memeorandum: Biden slumps, Buttigieg soars: 6 takeaways from benchmark Iowa poll (Reid Wilson/The Hill)

2:45 PM ET, June 9, 2019

Top Items:

Reid Wilson / The Hill:

Biden slumps, Buttigieg soars: 6 takeaways from benchmark Iowa poll — Just hours before presidential candidates will pitch themselves to Iowa Democratic activists in the first-in-the-nation caucus state, a new poll of likely caucusgoers is rattling the race — and hinting that a formidable front-runner …

Discussion: Politico, Breitbart and Des Moines Register

Dan Guild / Bleeding Heartland:

Joe Biden will probably lose Iowa — Dan Guild examines what history tells us about how to interpret the latest Iowa Democratic caucus poll by Selzer & Co for the Des Moines Register, Mediacom, and CNN. -promoted by Laura Belin — It has been two months since the last good Iowa caucus poll.

Brianne Pfannenstiel / Des Moines Register:

Iowa Poll: Joe Biden leads, followed by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg — The field of Democratic presidential candidates is starting to settle into tiers: Joe Biden leads the pack, and Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg are in close competition for second place …

Discussion: Newsweek, Breitbart, Daily Wire, Washington Monthly, The Guardian, Bloomberg, Mediaite and Political Wire

Des Moines Register:
How proposed Democratic caucus rules make polling even harder, and how we crafted our best shot

Discussion: CNN, Talking Points Memo, The Week and Axios

CNN:
CNN Iowa Poll: Biden leads a tighter top tier in first caucus state

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Townhall, New York Times, Outside the Beltway, Yahoo News, Des Moines Register, Florida Politics, The Week and WHOTV

John Verhovek / ABC News:
Beto O'Rourke shrugs off early polls, says importance of Trump's trade deal with Mexico ‘overblown’

Discussion: Washington Times, Breitbart and IJR

Jenna Johnson / Washington Post:
At Pride Fest in Des Moines, politics are in the spotlight

Discussion: Politico

Peter Baker / New York Times:

A Drama of Trump's Own Making Ends With a Familiar Hero — WASHINGTON — For nine days, he had his finger on the trigger and threatened to pull. For nine days, he put two countries, entire multinational industries, vast swaths of consumers and workers and even his own advisers and Republican allies …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and New York Post

Murtaza Hussain / The Intercept:

An Iranian Activist Wrote Dozens of Articles for Right-Wing Outlets. But Is He a Real Person? — In 2018, President Donald Trump was seeking to jettison the landmark nuclear deal that his predecessor had signed with Iran in 2015, and he was looking for ways to win over a skeptical press.

David Cohen / Politico:

Trump says there's more in Mexico deal but doesn't say what — As critics continued to suggest the U.S. deal with Mexico didn't accomplish much, President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday morning there is more to the agreement than meets the eye. — “Importantly, some things. …

Andrew O'Reilly / Fox News:
Acting DHS secretary praises White House deal with Mexico on immigration, defends Trump's tariff threat

Discussion: Washington Times and Breitbart

Associated Press:
US-Mexico deal offers few new solutions, political victory

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, KTLA, Splinter and New York Times

Bloomberg:
Trump Hints at Details; Mexico Still Baffled by Farm Claim

Discussion: Forbes, Political Wire, Splinter, The Resurgent, Axios, CNN, Deadline, ThinkProgress, POLITICUSUSA, Breitbart and Fox News

Connor Mannion / Mediaite:
Mexico Reportedly Didn't Agree to New Farm Deal Despite Trump Tweeting About One

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Bloomberg and KTLA

Ben LaBolt / The Atlantic:

I Helped Obama Win in 2012. Now Trump Is Using the Same Playbook. — The general-election campaign is happening today. And Donald Trump is running unopposed. — Presidents who have recently won reelection seeded their victories not in the final sprint before Election Day …

Mary Clare Jalonick / Associated Press:

Case opened: Democrats begin public airing of Mueller report — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says it's “case closed .” But Democrats are just getting started with Robert Mueller . — House Democrats have scheduled a series of hearings this coming week on the special counsel's report …

Washington Post: For Democrats, Trump impeachment question is a personal struggle transcending politics

Virginia Heffernan / Los Angeles Times:

The cheater in the Oval Office should be banished from the tribe — The Mueller report amply chronicles President Trump's staggering, decades-long crime spree. Like an iron skillet to the head, the extent of Trump's corruption seems to have stupefied voters, legal scholars and, of course …

Mary Papenfuss / HuffPost:

Former White House Ethics Chief Proposes ‘Golf On Your Own Damn Dime Act’ — Walter Shaub thinks Donald Trump's nearly $106 million golf tab is getting way out of hand. — The former White House ethics chief is sarcastically proposing a “Golf on Your Own Damn Dime Act of 2019.”

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Splinter

Jonathan Cohn / HuffPost:

Elizabeth Warren Has A Plan — And A Story — Campaigning on policy doesn't work for every Democrat. Here's why it seems to be working for her. — DETROIT ― Elizabeth Warren took her presidential campaign to the Midwest this week, starting with two stops in Michigan where she unveiled …

Discussion: The Guardian

Alex Horton / Washington Post:

ICE deported veterans while ‘unaware’ it was required to carefully screen them, report says — On the same day the White House heralded veterans on the 75th anniversary of D-Day, a federal watchdog said the government had violated its own rules on deporting former service members …

Astead W. Herndon / New York Times:

Kamala Harris, Seeking a Campaign Jolt, Defends Record as Prosecutor — WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. — Senator Kamala Harris of California has, for months, faced criticism from activist Democrats who have said her record as California attorney general was at odds with her progressive reputation.

Meg Kinnard / Associated Press:
Kamala Harris says prosecutor past will help defeat Trump

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and Axios

Christopher Cadelago / Politico:
Kamala Harris leans into prosecutor record in South Carolina

Discussion: TalkLeft

Peter Hermann / Washington Post:

A Foreign Service couple's contentious divorce ends in deadly violence — They were scheduled to be in D.C. Superior Court Friday morning to work out the final details of a fiercely contested divorce. — But Lola Gulomova and Jason Rieff never made it. — Shortly before the 10 a.m. hearing …

Nick Valencia / CNN:

A veteran died in police custody. His body was returned to his family with some organs missing — (CNN)Two days before he died, Everett Palmer Jr. called his brother, Dwayne, to tell him he was on his way from Delaware to New York to visit him and their sick mother.

Discussion: The Root

Barbie Latza Nadeau / The Daily Beast:

‘Whitey’ Bulger Wrote Letters Praising Trump to a Juror Who Convicted Him — One of the jurors who convicted the notorious Boston gangster has shared reams of letters he wrote to her praising Trump and criticizing Mueller. — Correspondent-At-Large — Just months before he was bludgeoned …