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Our weekly roundup of the news, notes and chatter about the prospects for the next Democratic presidential race:

The 2020 Democratic presidential race now officially has its first candidate: Maryland Rep. John Delaney.

The third-term congressman announced his plans to run for president in a Washington Post op-ed Friday afternoon. Delaney, 54, won't run for re-election and is bypassing a run for Maryland governor in 2018.

Let's be honest here: More than anything, this reflects the reality that just about every elected Democrat thinks a couple big things: 1) They can beat Trump, and 2) The best-known Democratic prospects -- former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren -- all have good reasons they might not run, which could mean a truly wide-open race. After all, another Maryland Democrat, former Gov. Martin O'Malley, also looks likely to run.

Why do even Delaney's allies admit he is an extreme longshot? Beyond his lack of a national profile, Delaney is well to the right of the Democratic primary electorate, including his support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. He previously pushed minimum wage hikes, but for amounts short of the $15 an hour that progressives have sought (and Delaney now says he backs). He has proposed allowing businesses to repatriate money earned overseas without paying taxes in exchange for buying infrastructure bonds.

"I don't really see it, but I think if he does this he will try to be the solutions candidate aimed at making Washington work again," said one Democratic strategist who has worked with Delaney. "He has a record of creating thousands of jobs as the CEO of two publicly traded companies that he built from scratch after being raised in a union household" in New Jersey, the strategist said. Delaney could also spend millions of his own dollars on a race.

Time to talk single-payer?

Democrats won a huge health care victory in the wee Friday morning hours. So what's next? Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders plans to introduce his single-payer health insurance bill -- "Medicare for all," as he'll cast it -- in September, an aide told CNN. The big question is which Democratic 2020 prospects will support it.

Already, Warren and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand have embraced single-payer. California Sen. Kamala Harris expressed support for "the concept" in May, when she said health care access should not be "a function of your income," and again in July -- but cautioned the details are key. The Democratic base will demand she and others weigh in on the issue and on Sanders' bill, and it's likely to be a central issue in the 2020 nominating contest. "Single-payer is the absolutely the price of admission for our 2020 nominee both morally and politically," one Democratic operative said. A more skeptical operative said the party's 2020 primary could be "a suicidal litmus test" on single-payer.

Republicans tried to troll Democrats into voting for a single-payer bill that had no hope of passing Thursday. Democrats didn't take the bait.

Warren's fingerprints on Democrats' agenda

Speaking of anti-trust, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker told Recode the government needs to keep a much closer eye on Amazon and Google. "This consolidation that's happening all over the country is not a positive trend," he said, pointing to Amazon's bid to buy Whole Foods and Google's cable and telecom mergers.

Gillibrand was among the harshest Democratic critics of Trump's transgender military service ban, saying she was working on legislation to block it. She said on CNN she "can't think of anything less patriotic" and called the ban "outrageous."

Gillibrand has said she's not running in 2020. But many Democrats don't believe her, and see her as a strong contender. Gillibrand's biggest weakness, which some operatives told me they see her actively working to address, is that she was a moderate "Blue Dog" in the House whose previous positions on guns and same-sex marriage could prove problematic with the progressives.

Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton is profiled by Politico's Michael Kruse as an "insider who's an outsider." Focused heavily on Kruse's military record -- he went to Iraq four times -- Kruse finds those who know him speaking of a White House run as more of a question of when than if. "I'm not running for president, man," Moulton said.

Landrieu keeps his options open

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu is tamping down speculation that he might run for president in 2020 -- sort of. At least in the present tense. "The answer to the question is I'm not running for president," Landrieu told David Axelrod on "The Axe Files," a podcast from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN. "You'd never rule out running (for) anything, you never say never about anything, but I'm not running."

An unusual approach to Trump

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is the rare Democrat who almost never says President Donald Trump's name -- a weird tactic for a big-state governor in a party fueled by resisting Trump. He blasted Trump's decision to ban transgender Americans from military service as a "Washington directive," The New York Times' Shane Goldmacher notes. "As a general rule, I haven't found nasty ad hominem attacks on a person whose cooperation is needed to help your state especially helpful," Cuomo told Goldmacher.

Calls for an African-American on the ticket

At the NAACP's convention in Baltimore, organization members said they wanted to see a black person on Democrats' 2020 ticket, per McClatchy's William Douglas and Katishi Maake. Among the people to watch: Harris, Booker, former Attorney General Eric Holder and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

Tuesday, August 1 -- Minnesota Sen. Al Franken will sit down with NBC's Seth Meyers for a talk about Franken's book at the Great Hall at Cooper Union in New York City.

Wednesday, August 2 -- Polk County, Iowa, Democrats are teasing a 10 a.m. CT announcement about their steak fry. We're watching to see who the featured speaker will be at the Des Moines event that's seen as a must for future presidential contenders.

Expecting they could still be in Washington voting on health care, senators all kept their schedules open for the next week.

This story has been updated.

