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brooklynite

brooklynite's Journal
brooklynite's Journal
December 28, 2019

Biden reveals deep bench of campaign bundlers

Politico

Joe Biden released the names of more than 200 people and couples who are raising money for his presidential campaign, a list that includes a number of big names in Democratic money like Hollywood producer Jeffrey Katzenberg and LGBT rights activist Tim Gill and his husband, Scott Miller.

Biden’s list of fundraisers, each of which has brought in at least $25,000 for his presidential bid, includes many of the biggest names in Democratic fundraising. The list spans Wall Street, Silicon Valley and a number of politicians themselves.

The former vice president voluntarily disclosed the list as the Democratic field — and especially Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren — sparred with each other throughout November and December over how to have adequate transparency about money and finances on the campaign trail.

More than any other leading candidate, Biden is relying on big fundraising events to power his bid for the presidency, which makes these bundlers crucial to his success. Other big-name bundlers for Biden include New York venture capital and private equity investor Alan Patricof, and billionaire real estate broker George Marcus.

Biden is running for president on his longtime experience in public service, and his list of bundlers reflects the many high-powered connections he built over that time. Biden bundlers include current senators Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey and Delaware Sen. Chris Coons. Former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles is a bundler for Biden, as is Dorothy McAuliffe, wife of former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
December 24, 2019

'The surge is real': Klobuchar makes late push in Iowa

SHELDON, Iowa — Amy Klobuchar keeps telling Iowans about the text she got from a friend cheering her “insurgency” after last week’s debate. The friend meant to say “surge,” but Klobuchar found the auto-correct error funny — and whatever you call it, she’s desperate to convince Iowa it’s for real.

Sprinting across the state’s sparsely populated, westernmost reaches, Klobuchar is heralding her many endorsements in the state, a doubling of her staff in Iowa and the $1 million she raised in the day after the debate on Thursday night.

Six weeks before the caucuses, the Minnesota senator occupies a unique place in the Democratic presidential primary. She sits firmly outside the top tier of contenders. But she is the one candidate viewed widely in Iowa — by local party officials, campaign operatives and her competitors — as having the last, best chance to disrupt the caucus field.

“Amy is dynamite,” said former Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, who has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden but attended a Klobuchar house party this past weekend in Council Bluffs. “Who knows where it leads, but Iowans have spent the last six months getting to know these candidates, and now they’re in the position where they’re getting to make up their minds.”


Damn Establishment Democrats.....
December 24, 2019

The invisible man: Text messages reveal former golfer's role in Ukraine scandal

Source: CNN

New York (CNN)When Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman traveled to Ukraine last winter to help Rudy Giuliani dig up dirt on President Donald Trump's political opponents, they were accompanied by a 44 year-old American named David Correia.

A former pro golfer and restaurateur, Correia had gotten to know Parnas and Fruman in South Florida, where he'd gone into business with Parnas years earlier.

While Parnas and Fruman, who had high-level contacts in Ukraine, worked to gather documents that they believed showed evidence of corruption by Joe Biden and his son Hunter, Correia was there to make the effort pay off in lucrative business deals, according to people who talked to him at the time, as well as copies of text messages obtained by CNN.

Before the trip, Correia texted an American associate that he wanted to "be fully prepared to close specific deals in Ukraine while we are there," according to the message viewed by CNN. Though he had no experience in the gas or energy business prior to working with Parnas, Correia was bent on securing a deal to sell US liquified natural gas to Ukraine through a pipeline in Poland.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/23/politics/correia-text-messages-ukraine-parnas-giuliani/index.html

December 23, 2019

The Democratic Party field raises money for the DNC

Biden
Warren
Buttigieg
Booker
Sanders
Klobuchar
Patrick
Bloomberg
Yang
Steyer

https://twitter.com/TheDemocrats/status/1209168038244880385

December 23, 2019

Inside the Secret List of Demands Warren Gave Hillary

Politico

In December 2014, Clinton’s team began worrying that Warren was reconsidering a presidential run and arranged a meeting between the two principals at Clinton’s home in Washington.

