Friday's Campaign Round-Up, 3.31.17

Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.* If the new ad from the Congressional Leadership Fund in Georgia's upcoming special election is any indication of their internal polling, Republicans are starting to panic a bit about Jon Ossoff's (D) chances. The first round of voting is on April 18. The runoff, which will likely be necessary, will be June 20.* Not satisfied with his criticisms of the House Freedom Caucus in general, Donald Trump has started publishing tweets going after specific members of the caucus by name.* On a related note, Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) said the White House explicitly threatened to run a primary challenger against him if the congressman opposed the party's health care plan. Sanford rejected the legislation anyway.* In Montana, an effort to use mail-in ballots in the state's upcoming congressional special election has struggled against Republican opposition, but an effort to revive the policy is expected today.* The latest national poll from the Associated Press shows Trump with a 42% approval rating, which is awful at this stage in his presidency, but is nevertheless slightly better than some other recent polling. That includes a new McClatchy-Marist Poll, which put Trump's approval at 38%.* Ahead of the 2018 midterms, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) is boosting her outreach to supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). "All of you who are Bernie supporters ... I need you. I want you. I want to talk to you. I want you to be part of our effort," McCaskill said this week, adding, "We can't get divided in a state like Missouri, or we're cooked."* Though it took a while to resolve, Steve Bannon "will not be charged in connection to an investigation of his registering as a voter in Miami-Dade County, Florida, despite reports last year that he had not lived at his listed address for months."