Sanders Urges Paychecks For Laid Off Furloughed In Fourth Coronavirus Stimulus
Gary Grumbach
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is not pleased with the job President Trump is doing handling the coronavirus pandemic that has cost nearly 13,000 American lives, so he is urging his congressional colleagues in the legislative branch to take the lead.
In an op-ed published Wednesday in the British newspaper The Guardian, published hours before he suspended his presidential campaign, Sanders wrote he believes President Trump is incapable of providing leadership.”
“This is a frightening and devastating time for our country, and the world. Never before in our lifetimes have we had to deal with both a public health pandemic and an economic meltdown, Sanders wrote.
As the focus of the Sanders campaign shifts to Coronavirus response, the senator is out with a list of priorities he hopes makes it into the next congressional package, which is already being discussed on Capitol Hill.
This includes intensifying the use of the Defense Production Act, which Sanders says Congress should explicitly authorize to compel the private sector to produce more products needed by medical personnel across the country. We cannot rely on Trump to do it, Sanders said.
Trump has invoked the DPA on a handful of occasions, but Democrats have criticized him for not going further.
Sanders also wants to ensure that every worker in America continues to receive their full paycheck and benefits, through the duration of the pandemic.
Virginia Rep Wexton Looks To Hold Onto Suburban Women In November
Liz Brown-Kaiser
WASHINGTON With the presidential race in full swing through Super Tuesday, congressional incumbents seeking re-election are also gearing up their campaigns with suburban women in mind to replicate their midterm victories. A record number of winning female candidates helped Democrats flip 43 Republican seats and reclaim the House majority in 2018, many supported by overwhelming margins from a voting bloc that has recently swung hard away from the GOP.
There are encouraging signs for Democrats. A November NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that President Donald Trump faces erosion in his support among women. Sixty-seven percent of college-educated women said they are certain they will vote against Trump while just 22 percent of women with a degree said they will definitely back the president.
One congresswoman running for re-election in a battleground state is Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton, who defeated two-term Republican incumbent Barbara Comstock handily in Virginias 10th Congressional District in 2018.
Wextons district spans the growing suburbs of Washington, D.C. Her state is a major focus of presidential candidates seeking to garner Virginias 99 pledged delegates at stake on Super Tuesday.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump statewide by five points and the president also lost Loudoun County, a critical part of Wexton’s district, by nearly 17 points.
Wexton herself says those voters are moving even more towards the Democratic column.
Joe Biden Picks Up Yet More Momentum With Endorsements From Buttigieg Klobuchar Beto Orourke
All along the way weve been valuing different geographies in terms of where we can win delegates, and planned our delegate and endorsements strategy around that, said a senior Biden campaign official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to expand upon the campaigns strategy.
The official said that having the support of so many key lawmakers who represent these districts is especially useful, since they can help mobilize their own political organizations and offer insights that can supplement or in some cases act in place of Bidens own campaign teams.
Rep. Marc Veasey said he has been visiting churches and attending community meetings to push the vote for Biden. And he said the endorsement of CBC members like him pays dividends beyond his districts lines, as more and more African American voters move into suburban parts of Texas.
The people that live in suburban areas that are not in our district that are African American, they look to us to see what were doing, he said. The influence in our districts and around our districts is very strong.
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Sanders Campaign Ramps Up Virtual Organizing Ahead Of Potential New York Primary
Gary Grumbach
BURLINGTON, VT Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign has shifted to entirely virtual organizing while Americans socially distance due to the coronavirus outbreak but the campaign put out a release Tuesday touting New York state staffing and volunteer organizing. While some states have moved their primaries due to the outbreak, New York’s Democratic Primary is still set for April 28.
The Sanders campaign says they hosted a volunteer call with thousands of New York supporters this week, signing up more than 1,300 call and text shifts. The campaign is using their proprietary “BERN” app and old-fashioned phone banking, as well as organizing “Digital house parties,” while New Yorkers are holed up at home.
While the Sanders campaign shifts resources to future states, the campaign continues to say nothing has changed since last week’s statement that the candidate is assessing the status of his campaign and having conversations with supporters on a path forward.
Sanders has been focused this week on coronavirus, holding multiple campaign live-streams on the topic with experts and congressional colleagues, raising millions for charities involved in coronavirus aid, and releasing a $2 trillion plan of his own.
Biden Campaign Adds Ad Buy In Post
DALLAS Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign is amping up for its post-Super Tuesday ad campaign.
Biden’s new buy in a trio of states that vote after Super Tuesday is part of a $1.5 million investment the campaign has devoted to spending in Missouri, Michigan and Mississippi. The ad will air in the states’ largest markets including Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids and Lansing in Michigan Kansas City and St. Louis in Missouri and Jackson, Meridien and Hattiesburg in Mississippi.
