Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - August 10, 2015
From Ballotpedia
|
Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential Briefing was sponsored by the Leadership Project for America. | ||||
|
Monday's Leading Stories
- Donald Trump was dropped from the RedState Gathering over the weekend following negative comments Trump made about Megyn Kelly’s performance as a moderator in the Republican debate. “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever,” Trump said on Friday, which some interpreted to be an allusion to menstruation. The following day, Trump defended his statement, “I think only a degenerate would think that I would have meant that.” (The New York Times)
- On Saturday, activists from the Black Lives Matter movement interrupted a rally where Bernie Sanders was set to speak in Seattle. After the activists refused to relinquish the mic, Sanders left the stage. “I am disappointed that two people disrupted a rally attended by thousands at which I was invited to speak about fighting to protect Social Security and Medicare. I was especially disappointed because on criminal justice reform and the need to fight racism there is no other candidate for president who will fight harder than me,” Sanders said in a statement following the incident. Black Lives Matter Seattle also released the following statement: “The problem with Sanders, and with white Seattle progressives in general, is that they are utterly and totally useless (when not outright harmful) in terms of the fight for Black lives. While we are drowning in their liberal rhetoric, we have yet to see them support Black grassroots movements or take on any measure of risk and responsibility for ending the tyranny of white supremacy.” (Politico, The Hill)
- According to McKay Coppins of BuzzFeed, Trump has made undisclosed contributions to Breitbart to promote his campaign and "to shape coverage.” Steve Bannon, the executive chair of Breitbart, responded to the claims, saying, “We have no financial relationship with Donald Trump as an investor, advertiser or in any other capacity at this time — nor have we ever. The insinuation that we do — or did — is a lie. Mr. Trump is a savvy and successful businessman but not the type of investor I partner with in emerging growth companies. In fact, Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign hasn’t — unlike other campaigns — bought digital advertising on our site, though we would certainly be open for business on that front as we are with every campaign from both parties.” (BuzzFeed)
- Poll: According to a poll conducted by NBC News, Donald Trump maintained his lead in the Republican field following the debate on Thursday night, holding strong at 23 percent, a gain of 1 percentage point from the organization’s previous poll. Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio followed. When Trump supporters were asked if they would vote for him without the GOP nomination, 54 percent said they would. (NBC News, SurveyMonkey)
Democrats
Joe Biden
- Joe Biden will be in South Carolina this week on a retreat with his wife. According to The Chicago Tribune, an announcement regarding his presidential candidacy is expected shortly after. (The Chicago Tribune)
Lincoln Chafee
- Lincoln Chafee is scheduled to speak to the Rockingham County Democrats in New Hampshire on Monday night. (The Portsmouth Herald)
- Iowa Public Radio had published comments Chafee made in July 2015 while speaking at the Iowa Democrats’ Hall of Fame Dinner. “I see a future with a strong and well supported diplomatic corps that is a complement to our military strength. I see a future where America is a United Nations leader working with mutual respect on climate change, world food and health issues, and fair trade,” Chafee said. (Iowa Public Radio)
Hillary Clinton
- During a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Monday, Hillary Clinton is set to introduce the “New College Compact,” a $350 billion plan for higher education reform to make college more affordable for millions. According to Politico, “The compact’s baseline goals are to allow students to attend a four-year public college without taking out loans for tuition, attend a community college tuition-free, push states to spend more on higher education, encourage institutions to cut costs while boosting graduation rates and reward innovation.” (Politico, The Los Angeles Times)
- Clinton certified to a federal judge she had released all work-related emails to the State Department, according to a spokesman from the agency on Sunday. Clinton’s former chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, and former deputy chief of staff, Huma Abedin, have not yet done the same following an order last week that they release all records responsive to a FOIA request from Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group. (CNN, Politico)
Martin O’Malley
- Martin O’Malley said on Friday that healthcare reform must “eliminate the profit motive” for hospital CEOs who “keep their hospitals solvent by keepings the beds filled.” For example, O’Malley offered a program he developed while governor of Maryland to prevent “avoidable hospital readmissions.” (Globe Gazette)
Bernie Sanders
- Appearing on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Bernie Sanders claimed some attacks against Hillary Clinton are “sexist.” He said, “I can't think of many personalities who have been attacked for more reasons than Hillary Clinton. And, by the way, let me be frank. And I'm running against her. Some of it is sexist. I don't know that a man would be treated the same way that Hillary is.” (CBS News)
