Sunday School 11/13/22

Here's your Sunday School classroom review for this week, starting with excerpts from interviews Dana Bash had with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) and Gov-Elect Josh Shapiro (D-PA) on CNN's State of the Union.

Bash asked Whitmer if there were any national takeaways from her convincing, more-than-10-point victory. Focusing on the fundamentals was key, she said, "whether it's fixing the damn roads, or making sure our kids are getting back on track after an incredible disruption in their learning, or just simply solving problems and being honest with the people."

A governor can't fix global inflation, but what we can do is take actions to keep more money in people's pockets, protect our right to make our own decisions about our bodies. And all of this was squarely front and center for a lot of Michigan voters. And I suspect that's probably true for voters across the country.

On whether "this election was in any way a repudiation of political violence," Whitmer said she'd like to think so. 

Whether it is aimed at me or... a Republican congressman like Fred Upton or Peter Meijer here in Michigan, it's unacceptable. And my heart goes out to the Pelosi family. I think that this is a moment where good people need to call this out and say we will not tolerate this in this country. And perhaps part of that message was sent this election.

Finally, on how to keep Michigan 'blue' going forward, Whitmer said it was the agenda the Ds have been putting forward. Even with a "very challenging legislature," she said, it's all about the fundamentals. She's proud to be a Dem, and added 

I will work with anybody who actually wants to roll up their sleeves and solve problems... There's a seat at the table for anyone who's serious about solving problems and building the Michigan that ensures generations can thrive.

Shifting to Shapiro and how he did so much better than President Biden did two years ago, he said they went everywhere and talked to everyone, "no matter their party label." They

reached out to constituencies that, quite frankly, had been ignored for some time, from Latino voters to Gen Z. And we built a coalition around getting stuff done for people, focusing on the things that mattered most.

His message to other Dems, who, Bash said, "are increasingly a coastal party and have had trouble with particularly the rural voters and working-class voters, who used to be the core of the Democratic Party," on how to be more competitive?

I think it's just a matter of showing up, treating people with respect, and showing them how you're going to make their lives better, helping them understand how you can actually build a bridge between the parties to kind of take down the temperature and get real things done.

In the MTP classroom, What's-his-name talked with Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). 

Asked what he learned from the election, Cassidy said it was that

the American people want a way forward that actually focuses on ideas, ideas that will make their lives better, not just their lives but that for future generations. Those who are most closely aligned with the former president under-performed. Those who are talking about the future or who had managed their states well, they over-performed. The American people want ideas. They want a future.

He said he wasn't blaming Donald Trump for the Rs losing the Senate, he said he was "looking at it empirically." And, the Rs

need to have a debate about ideas. In that debate, we need to explain to the American people exactly where we think our country should go. And by the way, since I think using market forces to make the individuals' lives more free, more prosperous, is the way to go, I think we win that debate.

Warren said she learned "when Democrats deliver, Democrats win."

We fought for working people. That's the heart and soul of the Democratic party. And the voters said, "Yeah, that's what we want." The Republicans, by contrast, they were there for the billionaires and the billionaire corporations. They were extremists. They wanted to fight about conspiracy theories and the 2020 election. And voters said, "No, we need somebody on our side." So, Democrats fought, Democrats delivered, Democrats won. And that should inform what we do during the lame duck and what we do in 2023 and 2024.

And, asked whether she has "a concern that Democrats can't win if they're running against, say, normal Republicans, kind of like Chris Sununu or Mike DeWine" (governors of NH and OH, respectively), she said she doesn't have that concern. The Dems won, and President Biden won, she said, because they did the work, and because they "went big" on vaccines and testing, helping the unemployed, caps insulin and drug costs, getting corporations to pay taxes, and more. 

Every one of those things is popular. The Republicans, every single one of them voted against every provision I just described. The president's leadership put us in a position, every candidate, up and down the ballot, to talk about what Democrats fight for and what we deliver on. And by doing that, we were able to address the values and the economic security of people across this country. And it sure paid off. It paid off at historic levels.

Finally, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talked with George Stephanopoulos in ABC's This Week classroom. 

Responding to his question on how the Dems did so well in the midterms, she said they didn't accept the pundits saying they couldn't win "because history, history, history." 

I’m very proud of our candidates, both our incumbents as well as our red to blue candidates... they had courage, they had purpose, and they understood their district. They also rejected calls from Washington about, oh, your message should change. No, our message was clear -- people over politics, lower cost, bigger paychecks, safer communities. And they knew the value of a woman's right to choose, they knew how important it was to protect our democracy, they knew the contrast between themselves and their opponents and that is what made them win... I hope that's a lesson, because really it depresses the vote sometimes when people say “it's all over” 18 months before the election. We never accepted that.

Asked about the steps Dems need to take to bring Congress - and the country - together, which she's talked about since the election, she said they've

always been taking that step because we honor our oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and that should be a unifying principle for us. The -- when many of our bills, we worked very hard to make it bipartisan, bipartisan, bipartisan. And while the bills were bipartisan, the votes were not. So again, I go back to Abraham Lincoln. Public sentiment is everything. With it, you can accomplish almost anything. Without it, practically nothing. And the point I want to make is, when the public knows what is at stake and what's happening there, I think we'll see more cooperation, again, working together to produce a bill, but not having people vote no, take the dough, and make it look like we don't have bipartisanship, when, in fact, in the bills we do, but in the votes, not necessarily. Let the public know.

Chew on that last answer, and I'll see you around campus.

Sunday School 8/28/22

Let's dive right in with your Sunday School lesson with Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) in the This Week classroom with George, who started by asking if there should have been any documents at Mar-a-Lago. 

Blunt said "we need to know more" about what was found, and wondered why the Intelligence Committee he sits on didn't know anything about this before the top-secret poop hit the fan. He did say they are expecting a briefing soon.

George tried again, and a third time, at which point Blunt said he's careful with documents, butwhatabout Hillary Clinton and James Comey? The fourth time, Blunt said "he should have turned the documents over and apparently had turned a number of documents over." And, he wondered

why this could go on for almost two years and less than 100 days before the election, suddenly, we're talking about this rather than the economy or inflation or even the student loan program you and I were going to talk about today?

On student loan forgiveness, Blunt's a no - he thinks the plan is "monumentally unfair" to folks who didn't attend college because they couldn't afford to go, and to people who paid back their loans, and to people got educated without loans. Besides, it's

just bad economics... I think it's going to have a long-term, devastating effect on a student loan program that worked pretty effectively until about ten years ago when the federal government assumed responsibility for that program.

That Guy from Vermont was up next, offering his take on loan forgiveness. He explained 60% of the benefits will go to folks with Pell grants, and 87% is going to folks making less than $75K a year. He noted how "shocking" it is to some GOP colleagues when "the government actually... does something to benefit working families and low-income people."

