Biden Says Sanders Fans’ Threats ‘Outrageous’: Campaign Update
(Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden said threats against officials at a prominent Nevada union that criticized Bernie Sanders’ health care plan by some supporters of the Vermont senator were “outrageous.”
The threats were “vicious, malicious,” and “misogynistic,” Biden said in an excerpt of an interview to run Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
The former vice president called on Sanders to accept greater accountability for the tactics and rhetoric of his staunchest supporters: “He may not be responsible for it but he has some accountability...if any of my supporters did that, I’d disown them,” Biden said.
The Nevada branch of the Culinary Workers Union said this week that Sander’s backers had “viciously attacked” its members after the labor group warned about the possible impact of Sanders’ Medicare for All proposal in a scorecard sizing up different candidates’ plans.
The Nevada Independent reported that two union officials had faced threatening phone calls, emails and tweets, and say their personal information was shared online. The union declined to endorse in Nevada’s Democratic caucus, to be held Feb. 22.
Iowa Democrats Name New Chair After Debacle (4:29 p.m.)
The Iowa Democratic Party named state Representative Mark Smith as its new chair, it said in a tweet on Saturday, almost two weeks after the botched presidential caucus in the state.
Smith replaces Troy Price, who resigned on Wednesday.
The party said on Twitter that Smith is a sixth-generation Iowan with “the breadth of experience and record of leadership to strengthen our path to victory and elect Democrats up and down the ballot.”
Days of confusion, chaos and anger followed the first-in-the-nation nominating contest on Feb. 3 as campaigns and voters waited for the final results. Price said in stepping down that he was “deeply sorry.” -- Sebastian Tong
Trump to Rally Before Democratic Caucus (3:56 p.m.)
President Donald Trump is crashing another early Democratic nominating contest, scheduling a rally in Las Vegas a day before the Nevada caucuses are held on Feb. 22.
Unlike Iowa and New Hampshire, where Trump held events right before voters from his own party caucused or cast ballots, the Nevada Republican Party isn’t holding a caucus this year. Only Democrats will be picking a nominee.
Bernie Sanders is first in the RealClearPolitics average of polls in the state with 21.5%, followed by Joe Biden with 18.5% and Elizabeth Warren with 12%. After strong showings in New Hampshire Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, both in single digits in the Silver State, are hoping to move up.
While Trump won’t be specifically campaigning on Feb. 21 for Nevadans to caucus for him, he’ll be reminding them of his main argument for being given a second term, his campaign said in a release. “President Trump has delivered for Nevada, creating 125,600 new jobs since his election,” Michael Glassner, chief operating officer of the campaign, said in a release.
Trump held an event in New Hampshire a day before Tuesday’s primary, saying on Twitter that he wanted “to shake up the Dems a little bit.” -- Bill Allison
COMING UP
Democratic presidential candidates will meet for their next debate on Feb. 19 in Las Vegas. Nevada holds its caucuses on Feb. 22, and South Carolina has a primary on Feb. 29.
(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)
--With assistance from Sebastian Tong and Bill Allison.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ros Krasny in Washington at rkrasny1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Max Berley, Linus Chua
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