Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Members of the electoral college will make Joe Biden’s 2020 victory official today, with electors in some states already having voted this morning.
* Today is also the first day for in-person early voting in Georgia, as part of the state’s two U.S. Senate runoff elections. Election Day is Jan. 5, which is three weeks from tomorrow.
* For those keeping up on Donald Trump’s many failed lawsuits, a Trump-appointed judge in Wisconsin issued a strongly worded decision over the weekend, rejecting one of the president’s cases for having failed “as a matter of law and fact.”
* On a related note, the Georgia Supreme Court also rejected over the weekend a Team Trump appeal that sought to overturn the state’s election results.
* Late Friday afternoon, Trump unveiled a new, minute-long ad, which I believe was the first-ever post-election attack ad in presidential history. In this case, the target was his own country’s democracy. * Biden’s political operation is reportedly still active in Georgia, paying for dozens of staff members to remain in the state ahead of the upcoming U.S. Senate runoffs. The Washington Post added, “The campaign has also shifted about a dozen data analytics staff members to help the two Democratic Senate candidates.” * Roll Call reported late last week that Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.) has spent “about $230,000 from his campaign fund since 2010 on car expenses, purchases associated with home upkeep, reimbursements to himself, payments to his brother and other questionable costs.” The Mississippi Republican already conceded that he’s under an ethics investigation. * And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) over the weekend lashed out at Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) for making it too easy for the state’s voters to cast ballots. “Why is Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger working so hard to add drop boxes and take other steps to make it harder for Republicans to win?” Gingrich asked via Twitter.
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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