Today Is the End of the Primary Season, or as Sanders Calls It, 'the Middle'
This is it, the last primary day. If you're a resident of California, New Jersey, or one of the other states voting last this year, at least you get to cast a somewhat meaningful vote in the Democratic primary. The argument for nominating Bernie Sanders isn't likely to persuade the superdelegates, but it's simple: Hillary Clinton is damaged goods. She's running close, or in some polls, trailing, an enormously flawed Republican nominee. She may or may not get indicted by Obama administration's Justice Department, but the State Department Inspector General Report makes it tough for the FBI to declare "no harm, no foul." A sudden resignation by FBI director James Comey in protest could be almost as bad as an indictment; there's no way to get an FBI director's resignation appealed or overturned. Last night Sanders issued a statement indicating we will see no concession this evening: "It is unfortunate that the media, in a rush to judgement [sic], are ignoring the Democratic National Committee's clear statement that it is wrong to count the votes of superdelegates before they actually vote at the convention this summer. "Secretary Clinton does not have and will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to secure the nomination. She will be dependent on superdelegates who do not vote until July 25 and who can change their minds between now and then. They include more than 400 superdelegates who endorsed Secretary Clinton 10 months before the first caucuses and primaries and long before any other candidate was in the race. "Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump." Whatever you think of Bernie Sanders' judgment, it is clear his campaign has difficulty spelling it. Why It Pays to Have a Nominee Who Pays Attention to the Details If you suspect Donald Trump doesn't pay too much attention to the details, you're probably right. Donald Trump has inserted himself into one of the most contentious House primaries in the country this weekend, endorsing GOP Rep. Renee Ellmers in her member-versus-member race in North Carolina. Trump makes a personal appeal to voters to back Ellmers in a robocall released Saturday. She was "the first congresswoman to endorse me and she really was terrific and boy, is she a fighter," Trump says in the call. It is the first time this election that Trump has picked sides in a congressional race. "I need her help in Washington so we can work together to defeat ISIS, secure our border and bring back jobs and frankly, so many other things," Trump continues. "And Renee knows how to do it. She gets it. And together, we will make America great again." People who don't know the details often insist that it's not important to know the details. You can hire staff for that sort of thing. The problem is, if you don't know the details, you end up endorsing someone who disagrees with you on just about every detail of the issue of illegal immigration. Representative Renee Ellmers of North Carolina was one of 10 Republicans who voted with Democrats on Wednesday against legislation that would roll back President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration. The immigration provisions were attached to a bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security. The House of Representatives passed the bill, 236-191 along party lines. All but two Democrats voted against it. While Ellmers criticized Obama's executive actions, saying she would "fight tooth and nail to put a stop to his amnesty plan," she said in a statement that the bill was "overly broad in scope, as it has the potential to have a real negative and lasting impact on jobs and families in North Carolina." "There are businesses in the Second District who contract with Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and many of these jobs could be put in jeopardy with the passing of this legislation," Ellmers said in a statement. She also was one of 26 Republicans who voted against an amendment that would eliminate the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which has granted work permits and stopped deportation of 600,000 immigrants who arrived illegally as children. And she was one of just two Republicans who opposed a measure that objected to the exemption of DACA immigrants from the employer mandate in the Affordable Care Act. Right now, there's some Trump defender who's insisting that the candidate just got bad advice, and that defender is probably right. There's a good chance this same defender insisted earlier in the primary that Trump will hire the best people. That's the consequence of nominating someone who has little familiarity with Washington or Republican lawmakers -- he has no inherent knowledge or common sense to save himself from staff mistakes. He doesn't even know to check into the record of the lawmaker he's endorsing. After all, Googling "Renee Ellmers immigration" would take up valuable milliseconds. You may remember Ellmers as the nurse who replaced the North Carolina strangler, Democratic Representative Bob Etheridge in the Tea Party wave of 2010. But she's changed a bit in Washington, disappointing quite a few folks who were early fans. Last month the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List endorsed Representative George Holding over "our former ally Rep. Renee Ellmers." The group contends Ellmers "betrayed" the pro-life movement in January 2015, when she led the effort to derail the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, the group's our top legislative priority to stop abortion after five months. The group's canvassing team knocked on more than 12,500 doors in the last few weeks, reaching conservative, pro-life primary voters. The Not-Too-Subtle 'Outreach' to David French's In-Laws Our Eliana Johnson gives you the story of the short-lived David French presidential boomlet, from start to finish. A detail I did not know: The prospect of a French candidacy did get the attention of serious conservatives, who were quick to offer their support. "I know David French to be an honorable, intelligent and patriotic person," Romney wrote on Twitter. "I look forward to hearing what he has to say." [Senator Ben] Sasse told National Review last week, "David French is a serious, trustworthy man who has served his country with honor. I'm interested to hear what he says in the coming weeks." It was enough, apparently, to spook the Trump campaign. Sources say that on Wednesday, influential supporters of the campaign, prompted by the campaign itself, began reaching out to the Republican National Committee, to Kristol, and to French, attempting to quash the bid. One Trump operative reached French's wife's family in Tennessee and told them, according to French, that he was "instructed to call and deliver a message that the race would be very difficult for me." "It was a pretty big assault that really put pressure on David that this not happen," says a source familiar with the communications. Subtle, huh? "Nice family you've got there, shame if something happens to it." (I'm sure at this moment some Republican who's talked himself into defending every aspect of the Trump campaign and movement will insist, "Hey, the Clintons killed Kathleen Willey's cat! This is just normal politics! Threats are part of the game!' What an awful party. The nice thing about being #NeverTrump is that you never have to defend, explain, justify, or excuse any of this crap. ADDENDA: Today's Jolt is written on the Amtrak Acela, where I plan to start a major rumor, likely to be reported by Politico, by talking loudly into my cell phone and saying, "Donald, Donald, don't worry, everything's going to be fine. Once you announce in Cleveland that Kanye is your running mate, everybody's going to forget all about this other stuff." I'm heading up to New York, scheduled to appear on State of the Race, airing on CNN International in the 2 p.m. hour.  | 
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