He said there wasn't any squawking about "massive tax breaks to billionaires," adding 1%ers "have a lower effective tax break than working people;" and of course, there are corporations that, "in a given year don't pay a nickel in federal taxes." The fact that both Rs and Ds are unhappy? Well, "... the answer is not to deny help to people." 

The answer is maybe to create a government where -- which works for all people and not just for wealthy campaign contributors.

George asked if that can get done "without more Democrats in the Senate," Sanders suggested the Dobbs decision will have an impact, as will "the gun violence we're seeing."

So, I think there is a reasonable chance that Democrats will retain control over the Senate. I certainly hope we get more than 50 in the Senate, that we get at least 52, so we can start going forward and protecting working people in a way we have not been able to do up to now.

Down the hall, Dana Bash had Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH) in the State of the Union classroom. 

Bash asked if AG Merrick Garland should indict FPOTUS. Warren thinks "it's powerfully important" that DOJ can follow the evidence, and if they have it, "they will bring charges and prosecute appropriately. And I support them in that."

Like Sanders, Warren's happy something's being done on student loans. Noting that 40% of folks with student loans don't have a four-year degree, she said the forgiveness "is about America investing in people who work hard, who play by the rules, and who just need a government on their side."

Bash wondered about fairness, and other kinds of debt that the government isn't helping with. Warren said she thinks "a lot about fairness," before reciting her own story of going to college when a semester cost $50, getting a part-time job and being able to pay for her education. That's not the case now, where "our public education system is no longer creating opportunities" for folks without financial means.

Instead, we're saying to these young people, you have got to get an education, but we are going to wrap the chains of debt around you. And, for many, you're going to be paying it for decades into the future, including getting Social Security checks garnished. That's not the America we want.

She didn't address the 'fairness' question, and Bash noted the package doesn't do anything about the cost of education. There are "a lot of problems in the whole system," she said, and this is one tool Biden had to help. She said the Dems "have put multiple plans on the table" to deal with the other issues, but the Rs won't get on board.

We'll close with Sununu, about whom there was some early talk of a presidential run; he's hoping to be re-elected as gov. Bash asked him how concerned he was about the Mar-a-Lago documents, including info related to 'human clandestine sources."  Sununu toed the party line, saying he's concerned about transparency.

...one thing I was very aggressive about was saying, look, if you're going to take unprecedented action and raid a former president's house, well, you better have a strategy for unprecedented transparency. So, I think we're all concerned about what might be in those documents, that some were classified, some weren't, what the serious nature was, but show us. You got to be able to show your cards when you're taking actions like this.

Bash said "you can't show all your cards when you're talking about top secret information," which is the point of the investigation. She asked if he was concerned about "the potential risk to American intelligence and national security."

I think we should -- we should absolutely be concerned. There's no question about that. But I don't know what to be concerned about. No one -- no one seems to. What's the subject matter? What's the dates? What's the times? What are we talking about here? Of course, you can't just open the whole investigation up.

He said he didn't want all the documents on the Internet, but "give us some sense " of what's in them and "what really drove us in there."

So, this is unprecedented. And they had to have an unprecedented strategy, which they clearly didn't have. They're on their heels. They don't know what to do. We just -- we want to see the information, so we can have this discussion, we can talk about the subject matter with some sense.

On the student loan program, here's the best part of his argument.

by the way, the debt is not going anywhere, right? Someone's got to pay it. And, in many instances, because there's no balanced budget, there's no sense of control on the $30 trillion in debt, here's the misery of it. Those individuals that think they're getting the $10,000 or $20,000 off their student loans, it's just getting effectively deferred into taxes down the road, higher taxes down the road, where they will have to pay interest on. This is a political shell game of money. 

 See you around campus.

Sunday School 4/24/22

Here's a recap from my stroll around the Sunday School classrooms.  

Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, talked with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation, and the first topic was inflation. Which, in case people haven't noticed, is a global problem, not simply a "Joe Biden did this" gas-pump-sticker problem. 

Lagarde has suggested she'd wait a while before raising interest rates, noting that she and the Fed "share the same resolve" - taming inflation - but they're "facing a different beast." She said that energy prices account for 50% of the inflation in Europe.

If I raise interest rates today, it is not going to bring the price of energy down... So, we will be interrupting the purchases of assets in the course of the third quarter. High probability that we do so early in the third quarter. And then we will look at interest rates and how — and by how much - we hike them. But we have to be data-dependent because of the sources of inflation that we have at the moment.

She said her bank's mandate is restoring price stability at around 2%, but they have to act in a "sufficiently well-sequenced, well-calibrated for us in Europe, gradual way" to not cause a recession. And, she said, they have to do things "in a sufficiently smart and subtle way" to achieve their goals, including reducing the flow of money that allows Russia to continue the war against Ukraine. 

That includes sanctions, cutting off their access to SWIFT, seizing assets from Russian oligarch, and so on. That said, 

If we were to take abrupt measures that would induce an increase of the price of oil or gas around the world, from which the Russians would eventually benefit, then that would not be the right policy move.

Europe has adopted a compete boycott of Russian coal, and there's "a lot of work going on concerning oil, concerning gas, and, you know, there will be more stories to tell a bit later on."

Brennan noted there's a bit of debate here that the government bears some blame for inflation, including $6T in COVID stimulus, a third of which went out "on President Biden’s watch last spring when the economy was already recovering." Noting "Europe didn’t spend like this," she wondered if our path exacerbated inflation.

Lagarde said Europe put "half as much" as the US on stimulus; rather, the focus was "predominantly on keeping the jobs, not necessarily sending the checks." That's not the same as what's going on here.

And the current situation you have in the labor market here in the US is clearly contributing to possible strong inflation and second-round effect, where prices go up, wages go up, short supply of labor, wages continue to go up, and that feeds back into prices. That’s one of the differences between our two economies.

Lagarde said we're in a "difficult moment, but it’s one where a very interesting phenomena developed." She explained that Russia's attack on Ukraine "has produced three key results."

... it has resurrected NATO. It has united the Europeans more than ever. And it has strengthened a nation, Ukraine. The price of that is terrible. The death, the destruction, the devastation, and we are all concerned and all want to help. But this is quite an interesting development. And we have to be united and resolved to actually address the situation together because there has to be solidarity.

Another well-known woman was in the classrooms yesterday: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D -I'm a Progressive Capitalist, not a Socialist Like Bernie), who talked with Kristen Welker on Meet the Press. Warren had an op-ed in the NY Times, which Welker quoted in part.

Democrats cannot bow to the wisdom of out of touch consultants who recommended we simply tout our accomplishments. Instead, Democrats need to deliver more of the president's agenda, or else we will not be in the majority much longer.

