Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* At the conclusion of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) yesterday, attendees participated in a 2024 straw poll: Donald Trump finished first with 59 percent support. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was second with 28 percent, followed by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at 2 percent.
* As part of the CPAC gathering, Trump spoke on Saturday night and strongly suggested he’d be a candidate for the third consecutive cycle. “We did it twice, and we’ll do it again,” the former president said, as part of a lie about the number of times he won. “We’re going to be doing it again a third time.”
* The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll left little doubt that Republicans are well positioned for big gains in this year’s midterm election cycle: On the generic congressional ballot, the GOP leads Democrats, 49 percent to 42 percent.
* In the wake of Republican Sen. Rick Scott unveiling a far-right policy blueprint, Democrats are already making plans to use the plan against other GOP candidates in the fall, including incumbent Sen. Marco Rubio, who’s up for re-election this year.
* While attending CPAC, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene again peddled nonsense about the 2020 election being “stolen,” though the Georgia Republican added, “Do I know how? No, I don’t know how.” * In Minnesota’s congressional special election, Richard Painter, a former ethics attorney in the Bush/Cheney White House, announced that he will be a Democratic candidate this year. It will be Painter’s second bid for elected office, following a failed U.S. Senate candidacy in 2018. * And the recent efforts to bar Rep. Madison Cawthorn from seeking a second term appear to have run their course. The North Carolina Republican appears to have prevailed because his challengers do not live in the state’s newly redrawn congressional district.
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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