Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race, Rep. Lou Barletta (R) still has primary rivals, but Donald Trump has nevertheless decided to effectively endorse the immigration hardliner.
* Michael Roman used to lead an “intelligence-gathering unit” for the Koch brothers’ Freedom Partners. Now he’s director of special projects and research at the White House, though as Politico noted, “Few people in or close to the White House have any idea what Michael Roman does all day.”
* As Republicans worry about their control of Congress, GOP officials traveled to Las Vegas over the weekend to heap praise onto billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, a key party mega-donor.
* The RNC said it would keep former Finance Committee Chairman Steve Wynn’s money until Wynn’s company completed its independent investigation into his alleged misconduct. Late last week, the company’s board ended that investigation before it was complete.
* With a month to go before the congressional special election in Pennsylvania’s 18th district, Conor Lamb (D) launched an ad last week tying his opponent, Rick Saccone (R), to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R) and the GOP campaign against Social Security and Medicare.
* Lissa Lucas, a Democratic state legislative candidate in West Virginia, tried to deliver testimony last week on a bill to expand companies’ drilling rights for oil and gas. When she began to read a list of industry donations to state lawmakers, Lucas’ microphone was cut off and she was eventually dragged away. * Though I haven’t seen this elsewhere, CNN is reporting that Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) is reconsidering his decision to retire at the end of the year. * Up until recently, Wyoming Secretary of State Ed Murray (R) was seen as a likely gubernatorial candidate. Facing allegations of sexual misconduct, Murray is now skipping that race and resigning from his current government post. * And just for kicks, I thought it’d be fun to note that in 2012, American Crossroads ran attack ads that said Barack Obama “skips half of his intelligence briefings, but finds time to play more than 100 rounds of golf.” It wasn’t true at the time, but it seems especially amusing in hindsight.
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
