THE DEMOCRATS ARE PLAYING GAMES AGAIN TO RIG THE ELECTION JUST AS THEY DID WHEN HILLARY WAS RUNNING AGAINST BERNIE SANDERS LEADING UP TO THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WHEN THE DNC WAS CONSPIRING WITH HILLARY TO KEEP BERNIE OFF THE TICKET ...
Des Moines Register
"Iowa Poll canceled after a Pete Buttigieg supporter says the candidate's name was omitted during a poll call"
Phillip M. Bailey, Des Moines Register
2 FEBRUARY 2020
A highly anticipated release of the Iowa Poll, one of the most respected political surveys in the nation, was canceled Saturday night ahead of the Iowa caucuses after Pete Buttigieg's campaign complained that his name had been omitted by a poll interviewer.
The Iowa Poll's sponsors, The Des Moines Register and CNN, jointly made the decision in consultation with Selzer & Co., which conducts the poll, after determining they couldn't verify that the results were valid.
Democratic presidential candidates were eagerly awaiting the poll results leading into Monday's caucuses in the lead-up to determine who will challenge President Donald Trump in the fall.
"The Iowa Poll was founded in 1943," Carol Hunter, executive editor of the Register, said in an interview Saturday.
"It's built its reputation over many decades for accuracy, and we feel the utmost responsibility to uphold that reputation."
Buttigieg's campaign complained of irregularities in the polling methodology that left out his name among the panel of candidates when a supporter was surveyed for the poll.
The campaign brought the problem to the attention of the pollster and its media partners.
"Our campaign received a report from a recipient of the Iowa Poll call, raising concerns that not every candidate was named by the interviewer when asked who they support," Buttigieg campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith said in a statement.
"We shared this with the organizations behind the poll, who conducted an internal investigation and determined not to release it."
"We applaud CNN and the Des Moines Register for their integrity."
Since people are asking:
Our campaign received a report from a recipient of the Iowa Poll call, raising concerns that not every candidate was named by the interviewer when asked who they support (1/2)
— Lis Smith (@Lis_Smith) February 2, 2020
The decision could agitate Buttigieg's rivals who are crisscrossing the Hawkeye State and were looking to use the survey as a signal to their supporters.
Chief among them is Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who was ahead in the last Iowa Poll released in January.
The cancellation of the poll created immediate speculation among candidates and political observers.
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang, who also is seeking the nomination, alleged without evidence that the poll was withdrawn because it showed him performing well.
"There are a lot of rumors flying around," Yang said at a Saturday evening rally.
"And one of the rumors is that we did really really well in it."
Others said the poll should still be discussed in light of Monday's caucus.
"CNN should immediately begin a one hour special on what the Des Moines Register poll might have said," political analyst Jeff Greenfield said sarcastically in a tweet.
CNN should immediately begin a one hour special on what the Des Moines Register poll MiGHT have said.
— Jeff Greenfield (@greenfield64) February 2, 2020
Hunter said the decision should not affect Monday's caucus outcome.
"The ultimate poll is always when voters go and make their own decisions," Hunter said.
"Our intent in polling is never to sway outcomes."
"A poll is simply a snapshot in time of Iowans' opinions."
The poll was conducted by live operators from a call center where respondents are read candidates’ names from a list to determine which candidate a voter planned to support.
CNN did an internal investigation and found that an operator had enlarged the font on their computer screen, cutting off Buttigieg's name, which had been at the bottom.
The polling methodology randomly cycles candidates' names so that they are read in a different order, making it impossible to determine which other candidates' names might have been left out — or how many times it might have happened.
While the polling partners are aware of only one instance of a candidate's name being omitted, the decision was made to cancel the poll because the same thing could have occurred with Buttigieg or other candidates.
"A respondent raised an issue with the way their interview was conducted, which could have compromised the results of the poll," CNN said in a statement Saturday.
"We were unable to ascertain what happened during the respondent's interview, and cannot determine if this was a single isolated incident."
Reach Phillip M. Bailey at pbailey@courier-journal.com or 502-582-4475. Follow him on Twitter at @phillipmbailey.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Poll canceled after a Pete Buttigieg supporter says the candidate's name was omitted during a poll call
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections ... li=BBnb7Kz
Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg
Re: Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg
THE WASHINGTON POST
"Iowa caucuses descend into chaos as delay leaves outcome uncertain"
Matt Viser, Toluse Olorunnipa
4 FEBRUARY 2020
DES MOINES —The long-anticipated Iowa caucuses turned into a debacle Monday night when technical problems delayed the results, prompting presidential candidates to depart before the outcome was clear, spurring one campaign to challenge the integrity of the process and producing a muddled situation instead of what Democratic leaders hoped would be a decisive beginning to their attempt to oust President Trump.
Hours after voters at more than 1,600 caucus sites declared their presidential preferences, Democratic officials were scrambling to explain why no results had been released and when they might materialize.
As midnight neared, state party leaders met hastily with the campaigns — a phone call that ended abruptly, according to someone familiar with it — and sought to reassure the public about the reliability of a caucus system that has long been criticized as quirky and byzantine.
“The integrity of the results is paramount,” Iowa Democratic Party spokeswoman Mandy McClure said as candidates, voters and activists waited in frustration and reports circulated about problems with the app that caucus officials used to transmit the results.
McClure added: “This is simply a reporting issue, the app did not go down and this is not a hack or an intrusion."
"The underlying data and paper trail is sound and will simply take time to further report the results.”
But it was a difficult culmination of a year of relentless campaigning by dozens of candidates and hundreds of volunteers in Iowa.
The delay raised the prospect that some campaigns would continue to question the results for weeks, complicating an already tumultuous nomination fight.
In a letter sent to the Iowa Democratic Party, obtained by The Washington Post, officials with former vice president Joe Biden’s campaign questioned whether the results should be made official.
“We believe that the campaigns deserve full explanations and relevant information regarding the methods of quality control you are employing, and an opportunity to respond, before any official results are released,” the letter said.
The glitch was arguably a setback for the campaigns that did well, by depriving them of a chance to declare victory Monday night, and a boon for candidates who fell short, by sowing confusion about the results.
Some campaign officials said they had the impression that results could be released Tuesday, but the party made no statement in that regard.
Trump campaign officials wasted little time in fanning the flames, seizing the opportunity to sow divisions among Democrats.
“It would be natural for people to doubt the fairness of the process,” campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement, suggesting in a tweet that it was “rigged.”
The episode is also sure to amplify complaints about the Iowa caucuses themselves.
Some Democrats have long questioned not only the complex process but the fact that the first votes are taken in a largely white state that they say does not reflect the party’s growing diversity.
“This is a total mess,” tweeted Julián Castro, the former San Antonio mayor who ended his own presidential campaign several weeks ago and has endorsed Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
“I respect the people of Iowa, they’ve been great — but it’s become very clear that our democracy has been misserved by a broken system.”
As Monday night wore on, problems were evident across the state.
In a precinct in Dubuque, the tally was delayed for more than an hour as caucus officials encountered problems reporting the numbers through the app set up by the state party.
Shawn Sebastian, secretary for a caucus in Story County, tweeted that he had been on hold for more than an hour trying to report results from his precinct to the party hotline.
“The app just straight up wasn’t working,” Sebastian said in an interview.
At a caucus in Iowa City, volunteers also were not able to report the results electronically.
At about 11 p.m., caucus leaders were still on hold with state party leaders as they tried to deliver the results by phone.
“He couldn’t get the app downloaded on his phone,” caucus organizer John Deeth said of the official responsible for reporting the results.
Unwilling to wait longer, the candidates began speaking at their caucus night parties, making allusions to the delays.
“It’s going to be a long night, but I’m feeling good,” Biden said.
“So listen, it’s too close to call,” Warren told her own supporters.
“Iowa, tonight, you showed that big dreams are still possible in America.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told his crowd wryly, “At some point, the results will be announced,” adding that he was confident that when that happened, he would do well.
Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., took another approach altogether, essentially declaring victory despite the widespread uncertainty.
“We don’t know all the results, but we do know by the time it is all said and done, Iowa, you have shocked the nation,” he said.
“By all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious.”
Before the results came in, the race appeared knotted among four top candidates, reflecting many Democrats’ fear of making the wrong choice to defeat a president they revile.
While Sanders seemed to gain late momentum, it was far from certain that that would translate into a clear victory within the complex rules that govern the contest here.
It was a crucial moment for Biden, who entered the race as a strong front-runner but had lately sought to temper expectations in a state that was the political graveyard of his two previous presidential campaigns.
Although his campaign had argued that Biden would be viable in nearly all precincts, in some early precincts he was falling short.
Warren was gambling on an elaborate organization to boost her results, while Buttigieg hoped that large crowds in the final days reflected hidden strength.
