While national Democrats debate pithy slogans, force out tired satires, and generally wonder what exactly they're supposed to be doing, Stacey Abrams has a plan. The Georgia state legislator and Democratic nominee for governor is a compelling speaker and driven public servant, Molly Ball wrote for Time in a profile published Thursday — but more than that, she's not afraid to try strategies that party bigwigs have largely ignored.

Georgia is a red state veering purple; in the run-up to the 2016 election, there were several polls that breathed life into the idea that Hillary Clinton could steal the conservative state. President Trump ultimately won the Peach State by 5 points, but Abrams thinks there's a coalition to be built that could nonetheless propel her to the governorship. Abrams is facing the deeply conservative Brian Kemp, who serves as Georgia's secretary of state and who has focused his campaign ads on culture war issues. Abrams, by contrast, has made budget priorities the center of her campaign, pledging to rejuvenate Georgia's public education system and overhaul its safety net.

The key, her team believes, is in tweaking its target voters:

Ever since Bill Clinton won re-election in 1996 with a strategy of triangulation, Democrats have tried to win in Republican territory by appealing to white centrist voters. The idea was to combine them with the Democrats' base, but it frequently left white voters cold and the base unenthused. Abrams' campaign is built on the proposition that a compelling candidate can get elected in the South with a progressive message that attracts liberal whites and minorities to the polls in greater numbers. [Time]

"I am coming for you, Georgia!" Abrams says, speaking to hyped up crowds. "Help me get there!" Read more about her plan to turn Georgia blue — and how she used to explain Republican lawmakers' bills back to them — at Time. Kimberly Alters

During the day, he delivered eggs and candy and baskets filled with toys to delighted children, but by night, he was throwing down in the streets of Orlando.

The Easter Bunny in question was actually Antoine McDonald, who told WESH he decided to dress up in celebration of the holiday while bar hopping across town with friends. At about 10:30 p.m., he said, he saw a man and woman outside the Underground Public House get into a fight, and while other people stood by and watched, he raced over to break it up. McDonald got in a few blows of his own against the man before police arrived and told the crowd to disperse. No one was arrested, and police say it's unclear how the altercation started.

McDonald said this wasn't planned, he just happened to be in the right place at the right time wearing the right costume. "I didn't say, 'Hey, look, look at this,'" McDonald stated. "No, I just rushed over there. The real deal. Nothing fake." Catherine Garcia

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said Monday that if elected president, she will give Congress 100 days to "get their act together and have the courage to pass reasonable gun safety laws," and if they "fail to do it, then I will take executive action."



The 2020 Democratic presidential candidate made this promise Monday night during a CNN town hall in New Hampshire. Her executive action would require that anyone who sells more than five guns a year conduct background checks on people purchasing guns; allow the ATF to take away the license of any gun dealer that breaks the law; and no longer allow fugitives from justice to purchase handguns or other weapons.

Harris decried the fact that students of all ages have to go through school shooting drills, and blasted Congress for failing to act when it comes to protecting kids from mass shootings, saying there are "supposed leaders who have failed to have the courage to reject a false choice, which suggests you're either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone's guns away." There needs to be "reasonable gun safety laws in this country," she added, "starting with universal background checks and renewal of the assault weapons ban." Watch the video below. Catherine Garcia

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) says she had a perfectly legitimate reason to stand up for frozen pizzas in school cafeterias, but still regrets taking a stand on the issue.

While answering questions during a CNN town hall in New Hampshire on Monday, the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate was asked about a 2010 letter she sent to the USDA, complaining about a new rule that would no longer count tomato sauce on frozen pizzas served in school cafeterias as a vegetable.

Klobuchar said she wasn't defending the pizzas, but rather farmers and businesses in Minnesota. "We were in the middle of the downturn, and it was a little more, I would say, complex in terms of the language," she said, adding that this was "fair criticism." In 2014, Klobuchar told The New York Times it was a mistake to send the letter, and she told the town hall audience she still regrets mailing it. The bigger issue, she added, is nutrition, and the "need to have healthier foods in kids' lunches." Catherine Garcia

Luke Walton, the former coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and brand new head coach of the Sacramento Kings, has been accused of sexual assault, ABC 7 Los Angeles reports.

The news station obtained court documents showing that sports reporter Kelli Tennant is suing Walton, accusing him of sexual battery, sexual assault, and gender violence. Tennant said the incident took place in Walton's hotel room while he was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors. Tennant said she wanted to show him her new book, and once in the room, Walton allegedly forced himself on her twice before she was able to escape.

The Kings released a statement saying the team is "aware of the report" about Walton and "gathering additional information." The Lakers said the alleged incident took place before he became coach, and "at no time before or during his employment here was this allegation reported to the Lakers. If it had been, we would have immediately commenced an investigation and notified the NBA." Catherine Garcia

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was the first 2020 presidential candidate to call for the House to impeach President Trump after Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report was released Thursday. In a CNN town hall Monday night, she explained why impeachment is more important than politics, telling moderator Anderson Cooper, "There is no political inconvenience exception to the United States Constitution."

Warren read the entire redacted Mueller report right away, she said, and "three things just totally jump off the page. The first is that a hostile foreign government attacked our 2016 election in order to help Donald Trump. ... Part 2, Donald Trump welcomed that help," and "Part 3 is when the federal government starts to investigate Part 1 and Part 2, Donald Trump took repeated steps, aggressively, to try to halt the investigation." If any other American "had done what's documented in the Mueller report, they would be arrested and put in jail," she said.

Mueller decided he couldn't charge Trump with a crime, saying "in effect, if there's going to be any accountability, that accountability has to come from the Congress," Warren said. "And the tool that we are given for that accountability is the impeachment process. This is not about politics; this is about principle."

"I took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and so did everybody else in the Senate and in the House," Warren said. "If there are people in the House or the Senate who want to say that's what a president can do when the president is being investigated for his own wrongdoings or when a foreign government attacks our country, then they should have to take that vote and live with it for the rest of their lives."

Julian Castro has joined Warren in calling for impeachment and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said at her CNN town hall Monday that "Congress should take the steps toward impeachment," but other 2020 Democrats have been more cautious. Peter Weber

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) announced on Monday she plans to "get something done when it comes to student loans," but it doesn't involve eliminating debt or making four-year public colleges tuition-free.

During a CNN town hall in New Hampshire, the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate told university students in the audience she wishes she could "staple a free college diploma under every one of your chairs," but that's impossible and she has to tell them "the truth."

Instead, Klobuchar said under her plan, Pell Grant programs would be expanded, community college would be free, and graduates would be able to refinance their student loans. "Everything that I have proposed to you, I have found ways to pay for it that I think makes sense, that we can actually get done," she said.

Earlier in the day, another Democratic presidential contender, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), revealed that she has a plan to get rid of student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans while making two-year and four-year public colleges tuition-free. Catherine Garcia