Pete Buttigieg (via Facebook) Some news items you might have missed: • Deadline: Pete Buttigieg will appear at another Fox News town hall on January 26, a little more than a week before the Iowa caucuses, with Chris Wallace as moderator. This will be Buttigieg’s second Fox News town hall, having headlined a well-received event last May. He’s one of six Democratic candidates to appear at town halls on the network. • Instinct Magazine: A Canadian man has been busted for mailing an envelope filled with white powder – and a note with an indication that the powder was anthrax – to New York City East Village spot Nowhere Bar. • CBS News: A new CBS News poll ties Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden and Mayor Pete Buttigieg for the lead in Iowa. Sanders, Biden and Buttigieg are tied at 23%, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren comes fourth with 16% and Sen. Amy Klobuchar falls in fifth at 7%. • Washington Post: Rep. Duncan D. Hunter will resign from Congress effective January 13, more than one month after the California Republican pleaded guilty in federal court to misusing campaign funds. The six-term congressman is scheduled to be sentenced in March. He faces a maximum of five years in prison, although he is expected to serve less than one year. • Politico: Donald Trump’s reelection campaign will spend $10 million on 60 seconds of television ad time during the Super Bowl next month as the president ramps up his push for a second term. • New York Times: Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell informed Republicans on Tuesday that he planned to move forward with President Trump’s impeachment trial without committing to additional witnesses or admitting new evidence, over the objections of Democrats who are insisting on both.
“Whoever heard of a trial without witnesses and documents? It’s unprecedented.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says he and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “have very different visions about what it means to conduct a fair trial.” https://t.co/vTZuyr7OFtpic.twitter.com/yYlmHPU6b9 — ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 7, 2020
Former Vice President Joe Biden leads the field of Democratic presidential hopefuls by double digits a month ahead of the Iowa caucuses, according to a Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released exclusively to The Hill.
The poll shows Biden registering 30 percent support among Democrats nationally. In a relatively distant second place is Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who notched 17 percent in the survey.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is lingering in the No. 3 spot with 12 percent support. No other candidate registered double-digit support. Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg came in fourth place at 7 percent, while former tech executive Andrew Yang notched 3 percent support.
Still, recent polls in early primary and caucus states show a more fluid race.
An Emerson College survey of likely Iowa Democratic caucusgoers released last month showed Biden and Sanders in a statistical tie for first place, with 23 percent and 22 percent support, respectively.
And a WBUR-MassINC poll of New Hampshire Democrats from December showed Buttigieg and Biden knotted at the top with 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively. Sanders wasn’t far behind in that survey, with 15 percent support.
And here’s some eye-popping news – former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has tied Warren for third place in the latest Hill/HarrisX poll:
The former New York City mayor is now in a dead heat for third place with top-tier candidate, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who also received 11 percent support. Biden, meanwhile, continues to lead the Democratic field with 28 percent followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at 16 percent.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg campaigns in Iowa Pete Buttigieg raised more than $24.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to the New York Times. Buttigieg’s campaign announced it had now received more than two million donations from more than 733,000 people since he entered the race, and 326,000 people had donated to the South Bend mayor’s effort in the fourth quarter. Since entering the race, the 37-year-old White House hopeful has raised more than $76 million. CBS News reports Sen. Bernie Sanders scored $34.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. Sanders’ best fundraising month was December, when he collected 900,000 donations totaling over $18 million. Still seeking a last-minute boost in the polls that would allow him to qualify for the January Democratic debate, entrepreneur Andrew Yang’s presidential campaign announced he had raised $16.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 putting him among the Democratic field’s top five fund-raisers. And over in Trump Land, the Donald’s re-election campaign pulled in $46 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. The Trump campaign begins the 2020 re-election year with cash on hand of $102.7 million. Update – Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s campaign announced the Democrat from Hawaii raised $3.4 million in the last quarter of 2019. The New York Times reports Joe Biden reported raising $22.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, a significant improvement from his lackluster fund-raising performance in the previous three months.
Former HUD Secretary Julián CastroThe New York Timesreports former housing secretary Julián Castro is ending his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Julián Castro, the former housing secretary who was the only Latino candidate in the Democratic primary, said Thursday he would end his bid for the presidency, capping a yearlong campaign where he struggled in polls but remained a policy pacesetter on immigration and fighting poverty.
