Python script for copying a column

This seems like a simple question, but I can't find an answer.

Input:

a 3 4
b 1 4
c 8 3
d 3 8 

Wanted output:

a a 3 4 
b b 1 4 
c c 8 3
d d 3 8 

Note: the file .txt input has many rows in the first column.