July 5, 2019

Biden Might Renominate Merrick Garland

Political Wire

Joe Biden told Iowa Starting Line that he might renominate 66-year old Merrick Garland, the federal judge who never made it to a Senate hearing when President Obama nominated him to the Supreme Court.

Said Biden: “Sure, I would. By the way, he’s a first-rate person.”

He also said he doesn’t favor expanding the Supreme Court: “I’m not prepared to go on and try to pack the court, because we’ll live to rue that day

July 5, 2019

Who's in and who's out of the next Dem debates?

Currently, 21 candidates have passed a modest qualification threshold for the July debates, either candidate hitting 1 percent in three qualifying polls or getting 65,000 donors. That’s one more candidate than the Democratic National Committee has said it will allow on stage across the two nights, meaning someone has to get cut.

The DNC’s tiebreakers prioritize candidates who hit both the polling and financial thresholds, followed by candidates who only have the polling benchmark, sorted by poll average, and then candidates who have hit only the donor mark

Fourteen candidates have crossed both of the thresholds, according to a POLITICO analysis, virtually guaranteeing their spot on stage on either July 30 or July 31: Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Castro, Tulsi Gabbard, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Jay Inslee, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Marianne Williamson and Andrew Yang.

That leaves seven candidates who have only crossed the polling threshold without a secure grasp on a debate-stage lectern. Some are marginally better off than others: John Delaney, John Hickenlooper and Tim Ryan all have polling averages slightly above 1 percentage point, meaning they rank ahead of the other candidates.

https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2019/07/05/democratic-debates-2020-september-1398973?__twitter_impression=true

July 5, 2019

When do struggling 2020 candidates have to bail to run for another office?

Washington Post

The 2020 Democratic presidential race is still wide open, but candidates who have yet to break through have to decide how long they want to ride it out. In some cases, their ambitions for political Plan B will force them to make that call sooner rather than later.

For former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, who is polling at an average 0.2 percent, the pressure is coming from inside his own campaign to drop out and run for Senate. It’s a safe bet that he’s not the only one in that boat.

Competitive races back home are taking shape without these 2020 candidates. Other Democrats are running, there are filing deadlines that don’t necessarily comport with a presidential candidate’s plan for how long to stay in the race, and it’s not a guarantee these presidential candidates could even win their primary.

Who are the 2020 candidates who might be enticed to run for something else? And by when do they have to decide? And what challenges would they face? Here’s a rundown:

July 5, 2019

Exclusive: Biden expresses skepticism of Democrats' leftward tilt and AOC's mass appeal

CNN

Des Moines, Iowa (CNN)Former Vice President Joe Biden expressed deep skepticism of the leftward tilt of the Democratic Party in an exclusive interview with CNN airing Friday.

Biden, speaking with CNN's Chris Cuomo in Des Moines, Iowa, suggested that "Medicare for All" is irrational, argued that the majority of Democrats are "center left" not "way left," and said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, while "brilliant" and "bright," did not represent Democrats who can win a general election in a competitive district or state.

The interview made clear that Biden, who is facing criticism from the left of the party amid an increasingly contentious Democratic primary, does not feel the need to sway to the left to capture the party's base and, instead, hopes to set himself apart by embracing his moderation.

Biden backed up that confidence by pointing to the 2018 midterm elections, where a host of swing districts were won by more moderate Democrats.

July 5, 2019

Klobuchar says she won't reverse Trump's Jerusalem embassy move

The Hill

White House hopeful Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said Monday she would not reverse President Trump's 2017 decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

"I think it would have been better if that was done as part of a negotiation for a two-state solution. I think it's unfortunate it was done the way it was done but I wouldn't reverse it," Klobuchar told Jewish Insider Monday.

The Klobuchar campaign did not immediately respond to a request for further comment from The Hill.

Klobuchar joins fellow presidential candidates South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) in saying they wouldn't move the embassy.

July 4, 2019

Trump's speech isn't going over well...

Not a huge amount of audience response here. Trump just paused for applause and it was very slow in coming and very muted. This is not what his crowds are used to.

https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2019/jul/05/donald-trump-delivers-july-4th-speech-live?CMP=edit_2221&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&__twitter_impression=true

July 4, 2019

Nothing like a cool, refreshing rainstorm on a hot summer day

https://twitter.com/yamiche/status/1146869924230549504

July 4, 2019

Julian Castro talks about his debate strategy on the HACKS ON TAP podcast...

...with David Acelrod and Mike Murphy.

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/cadence13/hacks-on-tap-with-david-axelrod-and-mike-murphy/e/62321697?autoplay=true

July 4, 2019

The Beexit Party in the EU

https://twitter.com/stigabell/status/1146786476769914880

July 4, 2019

They started this too late': Trump officials and allies anxious about July 4 fest

Politico

The White House and Republican National Committee have spent the past week scrambling to distribute VIP tickets to President Donald Trump’s Fourth of July speech at the Lincoln Memorial.

Now, White House officials and allies are wringing their hands over the risk of the hastily arranged event morphing into Trump’s Inauguration 2.0, in which the size of the crowd and the ensuing media coverage do not meet the president’s own outsized expectations for the event.

They started this too late and everyone has plans already,” said Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor and CEO of the drilling services company Canary, LLC. “Everyone will be there in spirit, but in reality, people planned their July 4th activities weeks ago.”

Less than 36 hours before the event, White House aides were crafting Trump’s speech, while administration and RNC officials finalized the guest lists.