Bill Hagerty, the former ambassador to Japan under President Donald Trump, launched a run for Senate in Tennessee Monday, two months after Trump endorsed his prospective campaign.

Hagerty, a businessman who served as Trump’s Tennessee Victory chair during the 2016 campaign, is running for the seat held by retiring GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander. In an interview with POLITICO, Hagerty said he had discussed the prospect of running for Senate with Trump for months after Alexander announced his retirement. Hagerty earned Trump’s endorsement earlier this summer after former Gov. Bill Haslam declined to run.

"He’s looked at all the candidates in this race and he’s decided to endorse me as the candidate best able to put forward conservative Tennessee values in the U.S. Senate," Hagerty said in the interview.

In an announcement video, he called serving in the Trump administration the "honor of a lifetime" and said he felt called to run for office, attacking the "Democrat socialist agenda" and the freshman House Democrats known as "the Squad."

In the interview, Hagerty praised Trump’s record on the economy and appointing conservative judges, saying he has "been in constant contact with the president about those successes and what we can do to increase them." Hagerty said it has taken him several months to extricate himself from his official duties in Japan, where he served as ambassador for two years, but that he has fully returned to Tennessee.

"I’m eager to get ready and get to work and carry that fight to the Senate and support the president in his efforts and bring Tennessee values, Tennessee conservative values to bear in an area and a time when I think they’re absolutely critical," Hagerty said.

The former ambassador faces a competitive primary against Manny Sethi, a trauma surgeon and conservative who is running as an anti-establishment outsider. Sethi is well funded, with $1.5 million cash on hand as of June 30, $1 million of which was a personal loan.

Hagerty is likely to be well-funded too, given Trump’s endorsement and his own position in Republican and business circles.

Veteran and attorney James Mackler is the only Democrat in the race, though Republicans are heavily favored to hold the seat following GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s decisive victory in 2018 over former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen.

Asked what represented major differences between himself and Sethi, Hagerty cited Trump’s support.

"There’s only one candidate in this race that President Trump has endorsed," Hagerty said. "President Trump has endorsed me to be the person to carry conservative Tennessee values forward for the people of Tennessee and that’s where I stand, that’s where the president stands."

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The Supreme Court will weigh in on a Louisiana abortion law that put restrictions on clinics that provide abortions.

Updated at 6:24 p.m. ET

The U.S. Supreme Court has jumped headlong back into the abortion wars. The court said Friday that it will hear arguments in a case from Louisiana that is nearly identical to a Texas case decided by the court three years ago.

Like the Texas law that the court previously struck down, the Louisiana law requires any doctor performing an abortion to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.

The Supreme Court said in the Texas case that wasn’t needed to protect women’s health and that both requirements imposed “a substantial burden” on a woman’s right to abortion.

Louisiana has conceded that its law is virtually identical to the Texas law. The difference between then and now is that Justice Anthony Kennedy, who cast the decisive fifth vote in the 2016 Texas case, has retired and been replaced by Trump appointee Brett Kavanaugh, who has indicated his willingness to undermine or discard the 2016 decision.

The Louisiana case — June Medical Services v. Gee — came to the court in an unusual posture last term, after the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals became the first such federal court to uphold provisions like those explicitly struck down by the Supreme Court in the Texas case.

After the 5th Circuit decision, abortion clinics in Louisiana appealed to the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice John Roberts, who had dissented in the 2016 Texas case, switched sides to block the lower court ruling from going into effect immediately. But the 5-4 vote amounted only to a pause to preserve the status quo.

Now the court has said it will hear the case later this term and decide whether to stick by its earlier ruling in the Texas case, trim it back or “begin the assault” on the Supreme Court’s prior abortion decisions, in the words of Irv Gornstein, director of the Supreme Court Institute at Georgetown University Law Center.

The Louisiana law was initially blocked by U.S. District Judge John deGravelles, who found that the state law imposed an “undue burden” on the right to an abortion. As the Supreme Court did in the Texas case, he found that the state’s justification for its law — patient safety — could not be sustained.