Warren also said that, even though Dems hold both houses of Congress, "Republican senators and broken institutions have blocked" a lot of the progress the Dems promised during the 2020 campaign. Welker asked her to explain that; here's Warren's answer.

Look, my point is not to look in the rear-view mirror. My point is to say we've got nearly 200 days left between now and the election. 

And she went on to talk about what families are facing: which groceries to send back, unaffordable student loan repayments, inflation (food, gas), and said 

Democrats ran and always run on trying to make government work for working people. We've got nearly 200 days left. That's what we need to put our energy on. If we don't, then we haven't been there. So that's what we need to do.

Welker circled back around to one of the Dems who is blocking his party's agenda: Sen. Joe Manchin (D- I'm a Coal Farmer, Dammit!) and his position that he'll support big legislation solely if it addresses climate change, prescription costs, and reducing the deficit - nothing else. Welker wondered if Warren could support a package like that. 

Ignoring the question, Warren focused on her agenda: attacking inflation by bringing down costs for families by making childcare more affordable so millions of women can go back to work and that increases our capacity and helps drive down inflation (I paraphrased her). 

Welker tried again, this time naming Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Roadblocks Are My Favorite Kind of Infrastructure), who agrees with Manchin; Warren's wish list would add to the deficit and make inflation worse. Welker asked again if Warren could go along with the three-issues-only bill - and Warren added more things to her 200-day to do list.

So, the point I'm trying to make is that we need to do more. Yes, we need to do climate change. Yes, we need to do prescription drugs. And we need to make sure that we're paying for it by making sure that giant corporations that make billions of dollars in profits and pay nothing in taxes are actually paying a minimum tax – and yes, Amazon, I'm looking at you in that one – and other corporations. Look, we need to also authorize the FTC so they can go after companies that are price gouging. And we need to remember that it's not only what Congress can do. It's also what the administration can do.

And that's where she said, "Mr. President, today would be a great day to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt for tens of millions of people across this country."

My point is that we have nearly 200 days. And not just one negotiation going on. We should have multiple negotiations going on. There is a lot we can deliver for American families. And we need to make that happen.

Welker said that "two Obama-era economists" have said extending the moratorium on loan repayment "during this kind of inflation" is both regressive and inflation-inflating. Warren disagrees. 

No, actually not paying student loan debts has already been baked in. But what matters is how we're going to be out there helping millions of American people. You know, keep in mind, 40% of the folks who have student loan debt do not have a college diploma. These are people who tried, but life happened... But now, they earn what a high school grad earns and they are trying to manage college level debt...It is the job of Democrats, it is the job of the party in power to help make people's lives better. We can do that. And the president can do that one all by himself.

She did answer one question, firmly and repeatedly.

I'm not running for president in 2024. I'm running for Senate. President Biden is running for re-election in 2024 - and I'm supporting him. You can ask it any way you want, but I'm going to say the same thing. President Biden is running in 2024 and I'm supporting him. Cheerfully.

Finally (and I'm not sure why), Welker asked if Warren was satisfied with the administration's handling of the decision ending the mask mandate on public transportation, including the appeal. Warren said the appeal is about looking forward and ensuring the CDC can implement decisions to protect public health, whether it's COVID or something else down the road.

Sadly, neither mentioned how confused people were, seemingly not knowing the difference between state and federal mandates, and how people didn't realize that wearing their mask until they were at their final destination, where they could get familiar with any applicable state or local regulations, made sense. And yes, that sounds judgmental, but based on last week's reporting, it seems necessary. 

FYI, when you come to class, if you want to wear a mask, you're free to do so. You're also free to not wear one, because we're an online educational institution. 

See you around campus. 

Sunday School 1/31/21

Who's making the rounds in the classrooms today?  

Let's start with a couple of Senators - Rob Portman (R-OH) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), both of whom were in the CNN State of the Union classroom with Dana Bash. 

Sen. Portman was first up.  He's one of ten senators who sent a two-thirds smaller COVID package to the White House today. He says it's "more targeted and more appropriate for the times we're in," and hopes they can meet with President Biden and hammer out a deal.

He wants more targeted direct payments; I agree. And he's concerned about "unprecedented deficits and debts," and about enhanced unemployment benefits. He says the Biden plan extends protections through September, but that

Most economists believe next year will be significant growth, over 4% growth. So, let's target that a little bit more and make sure that it ties somewhat to the economic conditions.

He also said the Dems using reconciliation to get the COVID bill taken care of is different than the Rs using reconciliation on tax cuts and repealing the Affordable Care Act. The Dems are trying to use it wrong, and without even trying to reach across the aisle to get a deal. Or something. 

Bash asked if he considered Trump's actions before and on January 6th amount to "impeachable conduct, yes or no." Portman's response took more words, but in a nutshell, Trump's behavior can be both inexcusable and not subject to conviction.

I have said with regard to the president's comments that day that they were partly responsible for what happened, for the horrible violence that occurred on Capitol Hill. I have also said that what he did was wrong and inexcusable.

He has concerns about the constitutionality of "convicting a private citizen," though, and how that might impact all former presidents, alive or dead. 

Sen. Warren was up next, talking about Wall Street, GameStop, Reddit, and hedge funds. Bash asked what she meant by saying it was time for regulators to "wake up and do their jobs."  Among the concerns is that "we actually don't know who all the players are in this." And, she hit on her favorite theme - the rigged system, where the stock market is more like a casino now. 

They have been doing all kinds of market manipulation, pump and dump, companies that buy back shares of their own stock, so that they can inflate stock prices. We need a market that is transparent, that's level, and that is open to individual investors. It is time for the SEC to get off their duffs and do their jobs.

Warren says we need more regulation around manipulation. The SEC's got some rules pending, but needs to take a "broader look" at how companies and hedge funds manipulate the market, "grow a backbone," and enforce the rules they put into place. We need more market transparency, a more level playing field that "helps individual investors come into that market and, frankly, helps make that market more efficient," and that big corporations and hedge fund love an inefficient market - they get better returns, she said, and individual investors lose out. 

The decision by Robinhood and others to prevent small investors from trading, while allowing the hedge funds to continue, is a prime example and "that's why we're going to have an investigation. That's why there's going to be a hearing in the Banking Committee. And I'm looking forward to it."

Sen. Bernie Sanders (That Guy from Vermont) was in the This Week classroom, with  Martha Raddatz hosting. She was interested in bipartisanship and COVID, and wondered if there was an over-estimation on the part of the new administration on that.

TGFV's confident we'll see it down the road, but "we have got to act and we have got to act now" to get relief to folks who can't feed their families, who are facing eviction. 

