memeorandum: “We Needed Weird Things to Happen—And They Keep Happening”: Inside Bloomberg's Strategy After the Iowa Meltdown (Chris Smith/Vanity Fair)

6:10 PM ET, February 4, 2020

Top Items:

This Is The Buzzy Democratic Firm That Botched The Iowa Caucuses — Shadow, a Democratic digital firm, created the app that was supposed to deliver quicker caucus results. — The tech arm of ACRONYM, a Democratic digital nonprofit group that has rapidly expanded in recent years …

The Daily Beast:

Investors Rush to Downplay Ties to Firm Behind Iowa Clusterfuck — The frantic cleanup put a microscope on one of Democratic Party's fastest-rising digital stars. — Hours after a debacle that marred Monday's Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, investors in a company hired …

Discussion: The Atlantic, HuffPost, Spectator USA, NBC News, National Review, Politico, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Fox News, CNBC, Slate, ProPublica and Raw Story

Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:

The most important Iowa result is in. Democrats should worry. — DES MOINES — No one knows how long it will be before it is clear which Democratic presidential candidate won the Iowa caucuses. — But the most important tally of the night has been reported, and it should worry Democrats.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

The Democratic Party's Crisis of Legitimacy May Be Just Beginning — We are living in an era of what political scientists describe as “strong partisanship and weak parties” — or, alternatively, as “negative partisanship.” The electorate is polarized into opposing camps …

Zach Simonson / Washington Post:

My chaotic, infuriating night running an Iowa caucus — People were excited to participate. Now the story will be about this mess, not their votes. — There's an old joke: “I'm not a member of an organized political party. I'm a Democrat.” We Iowans went into our caucuses expecting some snags.

Discussion: Common Dreams, The American Independent, NB Blog, Slate and The Guardian, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:
Live: Iowa Caucus Results 2020

Discussion: Political Wire and VTDigger

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Watch: Iowa Voter Freaks Out on Buttigieg Precinct Capt. After Finding Out Mayor Pete is Gay

Discussion: The Hill, The Daily Caller and New York Post

Tim Alberta / Politico:
The Death of Iowa — DES MOINES, Iowa — There can be no doubting …

Discussion: New Yorker, The Bulwark, Los Angeles Times, CNN, Associated Press, The Moderate Voice, Vanity Fair, Getty Images, Washington Post, Vox, Talking Points Memo, The Guardian and Disrn

New York Times:
‘A Systemwide Disaster’: How the Iowa Caucuses Melted Down

Associated Press:
The Latest: At least 50% of Iowa results to come Tuesday

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, The Hill, CNBC, National Review, Washington Post, New York Post and Breitbart

David Hurlburt / WCVB:
Exclusive: Bernie Sanders leads in WCVB/UMass Amherst New Hampshire Primary poll

Discussion: Breitbart

Timothy P. Carney / Washington Examiner:
Come on, we basically know how Iowa voted: Against Biden

Discussion: Breitbart, Big League Politics and Reason

Nick Coltrain / Des Moines Register:
Bernie Sanders is ‘extremely disappointed’ Iowa Democratic Party hasn't released caucus results

Discussion: Breitbart and The Smoke Eater

VICE:
The Democrats Screwed America With an App No One Asked For

Discussion: The Intercept, New Republic and New York Times

Adam Edelman / NBC News:
Nevada Democrats won't use app that caused Iowa caucus fiasco

Discussion: Axios and Townhall

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Social media was a cesspool of toxic Iowa conspiracy theories last night. It's only going to get worse.

Discussion: Reason, PJ Media Home, Raw Story, Townhall and The Verge

Kevin Roose / New York Times:
The Only Safe Election Is a Low-Tech Election

Discussion: The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Intercept, Fox News, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Common Dreams, MIT Technology Review, Twitchy, Redstate and Vanity Fair

Wall Street Journal:
Iowa Caucus Results Delayed by Apparent App Issue

Discussion: Slate, Fox News, Washington Post, NPR, Engadget, Townhall, Vox, Raw Story, CNN, Mother Jones, The Federalist, The Daily Caller and Redstate, more at Mediagazer »

Politico:
'It's a total meltdown': Confusion grips Iowa with no official results in sight

Alison Gowans / The Gazette:
Bernie Sanders gets big support from Latino caucusgoers in West Liberty

Discussion: Big League Politics

Los Angeles Times:
Partial Iowa caucus results to be released this afternoon; timing of full release uncertain

Discussion: Washington Post, VICE, The Gateway Pundit and Althouse

Grace Segers / CBS News:

Susan Collins will vote to acquit Trump, saying he's “learned” from impeachment — Watch Norah O'Donnell's exclusive interview with Susan Collins on the “CBS Evening News” on Tuesday, February 4, at 6:30 p.m. ET. — Washington — Republican Senator Susan Collins announced Tuesday she will vote …

Discussion: HuffPost, National Review, Axios, Los Angeles Times, Raw Story, The American Independent, Political Wire, Mediaite and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Gregg Re / Fox News: Republican Susan Collins, key swing-vote senator, announces she will vote to acquit Trump

Amber Phillips / Washington Post:
These are the ideal conditions for Trump on his State of the Union

