The Stakes 2020: “Big Amy Energy ” and texting with Jaime Harrison

THE LEDE

Now that Americans are voting, it’s time to pay a bit of attention to what they're voting for: candidates. No, just kidding, it’s delegates. The coming weeks will make us all experts in yet another not-so-democratic system, and if you keep one thing in mind, remember that it's harder than it looks to come from behind. And right now it looks good for Bernie Sanders.

BAE: I never got Amy Klobuchar to do one of these text interviews, despite her telling me in person she would and despite an endless, hopeless text exchange with her spokesperson:

It was, to me, a mark of the edgy, chaotic reality of Klobuchar’s world — “Big Amy Energy,” in Ruby Cramer’s coinage, portrayed at its worst in Molly Hensley-Clancy’s reporting on her treatment of her staff: “fits of rage, 'cruelty,' tears." From the story: "Former staffers said they were sharing emails and anecdotes with BuzzFeed News because they believe that insight into her office reflects on the senator’s ability to run the country."
If you are on board with Big Amy Energy, you might note that the presidency is a hard, dark job fundamentally unsuited to nice people. You'd rather have FDR than Jimmy Carter.
Yang’s Exit: “I can't believe I lost to these people,” he told us.

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Jaime Harrison

Jaime Harrison is a big deal in one of the key remaining early tests, South Carolina, where he's a former DNC official and current Senate candidate, having raised eye-popping sums to run against Lindsey Graham. We talked about what people get wrong about the state and its mostly black Democratic electorate, as well as about my inability to spell.

ON THE TRAIL WITH BUZZFEED NEWS

Here’s Molly from the Warren event in New Hampshire on Tuesday, where Warren still did the selfie line but the arc of her speech was different in light of the disappointing results for the campaign.

Nidhi took some of the most iconic photos of the night, at Joe Biden’s bleak New Hampshire party. (Biden himself was in South Carolina.)

Andrew Yang’s supporters vowed to make sure their movement had staying power after he dropped out, Ryan reports.

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