Even by South Carolina standards, this is a lot.
There's no set date for the state's pivotal 2020 presidential primary. But that's not stopping a half dozen potential Democratic contenders from swarming the state over the next week, connecting with voters and political operatives.
The first-in-the-South primary can be a make or break contest for White House contenders from both parties. In addition, South Carolina's significant black population offers an opportunity for Democratic candidates to test their messages in a way that's not possible in other early-voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire, which have fewer minority voters.
FILE - In this Jan. 24, 2018, file photo, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rep. James Smith, D-Richland, second from right, talks with Lucas Atkinson, D-Marion, second from left, Rob Williams, D-Darlington, right, and David Weeks, D-Sumter, left, at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, S.C. Home to the first-in-the-South primaries, South Carolina is accustomed to the parade of presidential candidates who frequent the state in hopes of boosting their national credibility. But, with eager Democrats’ open 2020 contest, that competition has begun here early, with candidates lining up visits with a frequency accelerated from years past. (AP PhotoSean Rayford, File)
That's especially important for a party that could field multiple candidates of color and is making diversity an explicit part of its appeal.
A look at what's happening in the Palmetto State, which could be a political ground zero for nearly a year and a half:
BIDEN, SANDERS
FILE - In this Friday, July 23, 2010, file photo, Vice President Joe Biden chats with former U.S. Sen. Ernest Fritz Hollings during the dedication ceremony of the new Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library in Columbia, S.C. Home to the first-in-the-South primaries, South Carolina is accustomed to the parade of presidential candidates who frequent the state in hopes of boosting their national credibility. But, with eager Democrats’ open 2020 contest, that competition has begun here early, with candidates lining up visits with a frequency accelerated from years past. Biden, who has said it’ll be at least January before he decides about 2020, has been keeping an elevated profile in South Carolina this midterm cycle, even for him. (AP PhotoMary Ann Chastain, File)
Long fond of vacationing on Kiawah Island, former Vice President Joe Biden has had close relationships with two of South Carolina's longtime senators, Democrat Ernest Hollings and the late Strom Thurmond, a Republican. Biden eulogized Thurmond at his 2003 funeral.
Biden has said he won't decide on running until at least January, but he's been keeping an elevated profile in the state. He visits Saturday for events with Democratic gubernatorial nominee James Smith and state Senate hopeful Dick Harpootlian. Harpootlian is a longtime Biden adviser who unsuccessfully tried to persuade him to enter the 2016 presidential race.
Biden, 75, has endorsed Democratic congressional candidate Joe Cunningham and even waded into a down-ballot race, backing the party's pick for state treasurer. Earlier this year, he spoke at an NAACP gathering.
Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, another possible Democratic contender, is also returning. On Oct. 20, he'll take part in a rally with the state's arm of Our Revolution, an offshoot of Sanders' campaign. He was soundly defeated in 2016 by ultimate Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, earning just 26% of the vote.
Sanders' visit has made clear that divisions still exist among the state's Democrats following the bruising 2016 primary. The day after his visit was announced, some of the party's young leaders called the trip "extremely selfish" and self-serving, as Sanders hadn't been invited by any candidate on this fall's ballots. One said Sanders would be better off if he "got lost."
State Rep. Justin Bamberg, one of Sanders' biggest South Carolina backers, said the trip was more about continuing to push some of Sanders' top issues, like increasing the minimum wage. "The man has never said he's running for president in 2020," Bamberg said.
THE NEWER FACES
A slew of fresher faces are also introducing themselves to South Carolina.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker headlines a Democratic fundraiser in Orangeburg next week that will include many of the state's most prominent black leaders and activists. Without much of that backing, it's difficult for any Democratic hopeful to have much success in a state where black voters comprised 61 percent of 2016 Democratic primary electorate.
A day later, California Sen. Kamala Harris makes her first trip to South Carolina, with events in Columbia and Greenville. A few days before the midterm election, former Attorney General Eric Holder is set to speak to the Charleston NAACP, the same group Biden addressed earlier this year.
Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, the only senator to back Sanders' 2016 bid, has made several trips so far. He's delivering a keynote to state Democrats' annual convention and attending events with Rep. Jim Clyburn and as an Our Revolution town hall.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has spoken to the Charleston County Democratic Party's Blue Jam and hosted a fundraiser for state Democrats.
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg planned to campaign Friday with Cunningham. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock planned to do the same Saturday. California Rep. Eric Swalwell recently campaigned with another Democratic congressional nominee, Mary Geren.
Nearly a year ago, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and California Rep. Adam Schiff spoke at a party conference. Maryland Rep. John Delaney, the only Democrat who has already launched his 2020 presidential bid, has visited the state multiple times and spoke at Clyburn's event in April. Billionaire hedge fund manager Tom Steyer has also made several trips.
A LIBERAL STAR AND A CELEBRITY LAWYER
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren hasn't publicized any trips to South Carolina, but recently sent a fundraising email on behalf of state Democrats. A woman who formerly served as her press secretary is the state party's new communications director.
Michael Avenatti campaigned in the state Friday with Democratic congressional candidate Sean Carrigan. He was attending three fundraisers in South Carolina Friday and planned more stops Saturday including headlining an annual Democratic dinner in Horry Country Saturday night.
Avenatti, who is representing adult film actress Stormy Daniels in her legal battle with President Donald Trump, has been making trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, where he's met with state-level operatives and sold-out party dinners.
Sign up for "Politics in Focus," a weekly newsletter showcasing the AP's best political reporting from across the United States leading up to the 2018 midterm elections: https://bit.ly/2ICEr3D.
Kinnard can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A big, new package of U.S. military aid will help Ukraine avoid defeat in its war with Russia. Winning will still be a long slog.
The arms and ammunition in the $61 billion military aid package should enable Ukraine to slow the Russian army's bloody advances and block its strikes on troops and civilians. And it will buy Ukraine time — for long-term planning about how to take back the fifth of the country now under Russian control.
“Ultimately it offers Ukraine the prospect of staying in the war this year,” said Michael Clarke, visiting professor in war studies at King’s College London. “Sometimes in warfare you’ve just got to stay in it. You’ve just got to avoid being rolled over.”
The U.S. House of Representatives approved the package on Saturday after months of delays by some Republicans wary of U.S. involvement overseas. It was passed by the Senate on Tuesday, and President Joe Biden said he would sign it Wednesday.
The difference could be felt within days on the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine, where Russia’s much larger army has been slowly taking territory against massively outgunned Ukrainian forces.
The aid approval means Ukraine may be able to release artillery ammunition from dwindling stocks that it has been rationing. More equipment will come soon from American stocks in Poland and Germany, and later from the U.S.
The first shipments are expected to arrive by the beginning of next week, said Davyd Arakhamia, a lawmaker with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party.
But opposition lawmaker Vadym Ivchenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament’s National Security, Defense and Intelligence Committee, said logistical challenges and bureaucracy could delay shipments to Ukraine by two to three months, and it would be even longer before they reach the front line.
While details of the shipments are classified, Ukraine’s most urgent needs are artillery shells to stop Russian troops from advancing, and anti-aircraft missiles to protect people and infrastructure from missiles, drones and bombs.
What’s coming first is not always what front-line commanders need most, said Arakhamia, the Ukrainian lawmaker. He said that even a military giant like the U.S. does not have stockpiles of everything.
“The logic behind this first package was, you (the U.S.) finds our top priorities and then you see what you have in the warehouses,” Arakhamia said. “And sometimes they do not match.”
Hope for future breakthroughs for Ukraine still hangs on more timely deliveries of Western aid, lawmakers acknowledge.
Many experts believe that both Ukraine and Russia are exhausted by two years of war and won’t be able to mount a major offensive — one capable of making big strategic gains — until next year.
Still, Russia is pushing forward at several points along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front, using tanks, wave after wave of infantry troops and satellite-guided gliding bombs to pummel Ukrainian forces. Russia is also hitting power plants and pounding Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, which is only about 30 kilometers (some 20 miles) from the Russian border.
