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Howard Schultz, the chairman and CEO of Starbucks, is being urged to challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. Schultz, 62, is getting encouragement from supporters because they believe "the time is right for someone who's not a political lifer," New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd said on Saturday. "It may be a tempting proposition." Raised in low-income housing in Brooklyn, Schultz later graduated from Northern Michigan University. He bought Starbucks in 1988 and built the company to where its operating income totaled $939 million in its most recent quarter, on $4.9 billion in sales. "He has strong opinions,...

Although many commentators – and the Republican Party’s leadership – believe that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic Party’s nominee, I’m not so sure. The ultimate proof? Look no further: "Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his associates have begun to actively explore a possible presidential campaign, which would upend the Democratic field and deliver a direct threat to Hillary Rodham Clinton, several people who have spoken to Mr. Biden or his closest advisers say." Biden and his buddies have started talking to Democratic leaders and donors because the latter are worried by Clinton’s “increasingly visible vulnerabilities as a...

Former SC Democratic party chair Dick Harpootlian told MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki Sunday Vice President Joe Biden’s consideration of a presidential run actually gives Democrats the best chance of retaining the White House in 2016. Harpootlian said Hillary Clinton’s track record will cause her and the Democrats to “die a death of a thousand cuts,” yet Biden is “an inspirational figure” that voters can rally around. HARPOOTLIAN: I think Hillary comes into the race, as she did in ’08 with all kinds of baggage… There’s going to be distractions, we saw just this week with the Wall Street Journal about payments...

Aides close to Hillary Clinton are getting increasingly nervous that Vice President Joe Biden may throw his hat into the 2016 presidential race later this summer, Democratic sources told Fox News. The sources said that that eyebrows were raised recently at Clinton’s headquarters in Brooklyn when Biden’s chief of staff at the White House, Steve Ricchetti, was spotted having breakfast recently with major Democratic donor Louis Susman, a Clinton friend who served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom under President Obama.

For the first time in national history, a Rhode Island native son is running for President: Lincoln Chafee. “Stumbling” is more accurate, since shortly after declaring an exploratory committee, he fumbled into making himself a full-fledged candidate, and all the campaign finance hoopla which accompanies it. A one-term Republican US Senator, then one-term Independent Governor, Chafee entered the 2016 Presidential Election as a Democrat. Confused? Cable news program Common Sense openly derided his ambitions: “Are you kidding me?” MSNBC took his campaign seriously enough, asked him serious questions, and Chafee already looked like a deer in headlights. Joining the repeal...

Instead of getting frustrated and, in O’Malley’s case, saying “White lives matter,” presidential wannabes O’Malley and Sanders should have been much more politically savvy when they were confronted by #BlackLivesMatter activists at Netroots Nation.Being a politician is a tough job because unless you’re in a dictatorship, of royalty or Dr. Doom, you actually have to deal with dissent, disagreement and protests from the people you rule. Is it fun? Of course not, but just about every elected official in America, right or left, has to deal with it. President Barack Obama got heckled by an undocumented transgender woman in his...

Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley apologized on Saturday for saying "All lives matter" while discussing police violence against African-Americans with liberal demonstrators. Several dozen demonstrators interrupted the former Maryland governor while he was speaking at the Netroots Nation conference, a gathering of liberal activists, demanding that he address criminal justice and police brutality. When they shouted, "Black lives matter!" a rallying cry of protests that broke out after several black Americans were killed at the hands of police in recent months, O'Malley responded: "Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter." The demonstrators, who were mostly black, responded by...

A town hall for liberal activists featuring two Democratic presidential candidates was interrupted by dozens of demonstrators on Saturday who shouted down the contenders and demanded they address criminal justice issues and police brutality... ..."Black lives matter! Black lives matter!" they shouted toward O'Malley, and began a call-and-repeat rallying cry that activists have been using in the wake of the death of 28-year-old Sandra Bland, who died in police custody last week. "If I die in police in custody!" one of the chants went, "Burn everything down! That's the only way mother******* like you listen!"

PHOENIX, Arizona – Bernie Sanders had his largest rally yet of his nascent campaign on Saturday night in Phoenix, Arizona. “We’ve had big turnouts in Wisconsin, in Iowa … but this is the biggest turnout yet!” Sanders said as he took the stage to begin his speech. “And some people say Arizona is a conservative state!” he said, receiving wild applause and cheers from the crowd. A campaign spokesperson confirmed that over 11,000 people attended the rally at Phoenix Convention Center, which the largest attendance number yet for a Sanders rally.

