A new WBUR poll in New Hampshire finds Bernie Sanders leading the Democratic presidential race with 29%, followed by Pete Buttigieg at 17%, Joe Biden at 14% and Elizabeth Warren at 13%.
Said pollster Steve Koczela: “I wouldn’t take these numbers to the bank. But you’ve got to be feeling pretty good about where you stand right at this moment if you’re the Sanders campaign.”
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds 72% of Americans agreed that the Senate impeachment trial “should allow witnesses with firsthand knowledge of the impeachment charges to testify,” including 84% of Democrats and 69% of Republicans.
Also interesting: “About 44% of adults in the United States say Trump should be removed from office, another 15% say he should be reprimanded formally with a congressional censure, and 31% said the charges should be dismissed.”
“In a barrage of 85 different ads that have aired more than 72,000 times in the past two months on local television, no Democrat has even mentioned a primary rival by name,” a Wall Street Journal review found.
“Instead, the candidates and political groups backing them have trained their collective fire on President Trump and talked about health care, corruption and their ability to unite the country and win in November’s general election.”
Sen. Kamala Harris is weighing an endorsement of Joe Biden,” the New York Times reports. “Such a move could lift Mr. Biden’s campaign and perhaps do even more to enhance Ms. Harris’s chances of becoming vice president, but it could also anger her liberal base in California.”
“An endorsement by Ms. Harris, if she wades into the primary race at all, would be unlikely to happen until after the Senate impeachment trial.”
This next item is a Fox Business story, and given the reaction to it on Twitter from Obamanauts that Sam Stein references below, it is likely an incorrect report. Still, it is “news:” “Former President Barack Obama has remained mostly silent through the early stages of the Democratic race to unseat Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election but that may soon change, friends and associates tell Fox Business, as avowed socialist Bernie Sanders gains in national polls and seems poised to obtain front-runner status.”
Sam Stein: “Not surprising but I guess worth reporting: actual sources in Obama world are giving a collective LOL to the idea that he is considering putting out a statement warning against Bernie.“
CNN has canceled the Democratic presidential town halls scheduled to take place next week ahead of the Iowa caucuses because of the ongoing impeachment trial, CNN reports.
“The cancellation shows how the impeachment trial is upending the 2020 campaign schedule just days before the Iowa caucuses. Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are absent from the trail as they serve as the jurors in the trial.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders hit back at Jamie Dimon after the JPMorgan Chase CEO derided socialism as something that leads to “eroding society,” The Hill reports. Said Sanders: “That’s funny. Jamie Dimon seemed fine with corporate socialism when his bank got a $416 billion bailout from American taxpayers.”
“Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) raised $3.9 million for his reelection bid in the fourth quarter of 2019, a total that his campaign said represents the largest single-quarter fundraising haul in South Carolina history,” The Hill reports.
“San Francisco Mayor London Breed endorsed Mike Bloomberg for the Democratic presidential nomination, boosting the billionaire’s chances in a delegate-rich state where he got off to a late start but is now spending millions to try to win,” the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Said Breed: “He has the ability to beat Donald Trump this November, and that is of the most concern to me.”
Marianne Williamson announced overnight Wednesday that she supports Andrew Yang’s White House bid in the upcoming Iowa caucuses, CNNreports.
Said Williamson: “I’m lending my support to Andrew in Iowa, hopefully to help him get past the early primaries and remind us not to take ourselves too seriously. We need that this year. We need to lighten up on a personal level, because the moment is so serious on a political level.”
“One of Facebook’s biggest headaches leading up to 2020 isn’t election interference or fake news — it’s worrying about what a Democrat in the White House could mean for the business,” Axios reports.
“The Obama administration’s warm embrace of Big Tech is no longer shared by many Democratic policymakers and presidential hopefuls. Many of them hold Facebook responsible for President Trump’s 2016 victory, assail it for allowing misinformation to spread, and have vowed to regulate it or break it up.”
George Soros told Bloomberg that Facebook may be in cahoots with President Trump to get him re-elected.
Said Soros: “I think there is a kind of informal mutual assistance operation or agreement developing between Trump and Facebook. Facebook will work together to re-elect Trump, and Trump will work to protect Facebook so that this situation cannot be changed and it makes me very concerned about the outcome for 2020.”
Mike Bloomberg premiered his newest ad attacking President Trump during Fox & Friends, the president’s favorite television show. A half an hour later, Trump exploded in a Twitter rant aimed at “Mini Mike Bloomberg.”
Politico: “It’s the latest example of how a plank of Bloomberg’s campaign revolves around agitating the president.”
“Who’s the other one?” — Michael Bloomberg, quoted by the AP, when asked if the country wanted a race between two New York billionaires.
“They are circling each other like wary boxers, with taunts on Twitter, snarky asides and belittling descriptions. They rose to prominence in Manhattan on parallel tracks, amassed wealth real and perceived and displayed a penchant for putting their names on things,” the AP reports.
“That’s where the similarities end. President Trump and Michael Bloomberg could hardly be more different as people, but now they both want the same job: Trump’s.”
“The prominent conservative group Club for Growth is throwing its weight behind a primary challenge to veteran Rep. Kay Granger of Texas — a move that is likely to anger Republican leaders who’ve rushed to her aid,” Politico reports.
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