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On the roster: Warren wilts - Biden campaign ready to take on Sanders - I’ll Tell You What: Live from the Lane Bryant lounge -Schumer climbs down from SupCo threats - He didn’t find it humerus



WARREN WILTS

Fox News: “Sen. Elizabeth Warren dropped out of the 2020 presidential race Thursday after a disappointing Super Tuesday in which she failed to win even her home state -- a development that could boost Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign by making him the lone progressive standard-bearer in the Democratic field. But, while making the widely expected announcement outside her Cambridge home with her husband Bruce by her side, the Massachusetts senator declined to make an endorsement at this stage. ‘Not today,’ Warren said, noting that she wanted more time to think about the decision. Her exit essentially leaves the race as a one-on-one battle between Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden, who is surging after claiming a stunning 10 victories on Super Tuesday. Warren first revealed the decision in a late-morning, all-staff call on Thursday. … ‘Our work continues, the fight goes on, and big dreams never die,’ Warren said. ‘From the bottom of my heart, thank you.’”



Biden campaign ready to take on Sanders - Politico: “The morning after whipping Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden woke up Wednesday to his primary opponent’s first paid negative TV ads attacking him over Social Security and trade. Biden’s campaign response: 2016. Framing Sanders as a divisive party outsider who won’t accept defeat, the Biden campaign pointed to his bitter Democratic primary fight four years ago with his party nemesis, Hillary Clinton. That ended with a chaotic nominating convention and Donald Trump’s election months later. Biden’s strategy capitalizes on Clinton's successful effort to brand Sanders as more unlikable than Biden among women, who favored the former vice president by 12 percentage points during his 10-state romp Super Tuesday, according to exit poll averages. With the averages showing Sanders lost black voters by even more — 34 points — the Biden campaign also tangentially brought up race in bashing the Vermont senator.”



Wall Street breathes a sigh of relief for Biden surge - NYT: “Joseph R. Biden Jr., the former vice president and a moderate candidate with solid support on Wall Street, had notched an unexpectedly strong showing in the Super Tuesday primaries. Of course, Mr. Sanders could still win the nomination — but for Mr. [Michael Novogratz] and others on Wall Street, Mr. Biden’s resurgence offered the opportunity to bankroll a Democrat they can get behind. ‘There’s a lot of momentum on Biden’s side,’ Mr. Novogratz said. Already, one of his colleagues at Galaxy Digital, a cryptocurrency investment firm, was planning a Biden fund-raiser. … By the end of [Wednesday], the S&P 500 had risen more than 4 percent, bouncing back from a steep drop the day before, reflecting Wall Street’s relief about Mr. Biden’s success. … Against that backdrop, Tuesday night’s results brought a surge of relief to many on Wall Street, who — fearful of the anticapitalist sentiment espoused by Senator Sanders and wary of another four years of a polarizing President Trump — had essentially sidelined themselves from political activism.”



Cortez is still Team Bernie, but softens some hard edges - Bloomberg: “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is all in for Bernie Sanders, but she’s not going to tear the Democratic party apart over it. Some of Sanders’s progressive supporters on Capitol Hill sounded a gentler tone than the candidate himself on Wednesday after Joe Biden’s robust comeback in the Super Tuesday primary contests. Even as liberal Democrats insist that offering a bold vision is the best way to build a coalition, they are leaving room to join moderate Democrats if that’s what it takes to defeat President Donald Trump. ‘I am supporting Bernie Sanders until the end,’ said Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat and a top Sanders surrogate. ‘But at the same time, I also am committed to supporting the nominee, whoever that might be.’”



THE RULEBOOK: UNDERSTANDING LIMITS

“As the natural limit of a democracy is that distance from the central point which will just permit the most remote citizens to assemble as often as their public functions demand, and will include no greater number than can join in those functions; so the natural limit of a republic is that distance from the centre which will barely allow the representatives to meet as often as may be necessary for the administration of public affairs.” – James Madison, Federalist No. 14



TIME OUT: A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE BOSTON MASSACRE

Smithsonian: “Tensions in the American colonies were rising. … Resentful toward their lack of representation in Parliament and desirous of the same rights as their fellow British subjects, the colonists agitated for relief from the burdensome levies. In response, George III dispatched roughly 1,000 troops to the Massachusetts town of Boston to curb the colony’s ongoing unrest. The soldiers had been stationed in Ireland for years, some close to a decade, establishing roots and families. …[The] British government allowed for hundreds of wives and kids to accompany their husbands and fathers on the 1768 journey. And for the next two years, British and Irish families lived alongside colonists in Boston, assisting each other when in need and establishing neighborly relationships, only for those relationships to be irreparably damaged when British troops fired upon Bostonians, killing five, in what became known as the Boston Massacre. In her new book, The Boston Massacre: A Family History, Serena Zabin, a professor of history at Carleton College, explores these lesser-known stories, examining the lives of this community during a tumultuous time in American history.”



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SCOREBOARD

ESTIMATED DELEGATES FOR DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION

Biden: 596

Sanders: 531

[Ed. note: 1,991 delegates needed to win]



TRUMP JOB PERFORMANCE

Average approval: 45.6 percent

Average disapproval: 51.8 percent

Net Score: -6.2 percent

Change from one week ago: ↓ 1.8 points

[Average includes: Fox News: 47% approve - 52% disapprove; IBD: 41% approve - 54% disapprove; Gallup: 47% approve - 51% disapprove; ABC News/WaPo: 46% approve - 52% disapprove; NBC News/WSJ: 47% approve - 50% disapprove.]