Bernie Sanders is the first real statesman to run for the White House in decades. By focusing on the real issues (as opposed to shallow distractions such as flags, non-existent threats, and celebrity scandals) and refraining from attacking his opponents, he is gaining support across the spectrum at a greater rate than any of us could have imagined three months ago. At the same time, Senator Elizabeth Warren, who shares Sanders’ Progressive ideals and has been supportive of his campaign, could be his most likely running mate. What would a Bernie – Elizabeth Administration look like – and what would...

It’s time to draft Al Gore: If Democrats want to win, it’s clear neither Hillary nor Sanders is the way The presidential election is still sixteen months away, but this much is clear: Hillary Clinton is a vulnerable candidate. Since announcing her candidacy in April, Clinton’s stature has steadily slipped. Things got even worse this week. We learned, first, that Bernie Sanders eclipsed Clinton in small, individual donations, which is an indicator of popular support among likely voters. Second, and more problematic, the newest AP poll revealed significant weaknesses among Democrats on a host of issues, including trust, character, and...

<p>Former Gov. Martin O’Malley blasted “hate-spewing” GOP presidential candidates Monday as he made his own appeal to win over Hispanics, vowing to expand on the record he amassed in Maryland, where he said he “forged a new consensus” behind pro-immigration policies.</p>

Donors have given just $30,000 to Lincoln Chafee’s Democratic run for president, leading him to acknowledge that Democratic competitor Bernie Sanders is filling the role he hoped to play in the 2016 contest. Chafee lent his campaign $364,000, according to federal campaign finance filings. The former Rhode Island governor trails by a wide margin in fundraising. The campaign for Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton said it raised $45 million since mid-April, while Sanders, a Vermont senator, has raised $15 million since he joined the race in late April. “I always thought that there was fundraising potential for an honest progressive...

Another day on the presidential campaign trail, another crowd of eye-popping size for Bernie Sanders. The independent senator from Vermont attracted more than 2,500 people to a convention center here on Friday night as part of his continued quest to lead a "political revolution" and win the Democratic nomination in a field that also includes Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Hillary Clinton: 75% Bernie Sanders: 15% Jim Webb: 4% Martin O'Malley: 2% Lincoln Chafee: 0%

Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb announced in an email Thursday that he will seek the Democratic nomination for president. "I understand the odds, particularly in today's political climate where fair debate is so often drowned out by huge sums of money," Webb said in the email. "But our country needs a fresh approach to solving the problems that confront us and too often unnecessarily divide us," he added.

"In case you haven't noticed, there are a lot of people here," Bernie Sanders said a bit awed as he took the stage in front of nearly 10,000 in a coliseum here. Sanders has been attracting outsize crowds wherever he takes his unlikely presidential campaign. Five thousand came out for his kickoff rally in his hometown of Burlington, Vermont. Another 5,000 turned out in Denver, Colorado. In Minneapolis, a thousand listened from outside after the basketball arena where Sanders was speaking filled to capacity. But Madison was different. [Snip] Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton attracted 5,500 people, according to her campaign,...

This might be interesting. Bernie TV Live feed of his Madison, WI speech at 8 PM EDT today. They say to expect 9500 people to show but we shall see. Hillary raised $45 million in the first quarter but the MOJO definitely seems to be with Bernie Sanders. BTW, the comments there are coming fast and furious. Oh, and don't pay attention to the announcement that the event is over. It won't begin until 8 PM EDT. LIVE FEED.

The Bernie Sandernistas are attacking Clinton Cash. No, they haven't gone so far as to specifically attack the Clinton Cash fiunneled to head DUmmie Skinner via his wife, Shelly Moskwa, in her role as Treasurer of Friends of Hillary as revealed in detail on FEC documents featured in a previous DUFU EDITION. Since these revelations, Skinner seems to have gone into a witness protection program as a sort of voluntary "Desparecido" so as to avoid having to face his fellow DUmmies concerning his Clinton Cash. In the meantime the DUmmies of the Sandernista faction which consists of about 99%...

While Hillary Clinton is viewed by many as a political powerhouse who will cruise to the Democratic presidential nomination, there may be room for a familiar face to challenge her: Joe Biden. The newest indication that the vice president could jump into the race comes from a Wall Street Journal report, which cites friends and advisers who say Biden, 72, received encouragement to do so from sons Beau and Hunter. Beau Biden died last month after a long battle with brain cancer. Hillary Clinton, who served as secretary of state during President Obama’s first term and worked closely with Biden,...