Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In light of the latest developments in the Russia scandal involving Blackwater founder Erik Prince, it’s kind of amazing that Prince is scheduled to host a fundraiser for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), Congress’ most pro-Putin member.
* Trump World continues to go all out to rescue Rick Saccone’s campaign in Pennsylvania’s congressional special election next week, with White House counselor Kellyanne Conway scheduled to appear with the GOP candidate in the 18th district today. (Conway was cited earlier this week for improperly using her position for partisan political ends.)
* Brad Parscale, Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, backed Robert Stovall’s Republican congressional campaign in Texas’s 21st district this week. Stovall, however, “finished sixth in a crowded Republican primary.”
* I’m not sure this is legal, but Maryland’s Democratic-led legislature is moving forward with a proposal to require presidential candidates to release their tax returns in order to be eligible for the state’s ballot. The state Senate approved the plan yesterday on a 28-to-17 vote.
* A national Quinnipiac poll released yesterday showed Democrats with a 10-point advantage on the generic congressional ballot, 48% to 38%. That’s slightly better than the Dems’ nine-point advantage in a Quinnipiac poll from early February, but not as a high as the party’s 15-point lead two weeks ago. * The latest Monmouth University poll, meanwhile, found Democrats ahead on the generic ballot by nine points, 50% to 41%. * In Georgia, Lucy McBath, a prominent activist calling for new gun restrictions, has launched a Democratic congressional campaign. McBath, who was running in a state legislative race, hopes to take on Rep. Karen Handel (R-Ga.), who won a competitive special election last year. * And confirming recent scuttlebutt, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) conceded the other day that the 2020 presidential race is “on my radar screen.” Some assumed Patrick was headed in the opposite direction when, in 2015, he joined Bain Capital — a firm whose name may sound familiar.
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
