Joe Biden used to be a progressive Democrat. What happened? | Bhaskar Sunkara

Social security and Medicare are the two most popular programs ever developed by the Democratic party. But Biden joined Republicans to try to cripple them

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren supporters not looking forward to a potential Joe Biden nomination might want to time-travel back to 1972.

That year, Biden was an underdog Senate candidate running against a popular incumbent. With his sister, Valerie, as campaign manager and limited resources, he knocked on hundreds of do...

Biden calls for Sanders to disown ‘doctored’ video on Social Security

Joe Biden has called for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign to “disown” what he calls “doctored video” that some Sanders supporters say shows the former vice-president endorsing Republican calls to cut Social Security and Medicare.

Related: 'The red wall is cracking': Buttigieg gets ovation after expecting protests

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Democratic debate: Warren challenges Sanders over electability – live

  • ‘The only people on this stage who have won every single election that they’ve been in are the women,’ Warren says in final debate before Iowa caucuses
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After the first commercial break of the debate, Bernie Sanders had spoken more than any other candidate, taking up about twice as much time as Tom Steyer.

DEBATE AIR TIME: Who’s spoken the most? Here’s the @CBSNews tally through the first commercial break of the #DemDebate: pic.twitter.com/AoDQhVpZjb

The Democratic debate has returned from a commercial break, and the conversation has turned to healthcare.

Bernie Sanders defended his Medicare for All proposal, which he has centered his presidential campaign around.

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Donald Trump backs quick dismissal of impeachment by Senate – live updates

Nancy Pelosi has said she will send the articles of impeachment ‘soon’ but the president is no longer keen on a showy televised trial

3.14pm GMT

Former Vice President Joe Biden rolled out a set of endorsements Monday underscore two aspects of the Democratic primary Biden’s campaign is focusing on in the final days before the Iowa caucuses.

First, Biden’s team announced that Rep. Colin Allred had backed...

Trump impeachment: House prepares for crucial vote amid whistleblower row – live

Fury erupts over Republican naming the alleged whistleblower who triggered the congressional investigation into Trump and Ukraine

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The House has passed a major piece on healthcare legislation during the Judiciary committee impeachment hearing break.

The bill, HR 3, passed by 230 votes to 192 mostly along party lines. It would lower the cost of prescription drugs by allowing government to negotiate prices with manufacturers. It makes major changes to the US government’s Medicare program by capping out of pocket drug cost expenses under to the program to $2,000 and creates new dental and vision benefits.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bill would cap Medicare recipients’ out-of-pocket costs for medicines at $2,000 a year. It would use about $360 billion of its projected 10-year savings from lower drug costs to establish Medicare coverage for dental care, hearing, and vision, filling major gaps for seniors.

But the legislation has no chance of passing the Republican-controlled Senate, and the White House has issued a veto threat. Still, Democrats saw a victory in the message their bill sends to voters.

Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren on Thursday accused her more moderate rivals of failing to stand up to the rich and pledged to fix a “rigged” US economy, as she sought to re-energize her stalled campaign.
Warren delivered pointed criticisms aimed at several others vying to win the Democratic nomination to face Donald Trump in the 2020 election, including former Vice President Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Reuters writes.

In a speech to the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, Warren also faulted unnamed Democrats for soft-pedaling their rhetoric for political reasons.

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How did Democrats win Louisiana? With classic progressive populism | Chris Kromm

John Bel Edwards is conservative on abortion and guns, but he energized the base – and white moderates – with Medicaid

In the weeks running up to Louisiana’s closely watched governor’s race, President Trump and the White House went all-in to deliver a Republican victory. The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr, headlined a rally for Republican candidate Eddie Rispone in early October, and Vice-President Mike Pence visited the state twice. President Trump himself made three trips to Loui...

House releases transcripts from key witnesses in Trump impeachment inquiry – live

Committees release depositions with Marie Yovanovitch and Michael McKinley and say Volker and Sondland transcripts will follow

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8.45pm GMT

Joe Biden’s deputy campaign manager and communications director Kate Bedingfield has cast doubt over the feasibility of Elizabeth Warren’s payment plan for Medicare for all.

“At a...

Pete Buttigieg: race is between me and Warren – as new poll puts him fourth

Pete Buttigieg is fourth in a four-strong pack clear of the Democratic presidential field, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. But he thinks the final choice of who will challenge Donald Trump will be between him and Elizabeth Warren.

Related: Liberty and Justice for Democrats in Des Moines – but no clear Iowa star

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Top Democrats criticize Elizabeth Warren’s Medicare for All plan – live

Biden campaign and others not sold on Warren’s $20tn proposal while Nancy Pelosi says any Trump impeachment case must be ‘ironclad’

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8.00pm GMT

Senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said that it was “certainly possible” the House would vote to impeach Trump.

Speaking to reporters on the White House driveway, Conway went on to at...

‘I took a stand’: the centrist Democrat navigating impeachment in a divided district

Abigail Spanberger caught in delicate balance of advancing policy agenda and ensuring Trump is held accountable

At a middle school auditorium three hours south of the capital, where an intensifying impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump consumes all aspects of political life, the Virginia congresswoman Abigail Spanberger greeted a restive crowd of constituents with a PowerPoint presentation on the American system of government.

Related: Make no mistake: Medicare for All would c...