Iowa entrance polls show MAGA fans turned out for caucus: Live updates

A federal appeals court has struck down Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s Stop WOKE Act saying it violates the First Amendment right to free speech.

The ruling states: “By limiting its restrictions to a list of ideas designated as offensive, the Act targets speech based on its content. And by barring only speech that endorses any of those ideas, it penalizes certain viewpoints—the greatest First Amendment sin.”

Read the full ruling here...

Here’s Alex Woodward with some background on the legal challenges to the Florida law:

The race to replace the late senator Dianne Feinstein comes after Gavin Newsom’s appointee to the seat, Laphonza Butler, decided against running for the full term and pits well-known Democratic congressman Adam Schiff, who led the first House impeachment of Mr Trump, against fellow representatives Katie Porter and Barbara Lee and ex-LA Dodgers star Steve Garvey, who is running on the Republican ticket.

The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg walks us through what might unfold tomorrow:

Ariana Baio explains the significance of today’s Supreme Court ruling:

The challenges to former president Donald Trump’s ballot eligibility have ended after the Supreme Court ruled states did not have the authority to remove him under Section Three of the 14th Amendment.

On Monday, the highest court in the land decided that the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to remove Mr Trump from the primary ballot in Colorado was incorrect – claiming Congress, not states, only had the right to make that decision.

This means states where Mr Trump was removed from the ballot, including Colorado, Illinois and Maine, must keep the one-term president on their ballots.

Lawsuits pending in other states will likely be thrown out as they are now unnecessary.

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Joe Biden says that Donald Trump will “do anything” to try and win the 2024 presidential election, and contest the outcome “no matter what the result is”.

Ahead of Super Tuesday on 5 March, a rematch of the 2020 election – pitting the two men against each other – is all but certain, following Mr Trump’s domination of the Republican primaries so far.

In a rare feature interview with The New Yorker, Mr Biden said he believed he was the person “best positioned” to beat Mr Trump at the national polls again.

Mike Bedigan has the story:

A majority of voters – 73 per cent – say that President Joe Biden is too old to be an effective president. Forty-two per cent say the same about former President Donald Trump.

In a New York Times/Siena College poll conducted late last month, 47 per cent of survey respondents strongly agreed with the statement that Mr Biden is too old to be effective, while 26 per cent somewhat agreed. Fourteen per cent somewhat disagreed, and 11 per cent strongly disagreed.

For Mr Trump, 21 per cent strongly agreed that he’s too old, another 21 per cent somewhat agreed, 23 per cent somewhat disagreed, and 32 per cent strongly disagreed.

Gustaf Kilander reports:

Joe Sommerlad breaks down what you need to know:

The most important date in the US primary calendar arrives on Tuesday 5 March as voters in 15 states and one territory get their chance to have their say on their preferred candidates for the presidency.

Residents of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia, plus American Samoa, will all be filling out their ballot papers on Super Tuesday.

As it stands, Donald Trump looks all but certain to be the Republican Party’s presidential nominee once again in 2024, having already chalked up big wins in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, the US Virgin Islands, South Carolina, Michigan, Idaho and Missouri primaries and had any doubts about his place on ballot papers dispelled by the US Supreme Court, which ruled on Monday that states have no authority to disqualify candidates.

All but one of Mr Trump’s challengers have long since fallen away, with only the well-funded but under-performing ex-UN ambassador Nikki Haley still swinging.

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President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and top officials from the White House and Mr Biden’s cabinet will mount a full-scale public relations blitz to promote the Biden administration’s accomplishments and make a case that they should be given another four years to finish the job following his annual State of the Union address to Congress.

Mr Biden is set to deliver his yearly message to Congress on Thursday, two days after the Super Tuesday primary election contests that will, if the results are as expected, set up a November general election rematch with the man he defeated in 2020, former president Donald Trump.

In a statement, White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt said the president would “make the case to continue to build the economy from the bottom up and middle out that has led to record job creation, the strongest economy in the world, increased wages and household wealth, and lower prescription drug and energy costs”.

Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, DC: