MIDTERM MADNESS: GOP trails in key Midwest races, per NBC/Marist polls
Here’s the story from one of us(!) on our latest poll numbers from Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota. “New polls in three key Midwestern states show Republican Senate and gubernatorial candidates trailing their Democratic counterparts in hypothetical matchups — particularly GOP Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin, where only a third of voters say he deserves to be re-elected and where he trails his leading Democratic challenger by more than 10 points.”
NBC’s Shaquille Brewster reports that the Congressional Leadership Fund is planning a big “Super Saturday” voter push this weekend.
Trump is making a habit of using taxpayer-funded trips to campaign for Republican candidates, writes the Washington Post.
POLITICO notes how Trump is planning to funnel cash to 100 Republican candidates.
One of us(!) also looks at how mothers’ ire about family separations might have an impact in the midterms.
Senate Democrats are ramping up a new ad campaign aimed at targeting Republicans on the anniversary of the Senate’s failed vote to repeal Obamacare.
AZ-SEN: The Arizona Republic reports that Paul Gosar started lobbying for John McCain’s Senate seat the day after McCain was hospitalized after cancer treatment.
CA-SEN: Dianne Feinstein is up big in a new PPIC poll, NBC’s Ben Kamisar reports.
DE-SEN: The Washington Post reports on Tom Carper’s primary challenge.
FL-GOV: A new poll shows Ron DeSantis and Gwen Graham with solid leads.
MO-SEN: Claire McCaskill says Russian hackers unsuccessfully tried to hack her computer.
OH-12: John Kasich is backing Troy Balderson.
TN-GOV: Bill Haslam would like Donald Trump not to engage in the GOP primary.
TX-32: POLITICO notes that Pete Sessions — the architect of the 2010 Republican wave — now may lose his own seat.
WV-SEN: The Secretary of State of West Virginia says no dice to Don Blankenship’s Senate bid, but the former coal exec is vowing to fight.
TRUMP AGENDA: That June 2016 Trump Tower meeting is back in the news
Our powerhouse team reports that Michael Cohen is willing to tell Robert Mueller that Trump knew in advance about the 2016 meeting with Russians at Trump Tower.
Robert Mueller is taking a look at how Trump’s tweets line up with the rest of the timeline in his obstruction probe, the New York Times reports.
Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg is being called to testify before the grand jury.
Paul Ryan is shooting down conservative efforts to impeach Rod Rosenstein.
Trump’s trade dealings with the EU aren’t that different from Obama-era strategy, the New York Times notes.
Here’s all the latest on family reunification at the border — and the children who are still separated from their parents.
The U.S. military has taken possession of remains that North Korea says belong to Americans who died in the Korean War.
Jim Jordan says he’s running for House Speaker.
