Biden pushes South Carolina as first primary state, elevates Georgia and Michigan
Source: Washington Post
President Biden has asked leaders of the Democratic National Committee to make South Carolina the nation’s first primary state, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada a week later, and subsequent weekly primaries in Georgia and Michigan, according to Democrats briefed on the plans.
The tectonic decision to radically remake his party’s presidential nominating calendar for 2024 came as a shock to party officials and state leaders who had been lobbying hard in recent weeks to gain a place in the early calendar, which historically attracts millions of dollars in candidate spending and attention.
The proposal is likely to win approval from the Democratic officials, given the support from the leader of the party. By breaking with decades of tradition, Biden’s move is meant to signal his party’s commitment to elevating more variety — demographic, geographic and economic — in the early nominating process. Iowa, a largely White state that historically held the nation’s the first Democratic caucus and experienced embarrassing problems tabulating results in 2020, would have no early role in the Biden plan.
“We must ensure that voters of color have a voice in choosing our nominee much earlier in the process and throughout the entire early window,” Biden wrote in a letter to members of the Rules and Bylaws Committee that was set to be delivered Thursday evening, as members planned to meet for dinner. “As I said in February 2020, you cannot be the Democratic nominee and win a general election unless you have overwhelming support from voters of color — and that includes Black, Brown and Asian American & Pacific Islander voters.”
Democrats vote to move forward with Biden plan to put South Carolina first on 2024 primary calendar
Source: CNN Politics
CNN — The rule-making arm of the Democratic National Committee on Friday voted to approve a proposal to drastically reshape the 2024 presidential nominating calendar and make South Carolina the first state to hold a primary, followed by Nevada and New Hampshire on the same day a few days later, and then Georgia and Michigan before Super Tuesday.
President Joe Biden this week asked DNC leaders to adopt this early state lineup, which strips Iowa of its first-in-the-nation status. The proposal by the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee needs to be approved at a full DNC meeting, which will take place early next year, and states will still need to set their own primary dates.
The DNC rules panel proposed that the 2024 presidential calendar schedule South Carolina’s primary on February 3, Nevada and New Hampshire’s contests on February 6, Georgia’s primary on February 13 and Michigan’s on February 27. The proposal passed overwhelmingly, with the only objection coming from the members from Iowa and New Hampshire. Iowa has gone first in the nominating process since 1972, while New Hampshire has held the first primary in the process since 1920.
Enacting these new dates could prove to be a steep challenge. Primary dates are set at the state level and each state has a different process. In Georgia, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is responsible for selecting a single date to hold both the Democratic and Republican primaries. Nevada Democrats, who control the state legislature, could have a harder time enacting a law to change the date of their contest after their new Republican governor takes office next month. In South Carolina, each party is free to select their own primary date.
Because Ron DeSantis is emerging as a probable contender in the 2024 election:
The Defrocking of Saint Ron DeSantis by Jim Hightower
November 30, 2022
Introduction:
(Other Words) Breaking news: After years of failed Republican efforts to uncover any proof of widespread voter fraud by Democrats, Republican Governor Ron “Tough Guy” DeSantis of Florida found not one, but 20 ineligible people casting ballots.
Like Donald Trump and a gaggle of other GOP governors, DeSantis has used the phony bugaboo of an illegal voting epidemic as a political ploy to keep true believers believing. They spend millions of taxpayer dollars on partisan wild goose chases — DeSantis even created a new police bureaucracy, the “Office of Election Crimes,” to snoop on voters.
It was all just silly political nastiness, but then Ron’s dragnet scooped up 20 of the diabolical culprits — about one 10,000th of a percent of the state’s over 14 million registered voters. Vindication!
Who were they? All are former convicts who had previously been stripped of their right to vote and erroneously believed their right had been restored after serving their time — and after Florida voters overwhelmingly voted to restore voting rights for people who’d served time for felonies in 2018.
Who cares what they thought, bellowed the bullish governor? He trashed them as “election criminals,” conveniently ignoring their Constitutional right to be presumed innocent unless convicted by a jury.
Why did all 20 think they could vote? Because each one had properly submitted voter registration applications that went to DeSantis’ state agency responsible for determining eligibility — and all 20 had been authorized to get official voter ID cards!
Trump's call to suspend Constitution not a 2024 deal-breaker, leading House Republican says
Source: ABC News
Republican Ohio Rep. Dave Joyce said Sunday that he didn't want to be drawn into commenting on Donald Trump's recent call to suspend the Constitution over baseless claims of 2020 election fraud.
Joyce, the chair of the Republican Governance Group, a centrist group in the House, was asked by ABC "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos to respond to Trump's post on Saturday on his Truth Social platform. The former president wrongly asserted that the "massive fraud" -- which did not occur -- "allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution."
Joyce initially declined to respond, saying he didn't know what Trump said on social media and that the public wasn't "interested in looking backwards." But Stephanopoulos pressed further, and Joyce ultimately said that Trump's comment should be taken "in context" but that it wouldn't prevent him from supporting Trump if he ends up winning the nomination.
"It's early. I think there's going to be a lot of people in the primary ... [but] I will support whoever the Republican nominee is," Joyce said while noting he didn't think Trump would manage to win the 2024 Republican presidential nomination because there are "a lot of other good quality candidates out there."
