Political news roundup:

U.S. Congressman Ralph Hall (D-TX) officially changed parties to the GOP Friday. The 80-year-old Hall, known as a conservative "Blue Dog" Democrat, was one of the conservative Democrats targeted by GOP redistricting this past summer, and his Rockwall district is now home to a large number of East Texans who Hall has never met nor represented. This fall, while mulling whether to run for re-election, Hall told reporters "If it got to where me being a Democrat hurt my district, I'd switch [parties]. ... I wouldn't be uncomfortable in either party."

In Pennsylvania, a flip from the other side of the aisle: state Treasurer Barbara Hafer, a former GOP candidate for governor, has returned to the Democratic party following an extended rapproachment with Dem politicians such as Governor Ed Rendell and Presidential candidate John Kerry. Hafer, who is serving the second of two possible terms as Treasurer, is now thought to be preparing for a run against GOP Senator Rick Santorum in 2006.

In Wisconsin, Wesley Clark's state campaign director Julie Stauch has left the Clark campaign under largely unknown circumstances. Stauch, an experienced political operative who ran Bob Graham's Iowa campaign prior to joining Clark, has not commented on the reasons she left the campaign.

The Sioux City Journal reports that Northwest Iowan voters might not be prepared to follow Dean through the primaries. Voters are "increasingly concerned over some [Dean] gaffes that resulted in backpedaling" and ask questions about his electability:

Dean has brought in a huge influx of formerly apathetic young voters. That is great, [Shelby County Democratic Party chairwoman Donna] Clothier said, but she said she wonders about whether they will help the county, state and national Democratic parties. Labeling the young Dean supporters "hangers-on, rather than dedicated," she opined, "they are not the people who will go out and work. It is just like a game for these young people."

Clothier said Gephardt had visited Harlan three times and made a strong impression. The key thing, Clothier said, is to nominate someone who can defeat President Bush. She said she has doubts about how Dean would fare in southern states.

From the Dean camp, NYT chief political correspondent Adam Nagourney, whose dispatches from the Democratic front lines have been critical in boosting support for the Vermont governor, says that negative campaigning in Iowa will hurt only the frontrunner. A typical Nagourney passage:

At one point here this week, Howard Dean, a leader in many polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, begged the party's national chairman to step in and end the attacks against him that he said could end up serving only the White House, should he be his party's nominee. The plea earned him mocking rebukes from his opponents, including a sarcastic warning from Senator Joseph I. Lieberman that Dr. Dean would "melt" in the glare of a White House attack.

 
Howard Dean has commissioned a videogame, titled The Dean for America Game, in which players canvass Iowa looking for supporters.

The producers of the game have previously courted controversy by releasing September 12, a videogame in which you are given a mixed populace of terrorists and civilians, and a missile launcher to attack terrorists with. When you launch a missile, any civilian casualties attract local civilians, who come over, mourn, and then become terrorists. The inevitable result is either a 100%-terrorist populace, or no one left alive at all.

 
What happens in Vegas stays in D.C.: Something's happening in Vegas.

Of course, media reports have pegged Vegas as a major site of interest to al'Qaeda. Given the terror group's evident continued interest in plane-based attacks, counterterror officials should be worried; a plane coming in for a landing at McCarran International is a matter of seconds from New York, New York or any of the other casinos on the strip. That proximity means that it would be almost impossible to distinguish a 9/11-style attack from a legitimate landing in time to stop the rogue plane.

 
Via Skippy: The latest BC04 vs. Dems matchup numbers are up from Time and CNN, and John Kerry's fundraising numbers have fallen through the floor, with Kerry expected to net only $2-3 million when the fourth quarter numbers come out.

Dean, by way of comparison, is expected to have raised almost $15 million, while Clark is believed to have raised around $12 million, which will be buttressed by an additional $3.7 million in matching funds (Dean, because of his busta-caps move, does not receive any matching funds, but is also not bound by the overall and per-state expenditure limits affecting publicly-financed campaigns). BC04 is likely to have paced Dean in the fourth quarter, which could give them a current warchest of $87.8 million, one of the numerous advantages of incumbency.

With Iowa coming down to a Dean-Gephardt photo finish, and Clark showing increasing strength in New Hampshire, Kerry is not well-positioned to slug it out in South Carolina, where a large black electorate could push numbers to Al Sharpton and Carol Moseley-Braun, and Southern candidates like Clark and Edwards are better positioned to connect with local voters. Kerry, once the crown prince of the primary, is not likely to make it much past February 3rd.

 
Just added: Democratic primary dates and pledged/unpledged delegate allocations over at the state info section. It's not exciting but, like cruciferous vegetables, it's good for you, even if it tends to get soggy if oversteamed. Try adding some black truffle oil and cracked pepper if it's too bland.

Er -- where was I? Anyway, happy 2004. Let the race begin.

 
NOC-out? Word comes that Attorney General Ashcroft has recused himself from the Plame investigation, including in that order his entire personal staff. As the WaPo article notes, this could signal that the investigation has focused in on specific political agents (Vice President Cheney's office being a favorite target in the speculation game).

 
The Dean Dogpile has been going on for about two weeks now, with the frontrunning Democrat taking not only jabs from his rivals, but body blows from the Washington Post and NYT, as well, questioning everything from his honesty on the campaign trail to the secret energy task force meetings he held in Vermont. Now Dean, already testy in front of an inquisitive press, says that if he doesn't win the nomination, he'll pick up his voters and go home.

Is Dean crossing the thin line between rhetoric and hubris on the campaign trail? Although candidates frequently warn that their opponents are unelectable -- Lieberman vs. Dean is just Rockefeller v. Goldwater with the political polarity flipped -- they rarely suggest that they'll spoil the race if they don't get their way, especially since the most likely way to lose in a modern primary race is in the ballot box, not the smoke-filled room.