Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* The casino workers’ Culinary Union, Nevada’s most politically influential union, announced yesterday that it will remain neutral ahead of the Democrats’ presidential caucuses.
* On a related note, after Culinary Union officials accused Bernie Sanders supporters of abusive tactics, the Vermont senator urged his backers “not to engage in bullying or ugly personal attacks.” Sanders added, however, that he wasn’t certain that it was his supporters who were responsible for the harassment.
* On the heels of winning the nation’s highest civilian honor, Rush Limbaugh yesterday targeted Pete Buttigieg over the former mayor’s sexuality. Similar attacks from the right seem likely.
* Speaking of Buttigieg, while I tend not to take note of every thrown elbow in the Democratic race, I noticed that the Hoosier took aim at Amy Klobuchar while on the campaign trial in Las Vegas this morning, noting her vote to confirm Kevin McAleenan as the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. Among other things, it suggests the Minnesota senator is now seen as an increasingly viable contender.
* On a story we’ve been following for a while, North Dakota agreed yesterday to a binding consent decree that ensures that Native Americans do not need to show an ID with a residential address to cast a ballot. The Republican-imposed policy appeared to have been created to undermine Sen. Heidi Heitkamp’s (D-N.D.) re-election campaign. She lost in 2018. * The latest Landmark Communications poll in Georgia found Joe Biden with a sizable lead over Sanders and Mike Bloomberg; the latest St. Pete Polls survey in Florida found Bloomberg narrowly leading Biden; and a University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll released this morning found Sanders narrowly leading Biden. * And today is Mike Bloomberg’s birthday. He’s now 78 — nine months older than Biden and six months younger than Sanders.
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."
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