Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign scrambled yesterday to update his climate plan with citations after it apparently lifted content from other sources.
* Donald Trump very narrowly won Michigan in 2016, but he may struggle to do so again in 2020. In a new poll conducted for the Detroit News and WDIV-TV, Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) lead the president in hypothetical match-ups by 12 points. The same survey showed Trump also trailing Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), though by smaller margins.
* On a related note, Politico noted yesterday that the Trump campaign’s own internal polling “shows him falling behind in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.”
* Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign staff is reportedly moving forward with plans to unionize. This is becoming more common among 2020 Democratic presidential contenders, though before this year, it was unheard of.
* Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s (D-Texas) presidential campaign this morning unveiled a plan intended to improve voter participation, including provisions to reduce the influence of campaign contributions. The proposal also, however, includes a call for a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress and Supreme Court justices. * Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) presidential campaign unveiled a new plan today to make housing more affordable. The policy blueprint includes a provision to “provide a tax credit for renters to ensure they would not spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent.” * Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who’s also running for president, left the door ajar yesterday on possibly running for re-election to Congress. * And during a press conference in London yesterday, Trump boasted that he’s set the “all-time record” for support among Republican voters for a Republican president. As is too often the case, he wasn’t telling the truth.
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
