Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Ahead of Iowa’s Jan. 15 presidential caucuses, a new NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll found Donald Trump leading the Republican field with 43% support. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is now tied with former Ambassador Nikki Haley for second place, with each garnering 16% support. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott is further back with 7%.
* On a related note, the super PAC supporting Trump’s candidacy reportedly hopes to undermine DeSantis even further, launching new attack ads against the governor in Iowa.
* As if former Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s presidential campaign weren’t already struggling, the latest news for the Arkansas Republican makes matters worse: Rob Burgess, the governor’s campaign manager, is stepping down.
* Now that GOP legislators in North Carolina have created a newly gerrymandered district map, former Rep. Mark Walker is ending his gubernatorial campaign and launching a congressional comeback bid.
* Speaking of the Tar Heel State, Biden’s re-election campaign has launched a new television ad touting the administration’s investments in rural, Black communities. It will run in North Carolina as part of a 16-week, $25 million ad buy in battleground states. * In Pennsylvania’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, the latest Franklin & Marshall College poll found incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey leading Republican Dave McCormick, 46% to 39%. * When conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was a Democratic presidential candidate, a variety of Republicans eagerly cheered him on, hoping he’d undermine President Joe Biden. Now that Kennedy is running as an independent, Donald Trump Jr. has begun going after him.
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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