Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is donating to charity the $23,000 it’s received from Harvey Weinstein over more than two decades.
* With two months remaining before Alabama’s U.S. Senate election, the Senate GOP leadership’s super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, apparently has no plans to support Roy Moore. The Senate Leadership Fund enthusiastically supported Moore’s rival, Luther Strange, during their primary fight.
* Asked by CBS News about his possible 2020 plans, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said, “I am not running for president, I am running for re-election to the Senate [in 2018].” Pressed on whether he’s prepared to rule out a national campaign, the Connecticut Democrat said, “I’ll rule it out for you…. I’m running for re-election.”
* Hogan Gidley has joined Donald Trump’s White House as a deputy press secretary, following stints on Rick Santorum’s 2012 presidential campaign and Mike Huckabee’s 2016 campaign. * Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has been publicly considering a gubernatorial campaign in 2018, and the Maine Republican said yesterday she’ll formally announce her plans this Friday. * Trump may be too unpopular to campaign in much of the country, but Vice President Mike Pence will be in Virginia on Saturday to campaign in support of Ed Gillespie’s (R) gubernatorial campaign.
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
