2020 Daily Trail Markers: Yang says rivals want Iowa alliance
Andrew Yang says his presidential campaign has been approached by rival camps about the possibility of forming an alliance that would encourage his supporters to caucus for a different candidate if he fails to garner sufficient support during Monday's caucus.
"I think some campaigns have reached out to our team," Yang said Wednesday, adding he doesn't know who specifically has reached out and that for now, he's not interested in any arrangements with a rival. "My team will sort out what the heck is being conveyed," Yang said.
At a reporter breakfast hosted by Bloomberg News, CBS News political correspondent Ed O'Keefe reports that Yang said he has no current plans to give guidance to his supporters about what they should do if he fails to earn the 15 percent needed at individual caucus sites across the state. Yang said he isn't inclined to instruct supporters how to vote after the first round of voting, because, "I frankly think I'd have a hard time getting them to do anything that they're not naturally inclined to do. I think most people are going to show up on Caucus Night with a few top choices in mind and I imagine if I'm not viable at their caucus that they know exactly who they're going to go to."
The byzantine nature of Iowa Democratic caucus rules require a candidate to receive at least 15 percent of the vote among all participants in each caucus site. As voters arrive at school gymnasiums, public libraries or church basements across the state, they will gather in different corners of the room in support of various candidates. After the various groups are counted, organizers will determine who has achieved "viability" of 15 percent.
In the second round of voting, supporters of candidates who fail to hit the mark have three options: They can join a different group in the room and caucus for their second choice; or caucus as "unaligned;" or leave the room and no longer participate. That's why polling of likely Iowa caucus-goers always accounts for each fraction of candidate support and measures a voter's potential "second choice."
Yang's comments about the prospects of an alliance with a rival come as The New York Times reported Wednesday that aides to former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Amy Klobuchar discussed a possible alliance where Klobuchar would urge supporters to back Biden if she fails to garner sufficient support. The Klobuchar and Biden campaigns declined to comment on the reports. One person familiar with the exchange, granted anonymity to speak frankly about the matter, described the discussions as merely fodder during an otherwise causal dinner meeting between longtime friends working for rival camps.
Yang is polling in the single digits in recent surveys, including a Monmouth University poll released Wednesday that gave him 3 percent support. But Yang disputed the numbers: "I think our polling has frankly always underreported the support for this campaign. In large part because the people who are polled tend to be registered Democrats," he said. "We're drawing many people who haven't voted before, haven't voted Democratic before, have been traditionally disengaged," Yang added.
Speaking at a breakfast hosted by a news organization founded by one of his opponents, Yang called on former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to reconsider his strategy of not accepting campaign donations, a move that makes him ineligible to appear at debates sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee. "If Mike wanted to satisfy the donor threshold he could, very easily, maybe just by selling swag at cost, or internet ads," Yang said. "I think Mike is really missing a massive opportunity to invest in him. And saying that he doesn't need us to invest in him... it's actually unfortunately a message saying, 'I don't need anyone.' That's not necessarily what we need right now in the presidency. We need a different kind of relationship where the president needs the people and the people need the president to improve their way of life."
Asked what advice he'd give to other first-time candidates running for political office up and down the ballot across the country, Yang said he'd urge them to avoid hiring paid help to craft a campaign message. "I am new to this, so it was actually news to me that there's this entire array of consultants that come in to campaigns and then have various messaging that's directed towards certain demographics" he told the breakfast. "I think that many Americans sense when they're getting spoken to politically and when they're not getting spoken to politically." He added, "If there's someone else who has a human message that they should bring to voters, I think that they should do that independent of D.C. consultants because you'll have a different conversation than you would with voters."
FROM THE CANDIDATES
JOE BIDEN
With just a month until the South Carolina Democratic primary contest, former Vice President Joe Biden's team has announced support from nearly 200 educators throughout the state. The campaign-formed coalition South Carolina Educators for Biden will be co-chaired in part by former Education Secretary Dick Riley and former State Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum.
CBS News campaign reporter LaCrai Mitchell says that Riley — a former two-time South Carolina Democratic governor — endorsed Biden in September. In a video message posted on Twitter Wednesday, Dr. Jill Biden thanked the group of teachers in the state for supporting the former vice president who has held a commanding double-digit lead in state polls for months.
"Joe understands that the best education policy comes from the classroom from you — not politics," said Dr. Biden in the message. "He will honor our profession with the dignity and respect we deserve." Last year on May 1st, a reported 10,000 teachers and supporters gathered at the South Carolina State House to call for an increase in teacher pay, smaller classroom sizes and other education reforms in a rally that came be known as the "All Out May 1." According to the campaign's website, Biden's plan promises to triple funding for Title I and require school districts across the country to use these funds to offer educators competitive salaries for teachers.
ANDREW YANG
On the heels of a comedy show performance at Iowa State University, comedian Dave Chappelle is heading to South Carolina to campaign for presidential hopeful Andrew Yang in a two-day swing through the state. Chappelle, who endorsed Yang two weeks ago, is scheduled to meet with volunteers and #YangGang supporters in the state's capital city Wednesday afternoon. CBS News campaign reporter LaCrai Mitchell says later he'll perform in the first of two shows lined up in Columbia and North Charleston this week.
