Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* California state Senate Leader Kevin de Leon (D) made it official yesterday, launching his U.S. Senate bid, even though incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) is seeking re-election. (Remember, California has a jungle primary, not a traditional nominating fight.)
* Election Day is three weeks from tomorrow in Virginia, and the deadline for registering to vote is today.
* And speaking of Virginia, Republican gubernatorial hopeful Ed Gillespie continues to say he doesn’t know Donald Trump, but he seemed eager to campaign over the weekend alongside Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence.
* Former Vice President Joe Biden, meanwhile, was with Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Ralph Northam on Saturday, at the other end of the commonwealth.
* Donors to the president’s re-election campaign may be interested to learn that it spent more than $1 million on legal bills, stemming from Trump’s Russia scandal. That includes money to cover the legal expenses of Donald Trump Jr., who helps run the president’s business, and whose work is supposed to be unrelated to politics. * Former Vice President Al Gore hasn’t been too engaged in electoral politics this year, but he was in New Jersey yesterday, campaigning with Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Phil Murphy. The statewide race in the Garden State is also three weeks from tomorrow. * Following the first round of balloting in Louisiana over the weekend, New Orleans is poised to elect its first woman mayor in city history. * And Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist, predicted over the weekend that Donald Trump will not only win a second term in 2020, he’ll do so “with 400 electoral votes.” Good to know.
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." Recommended