Raddatz asked about the new bill from the ten GOP senators, and whether the Dems made a mistake thinking about "abandoning bipartisan negotiations so soon?" Again, TGFV said the issue is about addressing the crises we face, ticking off the list of issues: producing the vaccines we need, and getting them into arms; children going hungry; evictions; schools not open. Asking about bipartisanship is the wrong question, the right question is how will we go about

addressing the unprecedented crisis that we face right now. If Republicans want to work with us, they have better ideas on how to address those crises, that's great. But, to be honest with you, I have not yet heard that.

He said he's confident the Dems have the votes to pass the package via reconciliation, and that the polling shows overwhelming support by Rs, Ds, and Is. And he doesn't seem concerned about Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who's the most conservative Dem in the Senate and, according to some, the most powerful. Manchin complained that no one reached out to him about the bill, saying "that's not a way of working together."

Democrats have majority because of the fact that we won two seats with great candidates in Georgia. And, obviously, those candidates won the support of the people of Georgia, but that campaign, in many ways, was a national campaign. And what those candidates said is, yes, we are going to provide checks of $2,000, $1,400 on top of the $600. Yes, we're going to extend unemployment benefits. Yes, we are going to address the needs of working families. The entire Democratic Party came together behind the candidates in Georgia. We made promises to the American people. And if politics means anything, if you're going to have any degree of creditability, you know what? You can't campaign on a series of issues, and then, after the election, when you get power, say, oh well, you know what, changing our mind. That's not the way it works. We made promises to the American people. We're going to keep those promises.

See you around campus. Wear a mask or two, please - and thank you.

Email of the Week 11/12/20

Even though the election was more than a week ago, the outcome was not projected until Saturday, putting it well within the seven-day window I use for the Email of the Week feature. 

That gave me a chance to look at messages from some of Joe Biden's primary challengers in trying to find this week's winner. For example, Tom Steyer sent me a note saying, in part,

We knew this was the biggest election of our lifetimes... This win was critical.

The vision and leadership that President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris projected was exactly the antidote needed to the divisiveness and recklessness of the last four years. The American people made it clear that we are ready to turn the page on Mr. Trump's disastrous presidency and tackle our climate crisis.

In addition to hitting on his pet issue, he also called out a key demographic: young voters, who he said "were a decisive part in delivering this win," and what that means.

We have a new electorate, a new president and a new hope for getting the bold, urgent, equitable economic recovery and climate leadership we need. 

Let's get to work.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar's email was short and to the point:

We can now say President-Elect and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris! The American people have spoken. This is a moment of major celebration but I also know that Joe and Kamala understand the major challenges ahead.

Joe Biden is going to be a president for everyone, not just the people who voted for him. We have to come together as a nation, and Joe Biden is the perfect person for this moment.

Thank you for standing with us.

 Also offering congratulations? Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

 It feels so good to say it: President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Warren noted that history was made in this election.

And for the very first time, we've elected a woman as our vice president. Millions of little girls who see themselves in Kamala will dream a little bigger tonight. 

After talking about how Biden and Harris will "bring decency and competence to the White House," she turned to our economic situation and the pandemic. "We have a mandate for action on bold plans," she said, and "we need structural change." And she's planning on staying in the game. 

Yes, our country is divided, but whenever they are asked, voters of both parties make it clear in overwhelming numbers that they don't want a government controlled by giant corporations and their lobbyists. In the past, steps to build unity and consensus in Washington have often meant turning over the keys to those corporations and lobbyists. We must resist this. 

In a nutshell, the Dems have got to walk the talk, and rise to the occasion.

Mayor Pete also reached out, looking to ensure that we stay in the fight, and that our wallets were, too, by donating to the Biden Fight Fund. And, contrary to what the Rs have been suggesting, the Ds are looking more broadly at votes.

We know not every vote that comes in from now until the end will be a vote for Joe, but we still believe that all votes should be counted. The hypocrisy we're seeing from Trump's allies across the country is telling - but we will do whatever it takes to ensure voters are protected and all valid votes are counted.

Hear, hear.  

And finally, the congratulatory note that I was most looking forward to? It wasn't in the form of an email, but rather in a tweet - but I'm still handing this one the coveted Email of the Week award. Not for what it says, but for what it doesn't. 

Now, don't get me wrong - I don't want greed and bigotry to rule the day, any more than Sanders does. But would it have killed him to actually offer congratulations to the people who won the election? Say their names, maybe, or say anything about them at all? 

Nah -- it's not about them, those winners, it's about us - the people who didn't win. It's about what we want, not what the people who voted want. 

As usual, color me unimpressed with That Guy from Vermont.

Highlights from the DNC: Night 3

You can check out night 1 and night 2 highlights, if you need to prepare for night 3 of #DemsinZoomland.

Me? I'm ready to jump right in, starting with Gabby Giffords. (As with the first two nights, some comments have been edited for length.)

I’ve known the darkest of days, days of pain and unsure of the recovery. But confronted by despair, I’ve summoned hope. Confronted by paralysis and ataxia, I responded with grit and determination. I put one foot in front of the other. I found one word and then I found another. My recovery is a daily fight, but fighting makes me stronger. Words once came easily. Today, I struggled to speak, but I have not lost my voice. America needs all of us to speak out even when you have to fight to find the words.

We are at a crossroads. We can let the shooting continue or we can act. We can protect our families, our future. We can vote. We can be on the right side of history. We must elect Joe Biden. He was there for me. He’ll be there for you too. Join us in this fight. Vote, vote, vote. 

Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM).

We’ve committed to a renewable energy future with exciting and fulfilling careers for workers all across our beautiful state, including right here in the heart of Northern New Mexico. We’re laying a roadmap here for what America can and should look like in the 21st century.

An America where we lead again, where we build safer, cleaner, and more affordable cities and communities, where we provide meaningful opportunities for workers and families to thrive and build better lives.

As president, Joe Biden will rejoin the international climate agreement and the United States will once again, lead on this critical issue. At home, he’ll invest in energy workers and he will deliver for working families across the US helping them build meaningful careers while accelerating our nation and world into a clean, green 21st century and well beyond.

We know time is running out to save our planet. We have the chance this November to end two existential crises, the Trump presidency and the environmental annihilation he represents. We have the chance this November to attack the climate crisis, invest in green 21st century jobs and embrace the clean energy revolution our country, our young people are crying out for and the leadership the rest of the world is waiting for. The choice is clear. The choice is Joe Biden. 

Hillary Clinton.

