Thursday's Campaign Round-Up, 10.13.16

Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.* According to an NBC News report, Donald Trump's campaign is giving up on competing in Virginia, a state Republicans won in every presidential election between 1968 and 2004.* On a related note, Hillary Clinton's campaign is making its own electoral decisions, and eyeing possible expansion of its efforts in Utah, Arizona, and Georgia, three red states that may be competitive this year.* Part of the Republican defense of Trump's 2005 comments on sexual assault has been that the rhetoric was just "locker-room talk." Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) has apparently taken the talking points too literally, telling an audience yesterday Trump's groping remarks were made "in a locker room." (They weren't.)* Also on the campaign trail yesterday, Rudy Giuliani, in his capacity as a Trump surrogate, said to a group of supporters, "Hillary, we don't want your socialized medicine. Take it and stuff it up your... I didn't say it!" He's quite the charmer, isn't he?* In Wisconsin, as Rachel noted on the show last night, the latest Marquette Law School poll shows Clinton leading Trump in the state by seven, 44% to 37%.* More surprisingly, the same poll found former Sen. Russ Feingold (D) leading incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson (R) by just two, 46% to 44%.* In Pennsylvania, a new Bloomberg Politics poll shows Clinton well ahead of Trump, 51% to 42%, thanks to the Democrat's big advantage in the Philadelphia suburbs.* The same poll found a more competitive U.S. Senate race, with Katie McGinty (D) leading incumbent Sen. Pat Toomey (R), 47% to 45%.* In Nevada, PPP now shows Clinton with a modest advantage over Trump, 47% to 43%.* The same poll found Catherine Cortez Masto (D) ahead in Nevada's U.S. Senate race, 43% to 39%, over Rep. Joe Heck (R).* In Michigan, the latest statewide poll from the Detroit News and WDIV shows Clinton pulling ahead by double digits.* In Missouri, the latest Monmouth University poll shows Trump leading Clinton by five, but the real drama is down-ballot, where Sen. Roy Blunt's (R) lead over Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander (D) is down to just two points. The same poll shows Chris Koster (D) leading in Missouri's gubernatorial race by three points over Eric Greitens (R).