Image 01 Image 03

2016 Democratic Primary Tag

Californians are being treated to a rare opportunity to actually make a difference during a presidential primary season...at least if they are Republican. Senator Bernie Sanders is behind in the delegate count, and the "Super Duper" election results confirm Hillary is the likely nominee at this point. However, he is gamely continuing his campaign with a stop in my home town.
Thousands of supporters packed the San Diego Convention Center Tuesday evening to attend a Bernie Sanders rally. The Democratic Presidential Candidate stopped in San Diego for the rally more than two months ahead of the winner-take-all California primary in June. ...He said his campaign listened to the concerns of youths, military veterans and the elderly.

Didn't feel like staying up until 3:00 in the morning to watch election returns? Have no fear. I was dutifully eating gelato and cross-stitching, keeping tabs on the state of the union WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING. So here's what happened in no particular order:

On the Republican side:

Cruz won big in Utah, likely securing all 40 delegates there. Trump took Arizona where he won the state's 58 delegates. All 9 of America Samoa's delegates will go the the convention uncommitted.

Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren blatantly dodged simple questions from CBS News reporters this week who wanted to know why she hasn't endorsed a Democratic candidate and if she believed Hillary Clinton should release the transcripts of her speeches to Goldman Sachs. Could she be angling for the position of Hillary's VP? Inquiring minds want to know. Nick Gass of Politico has the details:
Warren won't say whether Clinton should release Goldman Sachs transcripts Sen. Elizabeth Warren declined multiple opportunities on Thursday to say whether Hillary Clinton should release the transcripts of her paid speeches to Goldman Sachs and other financial institutions.

It's Super Tuesday (Part 3)! Welcome to our live results feed. We'll post results as they become available.

Updates:

https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/709891940515446785

Welcome to our Super Duper Tuesday Open Thread. We'll be updating all afternoon until around 7:00 PM EST when our live primary results post hits the internet. Be sure to refresh your browser for the latest updates.

Donald Trump wins Northern Mariana Island caucuses

Add 9 more delegates to The Donald's total.

Hillary Clinton is apparently planning to continue President Obama's war on coal if elected. She said as much at a CNN town hall event on Sunday night. The Daily Wire reports:
Hillary Pledges To Put Coal Miners Out Of Business Promising to kill the coal industry and its jobs via regulation and taxation if elected President, Hillary Clinton called for economic revitalization via the creation of an industry for “clean renewable energy" as a substitute. Speaking at the CNN-hosted Democratic town hall event in Columbus, Ohio, Clinton sanctioned the narrative of anthropogenic global warming in calling for the cessation of consumption of fossil fuels.

While early reports of a potential Hillary VP pick centered on former San Antonio mayor Julian Castro, top Democrats in the (increasingly large) progressive wing of the party are reportedly rallying behind a relatively unknown, but reliably progressive, Tom Perez to run as Hillary's VP. Who is Tom Perez? Listen: Politico reports:
Aside from the wonkiest of Washington circles and the most progressive corners of the left, no one’s heard of Tom Perez. He isn’t young or handsome. He has zero foreign policy experience. The highest office he’s been elected to is a suburban county council. Yet the labor secretary has emerged as a sleeper pick for vice president, with chatter building among top Democrats — including Elizabeth Warren.

Apparently, Bernie Sanders' supporters can't stop themselves from expressing their thoughts about how great socialism is. The former former Soviet chess champion has taken to Facebook to express his thoughts about being lectured by the uninformed about something he knows all too well. Garry Kasparov writes:
I'm enjoying the irony of American Sanders supporters lecturing me, a former Soviet citizen, on the glories of Socialism and what it really means! Socialism sounds great in speech soundbites and on Facebook, but please keep it there. In practice, it corrodes not only the economy but the human spirit itself, and the ambition and achievement that made modern capitalism possible and brought billions of people out of poverty. Talking about Socialism is a huge luxury, a luxury that was paid for by the successes of capitalism. Income inequality is a huge problem, absolutely. But the idea that the solution is more government, more regulation, more debt, and less risk is dangerously absurd.

Bernie Sanders draws a major amount of his support from Millennials to whom he just so happens to promise free college and a host of other goodies. His plan to win in Ohio next Tuesday relies on bringing out the youth vote, so why wouldn't he want some seventeen year-olds to vote in the primary? He actually sued the state of Ohio for this and won. Politico reports:
Sanders wins: Ohio judge rules 17-year-olds can vote on election day Sen. Bernie Sanders notched a potentially significant win on Friday evening when an Ohio judge issued an order, allowing 17-year-old voters to participate in the state's presidential primary on Tuesday.

Never change, MSNBC. After Sunday night's CNN Democratic debate, MSNBC reporter Kristen Welker either could not or did not hear studio anchor Ari Melber telling her she was live and on the air. Unbeknownst to Welker, her mic was on, which allowed the entire broadcast audience to hear Welker feeding questions to Jen Palmieri, Hillary Clinton's Campaign Director of Communication.

One of the best things Republicans have going for them in 2016 is voter enthusiasm. So far in the primary process, voter turnout greatly favors the GOP over Democrats. Phillip Bump reports at the Washington Post:
1 million more people have voted in Republican primaries than Democratic ones We've been tracking the discrepancy between turnout in the Democratic and Republican primaries and caucuses since Iowa — the night it became very clear that people coming out to vote for Republicans were turning out much more heavily.

Almost all of my limited attention span has been focused on the Republican primaries. But this news item caught my attention:
Hillary Clinton raised $30 million in February and has $31 million on hand, her campaign announced on Wednesday — far less than Bernie Sanders. Her rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, raised $43 million in February, with $6 million of that coming on Monday. Sanders' campaign has not announced its cash on hand, but as of the end of January, he had nearly $15 million in the bank.
Money does not appear to be Bernie's problem.

Hillary Clinton is expected to clean up today which means unless she suffers any consequences for her questionable decisions while serving at the State Department, which let's face it - she won't, she will be the Democratic Party nominee. Knowing that, Bernie Sanders supporters will surely be excited to know that the Hillary Campaign has planned a little after party for Super Tuesday. The International Business Times reports:
Hillary Clinton 2016: DC Lobbyists Set To Raise Cash For Hillary Victory Fund The Democratic National Committee’s recent move to end its ban on contributions from federal lobbyists was widely seen as a boost to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which has ties to the Washington lobbying community. Clinton already appears to be taking advantage of the shift.