May 2, 2019: Warren leapfrogs Beto, Pete, Harris; Biden leads
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Welcome back to the primary, Elizabeth Warren; her immediate & forceful impeachment talk was good enough for a surge to second place in new polling from Quinnipiac. . .Joe Biden still holds a commanding lead - and that lead is steadily growing. . .here’s what the Most Important Voters in the Democratic base told Vice News about the 2020 candidates. . .conversely, Wall Street Democrats say something completely different- to put it bluntly, they are “absolutely freaking out”. . .also, The New Yorker wonders if Democrats can avoid blowing it in 2020. . .especially if, as Marco Rubio finally admitted, that hackers did indeed penetrate Florida election systems. . .Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, & Kirsten Gillibrand call on AG William Barr to resign after an explosive hearing about mishandling the Mueller report. . .and some great reporting from The Daily Beast saved Pete Buttigieg from a right-wing troll takedown, as they exposed a scheme attempting to frame the wunderkind candidate for sexual assault. . .and with measles outbreaks on the rise, here is what the candidates think about vaccines. . .Colorado Senator Michael Bennet throws his hat in the ring, and now the Dem Primary candidate count is 22. . .
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Poll based on Democratic primary voters nationwide - 15,475 interviews with registered voters, collected from April 22-28 2019. (source: Morning Consult)
(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Currently the Governor of Washington state, Inslee is the first “Climate Candidate” (Vox). . .a staunch gun control advocate, Inslee personally confronted Donald Trump on the issue at the White House in 2017. . .helped design the original NAFTA deal with Bill Clinton in 1993 while serving in Congress. . .first governor to oppose Trump’s Muslim Ban. . .pardoned thousands of people prosecuted for marijuana in 2017, prior to legalization. . .
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Joe Biden
. . has such a big lead in the polls, even Fox News is covering it. . .it helps that he quickly raised $6.3 million, marking the largest 24-hour haul from 2020 candidates . . .the problem is, though, he still hasn’t owned up to certain things with Anita Hill. . .the L.A. Times thinks Biden is the white male savior we’ve finally outgrown. . .maybe because he wants to win on a backward-looking platform. . .Vox thinks that he has foreign policy experience that is both a weakness and a strength. . .
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Bernie Sanders
. . . says on Twitter that every American should have the right to vote, even from prison. . .but at least he pushes policies, not personality. . .that’s because he has a campaign machine that’s crushing it . . .so watch his army gear up for the next phase of the campaign. . .
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Pete Buttigieg
. . .is driving the religious right nuts. . .as evidenced by the far-right smear campaign led by social media troll Jacob Wohl. . .who must have seen the piece in Vogue, ‘inside the underdog candidate shaking up the 2020 race’. . .while being rooted on by Donald Trump in the primary. . .also, Mayor Pete will no longer accept donations from lobbyists. . .and backpedals on vaccine exemptions. . .
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Elizabeth Warren
. . .is surging on the heels of calls for Trump impeachment. . .as her campaign is declared finished by Trump, who also calls her ‘Pocahantas’ again. . .as she calls on AG Barr to resign. . .. . puts Bernie Sanders on the defense . . .experts are divided on her ambitious idea to forgive student-loan debt and offer free college. . .and here’s a handy guide to her proposals . . .
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Kamala Harris
. . .is high in the polls, but short on policy so far . . .though she grilled Attorney General Barr in a high-profile scorching during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Mueller Wednesday. . .she links Trump rhetoric to California synagogue shooting. . .according to the USA Today. she should be disqualified as a 2020 Democrat for owning a handgun
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Beto O’ Rourke
. . .releases $5 trillion climate plan to combat climate crisis (NBC News). . .and says he might halt new oil and gas drilling on federal land (Money & Markets). . .this policy heavy-stance is a reflecting that he is losing his mojo - because Mayor Pete stole it from him (New York Magazine). . .meanwhile he accuses Trump White House of dictating Fox News content (Reuters). . .but is losing donors to Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg. . .
