National:
Biden-1: Joe Biden’s fundraising numbers are out, and while he’s posted a haul a bit behind Pete Buttigieg, his $21.5 Million is probably going to top the field of the serious Democratic candidates. Given how he’s slipped out of clear front-runner territory in most of the post-debate primary polls, he’s going to need it.
Biden-2: In a bit of an odd move, Biden has started to float the idea of going negative on the rest of the D field, casually mentioning that his campaign is gathering dirt on all the other Democrats running. Biden said back in May that he was not going to attack any of the other candidates, but that promise might have gone out the window with his polling lead.
Biden-3: In what I guess is mostly an attempt to tie his candidacy to Obama as tightly as he can, Biden floated the idea of re-nominating Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court if Biden’s elected President. This is a bit perplexing, given that Garland was only nominated by Obama as the least-offensive nominee to present to a Republican Senate, and there is probably little appetite among Democrats for re-nominating a moderate who will be pushing 70 by then.
Harris-1: Kamala Harris is walking back her mandatory school busing remarks from the debate, saying that she would only force it on a district if they’re actively opposing integration. Given how much the Democrats have expanded the definition of “Actively opposing integration” over the last decade; it’s unclear what that actually means other than that someone reminded her that busing is horrifically unpopular with pretty much everyone but progressive activists.
Harris-2: Kamala Harris has announced a new proposal to use federal funds to help communities in formerly red-lined areas buy homes. She claims that the government needs to do more to close the racial wealth gap in the country, and that home ownership is a key driver of that discrepancy. I’m sure there’s no reason whatsoever to think that there could be possible negative consequences to the government helping and encouraging people to take out loans for houses that they otherwise can’t afford.
Steyer: And Steyer makes it 25! Or at least says he plans to soon. Because why the hell not at this point I guess.
Trump: A pair of polls over the long weekend have Trump at record-high approvals, which as a reminder means “Just barely underwater” as opposed to “Below most other Presidents’ worst points”. This ABC/WP poll has Trump at 44/53 approval with adults, and has him roughly tied with every non-Biden Democrat among RVs. The most interesting result however is that Trump is up 49-43 over “a Democratic candidate who you regard as a socialist” with RV’s—that’s a point I expect to see the GOP hammer time and again once we get into 2020 proper.
Weld: As a reminder that Bill Weld is still running for the Republican nomination for President, he managed to raise $700,000 last quarter. I’m not sure if this is a scam run or if Weld legitimately thinks he has a shot at embarrassing (let alone beating) Trump, but he’ll be out-performing my expectations for him if he makes double-digits in literally any state other than Utah or Massachusetts….