Monday’s caucuses culminated more than three years of anger and disillusionment for a party that has lacked a standard-bearer to fight back against Trump.
As Iowans gathered, the Senate was in the final stages of the president’s impeachment trial, heading toward an almost certain acquittal.
The senators running for president had to race back to Iowa from Washington to make it to their caucus night parties.
In another indication of the chaotic political moment, several are planning to skip Trump’s State of the Union address in Washington on Tuesday night so they can start campaigning in New Hampshire.
Early entrance polls showed that voters were motivated by health care, climate change and foreign policy.
But roughly 6 in 10 caucus-goers said beating Trump was more important than agreeing with a candidate’s positions.
About 3 in 10 voters said they decided which candidate to support in the past few days — about twice as many as were late deciders in 2016.
The candidates now enter an intense month, starting with the New Hampshire primary next Tuesday and culminating on Super Tuesday, March 3, when more than a dozen states hold votes.
Among the nearly 4,000 pledged delegates at the Democratic National Convention, Iowa awards just 41.
But because it goes first, it plays an outsize role in setting expectations for future contests, handing some candidates momentum and leaving others struggling to justify their ongoing bids.
Because of the caucuses’ complicated rules, more than one contender may be able to claim some measure of victory.
Iowans — at schools, community centers and other gathering places — began by dividing up according to their favored candidate, yielding an initial set of results, which for the first time will be released this year.
In a second round, the candidates who got less than 15 percent were eliminated and their supporters could align with other candidates, yielding a potentially different result, and one that will be used to allocate the convention delegates.
Party officials have stressed that they place the most importance on who gets the biggest share of delegates.
Republicans held caucuses Monday as well, with Trump the prohibitive favorite.
And the president has interjected himself in the Democratic contest, for example using a recent television interview to aim insults at the contenders.
The caucuses came after more than a year of relentless campaigning, with visits to VFW halls and diners, appearances at the hot and sticky Iowa State Fair, and flat drives past snow-topped fields.
A rollicking race that began with 28 candidates narrowed to 11, and the results here are likely to help winnow it further.
But what began as a historically large and diverse field has shrunk to a group of mostly white, male, older candidates, to the frustration of many Democratic activists.
While the race has showcased differences over health care, climate change and other issues, it has been defined more than anything by the argument over who has the best chance to defeat Trump.
Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, argues that only he can mobilize a new class of disaffected voters using economic populism as a political stimulant, while Biden has made the case that Democrats need to energize black voters and working-class whites with a message of returning to normalcy after the chaos and vulgarity of the Trump presidency.
Warren has cast herself as falling somewhere in the middle, while Buttigieg — the only top candidate younger than 70 — has argued for generational change.
The caucuses were considered especially critical to the viability of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who outlasted several better-known candidates and campaigned heavily on her ability to win over Trump voters in rural, Midwestern and Republican areas.
It was also a singular challenge for Andrew Yang, who has never held elective office but whose staying power has defied expectations; he is one of the last remaining minority candidates in the race.
The outcome was also important for a candidate not on the ballot: former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg.
The 77-year-old billionaire was paying close attention to Iowa, hoping to emerge as a moderate alternative if Sanders or Warren performed well and Biden faltered.
Several contenders were in dire need of an Iowa win to fuel donations for campaign accounts that have dwindled after recent spending binges, with candidates investing heavily in a hoped-for victory in the state.
The Iowa caucuses were in a sense the opening chapter of a debate that Democrats will have, state by state, in the months to come.
They were the first major test of Biden’s theory that he is the most electable Democrat, a case that his campaign has been making for months.
Despite low turnout at his events, his advisers were banking on the goodwill he’s built up over nearly five decades in public life.
But Democratic officials around the state have for months raised alarms about the former vice president’s campaign operation, saying he hadn’t taken the time to build an organization that would allow him to overcome the lack of fervent enthusiasm for his candidacy.
Biden’s commitment to the state also ebbed and flowed.
It wasn’t until early December that he visited Ames — one of Iowa’s largest cities — and there, the first questioner rose and chided him for not being in the state as often as his rivals were.
But in the past two months he came often, and in the end he and the super PAC supporting him aired $9 million in ads here.
Biden was hoping that would be enough to reverse his fortunes in a state that has spelled doom for him in the past.
In 1987, he quit the presidential race after he was accused of plagiarizing from a British politician during a speech in Des Moines.
In 2008, he dropped out after coming in a distant fifth in the Iowa caucuses, receiving less than 1 percent of the vote.
Warren, in turn, saw expectations for her performance grow in the final week, with a closing message focused on unity and pragmatism.
“Our number one job is to beat Donald Trump,” Warren told a group of 50,000 Iowans who called in Monday for a tele-town hall, since the senator was stuck in Washington for the impeachment trial.
“I think I’m the best person to do that."
"And I’ll tell you why: I’m the one who can pull our party together.”
She also directly addressed in recent days the question of whether a woman can beat Trump.
She noted that since Trump’s victory, Democratic female candidates have prevailed more frequently than men in competitive races.
“I am the only person in this race who has beaten an incumbent Republican anytime in the last 30 years,” Warren said during her tele-town hall.
Still, heading into the caucuses, it was Sanders who seemed to have the most momentum, judging by polls and crowd sizes, with some in the party bracing themselves for the possibility that he could win the first two states on a march toward the nomination.
Sanders fought Hillary Clinton to a near-draw in Iowa four years ago, losing the state to her by the slimmest of margins.
This time, he was hoping to leave Iowa as the candidate everyone else is chasing — an unfamiliar spot for a politician more accustomed to running as an insurgent underdog.
Sanders’s aides have long believed that Iowa would be key to their success and have already begun looking ahead to Nevada and California, two other early states where they think they can perform strongly in the coming weeks.
It was clear heading into the caucuses that a poor showing could be a serious blow to some of the top-tier candidates and potentially reshape the race.
Iowa has long been seen as a make-or-break state for Buttigieg, for example, and his campaign was particularly focused on finishing ahead of Biden.
Buttigieg spent more time in Iowa in January than his rivals did and held more than 50 town halls here in the past three weeks, the last few visibly larger and more energetic.
Beyond the candidates’ individual performances, Democratic Party officials were watching turnout numbers as a way to gauge voter enthusiasm.
Through much of 2019, officials predicted that caucus participation would break the record set in 2008, when nearly 240,000 people participated and powered a win by Barack Obama.
The state party moved some precincts to larger locations and held “satellite” caucuses earlier in the day to accommodate work and child-care schedules.
While Trump did not face serious competition in his bid for the party’s nomination, the president’s campaign nonetheless sought to use the caucuses as a trial run for November and an opportunity to engage with supporters in a state that helped propel his electoral college victory in 2016.
The Trump campaign said it was dispatching more than 80 surrogates, including several Cabinet officials and Trump family members, for the caucuses, hoping to boost Republican enthusiasm in Iowa at a time when Democrats have been the main focus in the state.
The surrogates also had another task: inflaming tensions within the Democratic Party.
Before the caucuses, many of Trump’s allies accused the Democratic establishment of trying to rig the election against Sanders, amplifying an evidence-free claim that the president has made repeatedly in an effort to turn Democrats against each other.
matt.viser@washpost.com
toluse.olorunnipa@washpost.com
Scott Clement, Chelsea Janes, Annie Linskey, Paul Schwartzman, Sean Sullivan and Cleve R. Wootson Jr. contributed to this report.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections ... li=BBnb7Kz
"Iowa caucuses descend into chaos as delay leaves outcome uncertain"
Matt Viser, Toluse Olorunnipa
4 FEBRUARY 2020
DES MOINES —The long-anticipated Iowa caucuses turned into a debacle Monday night when technical problems delayed the results, prompting presidential candidates to depart before the outcome was clear, spurring one campaign to challenge the integrity of the process and producing a muddled situation instead of what Democratic leaders hoped would be a decisive beginning to their attempt to oust President Trump.
Hours after voters at more than 1,600 caucus sites declared their presidential preferences, Democratic officials were scrambling to explain why no results had been released and when they might materialize.
As midnight neared, state party leaders met hastily with the campaigns — a phone call that ended abruptly, according to someone familiar with it — and sought to reassure the public about the reliability of a caucus system that has long been criticized as quirky and byzantine.
“The integrity of the results is paramount,” Iowa Democratic Party spokeswoman Mandy McClure said as candidates, voters and activists waited in frustration and reports circulated about problems with the app that caucus officials used to transmit the results.
McClure added: “This is simply a reporting issue, the app did not go down and this is not a hack or an intrusion."
"The underlying data and paper trail is sound and will simply take time to further report the results.”
But it was a difficult culmination of a year of relentless campaigning by dozens of candidates and hundreds of volunteers in Iowa.
