By
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Democratic leaders were unsubtle while practically begging former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell to run for the U.S. Senate, and the outreach efforts worked: The Florida Democrat announced this morning that she’s challenging incumbent Republican Sen. Rick Scott.
* The Republican National Committee confirmed overnight that eight candidates qualified for this week’s presidential debate and have agreed to participate in the event: In alphabetical order: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, and Sen. Tim Scott.
* Talk-show host Larry Elder issued a statement this morning, claiming that he also met the necessary thresholds, and he intends to sue as a result of his exclusion. Businessman Perry Johnson also said that he qualified for the debate and hinted at possible legal action after the RNC didn’t count some of the polls in which he garnered 1% support.
* In related news, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez claimed last week that he’d qualified for the debate stage, but the RNC apparently disagreed. Suarez previously said that any presidential hopeful who failed to meet the thresholds for the debate should quit the race.
* There will be a post-debate “spin room” in Milwaukee, but Fox News has decided to exclude Donald Trump’s representatives because the former president is refusing to participate in the event.
* Ramaswamy’s approach to foreign policy was already controversial — the Republican has, for example, endorsed letting Russia keep parts of Ukraine that it took by force — but his vision became even more provocative when he endorsed curtailing U.S. military aid to Israel.
* While Rep. Dean Phillips’ flirtation with the presidential race generated a considerable amount of chatter, the Minnesota Democrat told the Minneapolis Star Tribune this week that a national campaign “is not something as of today that I see happening for a number of reasons.”