On The World As I Like It To Be podcast we complete our pre debate review for Thursday’s debate.  We covered in our last podcast reports Joe Biden may be looking to step down as president after one term.  The former vice president has since pushed back on that. None of this is helpful for his campaign.

Meanwhile Mayor Pete looks the stave off Elizabeth Warren’s attack against him by releasing the names of the businesses he consulted with in his younger years.  The mayor also has agreed to allow the media into fundraising events.

On the debate stage Warren is sure to be standing next to or near the mayor and he has continued to focus incoming fire on the senator.   For her part, Warren has begun hitting both the mayor and former vice president for their connection to wealthy donors.

On our last podcast we discussed the Bernie blackout.   In this episode I believe senator Klobuchar is in a similar condition and so do others.  The Minnesota democrat is rising in the polls and the media appears to be ignoring it.

Emerson College (which Fivethirtyeight gives an A-) has seen her Iowa polling enter double digits for the first time.  And Klobuchar has managed to keep herself in the game to the chagrin of many.

And contrary to what was said on the podcast, the inclusion of Andrew Yang means this debate will not be all white (which is great).

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has made the extraordinary decision to grant Donald Trump a hearing . The president has asked the high court to block Congress from seeing his tax returns.

The stunning outcome of the case will be made known in June, well after the impeachment trial has completed. WIll the Trump supreme court justices protect the president?

Continue reading S3E46: Judiciary votes to impeach. Labour loses bigly. →

On today’s The World As I Like It To Be podcast we discuss the exodus of Kamala Harris from the 2020 democratic race for president.  Denise from California has strong views on this and so do I.

Next week Thursday’s debate will have only six candidates and no persons of color.   Harris has said she has departed the race due to lack of funds and, as previously reported, a SuperPAC supporting Cory Booker has shuttered due to its inability to raise funds on his behalf.

Meanwhile, Politico reports Andrew Yang, contrary to our podcast, will qualify for the debate next week Thursday bringing the total to seven.  The report notes the DNC has not acknowledged this yet.  

Meanwhile Tulsi Gabbard whom, as we mention in the podcast, has only one more qualifying poll to make it in the debate, has reportedly said she will not participate in the next debate even if she does qualify.

Bernie Sanders scored a big progressive endorsement as the Center For Popular Democracy has announced its support for the Vermont senator instead of Warren.

Meanwhile, nationally, a new Monmouth University Poll (which Fivethirtyeight.com gives an A+) has Biden at the top of the pack with Sanders and then Warren. Mayor Pete has not moved in the polls, behind in fourth place.

Mike Bloomberg, who has used his billionaire dollars to carpet bomb the air waves with ads, has entered the poll for the first time at 5 percent.  This is on par, if not better than, candidates like Amy Klobuchar, Andrew Yang, Tom Steyer and Tulsi Gabbard who have been campaigning for months.

Want to know what we think?  Check out our podcast below:

Continue reading S3E45:Harris falters, the Bernie blackout and contested convention →

Thing are moving fast and furious on the impeachment of Donald Trump.  Yesterday the speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told reporters the House would proceed with articles of impeachment. 

On last week Thursday’s The  World As I Like It To Be podcast we discussed what we learned from the two week impeachment hearings by the House intelligence committee run by Adam Schiff.  

We learned, from the mouths of the people who were there, that Donald Trump tried to bribe the Ukrainian president with a quid pro quo.

We learned that the ambassadors found out about it, were horrified by it and ultimately would not go along with the “drug deal” the administration was cooking up.  

We learned the administration tried to get the ambassadors not to testify, but they did so anyway.

The hearing ended with Adam Schiff concluded he would write up a report for the judiciary committee so that they could take the lead post Thanksgiving.

Last week’s podcast is here.

Continue reading S3E44: Impeachment – Don’t Mess With Me Edition →

On last Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s podcasts we discussed the 2020 debate with Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Mayor Pete Buttiegeg and the rest of the very large field.

December will be the last debate before the Iowa caucus.   According to polls, Warren’s support  in Iowa and nationwide appears to be softening after the last 2020 debate.  Meanwhile, nationwide Biden still looks strong. 

Meanwhile the Associated Press is reporting a super PAC supporting Cory Booker has shut down.  The PAC, Dream United was founded by a former classmate of the Senator’s but had not raised the 10 million it set out to raise this year.

This could very well be the end of the road for the senator as he has not met the threshold for the next 2020 debate. Meanwhile Kamala Harris is working hard to make Iowa notice her as she has rolled out endorsements from 100 teachers.  

Meanwhile, Steve Bullock and Joe Sestak (remember them?) have officially ended their campaigns for president. The Montana governor, Bullock, has also said he will not run for the senate.

But on Tuesday’s podcast our focus is clearly on the mayor from South Bend, former senator Biden  and senator Elizabeth  Warren:

Then on Wednesday’s podcast we round out the debate with Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and the remain candidates:

Continue reading S3E42/43: The 2020 Debate and the fight against gerrymandering →