The delay raised the prospect that some campaigns would continue to question the results for weeks, complicating an already tumultuous nomination fight.
In a letter sent to the Iowa Democratic Party, obtained by The Washington Post, officials with former vice president Joe Biden’s campaign questioned whether the results should be made official.
“We believe that the campaigns deserve full explanations and relevant information regarding the methods of quality control you are employing, and an opportunity to respond, before any official results are released,” the letter said.
The glitch was arguably a setback for the campaigns that did well, by depriving them of a chance to declare victory Monday night, and a boon for candidates who fell short, by sowing confusion about the results.
Some campaign officials said they had the impression that results could be released Tuesday, but the party made no statement in that regard.
Trump campaign officials wasted little time in fanning the flames, seizing the opportunity to sow divisions among Democrats.
“It would be natural for people to doubt the fairness of the process,” campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement, suggesting in a tweet that it was “rigged.”
The episode is also sure to amplify complaints about the Iowa caucuses themselves.
Some Democrats have long questioned not only the complex process but the fact that the first votes are taken in a largely white state that they say does not reflect the party’s growing diversity.
“This is a total mess,” tweeted Julián Castro, the former San Antonio mayor who ended his own presidential campaign several weeks ago and has endorsed Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
“I respect the people of Iowa, they’ve been great — but it’s become very clear that our democracy has been misserved by a broken system.”
As Monday night wore on, problems were evident across the state.
In a precinct in Dubuque, the tally was delayed for more than an hour as caucus officials encountered problems reporting the numbers through the app set up by the state party.
Shawn Sebastian, secretary for a caucus in Story County, tweeted that he had been on hold for more than an hour trying to report results from his precinct to the party hotline.
“The app just straight up wasn’t working,” Sebastian said in an interview.
At a caucus in Iowa City, volunteers also were not able to report the results electronically.
At about 11 p.m., caucus leaders were still on hold with state party leaders as they tried to deliver the results by phone.
“He couldn’t get the app downloaded on his phone,” caucus organizer John Deeth said of the official responsible for reporting the results.
Unwilling to wait longer, the candidates began speaking at their caucus night parties, making allusions to the delays.
“It’s going to be a long night, but I’m feeling good,” Biden said.
“So listen, it’s too close to call,” Warren told her own supporters.
“Iowa, tonight, you showed that big dreams are still possible in America.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told his crowd wryly, “At some point, the results will be announced,” adding that he was confident that when that happened, he would do well.
Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., took another approach altogether, essentially declaring victory despite the widespread uncertainty.
“We don’t know all the results, but we do know by the time it is all said and done, Iowa, you have shocked the nation,” he said.
“By all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious.”
Before the results came in, the race appeared knotted among four top candidates, reflecting many Democrats’ fear of making the wrong choice to defeat a president they revile.
While Sanders seemed to gain late momentum, it was far from certain that that would translate into a clear victory within the complex rules that govern the contest here.
It was a crucial moment for Biden, who entered the race as a strong front-runner but had lately sought to temper expectations in a state that was the political graveyard of his two previous presidential campaigns.
Although his campaign had argued that Biden would be viable in nearly all precincts, in some early precincts he was falling short.
Warren was gambling on an elaborate organization to boost her results, while Buttigieg hoped that large crowds in the final days reflected hidden strength.
Monday’s caucuses culminated more than three years of anger and disillusionment for a party that has lacked a standard-bearer to fight back against Trump.
As Iowans gathered, the Senate was in the final stages of the president’s impeachment trial, heading toward an almost certain acquittal.
The senators running for president had to race back to Iowa from Washington to make it to their caucus night parties.
In another indication of the chaotic political moment, several are planning to skip Trump’s State of the Union address in Washington on Tuesday night so they can start campaigning in New Hampshire.
Early entrance polls showed that voters were motivated by health care, climate change and foreign policy.
But roughly 6 in 10 caucus-goers said beating Trump was more important than agreeing with a candidate’s positions.
About 3 in 10 voters said they decided which candidate to support in the past few days — about twice as many as were late deciders in 2016.
The candidates now enter an intense month, starting with the New Hampshire primary next Tuesday and culminating on Super Tuesday, March 3, when more than a dozen states hold votes.
Among the nearly 4,000 pledged delegates at the Democratic National Convention, Iowa awards just 41.
But because it goes first, it plays an outsize role in setting expectations for future contests, handing some candidates momentum and leaving others struggling to justify their ongoing bids.
Because of the caucuses’ complicated rules, more than one contender may be able to claim some measure of victory.
Iowans — at schools, community centers and other gathering places — began by dividing up according to their favored candidate, yielding an initial set of results, which for the first time will be released this year.
In a second round, the candidates who got less than 15 percent were eliminated and their supporters could align with other candidates, yielding a potentially different result, and one that will be used to allocate the convention delegates.
Party officials have stressed that they place the most importance on who gets the biggest share of delegates.
Republicans held caucuses Monday as well, with Trump the prohibitive favorite.
And the president has interjected himself in the Democratic contest, for example using a recent television interview to aim insults at the contenders.
The caucuses came after more than a year of relentless campaigning, with visits to VFW halls and diners, appearances at the hot and sticky Iowa State Fair, and flat drives past snow-topped fields.
A rollicking race that began with 28 candidates narrowed to 11, and the results here are likely to help winnow it further.
But what began as a historically large and diverse field has shrunk to a group of mostly white, male, older candidates, to the frustration of many Democratic activists.
While the race has showcased differences over health care, climate change and other issues, it has been defined more than anything by the argument over who has the best chance to defeat Trump.
Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, argues that only he can mobilize a new class of disaffected voters using economic populism as a political stimulant, while Biden has made the case that Democrats need to energize black voters and working-class whites with a message of returning to normalcy after the chaos and vulgarity of the Trump presidency.
Warren has cast herself as falling somewhere in the middle, while Buttigieg — the only top candidate younger than 70 — has argued for generational change.
The caucuses were considered especially critical to the viability of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who outlasted several better-known candidates and campaigned heavily on her ability to win over Trump voters in rural, Midwestern and Republican areas.
It was also a singular challenge for Andrew Yang, who has never held elective office but whose staying power has defied expectations; he is one of the last remaining minority candidates in the race.
The outcome was also important for a candidate not on the ballot: former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg.
The 77-year-old billionaire was paying close attention to Iowa, hoping to emerge as a moderate alternative if Sanders or Warren performed well and Biden faltered.
Several contenders were in dire need of an Iowa win to fuel donations for campaign accounts that have dwindled after recent spending binges, with candidates investing heavily in a hoped-for victory in the state.
The Iowa caucuses were in a sense the opening chapter of a debate that Democrats will have, state by state, in the months to come.
They were the first major test of Biden’s theory that he is the most electable Democrat, a case that his campaign has been making for months.
Despite low turnout at his events, his advisers were banking on the goodwill he’s built up over nearly five decades in public life.
But Democratic officials around the state have for months raised alarms about the former vice president’s campaign operation, saying he hadn’t taken the time to build an organization that would allow him to overcome the lack of fervent enthusiasm for his candidacy.
Biden’s commitment to the state also ebbed and flowed.
It wasn’t until early December that he visited Ames — one of Iowa’s largest cities — and there, the first questioner rose and chided him for not being in the state as often as his rivals were.
But in the past two months he came often, and in the end he and the super PAC supporting him aired $9 million in ads here.
Biden was hoping that would be enough to reverse his fortunes in a state that has spelled doom for him in the past.
In 1987, he quit the presidential race after he was accused of plagiarizing from a British politician during a speech in Des Moines.
In 2008, he dropped out after coming in a distant fifth in the Iowa caucuses, receiving less than 1 percent of the vote.
Warren, in turn, saw expectations for her performance grow in the final week, with a closing message focused on unity and pragmatism.
“Our number one job is to beat Donald Trump,” Warren told a group of 50,000 Iowans who called in Monday for a tele-town hall, since the senator was stuck in Washington for the impeachment trial.
“I think I’m the best person to do that."
"And I’ll tell you why: I’m the one who can pull our party together.”
She also directly addressed in recent days the question of whether a woman can beat Trump.
She noted that since Trump’s victory, Democratic female candidates have prevailed more frequently than men in competitive races.
“I am the only person in this race who has beaten an incumbent Republican anytime in the last 30 years,” Warren said during her tele-town hall.
Still, heading into the caucuses, it was Sanders who seemed to have the most momentum, judging by polls and crowd sizes, with some in the party bracing themselves for the possibility that he could win the first two states on a march toward the nomination.
Sanders fought Hillary Clinton to a near-draw in Iowa four years ago, losing the state to her by the slimmest of margins.
This time, he was hoping to leave Iowa as the candidate everyone else is chasing — an unfamiliar spot for a politician more accustomed to running as an insurgent underdog.