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Cory Booker
. . .makes "environmental justice" central to his White House bid. . . and he is winning the charity primary. . .as he sets L.A. fundraiser with Ben Affleck & Jeffrey Katzenberg as hosts. . .which hopefully will go better than a separate campaign event, which was interrupted after minivan crashes into building. . .
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Kirsten Gillibrand
. . .struggles to meet donor threshold to get on debate stage. . .though she played beer pong in New Hampshire this weekend. . .as she plans to give ‘Democracy Dollars’ -where voter would have $600 to donate to campaigns. . .but disregards the lack of local love as New York's Gov. Cuomo's endorses Biden. . .
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Andrew Yang
. . .wants to give away cash to an Iowa voter. . .while decriminalizing opioids. . .and supporting a federal buyback on assault rifles. . .
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Amy Klobuchar
. . .has a plan to reverse the war on drugs — and doesn’t need Congress to do it. . .separately. she prods White House to promote election-security measures. . .and hails Anita Hill as an inspiration
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Julián Castro
. . .is not afraid of Trump, nor his immigration rhetoric. . .as he calls for incentives to help workers in Las Vegas. . .while spotlighting housing, homelessness at labor forum for 2020 candidates. . .
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Tim Ryan
. . .wants to teach kids socially AND emotionally, and he went on TMZ Live to make the pitch . . .after qualifying for Democrats’ first presidential debate. . .while he calls for new effort to revitalize American cities. . .
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Jay Inslee
. . .signs bill allowing parents to file wrongful death claim for their adult children. .v .
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John Hickenlooper
. . . proudly claims the middle of the road. . .while proposing staggered federal minimum wage hikes
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Eric Swalwell
. . .vows to 'see all races,' select female VP. . . and refuses to answer Trump 'Russian asset' question despite Mueller report. . .
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Tulsi Gabbard
. . . amasses lion’s share of Indian-American donations. . .but is running a Presidential campaign on freelancers. . .she says it’s not our place to pick winners and losers in the war fomenting Venezuela. . .
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Seth Moulton
. . . says Trump is ‘not a patriot’. . .urges Biden to apologize to Anita Hill (Politico). . .
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John Delaney
. . .thinks unfollowing Trump on Twitter will bring him down. . .and slams 2020 rival Sanders for calling Israeli government 'racist’. . .
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Marianne Williamson
. . . speaks at Town Hall in San Diego. . .
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Wayne Messam
. . .says he doesn’t need Washington experience to be the next President . . and addresses student debt cancelation. . .
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Mike Gravel
. . .changes plans, says he’s now ‘running to win’. . .
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Michael Bennet
. . .is running for President. . .
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(Source: Wikipedia)
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Straight-forward yet informative poll from ABC News/Washington Post about what qualities are most important in selecting a Democratic primary candidate to run in 2020.
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Small-dollar donors are providing most of the early money to Democrats seeking the presidency -- as candidates seek to capitalize on the energy of their party's activist base and build a grassroots foundation to sustain them for the long primary slog.
More than half of the individual contributions to Democrats during the January-to-March fundraising period came in amounts of $200 or less, a CNN tally of new campaign finance reports shows. By comparison, small-dollar contributions accounted for just 30% of the money Democrats raised in the early months of the 2016 presidential campaign, according to the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute.
(chart source: BBC)
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June 26, 27: Miami, Florida. (Telecast: NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo)
July 30, 31: Detroit, Michigan (Telecast: CNN)
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February 3: the Iowa caucus
March 3: Super Tuesday (Alabama, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia primaries)
July 13-16: The Democratic National Convention (Milwaukee, WI)
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(Source: National Journal)
But WHO are they? Here is a portrait of the superdelegates in 2016 from Pew Research Center. “In short, they’re the embodiment of the institutional Democratic Party – everyone from former presidents, congressional leaders and big-money fundraisers to mayors, labor leaders and longtime local party functionaries. Nearly six-in-ten are men, close to two-thirds are white, and their average age (as best we could tell) is around 60.”
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“Assassins, like politicians and journalists, are not attracted to losers.”
- Hunter S. Thompson, Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail ‘72
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April 25 April 18 April 11 April 7 March 31 March 24 March 17 March 10
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