Politico

Progressives have applauded Foxx, for declining to prosecute numerous low-level drug offenses and embracing alternative treatment programs.

By HOLLY OTTERBEIN

02/13/2020 11:33 AM EST

Updated: 02/13/2020 12:06 PM EST

Bernie Sanders is throwing his weight behind Kim Foxx, the Cook County state’s attorney who is facing several primary challengers after a first term that has been simultaneously celebrated by progressives and come under fire nationally for her handling of actor Jussie Smollett’s case.

Sanders’ campaign told POLITICO he is also endorsing Kane County, Ill. state’s attorney candidate Junaid Afeef, Travis County, Texas, district attorney candidate Jose Garza, and Harris County, Texas, district attorney candidate Audia Jones.

The endorsements are in keeping with the Vermont senator’s attempts to position himself as the most progressive presidential candidate on criminal justice policy, with a platform that includes banning cash bail, legalizing marijuana, and permitting “safe injection sites” where people can use illegal drugs under the supervision of medical professionals. In October, he endorsed now-San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who campaigned on getting rid of cash bail.

“I’m proud to endorse these progressive leaders for the important offices of state and district attorney,” Sanders said in a statement. “Now is the moment to fundamentally transform our racist and broken criminal justice system by ending mass incarceration, the failed war on drugs and the criminalization of poverty, and that’s exactly what they’ll do.”

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Politico

One surrogate warned of "down-ballot carnage" if Bernie Sanders marches to the nomination — a tactic to keep Biden backers on board.

By MARC CAPUTO, NATASHA KORECKI and MAGGIE SEVERNS

02/12/2020 06:47 PM EST

Shellshocked by two big losses, Joe Biden’s presidential campaign tried to reassure donors, surrogates and the press about his path forward Wednesday while counterattacking nearly every one of his rivals.

“Elected officials across the country understand there will be down-ballot carnage to the Democratic Party if we elect the wrong person,” Rep. Cedric Richmond, the campaign’s co-chair, warned. “If Bernie Sanders were atop of the ticket, we would be in jeopardy of losing the House, we would not win the Senate back.”

Richmond, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, also took aim at Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar for their anemic support among African Americans and criticized billionaire Michael Bloomberg for once being a Republican.

The attack-everyone strategy is a marked shift for a once-highflying Biden, who has tumbled from frontrunner to being in danger of becoming an also-ran.

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HuffPost

It was the moderates who really won!

By Amanda Terkel

Just so we’re clear, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) won the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary. He received the most votes. He won.

But you might not know that if you were watching cable news.

“The big winner last night could be Mayor Bloomberg,” Jim Messina, Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign manager, said on MSNBC Wednesday.

Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City who is pumping millions of dollars from his own fortune into the presidential race, was not on the ballot in New Hampshire.

Sanders’ victory was narrower than it was in 2016′s primary, when he beat Hillary Clinton in the state. But it was also just a two-person race that year.

Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg is currently leading in the delegate count from the chaotic Iowa caucuses, but Sanders won the popular vote there. Both men have declared victories in the state. In New Hampshire, both Sanders and Buttigieg will emerge with the same number of delegates.

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Politico

Sanders' hard-fought win in the first-in-the-nation primary also exposed his vulnerabilities.

By HOLLY OTTERBEIN

02/12/2020 10:22 AM EST

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Bernie Sanders dominated the youth vote, consolidated the liberal base, and benefitted from a knife fight among his more moderate rivals.

But the Vermont senator rode to victory in New Hampshire on Democrats’ dissatisfaction with the health care system: He won a plurality among those who said health care was their top concern, and six of 10 voters overall backed single-payer, according to exit polls.

It’s a powerful position to occupy in a party where voters routinely rank health care as their top issue. But as Sanders’ campaign now turns its focus on Nevada, South Carolina and Super Tuesday states, his triumph in the first-in-the-nation primary also illuminated his vulnerabilities.

