Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - April 4, 2016
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Monday's Leading Stories
- At the North Dakota Republican Convention on Sunday, 18 of the 25 delegates selected to attend the Republican National Convention are reportedly leaning towards supporting Ted Cruz. Although one party activist attempted to have the delegate candidates state their presidential preference prior to the state convention vote, North Dakota’s delegates are not committed to any presidential candidate and remain unbound, even on the first ballot at the national convention. Politico reported that only one of the 25 delegates has publicly stated that he was considering supporting Donald Trump. (Politico)
- Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders continued to clash over when the next Democratic presidential debate should be held with New York’s primary approaching on April 19. Clinton said on Sunday that she “would be there” for a debate with Sanders hosted by ABC News' "Good Morning America" on April 15. Sanders said that he would prefer the debate take place when “people are going to be watching it,” but added that he believed the two campaigns would be able to find a compromise. (The Wall Street Journal, ABC News)
Poll
- A Loras College poll released on Saturday found close races in both the Democratic and Republican contests in Wisconsin. Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders by six points, 47 percent to 41 percent. Ted Cruz claims the top Republican spot with 38 percent, seven points ahead of Donald Trump’s 31 percent. (Loras College)
- CBS News/YouGov released several battleground state polls on Sunday:
- Wisconsin: Cruz leads Trump, 43 percent to 37 percent. Sanders, with 49 percent, narrowly leads Clinton’s 47 percent.
- New York: Trump more than doubles Cruz’s support in his home state with 52 percent to 21 percent. Clinton leads Sanders by 10 points, 53 percent to 43 percent.
- Pennsylvania: Trump also has a dominant lead in Pennsylvania with 47 percent support to Cruz’s 29 percent. (CBS News)
- IBD/TIPP released a national poll on Monday featuring head-to-head matchups with the remaining candidates. (Investor’s Business Daily)
- Clinton (47 percent) vs. Trump (35 percent);
- Clinton (44 percent) vs. Cruz (39 percent);
- Kasich (45 percent) vs. Clinton (38 percent);
- Sanders (50 percent) vs. Cruz (38 percent);
- Sanders (45 percent) vs. Kasich (42 percent);
- Sanders (53 percent) vs. Trump (36 percent).
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- Hillary Clinton discussed Wisconsin politics and the state of the presidential race during a campaign event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Saturday. (Slate)
- “Right now, there is a Walker-appointed judge running for the highest court in this state … [who] has actually said birth control is ‘morally abhorrent,’ and doctors who provide it are ‘party to murder.’ Let me say that again. … There is no place on any Supreme Court, or any court in this country, no place at all for Rebecca Bradley’s decades-long track record of dangerous rhetoric against women, survivors of sexual assault, and the LGBT community,” she said of Bradley, who is running to retain her seat on the state’s supreme court.
- “To all of the city, state and local leaders who pour your hearts into building the Democratic Party across Wisconsin, please know this: I will help you take back the governorship and the state legislature. I am a proud Democrat, and I support Democrats up and down the ticket, always have, always will,” she said in a tacit reference to Bernie Sanders’ political career as an Independent.
