"Former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton joined President Joe Biden for a star-studded fundraiser on Thursday in New York City which raked in over $26 million for Biden's re-election, his campaign said, calling it a historic show of unity and enthusiasm," ABC News reports.
"The three presidents' armchair conversation, moderated by comedian Stephen Colbert, also saw at least six interruptions from pro-Palestine protesters, with most urging a cease-fire in Gaza and accusing his administration of aiding genocide, something that's become a regular occurrence at Biden's campaign events."
Politico reports: "The one-night extravaganza will all but certainly increase Biden's sizable financial advantage over former President Donald Trump, who raised about $20 million in all of February. And it will serve as a vivid reminder that the president has ample resources at his disposal as he tries to claw his way up from a small but persistent polling deficit in the general election."
"The morning after President Biden's fundraiser with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, his campaign has planned a daylong retreat on Friday for 175 of his biggest financiers and fund-raisers in New York," the New York Times reports.
"The gathering of what the campaign calls Mr. Biden's national finance committee will feature a half-dozen briefings from his top political advisers, including his campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, and two former top White House advisers who have moved over to help lead his campaign, Jennifer O'Malley Dillon and Mike Donilon."
"Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s running mate has been a harsh critic of in-vitro fertilization, while funding alternative research on extending women's reproductive years," Politico reports.
Nicole Shanahan has denounced IVF — calling it "one of the biggest lies that's being told about women's health today."
On Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s website is a campaign event created by a supporter called "the Save RFK Jr. Rally" which demands that he fire his campaign manager — who is RFK's daughter-in-law — for "promoting a CIA, feminist agenda."
A new ad from President Biden juxtaposes news reports of the president traveling around the country to meet voters against footage of Donald Trump golfing.
The audio also lays out some of Biden's legislative priorities such as border security, reproductive rights, healthcare, housing and more. That's put up against one of Trump's priorities: bragging that he won two golf trophies at his own club.
"Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (R) has decided against running as the No Labels candidate for president after spending time and money gaming out the prospects of a centrist third-party bid against President Biden and former president Donald Trump," the Washington Post reports.
"The decision leaves the group with few remaining high-profile options for candidates, despite widespread public concern over the two major-party contenders."
Said Christie: "I appreciate the encouragement I've gotten to pursue a third-party candidacy. While I believe this is a conversation that needs to be had with the American people, I also believe that if there is not a pathway to win and if my candidacy in any way, shape or form would help Donald Trump become president again, then it is not the way forward."
Jonathan Martin: "Chris Christie's extended flirtation with No Labels should be a wake-up call — for President Joe Biden."
"Christie seriously considered whether to run for president as an independent, according to people who spoke to him, and was being actively courted by No Labels. The group shared extensive polling and modeling data with the former New Jersey governor to make their pitch and even presented Christie with a list of potential Democratic running mates to fill out a unity ticket."
"For his part, the former New Jersey governor commissioned polling of his own and drafted a potential budget."
Megyn Kelly is doing an event with No Labels next week, giving a "Common Sense Talk" about her perspective on the current political environment, NBC News reports.
"Kentucky lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to a bill stripping the state's Democratic governor of any role in picking someone to occupy a U.S. Senate seat if a vacancy occurred in the home state of 82-year-old Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell," the AP reports.
"The legislation calls for a special election to fill any Senate vacancy from the Bluegrass State. The special election winner would hold the seat for the remainder of the unexpired term."
Playbook: "While Andy Beshear has noted his opposition to the legislation, Republicans' supermajority in the legislature could override a potential veto."
"A federal court ruled Thursday that time had run out to draw a new congressional district in South Carolina and said the state could use its existing map this year even though it had earlier determined that map was unconstitutional," the Washington Post reports.
"The panel of three judges last year concluded that South Carolina's Republican-led legislature 'exiled' 30,000 Black voters from the district to make it safer for a White GOP incumbent, Rep. Nancy Mace."
