The Note: Feel The Bern: Sanders Wows In Wisconsin
— -- NOTABLES
--SANDERS DRAWS ENORMOUS CROWD AT CAMPAIGN RALLY: A dispatch from the Associated Press in Madison, Wisconsin: "Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders touted his progressive credentials before his largest crowd to date Wednesday night as he pushed his campaign into Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker's backyard. Sanders packed the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Madison, filling its 10,000 seats to show his bid to snatch the Democratic nomination from front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton isn't a longshot after all. 'Tonight we have made a little bit of history,' the white-haired Sanders said at a podium positioned between Wisconsin and United States flags at the outset of his hour-long speech before a boisterous crowd. 'Tonight, we have more people at any meeting for a candidate of president of the United States than any other candidate.'" http://bit.ly/1CMxRgU
--ANALYSIS -- ABC's RICK KLEIN: Choose your number of the day: $45 million, or 10,000 people? Any politician would choose the money over the bodies, half a year before voting starts, surely. And yet, while it's already trite to say, Bernie Sanders is not any politician. Comparing Hillary Clinton's record-breaking quarterly campaign haul with Sanders' cycle-record turnout in Madison, Wis., Wednesday night is instructive as a snapshot, and maybe not more than that. Clinton's fundraising capacity, though, is as impressive as it is unsurprising. Sanders, meanwhile, is genuinely surprising political observers with the number of human beings coming out to see him at the midway point of 2015. Hillary's money is Hillary's money, but something real is happening around Bernie, too.
--WHAT THE SANDERS CAMPAIGN IS SAYING: A press release from the campaign last night: "Sanders said the size of the turnout sends an important message. 'This campaign is not about Bernie Sanders. It is not about Hillary Clinton or anybody else. It is about you,' Sanders said as he surveyed the audience. 'It is about putting together a grassroots movement of millions of people to make sure the government works for all of us and not a handful of wealthy campaign contributors.' Sanders spelled out policy prescriptions to reverse the 40-year decline of the middle class and narrow the wealth and income gap that is greater today in the United States than at any time since before the Great Depression."
--MORE SIGNS OF BERN-MENTUM: From a new Quinnipiac University poll of Iowa voters: "Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is gaining ground on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Iowa Democratic Caucus and now trails the front-runner 52-33 percent among likely Democratic Caucus participants, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Vice President Joseph Biden has 7 percent. This compares to a 60- 15 percent Clinton lead over Sanders in a May 7 survey of likely Democratic caucus-goers by the independent Quinnipiac University. In today's survey, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley has 3 percent with one percent for former U.S. Sen. James Webb of Virginia. Another 5 percent are undecided. Among Democrats 7 percent say they would definitely not support Biden, Webb or former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee and 6 percent say they would not support Clinton."
--WHAT WE'RE WATCHING: Bernie Sanders will be in Iowa, where he'll hold town-halls at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge at 4 pm ET and Morningside College in Sioux City at 8:30 pm ET.
TODAY ON THE TRAIL with ABC's CHRIS GOOD: Chris Christie will be in New Hampshire for a town-hall at the Pink Cadillac Diner in Rochester this morning, a roundtable in Portsmouth at 12 pm ET, an endorsement event at Martha's Exchange in Nashua at 3 pm ET, and a house party in Spofford at 5:15 pm ET. Rick Santorum will respond to the SCOTUS gay-marriage ruling in a keynote speech to a National Organization for Marriage gala in DC at 6:30 pm ET. Rand Paul will be in Iowa for a meet-and-greet at Grand River Center in Dubuque at 9:30 am ET and another at a farm in Brooklyn, IA at 3:30 pm ET. Mike Huckabee continues his Iowa religious-liberty town-hall tour with events at the Best Western Starlite Village in Fort Dodge at 8:30 am ET, Pepper Sprout in Dubuque at 12:30 pm ET, and The Drake Restaurant in Burlington at 6:30 pm ET. Bobby Jindal will be in Iowa, where he'll visit the Pizza Ranch in Rock Rapids at 12:30 pm ET, Rebo's in Sioux City at 1 pm ET, Jolly Time Popcorn Factory in Sioux City at 2:15 pm ET, Gary's on the River in Spencer at 6:30 pm ET. He'll attend a town-hall at Sioux City Museum in Sioux City at 7:45 pm ET, and he'll hold a "'Big Parade and Mardi Gras Festivale' Event" at Tysons Events Center in Sioux City at 8:45 pm ET. Martin O'Malley will be in Iowa, where he'll visit Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy at 12:30 pm ET, a house party in Creston at 5:30 pm ET, and a meet-and-greet at Draught House in Waukee at 8 pm ET.
