Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Alabama’s Senate special election, a new Raycom News Network Senate Election poll conducted by Strategy Research found Roy Moore (R) with a narrow lead over Doug Jones (D), 47% to 45%.
* Alabama pastor Flip Benham, a prominent Moore ally, argued yesterday that the Republican candidate dated “younger ladies” when he was in his 30s because Moore admired their “purity.”
* Moore’s campaign, meanwhile, wasted little time yesterday promoting Donald Trump’s apparent support for the GOP candidate, voiced from the White House’s South Lawn yesterday.
* The candidate who spends the most doesn’t always win the race, but I was amazed to see Politico report yesterday that Jones’ campaign has “outspent Moore on television advertising by a 14-to-1 margin.”
* In Kansas, Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R), who leads Trump’s voting commission, will host a fundraiser next week in support of his gubernatorial campaign. The headliner: Donald Trump Jr., who ostensibly helps lead the president’s business interests, and who’s supposed to be steering clear of politics. * In a bit of a surprise, former Rep. Gwen Graham (D) is not only making Medicaid expansion one of the centerpieces of her gubernatorial campaign in Florida, she also vowed this week to “veto Republican legislative priorities if lawmakers refused to work with her to expand the health care program.” * Sen. Orrin Hatch’s (R-Utah) on-again, off-again re-election plans are apparently back on again. Pointing to his chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee, the longtime lawmaker said this week he’s “planning on running again.”
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
