thehuffingtonpost--2020-03-03--Does A Single Tweet Hold A Clue To Bernie Sanders' Approach To The Housing Crisis?

To most Americans , Sanders ’ tweet would have sounded like a benign statement against two things nobody ever argues in favor of : displacement and gentrification .
To the activists and policy wonks engaged in a yearslong , increasingly acrimonious debate about how to solve America ’ s housing crisis , the presidential candidate ’ s opposition to the development was a declaration of allegiance , the endorsement of a specific worldview about what is broken with America ’ s housing market and how to fix it .
To understand the debate , we have to start with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ site , located in a low-income , mostly immigrant neighborhood roughly a 15 minutes ’ drive from central Boston , was sold to a local real estate company in 2017 .
The developer , HYM Investment Group , intends to transform the site into a complex of new housing , high-end retail and newly landscaped open space .
Lawyers for Civil Rights , which is representing the neighborhood groups , says that the community ’ s low-income residents are not represented on the city ’ s advisory group and that HYM has not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or how it will mitigate the project ’ s climate impacts .
The groups filed a federal complaint last month to delay the project until developers conduct more Spanish-language outreach .
Housing advocates on the other side of the debate argue that the project is a crucial step toward solving Boston ’ s unprecedented housing crisis .
Since 2011 , the city ’ s median rent has climbed from roughly $ 1,800 per month to $ 2,950 .
The Suffolk Downs site is near transit and almost entirely abandoned , meaning the redevelopment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ local residents .
The project includes 10,000 new housing units , 1,430 of which will be reserved for Bostonians making less than $ 75,000 per year .
It would also create hundreds of jobs , increase the city ’ s tax base and construct a 40-acre park .
“ Suffolk Downs represents one of the largest constructions of affordable housing the city has ever seen , ” said Katherine Einstein , a Boston University professor and the co-author of “ Neighborhood Defenders : Participatory Politics and America ’ s Housing Crisis.
” Considering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ build a single unit of housing in Boston , requiring HYM to rent half of the Suffolk Downs apartments at below-market rates would render the project financially infeasible .
Sanders Has Sent Mixed Messages on Housing The disagreement over the Suffolk Downs project is a microcosm of a larger debate within the progressive movement about the cause of the housing crisis and how to fix it .
On one side is the YIMBY ( Yes in My Backyard ) movement , whose members believe that the affordability crisis can be addressed by allowing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — from homeless shelters to gleaming high-rises .
Jobs and people are clustering in cities .
The way to accommodate them , as a recent New York Times op-ed put it , is to “ Build Build Build Build Build Build Build Build Build Build Build Build Build Build.
” On the other side of the debate are tenants ’ rights advocates and neighborhood groups who believe that cities should address the housing crisis by prioritizing affordability .
Until the populations most at risk of displacement — especially low-income tenants in gentrifying neighborhoods @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eviction protections and an expansion in public housing , cities should not permit more apartment complexes for the wealthy .
A number of Sanders ’ public statements and affiliations support this assessment .
Last year , Sanders told an NAACP forum that his administration would “ Tell the developers : You just can not come in and build expensive condominiums !
” In 2016 , Sanders endorsed a candidate for the San Francisco board of supervisors who had opposed a number of high-profile plans to construct new housing .
Our Revolution , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sanders ’ 2016 campaign , endorsed a slate of local candidates in Cambridge , Mass.
, that mostly opposed a plan to allow higher densities for affordable housing .
But Sanders has also declared support for YIMBY positions over the years .
As the mayor of Burlington , Vermont , Sanders worked with developers to construct a high-end waterfront redevelopment .
His plan to address the affordability crisis , Housing for All , includes $ 2.5 trillion in new construction of subsidized units and a proposal to end “ exclusionary zoning , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from being built in residential neighborhoods .
There ’ s also the possibility that placing politicians along a one-dimensional spectrum — NIMBY vs. not-NIMBY — obscures more than it illuminates .
Laura Loe , the founder of Share the Cities , a Seattle-based housing advocacy group , said it ’ s unfair to compare the concerns of low-income and minority neighborhoods to those of the wealthy homeowners who typically organize opposition to new housing .
“ We ’ re talking about groups who are calling attention to the difficulties people who don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ face in engaging with planning documents , attending meetings and having their concerns taken seriously , ” Loe said .
“ Likening these struggles to rich folks in single-family detached homes who don ’ t want renters next door is just factually incorrect .
”

On Thursday, Bernie Sanders signaled his opposition to a large-scale property redevelopment in Boston, arguing that it would drive gentrification and displacement.
We need affordable housing for all instead of more gentrifying luxury developments for the few. I stand with the longtime residents of East Boston fighting displacement from the communities they have spent generations building. https://t.co/OGpZAD755O — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 27, 2020
“We need affordable housing for all instead of more gentrifying luxury developments for the few,” the Vermont senator and 2020 presidential candidate wrote on Twitter. He then expressed solidarity with the community organizers opposing Suffolk Downs, a large-scale housing and retail project on the site of a defunct horse racing track in East Boston.
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To most Americans, Sanders’ tweet would have sounded like a benign statement against two things nobody ever argues in favor of: displacement and gentrification. To the activists and policy wonks engaged in a yearslong, increasingly acrimonious debate about how to solve America’s housing crisis, the presidential candidate’s opposition to the development was a declaration of allegiance, the endorsement of a specific worldview about what is broken with America’s housing market and how to fix it.
To understand the debate, we have to start with the Suffolk Downs project itself. The 161-acre site, located in a low-income, mostly immigrant neighborhood roughly a 15 minutes’ drive from central Boston, was sold to a local real estate company in 2017. The developer, HYM Investment Group, intends to transform the site into a complex of new housing, high-end retail and newly landscaped open space.
Two community groups, GreenRoots Inc. and City Life/Vida Urbana, oppose the Suffolk Downs project, citing affordability and climate concerns, as the Boston Business Journal has reported. In December, the groups held a rally to demand that half the development’s units be reserved for poor residents.
Lawyers for Civil Rights, which is representing the neighborhood groups, says that the community’s low-income residents are not represented on the city’s advisory group and that HYM has not released information about improvements to local transit or how it will mitigate the project’s climate impacts. The groups filed a federal complaint last month to delay the project until developers conduct more Spanish-language outreach.
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“For our community, largely these processes have been presentations but not dialogues,” City Life/Vida Urbana organizer Andres Del Castillo, told the Boston Globe. “The idea that this has somehow been a representative community process is not true.”
The Suffolk Downs site in East Boston Ed Kohler / Flickr
Housing advocates on the other side of the debate argue that the project is a crucial step toward solving Boston’s unprecedented housing crisis. Since 2011, the city’s median rent has climbed from roughly $1,800 per month to $2,950. The Suffolk Downs site is near transit and almost entirely abandoned, meaning the redevelopment would not cause any direct displacement of local residents. The project includes 10,000 new housing units, 1,430 of which will be reserved for Bostonians making less than $75,000 per year. It would also create hundreds of jobs, increase the city’s tax base and construct a 40-acre park.
“Suffolk Downs represents one of the largest constructions of affordable housing the city has ever seen,” said Katherine Einstein, a Boston University professor and the co-author of “Neighborhood Defenders: Participatory Politics and America’s Housing Crisis.” Considering that it costs around $500,000 to build a single unit of housing in Boston, requiring HYM to rent half of the Suffolk Downs apartments at below-market rates would render the project financially infeasible.
“If you want to make the economics of building 1,430 units of affordable housing work,” she said, “the rest of the units have to make a profit.”
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Sanders Has Sent Mixed Messages on Housing
The disagreement over the Suffolk Downs project is a microcosm of a larger debate within the progressive movement about the cause of the housing crisis and how to fix it. On one side is the YIMBY (Yes in My Backyard) movement, whose members believe that the affordability crisis can be addressed by allowing more construction of every form of housing — from homeless shelters to gleaming high-rises. Jobs and people are clustering in cities. The way to accommodate them, as a recent New York Times op-ed put it, is to “Build Build Build Build Build Build Build Build Build Build Build Build Build Build.”
In December, community groups held a rally to demand more affordable housing in the Suffolk Downs redevelopment. Boston Globe via Getty Images
On the other side of the debate are tenants’ rights advocates and neighborhood groups who believe that cities should address the housing crisis by prioritizing affordability. Until the populations most at risk of displacement — especially low-income tenants in gentrifying neighborhoods — are protected through rent control, eviction protections and an expansion in public housing, cities should not permit more apartment complexes for the wealthy.
By declaring his opposition to the Suffolk Downs project, Sanders (whose campaign did not respond to requests to comment for this article) appeared to be siding with the latter camp.
Clayton Nall, a political science professor at Stanford University who researches the housing crisis, called Sanders “a left-NIMBY” — or “Not In My Backyard,” the (often unstated) position of local groups that oppose new housing construction.
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“Sanders sees the physical preservation of neighborhoods as a paramount value,” Nall said. “Historically this has mostly been done by affluent homeowners but it’s increasingly being embraced as part of a social justice agenda.”
A number of Sanders’ public statements and affiliations support this assessment. Last year, Sanders told an NAACP forum that his administration would “Tell the developers: You just cannot come in and build expensive condominiums!” In 2016, Sanders endorsed a candidate for the San Francisco board of supervisors who had opposed a number of high-profile plans to construct new housing. Our Revolution, the grassroots organizing group that grew out of Sanders’ 2016 campaign, endorsed a slate of local candidates in Cambridge, Mass., that mostly opposed a plan to allow higher densities for affordable housing.
But Sanders has also declared support for YIMBY positions over the years. As the mayor of Burlington, Vermont, Sanders worked with developers to construct a high-end waterfront redevelopment. His plan to address the affordability crisis, Housing for All, includes $2.5 trillion in new construction of subsidized units and a proposal to end “exclusionary zoning,” the near-universal practice of banning apartment complexes from being built in residential neighborhoods.
“People in East Boston have a right to be annoyed because the inner-ring suburbs haven’t remotely kept pace with our housing needs.” - Katherine Einstein, Boston University professor
There’s also the possibility that placing politicians along a one-dimensional spectrum — NIMBY vs. not-NIMBY — obscures more than it illuminates. Laura Loe, the founder of Share the Cities, a Seattle-based housing advocacy group, said it’s unfair to compare the concerns of low-income and minority neighborhoods to those of the wealthy homeowners who typically organize opposition to new housing.
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“We’re talking about groups who are calling attention to the difficulties people who don’t speak English as a first language face in engaging with planning documents, attending meetings and having their concerns taken seriously,” Loe said. “Likening these struggles to rich folks in single-family detached homes who don’t want renters next door is just factually incorrect.”
Einstein echoed this view, pointing out that one of the primary reasons poor neighborhoods receive so much new housing is that wealthier, whiter neighborhoods and municipalities have the power to block almost all new construction.
“People in East Boston have a right to be annoyed because the inner-ring suburbs haven’t remotely kept pace with our housing needs,” she said. “Those suburbs are largely not being asked to accept developments of this scale.”
Regardless of what happens to the Suffolk Downs project, Sanders is likely to remain a controversial figure in the debate over America’s housing crisis. Nall said that the gap between Sanders’ proposed policies and his public statements represent a fundamental tension in the worldview of the senator and his supporters.
“There’s been this ahistorical metaphor-grabbing in invoking the idea that we can repeat what happened in the New Deal,” Nall said. “In 1933 there were very few obstacles to public works projects. No one was doing environmental impact statements. Communities weren’t mobilized to draw out projects through years of lawsuits.”
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Sanders’ coalition, Nall said, envisions the rapid expansion of public and subsidized housing, but it also envisions adding policies on community engagement, environmental protections and working conditions that will make those projects harder to build.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-03-03--The Insurgent Left Is MIA In The Battle For The Senate

