Welcome to The Lid, your afternoon dose of the 2016 ethos… The New York Times reports that the Republican Party has begun internal deliberations over changes to the way they choose presidential nominees. Because after this past primary season, we’re like two cycles away from replacing the Iowa Caucuses with a primetime episode of Celebrity American Ninja Warrior.
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‘16 from 30,000
Bernie Sanders’ campaign on Tuesday asked for a recanvassing in the Kentucky Democratic primary. At stake? Likely only one delegate. He reiterated to NBC’s Kristen Welker that the Democratic convention will be “messy.” And when given a generous say over naming members to the Democratic Party platform committee, Sanders chose a well-known Palestinian rights advocate and Cornell West, who has made controversial remarks about President Obama. (Of course, Sanders also endorsed DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s Congressional opponent.)
So is Bernie Sanders pushing it? Well, the convention concession is certainly a sign that what Sanders and his team is doing is having some success. And though Hillary Clinton is the likely Democratic presidential nominee, needing (by NBC’s count) just 9% of the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination, she needs Sanders -- or at least his supporters. And as our big sib publication First Read noted yesterday ,Clinton’s lead over Donald Trump is shrinking and her challenge now is to win over Sanders’ voters. Her favorability rating among Dems backing Sanders is at -3, according to the our latest NBC/WSJ poll. And Clinton’s problems with Sanders supporters, coupled with her reliance on them to defeat Trump, may be what’s emboldening Sanders to test what concessions he can get as the likely runner-up to the nominee.
POPPING ON NBC POLITICS
- Bernie Sanders' campaign has requested a recanvassing in the Kentucky presidential primary.
- A plurality of American voters believe that people who are transgender should be permitted to choose which public restrooms to use, but a similar percentage say that state governments should not pass laws about the issue, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
- Trump’s California fundraiser will bring in more than $5 million, twice what the campaign was aiming for, NBC’s Hallie Jackson reports.
- The RNC announced the Trump Victory Team for 2016 today.
- John Kasich isn’t ready to release his delegates.
- And from First Read: Here's maybe the most important number from our latest national NBC/WSJ poll.
FOR THE RECORD…
“I guess if we take your assumption and Clinton supporters’ assumption to the logical conclusion, you know what we should do? We should go back to a monarchy, and not have any elections at all!”
- Bernie Sanders to Kristen Welker, on whether he’s hurting Hillary Clinton by staying in the race
TOMORROW’S SKED
Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and Bernie Sanders are in California.