CNN's Ashley Killough, Sophie Tatum, Miranda Green, Saba Hamedy and Betsy Klein contributed to this story.

See more here:
#2020Vision: Rep. Delaney enters 2020 race; Warren's fingerprints on the Democratic agenda - Bloomington Pantagraph

You can still munch on a corn dog, wash it down with a lemon shake-up and then head over to marvel at the Butter Cow.

But if Democratic stem-winders are more to your taste, dont look to the Illinois State Fair this year.

A political tradition dating back at least half a century at the fair will look and sound a bit different this year.

When Democrats gather on the fairgrounds in Springfield for the 2017 version of Democrat Day, it will not feature the traditional mid-day political rally a partisan powwow aimed at ginning up support for candidates and incumbents.

Rich Miller of the Capitol Fax blog was first to report the rallys demise.

Steve Brown, a spokesman for Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, the chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party, said the rally wasnt canceled because nothing was ever scheduled in the first place.

The focus of Democrats on the 17th of August will be chairmans brunch, Brown said, adding that more than 1,000 attendees were expected.

The Democratic county chairmans event is another longtime staple of the event. But it was always the outdoor rally, held on The Directors Lawn that was the days centerpiece.

Mayor Richard J. Daley, waving, leads the Chicago contingent at Democrat Day at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, August 14, 1969. File Photo. | United Press International Wirephoto.

Every year, fair organizers set aside two days for Democrats and Republicans to hold speeches and other party events. The party that holds the governors office calls its day Governors Day. This year, Aug. 16 is Governors Day, and August 17 is Democrats Day.

For Democrats, the big outdoor rally also took a backseat in 2016, when the Democrat Day breakfast was the backdrop for speeches meant to drum up party support.

The rally has also been the scene for some awkward moments over the years. In 2012, Gov. Pat Quinn after being heckled by labor union leaders mixed up the names of President Barack Obama and slain al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich is shown as the the Flying Elvi perform behind him during Democrats Day at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, Ill., Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2003. (AP Photo/ Illinois State Fair, David Blanchette)

Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, left, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, center, and Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, right, confer while participating in a Democrats rally at the Illinois State Fair on Governors Day in Springfield, Ill., Wednesday, Aug 19, 2009. File Photo. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

Ten years earlier, then-candidate Rod Blagojevich was campaigning for governor and squabbling with Madigan. The speaker, who is also state Democratic Party chairman told reporters: I dont plan to get into any criticism of Blagojevich. I could do that. I could talk about his indiscretions, but Im not going to do that because I believe in solidarity within the political party.

Madigan never elaborated on what indiscretions he was talking about.

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama is surrounded by reporters as he attends a Democrat Day rally at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, Ill., Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2006. (AP File Photo/Seth Perlman)

Democrat Roland Burris addresses a crowd at a rally during Democrat Day at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield in 1997. File Photo. (AP Photo/Randy Squires, File)

Here is the original post:
Democrat Day at State Fair to be a bit quieter this year - Chicago Sun-Times

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he wants to make federal funding of Obamacare subsidies permanent before working with Republicans on other reforms to the troubled health care law the GOP has been unable to repeal.

Schumer said "there is a thirst" among Republicans to work with Democrats on reforming Obamacare following early Friday's defeat of the Republican plan to repeal the law.

"At the very beginning, we should stabilize the system," Schumer said Friday. "Make permanent the cost sharing, which keeps premiums low."

Schumer said he also wants to negotiate with the GOP on reviving insurance bailout payments from the federal government, known as reinsurance, as well as a plan by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., to provide healthcare coverage in rural areas where there are no policies offered.

"That is what we should do initially," Schumer said. "Then, we should sit down and trade ideas."

Schumer emerged Friday with the attitude that his party now has leverage in the healthcare reform debate after Republicans failed to find enough support within their own party to begin the process of repealing Obamacare. A "skinny" repeal measure failed thanks to three GOP senators who voted against it, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Schumer said he has already talked to Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., about a bipartisan collaboration on rescuing the law, which is suffering from a collapse of the individual insurance marketplaces.

Schumer said Republicans approached him in the Senate chamber early Friday morning as it became apparent the GOP bill would fail and thanked him for pushing bipartisan talks, and told Schumer they want to be involved. "There is a thirst to do it," Schumer said.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who suffered a major defeat when the bill failed to pass, remained silent Friday afternoon about the path forward.

He signaled on the Senate floor following the defeat of the GOP bill that he would not be willing to simply pour more federal money into Obamacare, which suggests the cost sharing and reinsurance proposals would not happen without concessions from the Democrats.

Schumer said Friday he understands that dynamic.

"There has to be a give and take," Schumer said. "My colleagues and my caucus know that."

Schumer said he believes there is new impetus to work in a bipartisan way, even though Democrats passed Obamacare in 2010 without a single Republican on board.

McCain's surprise vote against the measure, Schumer said, could prompt new bipartisanship.

