Warren is putting out plan after plan in her bid for the White House. If you love specifics, she might be your contender. Her plan to pay for universal childcare with a modest wealth tax, is truly a thing of beauty. She’s in my final five of favorites for sure.
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Much love for Stacey Abrams who has decided to not run for the Senate in 2020. I hope we hear more in the future. Her take on identity politics is pitch perfect and we’re a better party because of her voice.
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First candidate to call for Barr’s resignation.
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Castro stands firm on Barr.
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Gillibrand with new federal democracy voucher program. Here in Seattle we have a democracy voucher program, I use it, it’s pretty cool. Can’t wait to hear more.
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We do? I’ve been back in state for a couple of years & don’t know about this. Where do I look it up? I’m in the dreaded red part of the state. 
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Oops misspoke it’s just Seattle. Sorry guys, I’m on edge today. 
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No problem. At least you’ve been watching/listening. I’m waiting for everyone’s written summaries because I couldn’t even get thru the Kamala Harris clip posted on News&Guts.
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You’re probably a better person not having seen what went on today in that hearing. I had to shut it off, just awful.
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Number 21 come on down!
Sen. Michael Bennet announced on Thursday that he is running for President, launching a longshot campaign that makes the Colorado Democrat the seventh member of the Senate vying for a chance to take on President Donald Trump.
The announcement – made Thursday during an interview on CBS’ “This Morning” – was delayed after the senator was diagnosed with prostate cancer in early April. Bennet had surgery shortly after the diagnosis and announced last month that doctors gave him a clean bill of health. That successful procedure set off a series of moves over the last two weeks that culminated in Thursday’s announcement
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Former vice president Joe Biden called Wednesday night for Attorney General William P. Barr to resign, echoing several other 2020 Democratic White House hopefuls who have said the nation’s top law enforcement official has mishandled the special counsel investigation.
“I think he’s lost the confidence of the American people. I think he should,” Biden told a group of reporters in Des Moines. He was there on a swing through the first presidential nominating state as Barr appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to field questions about special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
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The first debate is in eight weeks, folks.
The first Democratic presidential debate showcases that effort: Candidates can gain access to the stage through grass-roots fund-raising, and in anticipation of a “historically large primary field,” officials decided to split the event across two nights in late June, so that as many as 20 candidates could take part.
But as of Thursday morning, when Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado announced his candidacy for president, those efforts at inclusion have been placed under strain. Mr. Bennet’s entrance ticks the number of Democratic candidates in the field up to 21, and additional candidates may still join, making it a real possibility that some will be left off the debate stage.
Only 17 candidates have so far qualified for the first debate, so cuts are not guaranteed. But with nearly two months to go, more candidates could very well meet the requirements.
[…]
How to qualify
An analysis by The Times earlier this weekexplained the two routes to qualification:
• A candidate receives donations from 65,000 people, including 200 donors apiece in 20 states.
• A candidate registers 1 percent support in three polls. (Only polls from a preset list of organizations are accepted.)
[…]
How to break ties
If more than 20 candidates do manage to qualify, the D.N.C. has said it will decide who gets left out using what are essentially three tiebreakers.
In order of primacy, they are:
• Meeting both the donor and polling thresholds
• Highest polling average
• Most unique donors
[…]
Then what?
Exactly how the D.N.C. will administer these tiebreakers is not clear. Its statement on the debates contains just one sentence about how participants will be selected if more than 20 candidates qualify, and it does not offer specifics on matters like how polling averages will be calculated or when the committee will stop accepting new data.
The Times’s analysis found that eight candidates had qualified only through their performance in polls, and had not reached the donor threshold.
Of those eight, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who has received an average of about 2.6 percent support in the national polls in the analysis, seems relatively safe from getting cut.
Others, like Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington and Representatives Tim Ryan and Eric Swalwell, each average less than half of 1 percent — making them appear more at risk.
However, it is not clear which qualifying polls the D.N.C. will use to come up with an average, and a lot could change in the eight weeks between now and the first debate.
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Senator Kamala Harris, labeled “Nasty Woman” by Trump. This guy needs new material.
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So true. When in the history of the United States have we had a President who taunted his opponents with rude nicknames like a kindergartner? It was disgusting to start with and on top of that it’s gotten really old. What’s depressing to me is that so many Americans now think this vile behavior is perfectly OK. What’s happened to us? Can you imagine Dwight Eisenhower acting like that?
Andrea Thompson of DC Tribune has this take on Trump’s infantile use of insulting nicknames.
Insiders Close to Trump Reveal He Spends “A Lot of the Day” Trying to Come Up with Nicknames for 2020 Opponents
As it turns out, president Donald Trump doesn’t spend every waking moment on Twitter. Evidently, he spends the rest of his free time — which, let’s face it, is a lot — trying to make up mean names for the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.
