Countdown: Six days until the Iowa caucuses. Thirty-five days until the SEC primary.
Alabama:
One of Alabama U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions' top aides is joining the Donald Trump campaign as a senior policy adviser. A noted immigration hard-liner, Sessions introduced Trump at a rally in Mobile but has not formally endorsed him. (Washington Post)
Down-ballot from the presidential primary, two leading federal Republicans – U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby and Rep. Martha Roby – are getting challenges from the right on March 1. Roby's, from a local tea party leader, appears the more serious threat. (Yellowhammer News)
Texas:
Months after undercover videos launched a political maelstrom, a Houston grand jury cleared Planned Parenthood of wrongdoing in selling fetal tissue and indicted two of the activists who produced the videos. GOP presidential candidates were not pleased. (Houston Chronicle)
Hillary Clinton's Texas backers have been working "without much direction" from headquarters in New York. (Houston Chronicle)
Ted Cruz successfully persuaded the Texas GOP not to participate in a push within the Republican National Committee to boot Iowa from the front of the presidential nominating line. (National Review)
Tennessee:
Former U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp is working for Marco Rubio's campaign in Tennessee. Rubio also hired Micah Johnson, former spokesman for U.S. Sen. Bob Corker. (Knoxville News-Sentinel)
Virginia:
The state's voter registrars want to move ballot referenda on charter schools and "right to work" laws from this November to 2017, when turnout will be lower, for fear they will exacerbate long voting lines. A liberal group that opposes the measures says the move is about avoiding high Democratic turnout. (Washington Post)
Arkansas:
Could GOP U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton become a more palatable version of Ted Cruz in future presidential cycles? (Arkansas Times)
Oklahoma:
Oklahoma Wesleyan University president says Donald Trump will not be invited to speak at the Christian school, in part for moral reasons. (Tulsa World)
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