Discussion: The Hill, Politico and Anchorage Daily News

Nick R. Martin / The Informant:

Threat against Adam Schiff — Hi, and welcome to The Informant, a publication covering hate and extremism in America, written and edited by me, Nick R. Martin. — A lot has happened in the past several days, so today's intelligence briefing is packed full of links and information.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Raw Story and Mother Jones

Politico:
Arizona man facing charges for threatening Adam Schiff

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and IJR

Politico:
Rand Paul reads alleged whistleblower's name and Republicans ‘fine’ with it

Discussion: Big League Politics and Daily Kos

Rashaan Ayesh / Axios:
Rand Paul reads alleged name of Ukraine whistleblower on Senate floor

Discussion: Breitbart

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast: Rand Paul Repeatedly Names Alleged Whistleblower in Senate Floor Speech

New York Times:

Bloomberg Plans to Double Ad Spending After Iowa Caucus Problem — The former New York City mayor, whose campaign is fueled by a multibillion-dollar fortune, will also expand his campaign's field staff to more than two thousand people. — DES MOINES — Michael R. Bloomberg's presidential campaign moved …

Discussion: Axios, National Review, Mediaite, Political Wire, Washington Post, The Hill and The Independent

Chris Smith / Vanity Fair:

“We Needed Weird Things to Happen—And They Keep Happening”: Inside Bloomberg's Strategy After the Iowa Meltdown — Catastrophic Democratic chaos benefits the billionaire former mayor, whose gargantuan campaign and vast spending is already remaking the race. The question for next month is: Can he win actual votes?

Discussion: New York Times, The Daily Beast and New Republic

Brian Slodysko / Associated Press:
Bloomberg doubles ad spending after chaos of Iowa caucuses

Discussion: Reuters, New York Times and Washington Post

Harold Meyerson / American Prospect: My Post-Election, Pre-Result Analysis

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Trump Job Approval at Personal Best 49% — WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump's job approval rating has risen to 49%, his highest in Gallup polling since he took office in 2017. — The new poll finds 50% of Americans disapproving of Trump, leaving just 1% expressing no opinion.

Yahoo News:

Top Navy SEAL commander resigns after apparent disagreements with Trump — The officer responsible for US Navy special-operations forces will step down from his position in September, — The Intercept reported over the weekend. — Rear Adm. Collin Green's retirement follows …

Discussion: Business Insider and Task & Purpose

The White House:

Special Guests for President Trump's 3rd State of the Union Address — Below are the special guests who will join President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tonight for the President's third State of the Union. — From brave military families to hardworking local leaders, this year's guests come from many walks of life.

Discussion: Associated Press, Axios, Fox News, CNN, Politico, LifeNews.com, Breitbart, The Last Refuge, The Hill, NPR, Bloomberg, IJR, Washington Post and 6abc

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Iowa Might Have Screwed Up The Whole Nomination Process — In trying to build a forecast model of the Democratic primaries, we literally had to think about the entire process from start (Iowa) to finish (the Virgin Islands on June 6). Actually, we had to do more than that.

Discussion: Spectator USA, IJR and PJ Media Home

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Trump is about to get a lot more dangerous. Here's what's coming. — When President Trump is acquitted by the Senate on Tuesday afternoon, he'll surely take from it the message that he can continue abusing his powers however he sees fit to corrupt the 2020 election. He now knows he'll face zero consequences.

Discussion: Daily Kos and Raw Story

David Enrich / New York Times:

The Money Behind Trump's Money — The inside story of the president and Deutsche Bank, his lender of last resort. — One Day in early 2017, Mike Offit went to the Yale Club in Manhattan for a lunch hosted by a group called Business Executives for National Security.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Guardian, Fortune and Raw Story

Vanity Fair:

“I WANT THAT GODDAMN FUCKING STATEMENT”: Behind the Scenes of Trump's Secret Birther Implosion — Just before his first debate with Hillary Clinton, Trump's campaign decided it was time for him to revoke birtherism at long last. But, as Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng report in Sinking In the Swamp …

Discussion: Mediaite, Raw Story and Political Wire

Jordan Libowitz / CREW:

CREW Files Hatch Act Complaint Against Jared Kushner — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Washington — White House Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President Jared Kushner violated the Hatch Act during a CNN interview on Sunday, according to a complaint filed today by Citizens for Responsibility …

Discussion: Axios, The Hill, CNN and Raw Story

Brian Stelter / CNN:

White House excludes CNN from annual pre-SOTU lunch with news anchors — New York (CNN Business)President Donald Trump's targeting of CNN is moving to yet another arena: The annual presidential lunch with television network anchors. — CNN anchors are being excluded from Tuesday's lunch, three sources said on Monday night.

Discussion: Mediaite, New York Post, Vanity Fair, Breitbart, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, Twitchy, Townhall and Daily Kos, more at Mediagazer »

NPR:

Giuliani Says Trump Should ‘100%’ Investigate Biden After Expected Senate Acquittal — Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who is President Trump's personal attorney, says the president should not back away from investigating Joe Biden even after Trump's expected acquittal Wednesday by the U.S. Senate.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Mediaite, Raw Story and The Daily Beast