Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* The Associated Press reported over the weekend that Tara Reade, who’s accused Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her 27 years ago, “says she filed a limited report with a congressional personnel office that did not explicitly accuse him of sexual assault or harassment.” The report added that Reade told the AP last year, in reference to Biden, “I wasn’t scared of him, that he was going to take me in a room or anything. It wasn’t that kind of vibe.”
* On a related note, Reade told NBC News she’s “not sure” what wording she might have used in 1993 when filing a complaint with the Senate personnel office.
* Indivisible, a prominent progressive activist group, is formally throwing its support behind Biden’s candidacy today.
* In Iowa, the latest Public Policy Polling survey found Donald Trump with a narrow lead over Biden, 48% to 46%. Four years ago, Iowa was one of the battlegrounds that swung decisively to the right, handing Trump a nine-point victory.
* On a related note, the same PPP survey found incumbent Sen. Joni Ernst (R) with a narrow lead over Theresa Greenfield (D), 43% to 42%. In December, Public Policy Polling found Ernst with a six-point advantage.
* In a bit of a surprise, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said yesterday he’s “optimistic” that his party will hold an in-person nominating convention this summer. The Democratic gathering was scheduled for July 13 in Milwaukee, but it was delayed to August 17 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. * Though the public-health crisis complicated matters, the Boston Globe reports that incumbent Sen. Ed Markey (D) of Massachusetts collected “more than enough signatures to secure his spot on the September Democratic primary ballot.” * The latest Dallas Morning News/University of Texas at Tyler poll, released over the weekend, found Trump and Biden tied in the Lone Star State, 43% to 43%. The same poll found incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) with double-digit leads over his top Democratic rivals. * And the right-wing Constitution Party appears to have nominated former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship as its 2020 presidential candidate. In the 2018 cycle, Blankenship sought the Republican nomination in West Virginia’s U.S. Senate race, but he fared poorly in a GOP primary.
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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