Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In a bit of a surprise, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) announced that he’s retiring at the end of his current term. He is, by my count, the 29th House member to retire, 21 of whom are Republicans.
* On a related note, it’s worth emphasizing that Goodlatte’s district, Virginia’s 6th, is the single most Republican-friendly district in the commonwealth, which means Democrats face an uphill climb if they’re going to try to flip it.
* With five weeks remaining before Alabama’s U.S. Senate special election, a poll commissioned by Raycom News Network found Roy Moore (R) holding onto a double-digit lead over Doug Jones (D), 51% to 40%.
* On a related note, it appears Moore is unwilling to debate Jones. A local station offered the right-wing candidate six different date possibilities between November 27th and December 7th, and Moore rejected them all. * How did the pollsters do in Virginia’s gubernatorial race this? Not that well: while most polling outlets correctly showed Ralph Northam winning, nearly every pollster understated the strength of his support. * Donald Trump boasted again yesterday about his 2016 election victory, claiming he won a “MASSIVE Electoral College landslide victory.” A Washington Post analysis found that the president has mentioned his election victory, on average, once every five days this year. The article added,” For what it’s worth, that’s almost exactly the same pace at which he has played golf since being inaugurated.”
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