Throughout his campaign, Mr. Castro, 45, a native of San Antonio who spent five years as its mayor, portrayed himself as an unapologetic liberal who was shaped by his humble beginnings and had been overlooked by the press. Though he created some memorable moments as he championed progressive policy and challenged his rivals on the campaign trail, Mr. Castro failed to catch on with voters and was unable to break into the upper tier of a crowded primary field. His exit is the latest departure of a candidate of color from a field that began as the most racially diverse ever in a Democratic primary.
“I’ve determined that it simply isn’t our time,” Mr. Castro said in a nearly four-minute video message released by his campaign, which included a montage from his year on the trail, including visits to the border and a homeless encampment in Oakland. “Today it’s with a heavy heart, and profound gratitude, that I will suspend my campaign for president.”
It’s with profound gratitude to all of our supporters that I suspend my campaign for president today.
I’m so proud of everything we’ve accomplished together. I’m going to keep fighting for an America where everyone counts—I hope you’ll join me in that fight. pic.twitter.com/jXQLJa3AdC
I’m going to miss seeing my friend @JulianCastro on the trail. Thank you, Julián, for bringing your ideas and leadership to this race—your voice and campaign were invaluable in sticking up for underrepresented communities and pushing the field forward. pic.twitter.com/qVaMi9X6gd
Thank you @JulianCastro for being a powerful voice, for proposing bold and progressive plans, and for using your campaign to help people who need it now. You made this race stronger—and you will continue to be a leader in our party and our country for many years to come. pic.twitter.com/SWlsDC9HcS
Mayor Pete Buttigieg campaigns in Iowa After taking lots of hits and attacks for his time working at global consultancy firm McKinsey, skepticism over his appeal to black voters, and the whole ‘wine cave’ thing, Democratic White House hopeful Mayor Pete Buttigieg is still surging in Iowa. From Iowa Starting Line:
Despite the new scrutiny, Buttigieg has seen his crowd sizes in Iowa swell this month, including five separate events with over 1,000 people each. Among those were a statement-making 2,000-person rally in Coralville, right in Iowa’s most liberal county, and a West Des Moines event this weekend that brought out 1,200.
Between those, he took a tour of rural counties and mid-size towns, often producing turnouts that local Democratic leaders say are the largest they’ve seen since Barack Obama’s 2008 caucus campaign. Around 500 showed up in Ottumwa and Fort Madison each for Buttigieg yesterday, and over 240 packed a theater in Centerville, a town of 5,500 near the Missouri border.
The Starting Line notes that many Iowans they spoke to have heard very little, or aren’t concerned about, issues with his time at McKinsey. Here’s what some of the town hall attendees had to say about the 37-year-old openly gay candidate: • Julie Gentz, 69, retired educator: “I just need some hope. I feel like this is a Kennedy moment … It’s a Kennedy moment in one respect, and it’s an Obama moment in the fact that he’s not just your run-of-the-mill politician.” • Laura Miller, 30: “He has his way of uniting all of us from different backgrounds and cultures, and just reminding us that we’re all human.” • Roger Mills, retiree: “I think he’s a person who has a great deal of spirituality in him, and I think he’s a person who can lead us into a different form of consciousness of peace and love. He quotes passages from the Bible. That intrigues me. It gives me hope.” • Tom Lucas, veteran: “He speaks from the heart because he is a veteran. It’s not a canned speech from some speechwriter. He’s worn the boots, he’s part of the brotherhood.” The most recent poll, from Iowa State University, shows Buttigieg with a three-point lead over his fellow Democrats. RealClearPolitics average of Iowa polls shows him up 2 points. Also, two of the other top tier candidates – Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) – may find themselves locked down in Washington as part of the jury in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. That could leave a wider opening for Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden to campaign across Iowa in the weeks leading up to the February 3 caucuses.
