Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) became the latest House Republican to announce his retirement this morning. He’s also the sixth Texas Republican this year to call it quits ahead of the 2020 cycle. (Thornberry, incidentally, represents the single reddest House district in the country, which suggests the GOP will keep his seat.)
* In South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary, the latest CNN poll shows Joe Biden maintaining his lead with 37% support, followed by Elizabeth Warren at 16% and Bernie Sanders at 11%. No other candidate topped 5%.
* In Nevada, meanwhile, CNN’s poll found Biden and Sanders tied at 22% each, while Warren was third at 18%. Kamala Harris was fourth with 5%.
* Cory Booker’s team suggested the New Jersey senator would end his Democratic presidential campaign if it fell short of its quarterly fundraising goals, but Booker announced via Twitter that his operation reached its target.
* Though competitive presidential candidates from both parties have steered clear of accepting public financing in recent years, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock will apparently become the first Democratic contender to participate in the system. * In South Carolina, CNN’s poll found 62% percent of Republican voters approve of their state party’s decision to cancel the GOP presidential primary. That’s an unflattering rebuke of Mark Sanford, the former governor and congressman from South Carolina, who’s challenging Donald Trump for the Republican nomination. * For reasons I cannot explain, the National Republican Congressional Committee thought it’d be a good idea to publicly mock freshman Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.) for having been to marriage counseling with his wife. * And following up on an item from last week, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) was the only Democratic presidential campaign to balk at an impeachment inquiry targeting Trump, but she’s since changed her mind.
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
