ST. LOUIS — Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders on Saturday began what amounts to a fresh campaign for the Democratic nomination for president, as the septuagenarians prepare to go head-to-head at the polls for the first time since the field narrowed to two credible candidates.
Biden, the 77-year-old former vice president, spoke to a large crowd of supporters in Missouri, one of 6 states that will hold Democratic primaries on Tuesday, one week after the "Super Tuesday" elections brought about a dramatic reversal of fortunes in his favor.
Standing on an outdoor stage on a sunny day in St Louis, at times wearing his signature aviator sunglasses, the politically moderate Biden savored his spectacular revival in the race for the White House.
"What a difference a day makes," he exulted. "This time last week I was in South Carolina and the press and the pundits had declared Biden's campaign dead."
"But South Carolina had something to say about that, and then came Super Tuesday. And today there are 11 victories behind us and we're leading both in delegates and national votes."
With the monumental Gateway Arch -- a symbolic entryway to the American West -- in the background, the former vice president mentioned Sanders only indirectly.
Biden, having gained key backing from erstwhile rivals Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Michael Bloomberg, said he was best positioned to "unite this party," promising not to turn "this primary into a campaign of negative attacks."
"That will only re-elect Donald Trump if we go that route," he said.
Sanders, speaking to an equally enthusiastic crowd in Chicago, underlined his differences with Biden, without directly attacking him.
"Joe Biden is a friend," he said. "I have known him for many years. But we have records, we have a different vision. The American people will hear about it."
With the primary now "down to 2 people," the progressive Vermont senator said, "it is important for the American people to understand the differences between us -- in terms of our record, in terms of our vision for the future."
Sanders is a democratic socialist who wears his uncompromising positions -- government-run health care for all, higher taxes on the wealthy and free university tuition -- proudly on his sleeve.
Biden is a centrist who prides himself on his ability to work with Republicans. He is more middle-of-the-road on key issues like health care, where he favors expanding existing insurance programs, and less punitive additional taxes on the wealthy.
In addition to Missouri, Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, North Dakota and Washington will hold Democratic primaries on Tuesday.
The state of Illinois, where Sanders was speaking, does not hold its primary until March 17.
That falls 2 days after the next Democratic debate, to be held in Phoenix, Arizona.
Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is still on Democratic ballots, but trails so badly that she has not qualified for the debate.
That would leave Sanders and Biden in their first head-to-head encounter of the long campaign season.
Agence France-Presse
TAIPEI — Taiwan has forged a reputation as Asia's most progressive democracy and it boasts a higher proportion of women in parliament than anywhere else in the region -- yet misogynistic insults have littered its presidential race.
The campaign for the January 11 polls has exposed an undercurrent where female politicians face a gauntlet of personal abuse and jibes that their male counterparts rarely suffer.
The island's most prominent female politician is President Tsai Ing-wen, 63, who is seeking a second term.
She has once again faced insults based on her gender, much of it focused on the fact she is not married and does not have children.
Wu Den-yih, chairman of the opposition Kuomintang party, earlier this month used a Taiwanese slang term to dub Tsai "an unlucky woman" who had brought misfortune to her people.
And her presidential opponent Han Kuo-yu, 62, invoked 2 characters from an ancient Chinese erotic novel to describe Tsai's rivalry with her running mate.
Han's running mate Chang San-cheng also said Tsai could not understand the hearts of parents because she was "a woman who has never given birth".
In a Facebook post, Tsai hit out at the campaign rhetoric.
"I find such a political culture unacceptable and we will not accept any personal attacks against women using such language," she wrote.
Wu later apologized, saying he respected women and meant to criticize Tsai's job performance.
'SOWS AND VASES'
Taiwan's election will be closely watched because much of the campaign has centered on relations with authoritarian China which has ramped up pressure since Tsai's 2016 election.
Tsai, a law professor and trade negotiator before she became a politician, is one of the few female leaders in Asia not to have hailed from a powerful political dynasty.
She is loathed by Beijing because her party refuses to accept the idea that Taiwan is part of the so-called One-China policy which denies the island's independence.
Han, the outspoken mayor of Kaohsiung city, favors much warmer relations with China.
But it is not just Tsai on the receiving end of gender-based jibes.
Chen Chu, a senior figure from Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party who was a political prisoner for 6 years when Taiwan was a dictatorship, has often been singled out for her appearance.
