Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Faced with allegations that he threatened a former mistress with blackmail, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) has scrapped a plan to campaign statewide in support of his new tax plan.
* The field of Democratic gubernatorial candidates in Ohio shrunk a little more yesterday when Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley ended her candidacy and endorsed former state Attorney General Richard Cordray, the apparent frontrunner. This comes a week after former Rep. Betty Sutton (D), who was also running, became Cordray’s running mate.
* There are state legislative special elections today in Iowa, Wisconsin, and South Carolina.
* Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), rumored to be eyeing a 2020 presidential bid, launched a new podcast yesterday. His first guest: Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.).
* In response to a federal court striking down North Carolina’s gerrymandered congressional districts, the state Republican Party complained in a written statement that “a ‘gerrymander’ is by definition and common understanding, a strange looking ‘monster’ drawing.” * Last week, an Ohio-based telemarketing company called InfoCision settled a Federal Trade Commission complaint over allegedly “false and misleading” tactics. Among its former clients are Ben Carson’s 2016 presidential campaign and a pro-Trump political action committee. * And in Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey’s (R) re-election bid just got a little easier: Josh Jones, a Birmingham health care executive, ended his GOP campaign last week.
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