Sanders’s aides have long believed that Iowa would be key to their success and have already begun looking ahead to Nevada and California, two other early states where they think they can perform strongly in the coming weeks.
It was clear heading into the caucuses that a poor showing could be a serious blow to some of the top-tier candidates and potentially reshape the race.
Iowa has long been seen as a make-or-break state for Buttigieg, for example, and his campaign was particularly focused on finishing ahead of Biden.
Buttigieg spent more time in Iowa in January than his rivals did and held more than 50 town halls here in the past three weeks, the last few visibly larger and more energetic.
Beyond the candidates’ individual performances, Democratic Party officials were watching turnout numbers as a way to gauge voter enthusiasm.
Through much of 2019, officials predicted that caucus participation would break the record set in 2008, when nearly 240,000 people participated and powered a win by Barack Obama.
The state party moved some precincts to larger locations and held “satellite” caucuses earlier in the day to accommodate work and child-care schedules.
While Trump did not face serious competition in his bid for the party’s nomination, the president’s campaign nonetheless sought to use the caucuses as a trial run for November and an opportunity to engage with supporters in a state that helped propel his electoral college victory in 2016.
The Trump campaign said it was dispatching more than 80 surrogates, including several Cabinet officials and Trump family members, for the caucuses, hoping to boost Republican enthusiasm in Iowa at a time when Democrats have been the main focus in the state.
The surrogates also had another task: inflaming tensions within the Democratic Party.
Before the caucuses, many of Trump’s allies accused the Democratic establishment of trying to rig the election against Sanders, amplifying an evidence-free claim that the president has made repeatedly in an effort to turn Democrats against each other.
matt.viser@washpost.com
toluse.olorunnipa@washpost.com
Scott Clement, Chelsea Janes, Annie Linskey, Paul Schwartzman, Sean Sullivan and Cleve R. Wootson Jr. contributed to this report.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections ... li=BBnb7Kz
Re: Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg
Des Moines Register
"Partial caucus results to be released at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Democratic officials say"
Katie Akin, Des Moines Register
4 FEBRUARY 2020
The Iowa Democratic Party plans to release partial caucus results at 4 p.m. CST Tuesday, hours after thousands of Iowans cast their preferences in the presidential contest, party spokeswoman Mandy McClure told the Des Moines Register.
"We want to get some results out there and so we will be doing that at 4 p.m. [CT] today," Iowa Democratic Party chair Troy Price told campaign staff in a Tuesday morning conference call.
McClure said about half of the results would be released.
The Iowa Democratic Party has not yet released results for the 2020 caucuses, which began 16 hours ago.
Zero of 1765 precincts have reported state delegate numbers as of 11:45 am Tuesday.
Price said in a Tuesday morning statement that the app used to report results had a coding error which "was identified and fixed."
The coding error did not impact the data itself, which the party is checking alongside paper records to verify.
"While our plan is to release results as soon as possible today, our ultimate goal is to ensure that the integrity and accuracy of the process continues to be upheld,” Price said.
Former Vice President Joe Biden campaign senior adviser Symone Sanders raised doubts that the proper verifications could be completed by late Tuesday afternoon.
“What we’re saying is that the Iowa Democratic Party needs to be very judicious in checking, checking again and rechecking their data," Sanders said.
“The reality is that there were considerable and serious failures in the process yesterday evening all throughout the evening at every single level."
She said there are reports from precincts across the state that preference cards were not filled out and said the IDP needs to be able to prove its results are accurate when it releases them.
“What we’re just asking is make sure we’re showing that, showing how we’re arriving at the conclusion and I don’t know if they can do all that by 4," said Sanders.
Sanders also shot down rumors that the campaign planned to file an injunction to stop counting or release: “We are not currently threatening to file an injunction....We didn’t tell people we were going to do that."
"That’s not true.”
In the absence of final results, multiple campaigns claimed victory Monday night as they boarded private planes destined for New Hampshire.
"What a night," former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg said from his watch party at Drake University in Des Moines.
"Because tonight, an improbable hope became an undeniable reality."
“It is too close to call so I’m just going to tell you what I do know," U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said as she took the stage in front of supporters about 10:30 p.m.
"As the baby daughter of a janitor, I am so grateful to be up on this stage tonight."
"Tonight as a party, we are one step closer to defeating the most corrupt president in American history."
Sarah Kay LeBlanc contributed reporting.
Katie Akin is a politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at kakin@registermedia.com or at 515-284-8041. Follow her on Twitter at @katie_akin. Register reporters Stephen Gruber-MIller and Brianne Pfannensteil contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Partial caucus results to be released at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Democratic officials say
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections ... li=BBnb7Kz
"Partial caucus results to be released at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Democratic officials say"
Katie Akin, Des Moines Register
4 FEBRUARY 2020
The Iowa Democratic Party plans to release partial caucus results at 4 p.m. CST Tuesday, hours after thousands of Iowans cast their preferences in the presidential contest, party spokeswoman Mandy McClure told the Des Moines Register.
"We want to get some results out there and so we will be doing that at 4 p.m. [CT] today," Iowa Democratic Party chair Troy Price told campaign staff in a Tuesday morning conference call.
McClure said about half of the results would be released.
The Iowa Democratic Party has not yet released results for the 2020 caucuses, which began 16 hours ago.
Zero of 1765 precincts have reported state delegate numbers as of 11:45 am Tuesday.
Price said in a Tuesday morning statement that the app used to report results had a coding error which "was identified and fixed."
The coding error did not impact the data itself, which the party is checking alongside paper records to verify.
"While our plan is to release results as soon as possible today, our ultimate goal is to ensure that the integrity and accuracy of the process continues to be upheld,” Price said.
Former Vice President Joe Biden campaign senior adviser Symone Sanders raised doubts that the proper verifications could be completed by late Tuesday afternoon.
“What we’re saying is that the Iowa Democratic Party needs to be very judicious in checking, checking again and rechecking their data," Sanders said.
“The reality is that there were considerable and serious failures in the process yesterday evening all throughout the evening at every single level."
She said there are reports from precincts across the state that preference cards were not filled out and said the IDP needs to be able to prove its results are accurate when it releases them.
“What we’re just asking is make sure we’re showing that, showing how we’re arriving at the conclusion and I don’t know if they can do all that by 4," said Sanders.
Sanders also shot down rumors that the campaign planned to file an injunction to stop counting or release: “We are not currently threatening to file an injunction....We didn’t tell people we were going to do that."
"That’s not true.”
In the absence of final results, multiple campaigns claimed victory Monday night as they boarded private planes destined for New Hampshire.
"What a night," former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg said from his watch party at Drake University in Des Moines.
"Because tonight, an improbable hope became an undeniable reality."
“It is too close to call so I’m just going to tell you what I do know," U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said as she took the stage in front of supporters about 10:30 p.m.
"As the baby daughter of a janitor, I am so grateful to be up on this stage tonight."
"Tonight as a party, we are one step closer to defeating the most corrupt president in American history."
Sarah Kay LeBlanc contributed reporting.
Katie Akin is a politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at kakin@registermedia.com or at 515-284-8041. Follow her on Twitter at @katie_akin. Register reporters Stephen Gruber-MIller and Brianne Pfannensteil contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Partial caucus results to be released at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Democratic officials say
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections ... li=BBnb7Kz
Re: Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg
MARKETWATCH
"Buttigieg, Sanders in tight Iowa race as results begin coming in"
By Robert Schroeder
Published: Feb 4, 2020 5:21 p.m. ET
Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders were locked in a tight race as Iowa’s Democratic Party began releasing caucus results after a delay on Monday.
With 62% of Iowa precincts reporting, Buttigieg had 27% of the state delegate count to Sanders’ 25%.
The pair were followed by Elizabeth Warren in third place with 18% and Joe Biden at 16%.
The announcement followed confusion sown Monday night by what the party called a “coding issue” in an app used to determine results of the first-in-the-nation caucuses.
Candidates quickly pivoted to New Hampshire, which holds its primary on Feb. 11, and where the contenders will debate on Friday.
Late Monday, candidates including Biden, Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Warren and Sanders sought to spin the inconclusive Iowa results in their favor as party officials scrambled to finalize the outcome.
“I have a good feeling that we’re going to be doing very, very well here in Iowa” when the results are known, Sanders said.
President Donald Trump seized on the app issues and delayed Iowa results, calling the caucuses an “unmitigated disaster” in a tweet.
“Nothing works, just like they ran the Country,” he said.
The Democrat Caucus is an unmitigated disaster. Nothing works, just like they ran the Country. Remember the 5 Billion Dollar Obamacare Website, that should have cost 2% of that. The only person that can claim a very big victory in Iowa last night is “Trump”.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2020
U.S. stocks traded sharply higher on Tuesday, as markets weighed the Chinese central bank’s effort to combat the economic impact of the coronavirus.