It’s no secret that the 21 Democratic candidates poised to run against Trump next year are getting under his carrot-colored skin. It makes that pretty evident nearly every time he types a tweet.
While many of Donald’s aide and associates can’t seem to agree on which candidate threatens him the most, most of them are of the same opinion that the election will come down to four states — Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — where Politico reports that one of Trump’s scariest opponents, former Vice President Joe Biden is appearing strong.
“He talks a lot about it,” a source with ties to Trump stated. “With Trump, everything is personal, so for Trump, a lot of the day is spent trying to assess the weaknesses of the other candidates.”
According to the source, Donald isn’t too concerned over Elizabeth Warren who he believes he’s already demolished with his “Pocahontas” slurs or Beto O’Rourke who he regularly brushes off as a “joke.”
“Occasionally he’ll comment on one or another — ‘Crazy Bernie,’ ‘Sleepy Joe,’” the source continued. “Trump believes that if you can encapsulate someone in a phrase or a nickname, you can own them. ‘Low-energy Jeb,’ ‘Little Marco’ — that kind of sh__ really diminishes people and puts you in control of them…"
While some people close to the president claim to feel that Donald is more worried about the economy crashing before the 2020 election, and a small handful has claimed they don’t believe he’s too worried about the upcoming race, many others feel that Trump is overly confident, with one source stating, “Trump has a very bad sense of danger.”
Regardless of what his aides and associates on the payroll think, it’s clear that Donald feels beyond threatened when it comes to the 2020 presidential election. Otherwise, his Twitter feed wouldn’t read like a 12-year-old’s diary.
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Julian Castro has announced that he has qualified for the debates. This is exciting, he’s one of the few candidates with a comprehensive immigration plan.
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22?
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The country’s most powerful liberal donor club is reshaping its spending for the 2020 election, playing down longtime relationships with groups in Washington and instead preparing to pour **$100 million into key states to help defeat President Donald Trump.ii
The group, the Democracy Alliance, wants to fund everything from programs combating social media disinformation to candidate training sessions leading up to the election and the next round of redistricting, according to a new three-year spending plan described to donors during a recent members-only meeting at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Texas.
[…]
The Democracy Alliance’s next wave of spending will include “funding programs that listen to voters’ concerns and amplify the policy records — and harm — that the Trump administration and conservatives have caused in Americans’ lives,” according to a spending plan reviewed by POLITICO.
New Media Ventures, which invests in politically-minded tech startups, is helming the group’s digital organizing, spurred by concerns among Democrats that the GOP and the Trump campaign deployed better digital advertising and organizing tactics in 2016. The Democracy Alliance is aiming to funnel more than $5 million into digital spending in 2019, on top of the $100 million in state spending.
“We view our job, generally, as helping to build the infrastructure that is in place for an eventual nominee,” said LaMarche. “But we’re not doing our job well if we don’t have our eye on the long term.”
In addition to grassroots organizing and digital politicking, the group’s top priorities include candidate and staff training and initiatives on voting rights. It will also include raising $12 million for organizations led by Native Americans to mobilize voters in Native American communities.
“Our donors are keenly aware of both the digital tactics and level of disruption that are being utilized both in this country by the far right and by foreign entities, said Kim Anderson, executive vice president of the Democracy Alliance, adding that donors are motivated by a lack of faith “in the Trump Administration to engage with actors that put our democracy at risk.”
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FANTASTIC!!!
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Here’s what T’s campaign positioning is going for - Calling everything having to do with Russia Investigation - 'Spygate," and now is the time to “Investigate the Investigator.”
It falls into that low bar of attack-mode of the opponent…much like the “lock her up” rallying cry.
I am hopeful that the Dems can bypass this, humiliate him…shame him for his wayward tactics, and inhumane treatment of immigrants, environment, reporters and his idiotic and imbecilic tendencies. Shame-techniques is what I am hearing from some Dems…as well as don’t take his bait.
For President Trump’s reelection effort, “Investigate the investigators!” is becoming the new “Lock her up!”
Trump and his allies, seeking to amplify claims that the FBI spied on his 2016 campaign, are seizing on news reports and statements by Attorney General William P. Barr to launch a political rallying cry they view as an antidote to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s findings.
Dismissed by critics as an outlandish conspiracy theory, so-called “spygate” is fast becoming a central feature of the Trump campaign as it seeks to go on offense in the wake of a report that identified 10 instances of potential obstruction of justice by Trump. The campaign is publicly calling for criminal investigations into former FBI officials, making “spygate” fundraising pitches and selling spy-themed merchandise. The goal, officials said, is to turn the Russia probe into a political winner that could help him secure another term.
…Trump has long sought to paint his political opponents as criminally suspect, spending much of 2016 leading “Lock her up!” chants that targeted his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
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