But on the Senate level , where Democrats need to net three seats in order to win back control of the upper chamber , the left is missing in action .
Candidates who back “ Medicare for All , ” for example , are badly trailing in polls and fundraising in most states , while mainstream Democrats backed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee are assembling war chests and polling leads .
Some of the most promising progressive candidates either decided not to run or have dropped out because of a lack of funds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ means that even if Sanders , who leads the Democratic field in delegates so far , or Warren , whose campaign faces a critical test on Super Tuesday , manages to make it to the White House , they won ’ t bring along any true ideological allies in the Senate to help enact their aggressive policy agendas on health care , climate change and other issues .
Here in Texas , however , there is one hope : Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez , a progressive former immigrant rights organizer who has the endorsement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , has a chance to make a runoff against MJ Hegar , an Afghan War veteran with the DSCC ’ s backing .
If she does , the runoff for the right to challenge Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn could quickly become a major flashpoint in the battle between progressives and mainstream Democrats for control of the party ’ s future .
The problem for progressives is long-standing : The Democratic establishment , broadly defined , hasn ’ t lost a Senate primary since 2010 .
Many progressive strategists pointed to the very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for their struggles .
Establishment operatives and organizations in both parties fight harder to keep control of Senate seats , compared to the relatively insignificant spots in the House .
( McConnell ’ s war against the Tea Party in 2014 shows how an insurgent wing of the party that jeopardizes control of a Senate seat can quickly feel the wrath of the party ’ s establishment . )
Groups like the one Sroka works for haven ’ t been able to settle on a consistent slate of candidates .
Democracy for America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sweet , who is challenging Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon .
Democracy for America has also backed Teresa Tomlinson in Georgia .
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee , which has close ties to Warren , hasn ’ t endorsed any nonincumbent Senate candidates .
Courage to Change , a political action committee created by Ocasio-Cortez , has only endorsed Ramirez , as has the Working Families Party .
Outside group endorsements are essential because of the high cost of running statewide .
While Ocasio-Cortez upset Rep. Joe Crowley with a budget of under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seats in states with multiple expensive media markets typically requires candidates to raise millions ― something down-ballot progressives have struggled to do with small-dollar donations .
The challenge is only amplified as DSCC-endorsed candidates like Gideon in Maine and Amy McGrath in Kentucky rake in cash from both traditional and small online donors .
“ If you ’ re just going to focus on the airwave battle , then your chances are really slim , ” said Charles Booker , a Kentucky state legislator who is challenging McGrath and her $ 10 million @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against McConnell .
“ Anyone running against Mitch McConnell has to know it ’ s uphill .
His corporate buddies he sold to will snap their fingers and flood you with money .
We have to engage people on the ground.
” “ There are ideas that are nonpartisan that have traditionally belonged to Republicans that I am taking back — things like fiscal responsibility , things like patriotism and strong national security , which is different than a huge defense budget , ” she said in an interview after a Labor breakfast @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to her or to anyone else , that ’ s a problem because those things are Texas , and those things are reflective of my values.
” In other states , self-identified progressives aren ’ t doing much better , while many mainstream Democrats are rolling in endorsements and cash .
Gideon , for example , has $ 2.8 million on hand , according to Federal Election Commission reports , while Sweet has just $ 55,000 .
Two of Iowa ’ s Democratic members of Congress and a host of local unions are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ million on hand .
Kimberly Graham , a Medicare for All advocate running against Greenfield for the right to challenge incumbent Republican Sen. Joni Ernst , has just $ 41,000 in her campaign account .
“ I think that momentum is on the side of the grassroots , ” said Maurice Mitchell , the national director of the Working Families Party , which had endorsed Oliver .
“ If we haven ’ t achieved the ability at the Senate level to bring in a whole core of independent Senate candidates , it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a matter of time .
”

