Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* The full results from Iowa’s presidential caucuses are still being tallied, but as things stand, Pete Buttigieg has a narrow lead over Bernie Sanders, followed by Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, and Amy Klobuchar.
* With South Carolina’s presidential primary a few weeks away, the Post and Courier reported yesterday that a group of Republicans are organizing to help support Sanders’ campaign, seeing the Vermont senator as the easiest candidate to defeat in a general election. South Carolina has “open” primaries, which means anyone can participate in them, opening the door to partisan mischief.
* Speaking of South Carolina, the Post and Courier also reports that Tom Steyer’s longshot presidential campaign has paid the chairman of the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus “more than $43,000 in just over a month” for “community building services.” That’s roughly triple the monthly salary for Steyer’s national campaign manager.
* Despite his weak showing in Iowa, Biden picked up an endorsement yesterday from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The union has 775,000 active and retired members.
* In a bit of a surprise, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) endorsed Michael Bloomberg’s presidential campaign yesterday, becoming only the second sitting Democratic governor to formally back a 2020 contender. (The other is Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who’s backing Klobuchar.) * Speaking of the former New York City mayor, the New York Times reported that Bloomberg, encouraged by the messy results out of Iowa, “authorized his campaign team to double his spending on television commercials in every market where he is currently advertising and expand his campaign’s field staff to more than two thousand people.” Bloomberg is already spending more than any presidential candidate in history. * And in Maryland’s 7th congressional district, Democratic voters yesterday chose former Rep. Kweisi Mfume as their nominee to succeed the late Rep. Elijah Cummings. Mfume, who represented this district in Congress a quarter-century ago, will advance to an April 28 special general election, which is he heavily favored to win.
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