The morning after the last election I said we owe Donald Trump and open mind and the chance to lead, I meant it. Every president deserves that. And Trump came in with so much set up for him. A strong economy, plans for managing crises including a pandemic. Yes, we Democrats would have disagreed with him on many things, but if he had put his own interests and ego aside, seeing the humanity in a child ripped from her parents at the border or a protester calling for justice or a family wiped out by natural disaster, that would have been a good thing for America and the world. I wish Donald Trump knew how to be a president because America needs a president right now.

Yes, it still takes a village and we need leaders equal to this moment of sacrifice and service. We need Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. 

For four years people have told me, "I didn’t realize how dangerous he was." "I wish I could do it all over," or worst, "I should have voted." Look, this can’t be another would have, could have, should have election. If you vote by mail, request your ballot now and send it back right away. If you vote in person, do it early. Become a poll worker. Most of all no matter what vote. As Michelle Obama and Bernie Sanders warned us, if Trump is reelected things will get even worse. That’s why we need unity now more than ever.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are going to give us so much to vote for. Let’s vote for the jobs that Joe’s plan will create - clean energy jobs to fight climate change, care-giving jobs with living wages. Vote for emergency relief that lifts small businesses and saves hardworking people from foreclosures and evictions. Vote for the parents and teachers struggling to balance children’s education and safety. And for healthcare workers fighting COVID- 19 with little help from the White House. Vote for paid family leave and healthcare for everyone. For social security, Medicare and Planned Parenthood. Vote for dreamers and their families. Vote for law enforcement purged of racial bias that keeps all our streets safe. Vote for justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery because black lives matter. Vote for honest elections so we not a foreign adversary choose our president. Vote for the diverse hopeful America we saw in last night’s roll call. 

And don’t forget, Joe and Kamala can win by 3 million votes and still lose, take it from me. 

And to the young people watching, don’t give up on America. Despite our flaws and problems we’ve come so far, we can still be a more just equal country with opportunities previous generations could never have imagined. There’s a lot of heartbreak in America now and the truth is many things were broken before the pandemic. But as the saying goes, the world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. That’s Joe Biden. He knows how to keep going, unify and lead because he’s done that for his family and country. So come November if we’re strong together, we’ll heal together. We’ll redeem the soul and  the promise of our country, led by president Joe Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris.

Nancy Pelosi.

Four years ago when president Obama and vice president Biden were in the white house, they made us proud and their leadership made our country great. In that spirit, we come together now not to decry the darkness, but to light a way forward for our country. That is the guiding purpose of house Democrats, fighting for the people... 

Who standing in the way? Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump. So here is our answer. We will remember in November when we will elect Joe Biden president whose heart is full of love for America and rid the country of Trump’s heartless disregard for America’s goodness. Joe Biden’s faith in God gives him the courage to lead. Jill Biden’s love gives him the strength to persevere.

Joe Biden is the president we need right now. Battle tested, forward looking, honest and authentic. He has never forgotten who he is fighting for. And Kamala Harris is the vice president we need right now. Committed to our constitution, brilliant in defending it and a witness to the women of this nation that our voices will be heard. Our mission is to fight for a future equal to the ideals of our founders. Our hopes for our children and the sacrifices of our veterans, our brave men and women in uniform and their families. We’ll increase our majority in the house, we will win a democratic majority in the Senate. We will elect Kamala Harris vice president and we will elect Joe Biden president of the United States of America. God bless you. And God bless America.

Elizabeth Warren.

Now I love a good plan, and Joe Biden has some really good plans. Plans to bring back union jobs in manufacturing and create new union jobs in clean energy. Plans to increase social security benefits, cancel billions in student loan debt and make our bankruptcy laws work for families instead of the creditors who cheat them. These plans reflect a central truth, our economic system has been rigged to give bailouts to billionaires and kick dirt in the face of everyone else. But we can build a thriving economy by investing in families and fixing what’s broken.

Millions out of work, millions more are trapped in cycles of poverty, millions on the brink of losing their homes, millions of restaurants and stores hanging by a thread. This crisis is bad and it didn’t have to be this way. This crisis is on Donald Trump and the Republicans who enable him. On November 3rd, we will hold them all accountable. So, whether you’re planning to vote wearing a mask or vote by mail, please take out your phone right now and text Vote to 30330. We all need to be in the fight to get Joe and Kamala elected. And after November, we all need to stay in the fight to get big things done. We stay in this fight so that when our children and our grandchildren ask what we did during this dark chapter in our nation’s history, we will be able to look them squarely in the eye and say, “We organized, we persisted and we changed America.

Barack Obama

I have sat in The Oval Office with both of the men who are running for president. I never expected that my successor would embrace my vision or continue my policies. I did hope for the sake of our country that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously, that he might come to feel the weight of the office and discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care, but he never did.

For close to four years now he has shown no interest in putting in the work, no interest in finding common ground, no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends. No interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves. Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t - and the consequences of that failure are severe.

Our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished and our democratic institutions threatened like never before. Now I know that in times as polarized as these, most of you have already made up your mind, but maybe you’re still not sure which candidate you’ll vote for or whether you’ll vote at all. Maybe you’re tired of the direction we’re headed, but you can’t see a better path yet or you just don’t know enough about the person who wants to lead us there.

12 years ago, when I began my search for a vice president, I didn’t know I’d ended up finding a brother. Joe is a man who learned early on to treat every person he meets with respect and dignity. Living by the words his parents taught him; No one’s better than you, Joe, but you’re better than nobody.That empathy, that decency, the belief that everybody counts, that’s who Joe is... For eight years, Joe was the last one in the room whenever I faced a big decision. He made me a better president and he’s got the character and the experience to make us a better country.

And in my friend Kamala Harris, he’s chosen ideal partner who is more than prepared for the job. Someone who knows what it’s like to overcome barriers and who’s made a career fighting to help others live out their own American dream. Along with the experience needed to get things done, Joe and Kamala have concrete policies that will turn their vision of a better, fairer, stronger country into reality. 

Joe and Kamala will restore our standing in the world. And as we’ve learned from this pandemic that matters. Joe knows the world and the world knows him. He knows that our true strength comes from setting an example that the world wants to follow, a nation that stands with democracy, not dictators. A nation that can inspire and mobilize others to overcome threats like climate change and terrorism, poverty, and disease... 

They believe that no one, including the president, is above the law and that no public official, including the president, should use their office to enrich themselves or their supporters. They understand that in this democracy, the commander-in-chief does not use the men and women of our military, who are willing to risk everything to protect our nation, as political props, to deploy against peaceful protestors on our own soil. They understand that political opponents aren’t un-American just because they disagree with you; a free press isn’t the enemy but the way we hold officials accountable. That our ability to work together to solve big problems like a pandemic, depend on a fidelity to facts and science and logic and not just making stuff up.