LOADING ERROR LOADING
SAN ANTONIO, Texas ― Life, at this moment, looks good for the Democratic party’s left wing. A progressive Democratic icon is leading the presidential race. Primary challengers in blue House districts, from Texas to Ohio, New York to California, are causing headaches for incumbents.
But on the Senate level, where Democrats need to net three seats in order to win back control of the upper chamber, the left is missing in action. Candidates who back “Medicare for All,” for example, are badly trailing in polls and fundraising in most states, while mainstream Democrats backed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee are assembling war chests and polling leads. Some of the most promising progressive candidates either decided not to run or have dropped out because of a lack of funds.
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National progressive groups have endorsed a mishmash of candidates in different states, displaying no unified strategy. The biggest advertising buy backing a Democrat challenging a DSCC-endorsed candidate came not from progressives, but from a Republican group controlled by allies of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. And while Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren have freely endorsed progressives in local and House races, they haven’t recommended any progressives to join them in Congress’s upper chamber.
There might not be an easy fix for the left. The fundamental nature of the Senate ― empowering rural areas at the expense of urban ones ― tilts the playing field against them.
“It’s pretty obvious there’s no overarching strategy. There’s no coordinated endorsements, there’s no major investments,” said Sean McElwee, the executive director at Data For Progress, an organization that uses data science to support progressive causes. “Right now, the structural barriers are such that it doesn’t make a lot of sense for progressives to spend much time on Senate races.”
The lack of strategy and investment means that even if Sanders, who leads the Democratic field in delegates so far, or Warren, whose campaign faces a critical test on Super Tuesday, manages to make it to the White House, they won’t bring along any true ideological allies in the Senate to help enact their aggressive policy agendas on health care, climate change and other issues.
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Progressive Senate candidates haven’t given Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer much to worry about this cycle. Caroline Brehman via Getty Images
Here in Texas, however, there is one hope: Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, a progressive former immigrant rights organizer who has the endorsement of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), has a chance to make a runoff against MJ Hegar, an Afghan War veteran with the DSCC’s backing. If she does, the runoff for the right to challenge Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn could quickly become a major flashpoint in the battle between progressives and mainstream Democrats for control of the party’s future.
The problem for progressives is long-standing: The Democratic establishment, broadly defined, hasn’t lost a Senate primary since 2010. Many progressive strategists pointed to the very nature of the Senate as a reason for their struggles. Establishment operatives and organizations in both parties fight harder to keep control of Senate seats, compared to the relatively insignificant spots in the House. (McConnell’s war against the tea party in 2014 shows how an insurgent wing of the party that jeopardizes control of a Senate seat can quickly feel the wrath of the party’s establishment.)
And while progressives have had some success targeting incumbents in heavily Democratic urban areas and replacing them with more liberal challengers, the most liberal states in the country aren’t nearly as Democratic as the most liberal House districts.
Hawaii, the most Democratic state in the country, has a score of D+18 on the Cook Partisan Voting Index, which measures a state’s partisanship. Vermont is D+15, while California, Maryland, Massachusetts and New York are all D+12. Compare those to two districts where progressive challengers triumphed in 2018: Ocasio-Cortez won in New York’s 14th District, which has a PVI of D+29. Rep. Ayanna Pressley beat incumbent Michael Capuano in Massachusetts’s 7th District, which is D+34.
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“The fundamental undemocratic nature of the Senate makes it unfriendly to Democrats in general, and to progressive Democrats in particular,” said Neil Sroka, the communications director at Democracy for America.
Groups like the one Sroka works for haven’t been able to settle on a consistent slate of candidates. Democracy for America and Justice Democrats have both endorsed Betsy Sweet, who is challenging Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon. Democracy for America has also backed Teresa Tomlinson in Georgia. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which has close ties to Warren, hasn’t endorsed any non-incumbent Senate candidates. Courage to Change, a political action committee created by Ocasio-Cortez, has only endorsed Ramirez, as has the Working Families Party.
Progressive strategists have credited Schumer’s political operation with doing a better job at outreach than their House counterparts. Democracy for America has endorsed three candidates who also have the DSCC’s backing: Raphael Warnock in a special election in Georgia, Theresa Greenfield in Iowa and Jaime Harrison in South Carolina.
Outside group endorsements are essential because of the high cost of running statewide. While Ocasio-Cortez upset Rep. Joe Crowley with a budget of under $500,000 in 2018, winning Senate seats in states with multiple expensive media markets typically requires candidates to raise millions ― something down-ballot progressives have struggled to do with small-dollar donations. The challenge is only amplified as DSCC-endorsed candidates like Gideon in Maine and Amy McGrath in Kentucky rake in cash from both traditional and small online donors.
That’s left progressive candidates arguing that their lack of fundraising has little to do with electability.
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“If you’re just going to focus on the airwave battle, then your chances are really slim,” said Charles Booker, a Kentucky state legislator who is challenging McGrath and her $10 million war chest for the right to run against McConnell. “Anyone running against Mitch McConnell has to know it’s uphill. His corporate buddies he sold to will snap their fingers and flood you with money. We have to engage people on the ground.”
In Texas, Ramirez has also struggled to raise money. Federal Election Commission records show she’s brought in just under $1 million and had only $230,000 in the bank during the weeks leading up to the election. But she has received a significant boost from Lone Star Forward, a super PAC formed to boost her run. It’s aired a quarter-million dollars’ worth of ads.
Ramirez ― who aligns herself with Sanders and Warren and backs both Medicare for All and the Green New Deal ― acknowledged that she could use more help from national sources.
“I think the progressive infrastructure is catching up to the scale of ambition that we need in this country,” she said.
Hegar, her rival, has raised more than $5 million, and the DSCC are confident Hegar will make the runoff. Her campaign and VoteVets, a super PAC that backs Democratic veterans, have spent millions of dollars to air ads in the five major media markets that cover 80% of the Texas population.
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An NBC News/Marist poll released Sunday had Hegar receiving 16% of the vote, with Ramirez in second place with 9% of the vote and veteran Dallas state Sen. Royce West earning 8%, with a host of other candidates not far behind. But a 34% plurality of voters remained undecided, the poll found.
If Ramirez does make the cut, she hopes to quickly turn the race into an ideological flashpoint.
“I think this race will be part of the national debate about what kind of party we should have,” she said, labeling Hegar as “Republican lite.”
Like many progressives, Ramirez argued that Democrats in Texas should focus on juicing turnout from less likely voters.
“We need to invest in the millions of voters who are usually underinvested in and taken for granted by the Democratic Party, which are working families of color and young voters,” she said.
Hegar, who said she voted for Warren in the primary but remains skeptical of both Medicare for All and mass student debt forgiveness, shot back at Ramirez’s description.
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“There are ideas that are nonpartisan that have traditionally belonged to Republicans that I am taking back — things like fiscal responsibility, things like patriotism and strong national security, which is different than a huge defense budget,” she said in an interview after a labor breakfast. “Those things that sound Republican to her or to anyone else, that’s a problem because those things are Texas, and those things are reflective of my values.”
On the flip side of Ramirez’s possible success in Texas is North Carolina, where a self-proclaimed progressive did little besides cause headaches for Democrats in a state they need to win to gain control of the Senate in 2020.
State Sen. Erica Smith, a supporter of Medicare for All, raised under $250,000. But Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC controlled by allies of McConnell, created a pop-up group called Faith and Power and spent millions on ads aiming to attract Black female progressive voters to Smith while attacking the DSCC’s preferred candidate, Iraq War veteran Cal Cunningham. The group called Smith a “proven progressive” and attacked Cunningham for previously receiving support from the National Rifle Association. Cunningham’s campaign, along with VoteVets, spent millions of dollars on ads in response.
Republicans and Democrats predictably split on the success of the gambit, with Democrats arguing that it was a failed effort to defeat Cunningham that only brought more attention to the race and boosted his name identification in the state, while the GOP claimed they forced Democrats to waste millions of dollars fending off a no-name challenger. (Public polling now shows Cunningham easily clearing the 30% mark needed to avoid a runoff election.)
In other states, self-identified progressives aren’t doing much better, while many mainstream Democrats are rolling in endorsements and cash. Gideon, for example, has $2.8 million on hand, according to Federal Election Commission reports, while Sweet has just $55,000. Two of Iowa’s Democratic members of Congress and a host of local unions are backing Greenfield, who has $2.1 million on hand. Kimberly Graham, a Medicare for All advocate running against Greenfield for the right to challenge incumbent Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, has just $41,000 in her campaign account.
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Andrew Romanoff, a former Colorado House speaker who was seen as one of the most promising progressive candidates this cycle, has raised $1.8 million. But former Gov. John Hickenlooper, the DSCC-endorsed candidate and an avowed moderate, has raised nearly $5 million, and Democrats affiliated with Schumer have released public opinion polls showing him with a large lead.
The financial and organizational barriers can deter even established candidates from running or stop them dead in their tracks. New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, for instance, seemed like an ideal candidate: a female statewide elected official who was running to the left of Rep. Ben Ray Luján. But she dropped out in late October, having managed to push Luján to the left on Medicare for All and impeachment while struggling to raise money.
Another promising progressive candidate, Rep. Ruben Gallego, opted not to mount a campaign in Arizona after former astronaut Mark Kelly jumped into the race to challenge GOP Sen. Martha McSally, saying he was afraid of causing a “nasty primary.”
There are still other hopes for the left. Some progressives are hoping to rally around Jess Scarane, a 34-year-old challenging Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, ahead of that state’s primary in September.
“I think that momentum is on the side of the grassroots,” said Maurice Mitchell, the national director of the Working Families Party, which had endorsed Oliver. “If we haven’t achieved the ability at the Senate level to bring in a whole core of independent Senate candidates, it’s coming. It’s just a matter of time.”
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-03-03--The Coronavirus Is Challenging What Our Politicians Think About 'Medicare For All'

A Department of Health and Human Services official told a Senate committee Tuesday that the administration is considering how it could pay hospitals to treat uninsured coronavirus , or COVID-19 , patients .
And Republicans in Congress ― some of whom have spent their entire political careers railing against Obamacare and socialized medicine ― are sounding supportive of the idea .
Yoho , one of the most anti-Obamacare lawmakers in Congress , said it would be a “ wise thing ” for the government to pay for testing and treatment of the uninsured , while also saying he ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Sometimes you have to do things that you have to do for your country , but as far as socialized medicine , no , ” Yoho said .
“ Does this fall into that ?
Yeah , I guess you could throw it in there , but hopefully it ’ s not the long-term.
” And another Republican , Brian Fitzpatrick ( R-Pa. ) , also told HuffPost he would support extraordinary measures to stop the spread of the virus .
“ I mean , this is a crisis right now , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way that ’ s going to fix the problem , ” he said .
Robert Kadlec , assistant secretary for Preparedness and Response ( ASPR ) at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services ( HHS ) , and Robert R. Redfield , director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , take part in a House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing on Health and Human Services oversight of the coronavirus outbreak on Feb. 26 , 2020 .
Under the Stafford Act , the president can mobilize federal resources by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And if President Trump decided it was in the public ’ s interest to offer free testing and treatment , in part to curb the spread of the disease , he could do so without Congress .
In an emergency , HHS and the Defense Department can activate a National Disaster Medical System to respond to requests from states to pay for some hospital costs .
Still , Congress would likely end up playing a role .
Even though the disaster medical system was activated in response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wound up appropriating extra funds to reimburse hospitals .
Congress could fund the treatment and testing for the uninsured in an emergency spending bill that is expected to pass the House and Senate this week .
And if such a provision made it into the bill , Republicans and Democrats would almost certainly vote for the idea overwhelmingly .
Lamb was hesitant to draw any larger point from a public health emergency like coronavirus .
“ This is pretty clearly an emergency , ” he said .
“ So I probably wouldn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it.
” But it ’ s easy to see how politicians embracing this idea could lead to more openness for socialized medicine .
Other Democratic moderates HuffPost talked to on Tuesday were cautious about supporting free testing and treatment , particularly when it was framed as a form of socialized medicine .
But they weren ’ t necessarily opposed .
Rep. Jim Cooper ( D-Tenn. ) said the key thing was to “ keep our hospitals afloat , ” and Rep. Joe Cunningham ( D-S.C. ) refused to side one way or the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jared Huffman ( D-Calif. ) also thought there was a lesson from the coronavirus , and he argued the Trump administration often embraced socialism ; it was just situational ― whether it be direct payments to farmers affected by the president ’ s trade war , tax cuts for the wealthy , or now , potentially , free testing and treatment for the coronavirus .