"Sometimes you need a spark that inspires the forces of coming together that outweigh the forces of pulling part," Schumer said. "And John McCain may have done that."

See more here:
Chuck Schumer outlines Democrat terms for healthcare talks with GOP - Washington Examiner

A former Miami Dolphins cheerleader hassplit from her husband in what isbeing described as the Trump divorce. The womanissued a press release stating that the couple were forced to end their marriage due to their political differences.

In the statement, 37-year-old Lynn Aronberg, who once cheered for the Florida football team, was described as a staunch Republican and supporter of President Donald Trump, the Palm Beach Post reported.Her husband, Florida state attorney for Palm Beach County Dave Aronberg, is a Democrat.

According to the statement, their political differences drove the couple apart afterLynn Aronbergs favor for the president caused her to feel increasingly isolated in the marriage."

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Despite their political differences, the former couple, who were wed in May 2015, have remained amicable throughout the separation and signed a divorce settlement earlier in the week. Lynn Aronberg will reportedly receive a $100,000 settlement, which includes a new BMW and $40,000 in cash.

The Aronbergs are notthe first couple to end their marriagedue to their partisanship. In May, Arlington, Virginiabased polling firm Wakefield Research released a study that found one in 10 couples, married or not, had ended their relationships because of political disagreements. The study, which included 1,000 participants across the U.S., found millennialsin particularwereseparating at an increasing rate after 22 percent said that they broke up with their significant other over political differences.

Twenty-four percent of participants said that they had disagreed or argued about politics more than ever following Trumps election victory, while 22 percent of participants said that they knew a couple, either married or in a dating, whose relationship had been negatively impacted specifically due to President Trump.

Trump aside, divorce rates in America are up in general, almost doubling since the 1990s, according to a March 2017 Pew Research report. The study, which was based on marriage data recorded from 1990 to 2015, setdivorce rates for adults ages 50 and up at10 for every 1,000 married persons in 2015 compared withfive for every 1,000 married persons in 1990. Adults ages 40 to 49 had a divorce rate of 21 adults per 1,000 in 2015 compared with18 per 1,000 in 1990.

People 25 to 39 were the only group to see a slight decline, with the divorce rate set at 25 adults for every 1,000in 2015 compared with30 adults per 1,000 married persons in 1990.

See more here:
Trump Divorce: Miami Dolphins Cheerleader Splits From Democrat Husband in Support of Trump - Newsweek

* Mostly true

* Democrat Day itself has not been canceled. Party members will still get their free tickets to the fair just like Republicans will on Governors Day. But the traditional noontime rally has been canceled.

Steve Brown told me part of the problem with Democrat Day over the years was that the same people make pretty much the same speeches at both the county party chairmans brunch and then at the state fairgrounds rally a couple of hours or so later. It gets boring and repetitive and kinda pointless. It can be a real drag sitting in the hot sun listening to the same speech you just heard at brunch.

So, it looks like this could be the end of a very long era. I dont know how far back the tradition goes, but its a very long time. Back in the day, the first Mayor Daley would send trainloads of people to the fair. It used to be a huge deal, but the rally crowds for both parties have seemed to taper off in recent years and I dont think that Speaker Madigan likes doing it, either. Maybe itll restart if the Democrats elect a governor again, whenever that might be, because then Madigan wont have to be in charge.

* From a Crains column I wrote back in 2014

The Illinois State Fairs Directors Lawn is a tree-lined venue far from the corn dogs, grandstand concerts and beer tents.

The lawn spreads out in front of a rather dingy house used by the states director of agriculture, off a road marred by potholes and best accessed via a special gate that often is closed during the fair because theres so little public parking. A million or so people attend the fair each year.

The grass on the lawn is trampled flat. But no events ever are as crowded as the annual Governors Day and the accompanying rally for the party out of power.

Even in this era of high-tech campaigns, the twin events unofficially kick off the governors race, despite the fairgrounds somewhat rundown appearance. Politicians high and low attend. The more important ones give speeches, the less important mill about and try to interest others in shaking their hands. Every major media outlet sends reporters.

There usually are four crowds. Theres the true believers, young men and women who work or volunteer for the candidates. They wear matching T-shirts, carry signs and fire up the crowds by cheering or shouting slogans on command.

Then there are the older believers, folks who arent nearly as youthful or fired up but still strongly support their candidates. They sit in the front section with a clear view of the stage.

The space-fillers mostly are bused in to increase the crowd. They sit where they cant see the speakers, either behind the stands for the news media or off to the side under a canvas tent. They chat among themselves and enjoy the free food.

The fourth group is the hacks in the back. These are the political professionals, high-level campaign operatives, lobbyists and legislators. Theyve heard enough speeches, so they gossip at the rear of the lawn near the free beer.

No more free beer and hot dogs and politicking on the Directors Lawn this year, at least for the Democrats.

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The rest is here:
Annual State Fair Democrat Day rally canceled - The Capitol Fax Blog (blog)