Here’s the rundown for today….
A new Morning Consult poll finds Joe Biden leading the Democratic field with 38%, followed by Bernie Sanders at 20%.
They are followed by Elizabeth Warren at 9%, Pete Buttigieg at 7%, Kamala Harris at 7% and Beto O’Rourke at 4%.
FiveThirtyEight: Is there an anti-Biden lane in the Democratic primary?
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Former Sen. Mike Gravel (D-AK) accused fellow White House candidate Joe Biden of “creepiness” around young girls, saying the former vice president did not represent “meaningful improvement” over President Trump.
Said Gravel: “Not only is Joe Biden’s creepiness around young girls not something to be dismissed lightly, his refusal to fully apologize and change his ways is indicative of how little he cares about sexual assault. We deserve a meaningful improvement over Donald Trump: Joe ain’t it.”
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Politico: “The two polls of likely Democratic primary voters, completed last week by Tel Opinion Research, a Florida-based firm, show the former vice president with a 21-percentage point lead over the second-place candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, in New Hampshire and an even bigger Biden lead over him of 27 points in South Carolina.”
“Most other candidates polled in the single digits or didn’t register at all. Unlike most public polls, respondents were asked an open-ended question about which candidate they preferred, and were not read a full list of the roughly two-dozen Democrats running for the nomination.”
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Democratic front-runner Joe Biden has an unusual advantage in the 2020 race: the sheer size of the field.
The former vice president has leapt out to a wider lead than many pundits expected since launching his bid in late April.
On Tuesday afternoon, he had about 35 percent support nationally according to the RealClearPolitics polling average — a roughly 2-to-1 advantage over his nearest challenger, Sen. Bernie Sanders(I-Vt.).
Beyond that, 22 other candidates are vying for every vote. The basic math helps Biden, party insiders say.
“I think it’s a very big advantage, beginning in Iowa where you have to get 15 percent [of caucusgoers] to qualify for delegates,” said veteran Democratic strategist Tad Devine. “If you are able to have solid support of about one-third of the vote, it’s very hard to stop a front-runner.”
Devine, who worked for Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign but is not affiliated with any candidate this cycle, contrasted Biden’s position as a front-runner against that of strong favorite — and eventual nominee — Hillary Clinton four years ago….
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HOW MANY DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY VOTERS AGREE WITH THIS … JOE BIDEN LAST NIGHT AT A FUNDRAISER IN HOUSTON, per Jeremy Wallace of the Houston Chronicle: “America’s less divided today on issues than when I got to the Senate as a 29-year-old kid. Then we were divided on everything from war, to the women’s movement, to civil rights, across the board. But our politics is broken.
“I’m not going to get down in the mud wrestling with this fella. I’m not going to do it. I don’t want to get into it. Everybody already knows who he is.”….
image…NYPost.Com