- Reuters reported on Saturday that the State Department suspended its plans for an internal investigation of how classified information was handled on Clinton’s private email server at the request of the FBI. "The internal review is on hold, pending completion of the FBI's work. We'll reassess next steps after the FBI's work is complete,” said State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau. (Reuters)
- When asked on Sunday if she had been contacted by the FBI for an interview, Clinton said, “No, no, they haven’t. But, you know, back in August, we made clear that I’m happy to answer any questions that anybody might have. And I stand by that.” (The Huffington Post)
- In an interview on Sunday with NBC’s Chuck Todd, Clinton discussed her position on if and when fetuses have constitutional rights. “Well, under our laws currently, that is not something that exists. The unborn person doesn't have constitutional rights. Now, that doesn't mean that we don't do everything we possibly can in the vast majority of instances to, you know, help a mother who is carrying a child and wants to make sure that child will be healthy, to have appropriate medical support,” Clinton said. She continued, “It doesn't mean that you don't do everything possible to try to fulfill your obligations. But it does not include sacrificing the woman's right to make decisions.” (RealClearPolitics)
Bernie Sanders
- During a rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Bernie Sanders appeared to invoke the Holocaust to describe what he feared Donald Trump’s presidential campaign could create in the U.S. “Some of you know I'm Jewish. My dad came – my father came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. He came over; other people in his family did not come over. Most people died. Children died. Relatives of my father. So that is in my heart to see what a lunatic can do by stirring up racial hatred. And we're not going to allow that to take place in this country.” When asked about the statement on Sunday, Sanders said he was speaking about Islamophobia. “No, I did not compare Trump to Hitler. But I will do everything that I can to stop this type of hatred and hate talk that we are hearing,” he continued. (ABC News)
- When asked on Sunday if he stood by his charge that Hillary Clinton was receiving significant contributions from the gas and oil industry after the claim received “three Pinocchios” in a Washington Post fact check, Sanders said, “Well, let the voters decide whether paid lobbyists who represent the fossil fuel industry, 43 of them give maximum personal contributions to the Clinton campaign, and whether or not these same people are out in some cases muddling, trying to bring in even more money. I don't think that we are distorting reality. That's the simple reality.” He added that the contributions he has received from individuals employed by the fossil fuel industry came from workers and not lobbyists. (CNN)
- Sanders surrogate and actress Rosario Dawson invoked Clinton’s email investigation over the weekend at a rally in New York. CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Sanders on Sunday if he was “trying to have it both ways” by having a surrogate raise the issue, even though he pledged to focus only on policy. Sanders responded, “We have many, many surrogates who say many, many things. Many of these surrogates do not agree with everything I say. And I do not agree with every approach and everything that they say. And that's the simple reality. What we have done – and, by the way, there are a lot of people who say, Bernie, why don't you go after her on her FBI investigation? Why don't you go after her on the Clinton Foundation money? We have chosen not to do that.” (CNN)
Republicans
- Chair of the Republican National Committee Reince Priebus said on Sunday that he expected Ted Cruz, John Kasich, or Donald Trump to be the Republican presidential nominee, even if there were a brokered convention. When asked if he thought that House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) might be put forward as a consensus candidate at the convention, Priebus said, “No, because, number one, he doesn't want to do it. And I know Paul very well. And, you know, he doesn't seek out these things. He's one of the unique people in Washington where, you know, his ego is, like, not even there. And he's not selfish. And he doesn't think like that.” (RealClearPolitics)
Ted Cruz
- U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) endorsed Ted Cruz on Saturday. “Americans need a strong, principled leader to help turn this country around. Ted Cruz is the leader we need in the White House. Ted has stood up and fought for conservative principles and the American people his entire life,” Ribble said in a statement. (Ted Cruz for President)
- Cruz won six delegates at two congressional district conventions in Colorado on Saturday. The other delegates will be allocated at district and state conventions this week. (The Denver Post)
- Over the weekend, Cruz released an ad in Wisconsin highlighting a potential conflict of interest in John Kasich’s political career. “The spot implies that Kasich awarded the company [Worthington Industries] hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax breaks because they paid him money before he won the governorship – which has not been proven,” CNN reported. (CNN)
John Kasich
- On Sunday, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked John Kasich why he did not believe that women should be punished for having an abortion if he believed the act took a life. Kasich answered, “Because I think it's difficult on her to begin with. That's the way I feel about it, George. And that's the end of it." After Stephanopoulos asked if doctors should be punished for performing illegal abortions, Kasich continued, “Let me just put it to you this way: I'm not. Today, I'm not. I've just told you how I feel about it. Repeal Roe v. Wade, make exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother, turn it back to the states for them to decide what they do. We would, you know, ultimately have a policy. It has to be something that can gain acceptance as something that's reasonable and we'll go from there.” (CNN)
- Aides to Ted Cruz’s and Donald Trump’s campaigns have reportedly said both men are interested in establishing a rule that would require a candidate to have a minimum amount of support in primary contests to appear on the ballot at the Republican National Convention. "I expect the Rules Committee to require a level of support that would leave only two candidates on the ballot at the convention," said one Cruz adviser. Barry Bennett, an adviser to Trump’s campaign, said he expected the rules committee to have a voting bloc unfavorable to Kasich and that would be unlikely to oppose a rule the two leading campaigns supported. (NBC News)
Donald Trump
- Donald Trump discussed the series of difficult days his campaign experienced last week in an interview with The New York Times on Saturday. (The New York Times)
- “Yeah, it was a mistake. If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t have sent it,” Trump said about retweeting an unflattering photo of Heidi Cruz.
