Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), plagued by sub-par fundraising and unable to qualify for this week’s primary debate, ended his presidential campaign this morning. The Democrats’ 2020 field is now down to 12 competitors, which by historical standards, is still huge, though the number of former candidates is now larger than the number of current candidates.
* Three weeks before Iowa’s presidential caucuses, the latest Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll found Bernie Sanders leading the Democratic field with 20%, followed by Elizabeth Warren at 17%, and Pete Buttigieg with 16%. Joe Biden is a close fourth with 15%.
* Speaking of good news for the Vermont independent, a New Hampshire branch of the Service Employees International Union has decided to endorse Sanders’ presidential campaign. The national SEIU remains neutral.
* And speaking of early-nominating-state endorsements, Buttigieg picked up an important new congressional supporter this morning when Iowa Rep. Dave Loebsack (D) threw his backing behind the former mayor.
* Biden also picked up a congressional endorsement this morning when freshman Rep. Colin Allred backed the former vice president. The Texas Democrat is the 10th African-American member of Congress to announce support for Biden, who now has 26 U.S. House endorsements, more than double his next closest rival.
* Biden also picked up support late last week from Jon Henes, who served as the national finance chair of Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, and who’s now “opening his extensive donor network” to the Delaware Democrat. * And self-help guru Marianne Williamson, who managed to qualify for the first two presidential primary debates, ended her long-shot Democratic campaign on Friday afternoon. Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang are now the only two 2020 hopefuls in the field who haven’t served in public office. * Correction: I’d originally said Cory Booker’s departure left the Democratic presidential field with no African-American contenders. That’s not the case: former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is still in the 2020 field. MORE: Today’s Maddowblog
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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