Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* As far as the Republican National Committee is concerned, former Rep. Pete Hoekstra is the new chair of the Michigan GOP. Election denier Kristina Karamo, who led the state party for about a year, disagrees, and says she’s still in charge.
* Rep. James Clyburn announced this week that he’s giving up his position in the House Democratic leadership, but the longtime congressman is nevertheless running for re-election in South Carolina.
* The latest Fox News poll found Donald Trump leading President Joe Biden in Michigan by two points, 47% to 45%. When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is added to the mix, the former president’s lead goes from two points to five.
* Speaking of Trump, as the former president tries to exert greater control over the RNC, including pushing his own daughter-in-law for the party leadership team, Politico reports, “Several senior Republican officials are concerned that Donald Trump’s expected takeover of the RNC will ultimately pave the way for the committee to once again cover his legal bills.”
* With South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary just nine days away, the latest Winthrop University poll found Trump leading Nikki Haley by more than a two-to-one margin: 65% to 29%. * As Sen. Joe Manchin continues to explore a possible third-party presidential campaign, the West Virginian said this week, “Hypothetically, if I was picking my running mate, really who I would ask right now is Mitt Romney,” referring to the Republican senator from Utah who’s retiring at the end of the current Congress. The conservative Democrat also mentioned retired Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio. * And in the wake of his congressional special election in New York this week, Rep.-elect Tom Suozzi won’t be sworn in until Feb. 28. The Democrat would likely take the oath sooner, but the House will be out for the next two weeks.
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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