Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) this morning became the first of the Democratic presidential candidates to call for the end of legislative filibusters.
* For reasons he hasn’t yet explained, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who faced criticisms in his 2016 campaign for his reluctance to release his tax returns, still seems hesitant on the issue. The Vermont senator told CNN yesterday that the materials would be released “soon.” Pressed for some kind of details, he replied, “That’s it. Thank you very much.”
* Stacey Abrams still hasn’t said what elected office, if any, she intends to seek in 2020, but she met again yesterday with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), whom the Georgia Democrat later said has been “diligent” and “thoughtful” in wooing her.
* Iowa Republicans, having total control over state government, have backed off a plan to ban early voting on college campuses, but are instead moving forward with a proposal to disenfranchise students who don’t intend to remain in the Hawkeye State after graduating.
* Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) reflected in a speech this morning about his use of the phrase “all lives matter” four years ago. “What I did not understand at that time was that phrase … was coming to be used as a sort of counter-slogan to Black Lives Matter,” the presidential candidate said. “And so that statement, which seems very anodyne and something that nobody could be against, actually wound up being used to devalue what the Black Lives Matter movement was telling us. Since learning about how that phrase was being used to push back on that activism, I stopped using it in that context.” * I’m skeptical about this, but The Hill reports that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R), a staunch Trump ally, is considering moving from Florida to Alabama to run for the U.S. Senate next year. * And Sen. Joe Manchin (D) is making no secret of his interest in running for his old job, governor of West Virginia, in 2020. “I think about it every minute of every day,” he said yesterday. Expect a decision from the newly re-elected senator in the fall.
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
