Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* There was a lively Democratic presidential primary debate in Westerville, Ohio, last night. The next gathering will be in Georgia on Nov. 20.
* Bernie Sanders hasn’t picked up many congressional endorsements for his presidential campaign, but he’s now picking up two fairly high-profile backers: first-year Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
* Joe Biden’s campaign appears to have a rather serious financial problem: as the 2020 race enters the next stage, the former vice president only had about $9 million cash on hand as of two weeks ago. In contrast, Bernie Sanders had $33.7 million in the bank, Elizabeth Warren had $25.7 million, Pete Buttigieg had $23.3 million, and Kamala Harris had $10.5 million.
* With only three weeks remaining in Kentucky’s gubernatorial race, the latest Mason-Dixon poll shows incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin (R) tied with state Attorney General Andy Beshear (D), with each garnering 46% support.
* On a related note, Bevin’s fate is reportedly of keen interest to the White House, and Team Trump is reportedly “planning an 11th-hour push to stave off an embarrassing defeat” for the far-right governor.
* And speaking of the Bluegrass State, a judge yesterday sided with the Kentucky Democratic Party and ordered State Board of Elections to keep 175,000 purged voters on the state’s voter rolls. * In Maine., the latest survey from Public Policy Polling found Sen. Susan Collins (R) trailing a generic Democrat in next year’s U.S. Senate race, 41% to 44%. The incumbent Republican hasn’t yet officially declared whether she’ll run for another term. * In a newly released audio recording, Texas state House Speaker Dennis Bonnen (R) is heard telling a far-right activist that Donald Trump is “killing” the party “in the urban-suburban districts.” * And though the president’s GOP primary rivals stand no realistic chance of success, it seemed notable that a Franklin Pierce University-Boston Herald poll found former Gov. Bill Weld with 14% support in New Hampshire, up from 3% in the same poll last month.
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
