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Bernie shakes up his staff in N.H. and Iowa
- On Sunday, news broke that the Vermont senator had decided to reorganize his campaign as he looked to expand into Super Tuesday states.
- Top aide Shannon Jackson took over operations in the Granite State and Joe Caiazzo, who had been in charge of N.H., moved south to Massachusetts.
- “I think the senator wanted someone here who he trusts,” Jackson said in an interview Tuesday from the first in the nation primary state.
- The decision came after members of the senator’s state steering committee voiced discontent about leadership.
- New Hampshire senior adviser Kurt Ehrenberg is reportedly out.
- Sanders also recently parted ways with Jess Mazour, the Iowa political director.
Campaign tells supporters to keep mum with the press
- A number of Sanders’ staunchest supporters told members of the press they were concerned with the campaign’s leadership after the Vermont senator lost the Working Families Party’s endorsement to Elizabeth Warren.
- Members of the N.H. steering committee told Politico they were concerned missteps by the Sanders camp were representative of mismanagement.
- On Wednesday it was reported that Sanders’ aides have sent emails and made calls telling committee members in N.H. to steer clear of reporters.
- “Speaking to the press about personnel issues of any sort does not help Bernie win and should be avoided, both on and off the record,” wrote Will Bateson, N.H. state director, in an email obtained by Politico.
Sanders struggles to win over S.C.’s moderate Democrats
- Sanders cut a three-day trip through South Carolina short to rest his voice.
- In doing so he missed his chance to attend Galivant’s Ferry Stump, a political event that dates back to 1876, and to try to win over voters who had already condemned him to their second choice behind Biden.
- South Carolina offers Sanders a unique challenge as he vies for the support of a more conservative voting base, compared to New Hampshire and Iowa, as well as a population that is majority African American, a demographic he has struggled to gain support from in the past.
- “If it wasn’t Biden, I’d vote for Bernie,” said Barbara Seegars, as she waited to hear the former vice president speak on Monday.
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OTHER NEWS
- During an interview, Sanders said he doesn’t think Biden’s “agenda is the agenda that’s gonna create the kind of energy and excitement that you need.”
- The Sanders’ campaign announced Thursday it has now received contributions from over 1 million individual donors.
- Warren leapfrogged Sanders for second place in three national polls. She now leads Sanders by just under 2 points in the race for second best, according to an average of six polls.
- The campaign is pushing to extend New York voter registration deadline. In 2016, Sanders supporters complained about the strict rulesthat make it so people must be signed on as Democrats six months before Election Day in order to participate.
- As Sanders and Biden dueled for the support of unions during a labor forum on Tuesday, both criticized each other’s health care plans.
- Sanders has said his immigration policy would include halting all deportations, but the Wall Street Journal reports that Sanders has also long worried that too much legal immigration could leave American workers without jobs.
- Texas Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw responded to a Tweet by Sanders — about taking care of veterans — by saying he “didn’t go to war so that you would take care of me, Bernie. I went because I wanted to serve and our country needed it.”
- During the labor forum in Philadelphia, Eliza Collins of the Wall Street Journal reported that Sanders talked about his own time as a union worker “loading soda crates onto trucks and working at the post office” as a reason he supports the union movement.
- The Vermont senator announced he will be holding a rally in Warren’s hometown of Norman, Oklahoma, on Sunday.
- Responding to the disappointment of losing the endorsement of the Working Families Party, a Sanders’ spokesperson told the Washington Post that “we do believe they should release the final tally of both the board vote and the member vote, as they did in 2015.”
THE REST OF THE FIELD
| A close look at Biden’s support for the War on Drugs before he co-wrote the 1994 Crime Bill. Andrew Yang said, that though his is a long shot, “you have to admit a Yang Presidency would be a lot of fun.” Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and other candidates called for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Biden, Sanders and Warren agree to release medical records. Warren had 20,000 people attend her rally in Washington Square Park and spent four hours taking selfies. Marianne Williamson defended her recent tweets about Hurricane Dorian. Harris is now going for an “Iowa or bust” strategy, as she has stagnated in the polls. Pete Buttigieg is revving up his fundraising operation Iowa with plans to hold a large donor event. |
IN THE POLLS
WSJ/NBC poll (conducted after last week’s debate compared to a July numbers).
- Biden 31% (+5)
- Warren 25% (+6)
- Sanders 14% (+1)
- Buttigieg 7% (0)
- Harris 5% (-8)
A look ahead
Sanders returned to the south on Thursday, making stops in Chapel Hill and Greensboro before heading back to South Carolina — after this week’s canceled events — for appearances on Friday and Saturday.
Next week, the Vermont senator will then be touring half a dozen counties in Iowa that flipped from former President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 to President Donald Trump in 2016.