- When asked if it would have been better for his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, to call and apologize to reporter Michelle Fields for allegedly grabbing her, Trump said, “You’re right, but from what I understand it wouldn’t have mattered.”
- He also said that his statement that women should be punished for having an illegal abortion was meant to be a “hypothetical” response. “This was not real life. This was a hypothetical, so I thought of it in terms of a hypothetical. So that’s where that answer came from, hypothetically,” he said.
- Darren Morris, Trump’s Tennessee state director, accused the Tennessee Republican Party of adjusting the state’s list of at-large delegates to include a larger number of anti-Trump individuals this week. “They're picking anti-Trump people. They're picking establishment picks who don't support Donald Trump, and it's just the same effort that they're conducting all over the country to steal a vote here, steal a delegate there, to affect the outcome of the convention in July and take the nomination away from Donald Trump,” Morris said. Tennessee Republican Party leader Brent Leatherwood said that there had been no agreement on the list and that the committee would finalize a list in accordance with the party’s bylaws and state law. (The Tennessean)
- On Sunday, Trump again called on John Kasich to drop out of the presidential race because it is impossible for him to win the nomination. “Kasich shouldn't be allowed to continue and the RNC shouldn't allow him to continue,” he said. Trump added that he had raised this issue with the RNC directly and was frustrated that Kasich was “taking my votes.” (NBC News)
- Trump has reportedly expressed in private concern with the political consequences of manager Corey Lewandowski’s altercation with Michelle Fields. “Some said Lewandowski's behavior was unacceptable and the fallout worse than it had to be because of video evidence. That release to the public proved false the initial statements by both Lewandowski and Trump that there was no physical contact,” CNN reported. Politico also noted on Saturday that Trump’s new convention manager, Paul Manafort, would be taking control of some of Lewandowski’s responsibilities in the remaining primaries. (CNN, Politico)
Third Party Candidates
- The first Libertarian Party debate, featuring Gary Johnson, John McAfee, and Austin Petersen, aired on Fox Business News on Friday. All three candidates said that they would eliminate foreign aid and opposed intervention in other country's domestic affairs. Petersen said that he was anti-abortion while Johnson and McAfee stated they were in favor of legalized abortion. On the issue of the federal budget, Petersen proposed cutting all federal programs by one percent. Johnson’s budget would see a 20 percent reduction in federal spending. (Examiner.com)
Jill Stein (Green Party)
- Over the weekend, Jill Stein participated in lengthy interviews with teleSUR and CBC Radio, where she discussed her medical career, foreign policy, and the “politics of fear” in the U.S. (Green Party Watch)
- The Empire Files: Abby Martin with Dr. Jill Stein - A Sick Society
See also
- Presidential election, 2016
- Presidential candidates, 2016
- Presidential debates (2015-2016)
- Important dates in the 2016 presidential race
- Polls and Straw polls
- 2016 presidential candidate ratings and scorecards
