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Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* The Washington Post reported this morning, “Under pressure from a Republican lawsuit, Philadelphia officials decided early Tuesday morning to reinstate a time-consuming process meant to prevent double voting, a move that is expected to delay the city’s ability to report a final tally — perhaps by a matter of days.”
* On a related note, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported overnight, “Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s campaign for U.S. Senate has joined the legal fight over whether mail ballots with no date or the incorrect date should be counted in Tuesday’s election.” The article added that tens of thousands ballots — enough to sway the outcome — are at stake.
* There’s anecdotal evidence of Black voters in Florida who are afraid to participate in the elections because they don’t know whether Gov. Ron DeSantis’s elections police force might target them.
* Democrats appear unlikely to flip a lot of offices from “red” to “blue” this year, but the latest UMass Lowell’s Center for Public Opinion poll found state Attorney General Maura Healey leading former state Rep. Geoff Diehl, 59% to 32%, in Massachusetts’ gubernatorial race.
* It seems hard to believe, but in Los Angeles’ mayoral race, real estate developer Rick Caruso will apparently have spent more than $100 million on his candidacy.
* For those readers who were excited by the prospect of Sen. Tom Cotton’s presidential campaign, I have some bad news: The Arkansas Republican, who’s made no effort to hide his national ambitions, has reportedly decided to pass on the 2024 race. Given that the senator is only 45 years old, it seems like a safe bet that he’ll run in some other future cycle.
* In Alaska’s congressional race, former half-term Gov. Sarah Palin recently told a conservative media outlet that she’s managing her own Republican campaign. That tends not to go well for candidates.
* And Donald Trump appears to have settled on a new, derisive nickname for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom the former president apparently sees as a possible 2024 rival: “Ron DeSanctimonious.”