While the ad buy is new, the ad it’s showing isn’t. The ad, entitled “Service” evoke supportive words from former President Barack Obama about Biden’s lifetime commitment to improving life for Americans.
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Georgia District Attorney Is Investigating Trumps Call To Overturn Election
You know, I say, sometimes jokingly, but theres no joke about it: Ive been in two elections. I won them both and the second one, I won much bigger than the first. OK. Almost 75 million people voted for our campaign, the most of any incumbent president by far in the history of our country, 12 million more people than four years ago.
And I was told by the real pollsters â we do have real pollsters â they know that we were going to do well and we were going to win. What I was told, if I went from 63 million, which we had four years ago, to 66 million, there was no chance of losing. Well, we didnt go to 66, we went to 75 million, and they say we lost. We didnt lose.
And by the way, does anybody believe that Joe had 80 million votes? Does anybody believe that? He had 80 million computer votes. Its a disgrace. Theres never been anything like that. You could take third-world countries. Just take a look. Take third-world countries. Their elections are more honest than what weve been going through in this country. Its a disgrace. Its a disgrace.
Even when you look at last night. Theyre all running around like chickens with their heads cut off with boxes. Nobody knows what the hell is going on. Theres never been anything like this.
We will not let them silence your voices. Were not going to let it happen, Im not going to let it happen.
Thank you.
And he looked at Mike Pence, and I hope Mike is going to do the right thing. I hope so. I hope so.
Dnc Reserves $22 Million In Youtube Ads For General Election
Ben Kamisar
WASHINGTON The Democratic National Committee announced on Monday that it will reserve $22 million in YouTube ads ahead of the general election as the party looks to fight President Trump’s fundraising and online campaign behemoth.
The ads will start in September in Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and then in October in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, Maine, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia.
While the party hasn’t announced the content of the ads yet, it said in a release announcing the effort that the strategy is aimed at boosting turnout for the party’s presidential nominee as well as the entire Democratic ticket.
Campaigns and political groups typically get better rates for ads when they make earlier investments.
Now more than ever, its critical that we reach voters where they are online and this digital program will help us mobilize the voters we need to make Donald Trump a one-term president, DNC Chair Tom Perez said in a statement.
By making these kinds of historic, early investments in our battlegrounds and campaign infrastructure, the DNC is putting our eventual nominee and Democrats running at every level of the ballot in the strongest possible position to secure victory in November.
“The pandemic has only reinforced the importance of communicating with voters across a wide range of online channels and utilizing a variety of innovative, data-driven digital tactics,” Stevenson said.
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‘delegate Math’: Inside The Biden Campaign’s Super Tuesday Strategy
Mike Memoli and Marianna Sotomayor
OAKLAND, Calif. Joe Biden never expected a coronation, and his campaign prepared accordingly.
Despite his status as a former vice president and widely-admired party elder, his campaign knew the crowded field and ideological diversity of the party would pose headwinds for him and suggested a long, bruising battle for the nomination. The fact that Biden was never a prolific fundraiser also meant what resources the campaign had would need to be invested with great precision.
So the Biden campaigns approach to Super Tuesday perhaps best illustrates what became a mantra of his top strategists: if Andrew Yang was the math candidate, Biden would be the delegate math candidate.
Watch Elizabeth Warren’s Full South Carolina Primary Speech
After placing third in Iowa in early February, Warren has not won any new delegates since leaving her fourth overall in the field for delegate totals.
But the campaign points to the $29 million they say they raised in February means she has the ability to stay in the race. The campaign says their movement is now 1.25 million grassroots donors strong, with an average donation of $31.
Warrens team, like the other campaigns in a similar position, argues that Super Tuesday will greatly winnow this field.” And, they say that all of their Super Tuesday staffers and organizers will be re-deployed after Tuesday to states voting later in the calendar.
The memo says that as the dust settles after March 3rd, the reality of this race will be clear: no candidate will likely have a path to the majority of delegates needed to win an outright claim to the Democratic nomination.
The campaign also says it has increased Super Tuesday ad spending and that theyre also spending for states down the road. According to Lau, theyve made more than $4.1 million in paid media investments in Wisconsin, as well as later March states with a special, six-figure focus on black-owned radio stations across the March states.
Vice President Mike Pence says that when it comes to stopping the spread of coronavirus in the United States, “it’s all hands on deck.”
Watch “Meet the Press with Chuck Todd” Sunday at 9 a.m. ET or check local listings.
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Trump Holds Campaign Rally In New Hampshire Ahead Of Primary
But unlike in Iowa and New Hampshire, there is no GOP nominating contest in Nevada this year. The state party decided to cancel it in an effort to consolidate support for the president, working closely with the Republican National Committee to avoid any potential chaos at the convention in Charlotte this summer.
Senior campaign officials continue to make the case that while Democrats battle it out in search of their eventual nominee with the rise of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg complicating party unity on that side of the aisle the presidents campaign can capitalize nine months out from the general election, with no significant primary challenger.