NBC News: "The decision constitutes a setback for Democrats, who might have gained a more favorable map if it was redrawn."
"The Supreme Court has spent months considering the merits of whether map-drawers unlawfully considered race when drafting the map but has yet to issue a ruling despite both sides saying it needed to be resolved well before the election."
"Kellyanne Conway, the former Trump campaign manager-turned-spokesperson who made the phrase 'alternative facts' famous, is considering a return to Trumpworld," Axios reports.
"Conway is weighing an offer to join Trump's 2024 team, according to a person familiar with her thinking who wouldn't specify what that role would be or who made the offer."
"As the chances that former President Donald Trump will pick South Dakota GOP Gov. Kristi Noem as his running mate are growing, so too is scrutiny over everything from her policy positions to her new teeth," the Wall Street Journal reports.
"Her stance on abortion. Her opposition to TikTok. And most puzzling to many, her decision earlier this month to post a lengthy video on Instagram praising a cosmetic dentistry practice in Texas for fixing her teeth."
"When President Joe Biden takes the stage in Raleigh, N.C. on Tuesday, Attorney General Josh Stein will dutifully serve as a warm-up act. Come November, Stein will be playing a more central role," Politico reports.
"That's because the 57-year-old Democratic gubernatorial nominee, unlike the president, is ahead in polls in the state. He's also running against a highly-controversial GOP nominee, Mark Robinson. Among political operatives in North Carolina, the expectation is that if Stein performs well, it could help Biden flip a state that's been painfully elusive for Democrats."
NBC News: "Republicans have a long history of success at the presidential level in North Carolina over the past 40 years, losing only once when Barack Obama carried the state in 2008. But Biden's loss there in 2020 was the closest a Democrat has come since then, with Trump winning by just slightly more than 1 percentage point. Meanwhile, the state's rapid growth has seen its largest Democratic-leaning counties become bigger and more blue."
"That's encouraged Democrats to be much more proactive in North Carolina this time around, particularly as it's the only front-line swing state Biden did not carry in 2020. Already, his campaign has staffed up top positions and included the state in its $25 million battleground state ad buy."
Daily Beast: "A lot of the RNC's recent fundraising — millions of dollars of it — is unusable for political spending. Instead, that money can only support a limited range of activities. (As luck would have it, much of that money can be spent on Donald Trump's legal bills, potentially even to help pay down the judgments against him.)"
"It's unclear whether the RNC can keep up the pace of its election lawsuits without sacrificing other political priorities."
Associated Press: "Widely praised for its professionalism and effectiveness throughout the primary phase of the 2024 election, Trump's political operation has been slow to pivot toward the general election in the weeks after executing a hostile takeover of the Republican Party's national political machinery. In fact, the former president's team has rolled back plans under previous leaders to add hundreds of staff and dozens of new minority-outreach centers in key states without offering a clear alternative."
"Indeed, just six months before the first early votes are cast in the general election between Trump and Biden, Trump's Republican Party has little general election infrastructure to speak of."
"Barack Obama spent several hours last Friday in the family dining room of the White House, visiting his former vice president, Joe Biden. The occasion was hardly just two old friends catching up," CNN reports.
"Obama has made clear to associates in recent months that he believes Biden's intensifying re-match with Donald Trump in November will be incredibly close, and that the 2024 election marks an 'all-hands-on-deck' moment… To that end, his return to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue last week was largely a working visit."
"House Democrats are adding four more candidates to their 'Red to Blue' program as they attempt to flip enough Republican-held seats to take the House majority," Axios reports.
"All four candidates are in districts President Biden won in 2020 – a sign that Democrats are doubling down on a strategy of trying to ride Biden's coattails in November."
"President Biden is set to be endorsed Friday by members of Cesar Chavez's family — a mostly symbolic gesture, but one meant to send a signal to independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's trying to invoke his own family's ties to the late union organizer and civil rights leader," CBS News reports.
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