Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Former Vice President Joe Biden is reportedly prepared to launch his Democratic presidential campaign next week.
* On a related note, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) announced this week that he won’t launch a White House campaign, and will instead focus on helping his party in state legislative races.
* Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) presidential campaign launched a new fundraising drive this week, asking for contributions by pointing to his Democratic critics. There’s some risk in this: the independent senator has already faced questions about his commitment to the party.
* At least for now, the Democratic presidential campaign with the largest staff operation belongs to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who “now has a team of more than 170 people.”
* File this away for future reference: Donald Trump said yesterday he expects to be in office for another six years, and joked that he might remain for “at least for 10 or 14 years.” * In West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice, running as a Republican after getting elected as a Democrat, now has two primary rivals. Former state Del. Mike Folk (R) was already running, and this week, former West Virginia Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher (R) threw his hat into the ring, too. * Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said this week that she no longer supports the truancy law she backed as a state attorney general. The presidential hopeful added that she regrets other local prosecutors taking advantage of the policy. * And former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), also on the presidential campaign trail, was pressed by a voter to explain his modest charitable contributions, as evidenced by his tax returns. The Texas Democrat responded that the returns are incomplete and he’s “trying to go back to some of these organizations to see if they can share with us, over the last 10 years, how much we have donated.”
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
