MANCHESTER, N.H. – Dear Readers,
This is a busy, wonderful week. I’m in New Hampshire. I pivoted to protecting the 2020 main right here a couple of hours after wrapping up 13 days of writing about President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.
I begin in New Hampshire with Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg popping out of final Tuesday’s Iowa caucus in the most effective form — although the ends in the counting debacle will not be official but.
Joe Biden has essentially the most to lose. As I’m scripting this I simply obtained a Biden marketing campaign electronic mail with the expectation-lowering topic line: “I’m not going anywhere.”
There is a debate in Manchester on Friday evening, and Sanders, the Vermont senator; Buttigieg, the ex-South Bend mayor; and Biden, the previous vp shall be joined on the stage by Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts; and former enterprise executives Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang.
Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire who’s skipping the early states, looms as a formidable contender. His multimillion-dollar spending on workers and adverts resulted within the Democratic National Committee altering its guidelines to provide him a spot on the subsequent debate Feb. 19 in Nevada. Was the DNC truthful? Or is giving Bloomberg a platform confronting the fact that Bloomberg is an element?
Last evening I left the Capitol and caught a 9 p.m. flight to Boston. Why Boston? Because I’m thrifty. Even with Chicago Sun-Times cash. The air fare and rental automobiles prices are considerably cheaper than in New Hampshire. About half.
There are 4 states with the preliminary presidential votes in February — Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.
The Granite State holds the primary 2020 main vote within the nation Tuesday. A main is a vote the place folks forged a poll in personal for his or her candidate.
Last Monday, Iowa held the primary 2020 caucus – the place folks declare their candidate choice in a public setting. The Hawkeye State caucus vote counting turned out to be a multitude.
From Boston, I headed to Manchester, the place I used to be to fulfill — so I assumed — with Joe Walsh, the previous Chicago-area Republican congressman turned speak present host turned Trump critic operating for president in a quixotic bid.
We had been to rendezvous on the Red Arrow Diner, a must-stop right here for candidates on the path. When I arrived, the good girl on the money register mentioned Walsh been there and gone. To make the most effective of the scenario, since I already paid for the parking, I had an excellent cheese omelette. When I obtained the examine, I used to be reminded that New Hampshire has no gross sales tax.
My subsequent cease was a Sanders press convention. I drove by means of rain and slush to the Sanders New Hampshire headquarters, a storefront in a strip mall.
I final noticed Sanders on Wednesday, proper after the Senate impeachment trial lastly concluded. Sanders and Warren crossed paths as they left the chamber — a couple of toes aside. The two ignored one another. They didn’t even attempt. How telling is that.
Back on the mall, Sanders mentioned he was “holding a press conference that should have occurred three nights ago in Des Moines, Iowa, but for the inability of the Iowa Democratic Party to count votes in a timely fashion.”
“That screw-up has been extremely unfair to the people of Iowa. It has been unfair to the candidates, all of the candidates and all of their supporters.”
Sanders claimed victory saying he bested Buttigieg within the common vote. The race remains to be not referred to as.
As we undergo this main season — the Illinois main is March 17 — do not forget that all that issues is the delegate depend.
Next I drove to a Buttigieg veterans occasion in Merrimack, at American Legion Post 98, the place he highlights his Navy service.
His introducers included one other vet, Illinois native Maura Sullivan, who as soon as mulled a run for a…