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SHE’S F—ING MOVING OUT OF IOWA … "Officer Down: Kamala Harris Drops Out of 2020 Race," by WFB’s Brent Scher: It's a swift and stunning fall for a candidate who was, at the outset of the Democratic primary contest, considered one of the most formidable contenders in the race. The former California attorney general briefly surged to the top of the polls after sparring with former vice president Joe Biden during the first primary debate in June but proved unable to capitalize on the dramatic moment.
Harris dropped out before the deadline to remove her name from California ballot. Losing in her home state would have been a humiliating defeat that her early departure from the presidential contest allows her to avoid.
CORPORATIONS ARE PEOPLE TOO, MY FRIEND … "Michael Bloomberg Outspent The Entire Democratic Field In TV Ads Last Week," via FIVETHIRTYEIGHT: Over the past week, two ads have blanketed the television airwaves, introducing Americans to Democrats’ newest presidential candidate, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. From Saturday, November 23 through Sunday, December 1, those ads aired 19,006 times for an estimated $23.7 million, according to data from Kantar/Campaign Media Analysis Group.
During that same time frame, all the other Democratic presidential candidates’ ads aired a combined 10,337 times, costing an estimated $7.6 million. In fact, in just over a week, Bloomberg spent more than one-third of what the rest of the Democratic field has spent all year long. Only fellow billionaire-turned-candidate Tom Steyer has spent more than Bloomberg.
MO MONEY, MO MALARKEY … "Biden squeezes high-dollar Chicago fundraiser into schedule during 'No Malarkey' bus tour in Iowa," via WASHINGTON EXAMINER: [Joe] Biden traded small-town Iowa venues for a downtown Chicago private social club on Monday evening, where he spoke to a room of about 70 donors, several of whom were trial lawyers. He returns to Iowa on Tuesday during the day but will head to New York City for private fundraisers in the evening.
WEEKEND AT PERVY’S … "EXCLUSIVE: Bill Clinton was Jeffrey Epstein's closest 'celebrity mate' and a frequent guest at his New Mexico ranch with wife Hillary, staying at the pedophile's cowboy-themed village, say estate workers," via DAILY MAIL: Bill and Hillary Clinton stayed at Jeffrey Epstein's notorious 'baby-making ranch' almost every year after they left the White House, according to the disgraced financier's estate manager.
The former president was Epstein's closest "celebrity mate" and the Clintons, along with daughter Chelsea, visited Zorro Ranch "a whole bunch of times," a former contractor who ran the IT system at the property told DailyMailTV in an exclusive interview.
CRACKS IN THE DAM … "CNN's Bianna Golodryga: 'Rumblings within Democrats' on censuring Trump instead of impeachment," via THE HILL: "You’re now hearing rumblings within Democrats saying, 'Maybe we should just go with censure,' or not really knowing how to move forward on this given where the president is and given where Republicans are," said Golodryga, who joined CNN after stints with ABC, CBS, and Yahoo News.
She pointed out that two weeks of public testimony on Trump’s dealings with Ukraine "did not move at all" the positions of Republicans ranging from moderates such as Rep. Will Hurd (Texas) to more vocal Trump defenders such as Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.).
HOW ABOUT NO, YOU CRAZY BASTARDS … "Iran Orders U.S. to Pay $130 Billion in Reparations," by WFB’s Adam Kredo: Iranian leaders accused the United States and other Western powers of organizing a spate of popular anti-regime protests that have spread across Iran in recent weeks. The country's courts are now demanding that America pay a "$130 billion fine in damages caused by Washington's crimes to ordinary Iranian plaintiffs who have suffered from the unilateral policies of the White House and its destructive role in riots of last month," according to reports in the country's state-controlled media.
ATTACKING THE PRESS IS BIPARTISAN … "Castro: Media Unfair for Covering Harris’s Campaign Struggles," by WFB’s Graham Piro: "I will say that the way that the media have treated Senator Harris in this campaign has been something else," [presidential candidate Julian] Castro said in a video posted to Twitter by his national press secretary.
"In the last few days, to see articles out of Politico, the New York Times, Washington Post, that have basically trashed her campaign and focused on just one small part of it and I think held her to a different standard, a double standard, has been grossly unfair and unfortunate."
THEM "KIDS" GROW UP SO FAST! …
LOTS OF KIDS LEFT BEHIND … "‘It Just Isn’t Working’: PISA Test Scores Cast Doubt on U.S. Education Efforts," via NYT: The Common Core, which began almost a decade ago, has been a national effort by governors, state education chiefs, philanthropists, and school reformers to enrich the American curriculum and help students compete with children around the world. Its priorities include increasing the amount of nonfiction reading, writing persuasive essays using evidence drawn from texts and adding conceptual depth in math.
The effort became a political lightning rod, with the left opposing a new generation of standardized tests tied to the Core, and the right seeing the effort as an unwelcome intrusion into local control of schools. Some states that initially signed on to the Core later rejected it.
OR MAYBE SHE JUST DID A BAD JOB ...
FLASHBACK … "Clumsy Kamala," by WFB’s Matthew Continetti: What trips up Kamala Harris is an evident desire to please her audience. She wants no enemies to her left, no identity politics left untouched. She can't run as a prosecutor—crime fighting is so 1990s—but she can run as brash, bold, and woke. Her verbal miscues are possible evidence that this latest political fashion doesn't quite fit. She has made a habit of making unforced errors, and the game is only in its first month.
DAYS SINCE JOE BIDEN DID A SUNDAY SHOW: 1,088. Come back, Joe!
"They have him in the candidate-protection program." —Fmr. Obama Chief Strategist David Axelrod
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