Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Biden, Warren no-shows at Calif. showcase
State party chair gives dressing-down to both
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was greeted with booming cheers at a gathering of California Democrats on Saturday, underscoring his popularity with the party’s liberal base.
The decisions by former Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to skip a weekend gathering of the California Democratic Party less than three months before voting begins gave rival candidates an opportunity to make inroads with the party’s most devoted activists.
Sanders assured the crowd he was in good health just months after a heart attack, and he rose from a chair to his feet to apparently emphasize the point during a candidate forum hosted by Univision, the Spanish-language television station. He earned cheers when fending off suggestions that his agenda was pulling the party too far to the political left.
“I don’t think so. I honestly don’t,” he said.
Mail-in ballots for California’s primary will begin going out to voters Feb. 3, the same day as the Iowa caucuses.
After a long campaign, candidates stuck largely to familiar scripts. But after lagging in polls and fundraising, former Obama administration housing secretary Julian Castro was confronted with an awkward question: Will he stay in the race?
Yes, he said firmly. The Iowa caucuses are 10 weeks away, and that’s “10 lifetimes in politics,” Castro said.
Talking later with reporters, Pete Buttigieg acknowledged that he’s not well-known among Latinos, but he called it a “huge opportunity” to introduce himself to those voters in California in particular. The South Bend, Indiana, mayor said his messages on immigration and health care — he favors allowing anyone to access Medicare without creating a completely government-run system — will resonate with Latinos.
California Sen. Kamala Harris kicked off the convention winning the endorsement of United Farm Workers, the union started by labor icons Dolores
Huerta and Cesar Chavez. The union’s members voted to endorse Harris, offering her a show of homestate support.
On a busy weekend of politicking, Harris played to her home-state strength Friday night at two gatherings at local bars, one hosted by Equality California at a gay bar, where she called for greater protections for transgender women.
Warren’s and Biden’s decisions to skip the party gathering drew a rare rebuke from Rusty Hicks, the chair of the state party.
“Your decision is a blatant disregard and disrespect to California’s grassroots leaders who make the phone calls, knock the doors, and give the money … in swing districts and swing states alike … year after year after year,” he tweeted.