The KMT's Wu described her as "fatty" and "a big sow" while Taipei's mayor Ko Wen-je, head of the new Taiwan People's Party, described her as "a fatter Han Kuo-yu".
During a failed attempt to win the KMT's nomination, Taiwan's wealthiest man and Foxconn founder Terry Gou dismissed his wife's initial opposition to his bid by saying "the harem should not meddle in politics". He later apologized for his remarks.
The DPP are not free of accusations either.
A spokeswoman for KMT candidate Han complained that she was called "a vase" by Tsai's staff -- a derogatory term used to describe a pretty woman that lacks substance.
PROGRESSIVE ISLAND
On paper Taiwan has impressive credentials on progress towards gender equality in politics.
The 2016 election that swept Tsai to power also returned a legislature where 38 percent of the seats were held by women, by far the highest proportion in Asia.
The next highest proportion is the Philippines with 29 percent while South Korea and Japan have 17 and 10 percent, respectively, according to a database compiled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union as of January 2019.
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Taiwan's progressive image got a further boost when it became the first in Asia to legalize same-sex marriages in May.
But commentators say sexism and traditional views of gender still dominate -- and flourish during elections.
"Taiwan has made progress in gender equality but conservative forces are still strong," Tseng Chao-yuan, from the women's rights group Awakening Foundation, told AFP.
"It's disgusting that gender discriminatory comments keep recurring," she said, urging female politicians to stand up to the old-boy networks that dominate their parties.
A veteran figure within Tsai's own party once remarked on her first presidential run in 2012 that a "skirt-wearer is unfit to be a commander-in-chief". He later endorsed her.
But there are signs the sexist insults are backfiring.
Taiwan's younger voters are much more likely than older generations to support progressive issues such as gay marriage, and social media has filled with criticism of the language being used in this year's campaign.
Most polls show Tsai leading Han by a wide margin -- although some more recent data suggests Han might be closing the gap.
"Such vulgar and discriminatory language hurts all women living on this land," one Facebook post read.
"Women need to come out to vote to show our anger and teach them a lesson."
Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON — Billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg called Tuesday for President Donald Trump's defeat in 2020 as he took a new formal step towards joining the Democratic presidential race.
"Officially filed in Arkansas to be on the ballot for the Democratic primary," tweeted the former New York mayor along with a photograph of himself submitting the paperwork -- four days after doing the same in Alabama.
Both states have early deadlines to register for the primaries.
"We must defeat Trump. He has failed us at every turn," the 77-year-old added.
Bloomberg's personal appearance to sign his ballot papers in Little Rock is a strong public signal that the centrist tycoon will officially leap into the already-crowded Democratic primary field.
"Mike wanted to go and do the filing himself" in Arkansas, Bloomberg spokesman Jason Schechter told The New York Times.
"If he runs, he's going to go to states that Democrats never go to in the primary campaign. We're starting that today in Arkansas."
Bloomberg, who like Trump is a septuagenarian white New York billionaire, said back in March that he wouldn't run, but more recently has been toying with the idea of throwing his hat in the ring, according to an adviser.
He has changed his political affiliation on multiple occasions, including switching from Democrat to Republican when he successfully ran for mayor of New York in 2001. He became an independent 6 years later.
Bloomberg is believed to be concerned that the Democratic Party has shifted too far left in recent years, and that a progressive nominee like senators Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren would lead to Trump's re-election.
Experts say a Bloomberg candidacy could hurt the current frontrunner Joe Biden, the former vice president who is the leading centrist in the race.
Trump last week predicted that Bloomberg would "hurt Biden" if he ran, saying "there's nobody I'd rather run against than Little Michael."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
PARIS -- The EU elections have been marked by successes for the far right, a surge by the Greens and setbacks for traditional parties across the continent.
AFP selects 5 takeaways as the first results come in across Europe:
FAR RIGHT, POPULISTS ADVANCE
The first results and projections suggested France's euro-skeptic far-right National Rally party led by Marine Le Pen was set to finish top in France, narrowly ahead of the ruling faction of President Emmanuel Macron.
In Italy, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's far-right League was set to win the most votes, and Germany's far-right AfD was set to improve on their 2014 score of 7.1 percent, with exit polls seeing it coming in at 10.5 percent.
