Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* As NBC News explained this morning, Wisconsin may have already ordered residents to stay at home, but it’s nevertheless “still planning to proceed with an election Tuesday amid the coronavirus crisis.” Eleven states were originally scheduled to hold elections in April; Wisconsin is the only one not to delay its contests, which will include a Democratic presidential primary.
* Two new ads — one from Joe Biden’s campaign, another from a pro-Biden super PAC — released yesterday focus on the coronavirus crisis. While the former does not specifically reference Donald Trump, the latter slams the incumbent president’s failures.
* Speaking of Biden, the former vice president told MSNBC’s Brian Williams it’s “hard to envision” the Democratic National Convention proceeding on schedule without significant changes. For now, the event is supposed to begin on July 13 in Milwaukee.
* In the same interview, Biden said his team was in the process of putting together a list of prospective running mates, with background checks getting underway by “the second or third week in April.” The likely Democratic nominee acknowledged that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) would be a contender.
* Despite opposing public investments throughout the Obama era, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) launched a new campaign commercial this week, boasting about his role in passing “the biggest economic rescue package in history.” In case anyone’s forgotten, McConnell’s original blueprint was widely panned and dramatically changed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). * Senate Majority PAC, which is working on flipping the Senate to Democratic control, is reserving $69.2 million in television airtime for the late summer and early fall. Just as importantly, we know which five states the super PAC is targeting: Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Maine, and North Carolina. * And the drama surrounding Michael Bloomberg’s failed presidential campaign isn’t quite over: NBC News reported yesterday that laid off campaign aides who received their final paychecks were surprised to see they were “docked hundreds of dollars to cover taxes on their campaign-issued cellphone and laptop.”
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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