Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* As Rachel noted at the top of last night’s show, the first national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll of the 2020 cycle is out, and former Vice President Joe Biden (D) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) lead the field with 26% to 19%, respectively. Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are tied for third with 13% each, and Mayor Pete Buttigieg rounds out the top tier with 7% support.
* Harris yesterday unveiled a plan to end a national rape-kit backlog with new financial assistance to states, which would be required to improve their testing procedures.
* Warren yesterday unveiled her immigration-reform plan, which includes, among other things, the creation of an “Office of New Americans” that would help facilitate integration, including English lessons.
* Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) today unveiled her plan for senior citizens. I believe she’s the first of the 2020 Democrats to do so.
* In South Carolina, home to an early primary contest, Fox News’ new poll found Biden leading Sanders, 35% to 14%. Harris is a close third with 12%, and Warren was the only other candidate to reach 5%. * While many Republicans would be delighted if Jeff Sessions (R) ran in 2020 to reclaim his old Senate seat, Donald Trump, harboring ill will toward his former attorney general, has signaled his opposition to the idea. * Tom Steyer yesterday said he envisions a political system in which voters could make their own laws by way of national referenda. (For the record, I think that’s a spectacularly bad idea.) * And in Wyoming, where incumbent Sen. Mike Enzi (R) is retiring, former Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R) raised a few eyebrows by launching a Senate bid yesterday, instead of waiting to see what Rep. Liz Cheney (R) decides to do.
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
