Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In a reminder that no one should assume they know what’s going to happen in the fall, a new Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll found Joe Biden leading Donald Trump in Pennsylvania by just four points, 49% to 45%.
* The news was a little better for the Democratic ticket in New Hampshire, where the latest Saint Anselm College poll showed Biden ahead of Trump, 51% to 43%.
* In recent days, Republican officials in Arizona, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania have sent out flyers urging GOP voters to cast mail-in ballots, even as the Republican president baselessly rails against vote-by-mail systems as inherently corrupt.
* In a bit of a surprise, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) yesterday endorsed Rep. Joe Kennedy in his Democratic Senate primary in Massachusetts against incumbent Sen. Ed Markey. Their contest — the last big primary fight of 2020 — will be held on Sept. 1, which is a week from Tuesday.
* Though it seems hard to imagine, Trump’s overall political operation — his campaign, the joint effort with the RNC, and two affiliated committees — have now spent more than $1 billion, and the Republican National Convention hasn’t even started yet. The Washington Post noted that at this point in Barack Obama’s re-election campaign, his operation had spent roughly $643 million. * It’s too soon to say whether California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) will have an opportunity to appoint Sen. Kamala Harris’ (D) Senate replacement, but the list of powerful Democratic players in the Golden State who want the gig is reportedly quite long. * And confirming what has long been suspected, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who had a successful term that ended in 2018, has formed a campaign committee in the hopes of reclaiming his old job in 2021. (Unlike every other state in the nation, Virginia does not allow governors to serve consecutive terms.)
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."
Latest Post
Recommended
