Category: 2020 election

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With No Results From Iowa (Still) Candidates Go For Positive Spin

Pete Buttigieg in Iowa (screen capture)
The day after the rather inauspicious ‘first in the nation’ Iowa caucuses, there’s still no results to point to. The app that was created for precincts to report their results failed to work, and so folks in charge attempted to phone-in results to the Democratic party powers-that-be. And the phone lines jammed. The party says the delay is due to “inconsistencies.” So, everyone is waiting…and waiting. As the candidates move on to New Hampshire, Iowa loses its chance to crown an emerging victor and candidates lose their moment in the sun. Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, according to several sources, did well but with no official tallies, they kind of got robbed of their moment. If anything, former Vice President Joe Biden (who we hear might not have had such a great night) lucks out with the waters being so muddied. And, folks took umbrage with Buttigieg telling his supporters “We are going on to New Hampshire victorious!” My take is: Iowa is about setting a narrative, and so since Iowa Dems couldn’t get it done, Mayor Pete was setting his own by putting a positive spin on the night. Let’s face it – a year ago, no one expected Pete to be ranked at the top of the competing Dems. So, if he ends up in first, second or third place in terms of Iowa, he’s certainly surprised a lot of people. Here’s his speech to supporters last night.

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Final Iowa Poll Cancelled After Polling Mistake

L-R Sen. Bernie Sanders, Mayor Pete Buttigieg
Bernie Sanders supporters, of course, believe it’s a conspiracy against a Bernie. From USA Today: A highly anticipated release of the Iowa Poll, one of the most respected political surveys in the nation, was canceled Saturday night  ahead of the Iowa caucuses after Pete Buttigieg’s campaign complained that his name had been omitted by a poll interviewer. “The Iowa Poll was founded in 1943,” Carol Hunter, executive editor of the Register, said in an interview Saturday. “It’s built its reputation over many decades for accuracy, and we feel the utmost responsibility to uphold that reputation.” CNN did an internal investigation and found that an operator had enlarged the font on their computer screen, cutting off Buttigieg’s name, which had been at the bottom.  

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Bloomberg Would Repeal Tax Cuts For Wealthy

L-R Mike Bloomberg, Donald Trump
From the New York Times:

Former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York unveiled a plan on Saturday that would raise an estimated $5 trillion in new tax revenue from high earners and corporations, a proposal that would almost certainly raise his personal tax bill but is less aggressive than those from his most liberal rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination. The proposal includes a repeal of President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for high earners, along with a new 5 percent “surcharge” on incomes above $5 million per year. It would raise capital gains taxes for Americans earning more than $1 million a year and maintain a limit on federal deductions of state and local tax payments set under the 2017 law, which some Democrats have pushed to eliminate.

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Pete Buttigieg Endorsed By Equality California And Silver State Equality

Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization, and its Nevada-based affiliate Silver State Equality announced their endorsement of Mayor Pete Buttigieg for President of the United States on Thursday. The decision was reached unanimously by the groups’ joint presidential endorsement committee following a lengthy process that included a detailed questionnaire, thorough evaluation of the candidates’ viability and policy positions, staff engagement and interviews with the candidates.

“From his comprehensive plan to end the HIV epidemic by 2030 to his commitment to make our schools safe and supportive for LGBTQ students to his specific funding and policy priorities to protect and empower the transgender community — especially transgender women of color, who face an epidemic of violence and persecution — Mayor Pete Buttigieg has the boldest, most comprehensive agenda to achieve full, lived equality for all LGBTQ people of any presidential candidate in the nation’s history. “While we did not endorse Mayor Pete simply because he’s gay, the historic nature of his candidacy has already had a transformational impact on the LGBTQ community. Electing the first openly LGBTQ president will send a message to millions of LGBTQ youth across the country that no dreams are too big and no leadership position is too high.

For the first time, California’s primary will be held on Super Tuesday in March, and California voters will begin casting mail-in ballots on Monday, February 3, the same day as the Iowa Caucus. The 2020 Nevada Caucus will be held on Saturday, February 22. (via press release)

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Rising In The Polls, Bloomberg Courts LGBTQ Voters

Former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg (image via campaign)
Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg took part in a conference call with LGBTQ journalists on Tuesday as he introduced his policy plans to support LGBTQ Americans if elected president. Bloomberg told reporters he usually doesn’t jump on media calls when releasing new policy proposals, but he explained, “This is an issue that really does mean a lot to me, and so I wanted you to hear it directly from me today.”

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As Mayor, Mike launched ambitious affordable housing projects that helped more New Yorkers gain access to housing and build house wealth. As President, he intends to do the same. Today, he proposed two programs to expand and reform affordable housing and economic opportunity by: ✅ Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 ✅ Expanding funding for Low-Income Housing Credit ✅ Launching a competition that awards $10 billion to municipalities that offer the best solutions to restrictive zoning and other obstacles ✅ Reforming the Earned Income Tax Credit ✅ Increasing the Child Tax Credit to make it fully refundable and phase it in faster Mike is determined to wage a war on poverty that is more innovative and effective, not business-as-usual, and engages trailblazing local leaders.