Investors were also looking ahead to Trump’s State of the Union address, scheduled for 9 p.m. Eastern.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/butti ... latestnews
"Buttigieg, Sanders in tight Iowa race as results begin coming in"
By Robert Schroeder
Published: Feb 4, 2020 5:21 p.m. ET
Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders were locked in a tight race as Iowa’s Democratic Party began releasing caucus results after a delay on Monday.
With 62% of Iowa precincts reporting, Buttigieg had 27% of the state delegate count to Sanders’ 25%.
The pair were followed by Elizabeth Warren in third place with 18% and Joe Biden at 16%.
The announcement followed confusion sown Monday night by what the party called a “coding issue” in an app used to determine results of the first-in-the-nation caucuses.
Candidates quickly pivoted to New Hampshire, which holds its primary on Feb. 11, and where the contenders will debate on Friday.
Late Monday, candidates including Biden, Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Warren and Sanders sought to spin the inconclusive Iowa results in their favor as party officials scrambled to finalize the outcome.
“I have a good feeling that we’re going to be doing very, very well here in Iowa” when the results are known, Sanders said.
President Donald Trump seized on the app issues and delayed Iowa results, calling the caucuses an “unmitigated disaster” in a tweet.
“Nothing works, just like they ran the Country,” he said.
The Democrat Caucus is an unmitigated disaster. Nothing works, just like they ran the Country. Remember the 5 Billion Dollar Obamacare Website, that should have cost 2% of that. The only person that can claim a very big victory in Iowa last night is “Trump”.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2020
U.S. stocks traded sharply higher on Tuesday, as markets weighed the Chinese central bank’s effort to combat the economic impact of the coronavirus.
Investors were also looking ahead to Trump’s State of the Union address, scheduled for 9 p.m. Eastern.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/butti ... latestnews
Re: Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg
MARKETWATCH
"Buttigieg emphasizes his military service in veterans-heavy New Hampshire"
By Associated Press
Published: Feb 7, 2020 5:59 p.m. ET
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is pitching his military service to voters in New Hampshire, a state where nearly 10% of residents are veterans.
Buttigieg, an Afghanistan War veteran, said at a packed American Legion hall in Merrimack on Thursday that the country could learn from military members who work together regardless of different backgrounds, experiences and political parties.
He’s also promising to put more resources into veterans’ mental and physical health.
He says too many veterans can’t access the care they need.
New Hampshire doesn’t have a full-service veterans hospital.
He’s also proposing allowing military spouses who move around a lot to delay repayment of their student loans.
And he proposed changing how the military deals with cases of sexual assault.
The New Hampshire primary is on Feb. 11, and a Marist College/NBC News poll released Friday showed Buttigieg in a virtual dead heat for first place in the Granite State with Sen. Bernie Sanders of neighboring Vermont.
The pair emerged from the Iowa caucuses earlier this week in the same close proximity.
The AP remained, as of late Friday, unable to declare an Iowa winner.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/butti ... latestnews
"Buttigieg emphasizes his military service in veterans-heavy New Hampshire"
By Associated Press
Published: Feb 7, 2020 5:59 p.m. ET
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is pitching his military service to voters in New Hampshire, a state where nearly 10% of residents are veterans.
Buttigieg, an Afghanistan War veteran, said at a packed American Legion hall in Merrimack on Thursday that the country could learn from military members who work together regardless of different backgrounds, experiences and political parties.
He’s also promising to put more resources into veterans’ mental and physical health.
He says too many veterans can’t access the care they need.
New Hampshire doesn’t have a full-service veterans hospital.
He’s also proposing allowing military spouses who move around a lot to delay repayment of their student loans.
And he proposed changing how the military deals with cases of sexual assault.
The New Hampshire primary is on Feb. 11, and a Marist College/NBC News poll released Friday showed Buttigieg in a virtual dead heat for first place in the Granite State with Sen. Bernie Sanders of neighboring Vermont.
The pair emerged from the Iowa caucuses earlier this week in the same close proximity.
The AP remained, as of late Friday, unable to declare an Iowa winner.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/butti ... latestnews
Re: Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg
JOE ISN'T AN UNDERDOG …
HE'S A HAS-BEEN ...
ABC NEWS
"Biden casts himself as the 'underdog' in New Hampshire after contentious debate"
8 FEBRUARY 2020
As the final days before the New Hampshire primary heat up, Former Vice President Joe Biden casts himself as an underdog, while continuing to draw a sharp contrast with two of his main rivals for the Democratic nomination: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg.
Biden told ABC News following Friday night's Democratic debate — hosted by ABC News and partners at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire — that the night was not a "do or die" moment for the campaign.
He again lowered expectations for his performance in the state's primary next week.
"In New Hampshire I'm an underdog because of the fact that you know, Bernie [Sanders] won this place by 20 points last time," Biden told ABC News.
"The neighboring senators have gigantic influence."
"And so I think I’m an underdog."
The former vice president is coming off a disappointing finish in the Iowa caucuses, placing a distant fourth behind Sanders, Buttigieg and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
"This is a long, a long race."
"I took a hit in Iowa and I'll probably take a hit here," Biden said on the debate stage Friday night.
The candidate and his team insist that reading too much into the results in the first two states ignores the fact that Biden is much better positioned to win states with more diverse electorates like Nevada and South Carolina.
"We know it’s gonna be a fight."
"We know it might be an uphill battle."
"But the reality is, we are still in this race," Symone Sanders, a senior adviser for Biden's campaign, told reporters in the spin room post-debate.
"The reality is that we have said from the beginning that you should view these first four nominating contests as a package, which means Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and yes, South Carolina,"
While on stage, Biden continued to warn that both Sanders and Buttigieg have significant liabilities that will render them unable to defeat President Donald Trump in a general election.
He said he didn't raise his hand when the candidates on stage were asked if they had concerns about the party nominating a Democratic Socialist because he didn’t want to "pile on" and felt he had already made his point previously.
"Bernie’s labeled himself, not me, a 'Democratic Socialist.'"
"I think that's the label the president’s gonna lay on everyone running with Bernie if he’s the nominee," Biden said, later adding, "This is going to be a field day for the president."
He added that while Buttigieg is a "great guy" and a "real patriot," his experience level and ability to garner support from minority groups is still lacking.
"He’s a mayor of a small city who has done some good things but has not demonstrated he has the ability to — and we’ll soon find out — to get a broad scope of support across the spectrum including African-Americans and Latinos," Biden said of the 38-year-old former mayor, who emerged in a dead heat with Sanders in Iowa.
But he also warned against assuming minority voters would turn out for Democrats.
"Look, the black community knows me and I know them."
"And I think we take it for granted much too much," he said, adding "my biggest concern about the African-American community with the Democrats is: most of it was taken for granted."
"They just take it for granted that they’re going to show up."
Following Friday's debate, Biden is taking a more aggressive approach on the campaign trail in the Granite State, adding additional campaign events and public appearances as he tries to stave off another disappointing finish that could further derail his candidacy.
"Well ... expect me to be knocking on doors going all across up and down the state until election day."
"I’m not leaving here," Biden said.
"They’re going to get tired of seeing me."
Despite freezing temperature and biting winds, Biden was out Saturday morning handing out bread at the "Food for Children" food bank in Manchester, an organization that hands out food to those in need every week.
ABC News' Molly Nagle contributed to this report.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections ... li=BBnb7Kz
HE'S A HAS-BEEN ...
ABC NEWS
"Biden casts himself as the 'underdog' in New Hampshire after contentious debate"
8 FEBRUARY 2020
As the final days before the New Hampshire primary heat up, Former Vice President Joe Biden casts himself as an underdog, while continuing to draw a sharp contrast with two of his main rivals for the Democratic nomination: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg.
Biden told ABC News following Friday night's Democratic debate — hosted by ABC News and partners at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire — that the night was not a "do or die" moment for the campaign.
He again lowered expectations for his performance in the state's primary next week.
"In New Hampshire I'm an underdog because of the fact that you know, Bernie [Sanders] won this place by 20 points last time," Biden told ABC News.
"The neighboring senators have gigantic influence."
"And so I think I’m an underdog."
The former vice president is coming off a disappointing finish in the Iowa caucuses, placing a distant fourth behind Sanders, Buttigieg and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
"This is a long, a long race."
"I took a hit in Iowa and I'll probably take a hit here," Biden said on the debate stage Friday night.
The candidate and his team insist that reading too much into the results in the first two states ignores the fact that Biden is much better positioned to win states with more diverse electorates like Nevada and South Carolina.
"We know it’s gonna be a fight."
"We know it might be an uphill battle."
"But the reality is, we are still in this race," Symone Sanders, a senior adviser for Biden's campaign, told reporters in the spin room post-debate.