But the picture is far from uniform: in Austria the far-right Freedom Party was lagging in third after becoming engulfed in corruption scandal during the campaign.
And the party of Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders looked set to lose all its seats in the European Parliament as results confirmed a win for the social democrats.
Observers doubt the populists' ability to form an effective coalition, with differences on key issues including how close to be to Russia.
The populists "achieved the same size of wave, maybe a little better even, than in 2014 but there's no tsunami," Sebastien Maillard, director of the Jacques Delors Institute think tank, told AFP.
He forecast that they would not be able to "disturb democratic life" in the next parliament.
GREEN SURGE
Environmentalist parties performed strongly, reflecting how the issue of climate change has leaped up the agenda as young activists take up the cause.
In Germany, the Greens were on course to knock the center-left SPD, the coalition partner of Chancellor Angela Merkel, from second place.
Exit polls also showed the French green party EEVL led by a former top figure at Greenpeace France making strong gains with a score of 12-12.7 percent compared with 8.9 percent in the last EU elections in 2014.
Through school strikes, civil disobedience and large-scale marches, the movements have succeeded in highlighting how human behavior threatens the future of the planet.
And unlike the euro-skeptic populists, the Greens are not riven by division on a pan-European level.
"The Greens traditionally form a homogeneous and coherent group in the European parliament," said Manuel Lafont Rapnouil, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
BLOWS FOR LEADERS
Macron had made no secret of the significance he attached to the results and his party's performance was a symbolic blow for the president 2 years into his 5-year mandate.
But his office sought to put a brave face on the indications, saying that the performance was "respectable" after reports indicated that a bad showing could lead to a cabinet reshuffle.
The night was no better for Merkel, as exit polls showed the list of her center-right bloc was due to only garner around 28 percent.
Elsewhere, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he would call snap elections after voters relegated his Syriza party to second place behind the opposition conservative New Democracy party.
However, nationalist and euro-skeptic ruling parties did well: the Fidesz party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was on course for a big victory while in Poland governing right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS) was well ahead.
TURNOUT JUMPS
After fears ahead of the election that voters would stay away, turnout across the European Union excluding Britain was estimated at 51 percent, the highest in 20 years, the EU parliament said.
A variety of issues ranging from immigration, Brexit, the economy to climate change have made these polls the most closely watched EU elections in a generation.
In the first election to the European Parliament in 1979, 62 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot in what were then nine member states.
Since then the number of members has swollen to 28, but turnout has fallen every 5 years, to just over 42 percent in 2014.
BREXIT PARTY SWEEPS BRITAIN
Britain took part in the EU elections despite still being scheduled to leave the bloc by October 31 amid the crisis and confusion over its delayed exit.
The ruling Conservatives of Prime Minister Theresa May -- who announced her resignation last week -- are set to be punished by falling into fourth place.
However the Brexit party of Nigel Farage -- condemned by opponents as part of a line of European populist leaders -- is set to win by far the largest share of the vote with early results showing it winning 31.5 percent of the vote.
Yet in a sign of the extreme polarization in British politics, the pro-EU Liberal Democrats are challenging the main opposition Labor Party for second place.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
LONDON -- Britain's 2 biggest parties said there was renewed impetus Saturday to find a compromise on Brexit after taking a battering in local elections from voters exasperated by the impasse.
Prime Minister Theresa May's governing center-right Conservatives had a disastrous result, losing more than a thousand seats in the English local authority polls.
But the left-wing Labour main opposition led by Jeremy Corbyn failed to capitalize, and even managed to lose seats.
Instead, 2 pro-EU parties profited: the centrist, Liberal Democrats were up 676 and the left-wing Greens added 185. Independents meanwhile gained 242.
Yet, in a sign of the frustration among pro-Brexit supporters, many voters boasted on social media of how they spoiled their ballots, writing "Brexit betrayal" and "traitors" on their voting slips.
The Conservatives and Labour are in prolonged talks on finding a compromise to break the Brexit deadlock after MPs failed to agree on a divorce deal with the European Union.
"We can look at those local election results as a punishment for both the Labour Party and the Conservative Party for failing to find a way through," Justice Secretary David Gauke told BBC television.
Corbyn told ITV there was clearly a "huge impetus... that an arrangement has to be made, a deal has to be done; parliament has to resolve this issue".
