Monday's Campaign Round-Up, 2.20.17

Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.* The field of candidates running to lead the DNC got a little smaller over the weekend, when New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley ended his bid and threw his support to Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.). The election is this weekend in Atlanta.* Ellison and Tom Perez, who appear to be the top two contenders for the DNC job, also picked up some new labor endorsements on Friday.* In the race to replace Tom Price in Georgia, Republican Karen Handel is promising local Republicans she'll "work to build a wall on the border and end Muslim immigration." This is a district Donald Trump narrowly won in November.* The Washington Post reports that Virginia Democrats "plan to challenge 45 GOP incumbents in the deep-red House of Delegates this November, including 17 lawmakers whose districts voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton." Though some Republican incumbents will still run opposed, 45 Democratic challengers this year would be a significant improvement over the 21 the party ran two years ago.* Speaking of Virginia, which holds its gubernatorial race this year, the latest Quinnipiac poll shows the president with a 38% approval rating in the commonwealth, which probably won't help the GOP slate.* DCCC recruitment chair Denny Heck (D-Wash.) is apparently unconcerned about finding credible contenders for the 2018 midterms. "We're raining candidates," he said last week.* As the White House's campaign against news organizations continues, the president described the press on Friday as "the enemy of the people." Asked about the condemnation, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said yesterday, "I think you should take it seriously."* In Ohio, state Treasurer Josh Mandel reportedly used state money "on a $1.3 million TV ad campaign" to tout a new program. The ads featured Mandel standing alongside Ohio State University football coach Urban Meyer, a popular statewide figure. The ads, which were not approved by the Ohio Controlling Board, reached airwaves shortly before Mandel, a Republican, kicked off his Senate campaign.* The Trump campaign apparently wasn't pleased with the results of its bogus anti-media survey, and has accused Democrats of "sabotaging the results" of a poll that isn't really a poll.* And I wonder if the president has any follow-up thoughts after having published this tweet in 2014: "I say we cannot continue to let Obama fly around on Air Force 1, at a cost of millions of dollars a day, for the purpose of politics & play!"