"The reality is that we have said from the beginning that you should view these first four nominating contests as a package, which means Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and yes, South Carolina,"
While on stage, Biden continued to warn that both Sanders and Buttigieg have significant liabilities that will render them unable to defeat President Donald Trump in a general election.
He said he didn't raise his hand when the candidates on stage were asked if they had concerns about the party nominating a Democratic Socialist because he didn’t want to "pile on" and felt he had already made his point previously.
"Bernie’s labeled himself, not me, a 'Democratic Socialist.'"
"I think that's the label the president’s gonna lay on everyone running with Bernie if he’s the nominee," Biden said, later adding, "This is going to be a field day for the president."
He added that while Buttigieg is a "great guy" and a "real patriot," his experience level and ability to garner support from minority groups is still lacking.
"He’s a mayor of a small city who has done some good things but has not demonstrated he has the ability to — and we’ll soon find out — to get a broad scope of support across the spectrum including African-Americans and Latinos," Biden said of the 38-year-old former mayor, who emerged in a dead heat with Sanders in Iowa.
But he also warned against assuming minority voters would turn out for Democrats.
"Look, the black community knows me and I know them."
"And I think we take it for granted much too much," he said, adding "my biggest concern about the African-American community with the Democrats is: most of it was taken for granted."
"They just take it for granted that they’re going to show up."
Following Friday's debate, Biden is taking a more aggressive approach on the campaign trail in the Granite State, adding additional campaign events and public appearances as he tries to stave off another disappointing finish that could further derail his candidacy.
"Well ... expect me to be knocking on doors going all across up and down the state until election day."
"I’m not leaving here," Biden said.
"They’re going to get tired of seeing me."
Despite freezing temperature and biting winds, Biden was out Saturday morning handing out bread at the "Food for Children" food bank in Manchester, an organization that hands out food to those in need every week.
ABC News' Molly Nagle contributed to this report.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections ... li=BBnb7Kz
Re: Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg
THE WASHINGTON POST
"Buttigieg responds to Biden’s Obama jab: ‘I’m not, and neither is he’"
Felicia Sonmez, Darryl Fears, Todd Frankel
9 FEBRUARY 2020
As the Democratic presidential candidates make their closing arguments to New Hampshire voters ahead of Tuesday’s primary, the leading contenders traded barbs on the Sunday morning news shows, with both former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) fending off questions about their vulnerabilities.
Buttigieg, who has faced increasing attacks from his Democratic rivals after effectively tying Sanders for first place in last week’s Iowa caucuses, was asked to respond to a claim by former vice president Joe Biden that “this guy’s not a Barack Obama.”
“Well, he’s right."
"I’m not."
"And neither is he,” Buttigieg said of Biden on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“Neither is any of us running for president."
"And this isn’t 2008."
"It’s 2020."
"And we are in a new moment calling for a different kind of leadership.”
Buttigieg also responded to Sanders’s attack on him for raising money from wealthy donors.
“Bernie is pretty rich, and I would happily accept a contribution from him,” he said on CNN.
Sanders, meanwhile, pushed back against calls to release his medical records.
The Vermont senator, the oldest major candidate for president in 2020, suffered a heart attack in October.
He released information from three of his doctors in December stating that he had sustained “modest heart muscle damage” but is in good health and capable of doing the job.
“I mean, you can start releasing medical records and it never ends,” Sanders said on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” when asked whether he will release all of his medical records before Super Tuesday.
“We’ve released a substantive part — all of our background."
"We have … cardiologists who are confirming that I am in good health."
"I am in good health.”
Seven candidates — Sanders, Buttigieg, Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), entrepreneur Andrew Yang and investor Tom Steyer — battled onstage Friday night for the final Democratic debate before Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary.
But attention has focused on Sanders and Buttigieg after they came out on top in the Iowa caucuses.
Biden — who finished fourth in Iowa behind Sanders, Buttigieg and Warren — has particularly sharpened his attacks against the leading candidates, calling Buttigieg inexperienced and openly questioning whether Sanders can follow through on any of his campaign promises.
The increasingly frantic tone of the campaign continued over the weekend at a New Hampshire Democratic Party dinner Saturday night in Manchester, where, one by one, the candidates made their pitches — as well as the same thinly veiled criticisms they had uttered earlier in the day.
Supporters on all sides cheered and booed.
The tenor reflected candidates’ frustration that the race has remained stubbornly fluid, with uncertainty more popular than many of the candidates.
A new poll showed that roughly half of New Hampshire voters have not made up their minds with just days to go before Tuesday’s primary.
In an appearance on ABC News’s “This Week,” Warren declined to say what will happen to her candidacy if she doesn’t finish in at least second place in New Hampshire after her third-place finish in Iowa.
“It’s going to be a long campaign,” Warren said.
Biden described the New Hampshire primary as “an uphill fight.”
“But it’s a fight that I think we’ll do well in,” he said in an interview with “This Week” that was taped Saturday.
Several of the candidates continued to voice frustration Sunday at the chaos surrounding this year’s Iowa caucus results.
Sanders said on CNN that the state’s Democratic Party “screwed it up very badly.”
But he declined to echo others who have accused the Democratic National Committee of trying to hurt his campaign.
“I’m not casting any aspersions, political aspersions,” Sanders said, emphasizing that he believes he has an “excellent chance” of winning New Hampshire.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez also expressed anger with the way the Iowa caucuses were run, calling it “undeniably unacceptable.”
“I’m frustrated."
"I’m mad as hell."
"Everybody is."
"And I think what we’re going to do at the end of this cycle … is have a further conversation about whether or not state parties should be running elections,” Perez said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
He added that national Democrats will “absolutely” have a conversation after the November election about whether Iowa should retain its first-in-the-nation caucus status.
felicia.sonmez@washpost.com
darryl.fears@washpost.com
todd.frankel@washpost.com
Chelsea Janes and Sean Sullivan contributed to this report.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ ... li=BBnb7Kz
"Buttigieg responds to Biden’s Obama jab: ‘I’m not, and neither is he’"
Felicia Sonmez, Darryl Fears, Todd Frankel
9 FEBRUARY 2020
As the Democratic presidential candidates make their closing arguments to New Hampshire voters ahead of Tuesday’s primary, the leading contenders traded barbs on the Sunday morning news shows, with both former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) fending off questions about their vulnerabilities.
Buttigieg, who has faced increasing attacks from his Democratic rivals after effectively tying Sanders for first place in last week’s Iowa caucuses, was asked to respond to a claim by former vice president Joe Biden that “this guy’s not a Barack Obama.”
“Well, he’s right."
"I’m not."
"And neither is he,” Buttigieg said of Biden on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“Neither is any of us running for president."
"And this isn’t 2008."
"It’s 2020."
"And we are in a new moment calling for a different kind of leadership.”
Buttigieg also responded to Sanders’s attack on him for raising money from wealthy donors.
“Bernie is pretty rich, and I would happily accept a contribution from him,” he said on CNN.
Sanders, meanwhile, pushed back against calls to release his medical records.
The Vermont senator, the oldest major candidate for president in 2020, suffered a heart attack in October.
He released information from three of his doctors in December stating that he had sustained “modest heart muscle damage” but is in good health and capable of doing the job.
“I mean, you can start releasing medical records and it never ends,” Sanders said on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” when asked whether he will release all of his medical records before Super Tuesday.
“We’ve released a substantive part — all of our background."
"We have … cardiologists who are confirming that I am in good health."
"I am in good health.”
Seven candidates — Sanders, Buttigieg, Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), entrepreneur Andrew Yang and investor Tom Steyer — battled onstage Friday night for the final Democratic debate before Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary.
But attention has focused on Sanders and Buttigieg after they came out on top in the Iowa caucuses.
Biden — who finished fourth in Iowa behind Sanders, Buttigieg and Warren — has particularly sharpened his attacks against the leading candidates, calling Buttigieg inexperienced and openly questioning whether Sanders can follow through on any of his campaign promises.
The increasingly frantic tone of the campaign continued over the weekend at a New Hampshire Democratic Party dinner Saturday night in Manchester, where, one by one, the candidates made their pitches — as well as the same thinly veiled criticisms they had uttered earlier in the day.
Supporters on all sides cheered and booed.
The tenor reflected candidates’ frustration that the race has remained stubbornly fluid, with uncertainty more popular than many of the candidates.
A new poll showed that roughly half of New Hampshire voters have not made up their minds with just days to go before Tuesday’s primary.
In an appearance on ABC News’s “This Week,” Warren declined to say what will happen to her candidacy if she doesn’t finish in at least second place in New Hampshire after her third-place finish in Iowa.
“It’s going to be a long campaign,” Warren said.
Biden described the New Hampshire primary as “an uphill fight.”