After a lengthy hearing, he found that the state law is a remedy for “a problem that does not exist.” He noted that abortions performed in Louisiana are “safe procedures” with “very few complications” and that Louisiana law requires clinics to have transfer agreements with local hospitals.

In the “extremely rare” cases where there are serious complications, he observed, patients are routinely treated by hospital staff, obviating the need for clinic doctors to also have hospital admitting privileges.

DeGravelles further found that were the Louisiana law allowed to go into effect, only one clinic and one doctor in the state would be qualified to perform abortions. Even if that doctor worked seven days a week, the judge said, the physician could not provide for the 10,000 women a year seeking abortions in the state.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit subsequently reversed the district court ruling. A three-judge panel voted 2-to-1 to allow the state law to go into effect.

Writing for the majority, Judge Jerry E. Smith conceded that the state had not provided any instance in which a patient sustained “a worse result” because a doctor lacked hospital admitting privileges. Nonetheless, Smith maintained, the the Louisiana law did not impose “an undue burden” on women seeking abortions. He said that the closing of clinics would not impose driving distances as long as those in Texas and that it was easier to get hospital admitting privileges in Louisiana.

Finally, Smith rejected the district court’s factual finding that the law would make access to abortion more difficult for 70% of women seeking abortions in the state. Smith put the number instead at “at most 30%.”

Judge Patrick Higginbotham, a Reagan appointee like Smith, dissented, accusing his colleague of failing to “meaningfully apply” the Supreme Court’s prior rulings on abortion.

The 5th Circuit is among the most conservative federal appellate courts in the country. Eleven judges on the appeals court are Republican appointees, five of them Trump appointees. Of the 11 active Republican appointees, only one, a George W. Bush appointee, voted to rehear the case. One, a Trump appointee, was recused.

Correction Oct. 4, 2019

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Louisiana law set requirements for clinics including wide corridors and expensive equipment. The law in fact centers on admitting privileges to nearby hospitals.

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A long-awaited update to federal overtime rules means about 1.3 million workers will be entitled to extra pay when they work more than 40 hours a week.

Updated at 11:54 a.m. ET

The Labor Department is expanding the pool of workers eligible for overtime pay by about 1.3 million workers.

But many critics say the rules finalized Tuesday should have been rewritten to benefit more workers who routinely work more than 40 hours a week without additional pay.

Current federal law says most workers making about $23,660 a year are entitled to overtime pay. In other words, to be considered “salaried,” most workers need to make at least that. Starting Jan. 1 next year, that minimum salary threshold will be raised to $35,568.

But a previous proposal, under former President Barack Obama, would have raised it to about $47,000, which would have benefited an estimated 3 million more workers by entitling them to either a shorter workweek, or more pay.

This is something Chip Ahlgren wanted to see. Ahlgren took over the general manager’s role at a Seattle Jiffy Lube last year, a move that meant he went from making $16 an hour to an annual salary of $52,000 — something that seemed, at least at the time, like a step up.

But chronic understaffing meant Ahlgren had to work at the shop most of the time. At times, his workweek extended to over 100 hours, but as a salaried worker, he wasn’t entitled to overtime pay. Ahlgren says that given how much he works, he’d earn more if he were paid the hourly minimum wage.

“There’s nothing protecting me, if I have to work 100 hours a week, from that happening, and I don’t get any more money,” he says.

(Jiffy Lube says it does not comment on its employment policies.)

The last time the minimum salary threshold was set was in 2004. Nowadays, that $23,660 salary falls below the poverty line for a family of four. So just about everyone agrees that needed updating.

The Obama administration sought to expand the number of workers eligible for overtime pay by raising the salary threshold. It proposed more than doubling it to about $47,000. A Texas judge struck that down. Instead, the Trump administration issued its own rule, setting the threshold to a lower level.

Heidi Shierholz, former Labor Department chief economist under Obama, argues that the new rules fall short. She says the proposal she championed would have made four times as many workers eligible for overtime.

