Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* The latest national Quinnipiac poll, released yesterday, found Democrats leading Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, 50% to 41%. That nine-point advantage for Dems is up from a six-point lead the party had in the same poll last month.
* On a related note, the Quinnipiac data pointed to a stunning gender gap: men voters prefer to support a Republican congressional candidate by an eight-point margin, while women voters prefer a Democratic candidate by a 25-point margin. No, that’s not a typo.
* In Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race, no Democratic candidate has yet aired a television commercial, and the party’s primary is still six weeks away. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, meanwhile, that incumbent Gov. Scott Walker (R) is already “in the middle of a $1.5 million ad campaign,” while the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin is launching a $1 million ad campaign praising the Republican governor.
* Ron Paul, a former Republican congressman and failed presidential candidate, published a racist cartoon via Twitter yesterday, but later deleted it, saying a member of his staff “inadvertently posted an offensive cartoon on my social media.”
* Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) looked pretty foolish during a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week, and soon after, his Democratic challenger, retired school teacher Janet Garrett, reportedly received “more donations in 24 hours than she did in the previous four months.” * In the wake of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ surprise victory in New York, she’s extended support to several like-minded candidates, and her endorsement has been “an incredible signal-booster” to other liberal candidates who looked like long-shots. * And in Idaho, the state Republican Party passed a resolution the other day to alter its official logo: the color blue has been removed.
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
