Impeachment poised to pull top 2020 contenders from campaign trail
Category: News & Politics
Via: kdmichigan • 5 years ago • 40 commentsBy: By Paul Steinhauser | Fox News
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar pledges that “it’s my constitutional duty. I’ll be there.”
The “there” the Minnesota Democrat is talking about is the impending Senate impeachment trial of President Trump.With the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives poised to vote to impeach the president later this month or in early January, the action would then move to the GOP-controlled Senate. And a trial – where all 100 senators would serve as the jury – could come just weeks before the Iowa caucuses (Feb. 3) and the New Hampshire primary (Feb. 11), the first two states to hold contests in the presidential nominating calendar.
That trial would effectively sideline from the campaign trail a total of six contenders: Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kamala Harris of California, Michael Bennet of Colorado and Klobuchar.
And their absence could particularly give a boost to two top-tier contenders not tied to a Senate trial – South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden -- as both Iowa and New Hampshire place an extra emphasis on person-to-person retail-style politics.“Early state voters place a premium on the opportunity to kick the tires on every single candidate running for president again and again," said Wayne Lesperance, a veteran New Hampshire-based political scientist and vice president of academic affairs for New England College. "Candidates out of state for a prolonged period because of their senatorial duties will concede critical time just before the first contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.”
Buttigieg has seen his poll numbers in both Iowa and New Hampshire surge in recent weeks, boosting him to top-tier status in both states. And while many of his rivals will likely be tied down in the nation’s capital, Buttigieg’s tenure as mayor comes to a close at the end of the year, further freeing him up to campaign full time in the early voting states starting in January.
Biden may benefit from this dynamic as well. The former vice president – once the unrivaled front-runner in the race – now faces intense competition. He launched a post-Thanksgiving week-long bus tour in Iowa. And he returns to New Hampshire at the conclusion of that bus tour.
While Biden spotlights his decades of Washington experience as he runs for the White House, Buttigieg emphasizes that he’s an outside-the-Beltway candidate. And having six of his rivals tied down on Capital Hill dealing with a nasty partisan fight over impeachment will only further the contrast Buttigieg’s trying to make.
The last president to face a Senate impeachment trial was Bill Clinton. His trial – which started in Dec. 1998 -- lasted five weeks. And under Senate rules, the chamber is required to be in session six days a week for the length of the proceedings.
“It’s going to present a challenge for senators also campaigning for president,” Harris said last month at a forum in California. “There’s no question about that.”
But it’s unlikely that any of the senators will skip out on parts of the trial to hit the campaign trail.
“This is a constitutional responsibility. I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, and so did everyone who is in the United States Congress,” Warren told reporters recently while campaigning in New Hampshire.
Klobuchar said she’ll look to her family and advisers to represent her.
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There is still a chance for the old hag Hillaryious Hillary to throw her …...hoof into the race. With the leaders possibly getting took out by Pelosi's Impeachment sham, Abuela can slither right in there.
Wow, Hillary is certainly an obsession with you.
This coming from the person who commented 6 times on Vic's article and never once addressed it the same as here.
[Deleted]
Thanks for proving everyone's negative points about your comments.
Funny, you screech about people who are obsessed with Trump .... and fail to see the utter hypocrisy in your inability to discuss something without bringing up Hillary.
Hillary is two years younger than Trump, so I guess Trump is a male hag then.
I'm sure the irony is lost on them, three articles I've noticed them comment on today and not one addressed the article.
Yet they would be the first to start bitching about others doing it....
I would laugh if it wasn't so sad.
This is how dumbasses argue
"Someone who lost the last presidential election over three years ago, and is out of politics, is as important a topic as the sitting U.S. president who lies to the public 10 or 15 times a day."
And then the dumbasses congratulate themselves at being so perceptive.
It really is amazing. Sometimes all one can do is shake their head.
Who are you quoting?
What a bizarre comment.
We know the left is still Butt Hurt over Hillaryious Hillary's lost JR and don't like the mention of her name but she is the one putting herself out there for ridicule on a almost daily basis.
There is still time for Hillaryious Hillary to make her bid again. Unfortunately I don't think most people are dumb enough to vote for her again. She should just invest her time grooming her butt ugly daughter for a political career.
DNC recruited a new person...
That is actually slightly funny. Good job.
I think he looks good with a stache.
Me too, it is an improvement. Takes away from his Dumbo ears.
Well he and Steve Harvey would pass for brothers from another mother.
That's great. Wouldn't it be hilarious if some small town mayor leapt ahead in the race because better known (and better experienced) Democrats were stuck in the Senate at a trial with almost zero chance of convicting the president. In other words, wasting their campaign chances on a giant waste of time.
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
You would think that would effect campaign donations?
If Pete does well in Iowa and New Hampshire, it definitely will.
"Impeachment" is MORE IMPORTANT than any of the "Lefty (I can change based on the situation) Candidates" running right now.
They should "Cancel" the election all together and just let Trump do the business "FOR" the country, as he has been DOING !
This "Impeachment thingy" is too much of an " Influence " on the voters ! More than the supposed " Russian Influence " too !
So he won't be shirking his responsibilities like many of the other candidates. Like any of them did anything for those they "represent" anyway.