With the divorce deal hanging in the balance, Britain's exit date from the EU has been pushed back twice from the original March 29 to October 31.
Britain's voted in June 2016 in favor of leaving the bloc.
SHADOW OVER EU POLL
In the local elections, the Conservatives were expected to lose seats, with sitting governments traditionally taking a mid-term hit.
Meanwhile Labour could have expected to make the sort of sweeping gains opposition parties on course for government typically pocket.
However, the results were far worse for both major parties than they might have projected.
With more than 8,000 council seats up for grabs in England, the Conservatives were net down 1,269 -- the worst local elections performance, in raw numbers, by a governing party since 1995 -- while Labour shed 63.
This year's local elections took place in largely rural and suburban England, where generally the Liberal Democrats provide the main alternative to the Conservatives in the south and to Labour in the north.
Without a resolution to Brexit, the scenario could be worse for the big parties at the European Parliament elections. They are scheduled to take place in Britain on May 23 following the last extension to the Brexit deadline granted by the EU.
The Conservative and Labour will face euroskeptic Nigel Farage's Brexit Party -- which leads in the opinion polls -- and pro-EU centrists Change UK.
Neither newly-formed party stood in the local elections, the polls coming too soon to find the thousands of candidates necessary.
The prime minister interpreted the election outcome to be a simple message to the Conservatives and Labour to "just get on and deliver Brexit".
"Because we haven't delivered the Brexit deal through parliament yet, this was going to be a particularly challenging set of elections for both of the main parties," May said during a speech in Grimsby, eastern England, late Friday.
'TREATED LIKE FOOLS'
In their first chance to dissect the results, newspapers also weighed in.
The front page of the strongly pro-Brexit publication the Daily Express read: "Got the message? Deliver Brexit!"
The similarly pro-Brexit Daily Mail printed an editorial calling the polls "an immense howl of anger, exasperation and derision at a pathetic political elite failing abysmally in its key task".
It said the public were "sick to death of being treated like fools".
The Sun said of May: "The party she has devoted her life to is demoralized, exhausted and staring into the abyss."
The Times's front page said May will be told by senior Conservatives that next week she must set a date for her own departure.
May has said she will step aside once a Brexit deal has been passed by parliament.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
The exiled former leader of the Maldives has led his party to a landslide victory only 5 months after returning to the country, preliminary results showed Sunday.
Ex-president Mohamed Nasheed, 51, was set for a dramatic return to the top of the national parliament, with his Maldivian Democratic Party headed for a two-thirds majority in the 87-member assembly.
Saturday's poll was the first test of public opinion since autocratic former president and Nasheed's arch-rival Abdulla Yameen was forced to stand down after his five-year term, facing charges of money laundering and embezzlement.
Nasheed returned to the country after his former deputy President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih won an unexpected victory in September presidential elections for the MDP. Yameen had barred Nasheed from contesting.
Preliminary results from Saturday's election showed the MDP winning 50 out of the 87 seats, while private media reports projected the party eventually getting up to 68 seats.
"The Maldives is about to welcome a new dawn, a golden yellow dawn,” Nasheed told his supporters in Male on Saturday. Yellow is the color of his party.
Election officials estimated the final turnout to be between 70 and 80 percent, down from the 89 percent recorded at the September presidential election which unexpectedly toppled Yameen.
Nasheed, now set to take over the leadership of the legislature, has promised to turn the country into a parliamentary democracy by scrapping the executive presidential system adopted under political reforms in 2008.
President Solih said in a statement that the MDP had "secured a huge majority in Majlis (parliament)".
"While we celebrate, we must also not forget the immense challenges that lie ahead of us," he said.
Solih campaigned for the MDP asking voters to return a parliament that could work with him to deliver on his election promises in September to investigate corruption under Yameen.
While Yameen was not a candidate, his Progressive Party of Maldives was seen as the main challenger to the MDP -- but ended up with a poor showing, and is projected to get only four seats.
Nasheed was jailed for 13 years on a controversial terrorism charge when Yameen was in power. However, the conviction was overturned last year after the presidency changed.
Election commissioner Ahmed Shareef told reporters there had been no complaints of irregularities in the runup to the vote, during balloting or at the count.
