The Latest: Dems outline requirements for upcoming SC debate
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Latest on the 2020 presidential campaign (all times local):
12:05 p.m.
The Democratic National Committee has set its qualifying thresholds for the Feb. 25 debate in South Carolina, and for the second time in a row, the party is setting rules that would provide former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg with a path to the stage.
Candidates can qualify based on either polling requirements or delegate thresholds from previous state nominating contests. But candidates don't have to meet both.
On polling, candidates must reach 10% support in at least four national polls or some combination of four polls taken nationally and in South Carolina. They also could qualify by reaching 12% in just two South Carolina polls. Any qualifying polls must be released publicly between Feb. 4 and Feb. 24.
Candidates also could qualify if they've earned a delegate in any previous contest. From Iowa and New Hampshire, that qualifies Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren.
Bloomberg is skipping the four early states, so has no delegates. But the billionaire businessman is approaching the polling thresholds.
The rules are patterned after those that the party's chairman, Tom Perez, already announced for Wednesday’s debate in Nevada.
Perez took some heat for dropping as a requirement having a minimum number of grassroots donors.
Bloomberg isn’t raising any money and is relying on his personal fortune, and never could have qualified under such rules. But Perez also has gotten pressure from some campaigns that want Bloomberg on the debate stage to face the same scrutiny that other candidates have endured for months.
Bloomberg hasn't yet qualified for the Nevada debate. There's a Tuesday deadline to meet the requirements.
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12 p.m.
Does Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden think he needs to win Nevada's caucuses next Saturday?
His answer is that he has “to do well” in order to mount a comeback for the race for the 2020 nomination after back-of-the-pack finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Biden is in Las Vegas and he spoke to about 100 campaign volunteers gathered at a middle school gym for a Latino organizing event.
After the event, reporters asked him whether he has to win the caucuses. He said: "No, I don't think I have to, but I think we have a shot at winning."
Biden finished a disappointing fourth in Iowa and fifth in New Hampshire. That puts considerable pressure on him in Nevada and especially South Carolina.
He says the two states' more diverse electorates are better for him than the overwhelmingly white makeup of Iowa and New Hampshire.
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11:40 a.m.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is criticizing President Donald Trump's immigration policies and rhetoric on immigration.
Biden is in Las Vegas where he's drawing a roar from about 100 campaign volunteers gathered at a middle school gym for a Latino organizing event.
The former vice president says: "Everybody knows how Donald Trump is. We gotta let him know who we are."
Biden is leaning heavily on the minority populations in Nevada and the upcoming South Carolina primary as his springboard back into contention in the 2020 primary.
He's thanking the volunteers, emphasizing the importance of the Latino vote and promoting his relationships with labor unions.
One powerful union in Las Vegas is the Culinary Union. It's not going to endorse before next Saturday's caucuses in Nevada.
But Biden believes he has strong appeal with rank-and-file members because of his "public option" health care proposal that would leave in place unions' negotiated health care benefits.
The union earlier this week published a flyer suggesting that "Medicare for All" plans backed by rival Bernie Sanders would "end" Culinary members' health coverage.
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11:35 a.m.
Bernie Sanders is going after his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination as he campaigns in Las Vegas.
The Vermont senator tells supporters at a suburban high school that the crowd he's addressing is “what democracy looks like.”
Sanders says "democracy is not candidates going to the homes of billionaires raising money.” That's an apparent dig at Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
Next in Sanders' sights is Mike Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor. Sanders says "democracy is not billionaires spending hundreds of millions of dollars trying to get elected. Democracy is when working people stand up, fight for justice.”
After the rally, supporters marched to a nearby polling location to vote in the first day of early voting in the Nevada caucuses.
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11:15 a.m.
Elizabeth Warren is pitching her universal child care plan and jabbing at her wealthy rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination as she begins a day of campaigning in Las Vegas.
About 30 people, mostly women, packed into a handful of tables to sip coffee and eat pastries at a reggae and cocktail bar to hear the Massachusetts senator.
Warren promoted her child care plan that would be paid for by a tax of 2 cents on every dollar for fortunes of more than $50 million.
She says it could help mothers finish their education and would benefit the economy. She doesn’t think every billionaire would go along with the so-called wealth tax.
Warren says "billionaires have gone on TV and cried. Others have run for president.” That line — which drew laughs and applause — was an apparent reference to 2020 rivals Mike Bloomberg and Tom Steyer.
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11 a.m.
Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg is opening seven new campaign offices in Florida, bringing the total number to 10 throughout the state.
Offices in Fort Lauderdale, Gainesville, Sanford, Sarasota, Tallahassee, Tampa and West Palm Beach opened Saturday.
The former New York mayor already had offices in St. Petersburg, Orlando, and the Little Havana area of Miami.
Campaign officials say 10 additional offices will open in coming weeks, as will a statewide campaign headquarters in Tampa. Bloomberg has been blanketing the TV airwaves with ads in Florida.
The Florida primary is March 17.
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9:45 a.m.
Democrats are starting to cast votes in Nevada’s presidential caucuses as the still-crowded field of candidates is fanning out across Las Vegas.
Early voting started Saturday morning at more than 80 locations across the state. Nevada Democrats are holding four days of early voting for their caucuses, the first test of a candidate’s appeal to a diverse population with strong labor unions.
Early votes cast on paper ballots will be added to in-person caucus votes made on Feb. 22, when Democrats will attend about 2,000 precinct meetings around the state.
This year, with the results of Iowa's caucuses muddled by technology and reporting problems, Nevada is under pressure to pull off a problem-free caucus. The Nevada State Democratic Party abandoned its original plans to use an app like the one that caused trouble in Iowa and has scrambled to come up with a new system to tabulate results.
Candidates are making a get-out-the-vote push with rallies and town halls Saturday, followed by appearances Saturday night at a fundraising gala for the Las Vegas-based Clark County Democratic Party.