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Capital Journal
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Good morning from the WSJ Washington Bureau.
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Trump's Day: The president speaks at the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference in the morning and visits the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., in the afternoon.
Coronavirus: The state of Georgia reported its first two coronavirus patients, pushing the number of infected people in the U.S. to 105. Six people have died in the U.S. More here.
Super Tuesday: Voters across 14 states are set to weigh in today, making it the busiest day in this year’s presidential primary race. More below.
New Leader: The White House named the first African-American military-service chief, nominating veteran combat pilot Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. to lead the Air Force.
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Super Tuesday Live Q&A: Join Executive Washington Editor Jerry Seib and Senior Video Reporter Shelby Holliday for a live-video discussion at noon EST today. Watch here and ask questions in real-time about the Democratic candidates, President Trump and the 2020 election.
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Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders greeted supporters at a campaign rally in Salt Lake City on Monday. PHOTO: CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
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Voters across 14 states are starting to weigh in on the Democratic presidential nomination contest as Sen. Bernie Sanders seeks to fend off newly resurgent Joe Biden after the former vice president’s landslide victory in South Carolina. While Mr. Biden racked up endorsements from his rivals and former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Monday, Mr. Sanders remains the front-runner. Chad Day, Julie Bykowicz and Gabriel T. Rubin report.
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The moderate wing of the Democratic Party swiftly consolidated around Mr. Biden’s candidacy on Monday, as Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Beto O’Rourke, joined forces to endorse him.
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Mr. Sanders said Monday night: "You might have noticed the establishment is getting nervous ... they should be getting nervous."
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The endorsements Monday also put pressure on Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to prove they have viable paths to the nomination.
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Are Democrats in 2020 looking for somebody who promises to fight, or somebody who promises to unite? Mr. Sanders talks of waging a pitched battle against the status quo of both parties, while Mr. Biden proposes a return to the kind of calm that prevailed before President Trump, writes Gerald F. Seib.
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Voters heading to the polls in some Super Tuesday states will be met by workers wearing medical gloves and check-in tables decorated with Purell bottles, as the coronavirus outbreak collides with the presidential campaign, Joshua Jamerson and John McCormick report.
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Down-Ballot Democrats Also Turn to Biden
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A leading Democratic candidate for a critical Senate seat endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden Monday in yet another sign of down-ballot Democrats distancing themselves from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.)
Mark Kelly, a former astronaut and Democratic Senate candidate in Arizona, said on Monday that he would vote for Mr. Biden because of the experience he’d bring to the job.
“We need a president who will unite us and find common ground to get things done,” Mr. Kelly said.
Mr. Kelly, who has fundraised successfully and leads Sen. Martha McSally (R., Ariz.) in some polls, is hoping to flip a Senate seat in a state that Mr. Trump narrowly won in 2016. His endorsement comes as many moderate Democrats—including two of Mr. Biden’s rivals—have rallied behind Mr. Biden ahead of Tuesday’s primary contests.
Some Democrats have warned that Mr. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who has called for a major expansion of the government’s role in several industries, could hurt Democrats running in competitive races like Mr. Kelly’s if he were the nominee. Mr. Sanders has said he would help the party reach new voters.
If Mr. Sanders does still become the Democratic nominee, Mr. Kelly will be able to say that he preferred Mr. Biden. It is unclear whether that would be enough to neutralize Republican attempts to tie Mr. Kelly to Mr. Sanders—and Republicans will likely attack Mr. Kelly as dangerously left-wing either way.
Write to Andrew Duehren at andrew.duehren@wsj.com
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Colorado independents might decide Democratic victor on Super Tuesday (Full story)
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Chris Matthews to leave MSNBC amid controversy, Sanders remarks (Full story)
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Who’s in and who’s out of the 2020 presidential race (Graphic)
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Tracking delegate counts (Graphic)
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The Supreme Court agreed to once again decide the fate of the Affordable Care Act, but it likely won’t do so before the 2020 presidential election, Brent Kendall and Stephanie Armour report.
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The court announced it would consider an appeal by a group of Democratic-led states that are defending the 2010 health-care overhaul legislation, a signature achievement for President Obama.
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The ACA is under legal attack from a group of Republican states, which found a new tactic for challenging the law in 2018—based on a provision requiring Americans to buy health insurance or pay a penalty—after the Supreme Court previously preserved the ACA in decisions in 2012 and in 2015.
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The Supreme Court heard arguments in separate cases testing the government’s power to rapidly deport asylum seekers without court review, disputes that pit immigration authorities’ campaign to curb immigration against fundamental guarantees of due process, Jess Bravin reports.
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President Trump will meet Tuesday with a group of Republicans who are on different sides of a fight over whether to curtail the government’s spying powers when Congress enacts must-pass legislation to extend some expiring surveillance authorities, Siobhan Hughes and Andrew Restuccia report.
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A top Senate Republican said he intends to issue a subpoena as part of his committee’s probe into the work that former Vice President Joe Biden’s son did for a Ukrainian natural gas company, escalating Republican efforts to put a spotlight on a leading Democratic presidential candidate, Andrew Duehren reports.
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The Trump administration is ordering China’s state media companies to reduce the ranks of Chinese nationals in the U.S. in retaliation for years of tightening restrictions on American news outlets by Beijing, Courtney McBride and Rebecca Ballhaus report.
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In announcing the new cap, the State Department officials cited “a longstanding, negative trend” in Beijing’s treatment of foreign journalists.
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Beijing in February ordered three Wall Street Journal reporters expelled over a headline on an opinion column that the Chinese government and many Chinese say was offensive.
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The U.S. indicted and sanctioned two Chinese nationals accused of helping North Korean hackers launder around $100 million in stolen virtual currency, report Aruna Viswanatha, Ian Talley and Dustin Volz. The U.S. attorney’s office in Washington also filed a civil action to seize related assets allegedly held in 113 virtual currency accounts, and the U.S. Treasury Department simultaneously blacklisted the two men.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders is looking more like a liberal version of Donald Trump, a cultural force transcending party or politics. (Vox)
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A Democrat in the White House would use executive powers to combat climate change, just as President Trump has used executive power to roll back environmental regulations. (Bloomberg)
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Despite the bravado in secretive North Korea about avoiding coronavirus cases, there are growing doubts it has escaped the disease. (Associated Press)
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This newsletter is a production of the WSJ Washington bureau. Our newsletter editors are Tim Hanrahan, Kate Milani, Troy McCullough and Daniel Nasaw. Send feedback to capitaljournal@wsj.com. You can follow politics coverage on our Politics page and at @wsjpolitics on Twitter.
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