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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - December 21, 2015
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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential Briefing was sponsored by the Leadership Project for America. | ||||
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Monday's Leading Stories
- Bernie Sanders filed a lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Friday after the DNC temporarily restricted his campaign’s access to the party’s voter database following reports several Sanders staffers had inappropriately accessed Hillary Clinton’s private voter data. Sanders and the DNC announced on Saturday that an agreement had been reached and Sanders’ access to the voter database would be restored. While Sanders’ campaign claimed the party committee had “capitulated,” the DNC maintained they would continue to investigate the incident. (The Washington Post, Politico)
- Poll: In a poll of Iowa Republicans released on Sunday by CBS News, Ted Cruz leads Donald Trump 40 percent to 31 percent. Marco Rubio is a distant third with 12 percent support. In New Hampshire, however, Trump leads the field with 32 percent. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio follow with 14 percent and 13 percent. (CBS News)
- Poll: CBS News also polled likely Democratic voters in three early voting states. Hillary Clinton leads in Iowa with 50 percent and South Carolina with 67 percent. In New Hampshire, however, Bernie Sanders has a 14-point lead over Clinton with 56 percent support. (CBS News)
Democrats
The following selection of quotes come from the transcript prepared by The Washington Post of the third Democratic presidential debate held on Saturday night.
Hillary Clinton
- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has only made two presidential endorsements in her career, hinted in this week’s issue of TIME that she planned to endorse Hillary Clinton. “I will say this that I’m not sure everybody has the fullest appreciation of what it would mean to have a woman as our candidate for president who is so qualified to be president. We want to elect the best possible person; she happens to be a woman. What that confidence inspires in people is immeasurable,” Pelosi said. (TIME)
- On addressing domestic terror threats: And then, most importantly, here at home, I think there are three things that we have to get right. We have to do the best possible job of sharing intelligence and information. That now includes the internet, because we have seen that ISIS is a very effective recruiter, propagandist and inciter and celebrator of violence. That means we have to work more closely with our great tech companies. They can't see the government as an adversary, we can't see them as obstructionists. We've got to figure out how we can do more to understand who is saying what and what they're planning. And we must work more closely with Muslim-American communities. Just like Martin, I met with a group of Muslim-Americans this past week to hear from them about what they're doing to try to stop radicalization. They will be our early warning signal. That's why we need to work with them, not demonize them, as the Republicans have been doing.
- On establish a no-fly zone in Syria: “[O]ne of the reasons why I have advocated for a no-fly zone is in order to create those safe refuges within Syria, to try to protect people on the ground both from Assad's forces, who are continuing to drop barrel bombs, and from ISIS. And of course, it has to be de-conflicted with the Russians, who are also flying in that space. I'm hoping that because of the very recent announcement of the agreement at the Security Council, which embodies actually an agreement that I negotiated back in Geneva in June of 2012, we're going to get a diplomatic effort in Syria to begin to try to make a transition. A no-fly zone would prevent the outflow of refugees and give us a chance to have some safe spaces.”
- On whether corporate America should “love” a Clinton administration: “Everybody should. Look, I have said I want to be the president for the struggling, the striving and the successful. I want to make sure the wealthy pay their fair share, which they have not been doing. I want the Buffett Rule to be in effect, where millionaires have to pay 30 percent tax rates instead of 10 percent to nothing in some cases. I want to make sure we rein in the excessive use of political power to feather the nest and support the super wealthy.”
- On regime change in Libya: “We offered a lot more [help]. We also got rid of their chemical weapons, which was a big help, and we also went after a lot of the shoulder-fired missiles to round them up. You know, we can't -- if we're not going to send American troops, which there was never any idea of doing that, then to try to send trainers, to try to send experts, is something we offered, Europeans offered, the U.N. offered, and there wasn't a lot of responsiveness at first. I think a lot of the Libyans who had been forced out of their country by Gadhafi who came back to try to be part of a new government, believed they knew what to do and it turned out that they were no match for some of the militaristic forces inside that country. But I'm not giving up on Libya and I don't think anybody should. We've been at this a couple of years.
- On Bill Clinton’s potential duties as the first gentleman: “And with respect to my own husband, I am probably still going to pick the flowers and the china for state dinners and stuff like that. But I will certainly turn to him as prior presidents have for special missions, for advice, and in particular, how we're going to get the economy working again for everybody, which he knows a little bit about.”
Martin O’Malley
- On gun reform legislation: “Secretary Clinton changes her position on this every election year, it seems, having one position in 2000 and then campaigning against President Obama and saying we don't need federal standards. Look, what we need on this issue is not more polls. We need more principle. When ISIL does training videos that say the easiest way to get a combat assault weapon in the United States of America is at a gun show, then we should all be waking up. We need comprehensive gun safety legislation and a ban on assault weapons.”
