A new Politico/Morning Consult poll finds just 36% of voters say they would vote for President Trump over a generic Democratic candidate in 2020, compared with 44% who would pick the Democrat, the poll shows. One in five voters, 20%, are undecided.
2020 Campaign
Trump Invites Hundreds of Local Officials to White House
President Trump “is amassing an army of political insiders for 2020 — all without leaving the White House. The Trump administration has hosted 14 ‘state days’ over the past few months, inviting county commissioners of both parties to come through for tours and meet senior administration officials, including Vice President Mike Pence,” Politico reports.
“While the daylong events are formally billed as a way to establish a relationship between behemoth federal agencies and their local counterparts, they also are designed to engender new loyalty to a president some Republicans refused to support in 2016 as he begins to look ahead to his reelection campaign.”
Should Democrats Nominate a Mayor for President?
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Garcetti Taps Hollywood Ties to Fuel 2020 Campaign
“Eric Garcetti is employing a unique and potentially potent home state advantage as he prepares for an expected presidential campaign — delivering Hollywood’s expansive donor network to Democratic Party officials from early primary states,” Politico reports.
“The Los Angeles mayor hosted the South Carolina Democratic Party on Tuesday for a fundraiser in the city’s Hancock Park, raising about as much in a few hours as the state party collected in the entire month of March.”
“Presidential candidates have long sought ways to ingratiate themselves with early presidential primary state officials, but Garcetti is taking an unorthodox route. He’s drawing small-state parties across state lines and offering them an opportunity to tap into one of the nation’s most lucrative donor bases, while providing himself a rare platform to connect with operatives in the key early-voting states that make or break presidential campaigns.”
Warren Steals Show at 2020 Audition
“Democratic jockeying for the 2020 presidential race was on full display Tuesday as a host of likely contenders addressed liberal activists in Washington,” The Hill reports.
“It was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) who ultimately won the day with a full-throated assertion of the need for Democrats to hew closely to a base she characterized as ‘angry and scared’ about President Trump’s impact on the nation.”
Said Warren: “The sad truth is, most of these ideas won’t go anywhere unless we deal with the defining crisis of this moment in our history… Democracy is crumbling around us.”
Trump Hopes to Add Two States In 2020
Jonathan Swan: “As President Trump’s campaign aides quietly launch his reelection campaign, they’re eyeing two states as possible pickups for 2020: Minnesota, where Trump came close in 2016 without even trying; and Colorado, where his hands-off approach to marijuana enforcement is a possible selling point.”
“The addition of those states is part of a plan that’s coming together in a basement suite at the Republican National Committee, where the Trump campaign has moved from Trump Tower. The campaign, now fewer than 10 people, eventually will number hundreds.”
Inside Trump’s ‘Big Data’ Strategy for 2020
Jonathan Swan: “Trump reelection campaign manager Brad Parscale starts with 18 million email addresses and phone numbers (‘hard contacts’) of likely Trump voters, and has a goal of doubling that that to 30 million to 40 million by Election Day 2020 — roughly half of the votes Trump needs. (He got 63 million in 2016.)”
“Parscale plans to spend $1 million per month for the rest of ’18 on digital prospecting, with hopes to increase that next year. The campaign says it has had great success recruiting Trump supporters with ads on AOL (an older, Trump-friendly demographic), Bing, Facebook, Google and conservative news sites.”
Democrats Road-Test Their 2020 Messages
Washington Post: “Before the start of a 2020 Democratic presidential campaign, at least 25 candidates — mayors, governors, entrepreneurs, members of the House and Senate — have hit the road to workshop their vision, experiment with catchphrases and test policy ideas that could keep President Trump from winning a second term.”
“Many deny that their actions have anything to do with a coming presidential run, but they unmistakably play off the chords of campaigns past, seeking a way to break through a political maw that has been focused more on the latest actions of the president and the coming midterm elections.”
GOP Has Few Takers for 2020 Convention
“Cities across the country are turning down the opportunity to host the 2020 Republican National Convention, where President Trump is expected to be nominated for a second term,” The Hill reports.
“The cities that have rejected hosting duties insist Trump and today’s divisive politics are not factors in their decisions. They instead cite high security costs and disruptions in the normal flow of business and traffic. But Trump is almost certainly a factor in some cities’ decisions to opt out.”
Democrats Consider 8 Cities for 2020 Convention
“Eight cities are in consideration to host the 2020 Democratic National Convention as the party prepares for a presidential contest that is expected to include an unusually large number of candidates,” NBC News reports.
“The cities are: Atlanta; Denver; Houston; New York; San Francisco; Milwaukee; Miami Beach; and Birmingham.”
Why I’ll Skip The Latest Poll In New Hampshire
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Kamala Harris Builds an Online Army
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) “recently became the latest potential presidential candidate to pledge to no longer accept money from corporate political action committees — a move adopted by an increasing number of progressive Democrats who calculate that they have more to gain than lose by forgoing corporate PAC money,” Politico reports.
“But Harris’ decision also reflected a broader — potentially more significant — effort to fortify her small-donor fundraising strategy ahead of the 2020 election.”
“She’s spending aggressively to bolster her digital campaign infrastructure and cultivate supporters online, creating a template that resembles the one that served Sanders so well against Hillary Clinton.”
Trump Re-Elect Figures Similar to Clinton, Obama
“U.S. registered voters solidly believe that President Trump does not deserve to be re-elected, by 59% to 37%,” according to a Gallup survey.
“The percentage of voters who say Trump deserves re-election is essentially identical to that of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama at the time of the 1994 and 2010 midterm elections, respectively. More voters said George W. Bush deserved re-election at the time of the midterm elections in his first term, in 2002.”
Landrieu Won’t Rule Out Presidential Bid
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu (D) “leaves office next month in a political spotlight unprecedented for New Orleans — one that suggests the city’s chief executive could step out of City Hall and into a run for president of the United States,” the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.
“That’s according to political speculation over the 2020 presidential race, pinning Landrieu as a potential anti-Trump contender after the tearing down of Confederate monuments followed by his book on the experience.”
Said Landrieu: “It would be disingenuous to say that I don’t hear the chatter. I really have not given any strategic thought to moving towards that goal. I’ve been around long enough to know that you never say never. I think it’s highly unlikely that I would try it. And I also can’t actually see the strategic pathway to it, even if I did. Who knows what the heck is going to happen.”
Quote of the Day
“I’ll tell you something, I don’t think it’s necessary. Donald is going to be 74, 73 and maybe he should just go and play golf and enjoy his fortune… Besides, I think he probably misses a little bit of freedom, I don’t think he probably knew how much is involved of being the president. It’s so much information — you have to know the whole world.”
— Ivana Trump, quoted by the New York Post, on whether President Trump should run for re-election.