Time always seems to speed up in summer, right? It’ll be August before we know it, then September, and the political milestones of November and January won’t be far behind. So thanks for stopping by for my weekly column, Your tips and comments remain welcome, and you can follow me through the week on the twitters. (Program note: I’m taking some time off, so TGIF will return later this month.) Here we go.

1. Fewer than two months remain until Rhode Island’s September 12 primary. The candidates for governor have been lobbing bombs at each another for months, even as lot of voters remain tuned out for now. And this week, a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission settlement involving a California investment company offered a look at the blender of campaign fodder. When news of the settlement broke in Rhode Island, rivals of Gov. Gina Raimondo, including Republican Allan Fung and Democrat Matt Brown, quickly suggested it was scandalous. Meanwhile, John Marion of Common Cause of RI called the criticism overheated. “To paint a real broad brush with this, I think is unfair,” Marion said on Rhode Island Public Radio’s Political Roundtable. As Marion noted, the $1,000 given to Raimondo in 2014 by an executive with Oaktree Capital wouldn’t have mattered if she held an office other than treasurer at the time (and Raimondo’s campaign returned the contribution within a few weeks after it was made, indicating, Marion said, some strong internal monitoring). To be sure, Raimondo is a high-flying fundraiser, with more than $4 million in her campaign account, and she attracts a lot of contributions from business interests. Ultimately voters will determine whether that fundraising prowess is a validation of the governor and her approach or something less desirable.

2. Can Bernie Sanders‘ supporters make inroads in the RI Democratic Party? That’s seen as part of the inspiration for an under-the-radar uptick in primary fights for the 150 positions on the Democratic State Committee. There are 17 primaries for the 75 seats held by men, and 13 (including campaigns by Capri Catanzaro in House District 21, and Lauren Niedel in House District 40) for the 75 seats held by women.

3. Don’t look now, but Republican gubernatorial candidate Joe Trillo got way more free media attention this week than any other Rhode Island gubernatorial candidate. To some, Trillo’s boating mishap involving the Lady M is just grist for punchlines (“Trillo on the rocks”). But Trillo draws from the same pool of voters who enabled President Trump to win traditional Democratic communities like Johnston in 2016. For voters who want to rebuke the establishment and the status quo, Trillo offers an appealing choice. At the same time, Trump’s disapproval in Rhode Island continues to increase.  So the big Q remains: does Trillo’s following translate into something like the roughly 22 percent or so of the protest vote that Robert “Cool Moose” Healey got in 2014, something less, or something more?

4. Matt Brown wants primary debates (via spokesman Ron Knox): “The democratic process requires meaningful conversation about issues important to the state and its voters. We believe that this year, Democratic primary voters have a real choice between two candidates with very different visions. We propose five debates between Governor Raimondo and Democratic candidate Matt Brown between now and September 12, each on a specific topic important to voters. The Brown campaign will livestream each event, and work with media partners to ensure every voter in Rhode Island can watch the debates. We propose debates on: Health Care; Children & Families; Jobs & The Economy; Energy and the Environment; Transparency and Accountability. Matt Brown has already accepted invitations to participate in debates with WPRI and WJAR. He invites Governor Raimondo to join him at those debates and the five we proposed, so that voters have a clear understanding of each candidates’ record and vision for our state.”

5. Eric Ostermeier writes Rhode Island could be poised for a noteworthy distinction: “If Trillo reaches the 20 percent mark in November, Rhode Island will become just the fifth state since the turn of the 20th Century – and first state in more than 75 years – to have non-major party candidates for governor win at least 20 percent of the vote in three consecutive election cycles.Prior to the aforementioned Healey’s impressive 21 percent showing in 2014, former Republican U.S. Senator Lincoln Chafee won the governorship as an independent in 2010 with 36.1 percent. Since 1900, 12 states have had non-major party gubernatorial candidates turn in back-to-back cycles with 20+ percent a total of 14 times, with four of these turning into streaks of three or more straight cycles.”

6. Jackie Baginski, who past work includes helping Gov. Raimondo with fundraising, has signed on to manage Joe Solomon‘s Warwick mayoral campaign. Solomon became acting mayor when Scott Avedisian left for a job with RIPTA earlier this year. Four Democrats and one Republican have filed in the race for City Hall. “Mayor Solomon is committed to making Warwick an even better place to live, work and do business,” Baginski tells me. “We’re looking forward to spending the summer meeting Warwick residents and hearing their thoughts & concerns. When I’m not on the trail, you can find me at Iggy’s!”

7. One point from the recent controversy over RI Democratic endorsements: some of those troubled by the situation, including Rep. Moira Walsh (D-Providence), note how the endorsement brings tangible advantages, like a star next to candidates’ names on the ballot and free information on voters. Yet younger lawmakers like Walsh have their own edge in making strategic use of social media. After learning about the (since-repealed) endorsement for Michael Earnheart, Walsh took to Facebook and Twitter, leading to a cascade of support for the incumbent, both near and far, from people ranging from U.S. Rep. David Cicilline to actress and RI native Debra Messing. Walsh likely got a bounce in her fundraising from all the resulting attention.

