Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Indiana’s heated Republican Senate primary, Donald Trump’s re-election campaign this week demanded that Rep. Todd Rokita (R) take down materials that suggested the president had “endorsed” his candidacy. Trump is neutral in the race.
* On a related note, one of Rokita’s principal rivals, Rep. Luke Messer (R), apparently hid two drunken driving convictions from party officials.
* In Arizona’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, a new poll from an ABC News affiliate in the state found former far-right state Sen. Kelli Ward leading the Republican primary field. Just as importantly, the results found Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D) leading each of the GOP contenders in hypothetical general-election match-ups.
* For the first election cycle in a long while, voters shouldn’t expect to see a lot of anti-ACA ads this fall: “Anti-Obamacare ad spending in the 2018 election cycle has plummeted compared to the same period in the previous three cycles, according to data compiled by Kantar Media/CMAG for HuffPost.”
* Pressed by MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on the air this week about a possible presidential campaign in 2020, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder conceded, “Yeah, I’m thinking about it.” * We haven’t heard the last of former Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), who’s apparently eager to run for Congress again, though he hasn’t said which district he intends to run in. He’ll have to decide soon: filing deadlines in Florida are a few weeks away. * And in Ohio’s gubernatorial race, former Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D) is under fire from many in his own party over his connections to the Assad regime in Syria. Among other things, Kucinich received $20,000 from a pro-Assad group just last year — a fact his primary opponent, former CFPB Director Richard Cordray (D), has been eager to note this week.
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
