Wednesday's Campaign Round-Up, 3.15.17

Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.* The progressive "Save My Care" campaign, intended to preserve the Affordable Care Act and defeat the Republican alternative, is launching television ads targeting five GOP senators: Maine's Susan Collins, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, Arizona's Jeff Flake, Nevada's Dean Heller, and West Virginia's Shelley Moore Capito. The ad buy in support of this commercial is reportedly six figures.* On a related note, the "Save My Care" campaign commissioned a Public Policy Polling survey for voters in Alaska, Arizona, Maine, and Nevada, which found broad disapproval of the Republican health care plan.* In a bit of a surprise, NARAL's state affiliate endorsed Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) in Virginia's gubernatorial race. Northam's primary rival, former Rep. Tom Perriello (D) was considered a less reliable ally of abortion rights during his tenure in Congress.* The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee set a record for February fundraising, taking in $9.8 million last month. This roughly keeps pace with its Republican counterpart, which raised $10.5 million over the same period.* Republican Rep. Joe Barton, representing a reliably "red" district in Texas, faced some angry constituents at a town-hall event this weekend, and the usually mild-mannered congressman lost his cool a bit. "You," Barton said, pointing to a man in the audience. "You, sir, shut up."* After Rosie O'Donnell expressed support for Kathryn Allen, Rep. Jason Chaffetz's (R) Democratic challenger, the Utah Republican launched a new fundraising campaign, urging supporters to help him push back against the entertainer.* And the Huffington Post reports that foreign propagandists targeted Bernie Sanders supporters last year with bogus anti-Clinton stories. It's an interesting article.