Notable Quote of the Day

“The choice Biden will make will do one of two things -- push his party into the future, or provide it with a pause that will delay the battle for succession and Democrats’ direction a few more years. ...

Rep. Karen Bass embodies the pause. The California congresswoman has made it clear she has no interest in running for president, and is known as someone who avoids the spotlight so aggressively she is uncomfortable having her picture taken. Though she has never run for statewide office, Bass, once a physician’s assistant, is now head of the Congressional Black Caucus and has earned a reputation in the House of being liked and respected on both sides of the aisle. 

There has never been a perfect choice among the suitable contenders, but by everyone’s estimation Sen. Kamala Harris is the only obvious choice as someone who could both excite the base as a black woman and assure centrists and independent voters with her governing experience. Harris would represent a turn towards tomorrow, and wants to be president, and the battle to define her for the next nomination would begin immediately.”

– A.B. Stoddard, RealClearPolitics

Election Updates

• Democrats released a preliminary schedule for the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday. Joe Biden is set to deliver his acceptance speech from Milwaukee on August 20. His running mate will be nominated and give an address on August 19 from an unknown location.

• Indivisible, Working Families Party, Demand Progress, and more than 40 other progressive groups sent a letter to the Biden campaign requesting he reject anyone with recent and senior private industry experience from holding senior policy positions.

• Politico said it mistakenly published an article this week that said Biden selected Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate on August 1. Politico said in a statement, “Our standard practice is to use 'lorem ipsum' as placeholder text. In this instance, that did not happen. We regret the error and any confusion that it caused.”

• Donald Trump questioned if the presidential election should be delayed in a tweet on Thursday morning. He wrote, “With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”

• Trump raised $7 million during his visit to Texas on Wednesday. It was his 16th trip to the state since becoming president.

• Trump said he would be nominated at the Republican National Convention on its first day, August 24, and deliver a speech on August 27.

• Kanye West’s signature petitions in Illinois and New Jersey are being challenged for missing required information and allegedly being written by the same hand.

Flashback: July 30, 2016

A Clinton campaign spokesman announced that proprietary campaign information maintained by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was accessed when the DNC was hacked.