“But it’s a fight that I think we’ll do well in,” he said in an interview with “This Week” that was taped Saturday.
Several of the candidates continued to voice frustration Sunday at the chaos surrounding this year’s Iowa caucus results.
Sanders said on CNN that the state’s Democratic Party “screwed it up very badly.”
But he declined to echo others who have accused the Democratic National Committee of trying to hurt his campaign.
“I’m not casting any aspersions, political aspersions,” Sanders said, emphasizing that he believes he has an “excellent chance” of winning New Hampshire.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez also expressed anger with the way the Iowa caucuses were run, calling it “undeniably unacceptable.”
“I’m frustrated."
"I’m mad as hell."
"Everybody is."
"And I think what we’re going to do at the end of this cycle … is have a further conversation about whether or not state parties should be running elections,” Perez said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
He added that national Democrats will “absolutely” have a conversation after the November election about whether Iowa should retain its first-in-the-nation caucus status.
felicia.sonmez@washpost.com
darryl.fears@washpost.com
todd.frankel@washpost.com
Chelsea Janes and Sean Sullivan contributed to this report.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ ... li=BBnb7Kz
Re: Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg
FOX NEWS
"Sanders overtakes Biden in national poll for first time"
Brooke Singman
11 FEBRUARY 2020
A new Quinnipiac University poll released Monday shows Bernie Sanders leading former Vice President Joe Biden nationally, giving the Vermont senator front-runner status in a national poll for the first time.
Released in the wake of the botched Iowa caucuses and a day before the first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire, the poll shows Sanders overtaking Biden with 25 percent of the vote among Democratic voters and independent voters who lean Democratic.
Biden, meanwhile, garnered 17 percent.
The poll showed former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg with 15 percent, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts with 14 percent, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg with 10 percent, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota with 4 percent.
In a Jan. 28 poll from Quinnipiac, prior to the Iowa caucuses, Biden held the lead with 26 percent of the vote, while Sanders had 21 percent.
“Biden scrambles to bounce back in frigid New Hampshire after an icy slide to 17 percent, his lowest national number,” Quinnipiac University poll analyst Tim Malloy said in a statement Monday.
Sanders’ new status comes after the Iowa Democratic Party announced that Buttigieg won the Iowa caucuses in terms of delegates, but Sanders declared victory in the popular vote.
After the announcement of the final results late Sunday, the Sanders campaign announced it would seek a partial recanvass of some precincts in which there were apparent irregularities.
In Iowa, though, Biden came in fourth place, trailing Buttigieg, Sanders, and Warren.
The new Quinnipiac poll shows that Biden no longer dominates on the question of electability, as 27 percent say Biden has the best chance of winning against President Trump in the general election, while 24 percent say Sanders could defeat the incumbent.
“Clearly Biden’s fourth place finish in Iowa has hurt the perception of what was his biggest strength,” Malloy said.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg’s standing in the poll gives him his second of the four national polls needed to qualify for the Democratic debate in Nevada on Feb. 19 ahead of the Nevada caucuses later this month.
Bloomberg needs two more national polls, with a ranking above 10 percent, and before Feb. 18, in order to qualify for the debate.
“Is the Bloomberg camp prepping the white horse for him to ride to the rescue?” Malloy said.
“Maybe not yet, but without setting foot in Iowa or New Hampshire, he is suddenly a looming shadow over the primary field.”
Bloomberg entered the race late, announcing his presidential bid in late November and will skip the New Hampshire primary, Nevada caucuses, and South Carolina primary — the four early voting states that kick off the nominating calendar in February.
Instead, Bloomberg is concentrating on the delegate-rich Super Tuesday states that vote on March 3, and beyond.
Among moderate and conservative Democrats and Democratic leaners, Biden was the front-runner, taking 22 percent of the vote, but Monday’s poll shows Bloomberg inching up behind him with 21 percent.
Sanders polled with 17 percent, and Buttigieg received 12 percent.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections ... li=BBnb7Kz
"Sanders overtakes Biden in national poll for first time"
Brooke Singman
11 FEBRUARY 2020
A new Quinnipiac University poll released Monday shows Bernie Sanders leading former Vice President Joe Biden nationally, giving the Vermont senator front-runner status in a national poll for the first time.
Released in the wake of the botched Iowa caucuses and a day before the first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire, the poll shows Sanders overtaking Biden with 25 percent of the vote among Democratic voters and independent voters who lean Democratic.
Biden, meanwhile, garnered 17 percent.
The poll showed former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg with 15 percent, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts with 14 percent, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg with 10 percent, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota with 4 percent.
In a Jan. 28 poll from Quinnipiac, prior to the Iowa caucuses, Biden held the lead with 26 percent of the vote, while Sanders had 21 percent.
“Biden scrambles to bounce back in frigid New Hampshire after an icy slide to 17 percent, his lowest national number,” Quinnipiac University poll analyst Tim Malloy said in a statement Monday.
Sanders’ new status comes after the Iowa Democratic Party announced that Buttigieg won the Iowa caucuses in terms of delegates, but Sanders declared victory in the popular vote.
After the announcement of the final results late Sunday, the Sanders campaign announced it would seek a partial recanvass of some precincts in which there were apparent irregularities.
In Iowa, though, Biden came in fourth place, trailing Buttigieg, Sanders, and Warren.
The new Quinnipiac poll shows that Biden no longer dominates on the question of electability, as 27 percent say Biden has the best chance of winning against President Trump in the general election, while 24 percent say Sanders could defeat the incumbent.
“Clearly Biden’s fourth place finish in Iowa has hurt the perception of what was his biggest strength,” Malloy said.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg’s standing in the poll gives him his second of the four national polls needed to qualify for the Democratic debate in Nevada on Feb. 19 ahead of the Nevada caucuses later this month.
Bloomberg needs two more national polls, with a ranking above 10 percent, and before Feb. 18, in order to qualify for the debate.
“Is the Bloomberg camp prepping the white horse for him to ride to the rescue?” Malloy said.
“Maybe not yet, but without setting foot in Iowa or New Hampshire, he is suddenly a looming shadow over the primary field.”
Bloomberg entered the race late, announcing his presidential bid in late November and will skip the New Hampshire primary, Nevada caucuses, and South Carolina primary — the four early voting states that kick off the nominating calendar in February.
Instead, Bloomberg is concentrating on the delegate-rich Super Tuesday states that vote on March 3, and beyond.
Among moderate and conservative Democrats and Democratic leaners, Biden was the front-runner, taking 22 percent of the vote, but Monday’s poll shows Bloomberg inching up behind him with 21 percent.
Sanders polled with 17 percent, and Buttigieg received 12 percent.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections ... li=BBnb7Kz
Re: Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg
REUTERS
"Analysis: U.S. infrastructure bill makes power broker of transportation chief Buttigieg"
By Andy Sullivan
November 11, 2021
WASHINGTON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - The $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed by Congress on Friday is the largest U.S. investment in roads, rail lines and other transportation networks in decades.
It also gives some members of President Joe Biden's administration unprecedented control over how it is spent.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will control $126 billion in new spending over the next five years, according to a Reuters tally -- more than one-fifth of the new spending authorized by the law.
That's a dramatic shift from the current transportation budget, which mostly doles out most transportation aid to state governments, which decide how and where it is put to use.
Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, will oversee roughly $25 billion each year through competitive grant programs that allow his agency to pick and choose which projects get funding.
It represents a fourfold increase from current discretionary spending, a dramatic boost for a Cabinet position that has historically drawn little public attention.
"We've never had a (transportation) secretary who's had that much authority before," said Jeff Davis, an analyst at the Eno Center for Transportation, a Washington-based think tank.
At a White House briefing on Monday, Buttigieg said the Transportation Department would favor projects that reduce greenhouse gases, increase safety, boost job creation or advance racial equity.
"What you're going to see ... is an emphasis on projects that, taken together, give us extra value in the priorities of this administration," he said.
One example: The administration awarded $40 million to Henderson, Nevada, this summer to transform a busy highway that cuts through a poor neighborhood into a boulevard with bike lanes, pedestrian improvements and dedicated transit lanes.
The award will enable the city to finish the job 3-1/2 years earlier than it would have otherwise, according to Ed McGuire, the city's public works director.
The improved streetscape will attract businesses, while lower speed limits will cut down on fatal accidents, he said.
"It's a huge improvement to that part of the community," he said.
As a 2020 presidential candidate, Buttigieg touted his efforts as South Bend mayor to revitalize the city's downtown through pedestrian improvements, and he has been spotted bicycling to work in Washington.
He is seen in Democratic circles as a possible presidential candidate in the future.
People close to Buttigieg tell Reuters the transportation secretary is using his position to build relationships with mayors of midsize American cities who could later be helpful if he runs again.