None of this should be controversial. These shouldn’t be Republican principles or Democratic principles, they are American principles. But at this moment, this president and those who enable him have shown they don’t believe in these things. Tonight, I’m asking you to believe in Joe and Kamala’s ability to lead this country out of these dark times and build it back better. 

So I’m also asking you to believe in your own ability to embrace your own responsibility as citizens, to make sure that the basic tenets of our democracy endure because that’s what’s at stake right now, our democracy. Look, I understand why a lot of Americans are down on government. The way the rules have been set up and abused in Congress make it easier for special interests to stop progress than to make progress. Believe me, I know it.

Well, here’s the point: this president and those in power, those who benefit from keeping things the way they are, they are counting on your cynicism. They know they can’t win you over with their policies. So they’re hoping to make it as hard as possible for you to vote and to convince you that your vote does not matter. That is how they win. 

To the young people who led us this summer, telling us we need to be better, in so many ways you are this country’s dreams fulfilled. Earlier generations had to be persuaded that everyone has equal worth. For you, it’s a given, a conviction and what I want you to know is that for all its messiness and frustrations, your system of self government can be harnessed to help you realize those convictions for all of us.

You can give our democracy new meaning. You can take it to a better place. You’re the missing ingredient, the ones who will decide whether or not America becomes the country that fully lives up to its creep. That work will continue long after this election, but any chance of success depends entirely on the outcome of this election. This administration has shown it will tear our democracy down if that’s what it takes for them to win. So we have to get busy building it up by pouring all our efforts into these 76 days and by voting like never before for Joe and Kamala and candidates up and down the ticket so that we leave no doubt about what this country that we love stands for today and for all our days to come. Stay safe. God bless.

Tonight, there's a full slate of notables, including Mayor Pete, Keisha Lance Bottoms, Cory Booker, Mike Bloomberg, and Andrew Yang. And, of course, Papa Joe himself. In addition to highlights from the others, I'll have Biden's full remarks, and Kamala's, for you tomorrow. 

TGIF 7/17/20

Yay - it's Friday, time to build the good week/bad week list.

Let's start with Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp is suing at least one mayor, and threatening to sue others, I guess, for implementing mask orders.

From the article linked above,

Mayors in Atlanta and other Georgia cities deepened their defiance of Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday, saying their requirements for people to wear face coverings will remain in place, even after the Republican governor explicitly forbade cities and counties from mandating masks... Officials in at least 15 Georgia cities and counties had ordered masks during the coronavirus pandemic, and many were angry at Kemp for swatting down their efforts. 

Kemp's position? Local governments can't make rules that are either more or less restrictive than those of the state, even when the order applies to local property, such as Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport. According to the article, Kemp along "leads the State of Georgia in its fight against the worldwide novel coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic." A fight in which, it would seem, he has laid down his arms and waived his white flag high.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has said

A better use of taxpayer money would be to expand testing and contact tracing. If being sued by the state is what it takes to save lives in Atlanta, then we will see them in court.

Stay tuned on this one.

Staying in the south, let's go to Kentucky, where 87 protesters were arrested and charged with multiple misdemeanors - and a felony for sitting on the lawn at the Attorney General's house, wearing matching masks and t-shirts, chanting "Breonna Taylor, say her name!" and refusing to leave when asked. According to a police spokesman,  in addition to the misdemeanor charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct,

Due to their refusal to leave the property and their attempts to influence the decision of the Attorney General with their actions, each person was charged with Intimidating a Participant in a Legal Process.

Typically, intimidation charge arises when someone is trying to intimidate a judge, victim or witness via a threat of some kind - the stuff we see on TV cop shows - not to trying to 'influence' a politician by peacefully protesting.  And it's interesting to compare the reaction of police to this protest and the one in Frankfort, the state capitol, a few weeks back, where

Carrying American and Confederate flags, around 1,000 demonstrators gathered at the rally in Frankfort, where they denounced Gov. Andy Beshear's "arbitrary" and "unconstitutional" response to the coronavirus pandemic. Speakers at the event — including four state representatives and one state senator, all Republicans — criticized the governor for hurting workers and businesses by refusing to immediately reopen the economy.

Another stark difference with this non-influential protest?"Several protesters wore military-style gear and carried guns... and referred to the governor as "Adolf Beshear."

At yet another protest, a man hung the governor in effigy, which in pretty much any circumstance could be considered a threat or an act of intimidation. He did lose his job, but no charges were filed. On the same day, several protesters went to the governor's mansion, banged on the window and told him to come outside. There, too, it doesn't seem that charges were filed - but a security fence is being built around the mansion, to protect the current and future occupants from those seeking to influence the residents.

And people wonder why other people are upset?

In a lighter vein, if that's the appropriate term to use, Kayleigh McEnany, the president's press secretary, attacked Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. 

McEnany brought up Lightfoot twice in a recent briefing: first, when she was asked if the president put fighting COVID-19 as his "biggest public priority." McEnany said yeah, he was focusing on that, and other things, "namely, Democrat cities not controlling their streets; namely, the mayor of Chicago — people dying in her — in her — on the streets of her city every weekend. And the President sent her a letter saying, “You must secure your city.”

The second time? Someone asked about police brutality and Trump's CBS interview comments, wondering how he can fix the problem if he doesn't acknowledge it.

I’ve listed for you the names of these kids who have died across this country. It is unacceptable, and under this President, he’ll take action. And the derelict mayor of Chicago should step up and ask for federal help because she’s doing a very poor job at securing her streets.

In response, here's the mayor's tweet. 

And finally, have you heard about the GOP's Rapid Response dude? His name is Steve Guest, and it seems he spends his time trying to attack Dems on Twitter, and getting royally mocked for his efforts.

First, there was his attack on a young Senator Biden, sitting at a Redskins game holding his two young boys in his arms - clearly a loving, doting dad.  Needless to say, the contrast between Biden and Trump in that regard is, well, stark. And the response was swift in response to the now deleted tweet.

More recently, Guest took aim at Senator Elizabeth Warren - not for her DNA challenges, but because she jokingly said that Bailey, her dog, was going to vote for Biden in November.

And everyone believed her, right? I mean, clearly, having your dog vote is a brilliant way to help cheat Donald Trump out of being re-elected, right?

And by everyone, of course, I mean Steve Guest, the Rapid Response guy. Who fired off a tweet calling out the senator for joking about voter fraud, which "is no laughing matter." And he's right.

Voter fraud is no laughing matter. McEnany has voted by mail from her parent's address for years, although she doesn't live there. Vice President Mike Pence voted by mail from the Governor's mansion in Indiana, where we know he doesn't live - and I suspect someone else does live there. And even the president himself tried to use the White House address as his permanent address to vote in Florida. On his second attempt, he used the Mar-a-Lago address, which is a business - not a private residence - which would also be voter fraud.