“It’s a missed opportunity in the sense that millions more could have been helped,” she says. Moreover, the Trump administration’s new minimum salary cutoff won’t automatically update with inflation — meaning it could be decades before it’s reset again. “So it will be set at $35,000 and that’s it,” Shierholz says.

But employers are pleased with the lower threshold.

“Overall, our feeling is that this is a more workable approach,” says Nancy Hammer, vice president of regulatory affairs for the Society for Human Resource Management. She notes that many employers already pay their workers overtime, even if not required by law.

Meanwhile, a growing number of states have, or are looking to, set their overtime rules above the new federal requirements.

“Workers, community groups and elected officials are all mobilizing around it as a paycheck fairness issue,” says Paul Sonn, state policy director at the National Employment Law Project, a worker advocacy group. “If you’re going to put in those long hours away from your community and your family, you should at least be paid for it.”

New York and California have already adopted new overtime rules that set their salary thresholds around $50,000. Several more states are considering similar proposals, including Colorado, Washington and Pennsylvania.

Correction Sept. 24, 2019

A previous Web version of this story incorrectly said the last time the minimum salary threshold was set was in 1975. It should have said that it was last set in 2004.

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Institutional racism is a “white man’s problem” in America, former Vice President Joe Biden said on Tuesday.

In a 90-minute interview with a small group of reporters at a campaign office in downtown Washington, Biden said racism has always been in America and white supremacists have always existed.

“It’s real,” he said. “It’s there, and the only way — from the founding of this country to today — you deal with it is you attack it. You expose it. You embarrass it. You put people in jail when they engage in things that are illegal when they’re doing it — you call them out. And most of all, you call it out to our children.”

“Silence,” he warned, “is complicity.”

Biden launched his White House bid in April singularly focused on defeating President Donald Trump in 2020. His campaign launch video included footage of a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., and criticism of Trump for initially claiming that there were “very fine people” on both sides of the clash, which turned fatal.

Hate crimes have risen under Trump’s administration, and the president has been blamed for emboldening white supremacists with his rhetoric — a connection he adamantly rejects.

“What presidents say matter. Words matter,” Biden stressed on Tuesday. “They can make markets rise and fall, they can send people to war, they can, in fact, enliven a nation, they can enrich a nation, they can, in fact, also appeal to the worst damn instincts in human nature. And we possess those instincts in human nature, and it’s overwhelmingly a white man’s problem visited on people of color.”

Biden said he puts white people in three categories: “those who are flat just prejudiced and are supremacists to some degree”; “folks who are agnostic and don’t give a damn about it”; and “folks who think we should just do something about it.”

Biden added that while he wouldn’t try to tell his attorney general what to do — a clear jab at Trump’s attempts to control former Attorney General Jeff Sessions — he would “make absolutely clear” to his Justice Department that white supremacy won’t be tolerated in a Biden administration.

“He’s crossed a line so far, even those people who want to go like this,” Biden said, covering his eyes with his hands, “aren’t able to do it anymore.”

Another Democratic candidate, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., used similar language earlier this month in challenging white Americans to confront racism.

“If there’s anything we’ve learned in the last few days,” Buttigieg told a conference of black journalists and communications professionals in Miami in the aftermath of mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, “systemic racism is a white problem.”

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Amber Rudd has resigned as Work and Pensions Secretary, accusing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson of an “assault on decency and democracy.”

Britain’s Secretary of State for Work and Pensions resigned from Boris Johnson’s cabinet on Sunday, accusing the prime minister of “an assault on decency and democracy” for his handling of the ongoing Brexit saga.

In a letter to Johnson, Amber Rudd said she was resigning the Conservative whip — meaning she’ll stay in parliament but no longer serve as a member of the Conservative party.

Rudd blasted Johnson for his decision to expel 21 members of the Conservative Party for opposing his plans to leave the European Union by the October 31st deadline, with or without a deal. Among those he kicked out were senior members of parliament, including Nicholas Soames, the grandson of Winston Churchill, and Ken Clarke, the longest serving member of Parliament. Some were notified of their firing via text message.

“This short sighted culling of my colleagues has stripped the Party of broad-minded and dedicated Conservative MPs. I cannot support this act of political vandalism,” Rudd said.