LOADING ERROR LOADING
WASHINGTON ― With the coronavirus spreading across the globe, U.S. politicians seem to be rethinking some of their most dearly held beliefs about socialized medicine.
A Department of Health and Human Services official told a Senate committee Tuesday that the administration is considering how it could pay hospitals to treat uninsured coronavirus, or COVID-19, patients. And Republicans in Congress ― some of whom have spent their entire political careers railing against Obamacare and socialized medicine ― are sounding supportive of the idea.
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“You can look at it as socialized medicine,” Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) told HuffPost on Tuesday. “But in the face of an outbreak, a pandemic, what’s your options?”
Yoho, one of the most anti-Obamacare lawmakers in Congress, said it would be a “wise thing” for the government to pay for testing and treatment of the uninsured, while also saying he’s “not OK with socialized medicine.”
“Sometimes you have to do things that you have to do for your country, but as far as socialized medicine, no,” Yoho said. “Does this fall into that? Yeah, I guess you could throw it in there, but hopefully it’s not the long-term.”
Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said he hadn’t heard about the administration possibly covering coronavirus hospital costs, but he didn’t exactly sound opposed.
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“I think a pandemic is a distinct issue from the overall health care proposals that have been on the table for a while,” Johnson said. “We have to put politics aside and address the problem.”
And another Republican, Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), also told HuffPost he would support extraordinary measures to stop the spread of the virus. “I mean, this is a crisis right now, so we got to respond in any way that’s going to fix the problem,” he said.
Fitzpatrick also agreed that the coronavirus was challenging some of the arguments for our current health care system. “No doubt about it,” Fitzpatrick said.
The Trump administration official who testified Tuesday ― Robert Kadlec, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS ― said the government could treat coronavirus victims as federal disaster patients, and therefore pay hospitals for their care at an above-Medicare rate.
“We are in conversations ― initial conversations with [the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] to understand if that could be utilized in this way,” Kadlec said.
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Robert Kadlec, assistant secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), and Robert R. Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, take part in a House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing on Health and Human Services oversight of the coronavirus outbreak on Feb. 26, 2020. Amanda Voisard / Reuters
Under the Stafford Act, the president can mobilize federal resources by declaring an emergency or a disaster. And if President Trump decided it was in the public’s interest to offer free testing and treatment, in part to curb the spread of the disease, he could do so without Congress.
“We’re going to be looking at the uninsured to see if we can help them out,” Trump said Tuesday, potentially referring to this idea.
In an emergency, HHS and the Defense Department can activate a National Disaster Medical System to respond to requests from states to pay for some hospital costs. Still, Congress would likely end up playing a role. Even though the disaster medical system was activated in response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Haiti earthquake in 2010, Congress wound up appropriating extra funds to reimburse hospitals.
Congress could fund the treatment and testing for the uninsured in an emergency spending bill that is expected to pass the House and Senate this week. And if such a provision made it into the bill, Republicans and Democrats would almost certainly vote for the idea overwhelmingly.
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True to form, it wasn’t just Republicans selectively embracing socialized medicine for this public health emergency. Moderate Democrats also liked the idea of the government paying for treatment and testing.
“Regardless of what you call it, it sounds like the right thing to do,” Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.), who opposes “Medicare for All,” told HuffPost.
Lamb was hesitant to draw any larger point from a public health emergency like coronavirus. “This is pretty clearly an emergency,” he said. “So I probably wouldn’t draw any general political lessons from it.” But it’s easy to see how politicians embracing this idea could lead to more openness for socialized medicine.
Other Democratic moderates HuffPost talked to on Tuesday were cautious about supporting free testing and treatment, particularly when it was framed as a form of socialized medicine. But they weren’t necessarily opposed. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) said the key thing was to “keep our hospitals afloat,” and Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.) refused to side one way or the other without knowing more details.
“It kind of comes down to the details,” he said.
Progressives in Congress, however, were very ready to endorse free testing and treatment, and they said there was a lesson to draw from coronavirus.
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“It absolutely is an argument for Medicare for All,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told HuffPost Tuesday.
Ocasio-Cortez contended that if the government thought coronavirus was important enough to socialize care, “then what makes coronavirus different from so many other diseases, particularly ones that are transmissible?”
“What this crisis has taught us is that, our health care system and our public health are only as strong as the sickest person in this country,” she said.
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) also thought there was a lesson from the coronavirus, and he argued the Trump administration often embraced socialism; it was just situational ― whether it be direct payments to farmers affected by the president’s trade war, tax cuts for the wealthy, or now, potentially, free testing and treatment for the coronavirus.
“For a guy throwing socialist rocks,” Huffman said, “Trump lives in a glass dacha.”
Fellow California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna was also emphatic that coronavirus was a case study in why Medicare for All is important.
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“This just highlights in extreme what’s happening every day. I mean, think about if we had better testing and treatment for the flu or other diseases,” Khanna said.
He added that the government should want treatments and tests to be at no cost to the patient because diseases are communicable, and that the current for-profit system disincentivizes people from going to the doctor and getting tested.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-03-03--Tornadoes, Coronavirus Fears Impact Super Tuesday Voting In Some States

Scattered reports of polling places opening late , machines malfunctioning or voter rolls being down temporarily marred voting in some of the 14 states voting Tuesday , but there were no reports of voters being unable to cast a ballot or security breaches .
Just hours before polls were set to open in Tennessee , tornadoes tore through parts of the state , destroying at least 140 buildings and killing at least 22 .
With more than a dozen polling sites in Nashville ’ s Davidson County damaged , voters were sent to other locations , where some of them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ urged state officials to extend voting hours .
Voting got off to a slow start in Travis County , Texas , because many election workers did not show up , with some citing fears of contracting the coronavirus , according to the county clerk ’ s office .
The election office says it began implementing emergency procedures , with elections staff and other employees filling in as poll workers .
Another county , in California , addressed concerns over the coronavirus by sending bottles of hand sanitizer to polling places and asking poll @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health department on how to avoid spreading the virus .
Jesse Salinas , the chief elections official in Yolo County , just west of Sacramento , said about 10 % of poll workers backed out at the last minute , and he pointed to concerns about getting the virus .
He said that ’ s about double what is normal for an election , and sent his team scrambling for replacements .
Super Tuesday marked the first major security test since the 2018 midterm elections , with state and local election officials saying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from equipment problems to false information about the coronavirus .
States have been racing to shore up cybersecurity defenses , replace aging and vulnerable voting equipment , and train for worst-case scenarios since it became clear that Russia had launched a sweeping and systematic effort to interfere in the 2016 presidential election .
U.S. officials said they were on alert and ready to respond to any efforts to disrupt the 2020 elections .
Voter file databases were down briefly in some counties in California , Texas and elsewhere , but access was restored @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency , described the glitches as “ intermittent I.T .
issues ” that had since been resolved .
In Minnesota , a poll-finding tool on the secretary of state ’ s website was briefly inaccessible on Tuesday .
Republicans cried foul when visitors to the site were redirected to a left-leaning website that also supplied polling place information .
Secretary of State Steve Simon said a staff member had linked to the partisan site in what he called “ a serious lapse of judgment.
” It wasn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was inaccessible .
Simon said there was no evidence the state ’ s voting systems were hacked or interfered with , but his office didn ’ t immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press about the reason for the website outage .
U.S. intelligence chiefs have warned that foreign interference remains a threat for the 2020 election , but the national agency that oversees election security said Tuesday it had not detected any notable uptick in either misinformation by foreign nations or targeted attacks on voting equipment during the first hours @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agency says it has taken steps since the 2016 elections to improve overall security and develop better coordination with state and local election officials , and it praised authorities in Tennessee for quickly making contingency plans to help voters in areas devastated by the severe weather in that state .
Davidson County Administrator of Elections Jeff Roberts said voters from anywhere in the county can go to two so-called “ supersites ” to cast their ballots .
The route to those sites is a main thoroughfare that ’ s not closed due to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sites in Nashville and in Davidson and Wilson counties opened an hour late but were still set to close at 8 p.m. EST as scheduled , Secretary of State Tre Hargett said .
The Lawyers ’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law called on Tennessee officials to extend primary election voting through at least the end of the week in certain parts of Tennessee affected by the storms .

