Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 191
Blue Wave Update
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) told CNN he has “no interest” in serving in the Biden administration.
Asked if he’d tell Joe Biden “no” if he got offered a job, Booker said: “If the president-elect of the United States calls me up, I’ll listen to whatever he has to say.”
But he quickly added he has “no interest.”
Sen. Cory Booker announced that he is suspending his presidential campaign, the Washington Post reports.
“Booker, who recently announced he had surpassed his fourth-quarter fundraising goal, said his operation would not have the money ‘to scale up and continue building a campaign that can win,’ particularly with a Senate impeachment trial looming and because he would be absent from Tuesday’s debate.”
New York Times: “Though his departure from the race is unlikely to have much of an impact on other candidates’ polling, the Booker campaign was a leader in endorsements in Iowa and New Hampshire and had a particularly notable staff of Iowa organizers, setting up a likely scramble by the remaining candidates to secure both endorsements and staffers in the early nominating states.”
Cory Booker told the Associated Press that the upcoming impeachment trial could be a “big, big blow” to his efforts to win next month’s Iowa caucuses.
Booker claimed that his campaign’s internal metrics indicate he would finish in a “pretty exciting place” in the February 3 caucuses, but his Senate responsibilities could hamper his ability to remain competitive.
Sen. Cory Booker didn’t qualify for the Democratic presidential debate tonight, but he will be running his first ad tonight.
“Cory Booker’s campaign held five events in New Hampshire this week. But one thing was notably was missing from all of them: Cory Booker himself,” Politico reports.
“With his campaign struggling to gain traction in early state polls, Booker has gone all-in on Iowa and South Carolina — and all but vanished from New Hampshire.”
“He’s very well spoken; he’s got some very good ideas.”
— Michael Bloomberg, in a CBS News interview, on Sen. Cory Booker.
With the qualification deadline fast approaching for the December Democratic presidential debate, Sen. Cory Booker will seek to boost his flagging poll numbers by “reorienting our entire campaign apparatus into a persuasion effort,” according to a memo obtained by CNN.
“If you come after Joe Biden, you’re going to have to deal with me.”
— Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), in an interview on CNN, defending Joe Biden from false corruption allegations made by President Trump.
Cory Booker announced to supporters that his campaign has raised the $1.7 million it said it needed to stay in the 2020 race.
Sen. Cory Booker’s presidential campaign announced that it had raised $1,269,551, still short of the $1.7 million the campaign said it needed by the end of the month.
Booker said he would drop out of the race if he didn’t meet the goal.
Sen. Cory Booker must raise nearly $2 million in the next 10 days or the presidential candidate has no “legitimate long-term path forward,” according to a memo to staff from the campaign manager obtained by NBC News.
“The struggling candidate’s campaign manager, Addisu Demissie, warned that after weaker-than-expected fundraising in the early part of September, the campaign needs to rake in another $1.7 million before the last day of the financial quarter on Sept. 30.”
Sen. Cory Booker’s presidential campaign told CNN that he has qualified to participate in the third debate coming up this fall.
“Booker surpassed the higher threshold of 130,000 unique donors, his campaign said Monday, after having previously met the polling requirements for the debate, slated for September. Booker’s campaign said more than a quarter of those donors contributed since the first June debate, when he dominated in speaking time among the candidates.”
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) expressed “amazement” in a NBC News interview that Sens. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker have not had “more of a surge” in his state at this point in the Democratic presidential race.
Of Harris, he offered that she “hasn’t spelled out the policy stuff with her vision” — vision that he praised as “tremendous. Of course, I just thought Kamala because this just seemed to be the year of the black woman. I thought she would be surging a little more than she is.”
About Booker, Clyburn said, “I think he is suffering from the shadows, coming out from under the shadows of Barack Obama.”
Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-NJ) deputy presidential campaign manager announced on Twitter that she donated to the campaign of rival 2020 candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), urging others to do the same to ensure that Gillibrand qualifies for next month’s Democratic primary debate, Politico reports.
Politico: “The similarities between their credentials — and the disparity between how their campaigns have been covered on the campaign trail — are frustrating Booker allies who question whether the media is giving the New Jersey senator a fair shot.”
“Other Democrats see Buttigieg’s rise as a reflection of entrenched racial and gender biases — that the Buttigieg bump would be impossible if he wasn’t a white man.”
“Sen. Cory Booker launched a bid for the White House in February on a message of love and unity, painting himself as an inspirational leader who would help a polarized America find common ground. Just 10 weeks later, Booker is discovering that so far love just isn’t enough,” Politico reports.
“Polling in the single digits and lagging top-tier competitors in fundraising, Booker this week sought to reboot his campaign, launching a ‘Justice For All’ two-week, national tour heavy on economic policy proposals and social justice messaging.”
“I hate it that people assume I’d be a bachelor president. It’s literally 700 days from now. You never know.”
— Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), quoted by the Washington Post.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced a bill to legalize marijuana nationwide as he mounts his presidential campaign, CNBC reports.
“Co-sponsors of the bill, known as the Marijuana Justice Act, include fellow 2020 contenders Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand. Booker first introduced the bill in 2017, but it was not taken up for a vote.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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