Saturday, February 22, 2020
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, dominated the Nevada caucuses on Saturday.
With 43 percent of precincts counted, Sanders was on track to win nearly 47 percent of the state’s county convention delegates — more than twice as many as his next closest rival, former vice president Joe Biden, who had 21 percent. Former mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., was trailing with 15 percent and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) with 10 percent.
Speaking at a rally in San Antonio after the Associated Press called the race for him, Sanders hailed the “multigenerational, multiracial coalition” that led him to victory in Nevada and predicted it would “sweep the country.”
Indeed, entrance polls in Nevada — the first nominating contest with a sizable nonwhite population — showed him winning more than half of the state’s Latino vote, along with a plurality of the white vote. Every age group under 65 backed Sanders, including 65 percent of those age 17 to 29.
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Friday, February 21, 2020
According to the Washington Post, U.S. officials have told Sanders that the Russians were seeking to bolster his campaign as part of a broader effort to interfere with the 2020 election. The story did not describe how the Russian government was doing so.
Calling Putin "an autocratic thug who is attempting to destroy democracy and crush dissent in Russia," Sanders said he stood "firmly against their efforts."
“I don't care, frankly, who Putin wants to be president," he said in the written statement. "My message to Putin is clear: stay out of American elections, and as president I will make sure that you do."
During his 2016 presidential campaign, according to former special counsel Robert Mueller, the Russian government used social media to support Sanders and President Donald Trump. In Friday's statement, Sanders suggested that the Russians were using similar tactics in this election. "Some of the ugly stuff on the internet attributed to our campaign may well not be coming from real supporters," he said, echoing a similar sentiment he voiced at Wednesday's Democratic debate in Las Vegas.
On Thursday, the New York Times reported that intelligence officials had told members of the U.S. House that Russia was seeking to bolster Trump's reelection in part by meddling in the Democratic primary.
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Thursday, February 20, 2020
In defending his ownership of three homes during Wednesday’s Democratic presidential debate, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) listed each and the justification for buying it.
One is in Washington, D.C., where he works much of the year. A second is in Burlington, where he served nearly a decade as mayor.
“And like thousands of other Vermonters, I do have a summer camp,” Sanders said, referring to the $575,000 lakefront home in North Hero he purchased in 2016. “Forgive me for that.”
So is Sanders right? Do thousands of Vermonters own summer camps?
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By the time it was over, Bloomberg was reeling — and Sanders was still standing.
Leading the attack against the former mayor was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who just moments into the debate referred to him as an arrogant billionaire “who calls women ‘fat broads’ and ‘horse-faced lesbians.’” Later, in the most memorable exchange of the night, she eviscerated him over allegations of sexual harassment at his company, Bloomberg L.P., and mocked his explanation.
“I hope you heard what his defense was: 'I’ve been nice to some women,'” she said. “That just doesn’t cut it. The mayor has to stand on his record, and what we need to know is exactly what’s lurking out there. He has gotten some number of women — dozens, who knows? — to sign nondisclosure agreements, both for sexual harassment and for gender discrimination in the workplace.”
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Tuesday, February 11, 2020
The night before the first-in-the-nation presidential primary, more than 7,500 people crowded into the Durham sports complex to hear from the progressive pair and the garage rock quintet. According to Sanders, the crowd was three times the size of the next biggest Democratic rally in the state this election cycle.
“Brothers and sisters, this turnout tells me why we’re going to win here in New Hampshire, why we’re going to win the Democratic nomination and why we are going to defeat the most dangerous president in the modern history of America, Donald Trump,” Sanders said as he followed Ocasio-Cortez to the stage.
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Saturday, February 8, 2020
“Billionaires by the dozen are contributing to Pete Buttigieg,” Sanders told supporters at a canvassing launch in Dover, N.H. “Now, I like Pete. He’s a smart guy and he’s a nice guy. But if you are serious about political change in America, that change is not going to be coming from somebody who gets a lot of money from the CEOs of the pharmaceutical industry.”
Sanders’ newfound focus on Buttigieg follows a surprisingly strong finish in Iowa by the former mayor of South Bend, Ind. In recent days, Buttigieg has been approaching Sanders in some polls of New Hampshire.
As the senator traveled the Granite State on Saturday, he alluded to the former mayor at nearly every campaign stop, contrasting Buttigieg’s fundraising practices with his own.
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Moderator George Stephanopoulos of ABC News quickly goaded former vice president Joe Biden into repeating his recent criticisms of Sanders and former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg, the other leader in Iowa. “Bernie’s labeled himself — not me — a democratic socialist. I think that’s the label [President Donald] Trump is going to lay on everyone running if Bernie’s the nominee,” the vice president said, adding that Buttigieg was merely the “mayor of a small city.”
Asked why Democrats should not fear such attacks from the president, Sanders said, “Because Donald Trump lies all the time.”
Stephanopoulos wasn’t about to let it go. “Let me just ask: Is anyone else on the stage concerned about having a democratic socialist at the top of the democratic ticket?” he asked.
Only Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) raised her hand.
“I’m not,” Sanders reported.
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Thursday, February 6, 2020
Three days after the Iowa caucuses, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) declared Thursday that he had won a “very strong victory” in the first presidential contest.
Speaking at a press conference in Manchester, N.H., Sanders played down the importance of the final delegate allocation and focused instead on the number of votes cast at the start of the caucusing process. By that metric, according to incomplete results available Thursday, he led former mayor Pete Buttigieg by 5,954 votes, or 24.7 percent to 21.3 percent.
“When 6,000 more people come out for you in an election than your nearest opponent, we here in northern New England call that a victory,” Sanders said.
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Wednesday, February 5, 2020
The full U.S. Senate voted to acquit Trump on the two charges he faced.
Less than an hour before the historic vote, Leahy urged his colleagues to hold the president accountable for his “brazen abuse of executive power” by inviting foreign interference into U.S. elections.
“Today is not about differences over policy. It is about the integrity of our elections, and it is about the Constitution,” Leahy said from the Senate floor. “The Constitution cannot protect itself.”
Sanders spent Wednesday morning on the presidential campaign trail in New Hampshire but returned to Washington in time for the vote. He submitted a written statement for the record explaining his votes.
"Sadly, we have a president who sees himself as above the law and is ignorant or indifferent to the Constitution," he wrote. "And we have a president who clearly committed impeachable offenses."
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Tuesday, February 4, 2020
The outcome of the Iowa caucuses remained far from certain late Monday as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) took the stage in Des Moines, but that didn’t stop him from declaring a victory of sorts.
“Let me begin by stating that I imagine — I have a strong feeling — that at some point the results will be announced,” he said to cheers from supporters. “And when those results are announced, I have a good feeling we’re going to be doing very, very well here in Iowa.”
Scattered reports from precincts across the Hawkeye State seemed to confirm that suspicion. But citing “inconsistencies” in data reported by caucus chairs, Iowa Democratic Party officials refused to release results.
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