Around New England

In NH, California Democratic Congressman Hints At 2020 Presidential Bid

Bill Gnade

The Portsmouth Herald reports Friday that U.S. Rep. Eric Smalwell, a California Democrat known for propagating collusion theories regarding 2016 Trump campaign and the Russians, said he is waiting until the mid-terms to decide whether he will run for president in 2020.

Smalwell, quoted by Herald reporter Paul Steinhauser, said "I want to see how we do in the midterms, kind of take a pulse of the country. See where the country is […] It's a big decision. But I would expect that decision would happen right at the turn of the year."

Around The Web

GOP Candidates Find Common Ground With Asian-American Voters: Affirmative Action

Bill Gnade

A story in The Wall Street Journal suggests that, at least in part, a race discrimination lawsuit filed against Harvard University's admissions policy has perhaps given Republican candidates to higher office "common ground" with Asian-American voters, namely, antipathy to affirmative action.  The Asian-American demographic, on whose behalf the "Students For Fair Admissions" filed the lawsuit, is alleged to be the most affected by Harvard's alleged discrimination practices. GOP candidates look to gain favor among Asian-American families by calling for the dissolution of affirmative action policies, which schools like Harvard utilize to redress social wrongs and inequities that historically disenfranchise applicants, usually applicants from minority groups.On October 15, the first day of the non-jury trial in federal court in Boston where the lawsuit was filed, CNN reported Harvard's Dean of Admissions William Fitzsimmons testified that the university holds Asian-American recruits to higher SAT score standards in the admissions recruitment phase than "black, Hispanic, and Native American students."

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