Rudd’s announcement follows a tumultuous week in parliament over Johnson’s Brexit strategy. The controversial plan pushed Johnson’s own brother, Jo Johnson, to step down from parliament, saying he was “torn between family loyalty and the national interest.” Johnson’s Conservative Party also lost MP Phillip Lee, who defected to join the Liberal Democrats. By the end of the week, Johnson had lost his parliamentary majority.

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Rudd has been a member of Parliament since 2010. She represents Hastings and Rye, and voted to remain in the E.U. in the 2016 referendum.

Her denunciations of Johnson’s Brexit strategy echoed the criticisms voiced by members of the opposition Labour Party, and even many members of the Conservatives.

Rudd said she no longer believes “leaving with a deal is the government’s main objective,” adding, “The government is expending a lot of energy to prepare for ‘No Deal’ but I have not seen the same level of intensity go into our talks with the European Union who have asked us to present alternatives to the Irish backstop.”

Last week, the Parliament passed a bill that prevents Britain from leaving the E.U. without a deal. Queen Elizabeth is expected to approve the measure on Monday.

In response, Johnson is calling for snap elections on October 15^th to try and form a majority in Parliament to support his plans to meet the Brexit deadline. Opposition parties oppose his bid for new elections, and say they will veto it.

The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan, photographed in 2017, six years after three reactors melted down.

Three former Japanese utility executives responsible for the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant when it was smashed by a tsunami in 2011 were acquitted Thursday of negligence in connection with multiple reactor meltdowns at the station.

Former Tokyo Electric Power Co. Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, 79, and former vice chairmen Sakae Muto, 69, and Ichiro Takekuro, 73, were found not guilty in Tokyo District Court. Theirs was the only criminal trial to result from the nuclear disaster, considered second in scope only to the 1986 meltdown at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station in the former Soviet Union.

Prosecutors alleged that the trio failed to act on recommendations for additional safety measures at Fukushima in case of a major tsunami. The defendants pleaded not guilty.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata (center) and others bow before a news conference at the company’s head office in Tokyo days after the nuclear disaster.

Although a 2002 government report posited a tsunami similar in size to the 46-foot waves triggered by a magnitude 9 earthquake on March 11, 2011, the three former executives argued that the data were not reliable and that they could not have predicted such a catastrophic natural disaster.

There has been only one death attributed directly to the three meltdowns that caused the area surrounding the plant to be contaminated. But prosecutors sought to hold the former TEPCO executives liable for 44 elderly patients in a nearby hospital who died during an evacuation caused by the disaster.

Last year, prosecutors called for five-year prison sentences for each of the three defendants. “It was easy to safeguard the plant against tsunami, but they kept operating the plant heedlessly,” the prosecutors said at the time, according to The Asahi Shimbun. “That led to the deaths of many people.”

The giant waves that struck the coast in 2011 overwhelmed a seawall at the plant meant to protect backup generators needed to run cooling pumps in case of a loss of main power. After battery backups were depleted, the pumps stopped and the reactors overheated, causing a buildup of hydrogen, an explosion and subsequent meltdown of the reactor cores.

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An editorial published Thursday in The Asahi Shimbun said that Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority had decided to reopen an investigation into the Fukushima disaster after suspending it five years ago.

“Since it is still impossible to scrutinize conditions inside the reactors, the investigation is unlikely to clarify the entire picture,” the editorial said. “Still, even a limited investigation offers the prospect of important lessons and insights.”

The quake and tsunami along Japan’s northeast coast killed more than 18,000 people and the Fukushima disaster caused some 160,000 people to be evacuated from a 12-mile radius around the plant. Some are still not allowed to return to their homes.

Julián Castro will announce more than a dozen new hires and promotions for his presidential campaign Thursday, including installing an organizing director and political director in key primary states after a strong showing in June’s Democratic debates.

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The slate of new hires include finance, digital and communications positions in Castro’s San Antonio campaign headquarters, as well as new South Carolina organizing director Elizabeth Noble and Nevada political director Michael Cullen. Noble previously worked for a local statehouse official and Cullen for a law firm.

