July 31, 2018

'It's a significant shift in our thinking': Business takes fresh look at Democrats

If businesses shift significant support away from Republicans, it could deal a blow to GOP fundraising. But some Democrats are skeptical that the talk will translate into cash for their campaigns.

By LORRAINE WOELLERT and MARIANNE LEVINE 07/31/2018 05:05 AM EDT

Business groups, at war with President Donald Trump over trade and immigration, say they’re taking steps to rebuild the political center — including taking fresh looks at moderate Democrats.

The American Bankers Association this month began airing ads in support of candidates for the first time, including Democrats Sen. Jon Tester of Montana and Rep. Lou Correa of California. The International Franchise Association has more than doubled its support to Democrats this cycle, with 27 percent of its donations going to centrists in the party. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which leans heavily Republican, endorsed Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey over Republican John McCann, who has the support of former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka.

Even the powerful Koch network appears to be withholding some support for the Republican Party, if not outright supporting Democrats. Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips said at a donor retreat Monday that the political network would not help Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) in his Senate race against Democratic incumbent Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), citing inconsistencies on a range of Koch priorities.

“Republicans aren’t the only people who have great ideas for business,” International Franchise Association President Robert Cresanti said. “We really need more members of Congress that are in the middle and are willing to listen to both sides.”

“It’s a significant shift in our thinking,” Cresanti said. “Before, it was you’re either with us 100 percent of the time or you’re against us.”

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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/31/business-democrats-trump-745479

July 31, 2018

Tom Steyer's $110 million plan to redefine the Democrats

The billionaire investor is on a collision course with party leaders.

By EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE 07/31/2018 05:05 AM EDT

Tom Steyer has set plans to spend at least $110 million in 2018, making the billionaire investor the largest single source of campaign cash on the left and placing him on a path to create a parallel party infrastructure with polling, analytics and staffing capabilities that stand to shape and define the issues the party runs on in November.

Steyer is building out an operation that’s bigger than anyone other than the Koch Brothers — and the billionaire and his aides believe the reservoir of non-traditional voters he’s already activated could become the overriding factor in House and other races across the country.

Yet Steyer’s oversized role also stands to position him squarely against Democratic Party leadership, which has shown little appetite this fall for pursuing one of his signature causes: impeachment.

Unlike the $80 million being spent by Mike Bloomberg, Steyer will put his cash toward building out NextGen America and Need to Impeach, his two growing political organizations, as well as funding clean energy ballot initiatives in Arizona and Nevada. Steyer has already doubled his initial $20 million investment in Need to Impeach to $40 million, and has not ruled out adding more.

Steyer has also already dropped over $5 million into his For Our Future PAC, and is expecting more outlays on behalf of individual candidates like the $1 million he put behind Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, though likely not in any of the remaining primaries.

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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/31/steyer-democrats-millions-midterms-751245

July 31, 2018

Scott Has Edge In Florida Senate Race

July 31, 2018 at 8:32 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

A new Mason-Dixon poll in Florida finds Gov. Rick Scott (R) leads Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) in the U.S. Senate race, 47% to 44%, a net shift of about 4 points in the Republican’s favor since the firm’s last poll in February when the race was a dead heat.

Said pollster Brad Coker: “It’s going to be a slugfest. Nelson is hoping for a blue wave, and Scott is counting on Trump motivating his base of voters. Rick Scott has yet to have a landslide win. So I don’t anticipate him winning by a big amount if he does win.”

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https://politicalwire.com/2018/07/31/scott-has-edge-in-florida-senate-race/

July 31, 2018

Cuomo Holds Massive Lead In Democratic Primary

July 31, 2018 at 7:37 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

A new Siena poll in New York finds Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) continues to hold a dominant lead over primary challenger Cynthia Nixon (D), 60% to 29%.

Key finding: “Ms. Nixon is running hard to the governor’s left, but she continues to trail Mr. Cuomo badly among self-identified liberal Democrats, 57 percent to 35 percent, a gap perhaps as ominous to her chances as the top-line margin.”

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https://politicalwire.com/2018/07/31/cuomo-holds-massive-lead-in-democratic-primary/

July 31, 2018

Morning Joe openly laughs at 'pathetic' Rudy Giuliani's trainwreck TV interviews

‘Throw grandpa from the train!’ Morning Joe openly laughs at ‘pathetic’ Rudy Giuliani’s trainwreck TV interviews

July 31, 2018

Fox News Host: Trump Wants Best Immigrants, Not 'Some Guy's Uncle From Zimbabwe'

Fox News host Jesse Watters has been accused of racism once again after saying the U.S. wants the “best and brightest” immigrants, not “some guy’s uncle from Zimbabwe.” Hosting The Five on Monday, Watters and his co-hosts were discussing President Trump’s tweeted demand that Congress throw support behind a bill to fund tougher immigration policies. Greg Gutfeld argued Trump should use a border wall with Mexico as an idea to spark more conversation about security, then Juan Williams said Trump wants to cut legal and illegal immigration. “He wants merit-based,” Watters chimed in. “That would cut legal immigration by bringing in the best and brightest. So we don’t bring in some guy’s uncle from Zimbabwe.” After Williams sarcastically replied “Oh, Zimbabwe, thank you,” Watters quickly added “Or Thailand.”