THE BUZZ
I EMAILED JEB BUSH ABOUT GUACAMOLE, AND HE ACTUALLY RESPONDED. It all started yesterday while poring over 33 years of Jeb Bush's tax returns, ABC's CANDACE SMITH writes. In a demonstration of transparency, Bush, the former Florida governor and Republican presidential hopeful, tweeted out his e-mail address, inviting those curious about his finances to "email me directly." (As governor, Bush encouraged Floridians to e-mail jeb@jeb.org. Many got a personal response). Bush campaign aides said jeb@jeb2016.com was meant for use by voters eager to hear from the candidate himself, but this reporter decided to give it a shot. So, I drafted an email, knowing that it might drop into the dustbin of cyberspace. Rather than dwell on his economic plan or some other weighty subject, I decided to ask about an even more pressing matter: The raging debate, sparked by a recipe published in The New York Times, suggesting that peas might be an appropriate addition to guacamole. (Bush, of course, is a major guacamole aficionado). Here's what he wrote back: http://abcn.ws/1ekstf6
HOW HILLARY CLINTON RAISED $45 MILLION IN JUST 3 MONTHS. Since launching her campaign, Hillary Clinton has been on a frenzied, money-raising spree -- and it looks like it is paying off. The Democratic presidential candidate has raised more than $45 million in donations in just the first three months of her campaign alone, according to a Clinton campaign official familiar with the campaign's second-quarter FEC filings. This impressive number is nearly half of the campaign's goal to raise $100 million by the end of the year, ABC's LIZ KREUTZ notes. Clinton's campaign did not provide the official filings, which will be made available to the public in two weeks, but if their number holds true, the campaign says it would break the record for the most primary money raised by a candidate during the first quarter in the race. As we all know though, money doesn't grow on trees and reaching this number didn't come easy. Here's what Clinton and her campaign had to do to raise the big bucks: http://abcn.ws/1GNWJ8O
SEVEN THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW ABOUT TED CRUZ THAT WE LEARNED FROM HIS BOOK. Sen. Ted Cruz's new book, "A Time For Truth," published this week, is part memoir, part political mission statement, ABC's JESSICA HOPPER reports. It also happens to have chapters covering topics you might not expect to hear about from a presidential candidate, including his father's torture in Cuba, his wife's struggle with depression and what it was like to watch pornography with Supreme Court justices. Here are seven surprising things we learned from the Texas Republican's book: http://abcn.ws/1RSCtJv
ALL THE COMPANIES THAT HAVE DUMPED DONALD TRUMP. It's only been two weeks since he entered the presidential race, but billionaire Donald Trump has already seen some of his most prominent business relationships go up in smoke following remarks he made about Mexico on the very first day of his campaign, ABC's JOHN SANTUCCI notes. "When Mexico sends its people they aren't sending their best," Trump said at his announcement event last month from Trump Tower. "They are bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they are rapists and some are good people but I speak to border guards and they tell us what we're getting." In light of those comments, several of the business partners Trump has cultivated over the years decided they no longer wanted to be in business with the Donald. Here's a look at who has dumped Trump: http://abcn.ws/1R5sFAG.
TAKE A LOOK INSIDE THE CUBAN EMBASSY THAT WILL REOPEN IN THE US. After more than 50 years, the Cuban and American embassies will fly their flags once again. According to diplomatic notes exchanged yesterday, formal diplomatic relations between the two countries will be normalized beginning July 20; following that day embassies in both countries will be opened. ABC News recently got an exclusive tour of the rarely-seen building in Washington, D.C, from the expansive entry hall to the Hemingway bar. The Cuban Interest Section will soon become the Cuban Embassy, ABC's SERENA MARSHALL and VERONICA STRACQUALURSI note. Here's a look: http://abcn.ws/1dyNG4g
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
HOW HARRY REID IS FIGHTING FOR BURNING MAN. The Senate's top Democrat has joined the ongoing fight between the Burning Man arts festival and the Bureau of Land Management over adding amenities to the famed do-it-yourself celebration. The agency, which administers government-owned land, has asked organizers to construct a million-dollar compound for officials supervising the event, which is held on federal land. In a letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, slammed the BLM's "outlandishly unnecessary" demands as out of touch with the spirit of Burning Man, according to ABC's BENJAMIN SIEGEL. Among other amenities, the facility would include washing machines, flushing toilets and 24-hour access to ice cream, according to documents obtained by ABC News. "Part of Burning Man's philosophy is self-reliance and living with the elements is part of the experience," Reid said in the letter. http://abcn.ws/1f20Vw5
WHO'S TWEETING?
@tripgabriel: Scott Walker's Hard Right Turn in Iowa May Hurt Him Elsewhere - http://NYTimes.com http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/07/03/us/politics/scott-walkers-hard-right-turn-in-iowa-may-hurt-him-elsewhere.html?ref=politics&_r=1&referrer= ...
@nationaljournal: The interesting stuff inside Jeb Bush's tax returns http://buff.ly/1GQ1boA
@swheaton: When Obama trolls, he trolls w/ AF1 and the Beast. And today, reports @IsaacDovere, he's trolling Scott Walker in WI http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/barack-obama-scott-walker-overtime-wisconsin-119670.html?hp=lc3_4 ...
@JillDLawrence: GOP field has mostly punted on Trump, hoping he will be ruined w/o their help. But so far no political costs to him. http://bit.ly/1dA4fNg
@danpfeiffer: Signs of White House detox: you had no idea it was jobs day until now