Politico

The announcement came after a weekend review of disputed precinct totals from last Monday's caucuses.

By ZACH MONTELLARO and HOLLY OTTERBEIN

02/09/2020 06:38 PM EST

Updated: 02/09/2020 07:45 PM EST

Pete Buttigieg has narrowly edged out Bernie Sanders for delegates from last week's Iowa caucuses, according to an announcement late Sunday by the state Democratic Party.

Updated results from the party show Buttigieg with 26.2 percent of state delegate equivalents, compared to 26.1 percent for Sanders. Elizabeth Warren (18 percent) was third, and Joe Biden (15.8 percent) was fourth.

According to the state Democratic Party, Buttigieg is projected to win 14 delegates to the national convention this summer in Milwaukee, while Sanders will get 12 delegates. Warren will receive eight delegates, Joe Biden will get six, and Amy Klobuchar will receive a single delegate.

Sanders did have the support of more caucus-goers, both on the first and final alignments. But because of the caucus rules, he will receive slightly fewer delegates.

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Politico

There’s room for two or, at most, three at the top as the race reaches a critical phase.

By JOHN F. HARRIS

02/08/2020 01:31 AM EST

he latest Democratic presidential debate Friday night in New Hampshire put the fundamental dynamic at work in this nominating contest under a very bright light.

There is one candidate only, Sen. Bernie Sanders, who by every indication is staying put. His lines were familiar, his performance as spirited as ever. But the jabs and jostling of debate nights — this was the eighth since June, and the direct confrontations were fairly muted — don’t matter so much for him.

That’s because he’s got a corps of people devoted to him and his ideology who don’t need to hear new arguments, as they did for two-and-a-half hours, about health care or racial justice or who is most likely to beat Donald Trump: They long ago reached an answer. Sanders is going nowhere anytime soon from his position at or near the top of this contest.

Every other candidate is going somewhere very soon. For all but one, or at most two of those candidates that somewhere is down. In a sense, the encounter at St. Anselm’s College in Manchester, aired nationally by ABC News, had only one question: This is a race between Sanders and BLANK.

All six others on the stage had some very effective moments; all six also came out of the debate with questions about their durability still hovering.

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Politico

Sanders has criticized the former Indiana mayor before, but not like this.

By HOLLY OTTERBEIN

02/07/2020 06:12 PM EST

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Bernie Sanders has a new target: Pete Buttigieg.

In the days leading up to the first-in-the-nation primary, the Vermont senator is lighting up the former South Bend mayor over his billionaire donors while his aides are circulating talking points calling him “a favorite candidate of Wall Street and the health care industry.” Hours before the presidential contenders were due on the debate stage, Sanders’ team also managed to get the hashtag #PetesBillionaires trending on Twitter.

Though Sanders has needled Buttigieg over his billionaire contributors previously, his most recent comments represent something of a shift. He almost never mentions Buttigieg on the trail, and until now has trained most of his fire in the Democratic contest on Joe Biden and Michael Bloomberg. The change underscores the importance of New Hampshire to Sanders’ campaign — and the fact that Buttigieg is nipping at his heels in the first-in-the-nation primary state.

“Bernie has said he will win New Hampshire. He has made that statement more than once. Therefore it's important that he wins,” said Kurt Ehrenberg, Sanders’ former longtime political strategist in the state. “I think he’s in danger of not winning right now, which is why he’s attacking Mayor Pete.”

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Politico

The Vermont senator’s show of fundraising force comes days before the first-in-the-nation primary and as the results in Iowa are still being counted.

By HOLLY OTTERBEIN

02/06/2020 06:00 AM EST

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Bernie Sanders’ campaign announced Thursday it raised $25 million in January from nearly 650,000 people, a third of whom were new donors. That makes it his best fundraising month of the 2020 campaign, according to his team.

Sanders’ aides also said that he is using the small-dollar cash infusion to place a $5.5 million TV and digital ad buy in nine Super Tuesday states and South Carolina.

The Vermont senator’s show of fundraising force comes days before the first-in-the-nation primary and as the results in Iowa are still being counted. With 97 percent of precincts reporting, the caucuses are too close to call, and Sanders and Pete Buttigieg are fighting for first place.

Sanders’ Iowa state director, Misty Rebik, sent a memo to staffers and supporters on Wednesday night that said the campaign has "a viable path forward to achieve a clean sweep and retake the lead in state delegate equivalents and national pledged delegates.”

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Mediaite

Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) has roughly a 50/50 shot at winning the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination — more than double the probability of his nearest competitor — according to Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight.

A forecast from FiveThirtyEight places Sanders’ odds at “1 in 2,” with former Vice President Joe Biden’s odds at “1 in 5,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) at “1 in 20,” and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg at “1 in 30.”

All other 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, including Mike Bloomberg, Andrew Yang, Tom Steyer, and Tulsi Gabbard, are placed at “1 in 100” odds.

Sanders is also currently predicted to receive around 1,782 pledged delegates, with Biden at 987, Buttigieg at 402, Warren at 394, and Bloomberg at 339.

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Politico

Despite a recent statement in New Hampshire, Biden’s campaign says his stance hasn’t changed.

By NATALIE FERTIG

02/06/2020 02:23 PM EST

Former Vice President Joe Biden's opposition to fully legalizing marijuana is well known, but on the campaign trail in New Hampshire this week he appeared to change his position.

"I think it is at the point where it has to be, basically, legalized," Biden said on Tuesday in a recording obtained by POLITICO.

Marijuana legalization advocate Don Murphy of the Marijuana Policy Project approached Biden at a campaign event Tuesday and asked about the candidate's "hawkish" cannabis policy. In the recording, Biden restated his cannabis plan — which would decriminalize cannabis, expunge some cannabis-related records, make medical marijuana legal and create opportunities for more research — adding twice that he does not believe cannabis is "a gateway drug." He then said he thinks cannabis needs to be "basically, legalized."

But Biden wouldn't be willing to legalize marijuana right away, unlike other 2020 contenders. Sen. Bernie Sanders has said he'll remove the federal ban on marijuana during his first 100 days as president. Biden, however, remained firm that he wants scientific research to support his decision, saying he is "not prepared to [legalize] as long as there are serious medical people saying, ‘We should determine what other side effects would occur.'"

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