Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* It’s Primary Day in Tennessee, and the marquee race is the Republicans’ U.S. Senate primary, pitting Bill Hagerty, a former ambassador to Japan, again Manny Sethi, an orthopedic surgeon. The race has been ugly, with each accusing the other of being insufficiently far-right.
* On a related note, though some high-profile Republicans are divided on the Tennessee race, Donald Trump held a virtual event last night for Hagerty, whom the president endorsed before he even launched his candidacy.
* The Senate Leadership Fund, the Republican super PAC closely tied to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the party’s GOP leadership, originally planned to launch broadcast ad buys after Labor Day. Apparently feeling nervous, the super PAC is now spending $21 million in August to bolster Republican candidates in Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Montana, and North Carolina.
* On the fundraising front, Joe Biden outraised Trump is May and June, but the incumbent outraised his challenger in July. Just as importantly, though, as August got underway, the two major-party candidates were nearly tied when it came to cash on hand.
* In Iowa, which Trump won by double-digits four years ago, the latest Monmouth poll found the president with a narrow lead over Biden, 48% to 45%.
* The same Monmouth poll found incumbent Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) with an identical lead over Theresa Greenfield (D), 48% to 45%. This is a race that will very likely help determine which party controls the Senate in the next Congress. * Though a dramatically scaled-back Democratic convention will still be held in Milwaukee, Biden will deliver his nomination acceptance speech virtually from his home state of Delaware. * It now appears Republican operatives are also trying to get Kanye West’s name on the presidential ballot in Colorado, along with Arkansas, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Ohio, among others. The entertainer’s wife, Kim Kardashian, recently suggested the entertainer is struggling with mental-health issues. * And as part of a strange online attack yesterday, the Trump campaign photoshopped an image of Biden at a public event while complaining about his reluctance to hold public events.
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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