The Maldives was on the verge of being slapped with Western-led sanctions before Solih won the presidential election on a pledge to end corruption in the country best known for its luxury tourism.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
KIEV, Ukraine--A comedian whose political experience is limited to playing the president on TV is likely to top the first round of voting when Ukrainians go to the polls on Sunday.
Actor Volodymyr Zelensky's bid started as a long shot but he has leapfrogged establishment politicians amid public frustration over corruption and stagnating living standards.
The 41-year-old star of the political comedy "Servant of the People," which returned for its third season this week, is polling above 25 percent, well ahead of his nearest rivals.
If Zelensky wins the presidency he will lead a country of 45 million people that in recent years has known war, loss of territory and uprisings, and remains one of the poorest nations in Europe.
The main question now is whether incumbent Petro Poroshenko or ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko will meet Zelensky in a run-off next month.
One recent survey put them neck and neck at around 17 percent, though another showed Poroshenko pulling ahead of ally-turned-foe Tymoshenko to make the second round.
Zelensky, who has a young support base, acknowledges that he has "no experience" but nonetheless insists he has the strength to lead Ukraine.
"I don't have all the knowledge but I'm learning this now," he told AFP in an interview this month.
"I don't want to look like an idiot."
Even in the final days of campaigning he has eschewed rallies and interviews in favor of playing gigs with his comedy troupe.
Critics point to the vagueness of his manifesto, the key pledges of which were chosen following a public vote on social media.
But supporters say only a brand new face can clean up Ukraine's murky politics.
Some accuse Zelensky of acting as a front for the interests of oligarch Igor Kolomoysky, who owns the channel that broadcasts the entertainer's shows, but he denies any political links.
STANDING UP TO RUSSIA
Poroshenko was elected president in 2014 after a revolution forced Kremlin-backed predecessor Viktor Yanukovych from office.
The pro-Western uprising was followed by Russia's annexation of Crimea and a conflict in eastern Ukraine between Kiev's forces and Moscow-backed separatists.
Poroshenko came in on promises to tackle graft, align Ukraine with the West and shut down the fighting in the east.
But five years on, corruption is widespread and the simmering separatist conflict has cost 13,000 lives.
"I am absolutely confident that despite all of Russia's attempts... the Kremlin will not block the European or Euro-Atlantic integration of my country," Poroshenko said after his final campaign rally.
The 53-year-old president has positioned himself as the only person able to stand up to the Kremlin and has promised to return Crimea to Ukraine if he is re-elected.
The pledge has been widely dismissed as unrealistic.
RECORD NUMBER OF CANDIDATES
Tymoshenko -- who was once known for her traditional plaited hairstyle but now opts for a more conventional pony tail -- has focused on the cost of living.
She has promised to cut consumer gas prices in half and boost pensions as she appeals to an older base during her third bid for the presidency.
With a record 39 candidates on the first-round ballot, analysts say the race remains open despite Zelensky's dominance in the polls.
Barring a shock result in which one candidate crosses the 50 percent threshold in the first round, a 2-person run-off is to be held on April 21.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW YORK -- US Senator Bernie Sanders returned to the place of his birth Saturday to deliver the first rally speech of his presidential campaign, vowing to defeat "the most dangerous president in modern American history" in Donald Trump.
The Vermont independent voiced confidence at the address in the New York borough of Brooklyn that he would first beat the crowded field of his rivals for the 2020 nomination, with much of his liberal, populist agenda now considered mainstream Democratic policy.
"I want to thank all of you for being part of a campaign which is not only going to win the Democratic nomination, which is not only going to defeat Donald Trump, who is the most dangerous president in modern American history," Sanders told the crowd of several thousand people.
"But, with your help, we are going to transform this country and finally create an economy and a government which works for all of us, not just the one percent."
His promised that his campaign would say "loudly and clearly that the underlying principles of our government will not be greed, hatred and lies."
Sanders returned to Brooklyn College, which he once attended, for a rally emphasizing his personal story, as the working class son of a Jewish immigrant who grew up in poor housing.
"I did not have a father who gave me millions of dollars to build luxury skyscrapers, casinos and country clubs," Sanders said in another dig at Trump.
"I did not come from a family that gave me a $200,000 allowance every year beginning at the age of 3."
'TOO RADICAL'
Sanders spelled out his big ticket items for 2020, his second presidential campaign after losing the nomination to Hillary Clinton in 2016 -- "Medicare for All," a $15-an-hour minimum wage and climate change.
