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On the roster: Biden tries to go green - Amid Rust Belt woes, team Trump looks to blue states - Clyburn changes tune on impeachment - Audible: She really should be going - Lawlz



BIDEN TRIES TO GO GREEN

WaPo: “Joe Biden is embracing the framework of the Green New Deal in his bid for the White House… Biden released a 22-page climate plan Tuesday that appears at least in part aimed at blunting the criticisms of environmentalists and others on the left who have argued Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign is out of step with the current Democratic Party. …Biden’s climate plan adopts the rhetoric — and at times, many of the actual policy proposals — of the Green New Deal resolution put forward this year by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), which calls on the nation to eliminate its carbon footprint by 2030. Biden is trying to make his case on climate change — setting his own date for the nation to achieve net-zero emissions at 2050 at the latest — while vowing to help coal workers transition in a new clean-energy economy that he promises can create more than 10 million well-paying jobs.”



Boom fades, but lead remains - CNN: “Former Vice President Joe Biden continues to be the top pick for the Democratic nomination for president among Democrats and Democratic-leaning registered voters, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, but his support has faded some since just after the official launch of his campaign. …The poll finds 32% support Biden, down from 39% saying they supported him in an April CNN poll. … But none of the other candidates have shown notable gains in the last month. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders continues to stand alone in second place with 18%, followed by California Sen. Kamala Harris with 8%, 7% for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and 5% each for South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker comes in with 3% support, with former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar at 2% each. The remaining 14 candidates tested in the poll landed at 1% or less.”



Team Warren is on ‘sticker patrol’ - Politico: “Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign is obsessed with stickers. At a half-dozen events in rural Eastern Iowa over Memorial Day weekend, paid organizers and volunteers swarmed every attendee, affixing brightly colored circles to them as proof their contact information had been secured. The sticker patrol circled the room before Warren spoke — and afterward in the selfie line — just in case anyone happened to slip through. The campaign’s hyper-vigilance about capturing data on every potential supporter isn’t unique to Iowa, but the sheer number of people dedicated to the task certainly is. Warren has made an early wager on the state unrivaled by other Democratic hopefuls, aiming to strike early in the nomination contest by out-organizing the competition. She already has more than 50 staffers in Iowa, and more are coming…”



Dems turn to social media for primary help - NYT: “…Democratic presidential contenders have already combined to visit more than 30 states and territories for public events, far more than in any past nominating contest when candidates would spend the vast majority of their time in Iowa and New Hampshire. The explosive growth of social media, the increasing diversity of the Democratic electorate and changes to the party’s electoral calendar and debate format have created more of a national primary than ever before. The shift reflects the new imperatives driving campaign strategy. With voters increasingly consuming news online, candidates are eager to go viral, which helps build their grass-roots and small-donor networks. This has made the feedback loop between the internet and television news the most powerful tidal force in politics, prompting campaigns to approach states as would-be soundstages for specific messages they are trying to deliver and constituencies they are hoping to reach.”



Spending on political ads will hit $10 billion in 2020 - WSJ: “Spending on political advertisements will hit a new high in 2020, surging $3.6 billion above the most recent presidential campaign year. Political ad spending will increase to $9.9 billion in 2020, according to the latest U.S. ad forecast from WPP PLC’s ad-buying unit GroupM. That would be up from $8.7 billion in 2018, the year of the most recent midterm Congressional elections, and $6.3 billion in 2016. The growth between presidential campaign years is accelerating: Political ad spending rose by $2 billion between 2012 and 2016, according to GroupM, and by $1.1 billion between 2008 and 2012.”



THE RULEBOOK: NIMBY

“A patriot in a State that does not import or export, discerns insuperable objections against the power of direct taxation.” – James Madison, Federalist No. 38



TIME OUT: WALK IT OUT

Atlantic: “While basic guidelines can be helpful when they’re accurate, human health is far too complicated to be reduced to a long chain of numerical imperatives. … I-Min Lee, a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard University T. H. Chan School of Public Health … began looking into the [10,000] step rule because she was curious about where it came from. … Based on conversations she’s had with Japanese researchers, Lee believes that name was chosen for the product because the character for ‘10,000’ looks sort of like a man walking. … In her research, Lee put it to the test by observing the step totals and mortality rates of more than 16,000 elderly American women. … ‘The basic finding was that at 4,400 steps per day, these women had significantly lower mortality rates compared to the least active women,’ Lee explains. If they did more, their mortality rates continued to drop, until they reached about 7,500 steps, at which point the rates leveled out.”



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SCOREBOARD

Trump job performance

Average approval: 40.6 percent

Average disapproval: 52.8 percent

Net Score: -12.2 points

Change from one week ago: down 0.6 points

[Average includes: CNN: 43% approve - 53% disapprove; CNBC: 40% approve - 50% disapprove; CBS News: 41% approve - 52% disapprove; Monmouth University: 41% approve - 52% disapprove; Quinnipiac University: 38% approve - 57% disapprove.]