8. Scott MacKay‘s take on the various ratings of Rhode Island: “Ok, so the best state in which to retire… South Dakota. Guess they think most retirees want to spend their golden years watching wheat grow and freezing in the winter. This rating used taxes and cost of living as 40 percent of their measure. Health care quality accounted for just 15 percent. The one thing we’re sure about life is that nobody is getting out alive. So if you’re old and get sick, wouldn’t access to quality health care mean more than sales tax rates? The top four states in the CNBC rankings were Texas, Washington, Utah and Virginia. Why would anyone compare Rhode Island’s economy with Texas? It would take 200 Rhode Islands to fit into Texas, a state with vast oil deposits and a big manufacturing economy. Do you really want to be  in a place that is akin to living in a sauna four months of the year, and where men above the age of 12 wear Stetson hats and cowboy boots with spurs in public? Can’t some pol just say that such comparisons are bogus? And when will a candidate point out that about one in 10 children in Texas lack health insurance, and that more than one in four children lives in poverty?”

9. Could WPRI-TV be facing its fourth ownership group in less than a decade? Reuters reported this week that buyout firm Apollo Global Management LLP has approached Nexstar Media Group to express interest in buying it. As Reuters notes, “The approach comes a year after Nexstar’s $2.3 billion acquisition of peer Media General Inc turned it into one of the largest U.S. broadcasters,” reaching almost 40 percent of U.S. households. “Nexstar wants to add scale as advertisers move their spending to digital and mobile platforms.” WPRI’s present identity — highlighted in part by the reporting of Tim White, Ted Nesi, and Dan McGowan and their esteemed colleagues — came together when the station was owned by LIN. Then there was a blockbuster deal with Media General, and another with Nexstar. So is the broadcasting giant interested in making a deal? Nexstar did not comment to Reuters.

10. While U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy served as a swing vote in recent history, he also wrote the Citizens United decision that unleashed more spending in campaigns. If Kennedy protege Brett Kavanaugh gets confirmed to the court, “I think we’re going to see more sort of First Amendement jurisprudence from him that says, ‘money is speech, and it should be unlimited and it can come from anywhere,’ ” Common Cause’s John Marion said during RIPR’s Bonus Q&A this week. Marion said he believes that kind of thinking “has created more sort of atomized view of our society …. in money and politics, it means that anyone can spend as much money as they want, including corporations. I think in the long run that’s bad for our democracy.” During the court’s closing week, Justice Elena Kagan sounded a similar concern when she said conservatives were “weaponizing the First Amendment.”

11. RI Right to Life’s Barth Bracy used a ProJo op-ed this week to argue that the level of concern among abortion-rights advocates is over the top. At the same time, advocates are preparing for the potential overturn of Roe v. Wade. And here’s a look at how a conservative-leaning Supreme Court could chip away at abortion rights.

12. GateHouse Media, which owns The Providence Journal, as well as newspapers in Newport, Fall River and New Bedford, plans to seek buyouts at its New England properties, according to a memo obtained by Dan Kennedy. ProJo Executive Editor Alan Rosenberg gave me this comment on the potential effect at the Journal: “We don’t expect a major impact in the newsroom, which will continue to have more than two dozen reporters and photographers after the buyout is completed. Whether to take the buyout is, of course, an individual decision for each employee. Once they’ve made their decisions, we’ll evaluate the impact on our content and adjust as needed, to ensure that we still have the strongest local news report in Rhode Island.”

13. Republicans including GOP Chairman Brandon Bell have unloaded on Joe Trillo for running as an independent. Yet crickets have greeted Raymond McKay‘s run as an independent in the race for the U.S. Senate seat held by Sheldon Whitehouse. McKay is a Reagan-style conservative who could pull votes from Republican Robert Flanders on the right side of the voting spectrum. Flanders, meanwhile, continues focusing on the opiod issue while also aiming to create some distance between himself and President Trump, as with this statement: “I disagree with President Trump’s characterization of NATO as ‘obsolete,’ a word the president has carelessly used this week to refer to the NATO Alliance. On tariffs and NATO alike, I disagree with the president’s roughshod approach to our allies. NATO is not a real estate deal. I would rather such treatment be reserved for antagonists such as Russia or countries such as China that steal government secrets and the intellectual property of U.S. private enterprise. The NATO Alliance remains a critical force for greater global security and has served as a historic guarantor of peace. It would be nice to see the president communicate the importance of NATO to the American public with half of the enthusiasm with which he flatters Vladimir Putin.”

14. Now that Mike Stanton has two books under his belt — the latest being an excellent read on boxing legend Rocky Marciano — what’s next for the ProJo investigative reporter-turned-UConn journalism professor? As part of a recent interview, Stanton said he’s contemplating doing a book on Raymond L.S. Patriarca, the notorious former Mob boss, who died 34 years ago this week.

15. Politico’s look at Mark Putnam, the Brown University grad known for crafting campaign commercials for Gov. Raimondo and many other candidates, notes how he’s “a little Errol Morris and a little Roger Ailes” and how viral political ads are becoming an increasingly important part of campaigns. Here’s a leading example.

16. “Inside the Many, Many Homes of This Jewelry Billionaire“

17. Ed Shea‘s explanation of the shrinking demand that led to the end of 2nd Story Theatre in Warren: “People are not present anymore. There’s so much else to see, like Netflix and Amazon Prime. It’s increasingly difficult to get people off the couch and into the theater, not just my theater, any theater. It’s just more difficult to get anybody in.”

18. We Red Sox fans should savor the team’s remarkable performance during the summer of 2018 and feats like Mooke Betts‘ grand slam after a marathon at bat. But Dan Shaughnessy makes the point that all is not well with the game: “There are too many bad teams (the once-proud Orioles are 41 games under .500). There are too many non-competitive games. There are too many strikeouts. There are not enough balls in play. Baseball stars are increasingly anonymous. Is it any surprise that MLB attendance is taking a hit? Twenty one of 30 teams are down from last year and baseball is on pace for its lowest total attendance since 2003. Folks are staying away and who can blame them? The product is not keeping up with the times and it is not very good.”