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Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Ahead of Iowa’s Jan. 15 presidential caucuses, a new NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll found Donald Trump leading the Republican field with 43% support. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is now tied with former Ambassador Nikki Haley for second place, with each garnering 16% support. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott is further back with 7%.
* On a related note, the super PAC supporting Trump’s candidacy reportedly hopes to undermine DeSantis even further, launching new attack ads against the governor in Iowa.
* As if former Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s presidential campaign weren’t already struggling, the latest news for the Arkansas Republican makes matters worse: Rob Burgess, the governor’s campaign manager, is stepping down.
* Now that GOP legislators in North Carolina have created a newly gerrymandered district map, former Rep. Mark Walker is ending his gubernatorial campaign and launching a congressional comeback bid.
* Speaking of the Tar Heel State, Biden’s re-election campaign has launched a new television ad touting the administration’s investments in rural, Black communities. It will run in North Carolina as part of a 16-week, $25 million ad buy in battleground states.
* In Pennsylvania’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, the latest Franklin & Marshall College poll found incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey leading Republican Dave McCormick, 46% to 39%.
* When conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was a Democratic presidential candidate, a variety of Republicans eagerly cheered him on, hoping he’d undermine President Joe Biden. Now that Kennedy is running as an independent, Donald Trump Jr. has begun going after him.