https://twitter.com/jiveDurkey/status/1024057694452416514

READ IT AT MEDIAITE

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https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-news-host-trump-wants-best-immigrants-not-some-guys-uncle-from-zimbabwe?ref=home

July 31, 2018

Rudy Giuliani on His Odd Cable News Blitz: I Was Trying to Kill a New York Times Story

It is not even clear if the Times story, as laid out by President Trump’s attorney, even exists.

ASAWIN SUEBSAENG
07.30.18 10:15 PM ET

Throughout Monday, President Donald Trump’s lawyer and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani went on a chaotic media tour, with each subsequent interview seeming to atone or clean up for a key element laid out in a previous appearance.

In an interview with The Daily Beast on Monday night, Giuliani appeared to blame the maelstrom he kicked up on inquisitive New York Times reporters who he suggested had compelled him to proactively spin a potentially damaging story that may or may not actually be real. Several veterans of the Trump campaign, like much of the viewing public, were left befuddled.

“I don’t know, man,” one senior 2016 Trump campaign aide simply messaged The Daily Beast when asked to deconstruct Giuliani’s performance.

The day began with a morning interview with Fox & Friends, during which Giuliani insisted that “collusion [with Russian election-meddlers] is not a crime” in the first place. He then headed to CNN where he proceeded to, ostensibly, break a bit of news about the infamous Trump Tower meeting that the president’s son took with a Russian lawyer reportedly tied to Kremlin officials.

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https://www.thedailybeast.com/rudy-giuliani-on-his-odd-cable-news-blitz-i-was-trying-to-kill-a-new-york-times-story

July 30, 2018

Walker Trails By Seven In Wisconsin

July 30, 2018 at 4:55 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard

A new Emerson College poll in Wisconsin finds that Tony Evers (D) leads Gov. Scott Walker (R) in the race for governor, 48% to 41%, with 7% of voters still undecided.

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https://politicalwire.com/2018/07/30/walker-trails-by-7-points-in-wisconsin/

July 30, 2018

Soybean farmers are surviving Trump's trade war -- even without his $12 billion aid package

By Caitlin Dewey
July 30 at 11:08 AM

President Trump has committed $12 billion to protect American farmers hurt by his trade war, setting off a political firestorm over trade policy.

But growers of soybeans — the single largest agricultural export to China, worth $12.4 billion — have largely escaped financial damage thus far, raising questions about the purpose and timing of the bailout, say economists, commodity traders and farmers.

While soybean prices have plummeted in recent months as China slapped tariffs on $45 billion of U.S. goods, the complexity of the markets where they are sold has insulated many growers from financial harm in the short-term.

“We probably don’t need [the aid] on our farm,” said Anna Balvance, who raises soybeans and cattle in northern Iowa and is expecting strong profits this season. “A lot of guys are skeptical of it. It’s not going to change the way we do business.”

Soybean growers have been cushioned by the widespread use of forward contracts that allowed many to lock in high prices last spring, and analysts predict they will be buoyed at harvest by strong global demand for soybeans.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/soybean-farmers-are-surviving-trumps-trade-war--even-without-his-12-billion-aid-package/2018/07/30/c3340bb6-91bb-11e8-8322-b5482bf5e0f5_story.html

July 30, 2018

For Democrats, the elusive dream of a blue Georgia hinges on rapidly diversifying Atlanta suburbs

By Fenit Nirappil
July 30 at 9:31 AM

DULUTH, Ga. — If a blue electoral wave crests in Georgia in November, it will be pushed by dramatically changing counties like Gwinnett in what once were the Republican strongholds of suburban Atlanta.

Georgia’s second-largest county has transformed from 56 percent white in 2010 to 62 percent nonwhite last year, stunning longtime residents and shaking up the political environment.

The county’s demographic upheaval is part of a broad transformation in the state and the South, where the longtime dominance of white voters has been challenged not only by African Americans but Hispanics and Asians, many of them new arrivals.

The outcome of one of the hottest gubernatorial races of this year, pitting Democrat Stacey Abrams, a liberal former state house leader who would be the nation’s first black female governor, against Republican Brian Kemp, a self-proclaimed “politically incorrect conservative,” may rest on whether a wide-ranging Democratic effort to turn out new voters can succeed.

Democrats have also been eyeing potential gains in the House in Georgia and — as they have for many years, unsuccessfully — turning the state blue in the 2020 presidential contest.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-democrats-the-elusive-dream-of-a-blue-georgia-hinges-on-rapidly-diversifying-atlanta-suburbs/2018/07/30/84802c2a-9025-11e8-b769-e3fff17f0689_story.html