Jim Newman (via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Woofy Jim Newman’s words of wisdom for the holidays – “Don’t blend in.” Follow the hunky singer on Instagram here. • Metro: A teenager who attacked a lesbian couple on a night bus because they refused to kiss was sentenced to an eight-month youth referral order (parole), 12 hours’ reparation and ordered to pay £220 in fines and prosecution costs. • NBC News: A Texas grand jury on Friday indicted a former Fort Worth police officer for murder after fatally shooting a young woman who had been babysitting her nephew at home. According to police and body camera footage, the officer didn’t identify himself before shooting and killing the victim through a window. • KIT212: Kenneth rounds up the what’s what in gay publications across the country. • FiveThirtyEight: The four candidates leading the polls nationally and in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg — have qualified for the seventh Democratic debate in January, as well as Sen. Amy Klobuchar who has hit at least 5 percent in just enough polls and her campaign says she has the donors. • Instinct: A woofy bear in the front row of last night’s Democratic debate stole the show for many Twitter gays. • Washington Post: After meeting privately in July 2017 with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin at the G20 summit, Trump grew more insistent that Ukraine worked to defeat him, according to multiple former officials familiar with his assertions. The president’s intense resistance to the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia systematically interfered in the 2016 campaign led many of his advisers to think that Putin himself helped spur the idea of Ukraine’s culpability. • The Gaily Grind: A 14-year-old girl is in the hospital after an Iowa woman struck her with her SUV in a hit-and-run incident resulting in attempted murder charges after the woman behind the wheel said she did it because the teenager is “a Mexican.” • Lip-Sync This: Billy Porter has had quite the year after slaying on the red carpets throughout the awards season, picking up an Emmy, and now snagging a 2nd Golden Globe nomination for his work on the ground-breaking FX series, POSE. But he ain’t done yet! Check out this celebrity lip-sync of his #1 Billboard Dance Club hit, “Love Yourself.” The celebrity lip-sync features Porter’s POSE co-stars MJ Rodriguez, Ryan Jamal Swain, Dyllon Burnside, Jeremy McClain, and Jason A. Rodriguez; Kinky Boots cast and creatives Cyndi Lauper, Jerry Mitchell, Stark Sands, Annaleigh Ashford, Lena Hall, and the Ogunquit Playhouse cast of the smash hit musical; the Broadway cast of Ain’t Too Proud; along with Kelly Ripa, Debra Messing, Lin Manuel Miranda, Patina Miller, Nathan Lee Graham, Miss J, Peppermint, and designer Christian Siriano.
President Trump is discussing with his advisers the possibility of sitting out the general election debates in 2020 because of his misgivings about the commission that oversees them, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
Mr. Trump has told advisers that he does not trust the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonprofit entity that sponsors the debates, the two people said.
Less of a concern for Mr. Trump than who will emerge as the Democratic nominee is which media personality will be chosen as the debate moderator, according to people in contact with him.
The latest Monmouth University polling on the Democratic race for the 2020 presidential nomination shows former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders leading the pack of contenders. Biden leads with 26 percent support with Sanders statistically within the margin of error at 21 percent. Sen. Elizabeth Warren trails Biden by nine points at 17 percent, and Mayor Pete Buttigieg is in single digits with 8 percent support. Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has already moved up to 5 percent support thanks to heavy campaign ad spending. As I’ve said on The Randy Report before, I don’t put much stock into national polls because the race will be won in individual states. But I do find them to be interesting as a snapshot in time in gauging something of a ‘national mood.’ The current RealClearPolitics average of polls shows Biden averaging 28.6 percent nationally with Sanders (his nearest competitor) 11 points behind at 17 percent.
Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders continue to hold the top two spots in the Democratic 2020 primary field, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren is in third place, according to a new Monmouth University poll. https://t.co/ix9qvoe71Ypic.twitter.com/KoZBGsyGRt
Mayor Pete Buttigieg on the campaign trail (via Buttigieg campaign/FB) The New York Timesreports the political action committee that supports liberal veterans running for office has endorsed Mayor Pete Buttigieg in his run for the Democratic presidential nomination:
VoteVets, the political action committee that backs liberal veterans running for office, has endorsed Pete Buttigieg for president, the first major organization to support him.
