Sanders eager to get back on trail
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders had a heart attack, his campaign confirmed Friday as the Vermont senator was released from a Nevada hospital where two stents were inserted to open a blocked artery in his heart.
The statements from Sanders, 78, and his doctors do not indicate whether his heart suffered permanent damage. Sanders said he’s looking forward to getting back to work.
“There should not be an overreaction to this,” said Dr. Steve Nissen, a heart expert at Cleveland Clinic who has not treated Sanders. “If he were my patient, I might ask him to avoid 16-hour days for at least a little bit of time. But there’s absolutely no reason he can’t get back to full activity soon.
“What’s more important than his age is his condition before the event. He strikes me as an incredibly vigorous and energetic guy. People like that tend to do well.”
But age is already an issue in the race, with three leading Democrats 70 or older. President Donald Trump is 73.
An even playing field? Montana Gov. Steve Bullock released a plan to bar members of Congress and the president from holding onto money in their campaign accounts after an election – and barring federal office holders from fundraising for the first half of their term in office.
Bullock has struggled to break through the crowded field of 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls. His rivals who are senators have been able to transfer millions from their Senate campaign accounts to their presidential campaigns. But federal campaign finance rules bar governors from transferring money from their state campaign finance accounts.
Bullock is still in the race, but two other former or current governors had to drop out: Colorado’s John Hickenlooper and Washington’s Jay Inslee.
Under the plan, members of Congress and the president would have to refund leftover campaign funds to donors or donate the money to charity, to the presidential matching funds program or to the U.S. government to reduce the deficit.
Two out of three are bad: CNN rejected two advertisements submitted by Trump’s campaign because they weren’t factual, but will run a third ad.
CNN said the first ad discussed allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden that had been proved false by several news organizations. It accuses Democrats of trying to “steal” an election by opening an impeachment inquiry, and said that “media lapdogs” fall in line. At that point, the screen flashes pictures of CNN’s Chris Cuomo, Don Lemon, Jim Acosta and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.
CNN said disparaging its employees is grounds for rejection, too.
Another ad contains assertions about the whistleblower complaint against Trump that have been disputed by the intelligence inspector general, and uses the word “coup” to describe the impeachment process set forth in the constitution, CNN said.
The ad CNN accepted said “the swamp” hates Trump, flashing video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, outlines actions taken in the president’s first term and asserts that it takes a “tough guy” to change Washington.
Campaigns or advocacy groups commonly make ads they know will be rejected, hoping to get more publicity than they would if the commercial aired.
Take a levy to Chevy? White House hopeful Elizabeth Warren wants to impose a tax on lobbying activities in hopes of nudging some of the nation’s biggest companies and special interest groups to curtail it.
Under the proposal, companies that spend between $500,000 and $1 million a year on lobbying Congress and federal agencies would pay a 35% tax on those expenditures. For every dollar above $1million spent on lobbying, the rate would increase to 60%; for every dollar above $5 million, it would be 75%.
Warren’s proposal would have resulted in companies such as Koch Industries, Pfizer, Boeing, Microsoft, Walmart, and Exxon being subject to the 75% rate in every year over the last decade.
And he’s out: Warren’s presidential campaign fired its national organizing director over complaints of behavioral misconduct.
“Over the past two weeks, senior campaign leadership received multiple complaints regarding inappropriate behavior by Rich McDaniel,” campaign spokesperson Kristen Orthman told USA TODAY.