Many are long-held principles previously dismissed as too radical by more moderate Democrats, but are now more widely accepted talking points as he squares off against several other progressives who have embraced many of his issues.
Following November's midterm elections, the Congressional Progressive Caucus -- co-founded by Sanders in 1991 -- wields more power than at any time in its history.
Senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand, all 2020 candidates, co-sponsored his Medicare for All legislation in 2017.
Julian Castro, another Democratic hopeful, joins Gillibrand in supporting universal early childhood education.
And Warren, Booker and Harris have all proclaimed support for the Green New Deal, an ultra-progressive platform to combat climate change that was unveiled this month by congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a rising liberal star.
Sanders was an outsider candidate three years ago. But with his massive political network, muscular fundraising capacity and resilient message, he is now a frontrunner.
He would need to best multiple formidable rivals -- including former vice president Joe Biden, should he enter the race -- and victory is anything but assured.
On Sunday, Sanders heads to Selma, Alabama, to mark the anniversary of the 1965 clash known as "Bloody Sunday" and will also visit Chicago, where he graduated from college and was active in civil rights protests.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON - Even as online platforms tightened rules for political ads, digital spending set new records in the 2018 US midterm elections and appears poised for further growth in 2020.
Digital media campaign spending rose 2,400 percent from the 2014 midterms to $1.8 billion, roughly 20 percent of the total $8.9 billion in ad spending, according to preliminary estimates from the research firm Borrell Associates.
Online spending, much of it on social networks like Facebook, has been a significant factor in campaigns for a decade, but tighter rules imposed by digital giants in the wake of the 2016 election could have curbed some of that growth.
Kip Cassino, lead author of the Borrell study, said the online sector kept up a strong growth pace despite new guidelines from Facebook, Twitter and others requiring verification of advertisers to address concerns about foreign influence campaigns.
Digital has some unique advantages over traditional media like television, notably the ability to send out messages quickly and targeted to specific groups of voters.
"They can take advantage of an opportunity very quickly, within seconds," Borrell said. "You can't do that with legacy media."
Additionally, campaigns can finely target voters by geography, age, affiliation and interests, based on data gleaned by online firms.
"You can focus your messages to those people who are going to vote for your or those you want to vote for you," Cassino said.
"You don't want to waste your money on those who don't want to listen to you."
PRIVACY CHANGES AHEAD?
It remains unclear, however, what if any new privacy rules may come into effect before the 2020 election. Any regulations similar to those imposed in Europe could in theory limit campaigns' ability to target ads without consent from users.
"I would be surprised if (tough ad targeting regulations) happen with this administration," said Michelle Amazeen, a Boston University professor specializing in political communication.
Amazeen said campaigns this year were able to use finely targeted ads, including many "attack ads," whose source was not clearly identified -- in some cases seeking to get press attention from "sensational" or inaccurate claims.
"There are certain loopholes where people can run ads and there's no real confirmation of whether that individual or group is who they say they are," Amazeen said.
She added that Facebook's decision to keep these ads without better disclosure "suggests they are not really concerned about protecting the integrity of the election."
Facebook's political ad report showed $353 million spend by campaigns on its platform since May, with unsuccessful Texas Democratic Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke the largest spender with $7.1 million, followed by Donald Trump's campaign committee with $3.4 million.
EMBRACING DIGITAL
While many candidates embraced digital, some strategists say other office seekers failed to take advantage of cost-effective online ads.
Broadcast TV still made up nearly 40 percent of all campaign spending and cable TV for 12 percent.
Amazeen said television remains a key medium because of a large body of research showing its effectiveness, and because older voters are less reachable on online platforms.
According to Cassino, Democrats outspent Republicans three-to-one on digital, but some analysts say much of that was in fundraising and not to help get the vote out.
Mark Jablonowski, managing partner at DS Political, a digital targeting consultancy for Democrats and progressive candidates, said Republicans were well-organized early in the campaign on digital, forcing Democrats to catch up with a late online surge.
"We did not see the growth in digital ad spending we were expecting" from Democrats, Jablonowksi said.
Even with candidates like O'Rourke, he said, "almost all of that (digital) spending was to raise more money, not for persuasion."
Jablonowski said it will be increasingly important in 2020 to direct more ad dollars to digital to reach younger voters.
