Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Todd Ricketts, who was briefly considered last year for a Trump administration post, will reportedly replace embattled casino magnate Steve Wynn as finance chair of the Republican National Committee.
* According to Gallup’s state-level polling, Donald Trump only reaches 50% support in 12 states. The silver lining for Republicans: many of those states are home to key Senate races in this year’s midterms. (The state where the president has the lowest approval rating? Vermont, where Trump is at 26%.)
* Despite evidence that Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.) lied to the public and the police about his physical assault on a journalist last year, the National Republican Congressional Committee has asked him to lead a communications workshop for other Republicans.
* In Ohio, a new PPP survey shows state Attorney General Mike DeWine (R) with a narrow lead over former CFPB Director Richard Cordray (D), 45% to 44%, in this year’s gubernatorial race.
* Someone had the good idea of registering the website NunesMemo.com and having it go directly to the website of Rep. Devin Nunes’ (R-Calif.) Democratic challenger, Andrew Janz. * Former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R) ended his gubernatorial campaign this week, citing insufficient funds. Tancredo also ran failed gubernatorial campaigns in 2010 and 2014. * Though we’re still two years away from Iowa’s 2020 presidential caucuses, Trump’s re-election campaign has prepared a “glossy, 16-page” booklet for those attending 2018 precinct caucuses next week. * And on a related note, Rep. John Delaney, a relatively obscure Democratic congressman from Maryland, is launching Iowa’s first television ad of the 2020 presidential election cycle. The ad hits Iowa airwaves this weekend after the Super Bowl.
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
