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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

It’s primary day in New Hampshire, where the Democratic candidates go head to head in the first real election of the primary cycle. Frontrunners Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg will both be looking to put the absolute chaos of the Iowa caucuses behind them, and everyone else is fighting to make up ground.

Meanwhile, Trump also sweeps into New Hampshire for a last-minute rally intended to quote “shake up the Dems a little bit” unquote, making sure that he stakes his claim to a state his team thinks is winnable in the general election.

And lastly, Trump’s Justice Department sues local governments in three states to persecute local jurisdictions that have “sanctuary laws” that limit their cooperation with federal immigration forces. The move is part of a significant escalation by the Trump administration in its war on immigrant-friendly governments.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

The first Democratic primary is today, and New Hampshire has already started voting. The three small towns, Dixville Notch, Millsfield, and Hart’s Location hold a midnight vote on primary day each year, casting the first possible ballots.

And when we say small towns, we mean small: so far, Amy Klobuchar is ahead in the New Hampshire primary, with eight votes.

Sanders and Warren each have four, Biden and Buttigieg each have two. Andrew Yang has three, and Tulsi Gabbard has one. So does Tom Steyer. Good for him. Democracy in action, folks.

The rest of the state will get their chance to vote as polls open throughout the morning. A surprise Klobuchar win is probably still a long shot -- the midnight polls aren’t seen as indicative as how the election will go overall.

Instead, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg are currently leading the pack. Sanders fired up supporters on Monday night with a raucous campaign rally and concert at the University of New Hampshire featuring the Strokes and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.

Buttigieg, meanwhile, held a rally in nearby Exeter, where Kevin Coster introduced him, made a Field of Dreams joke, and praised Buttigieg’s civility and thoughtfulness.

The Strokes, meanwhile, launched into their famous anti-police anthem “New York City Cops” as UNH security and police messed with the stage lighting toward the end of their set. Different strokes for different, uh, candidates!

Stay tuned for live coverage of the primary tonight with the Majority Report crew, who will be up late as New Hampshire makes the first real decision of the election.

**The Democrats did not have a monopoly on New Hampshire last night. President Trump swept into Manchester on Air Force One on Monday evening for a rally of his own, bringing out all of his big guns, including Pence and Donald Trump Jr. **

Ivanka, Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul, Steve Scalise, and more of the Trump-Republican rogues’ gallery is expected to campaign for him across the state.

On Monday, however, it was one big episode of the Trump show. The president boasted about his crowd numbers, inspired a “lock her up” chant directed at Nancy Pelosi, roasted the Democrats for hopelessly bungling Iowa, and crowed over his recent acquittal by the Senate.

The Iowa caucuses were a particular pressure point, as Trump attempted to further divide the competitors by pandering to Sanders’s supporters who resent the Democrats’ process in Iowa. Referencing the 2016 primaries, Trump said quote “They are doing it do you again, Bernie, they are doing it to you again.”

The show of force distracts from the Democratic primary, but was also openly aimed at giving Trump a boost in the general. Hillary Clinton carried New Hampshire by just a few thousand votes in 2016, and the Trump campaign thinks they can compete in the state in 2020.

Trump, for his part, again referenced the conspiracy theory that he lost New Hampshire in 2016 because of busloads of illegal voters coming in from Massachusetts. There is absolutely no evidence for this theory but hey, if it works it works!

Trump’s Justice Department sued local and state governments in California, New Jersey and Washington State on Monday over their sanctuary laws, which attempt to protect undocumented immigrants from federal deportation agencies like ICE.

Sanctuary laws like the ones in California and New Jersey often limit the information, such as immigration status, that local authorities like cops and district attorneys can share with federal agencies. T

hese laws allow undocumented immigrants to live with slightly less risk of being arbitrarily deported for minor legal infractions.

Attorney General William Barr has been seeking to strike down sanctuary laws for months, but so far his efforts have been thwarted by various state court systems. Barr’s argument, generally, is that sanctuary laws obstruct the federal government’s ability to enforce its immigration laws. A federal judge in California dismissed this argument the last time it came up, saying that sanctuary laws were quote “permissible exercises of California’s sovereign power.” endquote.

Barr’s end goal appears to be pushing one of his cases against a state or local government into the Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority at the moment.

In the mean time, though, he’s happy to add to the general chaos and misery of the U.S. immigration system, most recently threatening to end the “global entry” program for frequent travelers from New York State, which has also enacted sanctuary laws.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

If you’re a virgin in Virginia, we have good news: sex may not longer be illegal soon. The Virginia House of Commons passed a law on Monday that repeals a centuries-old statute that criminalized sex between two unmarried people. If it passes the Virginia Senate, well, love may no longer be a crime.

The coronavirus has taken such a toll on Mainland China that the country’s massive economy is starting to take a hit, as workers are stranded away from their jobs and factories sit silent.

Prosecutors recommended that President Trump’s former confidant Roger Stone get nine years in prison for lying to Congress and threatening a witness to prevent investigators from looking into the Trump campaign’s use of stolen Democratic documents.

A new bill set to be introduced to Congress on Tuesday would make companies responsible for the plastic waste they create, not consumers. The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act probably won’t get far in the current Congress, but it’s a bold ideological step that signals to environmental groups that at least some Democrats are trying to make a change.

#AMQuickie: Feb 11th, 2020

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn