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Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Over the first half of 2021, Donald Trump and his affiliated political committees raised more than $100 million, which is more than the major Republican campaign committees raised over the same period.
* Arizona state Sen. Paul Boyer (R) used to support his party's bonkers election "audit," but he told the Associated Press last week, "Not even a shred of being salvaged at this point.... They've botched it at so many points along the way that it's irrecoverable."
* Speaking of ridiculous election antics, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) signaled last week that he's "expanding a probe into the 2020 presidential election, saying it will take more investigators and time than originally planned."
* In still more "audit"-related news, a Pennsylvania Republican's attempts to examine his state's 2020 results aren't going well: state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R) has asked several counties to hand over their election materials and voting machines, and they've said no.
* There are only six weeks remaining before California's gubernatorial recall election, and if campaign advertising affects the outcome, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has reason for cautious optimism: NBC News reported this morning that the governor and his allies spent $5.9 million in advertising from July 1 to Aug. 2. Their opponents spent $27,500 over the same period.
* And as Hershel Walker confronts questions about his troubled past, some Republicans want him to launch a Senate campaign in Georgia anyway. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) described the controversies -- he allegedly "repeatedly threatened his ex-wife's life, exaggerated claims of financial success and alarmed business associates with unpredictable behavior" -- as "bulls**t" that merely reflects the retired athlete's status as "a real person." I suppose the next question is how many "real people" Graham knows with backgrounds similar to Walker's.