RNC pounces after Sanders says Biden could be 'most progressive' president since FDR

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RNC pounces after Sanders says Biden could be ‘most progressive’ president since FDR
Just days after Joe Biden declared he would "transform" the country if elected, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont predicted Wednesday that Biden could become the "most progressive president" since Franklin Roosevelt.

Sanders' remarks -- which drew a quick response from the Republican National Committee -- came as a joint Biden-Sanders task force released a wide-ranging set of recommendations for the Democratic Party’s convention platform.

"The compromise they came up with, if implemented, will make Biden the most progressive president since FDR," Sanders told MSNBC. "It did not have, needless to say, everything that I wanted, everything that Biden wanted."

Sanders added there was a "real honest effort" to find a compromise between left-wing supporters of Sanders, and establishment Biden backers.

But the RNC cast doubt on the level of effort involved in the task force. RNC spokesman Steve Guest noted that the Biden-Sanders task force had lifted numerous passages word-for-word from Sanders' previous platform.'

"The fact Joe Biden has embraced Bernie Sanders’ radical agenda verbatim is proof that while Bernie may not be the one leading the Democrat Party, Biden is more than happy to be his champion in its lurch to the left," Guest tweeted, before taking a shot at Biden's previous plagiarism scandals: "Bottom Line: Joe Biden has years of experience copying from others, now his task force is straight up copying from Bernie’s 2020 campaign proposals."

The Democratic Party has, indeed, shifted to the left in recent months, and there are indications Biden is on board with the new progressive wing. For example, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Tuesday called for dismantling America's "system of oppression," citing the country's economic and political systems; the Biden campaign didn't respond when asked by Fox News if the former vice president agreed with Omar.

Other Democrats introduced a bill this week that would defund prisons, eliminate live sentences, and allow undocumented immigrants to vote and provide them with free "lifetime education." Biden recently said money "absolutely" should be directed away from police departments. Click here for more on our top story.

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Trump has '91 percent' chance of winning in November, professor's prediction model says
Despite recent polls that show Joe Biden as the heavy favorite in November, a political science professor is still standing by his prediction model that shows President Trump having a "91 percent" chance of winning a second term.

Stony Brook University professor Helmut Norpoth is doubling down on his "Primary Model,” which has correctly predicted five of the past six elections since 1996 and every single election but two in the past 108 years, Mediaite reported Wednesday. 

“The Primary Model gives Trump a 91 percent chance of winning in November,” Norpoth said. "This model gets it right for 25 of the 27 elections since 1912, when primaries were introduced."

The two elections the model failed to predict were the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy and the 2000 election of George W. Bush, Mediaite noted.

Norpoth's model examines presidential primary results -- not polls -- as the strongest indicator of the outcome in the general election. According to Norpoth, Biden is in a much weaker position than Trump because of his poor showing in the first two primary races.

Before making the stunning comeback in the South Carolina primary and carrying the subsequent races, Biden came in fourth place in Iowa with just 15.8 percent of the vote and came in fifth place in New Hampshire with just 8.4 percent.

Norpoth stressed that enthusiasm is key.

“The terrain of presidential contests is littered with nominees who saw a poll lead in the spring turn to dust in the fall,” Norpoth told Mediaite. “The list is long and discouraging for early frontrunners. Beginning with Thomas Dewey in 1948, it spans such notables as Richard Nixon in 1960, Jimmy Carter in 1980, Michael Dukakis in 1988, George H.W. Bush in 1992, and John Kerry in 2004, to cite just the most spectacular cases."

Norpoth's model, which correctly predicted Trump's victory roughly nine months before the 2016 election, suggests that the president will win by even a wider margin in the electoral college with 362 electoral votes versus the 304 he earned against Hillary Clinton. Mediaite pointed out such a victory would nearly match Barack Obama's 2008 election, where he earned 365 electoral votes.

Other related developments:
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- Donald Trump Jr.: 'The radical left entirely controls Joe Biden' and the Democratic Party

CHOP victim's dad returns to 'Hannity,' describes 'overwhelming' response following previous appearance
Horace Lorenzo Anderson Sr., whose 19-year-old son was fatally shot in Seattle's Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) zone last month, joined "Hannity" on Wednesday to discuss what has happened since he appeared on the program last week to discuss his son's death.

"A lot of things has happened just because of your show. I believe that," Anderson told host Sean Hannity. "I want to just say, first of all, I want to give my heart out to everyone. Because of your show, people have been reaching out to me... [from] around the world. I've got cards from around the world, people I don't even know, just reaching out to me saying 'You're a great dad' and just different things. 'I wish I had a dad like you,' things like this. You know, it has been very overwhelming."

Horace Lorenzo Anderson Jr., was killed early on the morning of June 20, when shots rang out near Cal Anderson Park at 10th Avenue and East Pine Street inside the protest zone. A 33-year-old man was wounded in the shooting.

On July 1, the elder Anderson told Hannity in an emotional interview that neither local police nor Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan had reached out to him about his son's death.

"They need to come talk to me and somebody needs to come tell me something, because I still don't know nothing," he said at the time. "Somebody needs to come to my house and knock on my door and tell me something."

The following day, Anderson received a condolence call from President Trump.

Other related developments:
- Seattle father mourning loss of son killed in 'CHOP' zone gets calls of support from Trump, Mayor Durkan

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SOME PARTING WORDS

With the presidential election 118 days away, Sean Hannity says everything "we cherish in this great country is at stake."

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Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. This edition was produced by Jack Durschlag. Thank you for making us your first choice in the morning! Stay safe, stay healthy and try to stay positive -- we'll get through these hard times together. See you in your inbox first thing Friday morning.