Politico

Sanders has criticized the former Indiana mayor before, but not like this.

By HOLLY OTTERBEIN

02/07/2020 06:12 PM EST

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Bernie Sanders has a new target: Pete Buttigieg.

In the days leading up to the first-in-the-nation primary, the Vermont senator is lighting up the former South Bend mayor over his billionaire donors while his aides are circulating talking points calling him “a favorite candidate of Wall Street and the health care industry.” Hours before the presidential contenders were due on the debate stage, Sanders’ team also managed to get the hashtag #PetesBillionaires trending on Twitter.

Though Sanders has needled Buttigieg over his billionaire contributors previously, his most recent comments represent something of a shift. He almost never mentions Buttigieg on the trail, and until now has trained most of his fire in the Democratic contest on Joe Biden and Michael Bloomberg. The change underscores the importance of New Hampshire to Sanders’ campaign — and the fact that Buttigieg is nipping at his heels in the first-in-the-nation primary state.

“Bernie has said he will win New Hampshire. He has made that statement more than once. Therefore it's important that he wins,” said Kurt Ehrenberg, Sanders’ former longtime political strategist in the state. “I think he’s in danger of not winning right now, which is why he’s attacking Mayor Pete.”

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Politico

The Vermont senator’s show of fundraising force comes days before the first-in-the-nation primary and as the results in Iowa are still being counted.

By HOLLY OTTERBEIN

02/06/2020 06:00 AM EST

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Bernie Sanders’ campaign announced Thursday it raised $25 million in January from nearly 650,000 people, a third of whom were new donors. That makes it his best fundraising month of the 2020 campaign, according to his team.

Sanders’ aides also said that he is using the small-dollar cash infusion to place a $5.5 million TV and digital ad buy in nine Super Tuesday states and South Carolina.

The Vermont senator’s show of fundraising force comes days before the first-in-the-nation primary and as the results in Iowa are still being counted. With 97 percent of precincts reporting, the caucuses are too close to call, and Sanders and Pete Buttigieg are fighting for first place.

Sanders’ Iowa state director, Misty Rebik, sent a memo to staffers and supporters on Wednesday night that said the campaign has "a viable path forward to achieve a clean sweep and retake the lead in state delegate equivalents and national pledged delegates.”

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Mediaite

Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) has roughly a 50/50 shot at winning the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination — more than double the probability of his nearest competitor — according to Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight.

A forecast from FiveThirtyEight places Sanders’ odds at “1 in 2,” with former Vice President Joe Biden’s odds at “1 in 5,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) at “1 in 20,” and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg at “1 in 30.”

All other 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, including Mike Bloomberg, Andrew Yang, Tom Steyer, and Tulsi Gabbard, are placed at “1 in 100” odds.

Sanders is also currently predicted to receive around 1,782 pledged delegates, with Biden at 987, Buttigieg at 402, Warren at 394, and Bloomberg at 339.

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Politico

Despite a recent statement in New Hampshire, Biden’s campaign says his stance hasn’t changed.

By NATALIE FERTIG

02/06/2020 02:23 PM EST

Former Vice President Joe Biden's opposition to fully legalizing marijuana is well known, but on the campaign trail in New Hampshire this week he appeared to change his position.

"I think it is at the point where it has to be, basically, legalized," Biden said on Tuesday in a recording obtained by POLITICO.

Marijuana legalization advocate Don Murphy of the Marijuana Policy Project approached Biden at a campaign event Tuesday and asked about the candidate's "hawkish" cannabis policy. In the recording, Biden restated his cannabis plan — which would decriminalize cannabis, expunge some cannabis-related records, make medical marijuana legal and create opportunities for more research — adding twice that he does not believe cannabis is "a gateway drug." He then said he thinks cannabis needs to be "basically, legalized."

But Biden wouldn't be willing to legalize marijuana right away, unlike other 2020 contenders. Sen. Bernie Sanders has said he'll remove the federal ban on marijuana during his first 100 days as president. Biden, however, remained firm that he wants scientific research to support his decision, saying he is "not prepared to [legalize] as long as there are serious medical people saying, ‘We should determine what other side effects would occur.'"

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Politico

The election mess robbed Buttigieg of his election-night laurels while allowing Biden’s campaign to limp ahead.

By MARC CAPUTO

02/04/2020 09:18 PM EST

NASHUA, N.H. — Joe Biden entered the presidential race leading in Iowa. Later, he predicted he’d win the state as he rolled up local endorsements galore.

So Biden’s likely fourth-place finish in Iowa would normally put his campaign in ICU, especially when a former no-name mayor of a small town in Indiana came in first and bested the former vice president along with four senators.

But this is no normal campaign.

Iowa Democrats so badly botched their caucus that the results weren’t released until nearly a day later — and even now only two-thirds of the vote is in — making the biggest storyline about a broken app. It robbed Pete Buttigieg of his election-night laurels while allowing Biden’s campaign to limp ahead.

Because of the disarray, “The people like Biden who have ‘splaining to do aren’t ‘splaining,” said Joe Trippi, a veteran Democratic consultant of multiple presidential campaigns.

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Politico

His revolution was not televised from Iowa on Monday night.

By HOLLY OTTERBEIN

02/04/2020 09:53 PM EST

ABOARD BERNIE SANDERS’ CHARTER PLANE TO NEW HAMPSHIRE — The political revolution was put on hold.

When Bernie Sanders’ campaign was preparing for a potential win in the first 2020 contest Monday, his aides and allies envisioned him giving a primetime victory speech, raising millions of dollars from small-dollar donors amid their ecstatic high, and savoring proving so many elites wrong at a party at the Holiday Inn.

Instead, Sanders and his senior aides found themselves working to reassure demoralized and shaken staffers and volunteers on Tuesday.

In a last-minute all-staff call around noon, Sanders’ campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, told aides that the Iowa Democratic Party had been incompetent and the delayed results were frustrating. But, he said, it was critical to appreciate what had just happened despite receiving the most negative news coverage of any 2020 campaign.

With 62 percent of precincts counted, initial results released Tuesday showed Sanders and Pete Buttigieg in a close race for first place, and Sanders aides think there is a good chance they will win in the end.

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