Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Though I’d recommend caution when reading polls conducted in the middle of a firestorm, JMC Analytics’ latest poll of Alabama’s U.S. Senate special election found Doug Jones (D) leading Roy Moore (R), 48% to 44%.
* Asked specifically this morning whether he believes the claims made by Roy Moore’s accusers, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters this morning, “I believe the women, yes.” [Update: McConnell added this morning, in reference to Moore, “I think he should step aside.”
* The New York Times reported that GOP officials have weighed a plan in which they’d urge Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) to cancel the Dec. 12 special election, “giving the party time to ease Mr. Moore from the race.” The governor’s office said yesterday that this isn’t going to happen.
* In Green Bay this morning, Mahlon Mitchell, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin, kicked off his Democratic gubernatorial campaign, hoping to deny Gov. Scott Walker (R) a third term. Mitchell is the first African American to run for governor in Wisconsin.
* In Massachusetts, Shiva Ayyadurai, who claims to have invented email as a teenager, was running for the U.S. Senate as a Republican. Over the weekend, he re-launched his statewide bid and is now running as an independent. * Though Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) hasn’t officially announced his 2018 election plans, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) is taking a variety of steps in preparation for a Senate campaign in Utah. * And in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is lacking support from small donors in ways I hardly thought possible: “Since the beginning of 2015, Mr. Cuomo has raised more than 99 percent of his campaign money from donations larger than $1,000 and nearly 99.9 percent of his funds from donors who gave at least $200, according to an analysis by The New York Times. At one point last year, Mr. Cuomo went six months without reporting a single individual donor who gave less than $200.”
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
