Tag: Shape

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) officially kicked off a potential 2020 White House bid by forming an exploratory committee for the campaign. USA TODAY While 2018 has been a pivotal year in California’s political history — particularly the Republican Party’s losing half of its congressional seats — 2019 may be even more significant. The state’s politics will likely be dominated by two rolling events: the beginning of Gavin Newsom’s governorship and California’s bid to become a factor in presidential politics. That, coupled with not having to deal with a severe budget crunch on inauguration day like most other new governors, gives Newsom the luxury of easing into the job. Dan Walters: Outgoing Gov. That’s what happened to Jerry Brown when he became governor in 1975 and 14 months later, was campaigning for president. Even if Newsom’s not in the mix for 2020, California will be, thanks to moving its presidential primary from June to March. She’s said she’d make a final decision over the holidays. Californians are likely, therefore, to be treated — or subjected — to full-blown presidential campaign efforts in California this year because mail-in ballots for the March 2020 primary will be distributed about 13 months from now.

And there was a candidate for county commission whose brochure highlighted his ardent support for Mr. Trump in dramatically larger type than his vow to protect Sarasota’s “amazing beaches & parks.” This Trumpian spectacle was an ominous sign for Adam Putnam, whose main appeal in the Republican primary for governor is to support the candidate “who puts Florida first and knows Florida best.” Only last month, Mr. Putnam — the state’s agriculture commissioner and a genial conservative tabbed for political stardom since he won a state house seat at 22 — was ahead of Representative Ron DeSantis in fund-raising, local endorsements and opinion polls. And there may be more to come: Mr. Trump recently said he would campaign “six or seven days a week” this fall for vulnerable Republican candidates — though some of them may not want his help in states or districts where he is unpopular. Beyond Mr. Trump’s kingmaking capacity, the rapidly shifting fortunes in the governor’s race also tell a larger and perhaps more consequential story about the role of Fox News in shaping the president’s views, and thereby today’s Republican politics and about the diminished role of local media, especially in a transient state like Florida, and certainly in a primary. But those cable news appearances may have doomed Mr. Putnam, because it was Fox that begot Mr. DeSantis’s candidacy. Mr. Putnam’s allies — including his former House colleague, Vice President Mike Pence — scrambled to stop the president from formalizing his support. Mr. DeSantis’s campaign has even gone so far as to conduct polls on the Fox News viewing habits of Florida’s Republican electorate. They found that 66 percent of likely primary voters watch the cable network anywhere from every day to a few times a week, according to Mr. DeSantis’s strategists. His frequent appearances on Fox News have also illustrated the limitations of negative advertising in Republican primaries, as Mr. DeSantis has been able to fend off a barrage of attack ads from Mr. Putnam. At the time, credentials like those currently on his resume — a University of Florida degree, and membership in the school’s Blue Key leadership society; service in the state legislature; a stint in the congressional leadership; and two terms as agriculture commissioner — meant something here. In an interview before he plunged into the Sarasota gathering, he noted that Mr. DeSantis’s bid for governor was coming on the heels of an aborted 2016 Senate run, and argued that voters would come to see his rival as “someone who’s more interested in whatever the open higher office is at that moment than in making a difference in that office itself.” That distinction would grow clearer, Mr. Putnam insisted.

