Wednesday's Campaign Round-Up, 1.4.17

Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.* Bill and Hillary Clinton will attend Donald Trump's inauguration in two weeks, as will George and Laura Bush. George and Barbara Bush will not be there, citing health concerns, but Jimmy Carter was the first to say he'll also attend.* Trump had scheduled a press conference in December to discuss his many private-sector conflicts of interest, but he canceled it without explanation. Yesterday, the president-elect said he'll host a "general news conference" on Jan. 11 -- a week from today -- which will be his first since July, when he called on Russia to launch a cyber-attack on his opponent's campaign.* Note, next week's press conference, if it happens, will coincide with several scheduled Senate confirmation hearings for Trump cabinet nominees.* The Washington Post reports that the DNC "is building a 'war room' to battle President-elect Donald Trump, pressure the new Republican administration on a variety of policy matters and train a spotlight on Russia's alleged cyberattacks to influence the 2016 election.... The DNC has hired John Neffinger, a longtime operative who runs the Franklin Forum, to serve as interim communications director and oversee the national party's operation."* With a possible eye towards 2020, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) was joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) yesterday to unveil a plan to "cover tuition costs at state colleges for hundreds of thousands of middle-and low-income New Yorkers."* Trump said yesterday that if officials in Chicago can't reduce the city's climbing murder rate, they should "ask for federal help." I'd love to hear more from the president-elect about the kind of help he believes federal officials could provide to reduce a local murder rate.* A charity controlled by Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, Trump's choice to become the next U.S. ambassador to China, was supposed to disclose "the names of donors who paid for his 2015 inaugural celebration." This week, Branstad missed a disclosure deadline, but his spokesperson said the governor's group is still pulling the information together.* And Daily Kos yesterday unveiled its guide to the new Congress, including a district-by-district review. Stephen Wolf and his colleagues did a nice job with this.