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WHITE FLAG … "Dems Let Iowa Frontrunner Coast in Fourth Debate," via WFB’s David Rutz: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.), reminded of her earlier remark that a woman with [South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete] Buttigieg's level of experience would not make the debate stage, did not take the opportunity to go on the attack against her fellow traveler in the so-called "moderate" lane …
Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.), who is flailing in the polls as much as Buttigieg is ascending, also punted on a chance to potentially recapture her "that little girl was me" moment in June with Joe Biden.
MORE DEBATE COVERAGE ... Tom Steyer sets millions on fire, Elizabeth Warren calls for more military members and less military spending, Kamala Harris punches up at Tulsi Gabbard, and Joe Biden forgets his own administration's Ukraine policy.
HUNTER TESTS POSITIVE … "A DNA test revealed Hunter Biden fathered a baby with another woman while he was dating his brother's widow," via BUSINESS INSIDER: A DNA test confirmed that Hunter Biden is the father of a baby in Arkansas that he has denied having …
[In 2017], he started dating Hallie Biden, his brother Beau's widow and the mother of his niece and nephew. Page Six reported in April that they had recently broken up—meaning the baby was born during their relationship.
To add to the complicated situation, he married Melissa Cohen in a surprise wedding this May.
NEW GRANDDAD HAS SENIOR MOMENT … "Elderly Candidate Thinks Debate Already Over, Claims Victory," by WFB’s Graham Piro: Former vice president Joe Biden's campaign sent out a post-Democratic debate fundraising email about six hours before the debate was set to start.
"I'm leaving the fifth Democratic debate now. I hope I made you proud out there and I hope I made it clear to the world why our campaign is so important," the email reads …
Biden's campaign sent the email to thousands of subscribers even before he set foot on the stage in Georgia for the Wednesday evening debate.
JOE RECEIVES LOVELY 77TH BIRTHDAY GIFT FROM BARACK … "Obama Moves Off Political Sidelines, Earlier Than He Expected," via NYT: Mr. Obama has also quietly expressed concerns, as have many other Democrats, about the performance of his former vice president, Mr. Biden, especially in the debates, according to two Democrats with knowledge of the interactions.
DEVAL PATRICK? … "The most influential candidate who won't be on tonight's debate stage," via POLITICO: He helped force a conversation on reparations. He set the tone on immigration and homelessness. And he has sparked a heated debate about whether Democrats should demote Iowa from first-in-the-nation voting status, and instead designate a state that is more reflective of the country’s and the party’s diversity.
Julián Castro has led the way on all those matters …
SERIOUSLY, WHO'S DEVAL PATRICK? … "Deval Patrick Cancels Atlanta Event After Only Two People Show Up," by WFB’s Cameron Cawthorne: Patrick, who entered the primary field too late to qualify for the MSNBC debate in Atlanta, was scheduled to speak across town at a campaign event at Morehouse College, a historically black university. He cancelled the event after only two students showed up, according to CNN reporter Annie Grayer.
YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE … "Wikipedia’s Anti-Israel Editors Unmasked," by WFB’s Adam Kredo: The Israel Group, a nonprofit organization that combats anti-Israel bias, is set to launch next year a database that will expose the true identities of many leading Wikipedia editors who harbor anti-Israel bias and have implanted this viewpoint across the website through more than 325,000 edits during the past 10 years. It has already listed the identities of several of these editors.
DIED LIKE A DOG! … "US military drone strike kills senior al-Shabab official," via AP: A Somali intelligence official says a U.S. drone strike has killed a senior officer with the al-Shabab extremist group.
The official says the unidentified officer had maintained links with foreign extremist groups with the aim of coordinating future attacks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
TRANSPARENCY FOR THEE BUT NOT FOR ME … "I don’t know much about it’: NBC News Chairman dodges on outside investigation," via WaPo: Given all that activity, surely [NBC News chairman Andy] Lack would want to express his confidence in NBC News’s efforts to date, to repudiate [Ronan] Farrow’s reporting and/or to let off some righteous steam? Not so fast. "I don’t have anything to say about it. . . . I don’t know much about it," said Lack. "Good to see you." When we asked a bit more about the situation, he said, "I don’t really have anything to say about it. I’m here, got a great debate going, so I’ll let you go." At that, NBC News communications director Richard Hudock interposed himself to end the conversation.
JIVE TURKEY … "We Tried Vegan Thanksgiving Turkeys, and Here’s What We Found," via BLOOMBERG: "Making a burger is one thing. Producing a turkey roast is quite another," says Dan Staerk, the global protein R&D leader at DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences, where he develops the ingredients that go into alternative meat products. Forget dark or light, getting the texture right at all is tough. "There is certainly a higher degree of difficulty in larger pieces of meat. A burger or minced meat, you’ve got very small particles, and you can mimic that with extruded vegetable protein."
SANDERS GETS THE BIDEN TREATMENT … "Bernie Sanders flaunts suspiciously smooth forehead at Democratic debate," via WFB’s Andrew Stiles: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), who made his second appearance in a Democratic primary debate since suffering a heart attack on Oct. 1, was looking spry as ever on the stage in Atlanta—a little too spry, in the opinion of some medically curious observers.
The curmudgeonly 78-year-old socialist, who has yet to explain whether cosmetic procedures such as Botox injections would be covered under his ambitious Medicare for All proposal, was unusually wrinkle-free in the forehead area on Wednesday night.
DAYS SINCE JOE BIDEN DID A SUNDAY SHOW: 1,075. Come back, Joe!
"They have him in the candidate-protection program." —Fmr. Obama Chief Strategist David Axelrod
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