Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* The Associated Press reported that Donald Trump’s political operation has “begun requesting information from his potential vice presidential candidates,” and seven people have reportedly received vetting paperwork: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, and former HUD Secretary Ben Carson.
* On a related note, while the AP’s list might be incomplete, I couldn’t help but notice that South Dakota Gov. Krisi Noem wasn’t included in the report, suggesting her recent book-promotion tour was not a great success.
* The New York Times reached out to respondents who participated in recent Times/Siena polls to see if they’d changed their minds about the presidential race in the wake of Trump’s felony convictions. The newspaper found a slight shift in Biden’s direction.
* Speaking of polling, latest survey from Quinnipiac showed Trump leading Biden in Georgia by five points in a head-to-head race, and six points with third-party candidates added to the mix. The incumbent Democratic president narrowly carried Georgia four years ago.
* CNN reported that President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign has hired Austin Weatherford, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s chief of staff, to lead the president’s Republican outreach efforts. * Trump is scheduled to appear at his first post-conviction event today in Phoenix, where he’ll be greeted by a Democratic National Committee billboard that refers to the Republican as a “convicted felon.” Axios reported, “‘Trump already attacked Arizona’s democracy once. Now he’s back as a convicted felon. He’s out for revenge and retribution,’ the digital billboard will read. It will run first in English and then in Spanish off of I-17.” * And in his Newsmax interview this week, Trump suggested he was undefeated in this year’s Republican primaries and caucuses. That wasn’t quite right: Former Ambassador Nikki Haley won primaries in Vermont and Washington, D.C.
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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