Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* A federal judge ruled yesterday that Florida’s lifetime ban on voting for anyone convicted of a felony is unconstitutional. The decision will be appealed, but it has the potential to significantly affect the state’s elections.
* In the fourth quarter of 2017, Donald Trump’s re-election campaign raised $15.2 million, though some of the president’s donors may not be pleased to hear where the money is going: the political operation spent $1.2 million on legal fees, “with much of the cash going to law firms responding to investigations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.”
* Perhaps concerned about a 2020 primary challenge, Trump spoke a DNC dinner last night and reportedly “tore into” Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) by name.
* Kasich, incidentally, who can’t seek a third term in Ohio this year, has already scheduled his next trip to New Hampshire in the spring.
* Vice President Mike Pence will be in Pennsylvania’s 18th congressional district today, campaigning in support of Rick Saccone (R) ahead of the district’s congressional special election in March. * The DNC has named a new interim CEO: Mary Beth Cahill, perhaps best known in campaign circles for running John Kerry’s 2004 national operation. * And in Maryland, Chelsea Manning’s longshot Senate candidacy is facing a possible eligibility question. The Boston Globe reported, “While her case is on appeal, she is on a technical form of unpaid active duty, putting her political campaign at odds with Department of Defense regulations that prohibit military personnel from seeking public office.”
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