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Deadly tornadoes knocked out polling places in Tennessee while fears over the coronavirus left some polling places in California and Texas short of election workers as Super Tuesday voting was underway around the country.
Scattered reports of polling places opening late, machines malfunctioning or voter rolls being down temporarily marred voting in some of the 14 states voting Tuesday, but there were no reports of voters being unable to cast a ballot or security breaches.
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Just hours before polls were set to open in Tennessee, tornadoes tore through parts of the state, destroying at least 140 buildings and killing at least 22. With more than a dozen polling sites in Nashville’s Davidson County damaged, voters were sent to other locations, where some of them encountered long lines. Voting rights groups urged state officials to extend voting hours.
Voting got off to a slow start in Travis County, Texas, because many election workers did not show up, with some citing fears of contracting the coronavirus, according to the county clerk’s office. The election office says it began implementing emergency procedures, with elections staff and other employees filling in as poll workers.
Another county, in California, addressed concerns over the coronavirus by sending bottles of hand sanitizer to polling places and asking poll workers to post fliers from the public health department on how to avoid spreading the virus.
Jesse Salinas, the chief elections official in Yolo County, just west of Sacramento, said about 10% of poll workers backed out at the last minute, and he pointed to concerns about getting the virus. He said that’s about double what is normal for an election, and sent his team scrambling for replacements.
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“We are hoping people remain calm and still participate in the election process,” Salinas said.
Super Tuesday marked the first major security test since the 2018 midterm elections, with state and local election officials saying they are prepared to deal with everything from equipment problems to false information about the coronavirus.
States have been racing to shore up cybersecurity defenses, replace aging and vulnerable voting equipment, and train for worst-case scenarios since it became clear that Russia had launched a sweeping and systematic effort to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. U.S. officials said they were on alert and ready to respond to any efforts to disrupt the 2020 elections.
Voter file databases were down briefly in some counties in California, Texas and elsewhere, but access was restored relatively quickly. Christopher Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, described the glitches as “intermittent I.T. issues” that had since been resolved.
“All the systems are back up online,” he said. “We’re not aware of any persistent, long-term issues associated with with the election infrastructure of the United States right now.”
In Minnesota, a poll-finding tool on the secretary of state’s website was briefly inaccessible on Tuesday. Republicans cried foul when visitors to the site were redirected to a left-leaning website that also supplied polling place information. Secretary of State Steve Simon said a staff member had linked to the partisan site in what he called “a serious lapse of judgment.”
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It wasn’t immediately clear why the poll-finder was inaccessible. Simon said there was no evidence the state’s voting systems were hacked or interfered with, but his office didn’t immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press about the reason for the website outage.
U.S. intelligence chiefs have warned that foreign interference remains a threat for the 2020 election, but the national agency that oversees election security said Tuesday it had not detected any notable uptick in either misinformation by foreign nations or targeted attacks on voting equipment during the first hours of voting across the country.
The agency says it has taken steps since the 2016 elections to improve overall security and develop better coordination with state and local election officials, and it praised authorities in Tennessee for quickly making contingency plans to help voters in areas devastated by the severe weather in that state.
In that state, election officials scrambled to make sure people could still cast their ballots. Nashville Mayor John Cooper said alternate sites were arranged for 15 polling places out of the 169 precincts in Nashville’s combined city-county area.
Davidson County Administrator of Elections Jeff Roberts said voters from anywhere in the county can go to two so-called “supersites” to cast their ballots. The route to those sites is a main thoroughfare that’s not closed due to damage, he said.
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Some polling sites in Nashville and in Davidson and Wilson counties opened an hour late but were still set to close at 8 p.m. EST as scheduled, Secretary of State Tre Hargett said. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law called on Tennessee officials to extend primary election voting through at least the end of the week in certain parts of Tennessee affected by the storms.
High winds also briefly disrupted voting in central Alabama. In rural Bibb County, southwest of Birmingham, cellphone alerts began going off with a tornado warning about 6:45 a.m., just as poll workers were getting ready to open a polling place in a senior center, said volunteer Gwen Thompson.
The storm knocked out electricity, she said, but the precinct’s two electronic voting machines had battery backups and a few people had cast ballots less than an hour later.
“We’re voting by flashlight,” Thompson said.
___
Cassidy reported from Atlanta.
___
Associated Press writers Frank Bajak in Boston, Jill Bleed in Little Rock, Arkansas, Jake Bleiberg in Dallas, Kate Brumback in Atlanta, Ben Fox and Eric Tucker in Washington, D.C., Doug Glass in Minneapolis, Jonathan Mattise in Nashville and Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama, and contributed to this report.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-03-04--Joe Biden’s Super Tuesday

Joe Biden’s Super Tuesday

WASHINGTON ― Former Vice President Joe Biden barely campaigned in Super Tuesday states .
He was outspent by tens of millions of dollars and had little to no staff on the ground to reach voters with his message about “ restoring the soul of America.
” It didn ’ t matter .
Biden romped to victory across the country on Tuesday , a stunning result for a campaign that looked terminal just a few weeks ago after disappointing finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire .
Buoyed by his blowout victory in South Carolina over the weekend and a slew of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ carried the Southern states of Texas , Virginia , North Carolina , Tennessee , Oklahoma and Alabama .
He won in Massachusetts , the home state of Sen. Elizabeth Warren , where he didn ’ t campaign at all .
And he won in Minnesota , a state carried by Sen. Bernie Sanders ( I-Vt. ) in 2016 , where he also made no appearances .
“ I don ’ t think I ’ ve ever witnessed a 48-hour voter swing like this in my 35 years on this earth , ” Alex @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Massachusetts Gov .
Deval Patrick , tweeted after Biden scored a surprise win in the state ’ s primary .
Biden ’ s biggest coup of the night may have been co-opting Sanders ’ s core argument in the race for the Democratic nomination : that he can attract new voters , grow the electorate and build a multiracial coalition that can defeat President Donald Trump .
Across the U.S. on Tuesday , Biden performed well in swing district suburban communities , like in Northern Virginia and Minnesota ’ s Twin Cities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ House in 2018 .
He also did well with white working-class voters in the South and college-educated white voters in the North .
But if Biden ends up winning the nomination , it ’ ll be largely thanks to Black voters , who helped resuscitate his struggling campaign .
Increased voter participation also boosted Biden ’ s case on Tuesday .
As in South Carolina , Virginia experienced a large increase in voter turnout .
Nearly twice as many Virginians came out to the polls this year compared to the 2016 Democratic primary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there as evidence that he ― and not his rivals ― was growing the electorate .
“ People are talking about a revolution ; we started a movement , ” a jubilant Biden said at an event in Los Angeles , noting the increased turnout and taking a subtle jab at Sanders and his promise to overhaul the nation ’ s political system .
Though he won in his home state of Vermont and in Utah , Colorado and California , the biggest prize of the night , Sanders underperformed relative to expectations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a competitive position in Massachusetts , North Carolina , Texas , and Oklahoma , but Biden carried all four , and he committed few if any resources in doing so .
As early as last week , before Biden ’ s South Carolina victory , there was talk of the Vermont senator potentially collecting enough delegates by the middle of March that no one else could catch up with him in the race for the nomination .
Now a similar conversation will likely take place about Biden ’ s campaign .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how big Sanders ’ s delegate lead ends up being in California , which is famous for its slow counting .
With 494 delegates up for grabs , the state has the potential to reshape the race once more .
Sanders is projected to do very well there , thanks in large part to young voters and Latinos .
But Warren and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg , who failed to win a single state primary despite pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the race , could play spoiler for Sanders in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ delegates there as well .
Learning the final outcome in the California presidential primary could take weeks , however , meaning the fierce battle for delegates between Biden and Sanders will only heat up during the next round of state primaries next week .
But the race only gets harder for Sanders from here .
Coming primaries include Michigan , where he is expected to do well , but also states like Mississippi , Missouri , Georgia , and Florida , where he struggled in 2016 and is currently trailing in the polls @

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WASHINGTON ― Former Vice President Joe Biden barely campaigned in Super Tuesday states. He was outspent by tens of millions of dollars and had little to no staff on the ground to reach voters with his message about “restoring the soul of America.”
It didn’t matter. Biden romped to victory across the country on Tuesday, a stunning result for a campaign that looked terminal just a few weeks ago after disappointing finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire.
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Buoyed by his blowout victory in South Carolina over the weekend and a slew of Democratic Party endorsements that followed, Biden carried the Southern states of Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Alabama. He won in Massachusetts, the home state of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, where he didn’t campaign at all. And he won in Minnesota, a state carried by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in 2016, where he also made no appearances.
It’s an incredibly rapid change of fortune that few saw coming last week.
“I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a 48-hour voter swing like this in my 35 years on this earth,” Alex Goldstein, who worked as a spokesman for Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, tweeted after Biden scored a surprise win in the state’s primary.
Joe Biden is back. The former vice president celebrated a swath of Super Tuesday victories that few had expected. Mario Tama via Getty Images
Biden’s biggest coup of the night may have been co-opting Sanders’s core argument in the race for the Democratic nomination: that he can attract new voters, grow the electorate and build a multiracial coalition that can defeat President Donald Trump. Across the U.S. on Tuesday, Biden performed well in swing district suburban communities, like in Northern Virginia and Minnesota’s Twin Cities area, which helped Democrats capture the House in 2018. He also did well with white working-class voters in the South and college-educated white voters in the North. But if Biden ends up winning the nomination, it’ll be largely thanks to Black voters, who helped resuscitate his struggling campaign.
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Increased voter participation also boosted Biden’s case on Tuesday. As in South Carolina, Virginia experienced a large increase in voter turnout. Nearly twice as many Virginians came out to the polls this year compared to the 2016 Democratic primary. Biden pointed to his double-digit victory there as evidence that he ― and not his rivals ― was growing the electorate.
“People are talking about a revolution; we started a movement,” a jubilant Biden said at an event in Los Angeles, noting the increased turnout and taking a subtle jab at Sanders and his promise to overhaul the nation’s political system.
Though he won in his home state of Vermont and in Utah, Colorado and California, the biggest prize of the night, Sanders underperformed relative to expectations. Some polls showed him winning or in a competitive position in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas, and Oklahoma, but Biden carried all four, and he committed few if any resources in doing so.
As early as last week, before Biden’s South Carolina victory, there was talk of the Vermont senator potentially collecting enough delegates by the middle of March that no one else could catch up with him in the race for the nomination. Now a similar conversation will likely take place about Biden’s campaign.
“This is one of the greatest comebacks ― one of the greatest political comebacks ― in modern American political history,” Biden senior adviser Kate Bedingfield said in an interview on CNN.
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The biggest remaining question of the night is how big Sanders’s delegate lead ends up being in California, which is famous for its slow counting. With 494 delegates up for grabs, the state has the potential to reshape the race once more. Sanders is projected to do very well there, thanks in large part to young voters and Latinos. But Warren and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who failed to win a single state primary despite pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the race, could play spoiler for Sanders in California, allowing Biden to net some delegates there as well.
Learning the final outcome in the California presidential primary could take weeks, however, meaning the fierce battle for delegates between Biden and Sanders will only heat up during the next round of state primaries next week.
“We expect that the shelf-life of conventional wisdom tonight will be very short,” Sanders communications director Mike Casca said Tuesday, pushing back on the notion that Biden’s success on Tuesday will be a game-changer.
But the race only gets harder for Sanders from here. Coming primaries include Michigan, where he is expected to do well, but also states like Mississippi, Missouri, Georgia, and Florida, where he struggled in 2016 and is currently trailing in the polls.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-03-03--Jeff Sessions Fails To Win GOP Nomination For His Old Senate Seat Outright