"You want to be where the eyeballs are, and more people are cancelling their cable television subscriptions, don't have landline telephones," he said.
"There's a whole universe of people not reachable by television."
Some analysts say even old technology, like text messaging, were effective tools in 2018.
Roddy Lindsay, co-founder and chief of the smartphone organizing group Hustle, said activists for Democrats and progressives sent out more than 200 million text messages, calling it an important element in driving turnout.
Although text messages have been used for decades, organizers were able to use targeted campaigns to deliver "peer to peer" messages to young voters who might not be reached by traditional media.
"This was one of the breakout tools of the 2018 election cycle," Lindsay said.
"We know the youth voter turnout made the difference."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON - In addition to choosing members of Congress and state governors, Americans also cast ballots on a slew of local initiatives in the midterm elections, including the legalization of recreational marijuana, limits on abortions and banning greyhound racing.
MARIJUANA
Michigan became the 10th state to legalize recreational marijuana, and in the future residents will be able to grow up to 12 plants for their own personal use. A 10-percent tax was imposed on marijuana sales, with the revenue to be used to fund local councils, education and transport.
Missouri and Utah each legalized medical marijuana, which will carry a tax of four percent, with the funds earmarked to support health care for veterans.
ABORTION
Voters in Alabama and West Virginia approved amendments aimed at limiting future access to abortion.
The Alabama amendment aimed to "support the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children, most importantly the right to life in all manners."
The text of the proposal stated that "this state does not protect the right to abortion or require the funding of abortion." The state makes no exception for abortions in cases where the pregnancy results from incest, rape or where the mother's life is in danger.
Women's rights advocates fear the measures could lead to a challenge to the landmark Roe vs Wade Supreme Court ruling of 1973, especially at a time when appointments by President Donald Trump have swung the court far to the right.
JUSTICE
Louisiana scrapped a law dating back to its segregated past that allowed non-unanimous decisions in juries deliberating in felony trials.
The law, from 1898, allowed a jury to convict a person of felony by only 10 out of 12 jury votes, a move designed to negate the influence of black jury members who were allowed by the 14th Amendment after the Civil War to serve on juries. Its stated aim was to "perpetuate the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon race in Louisiana."
Oregon is the only other state that does not require a unanimous jury decision in felony cases, except for murder.
Florida pass an initiative to restore voting rights to convicted felons who have served their sentence, except for those convicted of sex crimes or murder.
That will give an estimated 1.5 million people the right to cast ballots in a key swing state in presidential elections.
Colorado also voted to remove the word "slavery" from its statute books as a punishment for crime. The western state's constitution had until Tuesday's vote stated that "there shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime."
MINIMUM WAGE
Missouri approved raising the minimum wage from $7.83 dollars an hour to $12 dollars by 2023. In Arkansas, it will go up from $8.50 to $11 an hour by 2021.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Alabama voted to allow the display of the biblical Ten Commandments in public buildings and schools.
ENVIRONMENT
Nevada backed a measure calling for public electricity providers to increase the amount of power generated from renewable sources from 20 percent to 50 percent by 2030.
Under the western state's regulations, however, the proposal has to be approved again in a second election, in 2020, to become law.
Florida banned offshore drilling in waters belonging to the state and also forbade vaping in the workplace.
ANIMAL RIGHTS
In Florida, 69 percent of voters supported a ban on greyhound racing to come into effect by 2020, backing animal rights activists who denounce the sport as cruel.
Florida has 12 of the United States' 18 dog tracks, while 40 US states ban betting on greyhound races.
California passed an initiative requiring all eggs in the state to come from cage-free hens by 2022, while setting minimum cage size requirements for pigs and calves raised for veal.
Alaskans however rejected a ballot measure increasing protections for wild salmon and their habitat, that would have tightened the permitting process for oil developments, mines and dams.
TECH TAX FOR THE HOMELESS
San Francisco voters backed a tax on the city's wealthiest companies to tackle homelessness, passing a measure that divided the tech community.
A tally posted Wednesday showed that 60 percent of voters in the city that is home to Airbnb, Uber, Salesforce, and Twitter cast ballots in favor of "Proposition C," a local ballot measure brought about by a 28,000 signature petition this summer.
