(Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden slammed Donald Trump’s handling of the economy Tuesday amid growing fears the U.S. may be headed toward a recession.
“Donald Trump inherited a growing economy from the Obama-Biden administration just like he inherited everything in his life,” the former vice president said during an event in Prole, Iowa. “And now he’s squandering it just like everything he’s inherited.”
Biden said Trump’s “irresponsible tariff war” with China has hurt farmers and stunted growth for the entire economy.
While Trump insisted Tuesday that the U.S. is “very far from a recession,” he and his economic advisers have been casting about for ways to cut taxes to juice the economy amid signs of rising risks of a U.S. and worldwide recession.
De Blasio Says He’s Still in Race to Win (2:00 p.m.)
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has less than 1% support in national polls, and he’s far short of the 130,000 donors needed to participate in a September debate among Democratic presidential candidates, yet he says he’s still in the race to win.
“I’m standing up for working people. I’m standing up for labor unions. I’m saying very bluntly that we can not depend on private insurance companies to give people the kind of health care they actually deserve,” de Blasio said Tuesday during an MSNBC interview.
Among New York City voters, 76% opposed his presidential candidacy in an April 3 Quinnipiac University poll, with a 42% job approval rating.
De Blasio acknowledged he probably won’t make the cut for the September debate. To qualify, candidates need 130,000 individual donations, and at least a 2% showing in four different polls. As of his last filing in July, de Blasio had raised $1.1 million from 6,700 donors. -- Hnery Goldman
Castro Is 10th Candidate to Make Third Debate (12:20 p.m.)
Julian Castro’s qualification for the third Democratic debate means there will be at least a full stage of 10 candidates for the September face-off.
The CNN/SSRS poll released Tuesday provided the former Housing and Urban Development secretary with his fourth showing he’s met the 2% minimum support to guarantee his place on the debate stage. Castro met the threshold of 130,000 unique donors -- with at least 400 from 20 or more states -- in July.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke and entrepreneur Andrew Yang will also face off in Houston.The Democratic National Committee limited the stage to 10 candidates per night in the first two debates but has yet to say what it will do if another candidate makes the cut for the third round, scheduled for Sept. 12-13. Billionaire Tom Steyer has met the donor threshold and is one poll away from qualifying. Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii also has the donors but is still two polls away from making the stage.
Republican Party Raises $20.8 Million in July (10:48 a.m.)
The Republican National Committee raised $20.8 million in July, bringing its total to $117.9 million for the year as it prepares for President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.
The RNC ended the month with $46.6 million cash on hand and no debts, it announced. It’s hired staff in 16 key states around the country and is training volunteers and registering voters. It’s also launched digital ads targeting Democrats in down ballot races.
“We continue to directly invest this money into growing our top-notch data-driven infrastructure,” said RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
Major donors provided 45% of the party’s fundraising, up from 33% during the mid-terms, when big contributors focus more on congressional races.
The RNC and its counterpart, the Democratic National Committee, which had raised $44 million through June, are due to file their monthly reports with the Federal Election Commission Tuesday. -- Bill Allison
Biden Regains Double-Digit Lead in New CNN Poll (6:50 A.M.)
Joe Biden’s front-runner margin has widened over his Democratic rivals for the party’s nomination in a new CNN poll released Tuesday.The former vice president gained 7 percentage points from a June poll, while Senator Kamala Harris dropped the most, losing 12 points since the surge she saw in polling after the first Democratic candidate debates.
Biden has 29% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters in the poll, trailed by Senators Bernie Sanders with 15% and Elizabeth Warren with 14%. Their support has remained relatively stable.
The biggest loser was Harris, who had 17% of support in CNN’s June poll taken in the days immediately following the first Democratic National Committee-sanctioned debates. She dropped to 5% in the poll released Tuesday. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg also had 5%, followed by former Congressman Beto O’Rourke with 4%.
Among the rest of the field, former HUD Secretary Julián Castro scored 2%, securing his spot on the debate stage in Houston next month, as it marks his fourth such qualifying poll.
The survey was conducted for CNN by SSRS Aug. 15-18 of a random sample of 1,001 adults across the country. The margin of error for results from the subsample of 402 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents who are registered to vote, is plus-or-minus 6.1 points. -- Elizabeth Wasserman
COMING UP
After the Democratic presidential candidates speak before the Native American voter forum in Iowa, they’ll meet up again at the Iowa AFL-CIO gathering. Then they all head out to San Francisco for the Democratic National Committee meeting Aug. 22-24.
