Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 2-25-20

Political News
Warren, Biden And Buttigieg Dangerously Close To Going Broke
Sen. Kamala Harris Endorses BET’s
Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren each started the month scraping perilously close to the bottom of their campaign bank ac- counts, posing an existential threat to their candidacies as the Democratic primary goes national.
They’re up against well- funded machines threatening to dominate the Democratic race: Bernie Sanders, whose recent rise in the polls has come during a major spending streak fueled by his online donors, and billionaire Mike Bloomberg, whose fortune has vaulted him into the middle of the campaign to take on President Donald Trump.
While Sanders started February with nearly $17 mil- lion in the bank, according to campaign finance disclosures
Democratic presidential candidates take the stage at the pri- mary debate in Las Vegas.
Today BET Networks along with the National Urban League and a number of other nationally recognized partners launched #ReclaimYourVote, a nationwide campaign to galva- nize Black voters around the 2020 Census and upcoming presidential election.
The campaign was an- nounced during the 2020 Media Entertainment Technol- ogy Alliance (META) confer- ence in L.A. which explores how the most influential peo- ple and platforms across sec- tors can work together to positively impact the African- American community.
Attendees welcomed former Democratic candidate, Sen. Kamala Harris to a rousing applause and a standing ova- tion. Harris spoke candidly about the absolute necessity for a renewed commitment to civic engagement in the Black community.
Referencing the Declaration of Independence, Harris noted that while the document reads that “all men are created equal,” they weren’t talking about anyone of African de- scent. Decades of voter sup- pression including gerrymandering and voter ID laws continue even today to suppress our ability to have an active and equal participation in this country’s democratic process. Now, Harris believes there’s a brand new weapon formed to keep the Black vote at bay.
“When Russia interfered in the 2016 election, they specifi- cally targeted Black folks,” said Harris. “The issue of race is also an issue of national secu- rity. What they did is they ex- posed America’s Achilles heel -- race.”
Harris believes that her own campaign was a target of Russian interference and there is plenty of evidence to indicate that Russia was at least par- tially responsible for getting
filed Thursday night, his next closest rival (nonbillionaire class) was Biden, at $7.1 mil- lion. Warren was closest to the red, with just $2.3 million left in her account, while Buttigieg ($6.6 million) and Klobuchar ($2.9 million) were in between.
The cash crunch comes at a critical time in the race, with nearly one-third of the dele- gates available in the primary
up for grabs on Super Tuesday onMarch3—andonlya handful of candidates able to marshal resources to adver- tise to voters in those 14 states. It’s why super PACs, demonized at the beginning of the 2020 primary, are sud- denly jumping in to assist most Democratic candidates, and it’s why the campaigns are now making ever more ur- gent pleas for financial help.
KAMALA HARRIS
Donald Trump elected as President. Her impassioned speech drove home the idea that the Black community must work together to harness our collective power.
“There is so much at stake in this election,” said Harris who encouraged the crowd to build their opinions on facts.“Recognize the power everyone has to use your voice and to combat these various forms of oppression.”
Harris ended her time on stage urging the crowd to use their voices and #ReclaimY- ourVote, reminding the audi- ence of BET’s new social initiative with the NAACP, the National Urban League, the National Action Network, Color of Change, and various other partners.
The action driven cam- paign is set to educate, engage, and empower , especially in preparation of the presidential election and the Census 2020, which will be our chance to be counted in before we are counted out.
“The 2020 Census and presidential election are piv- otal moments for our commu- nities that will produce lasting effects for generations to come, so we’re tackling the critical is- sues of voting rights and voting suppression head on with #Re- claimYourVote,” said Scott Mills, President, BET Net- works.
#ReclaimYourVote Campaign To
End Voter Suppression
Clint Eastwood Shows Support For Michael Bloomberg
Actor and director Clint Eastwood, a longtime sup- porter of Republican candi- dates, appeared to back Democratic candidate Michael Bloomberg for president and criticized Presi- dent Donald Trump's be- havior in office in an interview published in The Wall Street Journal Friday.
"The best thing we could do is just get Mike Bloomberg in there," the Hollywood Con- servative said of the former New York mayor, according to the Journal.
Eastwood told the news- paper that he approves of "cer- tain things" that Trump has done as President, without going into further detail.
He said, however, that he
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG
wishes Trump would behave "in a more genteel way, with- out tweeting and calling people names," the Journal reported. "I would personally like for
him to not bring himself to that level," he told the paper.
According to the Journal, Eastwood, who described himself as a libertarian, lamented that domestic poli- tics has become "ornery."
In an interview with Es- quire during the 2016 cam- paign, Eastwood was asked how he'd vote between Trump and Democratic pres- idential nominee Hillary Clinton.
"That's a tough one, isn't it? I'd have to go for Trump ... you know, 'cause she's de- clared that she's gonna follow in Obama's footsteps. There's been just too much funny busi- ness on both sides of the aisle. She's made a lot of dough out of being a politician," he said.
PAGE 6 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2020