Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* NBC this morning announced the moderators for the first Democratic presidential primary debate: “Savannah Guthrie, Lester Holt, Chuck Todd, Rachel Maddow and José Diaz-Balart will moderate the debate, which will take place at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami over two nights on June 26-27.”
* Former Vice President Joe Biden will campaign in Iowa today, and according to a copy of his prepared remarks shared with the media, the Delaware Democrat will describe Donald Trump as an “existential threat” to the nation’s future.
* It took a little longer than expected, but Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-N.Y.) has apparently crossed the 65,000-donor threshold, guaranteeing her a spot in the first round of Democratic presidential primary debates.
* Over the weekend, Julián Castro became the first Democratic presidential hopeful this cycle to campaign in Flint, Michigan, and yesterday, the Texan laid out his plan for eliminating lead poisoning.
* A new Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll of Massachusetts Democrats found Biden leading the 2020 field with 22% support, followed by home-state Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) with 10%. Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) was third with 8%, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was fourth with 6%, and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), with 5%, was the only other candidate with backing above 1%. * Speaking of Buttigieg, the South Bend mayor is scheduled to deliver his first big foreign policy address of his presidential candidacy. * Former Secretary of State John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, considered running again in 2020, but he’s apparently decided not to. The Massachusetts Dem told the Washington Post he’s “delighted” to see Biden, his friend and former colleague, in the race. * And in Florida, where voters recently approved some ballot initiatives the right didn’t like, the Republican-dominated state government is imposing difficult new restrictions on the process that allows citizen-led measures onto the statewide ballot. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed the new restrictions into law yesterday.
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
