Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In New Hampshire, the latest Emerson poll shows Joe Biden narrowly leading Elizabeth Warren, 24% to 21%. Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg are further back, with 13% and 11%, respectively. Kamala Harris is fifth at 8%.
* In Texas, a new Quinnipiac poll found Biden leading the Democratic field with 28%, followed by Warren at 18%. Sanders and Beto O’Rourke are tied for third in the poll with 12% each.
* The same poll, incidentally, found 48% of Texans — not just Democrats, but voters statewide — saying they would not vote for Donald Trump, which raises some interesting questions about the Lone Star State being a possible battleground.
* On a related note, a national Univision poll, released yesterday, found the top Democratic contenders leading Trump in Texas in hypothetical match-ups, in margins ranging from one to six points.
* In a couple of tweets last night, Trump published endorsements of Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R), who’s running for his first full term in 2020, and Sen. Ben Sasse (R), who’s seeking a second term in Nebraska. The latter was somewhat unexpected, given Sasse’s previous criticisms of Trump. * In Massachusetts, where Rep. Joe Kennedy (D) is considering a primary challenge to Sen. Ed Markey (D) next year, the latest Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll showed Kennedy with a 14-point advantage over the incumbent senator. Nevertheless, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is committed to supporting Markey. * On a related note, the same poll showed Biden narrowly leading Warren in her home state, 26% to 24%, in the race for the presidential nomination. Sanders, with 8% support, was the only other candidate above 5%.
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