The endorsement brings Mr. Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., and a former Navy officer who served in Afghanistan, new defenders in a 2020 Democratic presidential contest that has seen better known candidates drop out as polling shows early-state voters coalescing around the four leading candidates.
Jon Soltz, the co-founder and chairman of VoteVets, said that other campaigns weren’t taking on Mr. Buttigieg directly but that they were using opposition research to try and “hold back his momentum.”
We are PROUD to endorse Mayor @PeteButtigieg for President, today, on behalf of our 700,000 veterans, military families and civilian supporters. Pete has the experience to lead, and what it takes to beat Donald Trump! Read more here: https://t.co/uBYdWeU3GEpic.twitter.com/4qgEZLagYu
I will be a commander in chief who knows what it means to be sent abroad on the orders of a president—one who will keep America’s promise to those who’ve kept theirs. Thank you, @VoteVets. It is an honor to have your endorsement. https://t.co/etexaqBSOh
Sen. Kamala Harris suspends her presidential campaign Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) has announced she is suspending her campaign for the Democratic nomination for president. In a statement posted to Medium, the junior senator from California gets down to brass tacks quickly: “My campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue. I’m not a billionaire. I can’t fund my own campaign. And as the campaign has gone on, it’s become harder and harder to raise the money we need to compete.” “In good faith, I can’t tell you, my supporters and volunteers, that I have a path forward if I don’t believe I do,” she continues. “So, to you my supporters, it is with deep regret — but also with deep gratitude — that I am suspending my campaign today.”
It has been the honor of my life to be your candidate. We will keep up the fight. pic.twitter.com/RpZhx3PENl
Harris adds, however, that she will keep fighting for “what this campaign has been about. Justice for The People. All the people.” She goes on to list the many issues she made central to her candidacy including inadequate teacher pay, gun violence, unconstitutional state abortion laws, and speaking to the experiences of Black women and people of color. The senator closes her statement expressing gratitude to all of her supporters, friends, husband, and family, before adding: “And I want to be clear: although I am no longer running for President, I will do everything in my power to defeat Donald Trump and fight for the future of our country and the best of who we are.” Harris has been a longtime ally to the LGBTQ community going back to her days as Attorney General of California when she denounced her state’s Proposition 8 prior to its passage. She refused as AG to defend the homophobic law, which led to the Supreme Court ruling in 2013 that anti-LGBTQ groups seeking to defend the measure had no standing to do so. As a result, Proposition 8 was overturned. Harris also urged the California state legislature to ban the use of ‘gay panic’ or ‘trans panic’ legal defenses in crimes against LGBTQ people. As a senator, she supports the Equality Act and for allowing trans people equal access to public accommodations. In 2018, she introduced the Do No Harm Act which would prohibit the federal Religious Freedom From Restoration Act from being used against the LGBTQ community. She also introduced legislation to ensure that LGBTQ Americans were properly counted in the census. Key LGBTQ issues cited on her campaign site include:
Rollback the Trump/Pence hate agenda by reversing Trump’s actions to harm the LGBTQ+ community, including the transgender service ban and guidelines to protect students from discrimination and harassment.
Establish a Chief Advocate for LGBTQ+ affairs in the White House to ensure that LGBTQ+ Americans are represented in hiring and policy priorities across the government.
Fight for full equality for the LGBTQ+ community by passing the Equality Act and other laws to ensure that everyone is safe and supported at work, at school, and throughout their communities.
I like Harris a lot, and see a huge career in front of her. I think she instantly becomes a front-runner for Vice President, or Attorney General in the next (Democratic) administration. (source: Medium)
• Washington Post: Rep. Duncan D. Hunter will resign from Congress effective January 13, more than one month after the California Republican pleaded guilty in federal court to misusing campaign funds. The six-term congressman is scheduled to be sentenced in March. He faces a maximum of five years in prison, although he is expected to serve less than one year. • Politico: Donald Trump’s reelection campaign will spend $10 million on 60 seconds of television ad time during the Super Bowl next month as the president ramps up his push for a second term. • New York Times: Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell informed Republicans on Tuesday that he planned to move forward with President Trump’s impeachment trial without committing to additional witnesses or admitting new evidence, over the objections of Democrats who are insisting on both. 
The New York Times 
