report this week linking Romney and one of his sons connection to the Stanford Financial Group Ponzi scheme.
* The Perry campaign is going on the air in New Hampshire this week, launching a new ad that describes him as “a doer not a talker.”
* The executive director of Cornerstone Action, the conservative group that hosted a much-discussed Perry event in New Hampshire over the weekend, insists the Texas governor was not intoxicated during his strange speech.
* In Florida, a new Suffolk University poll shows Romney leading Cain among Republicans, 25% to 24%. No one else in the field is close. (thanks to R.B. for the tip)
* It’s long been assumed that Sen. Ben Nelson (D) would seek re-election in Nebraska next year, but he’s apparently on the fence and won’t make a final decision until later this year. National Democrats have already invested more than $800,000 with the expectation that Nelson is seeking another term.
