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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - August 18, 2015
From Ballotpedia
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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential Briefing was sponsored by the Leadership Project for America. | ||||
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Tuesday's Leading Stories
- Poll: A CNN/ORC poll released on Tuesday found Donald Trump had a higher net favorability rating than Jeb Bush among registered voters. In a hypothetical Republican primary, Trump also led Bush 24 percent to 13 percent. Ben Carson followed with 9 percent and Marco Rubio and Scott Walker each registered 8 percent. On the question of who could best handle the issue of immigration, 44 percent of Republicans preferred Trump. Bush came in second with 12 percent. (CNN)
Democrats
Joe Biden
- Governor of Delaware Jack Markell (D) expressed his enthusiasm for a potential Joe Biden presidential run. “When he’s ready to make that decision, there will be a lot of people interested to hear what decision he makes. But otherwise what I think, what anybody else thinks is not really relevant. But I’d absolutely support him,” Markell said. (The News Journal)
- According to CNN, insiders in the White House do not support a Biden presidential bid. “A Democratic party source familiar with White House thinking said inside the West Wing ‘brain trust,’ there is concern that a Biden run ‘would not have the right outcome’ and potentially damage the vice president's carefully cultivated brand of respected Democratic Party elder statesman,” CNN reported on Monday. (CNN)
Hillary Clinton
- On Monday, Black Lives Matter activists released video of their meeting with Hillary Clinton earlier this month. “Look, I don't believe you change hearts. I believe you change laws, you change allocation of resources, you change the way systems operate. You're not going to change every heart. You're not. But at the end of the day, we could do a whole lot to change some hearts and change some systems and create more opportunities for people who deserve to have them, to live up to their own God-given potential,” Clinton told the activists during a 15-minute meeting in New Hampshire. (CNN)
- Clinton tweeted on Tuesday morning her disapproval of Shell being permitted to explore the Arctic for oil. “The Arctic is a unique treasure. Given what we know, it's not worth the risk of drilling,” she wrote. (National Journal)
- Out of 20 percent of Clinton’s emails reviewed by members of the intelligence community, 305 documents were flagged as potentially classified, according to a State Department court filing today. (NBC News)
Martin O’Malley
- Martin O’Malley is scheduled to campaign in San Francisco this week to meet with members of the civic tech community and discuss how technology can improve public service. (The Huffington Post)
Bernie Sanders
- Bernie Sanders made his first fundraising stop in Chicago on Monday night. He focused on economic issues and income inequality, saying, “When we talk and use words like greed, fraud, dishonesty and arrogance, these are just a few of the adjectives to describe Wall Street. I find it very interesting that some kid who gets picked up for smoking marijuana can have an arrest record, but the crooks who destroyed our economy don't." (Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune)
- According to New York Daily News, there were 14.4 million unique interactions on Facebook about Sanders, less than a million shy of the 15.3 million interactions Clinton had over the same period. (New York Daily News)
- Sanders agreed to meet with Black Lives Matter activists after one tweeted him about his racial justice platform. (Politico)
Republicans
Jeb Bush
- Jeb Bush released his veterans policy on Monday during a campaign stop in South Carolina. Bush’s plan includes allowing veterans easier access to small business loans and increasing funding for women’s health services to account for the rising numbers of female veterans. (The Washington Post)
- Estimates of how much the super PAC, Right to Rise, were planning to spend on media buys in early voting states on behalf of Bush were underestimated, according to Fox News. The figure is closer to $15 million than the $10 million initially reported. (Fox News)
- Former Chris Christie supporter and wealthiest man in New Jersey, David Tepper, is now backing Bush. (NJ.com)
Ben Carson
- Ben Carson has moved his rally in Phoenix on Tuesday from a large community church to a convention center because of increased interest in his campaign. (The Republic)
- A Slate article compared Carson’s comments that rape victims had “other possibilities” to prevent a pregnancy in the immediate aftermath of rape to comments by former Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) about “legitimate rape.” (Slate)
Chris Christie
- Chris Christie is set to meet with federal transportation officials on Tuesday to discuss a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River estimated to cost $14 billion. (Newsday)
- Breitbart reported on Monday that Christie was unsurprised by the $114 million haul Jeb Bush’s campaign and super PAC, Right to Right, have raised. “If my dad didn’t work for Breyer’s Ice Cream Plant in Newark and was President of the United States, I would probably have $114 million, too. There’s certain advantages that come along with that,” Christie said. He added, “He’ll spend that money, he’ll use it, if he uses it well, it’ll help him. But It won’t change who he is.” (Breitbart)
Ted Cruz
- Ben Nash, the CEO of PCS Wireless, has been identified as the donor behind a $250,000 contribution to the pro-Cruz Stand for Principle PAC. (The New York Times)
Carly Fiorina
- Carly Fiorina responded to criticism from Donald Trump that “she did a terrible job at Hewlett-Packard” while appearing at the Iowa State Fair on Monday. “I guess what I would say is that Hewlett-Packard is a publicly traded company, so the results are there for everybody to see. You can’t hide them. You can’t fudge the numbers. And the results are clear. I led the business from about $44 billion to almost $90 billion. We quadrupled the top line revenue growth rate in the middle of the biggest technology recession in 25 years. We tripled innovation to more than 11 patents a day. We went from lagging behind to leading in every product category in every market segment,” Fiorina said. (ABC News)
- On Monday, Fiorina said of the Iran nuclear deal, “I earnestly hope that Congress will vote down this deal. But we should be realistic. The rest of the world has moved on.” (TIME)