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Bloomberg shared his 10-page LGBTQ platform which broadly covers five points: 1. Ensure equal treatment of LGBTQ+ Americans in the workplace and in their communities. Bloomberg promises, like most of the Democratic White House hopefuls, to support and fight for passage of The Equality Act which would add LGBTQ protections to existing civil rights laws in regard to housing, employment, education, public accommodation, and federally funded programs. He also supports the Do No Harm Act, which would amend the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to clarify that it does not allow religious exemptions from generally applicable anti-discrimination laws. Mike will also end the Trump administration’s practice of granting federally funded organizations a license to discriminate against people based on their religious beliefs, sexual orientation or gender identity. 2.  Address disparities in health care coverage and treatment for LGBTQ+ Americans and end the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030. 3.  Protect LGBTQ+ youth and families, and promote safe and inclusive schools via a new federal “Respect for All” initiative to combat bullying, harassment and discrimination in public schools. 4.  Protect LGBTQ+ Americans, especially transgender women of color, from harm in the criminal justice system and in their communities. This would include regular training for federal law enforcement in de-escalation and implicit bias to address high levels of police profiling and misconduct, including against LGBTQ+ people. 5.  Lead by example, protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ people at home and abroad which would include an increased commitment to the president’s Emergency Plan for AIDS (PEPFAR) and rescinding the Trump administration’s ban on trans individuals serving in the U.S. military.

While much of this can be accomplished through executive order, items like The Equality Act require cooperation from Congress. Bloomberg’s policy team feels there’s a strong chance that the U.S. Senate could return to Democratic control this fall, and in doing so, clear much of the path for passage of The Equality Act. In a follow-up question, I asked what path or persuasion the former mayor might use if the Senate did remain in GOP control. The answer was that as long as Donald Trump didn’t remain in the White House, Team Bloomberg feels confident there will be a “different set of political forces at play” and the “challenge would look very different.” The team also reiterated Bloomberg’s promise to continue in funding the fight for the presidency this fall even if he’s not the nominee. For more information about Bloomberg’s policy proposals regarding LGBTQ Americans, head over to MikeBloomberg.com.

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Des Moines Register Endorses Elizabeth Warren For President

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
With just over a week before the ‘first in the nation’ votes are cast in the Democratic primary for president, the Des Moines Register has endorsed Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) for president.

Each of the remaining candidates campaigning across Iowa ahead of the caucuses could make a fine president. Each would be more inclusive and thoughtful than the current occupant of the White House. Each would treat truth as something that matters. Each would conduct foreign policy by coalition building rather than by whim and tweet.

The outstanding caliber of Democratic candidates makes it difficult to choose just one.

The Des Moines Register editorial board endorses Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses as the best leader for these times.

[snip]

Warren’s competence, respect for others and status as the nation’s first female president would be a fitting response to the ignorance, sexism and xenophobia of the Trump Oval Office.

She is a thinker, a policy wonk and a hard worker. She remembers her own family’s struggles to make ends meet and her own desperation as a working mother needing child care.

She cares about people, and she will use her seemingly endless energy and passion to fight for them.

At this moment, when the very fabric of American life is at stake, Elizabeth Warren is the president this nation needs.

The editorial board also shared their thoughts on the rest of the field. RealClearPolitics’ average of polls shows Warren currently in 4th position in Iowa at 16.3 percent. Former Vice President Joe Biden leads with 20 percent, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) just behind him at 19.3 percent, and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg in third place at 16.8 percent. So, it’s a horse race, folks. Just about anyone could win the Iowa contest, but remember delegates are assigned proportionately to how well candidates do in Iowa. It’s not ‘winner take all,’ so we’ll have to see how it all shakes out.

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Hillary Clinton On Bernie: ‘Nobody Wants To Work With Him’

In an interview in advance of the upcoming 4-part docu-series for Hulu titled, Hillary, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave some pretty candid answers when asked her thoughts on Sen. Bernie Sanders. You’ll recall Sanders held on to the bitter end in the hunt for the Democratic presidential nomination. Many felt his eventual ‘endorsement’ of Hillary was half-hearted and credit his supporters (sometimes called ‘Bernie bros’) for being part of the equation that led to her loss in the electoral college to Donald Trump. From The Hollywood Reporter:

In the doc, you’re brutally honest on Sanders: “He was in Congress for years. He had one senator support him. Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it.” That assessment still holds?

Yes, it does.

If he gets the nomination, will you endorse and campaign for him?

