Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders remains hospitalized, but according to his wife, the Vermont senator will not need any additional medical procedures and he expects to participate in the Democratic primary debate scheduled for Oct. 15.
* Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign raised $24.6 million in the third quarter, which is a very impressive haul, and puts her second only to Bernie Sanders’ $25.3 million quarter. [Update: I added this item after originally publishing the round-up.]
* Reinforcing impressions that Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign sees Joe Biden as a threat, the president’s operation is launching a $1 million ad buy in early primary states, airing a new attack ad peddling a discredited conspiracy theory involving the former vice president and Ukraine.
* Speaking of Biden, the Democratic campaign announced yesterday that it raised $12.5 million in the third quarter. It’s an underwhelming haul, which is roughly half the money Sanders raised over the same three-month period.
* For his part, Biden is moving forward with a $6 million ad buy in the first four states holding 2020 nominating contests.
* At an official White House event in Florida yesterday, Trump discussed 2020 campaign strategy, went after Elizabeth Warren with his “Pocahontas” slur, and labeled Joe Biden “Sleepy Joe.” It served as a reminder that the president obviously has no qualms about blurring the lines of propriety ahead of 2020. * In an increasingly common dynamic in the GOP, former Rep. Pete Sessions (R) is launching a comeback bid in a new congressional district. Sessions lost last year in Texas’ 32nd district — an area he’d represented for more than two decades — so he’s now moving to Texas’ 17th district, which will be home to an open-seat contest next year. * A new Washington Post-Schar School poll shows Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) with a 47% approval rating, despite his recent racial controversy. The same poll found Trump with a 39% approval rating in the commonwealth. * And in Ohio, the latest Emerson poll shows Biden narrowly leading Sanders, 29% to 27%, with Warren not far behind with 21%. Also of note, the survey found each of the Democratic contenders leading Trump in Ohio in hypothetical general election match-ups.
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
