Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* With just a few days remaining before Louisiana’s gubernatorial primary, the latest Mason-Dixon poll found incumbent Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) leading the pack with 45%, followed by while Eddie Rispone (R) is at 22% and Ralph Abraham (R) is at 17%. In the expected runoff, scheduled November 16, the poll shows Edwards leading Abraham, 53% to 38%.
* With Donald Trump slated to hold a rally in Minneapolis this week, there’s apparently a brewing dispute between the president’s campaign team and local officials over security costs associated with the event. It’s why Trump has spent much of the morning lashing out at Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey via Twitter.
* Speaking of Minnesota, Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s Democratic presidential campaign reported a third-quarter fundraising haul of $4.8 million, which isn’t great, but which is more than enough to meet the threshold for the party’s November primary debate. Klobuchar has not, however, yet met the polling threshold to participate in the event.
* The New York Times had an interesting item the other day on prominent members of the Republican Party’s “Never Trump” contingent who’ve since changed their minds. The article noted Erick Erickson, among others, who vowed, “I will not vote for Donald Trump. Ever,” only to recently change direction.
* With Sen. Johnny Isakson (R) stepping down in a couple of months for health reasons, Republicans are lining up to ask Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) to appoint them to the seat. Among the latest is former Rep. Jack Kingston (R), who lost in his Senate bid in 2014, and who last week reminded the governor’s office that he’s “aggressively defended President Trump at every turn” and “spent 30 years taking on the Democrats’ misguided agenda.” * With only four weeks remaining in Kentucky’s gubernatorial race, the Democratic Governors Association is running this ad targeting Gov. Matt Bevin (R) for trying to derail the state’s Medicaid-expansion program, which is a story we discussed in some detail a few years ago. * And in California, the latest Public Policy Institute of California poll found Elizabeth Warren narrowly leading Joe Biden, 23% to 22%, with Bernie Sanders right behind them with 21%. Kamala Harris is still running fourth in her home state with 8% support in the poll.
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