STIFF COMPETITION
Demand for the Transportation Department's competitive grants is already high.
The agency says it considered 157 eligible projects this year for INFRA, the program that funded the Henderson highway makeover.
A total of 24 won funding.
The administration will get $1.5 billion for INFRA next year, a 50% increase.
"For every dollar we have to give out, there are about 10 in impressive applications coming in," Buttigieg said.
The new law also expands other existing competitive grants and creates new programs to repair bridges, reduce roadway deaths, upgrade airport terminals, and reconnect inner-city neighborhoods that were displaced by the freeway-building boom of the 20th century, among other areas.
Researchers have found that states that vote for the president in power have gotten more of these competitive transportation dollars under past administrations.
Christopher Lawrence, a political science professor at Middle Georgia State University, found that states that voted for Democratic President Barack Obama in the 2008 and 2012 elections received a majority of the funds awarded under his administration's TIGER grant program, which supported projects that had a "significant" regional or national impact.
The administration highlighted new light rail lines and bike lanes in urban areas.
After Trump won election in 2016, his administration renamed the program BUILD and steered more money toward rural areas.
States that voted for him then received most of the money, Lawrence found.
A Transportation Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the agency has improved its internal controls to make sure the projects it selects are worthy investments that follow the guidelines laid out by Congress.
The department will work with independent watchdogs as well, the official said.
State officials say the DOT's increase in discretionary funds could potentially make funding less predictable for years to come.
After all, the infrastructure package will be in place in 2026 - two years after the next presidential election.
"With these big discretionary programs, you're going to see shifts based on who's sitting in the White House," said Jim Tymon, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transit Officials.
"We're going to see that on a scale that we haven't seen before."
Reporting by Andy Sullivan; additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw, Jason Lange and Jeff Mason; Editing by Heather Timmons and Jonathan Oatis
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-inf ... 021-11-11/
"Analysis: U.S. infrastructure bill makes power broker of transportation chief Buttigieg"
By Andy Sullivan
November 11, 2021
WASHINGTON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - The $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed by Congress on Friday is the largest U.S. investment in roads, rail lines and other transportation networks in decades.
It also gives some members of President Joe Biden's administration unprecedented control over how it is spent.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will control $126 billion in new spending over the next five years, according to a Reuters tally -- more than one-fifth of the new spending authorized by the law.
That's a dramatic shift from the current transportation budget, which mostly doles out most transportation aid to state governments, which decide how and where it is put to use.
Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, will oversee roughly $25 billion each year through competitive grant programs that allow his agency to pick and choose which projects get funding.
It represents a fourfold increase from current discretionary spending, a dramatic boost for a Cabinet position that has historically drawn little public attention.
"We've never had a (transportation) secretary who's had that much authority before," said Jeff Davis, an analyst at the Eno Center for Transportation, a Washington-based think tank.
At a White House briefing on Monday, Buttigieg said the Transportation Department would favor projects that reduce greenhouse gases, increase safety, boost job creation or advance racial equity.
"What you're going to see ... is an emphasis on projects that, taken together, give us extra value in the priorities of this administration," he said.
One example: The administration awarded $40 million to Henderson, Nevada, this summer to transform a busy highway that cuts through a poor neighborhood into a boulevard with bike lanes, pedestrian improvements and dedicated transit lanes.
The award will enable the city to finish the job 3-1/2 years earlier than it would have otherwise, according to Ed McGuire, the city's public works director.
The improved streetscape will attract businesses, while lower speed limits will cut down on fatal accidents, he said.
"It's a huge improvement to that part of the community," he said.
As a 2020 presidential candidate, Buttigieg touted his efforts as South Bend mayor to revitalize the city's downtown through pedestrian improvements, and he has been spotted bicycling to work in Washington.
He is seen in Democratic circles as a possible presidential candidate in the future.
People close to Buttigieg tell Reuters the transportation secretary is using his position to build relationships with mayors of midsize American cities who could later be helpful if he runs again.
STIFF COMPETITION
Demand for the Transportation Department's competitive grants is already high.
The agency says it considered 157 eligible projects this year for INFRA, the program that funded the Henderson highway makeover.
A total of 24 won funding.
The administration will get $1.5 billion for INFRA next year, a 50% increase.
"For every dollar we have to give out, there are about 10 in impressive applications coming in," Buttigieg said.
The new law also expands other existing competitive grants and creates new programs to repair bridges, reduce roadway deaths, upgrade airport terminals, and reconnect inner-city neighborhoods that were displaced by the freeway-building boom of the 20th century, among other areas.
Researchers have found that states that vote for the president in power have gotten more of these competitive transportation dollars under past administrations.
Christopher Lawrence, a political science professor at Middle Georgia State University, found that states that voted for Democratic President Barack Obama in the 2008 and 2012 elections received a majority of the funds awarded under his administration's TIGER grant program, which supported projects that had a "significant" regional or national impact.
The administration highlighted new light rail lines and bike lanes in urban areas.
After Trump won election in 2016, his administration renamed the program BUILD and steered more money toward rural areas.
States that voted for him then received most of the money, Lawrence found.
A Transportation Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the agency has improved its internal controls to make sure the projects it selects are worthy investments that follow the guidelines laid out by Congress.
The department will work with independent watchdogs as well, the official said.
State officials say the DOT's increase in discretionary funds could potentially make funding less predictable for years to come.
After all, the infrastructure package will be in place in 2026 - two years after the next presidential election.
"With these big discretionary programs, you're going to see shifts based on who's sitting in the White House," said Jim Tymon, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transit Officials.
"We're going to see that on a scale that we haven't seen before."
Reporting by Andy Sullivan; additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw, Jason Lange and Jeff Mason; Editing by Heather Timmons and Jonathan Oatis
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-inf ... 021-11-11/
Re: Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg
REUTERS
"White House looks to move quickly on $17 bln revamp of U.S. ports"
By David Shepardson and Trevor Hunnicutt
November 9, 2021
WASHINGTON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The White House plans to move quickly on a $17 billion revamp of U.S. ports approved by Congress as part of President Joe Biden's $1 trillion infrastructure bill.
Biden is due to visit the Port Of Baltimore on Wednesday to tout funding for revamping U.S. ports facing huge backlogs.
The $17 billion will "improve infrastructure at coastal ports, inland ports and waterways, and land ports of entry along the border," the White House said.
Many U.S. ports have bridge or depth limitations that restrict their ability to receive larger vessels, while a surge of cargo is straining land operations at some ports.
The project aims:
* To identify projects for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers construction at coastal ports and inland waterways within the next 60 days.
* To provide a roadmap for more than $4 billion in funding to repair outdated infrastructure and to deepen harbors for larger cargo ships.
* To prioritize key ports of entry for modernization and expansion within the next 90 days.
* To identify $3.4 billion in investments to upgrade obsolete inspection facilities and allow more efficient international trade through the northern and southern borders.
The Biden administration aims to alleviate congestion at the Port of Savannah by funding a project by the Georgia Port Authority.
That will allow the state to reallocate more than $8 million to convert existing inland facilities into five pop-up container yards in Georgia and North Carolina.
The Port of Savannah will transfer containers further inland so that they can be closer to final destinations, a move that will free more dock space.
Reporting by David Shepardson and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Howard Goller
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white- ... 021-11-09/
"White House looks to move quickly on $17 bln revamp of U.S. ports"
By David Shepardson and Trevor Hunnicutt
November 9, 2021
WASHINGTON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The White House plans to move quickly on a $17 billion revamp of U.S. ports approved by Congress as part of President Joe Biden's $1 trillion infrastructure bill.
Biden is due to visit the Port Of Baltimore on Wednesday to tout funding for revamping U.S. ports facing huge backlogs.
The $17 billion will "improve infrastructure at coastal ports, inland ports and waterways, and land ports of entry along the border," the White House said.
Many U.S. ports have bridge or depth limitations that restrict their ability to receive larger vessels, while a surge of cargo is straining land operations at some ports.
The project aims:
* To identify projects for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers construction at coastal ports and inland waterways within the next 60 days.
* To provide a roadmap for more than $4 billion in funding to repair outdated infrastructure and to deepen harbors for larger cargo ships.
* To prioritize key ports of entry for modernization and expansion within the next 90 days.
* To identify $3.4 billion in investments to upgrade obsolete inspection facilities and allow more efficient international trade through the northern and southern borders.
The Biden administration aims to alleviate congestion at the Port of Savannah by funding a project by the Georgia Port Authority.
That will allow the state to reallocate more than $8 million to convert existing inland facilities into five pop-up container yards in Georgia and North Carolina.
The Port of Savannah will transfer containers further inland so that they can be closer to final destinations, a move that will free more dock space.
Reporting by David Shepardson and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Howard Goller
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white- ... 021-11-09/