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Wednesday's Campaign Round-Up, 5.18.16

Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
 
* Bernie Sanders issued a written statement yesterday responding to the unrest at the Nevada Democratic convention over the weekend. The statement made no apology for his supporters' behavior; it blamed party officials for the near-riot; and it seemed intent on stoking the existing fires.
 
* Sanders himself, who has not commented publicly on the unrest at the Nevada Democratic Convention over the weekend, was asked directly about the controversy yesterday. He not only refused to answer, he literally walked away from reporters in the middle of the question.
 
* The Sanders campaign operation, meanwhile, is shrinking. Politico reported that a "handful of high-level staffers have left Bernie Sanders' campaign in recent days, including his director of technology and three of the four members of his original senior leadership team in California."
 
* In New Hampshire, a WBUR poll shows Hillary Clinton with a small lead over Donald Trump in the Granite State, 44% to 42%.
 
* The same poll found Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) leading incumbent Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R) in New Hampshire's U.S. Senate race, 48% to 46%.
 
* In Arizona, PPP found Trump leading Clinton by just two points, 40% to 38%, with third-party candidates in the mix. If Trump chose former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) as his running mate, his lead over Clinton disappears. (Arizona has voted Republican in 15 of the last 16 presidential races.)
 
* A Democratic superdelegate switched his allegiance yesterday, but it wasn't the change Sanders was hoping for. Emmett Hansen II, the Democratic National Committeeman for the U.S. Virgin Islands, was supporting the Vermont senator, but he's now backing Clinton.
 
* Add Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) to the list of congressional Republicans who want to be seen as "supporting" Trump without "endorsing" Trump.
 
* And the pressure on Trump to release his tax returns isn't going away. Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said, in response to a question about his party's candidate's refusal to disclose the materials, "Most candidates for president have [released their returns], and that's been the tradition. He'll have to make that decision himself, but that's certainly been the pattern for quite some time."