Jim Gilmore
- Jim Gilmore is the only Republican candidate not scheduled to appear at one of U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.)’s town halls. (The Post and Courier)
Lindsey Graham
- Lindsey Graham discussed immigration reform and Donald Trump’s policy proposals during a CNN interview on Monday. “I think it’s a bad practice to give citizenship based on birth. We have evidence of people buying tourist visas for the express purpose of coming over here and having a child as birth tourism. I don’t think that’s a good idea. But that’s not going to happen until we fix a broken immigration system. Donald Trump’s eight-page plan is absolute gibberish, that is unworkable. Mitt Romney said his biggest mistake as a candidate for president was embracing self-deportation. That hurt our party. Donald Trump’s plan is forced deportation. It’s not going to work. It is unworkable. This idea of invading Iraq and taking their oil is literally insane,” Graham said. (Breitbart)
- Graham also said Trump’s plan to seize Iraq’s oil fields would make them “enemies for life” and could potentially “start World War III.” (Politico)
- While speaking on the Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair on Monday, Graham stated American ground troops need to combat the Islamic State to prevent a “second 9/11.” He also expressed his support for a bipartisan effort to “extend the solvency of Social Security.” (The Des Moines Register)
Mike Huckabee
- Anat Ben Nun of Peace Now criticized Mike Huckabee for holding a fundraiser in the Israeli settlement of Shiloh. “It is absurd that someone who aspires to lead the free world holds a fundraiser at the settlement of Shiloh which is illegal according to U.S law and represents oppression. … Having a fundraiser in Shiloh is a clear statement that Mike Huckabee does not support the two state solution but rather would like to see the persistence of the occupation,” Ben Nun said in a statement. (Newsweek)
John Kasich
- John Kasich spoke about foreign policy at a panel hosted by Americans for Peace, Prosperity and Security in South Carolina. He emphasized his experience as a member of the House Armed Services Committee and chairman of the Budget Committee, and placed himself in between Chris Christie and Rand Paul on the issue of government surveillance. Politico described his approach as that of “a thrifty national security hawk.” (MSNBC, Politico)
Bobby Jindal
- Bobby Jindal tweeted on Monday, “We need to end birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants.” (Twitter)
- Former U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) slammed Jindal in a clip posted by RealClearPolitics. “I've never seen anyone promote himself at the expense of the people he's supposed to serve. I'm so happy he's at 1 percent and I hope he stays there. Bobby Jindal is a hypocrite, he's shameful, and he's a self promoter, period. And everyone in Louisiana knows this,” Landrieu said. (The Times-Picayune)
- Jindal criticized Scott Walker’s new healthcare policy in a press release on Tuesday. Jindal said, “In a health care plan that is light on specifics, Governor Walker endorsed the fundamental underpinning of Obamacare – the notion that America needs another entitlement program. In Governor Walker’s plan, a new entitlement is created for every single American human being from the time they are born right up until they grow old and become eligible for Medicare. It is frankly shocking that a Republican candidate for President would author a cradle to grave plan like this.” (Bobby Jindal for President)
George Pataki
- During an interview on CNN’s “New Day” on Tuesday, George Pataki said Donald Trump had tapped into an anger with Washington politics. “I think it's very simple, I think Americans are fed up with Washington. They think it's an inside game, that it's a rigged game, that it doesn't matter which party is in control. It seems that government grows bigger, more expensive, more intrusive, more powerful and they're right,” Pataki said. He added that he planned to be in the Republican race for the long haul. (CNN)
Rand Paul
- Rand Paul transferred $250,000 to a Kentucky GOP account and has promised to contribute another $200,000 to fund a caucus in the state that would replace its primary. This switch would enable Paul to simultaneously run for president and senator without violating a Kentucky law that forbids a candidate from appearing on the ballot twice. (Breitbart)
Rick Perry
- Rick Perry rejected the idea that states needed to guarantee equity pay through legislation. “Women already get equal pay. We don’t need symbolic pieces of legislation jumbling up our code,” Perry explained during an interview on CNN on Tuesday. (Talking Points Memo)
Marco Rubio
- Marco Rubio appeared on the Soapbox stage at the Iowa State Fair on Tuesday, but was forced to cut his speech short after it started raining. He also spoke with reporters about immigration policy at the event, saying he was “not in favor of repealing” the Fourteenth Amendment. (The Washington Post, Bloomberg)
- Rubio wrote an op-ed in Politico on Monday detailing how we would improve healthcare in the United States. After repealing the Affordable Care Act, Rubio’s plan would “create an advanceable, refundable tax credit that all Americans can use to purchase health insurance,” reform insurance regulations and transition Medicare to a premium support system. (Politico)
Donald Trump
- U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) called Donald Trump a “leader on immigration” on Monday in response to his policy paper on immigration reform. "If there's going to be competition on the immigration issue among the other candidates, who's going to stand up now and say, 'I think we really ought to nominate someone who's for amnesty?’" King said in an interview with CNN. (CNN)
- Trump reported for jury duty in New York City on Monday, but was ultimately not selected. (Fox News)
Scott Walker
- When asked if birthright citizenship should end, Scott Walker said on Monday, “I think that’s something we should — yeah, absolutely, going forward." (The Washington Post)
- Walker announced his plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act on Tuesday. Named the “Day One Patient Freedom Plan,” Walker’s proposal “calls for lowering the cost of health insurance by reducing regulation of the industry, providing tax credits to offset the cost of private insurance plans and allowing people to shop for plans across state lines.” (The Washington Post)
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
