Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Republicans suffered another Senate recruiting setback yesterday when former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) announced he will not run in this year’s Senate special election.
* While yesterday’s state legislative special election in Wisconsin clearly didn’t go the GOP’s way, Republican candidates fared better in special elections in Iowa and South Carolina, holding onto “red” seats.
* I’m not sure why a Democratic candidate would announce his gubernatorial plans on “Fox and Friends,” but that’s what former Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) did this morning.
* In related news, Republicans reportedly hoped to persuade Youngstown State University President Jim Tressel, a former football coach, to run for governor. In a tweet this week, Tressel seemed uninterested.
* DNC Chairman Tom Perez conceded to Politico, “I knew it was a turnaround job when I ran, but I undeniably underestimated the depth of the turnaround job. We had to rebuild almost every facet of the organization, and equally importantly, we had to rebuild trust.” * Republicans have struggled to find a top-tier candidate willing to take on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) this year, and the two-term incumbent governor’s financial advantage won’t make the GOP’s job any easier: Cuomo “has now amassed a $30.5 million campaign chest.” * And in Virginia, Kyle McDaniel, a member of the Virginia Republican Party’s state central committee for two years, announced he’s quitting the GOP. The Washington Post reported that the “potential rising star” gave up on the party citing, among other things, Donald Trump’s “appalling comments” about Haitian immigrants and the party’s reaction to violence in Charlottesville last summer.
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
