Friday's Campaign Round-Up, 3.10.17

Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.* We talked yesterday about the American Action Network, a group backed by the House Republican leadership, running ads in support of Paul Ryan's health care bill in Freedom Caucus members' districts. There's now a list of the specific lawmakers who are being targeted.* Though Donald Trump was scheduled to make an official presidential visit to Kentucky tomorrow, we learned yesterday that Vice President Mike Pence is going instead. Pence will reportedly appear in Louisville alongside Gov. Matt Bevin (R).* The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee believes the new Republican health care plan is a political loser for the GOP, which Dems can exploit next year. "Regardless of how far this plan makes it through Congress, every Republican Senate candidate will have to answer for a dangerous proposal that puts millions of Americans at risk," a DSCC memo to reporters said yesterday.* In separate appearances yesterday, both of Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial candidates, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam and former Rep. Tom Perriello, lent their support to National Airport workers "trying to unionize and achieve a $15 minimum wage."* It's unclear if Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) will take on Sen. Bill Nelson (D) next year, but if he does, the Republican governor will probably start off as an underdog. A Mason-Dixon poll released this week showed Nelson with a five-point lead over Scott in a hypothetical match-up, 46% to 41%.* Though Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) initially said publicly that he'd retire at the end of his current term, the longtime senator said yesterday he's now planning to seek re-election, though he hasn't officially decided. Hatch, who'll turn 83 this month, was first elected in 1976. At the time, he ran on a platform saying his predecessor, Frank Moss (D), had been in Washington too long -- because Moss had served 18 years.* And in Nevada, Sen. Dean Heller (R), who's up for re-election in 2018, sent out a fundraising appeal this week, seeking support from donors because some people are rude to him on Twitter.