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AMID RUST BELT WOES, TEAM TRUMP LOOKS TO BLUE STATES

Politico: “President Donald Trump is targeting a trio of states that he lost in 2016 — a move aimed at widening his path to reelection that comes as he’s struggling in the Rust Belt states that propelled him to the White House. Trump officials are zeroing in on New Mexico, Nevada and New Hampshire, where they insist there’s an opening despite heavy losses Republicans suffered there in the midterms. They’ve deployed around a half-dozen staffers to New Hampshire and several to Nevada, an unusually early investment in places that favor Democrats. And the campaign is doing polling to tease out Trump’s level of support in New Mexico, a focal point for campaign manager Brad Parscale, and they have discussed dispatching aides to the blue state. The maneuvering underscores how Trump is trying to capitalize on his vast financial and organizational advantage over Democrats. Yet it also illustrates how the president, whose own polling shows him falling behind in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, is seeking out additional routes to a second term.”



GOP primary challenge against Trump on life support - Fox News: “Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld may be it when it comes to Republicans primary-challenging President Trump for the 2020 GOP nomination. Popular two-term Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan – who had flirted with a White House run and this spring made stops in Iowa and New Hampshire – is now out of the running. ‘I truly appreciate all of the encouragement I received from people around the nation urging me to consider making a run for President in 2020. However, I will not be a candidate,’ Hogan tweeted on Saturday. One day earlier, another vocal Trump critic appeared to signal he was shying away from taking on the president in the primaries. ‘I don't see a way to get there,’ former two-term Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a senior CNN political commentator, said Friday in an appearance on the cable news network. ‘Right now, there’s no path,’ he acknowledged.”



CLYBURN CHANGES TUNE ON IMPEACHMENT

Politico: “House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn on Monday walked back remarks suggesting that Democrats will impeach President Donald Trump, reversing course to say he’s ‘farther’ from backing impeachment than most of his caucus. Clyburn’s comments came after a private leadership meeting Monday evening in which Speaker Nancy Pelosi reiterated that she didn’t support launching impeachment proceedings right now despite a growing push within the caucus. ‘I’m probably farther away from impeachment than anybody in our caucus,’ Clyburn (D-S.C.) told reporters Monday night. ‘We will not get out in front of our committees. We’ll see what the committees come up with. I’ve said that forever.’ Asked by POLITICO whether he thought impeachment proceedings were inevitable, Clyburn simply said no. The No. 3 Democrat’s comments stand in contrast to what he said Sunday, suggesting it was only a matter of time before House Democrats began impeachment proceedings against Trump.”



PLAY-BY-PLAY

Despite earlier opposition, House successfully passes $19.1 billion disaster bill - NPR



Clarence Thomas seeks to quash retirement rumors - Fox News



Nate Silver’s bullet points: Who’s in danger of missing the third debate? - FiveThirtyEight



GOP lawmakers begin discussing vote to block Trump’s tariffs on Mexico - WaPo



AUDIBLE: SHE REALLY SHOULD BE GOING

“I don’t exactly know what your timing is, but stick around. Let’s do this deal.” – President Trump speaking to British Prime Minister Theresa May about a new U.S.-U.K. trade pact at a press conference in London. May is leaving office at the end of the week after being forced out by her own party.



FROM THE BLEACHERS

“As a New York resident, I have had occasion to observe Senator Gillibrand’s career in Congress. Perhaps more importantly, for purposes of this e-Mail, I have had the opportunity to see the local political commentary concerning Senator Gillibrand. Much of the commentary earlier in her career portrayed the junior senator from New York as Hillary Clinton’s ‘replacement,’ but more damaging, as Senator Chuck Schumer’s flunky, meaning she took her marching orders from the senior senator. I’m not saying that this commentary was accurate, but it was the prevailing thought at the time. Whether Senator Gillibrand qualifies for any debates, perhaps she believes that this is an opportunity to redefine that narrative. If she can hang around during the primaries and/or if she is invited to speak at the Democratic Party National Convention, perhaps she believes that she can put her own stamp on the policy decisions and direction of the party. Regardless, she will be able to lay claim to having run for President, an undertaking that, to date, Senator Schumer has not. Thanks as always for your excellent daily insight. As always, I wish you and your family God’s richest blessings.” – Paul K. Schnier, Shoreham, N.Y.



[Ed. note: Great points all, Mr. Schnier! We understandably see presidential politics through a national lens, but quite often state and local considerations can be defining. Adlai Stevenson’s 1952 presidential run, for example, was encumbered by his indecision over seeking a second term as Illinois governor. Not that he would have stood up well against Ike anyway, Stevenson’s vacillation added to the perception that he was a weenie. And may the Lord bless you and yours, holding you always in the hollow of His hand.]



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LAWLZ

Seattle Times: “Kitsap County [Wash.] Public Works officials issued an unusual notice last week warning residents to ‘hang up’ on anyone claiming to be a public-works employee planning work in their yard. The calls look like they’re coming from the Silverdale Chamber of Commerce because the prankster is spoofing the chamber’s phone number. … The prankster identified himself as Bob Doblina of Kitsap County Public Works and told those who answered their phones that work was planned on their property, according to the county. The county said that, among other things, residents were told: We’re going to be digging a 6-foot hole in your yard on Monday … Your address on Clear Creek Road is being changed to Cannabis Way [and] We’re installing a cell tower at the end of your driveway … The county said similar spoofs have been reported previously and that the Silverdale Chamber of Commerce is working with their phone-service provider to resolve the issue.”



AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…

“Like the careless Buchanans of The Great Gatsby, Bill Clinton is known as the man who leaves friends wounded and bleeding in his wake.” –Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing for the Weekly Standard on March 15, 1999.



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.