Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* It seems hard to believe, but a fascinating New York Times analysis found that Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has already spent more than $800 million — and plenty of the expenditures are highly dubious.
* It’s Primary Day in New Hampshire and Rhode Island, and among the contests worth watching is the Republicans’ U.S. Senate primary in the Granite State. Donald Trump has thrown his support behind Corky Messner, a far-right lawyer, who hopes to take on incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D) in November.
* Speaking of New England primaries, it appears that Jake Auchincloss, a Newton City Council member, narrowly won the Democratic primary in Massachusetts’ 4th congressional district last week. This is a U.S. House seat currently held by Rep. Joe Kennedy, who gave up his seat for an unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign.
* There’s been some chatter this morning about this Bloomberg News report, suggesting Trump may be prepared to invest $100 million of his own money into his 2020 candidacy, but this is extremely difficult to believe. The Republican made similar noises four years ago, and failed to follow through.
* Most of the recent polling out of Pennsylvania shows Trump faring relatively well in the state, with a new Susquehanna poll showing Joe Biden ahead by just two points, 44% to 42%.
* The incumbent president’s standing has also improved in Texas, where a Dallas Morning News/UT-Tyler poll found Trump narrowly leading Biden among likely voters, 48% to 46%. In July, the same pollster found the Democrat with a modest lead in the Lone Star State. * Marjorie Taylor Greene, a right-wing congressional candidate in Georgia, last week posted an image of herself holding a gun alongside an image of three Democratic congresswomen. Facebook removed the Republican candidate’s item soon after. * Now that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has endorsed some Democratic candidates, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has said he no longer wants the organization’s support. The GOP leader said the group has “sold out” by failing to exclusively back Republicans. * The latest FEC filings suggest Kanye West has invested roughly $6 million into his ill-fated presidential campaign, despite the fact that he won’t appear on enough ballots to make a victory possible. On a related note, the entertainer’s operation is suing to appear on West Virginia’s ballot, and West’s attorneys are the same lawyers who represented Donald Trump Jr. in a case last year.
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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