STATE-BY-STATE
GEORGIA
CBS News political unit associate producer Eleanor Watson and CBS News digital reporter Melissa Quinn report that Representative Doug Collins announced his bid for U.S. Senate Wednesday morning, setting up a showdown primary battle in Georgia. His announcement sparked condemnation from two Republican groups who have backed GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler.
Governor Brian Kemp appointed Loeffler to fill the seat of Senator Johnny Isakson, who resigned at the end of 2019 for health reasons. The National Republican Senatorial Committee issued a statement accusing Collins of "selfishness" and warning that his decision will end up hurting President Donald Trump and put the state of Georgia into play for the 2020 cycle.
TEXAS
Democrats in Texas may have been preparing themselves for a Republican win in last night's state House runoff, but the goal to them was to at least keep it close. That didn't happen, as Republican Gary Gates beat Democrat Eliz Markowitz by 16 points for the Houston-area seat.
In addition to maintaining the Republican advantage at nine seats in the House chamber, Gates' win pours a bit of cold water on the Democratic efforts to continue their suburban growth in Texas from 2018. Gates spokesman Craig Murphy told CBS News political unit broadcast associate Aaron Navarro the campaign did everything they needed to do to secure turnout. "Both sides have big budgets so we didn't have to make any compromises. Any type of turnout mechanism any type of medium, we did it," he said.
Murphy also said the presence of national Democratic figures like Beto O'Rourke ended up helping Gates, as did Democratic attack ads. He also said this type of district is one Democrats will have to win if they want to take the chamber in 2020.
"Everything they did, helped us. Everything that came, adding to [Markowitz's] negatives, came from the efforts they considered to be positive," he said. "There's about 21 battleground districts and [Democrats] have to run the table and win almost all of them to win. But they're almost all like this district or better. In other words, a district that just turned 16 points against a Democrat, that's the kind of district they have to get through, to take over the state."
Texas Democrats say they have 15 more competitive districts than HD-28 that they're trying to flip this year, ahead of redistricting in 2021. In total they're targeting 22 districts, and said last night that HD-28 will remain on the list.
In a statement, Markowitz acknowledged that the race would be competitive before referencing a possible rematch in November. "We head into November having established a movement for change and that movement will continue across the state of Texas through November. This is a grassroots campaign dedicated to putting people over special interests, and we've built a network that will last for years to come," she said.
CONGRESSIONAL COVERAGE
IN THE HOUSE
Less than one week before Maryland's 7th district primary for the seat of late-Congressman Elijah Cummings, his widow Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, who is running the seat, released her first television ad. Filmed in their West Baltimore home, Rockeymoore talks about the work he did with her husband and said she's running "to continue that fight" for affordable healthcare, lower drug costs and "an end to the gun violence and trauma that is wiping out a generation of black talent."
Rockeymoore also recently picked up an endorsement from Emily's List. CBS News political unit broadcast associate Aaron Navarro says two dozen Democrats have filed for the race, including Kweisi Mfume, who held the seat for several terms before Elijah Cummings took the helm in 1996.
In another special election this year, Democrat Christy Smith, running in Katie Hill's old seat in California's 25th district, announced they had crossed the $1 million raised mark and will report over $840,000 raised in the fourth quarter. In a release, Smith said none of it is from corporate PACs or lobbyists and that over two-thirds of the funds were raised in California.
Staying in California, former Representative David Valadao is expected to post more than $630,000 raised in the fourth quarter. Valadao is looking for a rematch against freshman Democrat T.J. Cox, who beat him by less than 1,000 votes in California's 21st district.
California 45th district representative Katie Porter is one of eight congresswomen who were endorsed by Giffords on Wednesday. Four of the members endorsed by the gun control group are in districts Trump won in 2016: Lucy McBath of Georgia, Lauren Underwood of Illinois, Angie Craig of Minnesota, and Susie Lee of Nevada. ""Because of this group, Congress took the historic step of passing H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act. Progress in 2020 means reelecting them so they can continue being champions for a safer America," former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords said in a statement.
AD WARS
DIGITAL DIVIDE
According to the digital strategy firm ACRONYM, Senator Bernie Sanders and Mayor Pete Buttigieg the only candidates are running Spanish-language digital ads in Iowa, CBS News political unit associate producer Ben Mitchell reports. Despite Latinos making up a small portion of caucus-goers, both candidates need every vote they can get to break the apparent four-way tie at the top of the field.
For both Buttigieg and Sanders, winning a plurality of the Latino vote on Monday might make all the difference. Buttigieg's two ads ask and answer the question, "why should a Latino vote for Mayor Pete?" and have largely been shown to younger, male voters. Sanders' buys are slightly different. One buy, targeted mostly at women ages 18-44, shows either a young female DACA recipient or another woman explaining when to caucus and how to register. The other buy, targeted at voters age 18-44, is a more traditional Sanders campaign ad that shows people marching, working and rallying - ending with a shot of Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.