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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - December 1, 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
- Thirteen of fourteen Democratic women serving in the U.S. Senate joined Hillary Clinton at a fundraiser in Washington, D.C., on Monday night. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was absent from the “symbolic” event as she has not endorsed Clinton or any other candidate for president. According to CNN, 83 percent of senators who caucus with the Democrats have now endorsed Clinton. (CNN)
- Last week, Donald Trump said he was set to announce endorsements from 100 black religious leaders on Monday at a news conference following a private meeting. The press conference was canceled after several pastors said they had not yet endorsed Trump and an open letter circulated on Ebony’s website criticizing Trump for his rhetoric around race. Darrell Scott, an Ohio pastor who organized the event, said he was responsible for a “miscommunication...which led some folks to believe there would be a unilateral endorsement.” The private meeting, however, was still held. Orrin Pullings, a bishop from Virginia, said, “We told him that you are insensitive in appearance to our community and that’s not a good position.” Trump maintained that there “was great love in the room” and no one asked him to “change the tone” of his campaign. (The New York Times, The Guardian, Politico)
- Ballotpedia has prepared two interactive ballot access maps showing the dates of Democratic and Republican caucuses, primaries and filing deadlines across the country.
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- Marty Walsh (D), the mayor of Boston, endorsed Hillary Clinton on Sunday. “Get your sledgehammers ready, we’ve got a glass ceiling to demolish! … Nobody comes closer to her experience, nobody comes closer to her achievements,” Walsh said during Clinton’s rally to announce her $275 billion infrastructure plan. (MSNBC)
- On Monday, the State Department released nearly 8,000 pages of Clinton’s emails from her tenure as secretary of state. The release includes 328 emails that have now been deemed “Confidential,” the lowest designation for classified information. Politico has compiled a list of 15 notable emails from this batch. (Politico)
- Clinton reiterated her opposition to deploying thousands of troops in Syria and Iraq. In an excerpt of an interview with CBS’ Charlie Rose set to air in full on Tuesday, she said, "I cannot conceive of any circumstances where I would agree to do that because I think the best way to defeat ISIS is, as I’ve said, from the air which we lead, on the ground, which we enable, empower, train, equip and in cyberspace where don’t forget they are a formidable adversary online. … We don’t know yet how many Special Forces might be needed, how many trainers and surveillance and enablers might be needed, but in terms of thousands of combat troops like some on the Republican side are recommending, I think that should be a non-starter.” (Politico)
Martin O’Malley
- At a meeting of the Somersworth Democratic Committee in New Hampshire on Monday, Martin O’Malley said he would not be “passive” in fighting the National Rifle Association in the wake of the Colorado Planned Parenthood shooting. He said, “One day it is Planned Parenthood, another day it is a church basement, then a school shooting. Can you imagine what we would be doing as a nation if it was [ISIS] carrying out these attacks, rather than our own people? … We’ve become passive as if we are going to have to deal with this particular congress and the NRA’s clout forever. I don’t think the NRA is as strong as the rest of us. So I intend to take them on.” (Foster’s Daily Democrat)
Bernie Sanders
- Jean Ross, the co-president of National Nurses United, said the National Nurses United for Patient Protection PAC would continue to support Bernie Sanders even though he has condemned the impact super PACs have had on the election process. Ross said, “We never considered it a super PAC. This isn’t a corporation or an individual who can write out millions of dollars at a time. This is money that nurses put out for things that they believe in.” (The Washington Post)
- Sanders’ campaign announced Sanders was having an elective outpatient surgery on Monday to repair a hernia. He is set to return to the campaign trail and his Senate duties on Tuesday. (The New York Times)
- On Sunday, Sanders said he opposed the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline, a natural gas pipeline cutting through New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Karthik Ganapathy, Sanders’ New Hampshire communications director, explained the candidate’s opposition. “The truth is: there are lots of reasons to oppose this pipeline. There are justified concerns around abuse of eminent domain to seize private property, the route would go through historic towns and conservation sites and as with all pipelines, there could be leaks or spills,” he said. (Boston.com)
Republicans
- McKay Coppins, a senior writer for BuzzFeed, asserted in his new book, The Wilderness: Deep Inside the Republican Party's Combative, Contentious, Chaotic Quest to Take Back the White House, that former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) was considering a third run for the presidency until Jeb Bush launched a “shock and awe” campaign meant “to crush Romney's spirit and scare off any other potential challengers who were on the fence.” The two politicians met in January where, according to Coppins, Romney attempted to convince Bush he was positioned to perform better in the election. After the meeting, Coppins wrote that Romney was “demoralized” and “realized it was a fantasy to think he would win the nomination by gliding above the fray; the 2016 primaries were going to be a bloodbath.” (KSL.com)