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I’LL TELL YOU WHAT: LIVE FROM THE LANE BRYANT LOUNGE

This week Dana Perino and Chris Stirewalt discuss how candidates performed on Super Tuesday. They discuss political twitter pitfalls and what gets them through long election night coverage. Plus, Chris is in studio with Dana and faces convention related trivia. LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE HERE



SCHUMER CLIMBS DOWN FROM SUPCO THREATS

Fox News: “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called out Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on the Senate floor Thursday morning for his controversial warning a day earlier that Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh would ‘pay the price’ for decisions in abortion cases. ‘There is nothing to call this except a threat,’ McConnell said. Schumer made the statement during an abortions rights rally hosted by the Center for Reproductive Rights as the court was hearing arguments in a case over an abortion-related Louisiana law. … After McConnell's remarks, Schumer took to the floor and began by claiming that McConnell made a ‘glaring omission’ by not mentioning that Schumer was speaking regarding a Supreme Court case that could impact women's ability to get an abortion. He then admitted that he chose the wrong words to convey his message. ‘Now I should not have used the words I used,’ Schumer said. ‘They didn't come out the way I intended to.’”



Chief Justice Roberts wasn’t too happy either - Bloomberg: “U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts delivered an extraordinary rebuke of Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, chastising him for making “threatening” statements about two justices during an abortion-rights rally outside the court. … ‘Justices know that criticism comes with the territory,’ Roberts said in a statement issued by the court, ‘but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous.’”



Aaron Blake: Why you should care about the Chuck Schumer-John Roberts dust-up - WaPo: “Schumer was standing in front of the court and attacking the justices even before they ruled on the case. Then, according to his office’s explanation, he warned them about political pressure that would be brought to bear if they rule the wrong way. He was effectively treating them like advocates rather than interpreters of the law. Now, nobody is pretending we don’t know exactly where Republican-appointed justices have stood on abortion rights cases in the past. But generally speaking, no matter how predictable Supreme Court vote splits have been, norms suggest they are to be treated as fundamental disagreements among justices about the Constitution — not as political acts by justices going to bat for one side or another or requiring political pressure campaigns. The balance of power relies upon the perception that the judiciary isn’t just an extension of the two political parties in Washington that have the occasions to appoint the judges.”



THE JUDGE’S RULING: REVIEWING THE PATRIOT ACT

This week Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano explains why he believes Patriot Act sections are weapons of totalitarian mass surveillance and should be repealed: “I am writing about this now because a section of the Patriot Act will expire on March 15, and many congressional liberals and libertarians – even a few conservatives still bruised at the governmental surveillance of candidate Donald Trump in 2016 – have been contemplating structural changes to this pernicious law. … Both [sections] 215 and 505 are weapons of mass surveillance and should be repealed. They are instruments of a totalitarian government, not of free people. They defy the Constitution. They presume that our rights are not natural but come from a government that can take them back.” More here.



AUDIBLE: ROAR

“I’m a lioness. Watch out.” – Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi talking with Variety magazine.



FROM THE BLEACHERS

“My liberal friends get apoplectic when I suggest that Joe Biden is suffering from early onset dementia. I am being serious, not derogatory or inflammatory. Why can we not concede the man has progressed beyond simple gaffe’s? At Mr. Biden’s age, this disease can progress quickly. I believe it could easily be an issue by the fall debates. Senator Sanders has heart issues, President Trump is seriously overweight. But apparently Biden’s mental state is taboo.” – Richard Jacobson, North Liberty, Iowa



[Ed. note: How do you feel when they say President Trump is mentally ill and delusional — so much so that he is unfit for command. You might tell them that they’re not his doctors. You might further say that voters can make their own judgements. People talk daily, nay, hourly about Biden’s mental acuity. The conversation is omnipresent. I see no signs of a taboo about his fitness for office.]



“It's always hard to read the tea leaves, especially in a multi-candidate primary, but yesterday's results seemed to me to primarily be a vote against the divisive (even at times hate speech) of Sanders, Warren and Trump. Biden on his own is far from a compelling candidate but is the antidote to the divisive rhetoric coming from Warren especially, and Sanders. The fact that Sanders did far better than Warren could reflect the fact that he is less strident in his denunciation of Wall Street, et al. Warren losing her home state to Biden seems to be a statement. There may be a growing hunger in the country for more civility, cooperation and even compromise. I hope fervently that is the case and that this is a dominant force in November.” – Matt Lincoln, Portola Valley, Calif.



[Ed. note: I want what you’re having, Mr. Lincoln! But kidding aside, I do think there is a real appetite for a better kind of politics. The question is whether anyone can find a way to win that way.]



Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.



HE DIDN’T FIND IT HUMERUS

AP: “A New Mexico woman is facing a larceny charge after authorities say she stole a neighbor’s anatomical skeleton model that allegedly was making an offensive gesture toward her. Court documents filed Monday show that Diana Hogrebe was charged with one count of larceny in connection with the skeleton heist, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports. Hogrebe of Cuyamungue, New Mexico, told Santa Fe County Sheriff’s deputies she was offended by the way the skeleton’s hand was posed — with the middle finger pointed up. Hogrebe told the Santa Fe New Mexican the episode was the culmination of a monthslong feud between her and neighbor Joseph Downs, who she said has hassled her family and other nearby residents. … The skeleton has not been located, authorities said. According to the deputy’s statement of probable cause, the skeleton was a gift to Downs from a family member and was worth about $1,500.”



AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…

“For most people, who cares? For the president of the United States, there are consequences. When the president's id speaks, the world listens.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing in the Washington Post on June 8, 2017.



Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.