Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* As 2022 got underway, Donald Trump’s political operation entered the year with a $122 million war chest — twice as large as the Republican National Committee’s cash on hand.
* In Georgia, former Sen. David Perdue has launched his first statewide television ad as part of his Republican primary campaign against incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp. The commercial stars Trump, speaking direct to camera, saying, “The Democrats walked all over Brian Kemp. He was afraid of Stacey ‘The Hoax’ Abrams. Brian Kemp let us down. We can’t let it happen again.”
* A new Suffolk University/USA Today poll in Florida shows Gov. Ron DeSantis leading his would-be Democratic rivals, though Charlie Crist was the most competitive. The Republican incumbent leads the former governor and current congressman, 49 percent to 43 percent.
* The same poll finds Sen. Marco Rubio in even better shape: The incumbent Republican leads Democratic Rep. Val Demings, 49 percent to 41 percent.
* Speaking of notable 2022 Senate races, the latest Mason-Dixon poll in Kentucky showed Republican Sen. Rand Paul with a sizable advantage over former Democratic state Rep. Charles Booker, 55 percent to 39 percent.
* Rep. Liz Cheney’s future in Republican politics is uncertain, but she won’t lack the resources she’ll need to compete for another term: The Wyoming Republican raised more than $2 million in the final three months of 2021.
* And if Sen. Joe Manchin’s progressive critics are waiting for him to face a backlash in his home state, they’ll have to keep waiting: A new statewide poll in West Virginia shows the conservative Democrat with a 51 percent favorable rating among his constituents. The same poll found Manchin leading several prominent Republicans in hypothetical 2024 match-ups.
