Bennet Gets Backing From Former Contender Hart: Campaign Update

(Bloomberg) -- In 1984, the forward-looking Colorado Senator Gary Hart shocked Democratic politics by winning a surprise victory in the New Hampshire presidential primary. Now another senator from Colorado, Michael Bennet, is hoping his predecessor’s endorsement can help him pull off a similar upset.

Hart will campaign with Bennet at three stops in New Hampshire on Saturday, the campaign said.

“A number of years ago, the voters of New Hampshire provided an opportunity for a young Colorado senator to build a strong national candidacy,” Hart said in a statement. “They have the chance now to do it again. Michael Bennet has the intelligence, experience, and judgment to put our nation back on track at home and abroad.”

The Hart political story didn’t have a happy ending. After losing the 1984 nomination to Walter Mondale, Hart ran again for the 1988 nomination. While denying rumors of womanizing — and challenging reporters to follow him around — he withdrew from the race in May 1987 following allegations of an affair with Donna Rice. A tabloid photo emerged of Hart with Rice sitting on his lap before a cruise on a yacht called the Monkey Business.

Four States May Cut Primaries to Help Trump (3:22 p.m.)

Republicans in four states are preparing to cancel their presidential primaries next year, insulating President Donald Trump from primary challenges as he tries to rally Republicans in the 2020 election.

State parties in South Carolina, Nevada, Arizona and Kansas are expected to finalize the cancellations as soon as this weekend, Politico reports. And while there’s a history of parties canceling primaries when an incumbent is running for re-election, Trump’s GOP challengers are crying foul.

“Remember all the times back in 2016 when Donald Trump accused the Democrats of ‘rigging’ the system to make sure Hillary got the nomination? I do,” tweeted former Representative Joe Walsh, who’s mounting a primary bid against Trump. “Well lookie here ... the lying hypocrite is trying to ‘rig’ the system in 2020.”

Trump appears in no danger of losing the nomination anyway. Polls show he remains exceptionally popular among Republicans, with an average approval rating above 80%. But primary challenges can end up hurting incumbents in the general election: President George H.W. Bush lost re-election in 1992 after GOP rival Pat Buchanan had a strong showing in the New Hampshire primary and got a speaking slot at the party’s convention in Houston. -- Gregory Korte

Biden Wants Senate to Pass Women Violence Act (3:02 p.m.)

Joe Biden called on Senate Republicans to pass a reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act more than five months after the House passed its own version.
The act “must be reauthorized,” the Democratic presidential front-runner told supporters in Laconia, New Hampshire, but Republicans including President Donald Trump are “holding it up.”

Biden said he brought up the act, which he said he “wrote with my own hand,” because the 25th anniversary of its signing is next week. It became law as part of the 1994 crime bill, which he and Senator Dianne Feinstein of California shepherded through when he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

He’s faced criticism from other Democratic candidates and activists for anti-crime measures that they argue contributed to mass incarceration and especially poor treatment of minorities who were accused of crimes. Bringing up the parts of the bill that remain popular with Democrats, like the Violence Against Women Act and the assault weapons ban, is a way for Biden to preemptively blunt criticism about other pieces of the bill. -- Jennifer Epstein

Arizona GOP Chief Wants to Stop Candidate ‘Dead’ (11:28 a.m.)

The chairwoman of the Republican Party in Arizona is trying to raise money by saying the GOP is going to stop pro-gun-control Democratic Senate candidate Mark Kelly “dead in his tracks.”

The stark wording from Arizona GOP chairman Kelli Ward was directed at former astronaut Kelly, whose wife, former Representative Gabby Giffords, was shot in the head and severely wounded in a mass shooting in 2011 while meeting with constituents. Six people were killed in the attack and more than a dozen others were wounded.

The email cites Kelly’s statement in a 2015 CNN interview that “where there are more guns, people are less safe.”

“Support the Republican Party of Arizona today and, together, we’ll stop gun-grabber Mark Kelly dead in his tracks,” Ward said.

Ward followed up with tweets complaining about coverage of the email.

“I don’t wish harm on Mr. Kelly. We disagree politically on the Constitution and the #2a,” she wrote on Twitter.

Kelly campaign spokesman Jacob Peters criticized Ward, saying, “This dangerous rhetoric has absolutely no place in Arizona and is what’s wrong with our politics.”

Ward has closely aligned herself with President Donald Trump and has a history of controversial statements. Kelly is running against Senator Martha McSally next year in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country. McSally was appointed to the seat, long held by the late John McCain, after losing to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in the 2018 Senate contest. -- Steven Dennis

Starbucks’ Schultz Suspends Presidential Effort (6:52 a.m.)

Starbucks Corp.’s Chairman Emeritus Howard Schultz is suspending his flirtation with running as an independent for president in 2020.

“My belief in the need to reform our two-party system has not wavered, but I have concluded that an independent campaign for the White House is not how I can best serve our country at this time,” Schultz said in a letter to supporters posted on his website Friday. The letter was reported earlier by Axios.

Schultz, who put his exploratory presidential bid on hold in June after a series of back surgeries and told supporters would be in touch about his plans after Labor Day, said he will spend the election cycle and the roughly $100 million he intended to use to finance his campaign “supporting bold and creative initiatives to transform our broken system and address the disparity of opportunity that plagues our nation.”

A former long-time Democrat estimated to be worth $5.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Schultz positioned himself as a “centrist independent” opposing proposals from leading Democratic presidential hopefuls including Medicare for All and universal free public college. But he concluded not enough voters are willing to back an independent because they fear that alternative may end up being a spoiler.

“There is considerable concern that four more years of a Trump administration pose a graver threat to our democracy than four more years of political dysfunction,” Schultz wrote. “I agree, but I’m also concerned that far-left policy ideas being advanced by several Democratic candidates will further alienate voters who believe those ideas will inflict more economic harm than good. The nomination of a far-left Democratic candidate could result in more votes for Trump -- unless a moderate independent is also on the ballot.” -- Caitlin Webber

COMING UP

Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, along with most of the other Democratic candidates, are expected to attend the New Hampshire Democratic Party State Convention in Manchester on Saturday, Sept. 7.

Ten candidates will face off in the third Democratic debate on Sept. 12 in Houston. It will be the first time Biden and Warren share a debate stage. Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, Sanders and Andrew Yang will also participate.

--With assistance from Caitlin Webber, Steven T. Dennis and Jennifer Epstein.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gregory Korte in New York at gkorte@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo

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