Anyway, while we're not laughing about Bailey Warren voting, maybe we could get some new business cards made up? You know: Steve Guest, @GOP Vapid Response?

TGIF, everyone.

Wondering on Wednesday (v204)

Ready... Set... Wonder!

Let's get right to the wondering, shall we, first off, on those stimulus checks.

• What, I wonder, other than megalomania, narcissism, delusions of grandeur, would compel a president to put his name on checks that are returning our own money to us as part of one of the coronavirus pandemic stimulus packages? Whether he suggested it himself, or if someone else suggested it, a reasonable president would say that it was a bunch of hooey and turn down the offer.  Now, we know that the same guy who's doing this is the one who demanded - or allowed - his name to be the same size as the name of our country on the sign on the new embassy in Jerusalem, so I'm guessing that he is likely the driver behind this effort. Either way, no need to wonder - it's ridiculous.

• Staying on the stimulus, there are multiple memes floating around wondering if #NeverTrumpers like me are going to refuse the stimulus checks because "they're from Trump" - which of course, they're not - as noted above, it's our money. Because that's where the government gets money -- from us. But now I have to wonder, will the Trumpeters keep the check, you know, frame it or something, like businesses do with their first dollar? 

• And lastly, on this topic, I wondered out loud on social media whether anyone had gotten their check yet.  After a few hours, it's almost dead even: 50.8% of respondents had gotten their checks, 49.2% had not (including my husband and me). Two people tried unsuccessfully to check the status of theirs on the new IRS website; one person got less than expected, for as yet unknown reasons; one changed banks last year and so will have to wait for the paper check - and one person said the check would be returned to the government. 

Let's see, what else...  Anyone wondering who will be the next person to endorse Papa Joe Biden, now that That Guy from Vermont and Barack and Elizabeth have come around? Are there any other endorsements still out there that will be meaningful, or any that might be unexpected? I'm not thinking of anyone off the top of my head, but let me know if you've got any ideas.

If you're wondering, I'm not going to go there on the whole question of 'authority' and 'permission' and whatever on earth we've been hearing about who can do what to whom when it comes to reopening America. I'll save that for later. 

I will wonder, though, whether you think it's true that Mitch McConnell (R-White House) has been suggesting older conservative judges consider retiring, so that more slots can be filled by, you know, all those Gen Y kids selected by the good folks at the Heritage Foundation, on the chance that either he or the president doesn't win reelection. I know that's month-old news, but I didn't catch it earlier. Thoughts?

And now, for the good news. I don't really wonder all that much about this stuff, other than to think what will happen when we're back to (ab)normal? Will the good stuff continue? Will people keep talking about it? Or will it fall by the wayside?

This story is about a wonderful kid, a friend of my nephew's, who passed away a few days ago. We know that it's not possible to have 'normal' funerals, if that's the right word, where people gather and share stories and hug and cry on each other's shoulders and what not. But all is not lost, as his school and his friends showed - all is not lost.

And this one's from a sibling's adopted hometown, where the teachers did the parade thing, driving by every student's house.  Said sibling was, for a time, stuck in the parade, which made it more entertaining. 

And finally, if you're a movie fan or a Tom Hanks fan, you'll remember the piano dance scene from the movie 'Big'. Well, here's a much more complicated example, with four players, from a couple of years ago. So no, it's not specifically from this age of social distancing, but it sure did put a smile on our faces!

Got a good news story to share? Drop a note in the comments! And if you're willing to share your go-to hand lotion, let me know!

TGIF 3/6/20

If it's Friday, it's list-making day.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar is having a bad week, wouldn't you agree? Today at the White House, when the president was explaining why he wasn't going to the CDC as planned (because someone who works there might have the virus) Azar said "he's sending me instead" and Trump seemed pretty comfortable with the thought of sending Azar into a coronavirus threat, and then ignored him for the rest of his remarks.

And then, during the question time at the rescheduled CDC visit, Trump spoke of the many great experts including Mike Pence who is "working 24/7 on this" again ignoring Azar who was standing right next to him. I'm still thinking he's gonna be the fall guy, especially if those cruise ship peeps come off the boat.

Speaking of the president, he had a week. Just like he always does. From a great jobs report to not touching his face to bizarro comments at the CDC (and how all of that transpired), you'd think that was enough.

But no-o-o-o -- there's more. Because there's always more.

You'll recall I suggested not long ago - in fact, it was just last week - that Mulvaney was in trouble.

There's little about Barron in the media - by design. It's because the legitimate media know that president's kids are off limits, and because they know that the mere mention of the name Barron - nothing about the child himself, mind you, but simply using the homophones Barron and baron in a sentence - caused an uproar on the Trump News Network. Mulvaney better have his bags packed.

Little did I know that it would take so little time, and that he'd be going so far away. And I do have to laugh at the folks at The Hill, who earlier in February gave us this article, headlined

Oopsie. No word yet on who will run OMB, but I doubt even someone as fabulous as Mulvaney would have a hard time running the budget from another country.

Let's see who else is having a week? Chuck Schumer, for one.  He verbally attacked two Supremes this week, 

“I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions,

He said he misspoke , after being publicly whipped by Chief Justice John Roberts.

Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous. All Members of the Court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.

This is not the first time Schumer has shot his mouth off, and it won't be the last. I understand that, to a certain point, but the problem is he's just not good at it.

Joe Biden, we know, had a good week. That Guy From Vermont did not. Elizabeth Warren did not, and that's frustrating. Mike Bloomberg did not, but he's going to keep spending money so that either Biden or TGFV has a good November (he hopes). Tom Steyer and Amy Klobuchar didn't. Pete Buttigieg had a good week, I think, because we have definitely not heard the last from him. Steve Bullock did too, as he's decided to run for US Senate in Montana.

Andrew Yang had a good week; he's announced the formation of Humanity Forward, a new nonprofit.

Humanity Forward, which will be based in New York, will focus first on a “data dividend” project and campaign that would fight on behalf of consumers who want the rights to their personal data, Mr. Yang said. 

Separately, he said Thursday that the group had received pledges of $3 million for pilot programs that would provide people with a universal basic income payment each month.

I could keep going, but this seems like a good place to stop.

TGIF, everyone.

Email of the Week (v13)

Another Thursday, and another accounting of the week's candidate emails...

This was a challenging week for several of the gang. With our week running Friday to Thursday, we had both the South Carolina and Super Tuesday primaries to influence messaging, which you can see in the chart below. There was one additional email, from Tom Steyer, which is not reflected above, as I stopped tracking a while back. 

So, with this being the week it was, how do I choose the coveted Email of the Week?  Well, I don't. Instead, I'm intermingling excerpts from  the campaign suspension emails from the five candidates  who dropped out of the race this week. 