The expanded finance team includes national finance director Joseph Czajkowski, who previously was finance director for the Arizona Democratic Party; deputy finance director Benjamin Staton, who was Iowa secretary of state candidate Deidre Dejear’s finance director in 2018; and finance assistant Cassie Baars, who served as the deputy campaign manager for Illinois state House candidate Jake Castanza.

Brielle Insler, previously of the digital marketing firm Düable, is joining Castro’s campaign as digital director, and Ashley Fairbanks, who worked on Rep. Ilhan Omar’s campaign, will serve as creative director.

Castro’s press shop is also adding a pair of deputy communications directors: Sebastian Kitchen, who served as communications director during Doug Jones’ victorious Senate campaign in Alabama, and Alex Sarabia, a former communications and policy adviser to San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg. Castro has also hired deputy press secretary Liza Acevedo, who was previously a spokeswoman for New Jersey state House Speaker Craig J. Coughlin.

The campaign promoted three other staffers to new roles across the campaign: Sawyer Hackett is now national press secretary, after joining the campaign as deputy press secretary earlier this year. Kristian Carranza was promoted to Nevada state director after previously filling an organizing role in the state. And Lauren Reyes has transitioned from New Hampshire organizing director to state programs director.

Castro’s campaign has seen a boost in media attention and polling since his performance during the first Democratic presidential debates last month, when he confronted fellow Texan Beto O’Rourke onstage. Castro raised more than $1 million in the four days that followed, and the former Housing and Urban Development secretary has hit at least 2 percent in three recent polls, with four required to qualify for the September debates.

“We’ve seen an incredible outpouring of support and enthusiasm for Julián’s campaign following the first debate,” said campaign manager Maya Rupert. “As more and more Americans learn about his candidacy and our support continues to grow, so too will our campaign’s presence across the country. We’re excited to announce a new slate of talented operatives and organizers from all different backgrounds to help fulfill Julián’s vision for a more prosperous country for all of us.”

Looking west in downtown Chicago on the fall equinox, Sept. 23.

Westbound traffic on many Chicago streets came to a stop between 6:40 and 6:50 p.m. Central Time on Monday as drivers snapped pictures over dashboards, passengers with smartphones in hand leaned out of windows, and pedestrians set up tripods in the middle of some busy roadways — all so they could capture the incredible image of a burnt orange sun setting exquisitely framed by a canyon of skyscrapers.

It’s known as “Chicagohenge,” one of two days a year when the sun rises and sets in perfect alignment with the city’s east-west streets. Chicago’s street grid corresponds almost exactly with the directional points of the compass.

It happens in other cities with gridded streets, too — Manhattanhenge, for example — but Chicago is unique in that the phenomenon takes place every year on the spring and fall equinoxes.

With perfect early fall weather of partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the 60s, I timed my departure from NPR’s Chicago bureau on Michigan Avenue at about 6:20 p.m. CT and walked east up an incline on Randolph Street, across from the north end of Millennium Park.

Several dozen amateur (and maybe professional) photographers had already set themselves up on prime real estate in the road’s median, on curbs and along a railing on an overpass above where the street separates into upper and lower levels.

Photographers and others watch the sunset on the fall equinox in Chicago.

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But others, myself included, just dodged taxicabs, buses and Ubers and stepped into the bike line or the street to capture the spectacular moment. It’s one of the rare instances I’ve experienced when hurried city drivers didn’t seem to mind stopping for the many people moving in and out of traffic as they stared into a blinding orange glare.

Chicagohenge on Monday.

In the same way our Washington, D.C., colleagues attach the word “gate” to designate the scandal du jour, Chicagohenge gets its name from Stonehenge, the monument of massive rocks in England that scientists believe was erected more than 4,000 years ago. On certain dates, the rising and setting sun lines up with the stones, leading some to suggest that Stonehenge could have been built by early astronomers.

The next date to catch Chicagohenge is when the weather is almost certain to be less enjoyable: March 19, 2020.