WASHINGTON • Addressing Naval Academy graduates Friday, President Donald Trump declared that America this Memorial Day weekend is in a “great re-awakening of the American spirit.” He decried “cynics and critics who try to tear down America,” and said they’ve been proven wrong by a revitalized economy and a freshly feared military. He pointed to military budgets that have broken the $700 billion ceiling, omitting the fact that this spending corresponds with historically high deficits. Before embarking on a helicopter trip to the academy, Trump had expressed optimism that a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which Trump abruptly canceled Thursday night, could be back on after the North Koreans issued a conciliatory statement expressing a willingness to talk. Simultaneously, a few hours’ drive up holiday-weekend clogged I-95, the theater of a different re-awakening was playing out. Once seemingly untouchable, Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was hauled into court to face rape charges. For all those who decry the “liberal mainstream media” and “liberal Hollywood elite,” this moment was a reminder that reporting of the New York Times and other long-established media forced the sordid and allegedly criminal actions of Weinstein and other alleged serial harassers and assaulters into the sunlight. But that is an aside to another, greater point: That another “great awakening” in politics has been surely and steadily playing out in the ballot box this year, and that it may be bad news for Trump’s Republican Party. This trend also leaves Missourians with a big “what if” — as in, what if Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin, had not foregone an expected challenge of Sen. C.laire McCaskill, D-Mo., leaving McCaskill to face any one of several male Republicans in the fall. As the Cook Political Report’s congressional politics analyst Dave Wasserman put it this week: “The drive to elect women is defining 2018’s Democratic primaries.”

COLUMBIA — When Gov. Weeks away from a highly competitive GOP gubernatorial primary, all of the Republican candidates are flexing their Christian muscles in attempt to woo the Palmetto State's more religious voters who make up a significant and vocal portion of the party's base. Yancey McGill has cited his own Christian upbringing as his reason for signing a pledge to support the abortion ban bill. Now, all of the Republican candidates have said they would support the abortion ban, a sign of the importance of pro-life credentials in the race. Evangelical voters make up a significant proportion of the turnout in GOP primaries around the country. That has not stopped churches from urging parishioners to take to the polls and consider their Christian values when doing so. 'Pastors are multipliers' State Sen. Darrell Jackson, a Hopkins Democrat and pastor at Bible Way Church of Atlas Road, suggested that Republicans who believe they have a leg up with Christian voters are only thinking about white evangelicals. Skepticism towards the GOP among religious African-American voters, Jackson argued, stems from a view that "we certainly understand the importance of our faith but we believe our faith dictates that we reach out and help those who are less fortunate.” While many black churchgoers are also pro-life, Jackson said Democrats have an opportunity to make inroads if they are authentic about their beliefs. "If you listen to what some Republicans say, you'd think Christians and people of faith are only concerned about one issue," Jackson said. "You may discount the faith community but pastors are multipliers," Connelly said.

World leaders and politicians often work long hours, negotiate difficult situations, spend a lot of time talking to people and maybe even have a few sleepless nights. There are two big meetings between leaders this week and a lot of thought has gone into the menus. North Korea's Kim Jong-un is meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the first talks between the two countries' leaders since 2007. Report Over in the US, French President Emmanuel Macron is making the first state visit by a foreign leader under Donald Trump's presidency. The Trumps served up the best of American fare at the state dinner, with a few French touches. Unifying menu So is serving Mr Kim, who is believed to have a love of French cheese and wine, a Swiss dish a conscious ploy on the part of the South Koreans to win him over? At a state dinner, in between the second course (raw salmon with caviar) and the third (grilled beef with peppery sauce), he made history by becoming the first sitting president to vomit on the prime minister of Japan. "There obviously was no malintent there," says Mr Sokol, "but I think that probably set us back a few years and he's still made fun of by people in Japan." Ms Mendelson-Forman argues that food in diplomatic situations also has the capacity to break down barriers. "They saw each other as negotiators first," agrees Dr Berliner, "and then they saw each other as people."

Today, on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting and just over two months after the shooting in Parkland, Fla., many students around the country are walking out of class again. One big question around these protests is what kind of lasting political impact this might have on a new generation of first-time voters. EMILY NAKANO: The first time I was behind a gun, I was probably 3 or 4. KHALID: Nakano's 18. She's part of this new generation of voters coming up behind millennials. KHALID: Anderson is a millennial who studied her generation. TODD GITLIN: Your attitudes vary greatly according to whether you were black or white, whether you were in the South or the North. GITLIN: It's not a function of birth dates. And he told me that he wasn't really politically aware until he came home from the war, and it did not have the same impact on everybody. Asma Khalid, NPR News.