- On Christian Syrian refugees: “I met recently with some members of the Chaldean Christian communities and the wait times are a year, 18 months, 24 months. There is a pretty excruciating process that refugees go through. We need to invest more in terms of the other sort of visas and the other sort of waivers. What these Chaldean families told me was that their families in Syria, when ISIS moves into their town, they actually paint a red cross across the door and mark their homes for demolition, and that tells the family you'd better get out now. The sort of genocide and brutality that the victims are suffering, these are not the perpetrators. We need to be the nation whose enduring symbol is the Statue of Liberty, and we need to act like the great country we are, according to our values.”
- On aggressive U.S. military intervention: “During the Cold War -- during the Cold War, we got into a bad habit of always looking to see who was wearing the jersey of the communists, and who was wearing the U.S. jersey. We got into a bad habit of creating big bureaucracies, old methodologies, to undermine regimes that were not friendly to the United States. Look what we did in Iran with Mosaddegh. And look at the results that we're still dealing with because of that. I would suggest to you that we need to leave the Cold War behind us, and we need to put together new alliances and new approaches to dealing with this, and we need to restrain ourselves.”
- On regime change in Libya: “And I believe that one of the big failings in that region is a lack of human intelligence. We have not made the investments that we need to make to understand and to have relationships with future leaders that are coming up. That's what Chris Stevens was trying to do. But without the tools, without the support that was needed to that. And now what we have is a whole stretch now, of the coast of Libya, 100 miles, 150 miles, that has now become potentially the next safe haven for ISIL. They go back and forth between Syria and this region. We have to stop contributing to the creation of vacuums that allow safe havens to develop.”
Bernie Sanders
- Bernie Sanders said on Sunday that he believed Donald Trump was “a pathological liar.” He continued, “I think much of what he says are lies or gross distortions of reality. He’s been saying over and over again that he saw on television, as I understand it, thousands of people in New Jersey celebrating 9/11 right after the destruction of the Twin Towers. Either that’s true or it’s not true. And what I understand, there have been a lot of research, they archive what goes on television. You’re a TV guy, right? Everything [that was said] was going to be archived. Either it is true [or] it is not true. Nobody has seen a tape of thousands of people celebrating the destruction of the Twin Towers in New Jersey. It doesn’t exist. And he keeps claiming it. That’s called pathological lying.” (Yahoo)
- On the data breach of the Clinton campaign’s voter information: “Yes, I apologize. Not only -- not only do I apologize to Secretary Clinton -- and I hope we can work together on an independent investigation from day one -- I want to apologize to my supporters. This is not the type of campaign that we run. And if I find anybody else involved in this, they will also be fired.”
- On the feasibility of forging greater alliances against ISIS in the Middle East: “This is a war for the soul of Islam. The troops on the ground should not be American troops. They should be Muslim troops. I believe that countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have got to step up to the plate, have got to contribute the money that we need, and the troops that we need, to destroy ISIS with American support. … My plan is to make it work, to tell Saudi Arabia that instead of going to war in Yemen, they, one of the wealthiest countries on Earth, are going to have to go to war against ISIS. To tell Qatar, that instead of spending $200 billion on the World Cup, maybe they should pay attention to ISIS, which is at their doorstep.”
- On establishing single-payer healthcare: “Why is it that we are -- why is it that we spend almost three times per capita as to what they spend in the U.K., 50 percent more than what they pay in France, countries that guarantee health care to all of their people and in many cases, have better health care outcomes. Bottom line. This ties into campaign finance reform. The insurance companies, the drug companies are bribing the United States Congress. We need to pass a Medicare for all single payer system. It will lower the cost of health care for a middle-class family by thousands of dollars a year.”
- On student loan reform: “It is insane to my mind, hundreds of thousands of young people today, bright qualified people, cannot go to college because they cannot afford -- their families cannot afford to send them. Millions coming out of school as you indicated, deeply in debt. What do we do? My proposal is to put a speculation tax on wall street [sic], raise very substantial sums of money, not only make public colleges and universities tuition-free, but also substantially lower interest rates on student debt. You have families out there paying 6 percent, 8 percent, 10 percent on student debt, refinance their homes at 3 percent.”
