New Jersey Senator Cory Booker has gained national attention throughout his career in public office, but has struggled to jump out in early 2020 polling amid a crowded field of presidential hopefuls.
As Booker prepared to speak at the annual Polk County Democrats' Steak Fry in Iowa on Saturday (despite his vegan diet), his campaign released a memo to reporters and supporters which said the candidate would decide in the next 10 days whether he still has a shot at winning the nomination.
The memo read, in part, "This isn't an end-of-quarter stunt or another one of those memos from a campaign trying to spin the press. This is a real, unvarnished look under the hood of our operation at a level of transparency unprecedented in modern presidential campaigns."
Then just days after the memo was released, the campaign announced it had raised $1 million, putting it over 50 percent of the way to its goal of raising $1.7 million by September 30.
Sabrina Singh, national press secretary for Cory Booker 2020, told Cheddar on Tuesday she is "cautiously optimistic" the campaign will meet its goal by the date. If not, Booker could be the latest presidential hopeful to drop out of the race.
But Singh added that she thinks "we're going to get there."
"We know that in order for us to have a path to victory come January and February, [we need] to make sure that we can expand our operation," Singh said. "And the only way we can do that is by hiring more organizers, putting them on the ground, so people are getting texts and calls and getting their doors knocked."
Other 2020 Democrats have also begun focusing their efforts on early states like Iowa and New Hampshire.
A reporter says he overheard Sen. Kamala Harris joking to a colleague in Washington that she is "moving to f----- Iowa," as her campaign ramps up to weekly visits in early caucus and primary states and doubles the size of her 65-person ground operation, POLITICO reports.
Booker's national press secretary said the purpose of the memo was to "be as transparent as possible with the people, with the voters."
On Tuesday, Monmouth University Polling Institute released its newest poll out of New Hampshire that has Booker polling at 2 percent among registered and likely Democratic voters. Harris is polling just a point higher at 3 percent.
"We are not just in it to stick this out, we're in it to win it. So, that's why we need the $1.7 million," Singh said, explaining that donations would help boost staffing efforts in early states to mobilize those polling numbers.
And while Democrats on the campaign trail are trying to unseat President Trump in the upcoming election, House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have opened an impeachment inquiry against Trump.
Booker's team also recognizes that work continues for the senator on Capitol Hill, especially as the formal investigation into Trump's conduct gets underway.
"The President should be held accountable now. Cory, from day one, from back in May, has been calling for the impeachment proceedings to begin," Singh told Cheddar.
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield is leaving the ice cream brand after 47 years. He says the freedom the company used to have to speak up on social issues has been stifled
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by a quarter-point Wednesday and projected it would do so twice more this year as concern grows at the central bank about the health of the nation’s labor market. The move is the Fed’s first cut since December and lowered its short-term rate to about 4.1%, down from 4.3%. Fed officials, led by Chair Jerome Powell, had kept their rate unchanged this year as they evaluated the impact of tariffs, tighter immigration enforcement, and other Trump administration policies on inflation and the economy. The only dissenter was Stephen Miran, the recent Trump-appointee.
After a late-night vote and last-minute ruling, the Federal Reserve began a key meeting on interest rate policy Tuesday with both a new Trump administration appointee and an official the White House has targeted for removal.
The Trump administration has issued its first warnings to online services that offer unofficial versions of popular drugs like the blockbuster obesity treatment Wegovy.
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama says his new Cabinet will include an artificial intelligence “minister” in charge of fighting corruption. The AI, named Diella, will oversee public funding projects and combat corruption in public tenders. Diella was launched earlier this year as a virtual assistant on the government's public service platform. Corruption has been a persistent issue in Albania since 1990. Rama's Socialist Party won a fourth consecutive term in May. It aims to deliver EU membership for Albania in five years, but the opposition Democratic Party remains skeptical.
The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates. Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.
President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a ruling blocking him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday, hours after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling. The White House insists the Republican president had the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations involving properties in Michigan and Georgia from before she joined the Fed. Cook's lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful. The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Fed.
Chief Justice John Roberts has let President Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
