Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* A new national Fox News poll found Donald Trump with a surprisingly large advantage in the race for the Republicans’ 2024 presidential nomination: He now leads Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by 30 points, 54% to 24%, which is far better than his 15-point lead in last month’s Fox poll. Former Vice President Mike Pence is third in the new results with 6% support.
* The latest Quinnipiac poll, meanwhile, found the former president leading the Florida governor, 47% to 33%. Pence was again a distant third with 5% support, followed by former Ambassador Nikki Haley with 4%.
* In related news, Trump’s political operation yesterday accused DeSantis of making comments about foreign policy that reflected a “dangerous lack of historical, intellectual, and diplomatic sophistication,” which struck me as hilarious in light of the former president’s general lack of historical, intellectual, and diplomatic sophistication.
* As Sen. Joe Manchin moves forward with his apparent re-election plans, the conservative West Virginia Democrat continues to take unsubtle steps away from the White House. Today, the senator has an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal accusing President Joe Biden of “betrayal” as part of the administration’s implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act.
* In Rhode Island, where Democratic Rep. David Cicilline is getting ready to step down from his congressional seat, Democratic Gov. Dan McKee this week announced plans for a congressional special election: Party primaries will be held on Sept. 5, and the general election will be held on Nov. 7.
* The latest Republican member of Congress to face a possible censure resolution is Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah: Delegates to the Emery County Republican Party Convention are scheduled to vote today on a resolution that accuses the GOP senator of, among other things, giving “aid and comfort to the Democratic party” during Trump’s first impeachment trial.
* And while his Republican presidential campaign remains the longest of longest shots, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has launched his first round of television ads in Iowa and New Hampshire. The spots feature complaints about, among other things, “wokeness” and “the climate cult.”