Warren came in “aggressive” and “firing on all cylinders” catching Clinton off guard, said a Clinton official familiar with the meeting. She pressed Clinton to commit to not appointing Wall Street-friendly people to her administration, as Warren felt Bill Clinton and Barack Obama had done.

After the meeting, Warren sent Clinton a list of people she wanted the campaign team to consult on economic policy in order to broaden their horizons beyond people like Robert Rubin and Michael Froman, high-ranking officials in the Bill Clinton and Obama administrations who had also worked at Citigroup.

The list, recompiled by POLITICO based on the accounts of those involved, included a hodgepodge of sometimes obscure liberal academics and economists including MIT’s Simon Johnson, UConn’s James Kwak, Columbia’s Joseph Stiglitz, Vanderbilt’s Ganesh Sitaraman (policy director for Warren’s 2012 campaign), University of Chicago’s Amir Sufi, U.C. Irvine’s Katie Porter and Vermont Law School’s Jennifer Taub. The progressive think-tank types included Demos’ Heather McGhee; public servants who had clashed with the Obama administration included former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chair Sheila Bair and longtime Senate aide Elise Bean. AFL-CIO policy director Damon Silvers represented unions.
December 23, 2019

Mike Bloomberg opening 20 campaign offices in New York

https://twitter.com/JakeLahut/status/1209107242798256133

Laugh if you will: Bloomberg got elected here by Democrats three times. NYS has 273 Delegates. Iowa + New Hampshire + Nevada + South Carolina have 155.
December 23, 2019

Buttigieg takes aim at Biden with more than 200 foreign policy endorsements

The Hill

More than 200 foreign policy and national security professionals on Monday announced they were endorsing South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg in his bid for the White House, providing him some ammunition to go after Democratic frontrunner Vice President Joe Biden on the campaign trail.

The joint endorsement letter was signed by more than 200 professionals, including dozens of Obama administration veterans.

The move comes after Biden rolled out rolled out endorsements from more than 125 former foreign policy officials last month. Biden often touts his experience in foreign policy as one of his top attributes for the Democratic nomination.

The signatories of Buttigieg's endorsement also included a number of names who served in the Obama administration along with Biden.
December 23, 2019

Obama talks up Warren behind closed doors to wealthy donors

The Hill


Sen. Elizabeth Warren has spent her presidential campaign railing against the donor class, making it known she doesn't want their help.

She has publicly bashed millionaires, has sworn off high-dollar fundraisers and has refused large checks from Democratic bundlers.

But behind the scenes in recent months, former President Obama has gone to bat for Warren (D-Mass.) when speaking to donors reluctant to support her given her knocks on Wall Street and the wealthy.

And if Warren becomes the nominee, Obama has said they must throw the entirety of their support behind her.

The former president has stopped short of an endorsement of Warren in these conversations and has emphasized that he is not endorsing in the Democratic primary race.
December 23, 2019

The Flag in the Whirlwind: An Update from CT's President

Christianity Today

Reader responses to Mark Galli’s recent editorial have spanned the spectrum. We have received countless notes of encouragement from readers who were profoundly moved. They no longer feel alone. They have hope again. Many have told us of reading the editorial with tears in their eyes, sharing it with children who have wandered from the faith, rejoicing that at last someone was articulating what they felt in their hearts. They felt this was a watershed moment in the history of the American church—or they hoped it would prove to be. Stay strong, they told us, knowing we were about to reap the whirlwind.

On the other hand, we have heard from many readers who felt incensed and insulted. These readers felt the editorial engaged in character assassination, or maligned a broad swath of our fellow evangelicals, or revealed that we prefer the Democrats to a President who has done a lot of good for causes we all care about.

Of course, we appreciate the support and listen humbly to the criticisms. But at the end of the day, we write for a readership of One. God is our Tower. Let the whirlwind come.

President Donald Trump would have you believe we are “far left.” Others have said we are not Bible-believing Christians. Neither is true. Christianity Today is theologically conservative. We are pro-life and pro-family. We are firm supporters of religious liberties and economic opportunity for men and women to exercise their gifts and create value in the world. We believe in the authority of Scripture.

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