Tag: Democratic Party

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Bloomberg Donating Campaign Assets To Democratic Party For Swing State Fights

Former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg (image via campaign)

Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has announced he will donate assets from his now-defunct presidential campaign – including $18 million in cash – to the Democratic Party.

The assets will be used to organize voters in general election swing states.

From the Washington Post:

The decision, which exploits a provision in campaign finance law available only to federal candidates, amounts to a shift in strategy for the billionaire political activist, who had previously promised to personally fund ground staff and offices in six states through an independent expenditure effort.

He now hopes that much of the same operation will be run through the state and national Democratic Party, which would allow for it to directly coordinate with the Democratic nominee, who he expects to be former vice president Joe Biden. An independent expenditure campaign is barred from such coordination.

Under normal circumstances, federal rules allow individuals to give a maximum of $355,000 per year to the Democratic National Committee. The party has set up a Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee with state parties, that allows wealthy individuals to give $865,000 in one year. Bloomberg has already donated the maximum allowed to this account.

But the new shift of resources means he is able to give more than 20 times the maximum a donor can give to the national party in one year, because of provisions that allow federal candidates to donate unlimited amounts of leftover money to national and state parties as they wind down their campaigns.

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Bernie Sanders Expected To Formally Endorse Hillary Clinton Next Week

The Huffington Post is reporting that Sen. Bernie Sanders is widely expected to formally endorse presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at a campaign rally to be held in New Hampshire next Tuesday.

The endorsement could help allay concerns of party unity among Democrats ahead of the nominating convention to be held later this month in Philadelphia.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Sanders sounded resolute in his support for Clinton saying, “We have got to do everything that we can to defeat Donald Trump and elect Hillary Clinton. I don’t honestly know how we would survive four years of a Donald Trump [as president].”

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Associated Press Responds To Criticism Over Declaring Hillary Clinton Dem Nominee Before Final Primaries

After the Sanders campaign criticized the Associated Press for determining Hillary Clinton to have accrued the requisite number of delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination for president, Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll issued this statement.

AP concluded that Hillary Clinton had enough delegates to clinch the nomination after a painstaking but very straightforward exercise.

We counted.

By Monday evening, 571 superdelegates had told us unequivocally that they intend to vote for Clinton at the convention. Adding that number to the delegates awarded to Clinton in primary and caucus voting to date gave her the number needed to be the presumptive nominee.

That is news, and reporting the news is what we do.

Nothing in that discourages or prevents voters in six states from exercising their right to go to the polls today and cast their ballots.

It should be noted that John Kerry was declared the Democratic nominee on March 10, 2004, based on AP superdelegate tally.

Primaries/caucuses after that date: KS, IL, AK, CO, PA, IN, NE, WV, AR, KY, OR, AL, SD, MT, and NJ.

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BREAKING: AP Declares Hillary Clinton The Democratic Presidential Nominee

BREAKING: @AP finds Clinton reached the number of delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination for president.

From the AP:

An Associated Press count of pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses and a survey of party insiders known as superdelegates shows Clinton with the overall support of the required 2,383 delegates. Now the presumptive nominee, she will formally accept her party’s nomination in July at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

Further, U.S. Political Editor David Scott for the Associated Press , explains why Hillary Clinton is now being identified by AP as the “presumptive nominee” of the Democratic Party:

It takes 2,383 delegates to win the nomination of the Democratic Party, and our count finds that Hillary Clinton has reached that number. Most are pledged delegates won in a primary or caucus. Some are superdelegates, who have unequivocally told AP they will vote for her next month at the party’s convention.

Clinton is now the “presumptive nominee,” because according to our count, she now has enough delegates backing her candidacy to win the nomination.

AP will not call her the “nominee” until she reaches that milestone in Philadelphia next month, when the party’s delegates formally cast their vote at the convention.

See AP’s delegate tracker: https://interactives.ap.org/2016/delegate-tracker/

Clinton took to Twitter to say “thanks” but also urged Dems to vote in the final Super Tuesday contests:

The Sanders’ campaign issued this statement:

“It is unfortunate that the media, in a rush to judgement, are ignoring the Democratic National Committee’s clear statement that it is wrong to count the votes of superdelegates before they actually vote at the convention this summer,” spokesman Michael Briggs said Monday night.

“Secretary Clinton does not have and will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to secure the nomination. She will be dependent on superdelegates who do not vote until July 25 and who can change their minds between now and then. They include more than 400 superdelegates who endorsed Secretary Clinton 10 months before the first caucuses and primaries and long before any other candidate was in the race.

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Sen. Bernie Sanders Sidesteps Question Whether He Would Consider VP Spot

Sen. Bernie Sanders talks to Meet The Press host Chuck Todd about his path to the Democratic nomination, and whether he would consider being Hillary Clinton’s running-mate if she were to ask.

“I’m knocking my brains out to win the Democratic nomination,” Sanders said. “That’s where I am right now. What happens afterwards, we will see. But right now, my focus is on winning the nomination.”

Folks are calling that a “side-step,” but in truth, what other answer could he really give at this point?

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What If We Abolished The Practice Of SuperDelegates?

Depending on the day, I can’t tell if Sen. Bernie Sanders doesn’t like the concept of Superdelegates or if he does.

Throughout the campaign he and his surrogates complained how having Superdelegates “rigs” the system. He did this mainly because he didn’t have many, and Hillary Clinton did.

He called for abolishing the idea.

NOW, however, his only possible path to the Democratic nomination is to somehow convince those  Superdelegates that have declared their support for front-runner Hillary Clinton to switch their allegiance to him.