The battle to pick the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Alabama is headed to a March 31 runoff .
Sessions should have been a shoo-in for his old seat .
He represented the state in the Senate for 20 years before joining the Trump administration .
He was the first senator to endorse Trump , lending him establishment credibility and opening the doors to the political world during the 2016 election .
Trump , in turn , rewarded him with a job as his attorney general .
But Trump soured on Sessions after he refused to act as Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election .
He has called Sessions an “ embarrassment to the great state of Alabama ” and said the Justice Department was a “ disaster ” when he ran it .
Jeff Sessions was once one of President Donald Trump 's closest allies — and became his attorney general — but they had a falling-out when Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation .
The Senate race was very much about who could tie themselves closest to Trump .
Both Tuberville and Rep. Bradley @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for not being loyal enough to the president .
But Byrne and Tuberville have also criticized the president in the past .
In September , Tuberville said he was “ pissed off ” at Trump over veterans ’ health care issues , and Byrne said Trump was “ not fit to be president″ after his “ Access Hollywood ” comments about sexual assault came out in 2016 .
Sessions nevertheless emphasized his connection to Trump , calling himself his “ No .
1 supporter.
” The president didn ’ t weigh in or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ winner of the GOP primary will face off against Sen. Doug Jones ( D-Ala. ) .
Jones won the seat when Sessions resigned to join the Trump administration .
Alabama is deep red , and it seemed like a safe guess that Republicans would be able to hang on to the position .
But the GOP nominee , Roy Moore , faced accusations of sexual assault involving teenage girls , and Jones was able to pull off a win .
Republicans see Jones as a top target to defeat in 2020 .

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The battle to pick the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Alabama is headed to a March 31 runoff.
Jeff Sessions, President Donald Trump’s former attorney general who served as senator until 2017, will face former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville.
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Sessions should have been a shoo-in for his old seat. He represented the state in the Senate for 20 years before joining the Trump administration.
He was the first senator to endorse Trump, lending him establishment credibility and opening the doors to the political world during the 2016 election. Trump, in turn, rewarded him with a job as his attorney general.
But Trump soured on Sessions after he refused to act as Trump’s personal protector and recused himself from the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. He has called Sessions an “embarrassment to the great state of Alabama” and said the Justice Department was a “disaster” when he ran it.
Jeff Sessions was once one of President Donald Trump's closest allies — and became his attorney general — but they had a falling-out when Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation. Vasha Hunt/Associated Press
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The Senate race was very much about who could tie themselves closest to Trump. Both Tuberville and Rep. Bradley Byrne (R) went after Sessions for not being loyal enough to the president.
But Byrne and Tuberville have also criticized the president in the past. In September, Tuberville said he was “pissed off” at Trump over veterans’ health care issues, and Byrne said Trump was “not fit to be president″ after his “Access Hollywood” comments about sexual assault came out in 2016.
Sessions nevertheless emphasized his connection to Trump, calling himself his “No. 1 supporter.” The president didn’t weigh in or endorse anyone in the primary.
The winner of the GOP primary will face off against Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.). Jones won the seat when Sessions resigned to join the Trump administration. Alabama is deep red, and it seemed like a safe guess that Republicans would be able to hang on to the position. But the GOP nominee, Roy Moore, faced accusations of sexual assault involving teenage girls, and Jones was able to pull off a win. Republicans see Jones as a top target to defeat in 2020.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-03-04--Jill Biden Jumps To Joe's Rescue When Protester Charges Stage

Protesters disrupted former Vice President Joe Biden ’ s speech as he celebrated primary wins in several states on Super Tuesday — and his wife , Jill Biden , was having none of it .
As an animal rights activist waving a “ Let Dairy Die ” sign rushed the stage during the California event , Jill Biden immediately leapt in front of her husband with her arms raised , blocking him with her body .
Symone Sanders , a senior adviser to the presidential candidate , rushed in to haul the protester off the stage .
Protestors interrupt Joe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Let Dairy Die '' and it looks like Jill Biden moves to protect him .
I did NOT see that one coming .
# SuperTuesday pic.twitter.com/ndQp0nPyyg — Amee Vanderpool ( @ girlsreallyrule ) March 4 , 2020 It ’ s not the first time Jill Biden has jumped to her husband ’ s defense .
Earlier this year , she played bouncer as she helped eject a heckler from a rally in New Hampshire .
She later told reporters , “ I ’ m a good Philly girl ” when asked about the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ praised for her quick action on Tuesday , apparently wasn ’ t too fazed by the dramatic moment : The Direct Action Everywhere Facebook page advertises similar protests with similar signs , and shared the video of the disruption at Biden ’ s event .
Biden continued his speech after the interruption , celebrating with his supporters in Los Angeles after racking up Super Tuesday wins across the country in Massachusetts , Virginia , North Carolina , Tennessee , Oklahoma and Alabama in the wake of his decisive victory in South Carolina over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more impressed by his wife : One thing we can all agree on is Dr Jill Biden has always been a badass .
Seeing how she just jumped into action to PHYSICALLY have her husband ’ s back when a protestor rushed the stage was a new level of impressive .
— Jackie ( @ world_iswide ) March 4 , 2020 Just witnessed protestors rushing the stage , Jill Biden jumped in front of her husband and puts her arms out .
She put her body between the protestor and her husband .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Melania doing this .
— MommaT ( @ tweetmommybop ) March 4 , 2020 If you are a protester , Valerie Biden and Jill Biden are two people you probably do n't want to mess with .
— Matt Viser ( @ mviser ) March 4 , 2020

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Protesters disrupted former Vice President Joe Biden’s speech as he celebrated primary wins in several states on Super Tuesday — and his wife, Jill Biden, was having none of it.
As an animal rights activist waving a “Let Dairy Die” sign rushed the stage during the California event, Jill Biden immediately leapt in front of her husband with her arms raised, blocking him with her body. Symone Sanders, a senior adviser to the presidential candidate, rushed in to haul the protester off the stage.
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Protestors interrupt Joe Biden during his speech to chant "Let Dairy Die" and it looks like Jill Biden moves to protect him. I did NOT see that one coming. #SuperTuesday pic.twitter.com/ndQp0nPyyg — Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) March 4, 2020
It’s not the first time Jill Biden has jumped to her husband’s defense. Earlier this year, she played bouncer as she helped eject a heckler from a rally in New Hampshire. She later told reporters, “I’m a good Philly girl” when asked about the incident.
Sanders, who was also praised for her quick action on Tuesday, apparently wasn’t too fazed by the dramatic moment:
I broke a nail. #SuperTuesday — Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) March 4, 2020
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The Direct Action Everywhere Facebook page advertises similar protests with similar signs, and shared the video of the disruption at Biden’s event.
Biden continued his speech after the interruption, celebrating with his supporters in Los Angeles after racking up Super Tuesday wins across the country in Massachusetts, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Alabama in the wake of his decisive victory in South Carolina over the weekend.
Social media users seemed more impressed by his wife:
One thing we can all agree on is Dr Jill Biden has always been a badass. Seeing how she just jumped into action to PHYSICALLY have her husband’s back when a protestor rushed the stage was a new level of impressive. — Jackie (@world_iswide) March 4, 2020
Just witnessed protestors rushing the stage, Jill Biden jumped in front of her husband and puts her arms out.
She put her body between the protestor and her husband.
Somehow, I don’t see Melania doing this. — MommaT (@tweetmommybop) March 4, 2020
Jill Biden is a linebacker — Jon Lovett (@jonlovett) March 4, 2020
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Related: Jill Biden is from Philly — Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) March 4, 2020
If you are a protester, Valerie Biden and Jill Biden are two people you probably don't want to mess with. — Matt Viser (@mviser) March 4, 2020
Jill Biden with some serious "not on my watch" energy pic.twitter.com/7Deds7QOpX — Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) March 4, 2020
And actor Amy Schumer even created a play-by-play voiceover of the moment.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-03-04--RNC Receives Reality Check After Misguided Attempt At Trolling Joe Biden

Are you serious with this right now ?
Have you been watching the same rallies and speeches of @ realDonaldTrump @ @ @ @ @ like to ask both @ POTUS and the @ GOP to # BeBest for the @ @ @ @ @ the children of the world # smh pic.twitter.com/6a1f63rSFx

