| | | | Can Sanders and Warren end Democrats' day of dissent? | | The depth of the Democratic Party's divide was on display with two sets of boos. Just hours before the convention kicked off in Philadelphia, outgoing party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz received a harsh reception at a Florida delegate breakfast. Then, a more ominous sign: At a preconvention rally, Bernie Sanders was booed by his own supporters because they didn't like his calls for party unity.
Here's the line that Sanders' supporters rejected: "We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine."
So Democrats made last-minute changes. Wasserman Schultz -- who has now seen what fierce opposition she faces -- is completely sidelined. Instead, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the Baltimore mayor and DNC secretary, will gavel the convention in and out. Wasserman Schultz told the South Florida Sun Sentinel's Anthony Man she decided to step aside "in the interest of making sure that we can start the Democratic convention on a high note."
But Democrats were still worried. Clinton aide Marlon Marshall and Rich Pelletier, Sanders' deputy campaign manager, huddled this afternoon to develop a joint game plan to try to avoid excessive disruptions.
Then, Sanders texted this to his delegates this afternoon: "I ask you as a personal courtesy to me to not engage in any kind of protest on the floor. It's of utmost importance you explain this to your delegations - Bernie." CNN's Stephen Collinson has more on how Sanders is trying to cool tensions.
What's happening on the floor right now: Sanders aides are urging his supporters to take down their anti-Trans-Pacific Partnership signs to avoid reopening a sharp platform battle. Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver ran into DNC vice chair Donna Brazile, pledging to help every way he can and noting that "emotions are hot right now." Brazile told Weaver she has him "on speed dial," and the two hugged, each saying, "I love you." Meanwhile, competing chants of "Bernie, Bernie, Bernie" and "Hillary, Hillary, Hillary" keep breaking out. Sanders backers -- including former NAACP head Ben Jealous -- are being used to introduce key parts of the program, to tamp down opposition.
The big question tonight: Can the headliners -- firebrand liberal Sen. Elizabeth Warren, followed by Sanders -- ultimately quell the dissenters and get liberals to follow them onto Team Clinton? My colleague Gregory Krieg, who's spent all day with the protesters, throws some cold water on that idea: | | "She's got a fresh mouth. Other than that, she's got nothing going." -- Donald Trump on Elizabeth Warren at a rally today. He also mused about why Hillary Clinton ditched her maiden name, Rodham, and called her "Hillary Rotten Clinton." | | | | Al Gore, the only Democratic luminary who hadn't endorsed Hillary Clinton, threw his support this afternoon behind the wife of the president under whom he was vice president. | | Who's on the Democratic speakers' lineup? | | Democratic heavyweights will punctuate each night's speakers' list -- starting tonight with Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, first lady Michelle Obama, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. (On night two, it's Bill Clinton. Night three, Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Tim Kaine. And Thursday night, Chelsea Clinton and Hillary Clinton.)
The party's future stars: The National Journal's Karyn Bruggeman highlights some to watch: New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Nevada state senator and congressional candidate Ruben Kihuen, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. Read her take on why each matters.
Looking for celebrities? Here are 27 of them who will be in Philadelphia. | | No wonder Philadelphia booed Santa Claus | | | It's impossible to get anywhere in this town. The hotels are all far away from the Wells Fargo Center, and it's been difficult for cabs and Uber drivers to get to drop-off points. Oh, and temperatures are in the upper 90s. We're not the only ones with complaints: | | | It's not just the logistics. Democrats hoped for a slick, drama-free, star-studded production that would outshine their Republican counterparts' previous week in Cleveland. But here, the protests are bigger, the opposition is fiercer and the party canned its chairwoman the day before it kicked off its convention. There's a long week ahead in Philadelphia -- but entering day one, it's possible that Cleveland rocks, after all. | | | Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is egging on the notion of a divided Democratic Party. | | Trump gets his post-RNC bounce | | Despite the Melania Trump plagiarism controversy, the Ted Cruz dust-up and the "My Little Pony" moment, Donald Trump got the post-Republican National Convention polling bump he wanted, a CNN/ORC Poll out this morning shows. It's the first big post-convention bounce since 2000, per CNN's Jennifer Agiesta.
Here are the numbers: Trump comes out of his convention ahead of Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House, topping her 44% to 39% in a four-way matchup including libertarian Gary Johnson (9%) and Green Party candidate Jill Stein (3%) and by 3 points in a two-way head-to-head matchup, 48% to 45%. That latter finding represents a 6-point convention bounce for Trump, which is traditionally measured in two-way matchups.
Trump would win if the election were held today -- but narrowly, per the latest FiveThirtyEight forecast. | | The FBI on Monday confirmed it is investigating a hack into the Democratic National Committee, the first acknowledgment from the agency that it is probing the incident, which U.S. officials suspect came from a Russian cyberattack, CNN's Evan Perez reports.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus weighed in on Hugh Hewitt's radio show, saying: "The Russians didn't write the emails and neither did whoever else. The WikiLeaks people didn't write the emails. The DNC wrote those emails. So they have to answer for what those emails say and why paid staff and donors to the DNC were adding an arm to the Hillary Clinton campaign during the primary season."
Also weighing in: Edward Snowden, who made the case in a tweetstorm that the NSA has the capability to easily identify who infiltrated the DNC -- but if the U.S. government doesn't use it to quickly, publicly identify those responsible, "such hacks will become common." | | | Debbie Wasserman Schultz's primary opponent is filing a legal complaint over the leaked DNC emails. ... Donald Trump is counter-programming the Democratic convention. ... S.E. Cupp says the Trump she knows is a Democrat. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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