Predictions of a Joe Biden pile-on were spot on. But while it wasn’t always pretty, the former VP held his own this time, remembering that his opponents have liabilities in their pasts, too.

The Democratic split over Medicare for All — the signature issue of a curmudgeonly senator from Vermont — once again dominated the opening minutes of a Democratic debate. Those who thought Kamala Harris might "take it easy"on Biden, as he suggested when they met on stage, were wrong. And while the palpable tension between two top-polling candidates was the big storyline of the night, Cory Booker and Tulsi Gabbard has their moments, too.

Here are five revelations from Wednesday’s feisty Democratic debate:

Biden shows he can handle the heat

The debate on Wednesday will be remembered more than anything as the night Biden woke up.

He sparred repeatedly with Harris and Booker, firmly holding the party’s centrist ground.

Barring a stumble, he will now likely own that space at least until the September debate. Every center-left Democrat trying to chip away at his base will have to find another way to do it.

What a difference a month makes. Last month in Miami, Biden appeared unsteady as Harris ripped into him on issues of race. On Wednesday, Biden still tripped over his words and struggled with recall at times. He abruptly cut himself off, beholden to time restrictions by some force unknown to any other candidate in the history of presidential politics. He called a 54-year-old female senator a “kid.”

The main impediment to Biden’s path to the nomination has always been the centrist profile he built during a decades-long career in Washington. Parts of it, as his competitors point out, are out of step with the Democratic Party’s progressive base of today.

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Hewing to a general election audience on immigration, Biden said, “People should have to get in line” to come into the country — a line that progressive activists aren’t going to like.

And swiping at Harris on health care — and, by extension, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who were not on stage Wednesday — Biden said, “If you noticed, there is no talk about the fact that the plan in 10 years will cost $3 trillion. You will lose your employer-based insurance … This is the single most important issue facing the public.”

It’s not clear Biden did anything to expand his base of support. But for the front-runner, there is not yet an imperative to. And for the moderate lane he occupies, Biden hit his notes.

Booker auditions to be the candidate of racial justice

It was billed as a rematch between Biden and Harris. But Booker seized Harris’ role as Biden’s chief antagonist on Wednesday, and he will likely benefit from the role.

Even Biden, in a slip, called him the “future president.”

The New Jersey senator, stagnating in low-single digits, sorely needed the help. Where Harris hit Biden on issues of race last month, Booker seized on his record on criminal justice.

“Since the 1970s … every crime bill, major and minor, has had his name on it,” Booker said. “Those are your words, not mine.”

He criticized Biden for his “phony rhetoric,” and suggested he had helped to destroy “communities like mine.”

Biden, by raising questions about Booker’s own record as mayor of Newark, N.J. , fought Booker in a way he did not muster last month against Harris.

“Barack Obama knew exactly who I was,” he said. “I’ll take his judgment.”

If you didn’t think race was going to play a critical role in the 2020 primary, you weren’t paying close enough attention. Many moderate Democrats have expressed uneasiness about an election turning significantly on issues of race, fearful of alienating voters that President Donald Trump won in 2016 with rhetoric demonizing immigrants.

But the setting of the stage on Wednesday in Detroit — a heavily African-American city in the Midwest — served as a reminder that there’s another way for Democrats to win the heartland: invigorating base voters in the cities there, not just in diners outside of town.

The conversation Wednesday put Booker squarely in the field of vision.

Harris is a front-runner now — and was treated like one

If Biden was the chief target for his rivals on Wednesday, Harris was a close second. She received the first question from Jake Tapper. And it centered on what may be her greatest liability: her struggle to articulate a consistent position on health care.

But the resulting back-and-forth wasn’t just a two-person colloquy between Harris and Biden. Gabbard and Michael Bennet also took shots at Harris’ health care plan.

Later in the debate, Gabbard hit Harris on another perceived vulnerability, at least in the Democratic primary: Harris’ record as a prosecutor. “There are too many examples to cite, but she put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana,” Gabbard said.

Gabbard also hit Harris for blocking “evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so” and keeping “people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California.”