Jim Webb
- Tucker Carlson of Fox News asked Jim Webb on Sunday why he was running as a Democrat given his political record “sounds like the resume of a conservative Republican.” Webb responded, “I believe that the Democratic Party is the party that has taken care of working people for many generations, and I think the Democratic Party needs to get back to its basic message. And it has to understand, the leadership inside the Democratic Party, need to understand that if you look at the election cycles of ‘10 and ‘14, they need to reach out and include white working people in a way that they have in the past.” (Daily Caller)
Republicans
Jeb Bush
- In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Jeb Bush said Donald Trump’s rhetoric reminded him of Barack Obama's. “Language that divides us — this reminds me of Barack Obama, not as a candidate but Barack Obama as president. All he does is push people who don't agree with him down to make his side look better and the divide makes it hard to solve problems. I don't think we're going to win that way,” Bush said. (Washington Examiner)
- Business Insider published a profile of George P. Bush, the land commissioner of Texas and Jeb Bush's son, who will act as a political surrogate for his father. Eric Opiela, a former executive director of the Texas Republican Party, said it could be a “difficult” effort because George P. Bush is more conservative than his father. “He has a very difficult line to toe now given that he's a statewide elected official in a state as conservative as Texas,” Opiela explained. (Business Insider)
- When asked if he supported Trump being “disinvited” from the RedState Gathering over the weekend because of comments he made about Megyn Kelly, Bush answered, “Give me a break. I mean, do we want to win? Do we want to insult 53 percent of all voters? What Donald Trump said is wrong. That is not how we win elections and, worse yet, that is not how you bring people together to solve problems. That is not the way you do it. So, your decision I think was the right one. Mr. Trump ought to apologize.” (National Review, The Miami Herald)
Ben Carson
- According to Breitbart, Ben Carson’s business manager, Armstrong Williams, claimed Erick Erickson had been dishonest when he said he did not invite Carson to the RedState Gathering because Carson only discussed himself and President Obama at veterans’ events. “This is an outrage. When I heard what Erick Erickson said about his justification for not inviting Dr. Carson, I immediately thought it was a smear and outright lie. I dare Erick Erickson to show transcripts where Dr. Ben Carson appears in front of two groups of veterans and speaks solely about himself and President Obama,” Williams said. (Breitbart)
- Carson commented on Trump’s feud with Megyn Kelly during an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “I think there may be a difference between political correctness and, you know, courteous speech. There is a difference and what bothers me is when people say, you know, 'You can't say this word, you can't say this phrase, you can't even think that, you can't express this.' And it's very difficult for people to have an honest conversation if they can't express themselves. But in no way do I advocate, you know, saying mean things about people. That has nothing to do with political correctness,” Carson said. (Bloomberg, CBS News)
Chris Christie
- In an interview with CBN on Friday, Chris Christie said of Donald Trump, “Donald’s a friend of mine. I’ve known him for thirteen years. He’s very talented but I’ve said this to him, I just don’t believe this is the arena where his talents can best be used.” (CBN)
- According to a new Rutgers-Eagleton survey, Christie posted his lowest job performance approval rating at 30 percent. (CBS Philadelphia)
Ted Cruz
- Declining to comment on Donald Trump’s statements feud with Megyn Kelly, Ted Cruz said over the weekend, “[W]e are not going to solve the problems in this country and you’re not going to defeat the Washington cartel by obsessing over the politics of personality. This is about real challenges facing the American people. This is about the bankrupting of our kids and grandkids and defending the Bill of Rights and restoring America’s leadership. That’s where my focus has been. And it’s where I intend to keep it.” (Daily Caller)
- During his speech at the RedState Gathering on Saturday, Cruz attacked not only Hillary Clinton and President Obama, but also his own party for inaction. “What exactly has this new Republican majority accomplished? Nothing? It’s actually worse than that. In this case, our team is playing for the other side,” Cruz said, calling on the crowd to be aware of “campaign conservatives, who on the campaign trail suddenly discover they are the most conservative soul who has ever lived.” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, TIME)
Carly Fiorina
- On Friday night, Carly Fiorina tweeted her support of Megyn Kelly in response to Donald Trump’s comments. “Mr. Trump: There. Is. No. Excuse,” she tweeted in one. Another said, “I stand with @megynkelly.” (CNN)
- On Sunday, Fiorina said she would help shrink the federal government by reducing the number of public employees if she were president. “We have never succeeded in shrinking the size of government. So, let me tell you something else. We have a bunch of baby boomers who are going to retire out of the federal government over the next five to six years. I will not replace a single one. And yes, we need to actually get about the business of reducing the size, the power, the cost, complexity and corruption of this federal government,” Fiorina said. (Fox News)
