Heading into Election Day, very few undecided voters remain in America. However, CNN found a few in Arizona and surveyed them post-debate last night. The big news: Even among people who are still considering voting for Trump, as many voters as not felt that Sen. Kamala Harris won the VP debate against Mike Pence, with two voters considering it a tie. Go to minute 4:00 here and watch it: The upshot? Even among people still open to voting for Trump, Harris held her own against Pence, who universally seemed to be described as a “polished” and “seasoned” debater by every cable news pundit going. That’s bad news for the Trump-Pence ticket.
As California politics junkies, we’ve watched as presidential primary polling has fluctuated and recently, Sen. Kamala Harris looks like she’s taken a bit of a dive in the polls. Mostly, that seems to be attributable to Sen. Elizabeth Warren getting ahead of the pack in calling for President Trump’s impeachment– arguably the best-ever example of adopting a policy position just to curry favor with the base. But if you’re a right-leaning reporter at DC’s National Journal (check out said reporter’s Twitter feed), it’s evidence of Harris pandering to the base, even though she’s appeared far, far less tempted to do that than has Warren. Questionable takes are… questionable. Credit: @McDeereUSA Over to National Journal: If there was a primary for the most self-destructive presidential candidate, Sen. Kamala Harris of California would be the front-runner of the 2020 field. Instead of leveraging her profile as a pragmatic prosecutor who has distinguished herself…
With the entry of former Vice President Joe Biden into the 2020 presidential race, Sen. Kamala Harris’ luster has been a little lacking lately. But she’s grabbing attention this morning with a volley at gender-discriminating corporate America with a brand new proposal to fine them if they don’t pay men and women equally. From the Wall Street Journal: Sen. Kamala Harris is proposing that large employers pay women on an equal basis with their male counterparts or face government fines, seeking a sweeping shift in the way the nation addresses pay inequity. The Democratic presidential candidate released a plan Monday that would put the burden on companies to demonstrate that they are not engaging in pay discrimination. Ms. Harris’s campaign said companies would be fined 1% of their profits for every 1% wage gap they allow to continue for work of equal value. The campaign estimated that the plan would…
Chris Matthews: He’s the MSNBC “Hardball” host who induces groans from tons of progressives for his perceived outdated and outmoded version of left-of-center politics and filibustering of progressive favorites who appear on his show. Last night, Matthews was interviewing Sen. Kamala Harris and engaged in a little Matthews-standard long-windedness, on-the-fly-punditry and gaffery. “I guess the question is once he’s testified before Mr. Mueller’s special counsel investigation, how can he now say I won’t make the same testimony in public claiming executive privilege. I think it is sort of like virginity, kinda… Once you start talking about a matter in your jurisdiction and then you say, ‘oh, I’m not doing it anymore.’ You can’t do it once you’ve started talking. I understand that’s how executive privilege works. Once you have given it up, you can’t grab it back. How do you see it?” This was Matthews’ “question” posed to Harris, whose non-verbal…
It might not be a surprise that Sen. Kamala Harris would be bringing in a boatload of cash from Californians as she runs for President. But a quickie analysis shows that she is not merely besting the competition; she’s trouncing it. Moreover, that analysis shows surprisingly low enthusiasm for Sen. Bernie Sanders among Californians, at least as gauged by donations from Golden Staters. In the first quarter of the year, Harris raised an eye-popping $4.3 million from Californians. Sanders, the national frontrunner managed $780,000; Sen. Cory Booker, who national polling suggests is not even approaching “real contender” status also bested Sanders with $870,000 from California. The numbers underline that despite the perception of California as a hard-left “people’s republic,” progressive but not actually leftist candidates who are younger and, well, less white and male show stronger appeal here. This is little surprise to everyone who expected Hillary Clinton to win…
Sen. Kamala Harris is making a big play for union support in her run for President, focusing principally on education and childcare workers. Teachers’ unions have been financially hammered by the Supreme Court decision in Janus and are shopping for a vocal candidate they can get behind and support, ideally one who will not only push pro-labor policy but also use the bully pulpit to advocate for their members’ interests. With her proposal to massively bump teacher pay through federal funding, Harris could be it. As noted yesterday, in the first quarter of 2019, her presidential campaign took in at least 11,000 donations from educators. Now, it looks like she’s making a play for pro-union child care workers, too, backing a proposal to unionize them. This should further endear her to organized labor, which is a powerful ally in Democratic Party politics not just because of its organizing and door-knocking…
The numbers are in, and Sen. Kamala Harris raised an eye-popping $12 million in her first quarter as a presidential candidate. Harris’ campaign told the New York Times that “more than $6 million of her fund-raising — about half of her total — came from her digital program, including $1.1 million in the last week.” In addition, Harris took in “218,000 contributions in total and that 98 percent of her contributions were under $100. Her average donation was about $55.” A lot of the money may be coming from teachers. Harris has called for a massive, federally-funded pay rise for teachers. Her campaign says at least 11,000 donations came from “educators,” a term that may include school administrators and teachers not operating within the public school system or teaching K-12.
Last night, news broke that former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who narrowly lost last year to Sen. Ted Cruz, is running for President. And while no one expects to see yet another candidate enter the field and be applauded by everyone else already there, Kamala Harris’ campaign seems a little concerned about O’Rourke– at least judging by her fundraising emails. Here’s one that came through a couple hours ago, which is actually titled “Beto O’Rourke.” It’s not just the title that’s interesting. Did you notice the upfront mention of “a record number of women and people of color?” Could that possibly be a small dig at O’Rourke, who has a Spanish-language nickname but is actually pretty danged white and male? Or is Kamala just trying to seize on a little bit of Beto-mentum herself, and bring some extra cash into her already bountiful campaign coffers? It looks like a little jab…
The Fresno Bee has an interesting report this morning focusing on the growing strength of California’s Latino voting population. Take a look, and you’ll see exactly why Republicans in California are in such deep, deep trouble– even those in deep red seats. During the 2018 November midterm election, the eligible turnout rate for Latinos (the percentage of adult citizens who voted) was 35.9 percent — an 18.6 percent increase from the 2014 midterm election, according to data released by the University of Southern California’s Civic Engagement Project. Mindy Romero, a research assistant professor and director of the California Civic Engagement Project at USC, said in Fresno County, the total voter turnout was 41.5 percent, and for Latinos eligible to vote, it was 30.3 percent. Statewide, the total voter turnout was 50 percent. […] To put the latest USC statistics into perspective, back in 1994, when California voters approved Proposition 187,…
Who’s the frontrunner to win the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination? We’ve made some arguments before for Sen. Kamala Harris, focusing on social media buzz and other less-used metrics. But here’s another: A tipster who receives all RNC press releases and “one-on-one” emails tells us that a survey of emails sent between January 1, 2019 and today shows more focus on Harris than on Sen. Bernie Sanders– a typically popular punching-bag for the GOP. A ton of these RNC emails naturally focus on things like bashing the Green New Deal or undercutting former Trump lawyer/”rat” Michael Cohen. The RNC also sends press releases out when its Chairwoman, Ronna Romney McDaniel, appears on TV (party chair TV appearances usually get about 30 viewers, so the committees like to bump up the numbers in any way they can, including with “In Case You Missed It” (ICYMI) emails with YouTube links to appearances). But…