Are you serious with this right now? Have you been watching the same rallies and speeches of @realDonaldTrump?
Also, I'd like to ask both @POTUS and the @GOP to #BeBest for the sake of @FLOTUS and the children of the world#smh pic.twitter.com/6a1f63rSFx


thehuffingtonpost--2020-03-04--5 Takeaways From Super Tuesday's Democratic Presidential Race

Two victory speeches were delivered on Super Tuesday night .
The first came from Sen. Bernie Sanders ( I-Vt. ) , who told his supporters in Vermont he would be the Democratic nominee “ with absolute confidence.
” The second victory speech was from former Vice President Joe Biden , who swept the night and put a serious dent in Sanders ’ s path to the nomination .
Ironically , California was among the few states that didn ’ t show Biden much love on Tuesday .
Sanders appeared to be easily winning the state .
California had the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But of the 14 states that voted on March 3 , Biden decisively won the South and outperformed the polls in Minnesota , Massachusetts , Maine and Texas .
He racked up a significant number of delegates and is poised to lead Sanders in the count .
Three days before Super Tuesday , Biden won the South Carolina primary by a 20-percentage-point margin .
Two days later , Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar dropped out of the running and endorsed Biden .
Biden ’ s campaign didn ’ t have nearly the same @ @ @ @ @ @ @ states .
It had one field office in Virginia .
It spent a fraction of money as did the other campaigns on advertising .
The campaign spent less than $ 500,000 on TV in Texas , and , unlike the Sanders and Bloomberg campaigns , none was in Spanish .
Going into Super Tuesday , the more moderate wing of the Democratic Party consolidated around Biden ; Buttigieg and Klobuchar endorsed him , as did former Rep. Beto O ’ Rourke , former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , Rep. Bobby Scott ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black voters in Virginia , and other California , Illinois , Florida , North Carolina and Texas electeds .
In one weekend , the campaign raised more than $ 10 million — its biggest single-day fundraising haul in the entire campaign cycle .
Only a week ago , the Vermont senator had a 16-percentage-point lead in California , according to the Real Clear Politics polling average , and in Texas , he had a 6-point lead .
He was leading the field in Virginia and North Carolina as well , and looked like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Minnesota and was in a dead heat with Warren in her home state of Massachusetts .
A lot of the problems facing Sanders are not new : He continues to struggle with older voters — a more reliable voting base that Biden is strong with .
He also has not effectively expanded his base among Southern Black voters , particularly older ones .
We saw this in South Carolina , despite strong organizing efforts on the part of the Sanders campaign .
Again on Super Tuesday , it looked like Biden won over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the South .
But the biggest problem facing Sanders seems to be around voters that were undecided until the last few days before Super Tuesday .
Biden won 47 % of late-breaking voters , according to NBC .
Sanders won with voters who had decided before that .
Beating Trump remains the priority for these voters , and again Biden wins that argument , according to exit polling in seven of the Super Tuesday states from The Washington Post .
Bloomberg did have some effect on the race ; he will likely win @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tennessee .
He was asked several times Tuesday whether he considered if his candidacy was hurting Biden or helping Sanders .
Bloomberg wouldn ’ t answer the question , telling reporters that it was Biden taking votes from him .
As the first test of the influence of Bloomberg ’ s money , though , Super Tuesday was a disappointment for the campaign .
There were some early signs : His polling numbers had largely stalled after two bad debate performances when his rivals hit him for expanding stop-and-frisk policing in New York @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , nondisclosure agreements with women alleging misconduct or gender discrimination at his companies , and his previous support of Republican politicians , such as former President George W. Bush .
“ Tonight , only one-third of delegates will be allotted , ” Bloomberg ’ s campaign manager , Kevin Sheekey , said in a statement .
“ As Mike said tonight , ‘ No matter how many delegates we win tonight , we have done something no one else thought was possible .
In just three months , we ’ ve gone from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being a contender for the Democratic nomination.
’ ” Elizabeth Warren ’ s game plan is looking a lot more tenuous .
Warren allies had spent much of the past week fretting about her ability to defeat Sanders in her home state .
The actual result was worse than that , with Biden ’ s surge hitting the Bay State ’ s plentiful suburbs and relegating her to a third-place finish .
And while votes are still being counted , Warren appears to only be viable in six of the 14 states that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ signs of exiting the race .
Her campaign sent out a fundraising email reminding supporters that the full results in states California and Colorado would not be known for days .
“ There are six more primaries just one week away , and we need your help to keep up the momentum , ” the unsigned email read .
The campaign , which on the day of the New Hampshire primary insisted it would thrive on Super Tuesday , seems to continually promise success is just around the corner .
Warren had already @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ran through a contested convention , but Sanders ’ s supporters ― ornery after that Tuesday proved to be as sour as it was super ― are likely to amplify their calls for her to exit the race .
“ Imagine if the progressives consolidated last night like the moderates consolidated , who would have won ?
, ” Rep. Ilhan Omar , a Sanders backer , wrote on Twitter , suggesting Sanders would have won additional states if Warren were not on the ballot .

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Two victory speeches were delivered on Super Tuesday night. The first came from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who told his supporters in Vermont he would be the Democratic nominee “with absolute confidence.” The second victory speech was from former Vice President Joe Biden, who swept the night and put a serious dent in Sanders’s path to the nomination.
Biden claimed a clear resurgence on Super Tuesday, balking at those who said the race was over for him after his poor performance in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.
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“It may be over for the other guy,” Biden said in Los Angeles, in an apparent jab at Sanders.
Ironically, California was among the few states that didn’t show Biden much love on Tuesday. Sanders appeared to be easily winning the state. California had the most delegates up for grabs Tuesday night. But of the 14 states that voted on March 3, Biden decisively won the South and outperformed the polls in Minnesota, Massachusetts, Maine and Texas. He racked up a significant number of delegates and is poised to lead Sanders in the count.
Roughly a third of all the pledged delegates of the 2020 Democratic primary were up for grabs Tuesday. The 14 states and the territory that voted were California (415 delegates), Texas (228 delegates), North Carolina (110 delegates), Virginia (99 delegates), Massachusetts (91 delegates), Minnesota (75 delegates), Colorado (67 delegates), Tennessee (64 delegates), Alabama (52 delegates), Oklahoma (37 delegates), Arkansas (31 delegates), Utah (29 delegates), Maine (24 delegates), Vermont (16 delegates) and American Samoa (6 delegates). Democrats abroad will also begin voting Tuesday, though their voting period will last a week.
Tuesday cemented the primary as a two-person race between Sanders and Biden. Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg failed his first electoral test, despite pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the race. And Warren finished in third place in her home state of Massachusetts.
Here are five takeaways from the night.
South Carolina really did matter.
Biden’s campaign said South Carolina’s primary would change everything for his candidacy. It did.
Three days before Super Tuesday, Biden won the South Carolina primary by a 20-percentage-point margin. Two days later, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar dropped out of the running and endorsed Biden. Biden’s campaign didn’t have nearly the same campaign infrastructure set up in Super Tuesday states. It had one field office in Virginia. It spent a fraction of money as did the other campaigns on advertising. The campaign spent less than $500,000 on TV in Texas, and, unlike the Sanders and Bloomberg campaigns, none was in Spanish.
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“We didn’t have a penny on television,” former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said on CNN of Texas. “Not a penny.”
But it didn’t matter.
Undecided voters overwhelmingly broke for Biden and gave him big victories in Virginia, North Carolina and Texas, according to NBC’s exit polls. He was able to win Black voters in the South despite coming up short behind Sanders with Latino voters.
Going into Super Tuesday, the more moderate wing of the Democratic Party consolidated around Biden; Buttigieg and Klobuchar endorsed him, as did former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), who wields influence among Black voters in Virginia, and other California, Illinois, Florida, North Carolina and Texas electeds. In one weekend, the campaign raised more than $10 million — its biggest single-day fundraising haul in the entire campaign cycle.
Super Tuesday catapulted Biden to front-runner status — and he did it with little campaigning in those states.
Bernie Sanders lost late-deciding voters.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), accompanied by his wife, Jane O'Meara Sanders, speaks during a primary night rally in Essex Junction, Vermont, on Tuesday. Matt Rourke/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Sanders is in strong contention for the nomination. But Super Tuesday didn’t come close to securing the lead his campaign was looking for.
Only a week ago, the Vermont senator had a 16-percentage-point lead in California, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average, and in Texas, he had a 6-point lead. He was leading the field in Virginia and North Carolina as well, and looked like he had a good chance of winning Minnesota and was in a dead heat with Warren in her home state of Massachusetts.
Tuesday didn’t bring those victories. Sanders delivered easy wins in Vermont, Colorado, Utah and apparently California, but Biden spoiled his party in Texas and blew him out of the water in Virginia and North Carolina. Sanders did meet the 15% threshold to be eligible for delegates across the map.
A lot of the problems facing Sanders are not new: He continues to struggle with older voters — a more reliable voting base that Biden is strong with. He also has not effectively expanded his base among Southern Black voters, particularly older ones. We saw this in South Carolina, despite strong organizing efforts on the part of the Sanders campaign. Again on Super Tuesday, it looked like Biden won over Black voters in state after state across the South.
But the biggest problem facing Sanders seems to be around voters that were undecided until the last few days before Super Tuesday. Biden won 47% of late-breaking voters, according to NBC. Sanders won with voters who had decided before that. Beating Trump remains the priority for these voters, and again Biden wins that argument, according to exit polling in seven of the Super Tuesday states from The Washington Post.
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Sanders knows “electability” is a question around his candidacy. He includes his lead in national head-to-head polls against Trump in his stump speeches. In the end, the voters who were not inclined to support Sanders in the first place seemed to find a home with Biden on Super Tuesday.
Bloomberg spent $500 million and won American Samoa.
Bloomberg skipped the first four contests in the Democratic nomination process with hopes that major investments in Super Tuesday would put him atop the primary leaderboard. His campaign spent more than $500 million in Super Tuesday states, vastly outspending every single other candidate in the race combined.
In the end, he came out with a win in American Samoa.
Bloomberg did have some effect on the race; he will likely win some delegates in Arkansas, Colorado and Tennessee. He was asked several times Tuesday whether he considered if his candidacy was hurting Biden or helping Sanders. Bloomberg wouldn’t answer the question, telling reporters that it was Biden taking votes from him.
Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg attend a primary election night campaign rally Tuesday in West Palm Beach, Florida. Lynne Sladky/ASSOCIATED PRESS
As the first test of the influence of Bloomberg’s money, though, Super Tuesday was a disappointment for the campaign. There were some early signs: His polling numbers had largely stalled after two bad debate performances when his rivals hit him for expanding stop-and-frisk policing in New York City, his derogatory comments toward women, nondisclosure agreements with women alleging misconduct or gender discrimination at his companies, and his previous support of Republican politicians, such as former President George W. Bush.
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Bloomberg’s campaign didn’t say he was dropping out after Super Tuesday. But it went from hinging its entire campaign on Super Tuesday to downplaying its importance.
“Tonight, only one-third of delegates will be allotted,” Bloomberg’s campaign manager, Kevin Sheekey, said in a statement. “As Mike said tonight, ‘No matter how many delegates we win tonight, we have done something no one else thought was possible. In just three months, we’ve gone from just 1% in the polls to being a contender for the Democratic nomination.’”
Elizabeth Warren’s game plan is looking a lot more tenuous.
Warren allies had spent much of the past week fretting about her ability to defeat Sanders in her home state. The actual result was worse than that, with Biden’s surge hitting the Bay State’s plentiful suburbs and relegating her to a third-place finish. And while votes are still being counted, Warren appears to only be viable in six of the 14 states that cast votes Tuesday.
Warren shows no signs of exiting the race. Her campaign sent out a fundraising email reminding supporters that the full results in states California and Colorado would not be known for days. “There are six more primaries just one week away, and we need your help to keep up the momentum,” the unsigned email read. The campaign, which on the day of the New Hampshire primary insisted it would thrive on Super Tuesday, seems to continually promise success is just around the corner.
Warren had already conceded her path to the nomination likely ran through a contested convention, but Sanders’s supporters ― ornery after that Tuesday proved to be as sour as it was super ― are likely to amplify their calls for her to exit the race. “Imagine if the progressives consolidated last night like the moderates consolidated, who would have won?,” Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Sanders backer, wrote on Twitter, suggesting Sanders would have won additional states if Warren were not on the ballot.
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The Warren campaign has often suggested she would shine in a three-way debate against Sanders and Biden, but the next debate ― scheduled for Phoenix on March 15 ― isn’t until after the next wave of states has voted.
Sanders’s gender gap.
The exit polls displayed a worrisome trend for Sanders: He is consistently receiving less support from women than from men, and far more Democratic primary voters are female than male. In Massachusetts, he had the backing of 31% of men and 26% of women. In Colorado, it was 36% and 28%. Maine had a 9-point gap, and it was 8 points in Texas.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-03-03--Read Live Updates On Super Tuesday 2020: Biden Racks Up Wins, Sanders Takes California

