Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Alabama, Roy Moore (R) still hasn’t conceded last week’s U.S. Senate race, though it now appears it’s mathematically impossible for him to overcome his deficit against Sen.-elect Doug Jones (D).
* In Virginia’s unresolved House of Delegates race, how will the exact tie between the Democratic and Republican candidates be resolved? A member of the state Board of Elections will choose one of their names out of a bowl next week.
* Sen. Al Franken’s (D-Minn.) office announced yesterday the senator’s last day on Capitol Hill will be Jan. 2. Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith (D) will be sworn in a day later.
* Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) is reportedly ailing, and one of his GOP colleagues told Politico the party expects Cochran to resign next month. The timing will be important: if the Mississippi Republican steps down before the new year, there will be a special election in the spring. If Cochran resigns on Jan. 1 or later, the special election will be in November. * As expected, Democratic leaders said yesterday they intend to make the GOP tax plan — which Dems are calling a “tax scam” — one of the centerpieces of the party’s election strategy in next year’s midterms. * An interesting fundraising tidbit: the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee told NBC News the other day that the DCCC “has already raised twice as much money online this year as it did in 2015,” which is the most recent off-year. Reflecting a motivated base, online donors gave $40.46 million in 2017 as of a week ago, “easily outperforming the $19.7 million raised online two years ago, the most recent non-presidential election year.”
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