Because folks always jump off the winning team?

The fact is, even if we didn’t have Superdelegates, Hillary would still be ahead of Bernie by 250-300 delegates depending on how you changed the rules.

The system isn’t “rigged” in Hillary’s favor. Sanders knew and competed with the same rules she did.

She just showed more class when faced with the inevitable math in 2008 when she found herself in a similar situation running against then-Senator Obama.

I hope, once we get past June 7th, Sanders doesn’t choose to drag the drama out all the way to the Democratic convention. It will only hurt the party and help Donald Trump.

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Daily Kos: Bernie Sanders Isn’t “Winning” Dem Primary Season With 43% Of Popular Vote

Sen. Bernie Sanders (L) and Hillary Clinton (R)

Daily Kos ran this yesterday, and I think it speaks a lot to the animus some Bernie Sanders about the primary process so far.

According to Real Clear Politics there have been 21, 951, 362 votes cast in the 2016 Democratic primaries and caucuses. Of those votes Sen. Sanders is getting 43% of them while Clinton is getting 57% of them. Folks that is definitely not winning. In fact it is losing in a landslide. In 2008, for example, Clinton got around 47.8% of the vote while Obama got around 48.1% of the vote. For all of the talk about how Sanders is energizing the Democratic Party a significant majority of voters have not responded to his message.

Yet despite her lead in the popular vote there are many Sanders supporters who act as if her lead in delegates is somehow illegitimate. That somehow Sanders is being deprived of a victory by the way the rules are being applied.

Look Clinton’s lead in delegates is actually less than her lead in the popular vote. Right now she leads in delegates who are pledged to one candidate or the other, 1716 to 1433. This delegate count does not include super delegates. This means that Sanders is getting 46% of the delegates while only getting 43% of the vote. Clinton is getting only 54% of the delegates selected while she is receiving 57% of the vote. If anyone has a complaint with how delegates are being selected it is Clinton not Sanders.

Indeed it seems to be the position of the Sanders campaign that it doesn’t matter how big Clinton’s lead is in terms of the popular vote Sanders should still get the nomination. Why? Why should a political party nominate a person who is not winning the majority of the votes cast by that party’s primary and caucus voters?

The fact of the matter is that Sanders is losing the popular vote in the 2016 Democratic primaries and caucuses and unless that changes he should not be the Democratic Party’s nominee. On the other hand if he can overcome Clinton’s lead in the popular vote then he should be the Party’s nominee.

It’s also worth noting that while Sanders supporters are up in arms about “closed primaries” being unfair somehow, the fact is there have been 19 primaries open to independents, but Sanders only won 6 – two of which were his home stage of Vermont and New Hampshire. So, I’m not sure that “closed” primaries have been his biggest hurdle thus far.

Most importantly, I think folks should remember Clinton and Sanders are on the same side when it comes to the big picture.

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Bernie Sanders Supporter George Takei Calls For Democrats To Unite Behind Hillary Clinton

TV icon and political activist George Takei posted a video to his Facebook page yesterday calling for all Democrats to unite behind Hillary Clinton as the presumptive presidential nominee after her huge primary wins on Tuesday night.

As a Bernie Sanders supporter, Takei points to the obvious delegate math saying Hillary Clinton will most likely be the nominee and we should all take a pledge to #VoteBlueNoMatterWho.

From Raw Story:

“Ultimately, we Democrats know that a bit of a tussle isn’t a bad thing — it makes us stronger. Keeps us sharp,” he said. “And really, it’s like a family squabble, where only family — those very close to us — can truly get under our skin. But remember this, too: it’s precisely because we like and respect each other that the words and criticisms sting as much as they do.”

In the video, he noted that both candidates agree on issues like womens’ reproductive health, LGBT rights advocacy, separation of church and state and supporting the Affordable Care Act. He also recalled Sanders’ statement last November that if Clinton won the general election, she would be “an infinitely better candidate and President than the Republican candidate on his best day.”

“If Bernie believes that, his supporters can, too,” Takei said.

One fan suggested Takei for veep, but he declined saying such duties wouldn’t leave him “as much time for cat memes.”

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Bernie Sanders: Super-Delegates Will Start Moving To Me And That’s How I’ll Win Dem Nomination

Sen. Bernie Sanders

Some politically-minded folks have begun asking if/when Sen. Bernie Sanders might consider ending his run for the Democratic presidential nomination in light of Hillary Clinton’s increasing lead in the delegate count.

While some call for Sanders to drop out now, there’s really no reason for him to do so; he has plenty of money, and as long as he’s in the race he has a voice.

But the Sanders team also has another gambit: super-delegates are going to start peeling off Clinton (the front-runner) and move to his column.

From The Hill:

Sanders currently trails Clinton in pledged delegates, 1,428 to 1,151. The count increases to 1930 to 1,189 when including unbound superdelegates. The former secretary of State needs just 435 more delegates to secure the nomination before the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia at the end of July.

Part of the reason why the Sanders campaign believes it’s still viable is his team says many of Clinton’s unbound superdelegates are getting ready to jump ship and throw their support behind the Vermont senator. Mook shot down that claim on Wednesday, saying it’s unrealistic.

I’m not sure what the logic is behind this “path to the nomination.”

Why would Democratic leaders in the party move away from the person with the most pledged delegates AND the highest popular vote count to move to the #2 guy?

Plus, don’t forget that just a month or so ago Sanders’ supporters bemoaned the idea of super-delegates saying the idea of them is unprincipled. Now he’s going to try and win based on super-delegates overturning the will of the popular vote?

Maybe I’m a little slow here, but I don’t see why anyone would do that.