- Fiorina said it was not the government’s place to mandate paid maternity leave. "I don't think it's the role of government to dictate to the private sector how to manage their businesses, especially when it's pretty clear that the private sector, like Netflix, like the example that you just gave, is doing the right thing because they know it helps them attract the right talent," Fiorina explained in a CNN interview on Sunday. (CNN)
- According to an NBC News poll, 22 percent of Republican-leaning voters said Fiorina had the best performance of any candidate at the Republican debates on Thursday. (MSNBC)
Jim Gilmore
- Jim Gilmore joined the conversation on whether Donald Trump’s comments about Megyn Kelly were appropriate. “@megynkelly should be given the great respect due her profession and all women. Trump's comments are just plain wrong,” Gilmore tweeted on Saturday afternoon. (CNN)
Lindsey Graham
- Lindsey Graham released a statement on his website on Saturday regarding Trump’s comments about Megyn Kelly. “Due to Donald Trump’s unrelenting and offensive attack on Megyn Kelly and others, we are at a crossroads with Mr. Trump. I applaud Erick Erickson for doing the right thing when he disinvited Donald Trump from a gathering of Republican activists. As a party, we are better to risk losing without Donald Trump than trying to win with him. Enough already with Mr. Trump. These statements are not worthy of the office he is seeking nor consistent with the leadership we should expect from a Commander-in-Chief in these dangerous times,” the statement read in full. (Lindsey Graham for President)
Mike Huckabee
- Mike Huckabee elaborated on his position that the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments should be invoked to combat abortion during an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Saturday. “We have not provided either of those constitutional rights to unborn children. The only way that we can not do it is if we do not consider them persons. So do we consider unborn children to be persons or blobs of unanimated, or maybe animated, protoplasm. And that’s really the determining factor, because once we determine that they are persons – and as president I believe they are – then we have a constitutional obligation to protect them,” Huckabee said. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
- Huckabee applauded Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for opposing the Iran nuclear deal. “Thank God for Sen. Schumer and his opposition to this reckless nuclear deal with Iran. While I disagree with Sen. Schumer on most things, I applaud him for putting peace in the Middle East above partisan politics. Despite endless arm-twisting and enormous political pressure from the White House, Sen. Schumer chose statesmanship over partisanship,” Huckabee said in a statement on Saturday. (CNN)
John Kasich
- John Kasich declined to say whether he would specifically support a mandate for police officers to wear body cameras. “First of all, we have to see what passes, but I’m open to anything that improves practices,” Kasich said, noting police officers and the communities they serve need to understand the other's perspective. (CNN)
- Speaking of Donald Trump’s comments on women on Sunday, Kasich said, “It just doesn’t seem to bother me.” He explained, “At the end of the day, you have a nominee. And the nominee is the person that reflects the views of the Republican Party. And all the things that go on in these primaries are just simply things that are, you know, they go on today, but they're forgotten tomorrow.” (NBC News)
- Kasich refused to offer support for ending birthright citizenship during an interview on Sunday. “I don’t think we need to go there,” he said. (The Wall Street Journal)
- According to Kasich’s campaign strategist, John Weaver, Kasich would have campaigned in New Hampshire last Thursday instead of participating in the undercard debate if he had not been eligible for the primetime debate. (The Columbus Dispatch)
Bobby Jindal
- Four candidates running for governor of Louisiana criticized Bobby Jindal on Saturday for overuse of state police to protect him and his family. The state legislature earlier this year sought to limit Jindal’s security detail while he was campaigning out of state, but Jindal vetoed the law. (The Times-Picayune)
George Pataki
- On Sunday, George Pataki said of Donald Trump’s campaign, “This is theater. He has 99 percent name ID. But, ultimately, people are going to want someone who can bring the American people together. … You know, the world is on flames - in flames. People don't have the jobs that they want. People doubt the future of America. We're talking about this. This is nonsense. This isn't who is auditioning to be head of the next reality show. This is about who is going to be the next president of the United States. I know I’m up to that job.” (CNN)
Rand Paul
- Rand Paul rejected the idea that his plan to create a “flat and fair tax” would increase income inequality on Sunday. “It's a fallacious notion to say, 'Oh, rich people get more money back in a tax cut.’ If you cut taxes 10 percent, 10 percent of a million is more than 10 percent of a thousand dollars. So, obviously, people who pay more in taxes will get more back. We all end up working for people who are more successful than us and that's a good thing, that more money will be back in the economy,” Paul said. (The Huffington Post)
