Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Barack Obama spoke at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser yesterday, and though he reportedly did not mention his successor by name, the former president told attendees they are “right to be concerned” about the nation’s direction.
* In Ohio’s gubernatorial race, the latest NBC News/Marist poll shows Mike DeWine (R) leading Richard Cordray (D), 46% to 42%. Recent polling from Quinnipiac and Suffolk, however, showed Cordray ahead.
* In Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race, the latest Suffolk University poll found incumbent Gov. Tom Wolf (D) with a sizable lead over his Republican rival, Scott Wagner, 49% to 36%.
* On a related note, the same poll found incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D) with an even larger lead over Rep. Lou Barletta (R) in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race, 47% to 32%.
* In Florida’s gubernatorial race, the NBC News/Marist poll showed state Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam leading Rep. Ron DeSantis in the race for the Republican nomination, 38% to 21%. On the Democratic side, Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine narrowly leads former Rep. Gwen Graham, 19% to 17%,, in a crowded field. * Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) last night suggested she’s prepared to get rid of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. “I don’t think ICE today is working as intended,” she told CNN. * And Donald Trump declared with pride yesterday that he was the first Republican to win Wisconsin since Eisenhower in 1952. That’s not even close to being true: Reagan won it twice (1980 and 1984) and Nixon won it three times (1960, 1968, and 1972). Recent American history has to be among Trump’s top 50 worst subjects.
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