I am so deeply inspired by how many dedicated Americans showed up to participate in our democracy — voting in the early states, volunteering countless hours, giving your all to support the candidates and values you believe in. (Tom Steyer)

Ever since I announced in the middle of a Minnesota blizzard that I was running for President, this team has shown grit, determination and an incredible dedication to America’s future.

Traveling all over the country and talking with so many of you has been one of the greatest honors of my life. You’ve shared your concerns and ideas about how we can make progress on important issues like health care, climate change, gun violence prevention and justice and democracy for all. I will never forget those conversations and I will be taking them with me on the road ahead. (Amy Klobuchar)

I joined this race in the belief that becoming the Democratic nominee was the best way for me to ensure that we defeat Donald Trump and usher in a new kind of politics defined by bringing people together.

At this point in the race, the best way to keep faith with those goals and with the ideals our campaign has been built around is to step aside and help bring our party and our country together. So tonight I am making the difficult decision to suspend my campaign for the presidency.  (Mayor Pete)

Three months ago, I entered the race for President to defeat Donald Trump. Today, I am leaving the race for the same reason: to defeat Donald Trump -- because it is clear to me that staying in would make achieving that goal more difficult.

I'm a believer in using data to inform decisions. After yesterday's results, the delegate math has become virtually impossible -- and a viable path to the nomination no longer exists. But I remain clear-eyed about my overriding objective: victory in November. Not for me, but for our country.  (Mike Bloomberg)

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything you have poured into this campaign.

I know that when we set out, this was not the news you ever wanted to hear. It is not the news I ever wanted to share. But I refuse to let disappointment blind me — or you — to what we’ve accomplished. We didn’t reach our goal, but what we have done together — what you have done — has made a lasting difference. It’s not the scale of the difference we wanted to make, but it matters — and the changes will have ripples for years to come.

What we have done — and the ideas we have launched into the world, the way we have fought this fight, the relationships we have built — will carry through for the rest of this election, and the one after that, and the one after that. (Elizabeth Warren)

This year’s election is going to be the most important of our lifetimes. And with so much at stake, we’ve got to keep pushing to make sure Democrats win big in November.

We need to defeat Donald Trump. But we can’t stop there. We also need to elect Democrats all over the country and up and down the ballot to put America back on the path to progress. I am fully committed to doing everything I can to make that happen. (AK)

I will no longer seek to be the 2020 Democratic nominee for president. But I’m going to do everything in my power to ensure that we have a Democratic president come January. (MP)

And so while I will not be the nominee, I will not walk away from the most important political fight of my life. (MB)

But I have always said that win, lose, or draw, I am in this fight. So am I going to continue to work on the issues that got me into this race? Yes, I am. You can count on that. Namely, the existential threat of climate change we’re facing on this planet. The racial injustice that pervades every single policy issue in this country. An economy that actually puts people ahead of profits and big corporations. (TS)

We have shown that it is possible to inspire people with big ideas, possible to call out what’s wrong and to lay out a path to make this country live up to its promise.

We have shown that race and justice — economic justice, social justice, environmental justice, criminal justice — are not an afterthought, but are at the heart of everything that we do.

We have shown that a woman can stand up, hold her ground, and stay true to herself — no matter what.

We have shown that we can build plans in collaboration with the people who are most affected.

This campaign became something special, and it wasn’t because of me. It was because of you. I am so proud of how you fought this fight alongside me: you fought it with empathy and kindness and generosity — and of course, with enormous passion and grit.
(EW)

That we made it here at all is proof that Americans are hungry for a new kind of politics, rooted in the values we share.

In a moment of deep division, we saw a rising American majority of Democrats, joined by Independents, and, yes, some of those future former Republicans, choose a politics defined not by who we push out, but by how many we call in; not by who we exclude, but by how we help people belong. With every passing day, I am more and more convinced that the only way we will defeat Trump and Trumpism is with that politics that gathers people together. 

And I urge everyone who supported me or ever even considered it, to be prepared to do everything we can to support the eventual nominee -- and the absolutely critical down-ballot races playing out across the country. There is simply too much at stake to retreat to the sidelines. (MP)

A year ago, people weren’t talking about a two-cent wealth tax, Universal Child Care, cancelling student loan debt for 43 million Americans while reducing the racial wealth gap, breaking up big tech, or expanding Social Security. And now they are. And because we did the work of building broad support for all of those ideas across this country, these changes could actually be implemented by the next president. A year ago, people weren’t talking about corruption, and they still aren’t talking about it enough — but we’ve moved the needle, and a hunk of our anti-corruption plan is already embedded in a House bill that is ready to go when we get a Democratic Senate. (EW)

As I’ve said before -- at its best, politics can be magnificent. Because it’s not just about policy, it is soulcraft. And it is moral. And we don’t have to win the nomination to be part of that. I don’t have to become the president in order to support that. We don’t have to win Super Tuesday for my campaign to do our part to win the era for our values. (MP)

And we also did it by having fun and by staying true to ourselves. We ran from the heart. We ran on our values. We ran on treating everyone with respect and dignity. But it was so much more. Four-hour selfie lines and pinky promises with little girls. A wedding at one of our town halls. And we were joyful and positive through all of it. We ran a campaign not to put people down, but to lift them up — and I loved pretty much every minute of it.

I may not be in the race for president in 2020, but this fight — our fight — is not over. And our place in this fight has not ended. (EW)

This primary is a journey towards the necessary defeat of Donald Trump and his corrupt administration. It is because of patriotic Americans like you that we will beat him and put power back in the hands of the people. (TS)

The past few months have been some of the most inspiring of my life, and I want to thank the tens of thousands of Americans, from Maine to California, whom I was privileged to meet -- and who every day, with their voices and their ideas, made this campaign such a powerful experience. And I am intent on making it a lasting experience: I want my supporters to stay engaged, stay active and stay committed to our issues. I will be right there with you. And together, we will get it done.  (MB)

And we walk on in the knowledge that better leadership is possible. That if we reach for it, if we work for it, if we hold that hope in our hearts and fire in our bellies, then one day we will stand in the future we create, a future where every American is empowered and everyone belongs. (MP) 

So if you leave with only one thing, it must be this: Choose to fight only righteous fights, because then when things get tough — and they will — you will know that there is only option ahead of you: nevertheless, you must persist. (EW)

And I look forward to continuing this fight together. (AK)

Thank you.

Amy, Mayor Pete, Mike, and Elizabeth 

After 12 weeks of Who Loves Me, Baby? posts tracking emails from a whole lot of candidates, to now 13 editions of the Email of the Week posts, are we nearing the end of this stuff? With another round of primaries next Tuesday, we just might be.

I'll let you know next week.