- In an interview on Fox News on Sunday, Paul said of Donald Trump’s rise in the Republican Party, “Well, I don't think we should reward vulgarity. I don't think vulgarity equates to insight. And so, because you can shout and call people names and call someone stupid or call someone fat, is that really what we're going to make the decision on for who is going to be our nominee? … Well, the truth is, what is he for? I have no idea whether he's conservative. He really could be a liberal for all I'm concerned. I have no idea what his real philosophy is other than he's for promoting himself." (Fox News)
- Paul called on his supporters to send in cartoons depicting his debate with Chris Christie over warrantless data collection at the Republican debate. (The Washington Post)
Rick Perry
- Rick Perry emphasized the importance of early primary states over national name recognition and polls during an interview on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. "Debates are important, but there is nothing that's more important than sitting in a town hall meeting or in a roping arena as I was last night in Iowa Falls, Iowa, talking to the people. They're the ones that are going to show up for the caucus and then the primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina. That's where you'd better be spending a lot of your time,” Perry said. “Back in '07, Rudy Giuliani led the polls for almost a year, he and Fred Thompson. There was some celebrity going on there. We may be seeing a bit of that right now,” he added. (Newsmax, The Hill)
Marco Rubio
- When asked for clarification on whether or not he supports some exceptions to abortion restrictions on Sunday, Marco Rubio responded, “I'll support any legislation that reduces the number of abortions. And there are those that have that exception in it. What I've never done is said, 'I require that it must have or not have exceptions.'” (NBC News)
- Rubio declined to comment on Donald Trump over the weekend. “If I comment on everything he says, my whole campaign will be consumed by it. That’s all I’ll do all day,” he explained. (The Washington Times)
Rick Santorum
- According to a new NBC News poll following the Republican debate on Thursday, Rick Santorum’s support dropped from 1 percent to 0 percent. (NBC News)
- Santorum is scheduled to campaign across Iowa for four days beginning on Wednesday. (The Des Moines Register)
Donald Trump
- Donald Trump refused to apologize for comments he made on Friday about Fox New anchor Megyn Kelly. “I have nothing against Megyn Kelly. I think her question was extremely unfair to me – her whole question was unfair to me," Trump said. He also noted, “I cherish women. I want to help women. I’m going to be able to do things for women that no other candidate would be able to do, and it’s very important to me.” (CNN, The Washington Post)
- After Erick Erickson disinvited Trump from the RedState Gathering over the weekend, Trump criticized him in an interview on CNN on Sunday. “The guy’s a loser. He’s backed so many candidates that have lost. And I — frankly, I didn’t want to do his event in the first place. But somebody said, oh, you — you know what? It was even a small event. And tell me, what happened at his event when I didn’t show up? Do you know the unrest and do you know how — how devastated people were when I didn’t go there?” Trump said. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
- Roger Stone, Trump’s top political advisor, has left Trump’s campaign. “Mr. Trump fired Roger Stone last night. We have a tremendously successful campaign and Roger wanted to use the campaign for his own personal publicity. He has had a number of articles about him recently and Mr. Trump wants to keep the focus of the campaign on how to Make America Great Again,” a campaign spokesperson said. Stone maintains he resigned. (CNN)
Scott Walker
- Scott Walker commented on race relations during a campaign stop in South Carolina on Sunday. “One, I think in general if anyone focuses on racial discord we’re going to get more. If we focus on unity we’re going to get more of that. The families of the massacre in Charleston showed us the way. Even days after the horrific shooting, the emotion they showed, the willingness to try and bring Charleston, this state, this country together. I think it’s a prime example if we focus on things that unite us, ways to share the American dream,” Walker said. (The Huffington Post)
- In an interview with Newsmax TV on Sunday, Walker said he would not lift the ban on transgender soldiers serving openly in the military. “I wouldn’t change the policy and I think at a time when we just came off the week when four Marines and a petty officer in the Navy were ambushed and killed at a recruiting center, where we see the current administration under the Obama-Clinton doctrine not lifting the political restrictions on our men and women in uniform in Iraq, when we see the challenges we face around the world, I think those of us who are talking about running for president need to focus on what we need to do to rebuild the military,” Walker said. (The Washington Blade, YouTube)
- In an interview following the Republican debate on Fox News, Walker said instituting exceptions to abortion restrictions where the mother’s life was in danger represented “a false choice.” Walker explained, “There is always a better option out there. I've said for years, medically there's always a better choice than choosing between the life of an unborn baby and the life of the mother. Medically that's just a nonissue.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
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
