Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) campaigned in South Carolina yesterday, where he walked back earlier comments about working with segregationists in the 1970s. “I regret it and I am sorry for any of the pain or misconception that may have caused anybody,” the presidential hopeful said.
* On a related note, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who hit Biden pretty hard over his record at a recent debate, said the other day that she believes busing should be considered by local school districts, but shouldn’t be a federally mandated policy. This appeared to be a shift from what the senator said two weeks ago.
* At the Essence Festival in New Orleans on Saturday, Harris and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) unveiled proposals intended to address racial disparities.
* In recent days, we’ve also seen Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s (D) national-service plan, Sen. Cory Booker’s (D) plan on immigrant detention, and Gov. Jay Inslee’s (D) education plan.
* In the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, most of the leading Democratic contenders tied Donald Trump in hypothetical general-election match-ups, but Biden had a sizable advantage over the incumbent president. * Former Gov. John Hickenlooper’s (D) presidential campaign appears to be in very rough shape. A day after the Coloradan released weak fundraising totals from the second quarter, Politico reported that Hickenlooper’s senior team “urged him last month to withdraw from the presidential race gracefully.” * And the AP found that Trump’s re-election campaign is running social-media ads featuring purported supporters of the president. The ads, however, feature models in stock video footage produced overseas. None of the people presented as Trump supporters are real, despite his campaign’s claims.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
