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Democratic Primary News

Biden is facing criticism for his past. Sanders has raised the most money. Warren is not impressing Democrats.

  • Joe Biden — who still hasn’t officially declared his candidacy — is fending off accusations that he has been too affectionate toward women in the past.
  • Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana is having a moment in the sun. He is a progressive who can appeal to the center, but the last time a mayor was nominated for the presidency by a major party was in 1812.
  • Bernie Sanders is moving up in the polls (although, keep in mind, those are more about name recognition than support at this point) and raised the most money by far ($18 million) in the first three months of 2019.
  • Kamala Harris is in second place with $12 million and Beto O’Rourke in third place with $9 million. O’Rourke announced his candidacy later than Harris, though. Jonathan V. Last of the conservative anti-Trump site The Bulwark argues Harris has fallen from top to middle contender.
  • Harris is tied with Cory Booker in the endorsement primary.
  • Elizabeth Warren is the most serious policy candidate so far with detailed plans for everything from child care to housing. Party actors and voters are not impressed. Her financial director quit when she refused to accept money from big donors, she is below the undeclared Biden in the endorsement primary and in the single digits in the polls.

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  • Ross Douthat on Biden’s dilemma: if he apologizes for his personal familiarity and past centrist views on abortion and crime to appease the left, he could lost respect from precisely the constituency Democrats hope he could win back from Donald Trump: blue-collar voters in industrial states.
  • Ezra Klein interviewed Buttigieg and came away impressed.
  • Nathaniel Rakich on the challenges of polling the crowded Democratic primary field.
  • Anthony Williams on why mayors don’t become presidents — and why that might change.