Ivchenko said the goal for Ukraine’s forces now is to “hold the line” until the bulk of new supplies arrive by mid-summer. Then, they can focus on trying to recapture territory recently lost in the Donetsk region.
“And probably ... at the end of summer we’ll see some movement, offensive movement of the Ukrainian armed forces,” he said.
Some military experts doubt Ukraine has the resources to mount even small offensives very soon.
The U.S. funding “can probably only help stabilize the Ukrainian position for this year and begin preparations for operations in 2025,” said Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank.
In the best-case scenario for Ukraine, the American aid will give commanders time to reorganize and train its army — applying lessons learned from its failed summer 2023 offensive. It may also galvanize Ukraine’s allies in Europe to increase aid.
“So this just wasn’t about Ukraine and the United States, this really affected our entire 51-country coalition,” said U.S. Congressman Bill Keating, a Democrat who visited Kyiv on Monday as part of a four-member congressional delegation.
Zelenskyy insists Ukraine's war aim is to recapture all its territory from Russia — including Crimea, seized illegally in 2014. Even if the war ultimately ends through negotiation, as many experts believe, Ukraine wants to do that from as strong a position as possible.
Whatever happens on the battlefield, Ukraine still faces variables beyond its control.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump, who seeks to retake the White House in the November election, has said he would end the war within days of taking office. And the 27-nation Europe Union includes leaders like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who have opposed arming Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies have held back from supplying some arms out of concern about escalation or depleting their own stocks. Ukraine says that to win the war it needs longer-range missiles it could use for potentially game-changing operations such as cutting off occupied Crimea, where's Russia's Black Sea fleet is based.
It wants Army Tactical Missile Systems, known as ATACMs, from the U.S. and Taurus cruise missiles from Germany. Both governments have resisted calls to send them because they are capable of striking targets deep within Russian territory.
The new bill authorizes the president to send Ukraine ATACMS “as soon as practicable.” It's unclear what that will mean in practice.
Sometimes, promised weapons have arrived late, or not at all. Zelenskyy recently pointed out that Ukraine is still waiting for the F-16 fighter jets it was promised a year ago.
Meanwhile, Russia is using its advantage in troops and weapons to push back Ukrainian forces, perhaps seeking to make maximum gains before Ukraine's new supplies arrive.
For weeks it has pummeled the small eastern city of Chasiv Yar, at the cost of 900 soldiers killed and wounded a day, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense.
Capturing the strategically important hill town would allow them to move toward Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, key cities Ukraine controls in the eastern region of Donetsk. It would be a significant win for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who Western officials say is bent on toppling Ukraine’s pro-Western government.
Russian pressure was aimed not just at gaining territory, but on undermining Zelenskyy and bolstering critics who say his war plan is failing, said Clarke of King's College London.
The U.S. aid package decreases the likelihood of a political crisis in Ukraine, and U.S. Speaker Mike Johnson deserves credit for pushing it through Congress, he said.
"He held history in his hands,” Clarke said.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
From left, U.S. representatives Nathaniel Moran, R-Tx, Tom Kean Jr, R-NJ, Bill Keating, D-Mass, and Madeleine Deane, D-Pa, talk to journalists during a joint news conference outside Saint Michael cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. A newly approved package of $61 billion in U.S. aid may prevent Ukraine from losing its war against Russia. But winning it will be a long slog. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
A volunteer makes a camouflage net at a facility producing material for Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. A newly approved package of $61 billion in U.S. aid may prevent Ukraine from losing its war against Russia. But winning it will be a long slog. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Davyd Arakhamia, a lawmaker with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party, talks during an interview with Associated Press in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
A woman rallies to raise awareness on the fate of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, April 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Ribbons with the colors of the European Union and Ukraine are attached to a tree next to memorial wall of Ukrainian soldiers killed during the war in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
The body of a woman killed by Russian bombardment in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Soldiers carry the coffins of two Ukrainian army sergeants during their funeral in Lviv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
