The Carpetbagger Report: Tuesday's Political Roundup

My new daily feature about campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* New York 1 reported yesterday that Gov. George Pataki (R) “has decided not to seek another term next year and will concentrate instead on a bid for the vice-presidential nomination in 2008.” Pataki’s chief spokesman, David Catalfamo, denied the report.

* Just when everything looked bright for the future of Republicans in Florida, the Terri Schiavo case and the Bush plan to privatize Social Security has suddenly put the state GOP in a more precarious position. “It may be that we tried to load the wagon with too many watermelons,” said Tom Slade, Florida’s former Republican Party chairman. “There’s not … a lot of good news on our side of the aisle at this minute.”