Asked on CNN after the debate about the exchange, Harris dismissed Gabbard as unworthy of her attention.

"This is going to sound immodest, but I’m obviously a top-tier candidate,” said Harris. “And so I did expect that I would be on the stage and take hits tonight because there are a lot of people that are trying to make the stage for the next debate."

We’ll see how that response goes over. What Wednesday made clear is that Harris, as a top-tier contender, is in for commensurate treatment from her rivals and the media.

The also-rans have a night, but it won’t be enough

There were 10 candidates on the stage Wednesday night, but there are likely only five tickets to the next debate in Houston.

Because of the Democratic National Committee’s rules, half the field will almost certainly be excluded from the third debate.

Andrew Yang, the first-time candidate who was lackluster in the first debate but looked much more comfortable Wednesday, is on the verge of locking up a spot. Gabbard has an outside shot if she experiences a slight polling bump.

Some of the floundering candidates worked hard to make an impression. Bennet showed passion, and Kirsten Gillibrand took her best swing against Biden. But it’s unlikely to be enough for either of them.

Same for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, a too-eager sparring partner who closed the debate with a cringe-inducing closing statement in which he tried to turn the tables by calling Trump “a socialist … for the rich.”

Biden hinted at de Blasio’s likely fate on Wednesday. After Hizzoner applauded Biden for his opposition to the renegotiated NAFTA trade deal, de Blasio said, “You know what? We believe in redemption, Joe. We believe in redemption in this party.”

“Well, I tell you what,” Biden responded. “I hope you’re part of it.”

Medicare for All is shaping up as the primary’s defining issue

For the second night in a row, Democrats fought over Medicare for All — both the substance of what it would mean to do away with private insurance, and the politics of pushing for it in a general election against Trump.

The disagreement is so prominent that it’s probably not going anywhere, anytime soon — even if some in the party wish it would just go away.

The issue is not only top-of-mind for voters, but also nuanced enough that it will likely feature prominently in every future debate. Candidates who have dodged the tax implications of their health care plans will be pressed on the cost. And candidates who have taken more moderate positions will be pressed on gaps in coverage.

Harris, for one, got a huge serving of that skepticism on Wednesday. She responded forcefully, but in broad strokes, about her plan to wait 10 years before government took over. That’s only likely to work for so long.

Biden, on the other hand, will continue to be pressed on how his plan to improve Obamacare would still leave millions uninsured. Even if he’s more realistic than other candidates about what’s possible to achieve, that’s not what activists want to hear during a primary.

For the electorate, it will help when the field is winnowed sufficiently that the conversation includes — on one stage — both the centrist frontrunner and the two leading progressives on the issue, Sanders and Warren. That could happen in September.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Tennessee Mojo 2021’s Brooks Cherry and his staff were recognized by their peers as the 2019 NFCA Travel Ball National Coaching Staff of the Year, the Association announced on Friday afternoon.

Coming out of the NFCA’s South Region, Cherry, along with assistants Wayne Key and Mark Sellers, guided the Mojo to the 16u Junior Olympic Cup title. It marked the eighth national title for the 2021 squad, which defeated the Williamsburg Starz in the championship game. The Mojo finished 10^thoverall in final National NPS Rankings (US Club Rankings) for 16u.

This is the first NFCA national honor for Cherry, who also captured a South Region nod in 2017. Additionally, the Mojo organization has taken home a regional accolade the past four seasons.

Along with the Mojo, Virginia Unity 18u (East), Beverly Bandits 16u – Team Conroy (North), Texas Glory 2024 (South Central) and E.C. Bullets California 2020 (West) garnered NFCA Regional Coaching Staff of the Year recognition and were in contention for national honors.

The NFCA Travel Ball National Coaching Staff of the Year winner is voted on by fellow NFCA Travel Ball members. Only NFCA members are eligible for nomination and able to vote.

To be recognized by your peers, gain access to our Drills Database, receive an exclusive Coaching Toolspackage (new each year) presented by USSSA, and many more member benefits, JOIN TODAY.

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