Sunday School Extra Credit 12/8/19

As promised in yesterday's Sunday School post, here's a recap of NJ Senator Cory Booker's conversation with George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week. Booker was the only one of the 2020 Dem presidential candidates making the classroom rounds yesterday.

They started their conversation on Kamala Harris dropping out of the race, with George wondering if Booker could "unpack" his comment about the system not being fair, noting that Harris had

started out with a bang, had 20,000 people at her first rally, raising an awful lot of money early on, performed pretty well in the early debates and only fell back when she stumbled in the campaign.

In response, Booker offered a comparison between Harris and former Secretary of State John Kerry, who has announced his endorsement of former VP Joe Biden.  Kerry followed a very similar path to Harris during his campaign: he pulled out of every state, poured all his resources into Iowa, he had issues in his campaign, he was polling at 4% -- just like Harris.  But then, he loaned his campaign $5M - something Harris couldn't do.

And so, the Democratic Party which makes a right critique that this -- we should be stopping the influence of big money in politics, that Kamala Harris stopped her campaign because of the campaign finance rules and the fact that she couldn't do what we see billionaires doing in this race, which is flooding ads to jack up their poll numbers and get in.

George noted that Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren - they're not wealthy and they're still in the race, and billionaires may be spending, he suggested, but look at Tom Steyer, who's "pretty far back right now."  Booker argued that "Iowa voters should have the right to choose" and they also defy polls "just about every time."

Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter -- Barack Obama around this time was about 20 points behind Hillary Clinton. But Iowa voters where you have to come out here and actually meet folks, you see people who are polling at low numbers end up finishing first. It wasn't just John Kerry that year, John Edwards was polling at 2 percent and number seven and he finished number two in Iowa. So, I’m just at the point, at this point in the campaign, let Iowa voters decide. It goes to the same issue with the debate right now.

And he turned the discussion to his own campaign, and "the system" - requirements for both polling results and individual donors - is hurting him.

You know, we're running a campaign where in Iowa and New Hampshire, we're in the top in endorsements. We have literally one of the top net favorabilities in the race. We're called by local media here in Iowa as one of the top field organizations and they've even -- you had press people coming out in Iowa and saying this is ridiculous. If the pollsters call you, choose Cory Booker because he should be on that debate stage.

So, we’ve been excited. You know, over the last -- since last debate, we've been experiencing our biggest surge in online donations. We have tons of people coming out just yesterday, more elected officials endorsing my campaign and are frustrated that we are putting artificial barriers which often could be overcome by people with money determining who Iowa gets to choose from.

Something is wrong with the system.

George wondered about strategy, especially since Booker will have to be present in the Senate for a likely impeachment trial, and since it looks like, barring some really good polls, Booker will be shut out of the December debate.

Booker said he's going to keep running his campaign, "like a lot of candidates have done in the past that were discounted by national media and press." He expressed gratitude to folks who have been donating and "helping us to overcome a lot of these artificial barriers." He also noted

And as far as being a United States senator, I take my oath very seriously, even if the president's going to violate his. I'm going to be in the Senate and do my job and trust that, here in Iowa, we're going to continue to build on this momentum we're feeling right now. And I'm really grateful that, at this moment in our campaign, we're breaking records in our campaign, because Americans are saying, your voice is important in this race, and we're going to do everything we can to keep you there, because our online small-dollar contributions are going up. And I hope that Americans will continue to support us in this last sprint to Iowa.

Moving to the impeachment inquiry, George asked whether Booker thought Rudy Giuliani should testify, "especially in the wake of his trip to Ukraine this week" and asked if he has a reaction to president Trump's saying that he expects some kind of report from Rudy as a result of his efforts.

Look, this -- this is just a disappointing chapter in American history -- that a president's private lawyer should also be engaging in -- with the president's consent, in foreign policy interference.

And what's going on right now is just unacceptable to anybody who's going to be a fair observer of fact. And the fact that we can't get to the truth of this matter, because Giuliani is not willing to testify, and the president of the United States is holding back witnesses that could give the American people insights into the true breadth and depth of this corruption, is just -- should be frustrating to everyone.

Finally, they talked briefly about the shooting in Pensacola and whether anything should be done, maybe a review, of our relationship with Saudi Arabia. Booker said the US-Saudi relationship is "unacceptable" and cited examples, including of course the "outrageous killing" of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi.

This is a relationship that has serious problems. And the fact that this president seems, in a very transactional way, doubling down on the relationship, and telling us it's because of just financial interests, is unacceptable. America is best when we lead with our values in a resolute manner. And this is a relationship that needs more than just an examination. In the Senate, we came together in a bipartisan way to rebuke what -- some of the things we have been doing with the Saudis, like the engagement in Yemen. It's unacceptable. And, as president of the United States, I will change it. We will lead with our values again.

That's where they left things, and where I'll leave things as well.

See you around campus.

And please, consider going to corybooker.com or yang2020.com and donating for diversity on the debate stage.