The Story:
It now appears that before the end of January, an impeachment trial will convene in the US Senate. This puts pressure not merely on the one man who will be the defendant, President Donald Trump, but on the three Senators who are candidates for the Democratic Party’s nomination for his job: Amy Klobuchar (MN); Elizabeth Warren (MA); and Bernie Sanders (VT).
A Debate:Â
Last night, the six Democratic candidates who have the best performance on metrics important to the Democratic National Committee faced off in a debate in DesMoines, Iowa, at Drake University. The event included the three Senators named above and will likely function as their ‘closing argument’ before the Iowa caucus of February 3 begins the process of actually choosing delegates, with pledged loyalties, for the nominating convention this summer. [Tomorrow’s ‘The Thing to Know’ column will speak to the course of that debate.]
The Thing to Know:
The only recent analog is the Clinton impeachment trial of 1999. In that case, there were 37 days between the day the Senate received the articles of impeachment from the House and the day a final vote yea or nay on removal took place. If that precedent holds, the three candidates most affected will have to rely on surrogates to do much of their campaigning for them through crucial caucuses and primaries.