The American Samoa Democratic caucus , with six delegates , also took place today .
Bloomberg was projected to win @ @ @ @ @ , which has 13 delegates and allows Americans living outside the U.S. to vote , @ @ @ @ @ week .
To see results as they come in , visit the HuffPost Elections HQ @

The American Samoa Democratic caucus, with six delegates, also took place today. Bloomberg was projected to win. The Democrats Abroad primary, which has 13 delegates and allows Americans living outside the U.S. to vote, begins today and ends next week.
To see results as they come in, visit the HuffPost Elections HQ.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-03-03--Mike Bloomberg Set To Reconsider Campaign After Super Tuesday Flop

Mike Bloomberg faced his first election night of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday ― and his disappointing results mean it might also be his last .
The former New York mayor will on Wednesday reassess his bid for the party ’ s nomination , reported NBC News , The Associated Press and Politico .
A statement from Bloomberg ’ s campaign manager , Kevin Sheekey , made two references to the importance of defeating President Donald Trump , a cause Bloomberg has previously said he will spend big money on regardless of whether he is the nominee .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ days ago , ” Sheekey said .
“ In that incredibly short time , we ’ ve built a nationwide coalition focused on building a better future for America , and that starts with defeating Donald Trump in November.
” Bloomberg has spent more than half a billion dollars of his estimated $ 60 billion fortune on the race so far , $ 224 million of it on advertising targeted at Super Tuesday voters .
It hasn ’ t paid off .
He notched only one outright win , in the territory of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders ( I-Vt. ) ― seriously outperformed him in states where he had hoped to make significant gains like North Carolina , Virginia and Colorado .
Bloomberg ’ s rationale for entering the race also faced trouble .
He hoped to snag moderate voters from Biden , whom he saw as a weak candidate , and to emerge as the strongest alternative to the assertively progressive Sanders .
But Tuesday capped a dayslong surge for Biden , who secured a win in South Carolina ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from Rep. Jim Clyburn ( D-S.C. ) and former 2020 presidential contenders Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar ( D-Minn. ) .
He scored significant wins , including in states that backed Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary like Oklahoma and Minnesota , as well as in Massachusetts , the home state of fellow Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren .
To the extent Bloomberg sought to blunt Sanders ’ momentum , he did enjoy some successes on Tuesday night .
In Colorado , for example , Bloomberg and Biden both secured a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sanders a number of delegates in a state he won .
Yet the former vice president ’ s stunning turnaround suggested there was little space left for Bloomberg ’ s Biden-like pitch of being the best Sanders alternative and the most qualified to face Trump because of his experience and personal ethics .
Bloomberg has established a massive national operation that extends beyond the Super Tuesday states .
Should he choose to , he could remain in the race , and his team has spoken of a long push .
“ We ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” adviser Tim O ’ Brien told the AP ahead of Tuesday , saying the night ’ s results would not cause his boss to drop out .
Bloomberg has bought ads for the following two days in states with later contests , The Washington Post reported .
Yet the businessman could decide the most pragmatic ― and face-saving ― move would be to bow out , perhaps preserving some of a reputation that ’ s recently faced loud criticism from the left and fresh scrutiny .

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Mike Bloomberg faced his first election night of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday ― and his disappointing results mean it might also be his last.
The former New York mayor will on Wednesday reassess his bid for the party’s nomination, reported NBC News, The Associated Press and Politico. A statement from Bloomberg’s campaign manager, Kevin Sheekey, made two references to the importance of defeating President Donald Trump, a cause Bloomberg has previously said he will spend big money on regardless of whether he is the nominee.
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“We launched our campaign exactly 100 days ago,” Sheekey said. “In that incredibly short time, we’ve built a nationwide coalition focused on building a better future for America, and that starts with defeating Donald Trump in November.”
Bloomberg has spent more than half a billion dollars of his estimated $60 billion fortune on the race so far, $224 million of it on advertising targeted at Super Tuesday voters. It hasn’t paid off.
He notched only one outright win, in the territory of American Samoa. His top rivals ― former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) ― seriously outperformed him in states where he had hoped to make significant gains like North Carolina, Virginia and Colorado.
Bloomberg’s rationale for entering the race also faced trouble. He hoped to snag moderate voters from Biden, whom he saw as a weak candidate, and to emerge as the strongest alternative to the assertively progressive Sanders.
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But Tuesday capped a dayslong surge for Biden, who secured a win in South Carolina’s primary on Saturday and high-profile endorsements from Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) and former 2020 presidential contenders Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). He scored significant wins, including in states that backed Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary like Oklahoma and Minnesota, as well as in Massachusetts, the home state of fellow Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren.
To the extent Bloomberg sought to blunt Sanders’ momentum, he did enjoy some successes on Tuesday night. In Colorado, for example, Bloomberg and Biden both secured a significant number of votes, thus denying Sanders a number of delegates in a state he won.
Yet the former vice president’s stunning turnaround suggested there was little space left for Bloomberg’s Biden-like pitch of being the best Sanders alternative and the most qualified to face Trump because of his experience and personal ethics.
Bloomberg has established a massive national operation that extends beyond the Super Tuesday states. Should he choose to, he could remain in the race, and his team has spoken of a long push. “We’re going to be fighting it through,” adviser Tim O’Brien told the AP ahead of Tuesday, saying the night’s results would not cause his boss to drop out.
Bloomberg has bought ads for the following two days in states with later contests, The Washington Post reported.
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Yet the businessman could decide the most pragmatic ― and face-saving ― move would be to bow out, perhaps preserving some of a reputation that’s recently faced loud criticism from the left and fresh scrutiny.