- The Republican Party of Florida announced on Monday which Republican candidates would appear on the state’s primary ballot in March. George Pataki was the only Republican contender not listed. (CBS Miami)
- All fourteen Republican candidates are registered to appear on the primary ballot in South Carolina. (The Post and Courier)
Jeb Bush
- Matthew Dowd, a former chief strategist to George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004, said in an interview with The Washington Post on Monday that “the odds are incredibly low” that Jeb Bush will win the Republican nomination. Describing Bush as “not as a good of a retail politician as his brother,” Dowd said it would “take the five candidates ahead of him falling apart” for him to be successful in 2016. (The Washington Post)
- In an essay published on his website, Herman Cain responded to Bush using his “fall” in the 2012 Republican primary as anecdotal evidence that Bush’s supporters should not be concerned with early polling. “At least I was once winning. Jeb Bush has been doing nothing but losing throughout this entire campaign. His problem is him,” Cain wrote. (The New York Times, CainTV.com)
- Bush wrote an op-ed in The Iowa Republican on Monday to defend gun ownership rights under the Second Amendment. “In Florida, we made it easier to obtain concealed weapon permits for law-abiding citizens. We provided free hunting licenses to military personnel and I signed into law a package of bills that the NRA called the Six Pack of Freedom. I believed then, as I do know, that the Second Amendment is the original Homeland Security Act. Law-abiding citizens should have the right to protect themselves from criminals, at home and in their communities,” he wrote. (The Iowa Republican)
Ben Carson
- Bloomberg published a profile of Candy Carson, Ben Carson’s wife, on Monday. The article highlights her musical talents and the development of the Carsons’ relationship at Yale University. Candy Carson said of her husband, “He’s not doing this because of glory he wants. We’re almost at the point of no return now. We’ve got to have someone in there that has the country’s best interest at heart—not this party, that party, but to be someone that represents all of the people. That’s what he’s about. That’s the only special interest group he represents: the people.” (Bloomberg)
- Carson announced last week that Johnnie Moore, a contributing editor to The Christian Post, had joined his campaign as its “special faith advisor.” Carson said, “I have been humbled by the overwhelming support the American people have shown me, and I am grateful to God for opening door after door for me during this election season. To me, reaching out to communities of faith is a top priority. I am excited to have Johnnie help lead this effort.” (The Christian Post, Ben Carson for President)
Chris Christie
- On Monday, Chris Christie clarified his statement last week that he did not “remember” if there were thousands of Muslims cheering in New Jersey following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He said, "It didn't happen and the fact is, people can say anything but the facts are the facts and that didn't happen in New Jersey that day and hasn't happened since. … It was personally emotional, and I was not focused on everything that was going on all across the state. What I was focused on was my wife and my brother who were in lower Manhattan and who I hadn't heard from for a long, long time. But definitively, I've said this a number of times: It didn't happen.” (CNN)
Ted Cruz
- When asked by reporters on Sunday for his opinion on the Colorado Planned Parenthood shooting, Ted Cruz criticized “vicious rhetoric on the left blaming those who are pro-life” for the shooting. He added, “It’s also been reported that he was registered as an independent and a woman and a transgendered leftist activist. If that’s what he is, I don’t think it’s fair to blame on the rhetoric on the left. This is a murderer.” (The Washington Post)
- During a town hall in Iowa on Monday, Cruz said he did not believe Donald Trump would be elected president or win the Republican nomination, partially because of how Iowans will caucus. He said, “Let me be very clear: I don't believe Donald Trump is gonna be the nominee, I don't believe he's gonna be our president. And I actually think the men and women in this room have something powerful to say about it. One of the reasons I love the state of Iowa, because in Iowa, y'all take politics seriously.” (CNN)
- In a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt on Monday, Cruz said the media does not properly report the political affiliations of criminals. “Every time you have some sort of violent crime or mass killing, you could almost see the media salivating, hoping desperately that the murderer happens to be a Republican so they can use it to try to paint their political enemies. Now, listen, here's the simple and undeniable facts: The overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats. The media doesn't report that,” said Cruz. (CNN)
- Cruz said during a town hall on Monday that allegations that Republicans were trying to limit women’s access to contraception were “an utter made-up nonsense issue.” He said, “Last I checked, we don’t have a rubber shortage in America. Look, when I was in college, we had a machine in the bathroom, you put 50 cents in and voila. So, yes, anyone who wants contraceptives can access them.” (ABC News)
Carly Fiorina
- Over the weekend, Carly Fiorina criticized Donald Trump for reportedly mocking a journalist with a physical disability. She said, “This is the pattern, isn't it? The pattern is he says something insulting, offensive, and outrageous. The media pays attention. Then he claims we all misunderstood him. The media pays attention again. This is the pattern perhaps of an entertainer. It's certainly not the pattern of a leader. Apparently Donald Trump only feels big when he's trying to make everyone else look small. Of course, in the end he looks the smallest of all." (Business Insider)
