You won't see Beto O'Rourke announce whether he's running for president for a while, but the Texas Democrat will be anything but invisible. O'Rourke appears to be testing public opinion at a number of appearances before deciding whether he has garnered enough American affection to wage a respectable campaign against a wide field of potential Democratic contenders — some already Congressional rockstars within their party — for the nation's highest office in 2020. O'Rourke was relatively unknown before late entry into the Senate race against Ted Cruz nearly earned him the entrenched Republican's seat and catapulted him to prominence in the party in 2018 — even as he lost his seat in the House, where he had served a mere three terms. Should he choose to run, his potential opponents include Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden and former California AG Kamala Harris, who is even newer to national politics than O'Rourke. Harris was elected to the Senate in 2018, along with a wave of diverse Democrats and has been one of its most visible members. A number of other Dems are also reportedly considering running in 2020 — announcements are expected in coming weeks, but the two years leading up to the next presidential election are already shaping up to be dominated by Democrats determined to drive Donald Trump from D.C..
A planned meeting between France's prime minister and a team of representatives of a nationwide protest movement collapsed Friday amid threats from some demonstrators and after a request to broadcast the talks live was rejected. The fiasco came on the eve of protests planned Saturday across France, including on Paris' Champs-Elysees avenue, where a demonstration last weekend turned violent.