While he received more support from 18- to 29-year-old voters than all the other 2020 candidates combined, he only won 14 percent of the vote from those over 65. He carried the popular vote by only narrow margins in both New Hampshire and Iowa. And the fact that his signature issue is single-payer health care means that industry lobby will continue to work diligently to stop him.

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Mediaite

By John Ziegler Feb 11th, 2020, 9:57 pm

I wrote last week that, particularly based on what happened in 2016, political factions are too hesitant to panic, even when a campaign, much like an aircraft carrier headed directly into a violent storm, is imperiled and dramatic action must be taken immediately to prevent disaster. Now, with the results of New Hampshire primary, there is no longer time for patience.

If Democrats really want to beat President Donald Trump, some major moves have to be made immediately. Specifically, Joe Biden (whom I have previously promoted as having the best chance to beat Trump), and Elizabeth Warren (whom I don’t believe would be likely to beat Trump) need to exit the race within days. If not sooner.

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To be clear, I am not expecting Warren or Biden to make this sacrifice (though it may be the best way for each of them to save face), at least not in time for it to be effective. I am just providing one of the very few safe paths left for the country to be spared of four more years of Donald Trump as our president.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and whether Trump critics want to admit to it yet or not, we are now in a very perilous situation.

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Politico

The Vermont senator edged out Pete Buttigieg, while Amy Klobuchar notched a strong third-place finish.

y DAVID SIDERS, STEPHANIE MURRAY, TRENT SPINER, MARC CAPUTO and ALEX THOMPSON

02/11/2020 06:45 PM EST

Updated: 02/11/2020 11:08 PM EST

Elena Schneider, Myah Ward, and Holly Otterbein contributed to this report.

Bernie Sanders held off Pete Buttigieg in New Hampshire on Tuesday, slowing the former mayor’s charge and asserting himself as the tentative frontrunner in a still-muddled Democratic primary field.

Amy Klobuchar sparked to life with a third-place finish, while two one-time favorites — Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden — lagged far behind. The returns reflected a surprising degree of momentum for Klobuchar, who is presenting herself as a moderate alternative to Buttigieg and Biden — but who before New Hampshire plodded forward largely as an afterthought.

Still, the night belonged to Sanders.

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Politico

“Sanders has real followers, whether you like them or not,” the president said.

By CAITLIN OPRYSKO

02/11/2020 06:29 PM EST

Updated: 02/11/2020 06:59 PM EST

President Donald Trump on Tuesday insisted that he’d rather run against Mike Bloomberg than Bernie Sanders in the general election this November, amplifying complaints from Democrats that the billionaire former mayor of New York was buying his way into contention in the primary field.

During a screed about Bloomberg in the Oval Office, the president ripped his recent apology about New York’s stop-and-frisk policy as “disingenuous” and called the former mayor a “lightweight.”

Despite salivating at the chance to run against a democratic socialist in the general, Trump on Tuesday expressed some sense of worry about Sanders’ devoted following, suggesting that Bloomberg’s rising support would not be as unwavering.

“Frankly, I would rather run against Bloomberg than Bernie Sanders,” he told reporters, “because Sanders has real followers, whether you like them or not, whether you agree with them or not — I happen to think it’s terrible what [Sanders] says.”

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The York Dispatch

Ally Marotti, Chicago Tribune Published 2:32 p.m. ET Feb. 11, 2020

CHICAGO — With boxes of Thin Mints and Samoas stacked above their heads, a group of Girl Scouts set up shop outside Dispensary 33 on Sunday, selling cookies to passersby and customers of the recreational marijuana store.

The girls – or their parents – weren’t the first to sell cookies to people buying weed. Girl Scouts in California have set up outside dispensaries and Colorado’s Girl Scouts recently lifted a ban on selling in front of marijuana shops.

But the timing of Girl Scout Cookie season worked in the young entrepreneurs’ favor this year in Chicago. Legal weed went on sale in Illinois Jan. 1, and long lines continue to form outside weed shops.

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