Six candidates have qualified for the seventh Democratic debate, scheduled for Jan. 14, newly including billionaire Tom Steyer as of Thursday.
What's new: Steyer qualified for the debate after an apparent spike in early state polls in South Carolina and Nevada. He tied alongside Sen. Elizabeth Warren for third place in Nevada, with both candidates hitting 12%. In South Carolina, Steyer landed in second place at 15%, but widely trailed behind former Vice President Joe Biden, who led the poll at 36%.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has signed onto a resolution by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) seeking to change the rules of the Senate to dismiss articles of impeachment if they are not transmitted within 25 days of their approval — in this case, Jan. 12.
Why it matters: The constitutionality of such a move, which 12 other co-sponsors have signed onto, is not clear. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reiterated on Thursday that she is waiting to see what the Senate trial will look like before she names impeachment managers and transmits the articles.
The New York City Bar Association sent a letter on Thursday urging Congress to investigate Attorney General Bill Barr for a "pattern of conduct" that it alleges "threatens public confidence in the fair and impartial administration of justice.”
Why it matters: It's a rare rebuke of a sitting attorney general by a bar association or comparable group. The New York City Bar Association is a voluntary legal association not involved in the licensing of attorneys.
Despite 47% of Americans identifying with the Democratic Party in 2019, the ideological balance of U.S. voters remains center-right, according to a survey of 29,000 U.S. adults released by Gallup Thursday.
Why it matters: Ideology and party identification both play a role in election variability, Gallup points out. Without ideology, the prevalence of voters identifying as Democrats would likely lead to electoral dominance. Without partisanship, a center-right candidate would consistently prevail.
We can already draw some conclusions from yesterday's rollout of the "framework" for big climate legislation House Democrats are crafting through the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee.
Driving the news: The planned bill aims to achieve net-zero U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
ActBlue, an online fundraising platform for Democrats and progressive groups, pulled in $1.05 billion in campaign contributions for the party’s candidates and causes in 2019, the AP reports.
The state of play: Online donations routed through ActBlue, which was formed in 2004, have surged since 2016 when thousands of Democratic campaigns and groups first adopted it.
"MAGA Church," the first digital video from the Lincoln Project, a group of anti-Trump Republicans, takes aim at President Trump's standing with evangelical voters —interspersing clips of him talking about faith with videos of him speaking crudely.
Peter Schweizer, the controversial author of the massive seller "Clinton Cash," will be out Jan. 21 with a new book going after several of the 2020 Democratic contenders, "Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America's Progressive Elite" (HarperCollins).
The state of play: Schweizer, who spent a year and a half on reporting the book, told me that it is "a sweeping, detailed look at how the leading figures of progressivism have leveraged the power of their positions."
Joe Biden's campaign is sending Hispanic, black, and Asia-Pacific-American members of Congress to Iowa next week as surrogates to help him make his closing argument to voters before the February caucuses.
The state of play: One of those surrogates, Rep. Ami Bera of California, tells Axios he'll focus on two points: Reminding voters how Biden campaigned in 2018 for several freshman Democrats who flipped GOP seats, and making the case that Biden's health care plan is better than rivals'.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) has missed more votes than any other member of Congress running for president, according to data from Quorum.
The big picture: The New Jersey lawmaker's campaign has failed to gain traction, and he did not qualify for the December debate due to low polling. He has not yet qualified for the January debate either. Booker has previously warned that insufficient fundraising could cause him to drop out of the race.
Michael Bloomberg's stops yesterday in Illinois, Minnesota and Ohio were packaged as jobs-and-economy appeal to Americans shortchanged by President Trump — but they provided broader insights into his unorthodox candidacy.
Why it matters: It was the first time the Bloomberg campaign offered the national press corps the opportunity to fly with him, allowing journalists to interact with him and observe his style with voters and staff.
