Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In the latest legal setback for Republicans, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a GOP effort “to reject more absentee ballots in Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoffs by changing how election officials check absentee ballot signatures.” A unanimous three-judge panel issued its ruling last night.
* On a related note out of Georgia, late Friday a different federal court also rejected a request from Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue “to segregate ballots cast by newly registered voters in the Jan. 5 runoff election.”
* The lawsuits nevertheless continue: lawyers for Donald Trump’s campaign claim to have filed a new petition with the U.S. Supreme Court targeting Pennsylvania’s election results.
* Peter Navarro, a prominent White House official, told Fox Business this morning that Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoff elections should be postponed for reasons related to conspiracy theories I no longer understand. The same White House official told Fox News last night that Joe Biden will be an “illegal” president.
* Turnout in Georgia’s runoff elections doesn’t appear to be a problem: as of yesterday, more than 1.3 million Georgians have already cast ballots. * At the presidential level, Donald Trump has scheduled a campaign rally in Georgia for Jan. 4 — the day before Election Day — while Barack Obama will star in three new ads in support of the Rev. Raphael Warnock, as part of his Democratic U.S. Senate campaign. * On a related note, Republican fundraising dominance is increasingly obvious in Georgia: Politico reports that the GOP incumbents are benefiting from $86 million in outside spending, compared to $30 million spent by Democratic outside groups. * Finally, Trump celebrated over the weekend when Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) indicated his willingness to object when the Senate meets to certify the results of the electoral college. The trouble is, that may not be possible: Perdue’s term technically ends on Jan. 3, his runoff election is Jan. 5, and the Senate vote in Jan. 6. It’s unlikely the Georgia Republican — if he prevails — would have his victory certified in time to object to Biden’s victory.
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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