Designed to rake in $250 to $300 million in taxes per year, the Robin Hood-esque measure is intended to fund housing for 5,000 people and finance mental health and housing aid services, according to its backers.
Generally, San Francisco's tech bosses -- including Twitter chief Jack Dorsey and Patrick Collison of payment start-up Stripe -- resisted the proposal.
But billionaire Marc Benioff, head of cloud computing firm Salesforce, pumped millions of dollars into the "Yes On C" campaign.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON - Millions of Americans will be barred from casting ballots in Tuesday's crucial midterm elections due to electoral rules at the state level, which effectively exclude many minority voters to the detriment of Democrats.
Here's a look at states where these restrictions could impact the poll's outcome.
1.5 MILLION FLORIDIANS DISENFRANCHISED
Nearly six million Americans are excluded from voting because they are imprisoned, on parole or awaiting sentencing.
African Americans, who are overrepresented in the US penal system, are four times more likely to be unable to vote than the rest of the population, according to The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit organization.
Rules vary widely state by state, with some like Maine and New Hampshire allowing inmates to vote.
But in places such as Kentucky, Iowa, Virginia and Florida, any conviction -- even for a minor offense like possession of marijuana -- results in lifelong disenfranchisement.
In Florida, where the Republican Donald Trump was just 112,000 votes ahead of his rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, nearly 1.5 million people are deprived of voting because of a criminal record.
In addition to choosing their governor and members of Congress, Florida residents will vote on whether to restore voting rights to people with prior felony convictions once they have finished their sentences, besides those convicted of the most serious crimes.
PROOF OF STREET ADDRESS
There is no national identity card in the United States. Instead, each state defines what documents can be used as identification at the polling station.
And according to the American Civil Liberties Union, an influential civil rights organization, several states have imposed restrictive rules since 2010.
North Dakota has since 2016 required its residents to present a document with proof of a street address.
But the state is home to thousands of Native Americans who live on reservations in rural areas with but a single post office box.
They might be turned away at the ballot box, where Heidi Heitkamp -- a Democrat who was elected to the Senate in 2012 by just 3,000 votes -- is campaigning to keep her seat.
Backers of the rule hold it prevents fraud, as North Dakota does not require voters to pre-register.
'EXACT MATCH' RULES
In Georgia, the data voters provide when registering at the polls have since 2017 been compared to those given when applying for a driver's license or social security number.
If there are discrepancies, authorities might refuse the registration.
Some 53,000 applications are currently pending, 70 percent of which belong to African Americans, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Democrat Stacey Abrams -- who hopes to become the first black woman elected governor in the US -- has accused her Republican opponent, Brian Kemp, of using his position heading the office that oversees elections to influence the vote.
Kemp in turn says voters can cast ballots if they clarify their situations, and accuses Abrams of wanting to let undocumented immigrants vote.
Even if applications in limbo are ultimately approved, Abrams fears the challenge to register might cause these voters to stay home.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
LOS ANGELES - Former US president Barack Obama on Saturday urged voters to mobilize and return control of Congress to Democrats as he denounced what he said was the "politics of fear" dividing the country.
Obama told a large and enthusiastic crowd in Anaheim, California -- in the traditionally Republican stronghold of Orange County -- that the nation was "in a challenging moment."
Casting aside the traditional low profile of a former president, Obama returned to the campaign trail on Friday in Illinois in an effort to help Democrats running in the upcoming midterm elections.
In Anaheim on Saturday, he said voters needed to send a clear signal in November that they want to "reverse that cycle of anger and division" and "restore some sanity in our politics."
Although Obama did not refer to the president by name, his intent was clear.
He said stakes were high not just for Democrats but for all Americans, as "people feel scared" about a litany of issues: a troubled health care system, the high costs of education, a warming climate and more.
"If we don't step up, things can get worse," he said. "Other voices (will) fill the void."
Obama, who is 57, said the greatest threat to US democracy comes not from any single individual, or even from any group of billionaires seeking to dominate the nation's politics.
"It is apathy, it is indifference. It is us not doing what we're supposed to do," he said.
Obama's speech was notably shorter and more restrained than the previous day's often fiery remarks in Illinois, when he attacked Trump more frontally, breaking with the long American tradition of restraint by former presidents toward their successors.
Trump, asked about that speech during a trip to North Dakota, quipped that he had watched it but fallen asleep.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