Jim Gilmore
- Last week, Jim Gilmore appeared on the “The John Fredericks Show,” a radio program in Virginia dedicated to politics, where he criticized Rand Paul’s position on the National Security Agency’s surveillance program. “He’s got this kind of ill idea about people who are tying [sic] to protect us. Our police, fire-rescue, our intelligence services, our FBI and the feeling that they are somehow the enemy. They are not. You have to oversee, control, regulate, make sure they are not invading our privacies, but give them the tools necessary to fight this international guerrilla war that we’re in,” Gilmore said. He also claimed Paul was “really not a factor at this point” in the presidential race. (BuzzFeed)
Lindsey Graham
- In an interview from Erbil, Iraq, with U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Monday, Lindsey Graham continued to promote his proposal to increase the number of American soldiers deployed to Syria as part of a regional army against the Islamic State. He said, “ISIL is a threat to the Sunni Arab kingdom and it’s a threat to Turkey and they have an interest in destroying ISIL. They have an interest in making sure Iran doesn't control Damascus. They want Assad out. So, I think a regional ground force is possible with American leadership. The good news is a regional ground force would be ninety percent from the region, ten percent from the West, because we don't need a large Western army. Let's put the region out front this time and make them pay for the war. But, without that, I don't see how we take Raqqa back. There's nobody left in Syria that can do the job in my view.” (U.S. Senator for South Carolina, Lindsey Graham)
John Kasich
- John Kasich’s campaign released an online ad on Monday asking if Donald Trump was “worthy of following in [the] footsteps” of presidents like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. It features a clip of Trump physically mocking a reporter from The New York Times who has a condition affecting his mobility. (The New York Times)
Rand Paul
- Rand Paul wrote an op-ed for TIME on Monday where he called Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio “the ideological heirs” to “the early recklessness of [John Foster] Dulles.” Linking the two candidates’ foreign policy, Paul wrote, “The Clinton/Rubio foreign policy calls for a no-fly zone over Syria in airspace in which Russia already flies — a recipe for confrontation. We shouldn’t be surprised since the Clinton/Rubio foreign policy also called for admitting Georgia to NATO at a time when Russia already had her tentacles in Georgia — an invitation to war with Russia.” (TIME)
- On Monday, Paul said as he would “leave [it] to the lawyers to figure out” if Ted Cruz was a “natural born U.S. citizen” and, therefore, eligible to become president. “I don't know the ultimate answer. That would have to be figured out by a court and I just don't know the ultimate answer on all of that,” he added. (WHAS11.com)
- In his latest “Waste Report” issued on Monday, Paul questioned the merits of a $450,000 National Science Foundation project to teach high school students about climate change. He wrote that ”the real science behind this game is psychology and political science” focused on “indoctrinating kids into the climate change way of thinking.” (U.S. Senator for Kentucky, Rand Paul)
Marco Rubio
- U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) endorsed Marco Rubio on Monday. Issa said in an interview on Fox News that Rubio was "fighting for a lot of things I believe in, and look, he's not afraid to engage on the hottest subjects." (Politico)
- Conservative Solutions PAC, a super PAC backing Rubio, has released a new television ad encouraging voters to not “just send the establishment a message, send them a conservative president.” According to Warren Tompkins, a political strategist for the super PAC, the ad is “just the first in what will now be a continuous television presence for the PAC through the end of the GOP primary process.” (Bloomberg)
Donald Trump
- Andrew Gluck, who worked for the New York Daily News in the 1980s, corroborated Serge Kovaleski’s claim that he and Donald Trump knew each other and had even met. “Serge is an unforgettable character when you meet him. You’re struck by the fact that his arms don’t work quite right. Anybody that meets him would obviously know that. You’re going to remember him,” Gluck said, referring to Kovaleski’s mobility impairment that Trump apparently mocked last week during a campaign rally. (The Washington Post)
- The Hill reported on Monday that several Hispanic Republicans are concerned with Trump potentially winning the GOP nomination. “It would do a great harm to our country and further erode the trust of the American people in their government,” said U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.). Former U.S. Sen. Mel Martínez (R-Fla.) said, “I’m not ready to endorse Trump, let’s put it that way. I hope it doesn’t come to that. I hope there are some better choices for us.” The president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, added, “His most egregious action that stands for the primary reason why he is persona non grata with the Latino community, including the Latino conservative community, is the engagement of demeaning, condescending, spiteful rhetoric as it pertains to the immigrant community.” (The Hill)
- On Monday, Trump posted a video to his Instagram interspersing video clips of ISIS with President Obama joking in a BuzzFeed comedy clip. The ad reads, “It is time for serious leadership.” (Business Insider)
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
