Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* On the heels of Rep. Ann Wagner (R) announcing she won’t take on incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) in Missouri next year, Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R) yesterday made the same decision, saying she’ll run for re-election to the House instead.
* The Associated Press asked House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) yesterday about his party’s core message to voters. “That message is being worked on,” he said. “We’re doing everything we can to simplify it, but at the same time provide the meat behind it as well. So that’s coming together now.” (Of course, in 2010, the House Republican minority had no core message, and they nevertheless picked up 63 seats.)
* State officials in Colorado announced yesterday their state will be the first “to regularly conduct a sophisticated post-election audit that cybersecurity experts have long called necessary for ensuring hackers aren’t meddling with vote tallies.”
* When eyeing potential Democratic presidential candidates in 2020, most of the focus is on senators, but Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) is creating a new political action committee and appears to have a national audience in mind. “I believe the time is right to lend my voice, the voice of someone that after getting elected has been able to govern in what’s viewed as a red state,” he told the New York Times. “Some of the things that I’ve been able to do in Montana can also translate beyond just the state’s border.”
* Speaking of ambitious Democratic governors, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) saw his favorability rating drop from 61% to 52% in a new Siena poll, at least in part because of New York City’s public transit woes. * The latest Monmouth University poll offers more bad news for Donald Trump: at the national level, the percentage of Americans who want to see him impeached (41%) is larger than the percentage of Americans who believe he’s doing a good job (39%). * And in Utah, where Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is likely to run for yet another term next year, the longtime incumbent won’t run unopposed. Salt Lake County council member Jenny Wilson (D) threw her hat into the ring 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