Ricketts confirms he will seek U.S. Senate seat
Source: Omaha World Herald
By Erin Bamer Dec 6, 2022 Updated 5 min ago
LINCOLN — Gov. Pete Ricketts announced Tuesday that he will apply to fill U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse's seat once Sasse resigns in January, confirming suspicions that he would seek the position.
Gov.-elect Jim Pillen opened applications for the seat on Monday and will continue taking applicants through Dec. 23. Ricketts is widely thought to be the top candidate for the seat, as he was one of Pillen's top endorsers during his campaign.
After the news broke, U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., confirmed on Twitter his expectation that Ricketts will be selected as Sasse's replacement.
"We look forward to hazing the junior member of the delegation," Bacon wrote in a tweet.
Ron DeSantis Holds Early Lead Over Donald Trump Among GOP Primary Voters, WSJ Poll Shows
Source: Wall Street Journal
Republican primary voters have high interest in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a potential 2024 presidential nominee and view him more favorably than they do former President Donald Trump, a new Wall Street Journal poll shows.
In a hypothetical contest between the two, Mr. DeSantis beats Mr. Trump, 52% to 38%, among likely GOP primary voters contemplating a race in which the first nomination votes will be cast in just over a year.
The poll found that Mr. DeSantis is both well-known and well-liked among Republicans who say they are likely to vote in a party primary or nominating contest, with 86% viewing the Florida governor favorably, compared with 74% who hold a favorable view of Mr. Trump. One in 10 likely GOP primary voters said they didn’t know enough about Mr. DeSantis to venture an opinion of him.
Among all registered voters, Mr. DeSantis is viewed favorably by 43%, compared with 36% for the former president. Favorable views of Mr. Trump were the lowest recorded in Journal polling dating to November 2021 and have been pulled down by a decline in positive feelings among Republicans. Since March, his favorable rating among GOP voters has fallen to 74% from 85%, while the share who view him unfavorably has risen to 23% from 13%.
Ron DeSantis’s Vaccine “Investigation” Is All About Beating Trump by Dylan Scott
December 15, 2022
Introduction:
(Vox) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is widely expected to run for president in 2024, is escalating his campaign to discredit the Covid-19 vaccines, the drug companies that produced them, and the public health officials and government leaders who urged Americans to get them.
Florida under DeSantis has been home base for anti-vaccine, anti-mask, and anti-lockdown policies in the past three years. His administration sought to block cities and universities from imposing mask and vaccine mandates; his surgeon general drew widespread criticism this fall for urging young men not to get vaccinated. This week, DeSantis hosted a 90-minute panel discussion filled with experts questioning the efficacy of the mRNA Covid-19 vaccines and touting their potential dangers for some people, while alleging a vague conspiracy exists to hide that information from the public.
Now he is taking this crusade to the next level, asking the Florida Supreme Court to impanel a statewide grand jury charged with investigating any wrongdoing related to the promotion and distribution of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.
Some conservatives expect DeSantis to make his Covid policies and his public vaccine skepticism a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. It’s an issue where he could draw a real contrast with former President Donald Trump, whose administration oversaw the vaccines’ development and distribution and who empowered public health officials, like the National Institutes of Health’s Anthony Fauci, who became villains for many Republicans over the course of the pandemic.
I just saw a bumper sticker that read something like "Elon Musk for President in 2024." At this point I doubt that he will actually run, but he does seem to want to influence the outcome through overt endorsements as well as through his control of Twitter.
Trump attacks reporter after she revealed his 2024 adviser thinks 'the magic is gone'
Source: Independent UK
Donald Trump has attacked a New York Magazine reporter as a “wack job” after she revealed that a member of his own 2024 campaign believes “the magic is gone” for the former president.
Throughout the Christmas period, the one-term president has gone on a series of un-festive rants on his Truth Social platform, fuming about everything from the January 6 House committee report to the US’s southern border and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
… snip …
The article painted a picture of Mr Trump – who is facing calls to be criminally charged over the Capitol riot – living in near seclusion at Mar-a-Lago and describing his 2024 campaign as a “sad, lonely, thirsty, broken, basically pretend run for reelection”.
… snip …
The advisor, who was not named but works on Mr Trump’s current campaign, described Mr Trump’s appeal as “gone” and admitted that “you can’t get it back”.
caltrek wrote: ↑Tue Dec 27, 2022 3:17 pm
I just saw a bumper sticker that read something like "Elon Musk for President in 2024." At this point I doubt that he will actually run, but he does seem to want to influence the outcome through overt endorsements as well as through his control of Twitter.
This is so stupid.. He needs to get back to space and electric cars and pull his head away from this crap. So sad
caltrek wrote: ↑Tue Dec 27, 2022 3:17 pm
I just saw a bumper sticker that read something like "Elon Musk for President in 2024." At this point I doubt that he will actually run, but he does seem to want to influence the outcome through overt endorsements as well as through his control of Twitter.
This is so stupid.. He needs to get back to space and electric cars and pull his head away from this crap. So sad
He can't ever be President even if he wanted to because he was born in South Africa.
To know is essentially the same as not knowing. The only thing that occurs is the rearrangement of atoms in your brain.
BREAKING: Mike Pence has filed to run for President in 2024.