I’m not going to go there yet. We’re still in a very vigorous primary season. I will say, however, that it’s not only him, it’s the culture around him. It’s his leadership team. It’s his prominent supporters. It’s his online Bernie Bros and their relentless attacks on lots of his competitors, particularly the women. And I really hope people are paying attention to that because it should be worrisome that he has permitted this culture — not only permitted, [he] seems to really be very much supporting it. And I don’t think we want to go down that road again where you campaign by insult and attack and maybe you try to get some distance from it, but you either don’t know what your campaign and supporters are doing or you’re just giving them a wink and you want them to go after Kamala [Harris] or after Elizabeth [Warren]. I think that that’s a pattern that people should take into account when they make their decisions.

As the political world commented on her remarks, Clinton took to Twitter to say she “thought everyone wanted my authentic, unvarnished views,” and added that she will do whatever she can “to support our nominee.”

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Pete Buttigieg Calls ‘Bullshit’ On NY Times Journalist

Pete Buttigieg (screen capture via NY Times)
In advance of announcing its endorsement for the Democratic primary this coming Sunday, the editorial board of the New York Times sat down with White House hopefuls Sens. Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, former Vice President Joe Biden, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and business executives Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang. In this clip from the roughly 80 minute interview with Buttigieg, he’s asked why he doesn’t seem as emotive or angry as other young people. The question comes from Binyamin Appelbaum, a leading writer for the board on the subject of economics. In framing his question, Appelbaum asserts that Buttigieg has been “on the front lines of corporate price fixing,” prompting Mayor Pete to call ‘bullshit.’

You can read the full transcript of Buttigieg’s 80-minute interview here. But below is the excerpted transcript with the Times’ annotations in italics.

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Binyamin Appelbaum: If I can put this question in a slightly different way, you’ve been on the front lines of corporate downsizing. You’ve been on the front lines of corporate price fixing. Buttigieg: Whoa, whoa whoa, that’s, that’s, I’m sorry, that’s —— Appelbaum: You’ve been on the front of our misadventures in foreign policy. You’ve had direct experience in many of the things that make a lot of young people very angry about the way that this country is operating right now. You don’t seem to embody that anger. In 2003, Mr. Buttigieg — then a junior at Harvard — spoke at an antiwar rally in Cambridge, Mass., protesting the invasion of Iraq. More than a decade later, in 2014, he served seven months in Afghanistan as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserves. Buttigieg: So the proposition that I’ve been on front lines of corporate price fixing is bullshit. Just to get that out of the way. Appelbaum: You worked for a company that was fixing bread prices. Buttigieg: No, I worked for a consulting company that had a client that may have been involved in fixing or was apparently in a scandal. I was not aware of the Canadian bread pricing scandal until last night. Mr. Buttigieg’s campaign has maintained that he only recently heard of the bread price-fixing scheme and while he was working with Loblaws focused on price cuts more broadly across the grocery store chain.

BA: Do you feel the anger that many young people feel about the state of ——

Yeah, of course, because it destroyed my city. I grew up surrounded by crumbling factories and empty houses.  My city lost 30,000 of its 130,000 people, largely before I was born.

South Bend had an unemployment rate of 13 percent in 2010. Under Mayor Buttigieg, it fell to 3.2 percent, though it rose back to 4.3 percent in 2018.

So I’m under no illusions about the problems that are present in American capitalism generally and were unleashed beginning with the Reagan era specifically. And while I may not be as emotive sometimes about my sense of anger or frustration or injustice — and I would argue that some people are given more room to be emotive than others — I would not be doing any of this if I were not propelled by a level of passion.

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The editorial board’s pick to be the nominee will be revealed on the January 19 episode of “The Weekly,” The Times’s television show on FX and Hulu.

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Out Of The Race, Booker Signals He’d Consider Veep Slot

Sen. Cory Booker signals he’d consider being a vice presidential pick
Sen. Cory Booker may have dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination but he’s in no rush to endorse another candidate. Booker told “CBS This Morning” on Tuesday that he would probably endorse someone before the party’s nominating convention this summer. But for now, Booker is going to “take a breather” from the campaign trail and turn his attentions to getting reelected to his Senate seat in New Jersey this fall. Booker also shared that he’d had “no conversations” with any of the remaining candidates about being a possible vice presidential candidate. “I’m not taking anything off the table,” he said, “but my focus really is New Jersey and my state and being, with my senior Sen. Bob Menendez, the best dynamic duo America has in the Senate.”

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Sen. Cory Booker, LGBTQ Ally, Suspends Presidential Campaign

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey (image via Instagram)
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) suspends his campaign in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Via email:

Nearly one year ago, I got in the race for president because I believed to my core that the answer to the common pain Americans are feeling right now, the answer to Donald Trump’s hatred and division, is to reignite our spirit of common purpose to take on our biggest challenges and build a more just and fair country for everyone.

I’ve always believed that. I still believe that. I’m proud I never compromised my faith in these principles during this campaign to score political points or tear down others. And maybe I’m stubborn, but I’ll never abandon my faith in what we can accomplish when we join together.