CBS News: “After focusing past the first four primary states, Bloomberg put more than $570 million into advertising across the country… At the time of his departure from the race the morning after Super Tuesday, he had amassed just 31 pledged delegates, meaning in total he had spent about $18 million per delegate earned.”
Steve Bullock Poised to Run for Senate In Montana
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) “is poised to reverse himself and run for the Senate, a decision that would hand the party a coveted recruit who could help reclaim a majority in the chamber,” the New York Times reports.
“After months of insisting he would not challenge Senator Steve Daines, Mr. Bullock, who ran for president last year, has told Democrats in the last week he is now inclined to run in what would immediately become one of the marquee Senate races of 2020. Mr. Bullock has only a few days to finalize his decision: the filing deadline to run in Montana is Monday.”
Sanders Says He and Biden Are ‘Neck and Neck’
Bernie Sanders said he saw the Democratic primary as a two-person race with Joe Biden, ABC News reports.
Said Sanders: “My guess is that after California is thrown into the hopper, it’s going to be pretty close… I think we go forward basically neck and neck.”
He also said he had talked to Elizabeth Warren earlier today, but that she had not made any decisions about the future of her campaign.
Biden Wins Maine Primary
Joe Biden has won the Maine Democratic primary, Axios reports.
It’s the last Super Tuesday primary to be called and further adds to Biden’s delegate lead.
Election Officials Urge Caution Sealing Primary Ballots
“Coronavirus is throwing a small wrinkle into Washington’s primary,” Fox 13 reports.
“In an effort to stave off the spread of the virus, the Secretary of State’s office doesn’t want voters to lick their ballots to seal primary election envelopes. Officials with the Washington Secretary of State’s office said voters should use a sponge to moisten their ballot envelopes instead.”
Trump Mocks Sessions After He’s Forced Into Runoff
President weighed in on former Attorney General Jeff Sessions being forced into a GOP primary runoff last night:
“This is what happens to someone who loyally gets appointed Attorney General of the United States & then doesn’t have the wisdom or courage to stare down and end the phony Russia Witch Hunt. Recuses himself on FIRST DAY in office, and the Mueller Scam begins!”
Quote of the Day
“Reporters always try to bait me into myself making some comparison to her, which would be unfair. She is far more famous. She is far more interesting.”
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), quoted by Vanity Fair, on comparisons between himself and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
Sanders Tries Out New Message
After seriously underperforming on Super Tuesday, Bernie Sanders is out with a new ad that appears to shift his message from bashing “the establishment” to embracing it.
Lawmakers Agree on $8.3 Billion Coronavirus Package
Congressional negotiators on Wednesday clinched a bipartisan emergency $8.3 billion funding package to combat coronavirus, which both chambers are expected to pass by the end of the week, Politico reports.
Flashback Quote of the Day
“Even if Mike was not to become the nominee, and let’s say tomorrow he wasn’t, this is the one campaign that doesn’t end. In fact, what it grows down to is larger than any other campaign that exists. And we would shift down to a six-state operation with a digital operation and a TV overlay. And so that’s what it would be if Mike was not the candidate.”
— Bloomberg campaign manager Kevin Sheekey, quoted last week by Vanity Fair.
Warren Heads Home to Reassess Her Campaign
“Sen. Elizabeth Warren is taking a day to assess whether she still has a path to the Democratic nomination after a disappointing Super Tuesday in which she finished an embarrassing third place in Massachusetts, her home state,” The Hill reports.
“Warren flew home to Boston late Tuesday and has no public events scheduled for the day.”
Bernie Sanders Hit His Ceiling
Ron Brownstein: “The surprisingly decisive result left Sanders, a candidate who prides himself on his pile-driver-like consistency, facing a new challenge: finding a second act that can appeal to voters beyond the fervid base he has established. The evening’s clearest message was that while the senator from Vermont has inspired a passionate depth of support, the breadth of his coalition remains too limited to win the nomination.”
“Sanders reached 33% or more of the vote in just five of the 14 states that voted (including his home state of Vermont) and did not exceed 36%, his share in Colorado. Biden had a higher ceiling: He won at least 39% in seven states and roughly a third of the vote in three others.”
Said pollster Stan Greenberg: “Sanders has made no effort to reach out beyond his voters, his movement, his revolution. It just has not grown. It is an utterly stable vote that is grounded in the very liberal portion of the Democratic Party, but he’s so disdainful of any outreach beyond that base. He seems content to just keep hitting that drum.”
Joe Biden’s Silent Majority
Tim Miller: “They don’t want a revolution—they just want to stop having to talk about this president’s behavior with their kids. They are the 100,000 additional voters who voted in Fairfax County, Virginia, over the Democrats 2016. They are the Human Scum and independents and moderate Democrats in the Dallas and Houston suburbs, who appeared to give Biden an improbable primary victory in Texas. They are the working-class Democrats in Norfolk Country, Massachusetts, who went for Biden over both Bernie and their own, home-town senator.”
“This is the new silent majority. They are his path to an improbable White House comeback.”
Bloomberg Ends Campaign
Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York who had hoped to self-fund his way to the Democratic presidential nomination but was spurned by voters in Tuesday’s balloting, has suspended his campaign, the Washington Post reports.
Bloomberg endorsed Joe Biden, saying the former vice president had the best chance to win in November.
Said Bloomberg: “I’ve always believed that defeating Donald Trump starts with uniting behind the candidate with the best shot to do it. After yesterday’s vote, it is clear that candidate is my friend and a great American, Joe Biden.”
Williamson Says Biden Endorsements Were a ‘Coup’
In a now-deleted tweet, Marianne Williamson called it a “coup” that former Democratic candidates threw their support behind former Joe Biden, USA Today reports.
Said Williamson: “This was not a resurrection; it was a coup. Russia gate was not a coup. Mueller was not a coup. Impeachment was not a coup. What happened yesterday was a coup. And we will push it back.”
Granholm Endorses Biden
Former Michigan Gov. Jen Granholm (D) endorsed Joe Biden’s bid for the White House during a CNN appearance.
What Motivates Democrats to Vote
Amy Walter: “The other thing that Biden lacked that literally, every other candidate had more of than he did: money and organization. Sanders and Warren had invested in field operations and the early vote for months. Bloomberg, of course, spent more than $500 million on TV ads and campaign infrastructure. But, in the end, Biden had the more powerful GOTV operation: Donald J. Trump. Democrats want to beat Trump. Biden is the guy who is most likely to do it. The end.”
Sanders Fails to Turn Out Young Voters
Domenico Montanaro: “Before Tuesday, voters younger than 30 were not keeping pace with the overall increase in voter turnout. In fact, young voters’ share of the electorate went down in three of the first four states compared with 2016.”
“On Tuesday night, not a single state saw an increase in young voters’ share of the electorate, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Research and sponsored by several of the television networks.”
Vox: “It’s really hard to overstate how bad this is for Sanders. It’s not just that his campaign relies on these voters, although it does. It’s that a core driving philosophy of his campaign is that he will inspire a political revolution, one led, in particular, by a surge in young voters. That’s how he has envisioned defeating Trump in November. If that’s not happening, then how is the Sanders campaign a movement at all?”
