The Trail 2016: Dems struggle for unity

by Jonathan Easley - 05/23/16 5:51 PM ET

Welcome to THE TRAIL 2016, your daily rundown from The Hill on all the latest news in the White House, Senate and House races.

The Democratic Party is calling for unity as the increasingly nasty fight between Bernie Sanders supporters and the Democratic National Committee threatens to spoil the party’s nominating process at a critical juncture.

The feuding parties appeared to make some headway on Monday, with the DNC giving Sanders one-third of the spots on the committee responsible for drafting the party’s platform. Liberal activist Cornell West and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) are among those who will represent Sanders on the committee.

At least one top Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), called Sanders’s significant presence on the committee “unusual.”

But a different fight Sanders has picked will not go away.

Over the weekend, Sanders came out to publicly support DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s primary challenger, Tim Canova.

Canova, who had already raised more than $1 million, reported a weekend spike in fundraising after the endorsement. He sees parallels between his race and that of former House majority leader Eric Cantor, who famously lost a primary challenge to an upstart challenger in 2014.

Check back at The Hill later tonight and into the morning for follow-up stories into all these different dynamics.

Amie Parnes will have a story on how Democrats are beginning to worry about polls that show Trump overtaking the Democratic front-runner. Alexander Bolton will have a dispatch on how Sanders insists on shaking things up until the end. And Ben Kamisar and Jonathan Swan will give you five takeaways from the battle for the bucks in the presidential race.

RACE TO 1600 PENN

SORRY, SEN. WARREN: The Hill’s Jordain Carney reports: Harry Reid is emphatic that Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential pick must not come from a state with a Republican governor.That would remove two popular potential VP picks from consideration: popular progressive Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Sherrod Brown (Ohio).

SCORCHED EARTH: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Donald Trump released a new video on Monday using audio of women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault.

ENDORSE: The Hill’s Timothy Cama reports: Coal-mining boss Bob Murray is backing Trump after meeting with him last week.

TURNING THE PAGE: The Hill’s Kristina Wong reports: Donald Trump is leaving the neo-con wing of the Republican Party in the dust.

BREAKING WITH THE WHITE HOUSE: The Hill’s Sylvan Lane reports: Bernie Sanders is calling on Senate Democrats to oppose a bipartisan bill aimed at defusing Puerto Rico’s debt crisis.

OUTREACH: The Hill’s Jonathan Easley reports: The Trump campaign is quietly courting Muslims.

ODDS AND ENDS:

INVESTIGATION: The Hill’s Ben Kamisar reports: The FBI and DOJ are investigating Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), a longtime Clinton ally, over campaign fundraising.

GUCCIFER: The Hill’s Julian Hattem reports: The hacker known as “Guccifer” who has claimed to have broken into Hillary Clinton’s personal server will plead guilty to criminal charges.

COMING AROUND: The Hill’s Ian Swanson reports: Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) met with with Donald Trump, is downplaying the idea he’s being considered as a potential vice presidential candidate.

STILL COMING AROUND: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: House Speaker Paul Ryan dodged a question on whether he thinks Donald Trump can beat Hillary Clinton in the general election.

HE’LL COME AROUND: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Former Obama aide Jim Messina is predicting that Bernie Sanders will eventually decide to support Clinton for president.

ON THE SIDELINES: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Al Gore is still not picking sides in the Democratic primary.

POLL POSITION

PULLING AHEAD: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: Donald Trump has overtaken Hillary Clinton in a key national polling average for the first time.

THE COMMONWEALTH: The Hill’s Jonathan Easley reports: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are tied in Virginia, where both candidates are hugely unpopular.

THE DAILY TRUMP

WATER’S EDGE: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Donald Trump says he’s received several offers to meet with foreign leaders but doesn’t have any plans to travel abroad just yet.

GENERAL ELECTION FIGHT UNDERWAY: The Hill’s Jonathan Easley reports: Hillary Clinton mocked Trump and warned he’ll dispatch “deportation forces” in a speech to a major union group on Monday.

FIGHTING WORDS: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump notes that Hillary Clinton has yet to defeat “a single socialist” in the Democratic nominating battle.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“He knew how to work the system and the system was more than happy to have him work it.”

— Veteran journalist and former Today Show host Katie Couric on Trump manipulating the press.

CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGNS

REDISTRICTING FIGHT: The Hill’s Lydia Wheeler reports: The Supreme Court dismissed a GOP challenge Monday to a court remedy for an unconstitutional congressional redistricting plan in Virginia.

ENGAGED: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: Republicans are following the presidential election closer than Democrats are, a new survey finds.

MONEY WATCH

OFF MESSAGE: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: The finance chairman of the Republican Governors Association says Trump will not be able to compete with Hillary Clinton in fundraising.

WHAT WE ARE WATCHING FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW:

(All times Eastern)

Donald Trump will hold a campaign rally in Albuquerque, N.M., on Tuesday at 7 p.m..

Hillary Clinton will hold a morning discussion about foster care and tape her appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in Los Angeles on Tuesday. After that, she’ll be at a rally of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 11 in Commerce, Calif., and will hold a campaign event in Riverside, Calif., at 6:30 p.m. Former President Bill Clinton will campaign for Hillary Clinton in Espanola, N.M., at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Bernie Sanders will hold a rally in Santa Monica, Calif., at 10 p.m. today. He will hold three rallies across the state on Tuesday, in Anaheim at 1 p.m., in Riverside at 5 p.m. and in San Bernardino at 10 p.m.

The state of Washington will hold its Republican presidential primary on Tuesday.

TWEET OF THE DAY

Unfortunately after months of support and endorsement videos, I have to report that @BernieSanders pulled away his invite to me.

— Tommy Chong (@tommychong) May 23, 2016

Hope to continue my support, reschedule, and continue activism, political change and promoting peace anywhere possible.

— Tommy Chong (@tommychong) May 23, 2016