Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Publicly, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida has been coy about his vice presidential ambitions, but privately, the Daily Beast reports that the Florida senator tried to set himself “apart from the pack” during last week’s donor retreat in Palm Beach, where other potential Donald Trump running mates also auditioned. The article added that Rubio “was working the room, according to a donor and attendee, pressing the flesh and quietly setting the stage for a major promotion.”
* The New York Times reported that some of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s signature gatherers have been accused of misleading voters as part of their efforts to get the independent presidential candidate onto the 2024 ballot.
* On a related note, Trump yesterday referred to Kennedy as “a Democrat ‘Plant,’” who been “put in place” in order to help President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign. The claim was ridiculous, of course, though it suggested that the former president is increasingly concerned about Kennedy’s candidacy.
* And speaking of Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee noted that his youngest son is entering the political arena as a delegate from Florida for the Republican National Convention. The former president also got his son’s age wrong.
* Now that Republican Sen. Mike Braun has won his party’s gubernatorial nomination in Indiana, he’s announced his choice for a running mate: state Rep. Julie McGuire. * Speaking of the Hoosier State, former Rep. Marlin Stutzman left Congress eight years ago, but he’s apparently on his way back to Capitol Hill: In Indiana’s 3rd district, Stutzman ran in a crowded primary and received less than a quarter of the overall vote, but that was enough to win the GOP nod in this very conservative district. * And while former Rep. Mike Rogers is the favorite for the Republican nomination in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race, GOP businessman Sandy Pensler launched a new attack ad this week, accusing Rogers of being a failure during his tenure as House Intelligence Committee chair.
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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