Trump Campaign Releases New Mobile App Tooled For Virtual Volunteering
Monica Alba
WASHINGTON After teasing it for seven months, President Donald Trumps re-election campaign finally launched a new phone application to rally supporters on Thursday that has been re-imagined for the virtual political age.
The digital tool was originally pitched as a key way to organize before the coronavirus pandemic brought a traditional presidential race to a halt. Now, it allows volunteers to work remotely and earn points for signed memorabilia and special treatment at future events when they return.
Campaign manager Brad Parscale, the architect behind the mobile app, suggested that the new online portal will allow Trump supporters to get the facts straight from the president and called it groundbreaking” contrary to “other lame political apps youve seen.
The Trump 2020 app also pushes users to check out the online broadcasts the campaign is holding nightly after each White House coronavirus task force briefing. The short, 30-minute virtual shows have attracted millions of views, per senior officials.
Once a supporter logs in, a screen reads: As a reward for helping us fight against socialist Democrats you can earn items like Expedited Entry and special event access, even a picture with President Trump!
Its unclear exactly when the Trump campaign will return to the trail this year with large events but discussions are underway for rallies to begin again later this summer and fall ahead of Novembers election.
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Trump Campaign Renews Focus On Hunter Biden In Controversial China Ad
Monica Alba
WASHINGTON As President Trump’s campaign gears up for a general election face-off with apparent Democratic nominee Joe Biden, it’s also reintroducing attacks against the former vice presidents son and his business dealings with China.
In a new digital ad released on Thursday, the presidents re-election team is attempting to paint Biden as lenient on China when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic and travel ban, and specifically highlights a trip to Beijing that Hunter Biden joined his father on in 2013. The two-pronged approach is an effort to weaken Biden, while using his sons work with overseas companies to create a perception of corruption.
During Americas crisis, Biden protected Chinas feelings or perhaps Chinas investment? the text on the screen reads, spliced between news reports of the visit and Biden praising various Chinese officials, including President Xi Jinping.
Beyond the 60-second online spot, the Trump campaign and its allies have started to highlight more news reports about the former vice presidents trip, which came under scrutiny again as the impeachment investigation began last fall after the president tried to dig up damaging information against the Bidens amid unproven allegations related to Hunters work with a Ukrainian energy company.
The Biden campaign is now calling for the spot to be removed.
This is utterly disgusting and should be pulled immediately, Biden spokesman Andrew Bates tweeted.
Biden Holds Big Lead In New South Carolina Primary Poll
Ben Kamisar
WASHINGTON Former Vice President Joe Biden holds a 20-point lead over Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders in a new Monmouth University poll of South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary, with 36 percent to Sanders’ 16 percent.
With the Palmetto State primary this coming Saturday, philanthropist and billionaire Tom Steyer sits at 15 percent, the only other candidate to hit double-digits in the poll.
On which side of the 15-percent mark candidates like Steyer and Sanders hit will be important, if Saturday’s results hem close to the poll’s findings. That’s because 19 of the state’s delegates to the Democratic National Convention are allocated proportionately by the statewide results of the primary, but are only split amongst the candidates who reach that 15-percent threshold.
Behind the top three candidates in the poll are Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren with 8 percent, former South bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg with 6 percent, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar with 4 percent and Hwaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard with 1 percent.
Fifteen percent of likely primary voters told Monmouth that they were undecided, and only 40 percent of likely primary voters said they were set on their choice.
When just looking at black voters, who typically make up the majority of the South Carolina Democratic primary electorate, Biden holds an even bigger lead. He has support from 45 percent of black voters, compared to Steyer’s 17 percent and Sanders’ 13 percent.
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Dem Super Pac Launches Ads Hitting Trump On Coronavirus Response
Ben Kamisar
WASHINGTON Priorities USA Action, the biggest Democratic super PAC working to deny President Trump re-election, is out with a new ad campaign that criticizes the president’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
The group released two television ads Monday one on coronavirus and one aimed at contrasting Trump with former Vice President Joe Biden, who is leading the Democratic primary race.
The first spot includes various comments of President Trump talking about the virus over a span of months run one after another as a graphic shows the number of coronavirus cases in America rising exponentially.
“The coronavirus…this is their new hoax…we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China…One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear…When you have 15 people…and within a couple of days, it’s going to be close to down to zero,” Trump can be heard saying in those spliced-together comments.
The spot then ends with video of Trump telling reporters on March 13 that “I don’t take responsibility at all” when asked about the delays in testing.
The second television spots paints a dismal picture of the current situation, “Thousands infected, an economy in free fall, and government unprepared,” before showing that same clip of Trump saying he doesn’t take responsibility for the test-kit shortage.
Priorities also unveiled two digital ads along similar lines.