Republicans
- Ed Rendell, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said on Sunday that he feared a Kasich-Rubio Republican ticket the most. He cautioned, however, that Rubio “runs into trouble, because the Republicans have argued for eight years that Barack Obama wasn’t ready to be president, because he had only been a U.S. senator for a short time, less than three years, and he had no previous executive experience, and that sort of fits the bill for Marco Rubio as well.” (The Hill)
- Poll: In a poll of likely Illinois Republican voters released on Sunday by Compass Consulting, Donald Trump leads in the state with 30 percent support. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio follow with 15 percent and 13 percent, respectively. (The Chicago Sun-Times)
Jeb Bush
- In an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Jeb Bush said he “hated” being a frontrunner. He explained, "I've always thought that there was going to be a high expectation for me. And I totally get it. Being the frontrunner made me feel like the other guys just dancing right through this. I have to go earn it. I have higher expectations on me than people have on me. So it doesn't bother me a bit that the expectations are high. And I want to win, which means that you garner momentum when it matters and so feel I good about where we are right now.” (CBS News)
- While discussing his efforts to increase funding for Florida’s disability system during a campaign stop on Saturday, Bush called Donald Trump “a jerk.” He continued, “You cannot insult your way to the presidency. You can’t disparage women, Hispanics, disabled people. Who is he kidding?” The following day, Bush also criticized Trump for his complimentary response to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said, “He’s not an ally. He’s a dictator. He’s a bully. … We need a president that actually will stand up for American interests whether it's in Europe or the Middle East. That's how you create a better relationship with Putin.” (TIME, The Hill)
- Speaking about potentially competing against Hillary Clinton in the general election, Bush said on Saturday, "I will take it to Hillary Clinton because I have a proven record. Compare that to the record of personal ambition because that's all she is. It's all about her ... someone who has been organizing her entire life to pursue her own personal ambitions." (ABC News)
- Bush described Ted Cruz’s comments on airstrikes against ISIS-controlled cities like Mosul, Iraq, as “clumsy.” He said on Sunday, “There are 800,000 people who live in Mosul. There's probably 5,000 Islamic terrorists who control the place. We're going to destroy 800,000 lives with a carpet-bombing activity? This is foolish. It is absolutely foolish. And he had to back away from it.” (The Hill)
Ben Carson
- After a photo of Ben Carson holding a “Merry Christmas” sign went viral on Facebook over the weekend, he hit more than 5 million followers on the social network and now leads the Republican field for most Facebook followers. (Daily Caller)
- On Friday, Carson said that mass deportation “sounds really good and gets you a lot of votes, but it’s not going to happen.” He warned that the farming industry would “collapse” if such a policy were implemented. Instead, The Hill reported, “Carson said he supports allowing a six-month window for certain undocumented workers to apply for guest worker permits. The workers must already have a job and a clean police record, he said, and they would not be extended voting rights.” (The Hill)
Chris Christie
- Chris Christie characterized Hillary Clinton’s performance in Saturday’s Democratic presidential debate as Clinton trying to “happy talk her way to the presidency.” He continued, “With dead bodies in Paris, dead bodies in San Bernardino and no plan from this administration to deal with it, we’re finally where we need to be? … She is a personification of this administration: Are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?” (ABC News)
- Christie also called Rand Paul’s conduct at last week’s Republican “desperate.” He said, “That was commentary from a desperate candidate on the last night of his campaign. He was flailing away at everybody on that stage. He reminded me of Bobby Jindal in the undercard debate last time when all he did was flail away at people and then a few days later he dropped out. Maybe that’s Rand Paul’s fate." (ABC News)
- If elected president, Christie said he would institute an 180-day freeze on federal regulations as his administration reviewed the impact of rules established by the Obama administration on businesses. “Think about how uncompetitive we make ourselves,” Christie said. (NJ.com)
Ted Cruz
- Ted Cruz aired a parody ad in Iowa during “Saturday Night Live” this weekend. The Christmas-themed video features Cruz reading to his children from the “greatest Christmas stories,” including “How Obamacare Stole Christmas” and “Rudolph the Underemployed Reindeer.” (CBS News)
- Keep the Promise I, a super PAC supporting Cruz, made a six-figure digital ad buy in seven states, including Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama. The digital ad presents Cruz as an anti-establishment candidate who has been “consistent” and “honest...even if it’s unpopular.” (Politico)
Carly Fiorina
- Fox News anchor Chris Wallace questioned Carly Fiorina’s claim at last week’s Republican presidential debate that Gen. Jack Keane “retired early” due to a dispute with the Obama administration. She responded, “Well, I was wrong about Keane, yes. He is the exception that proves the rule. I was certainly right about the fact that he is a member of the warrior class. I was naming the five warriors of our generation who have experience, four out of five I would argue were retired early out of the Obama administration because they said things the Obama administration didn't particularly want to hear." (Talking Points Memo)
- Discussing her policy positions on education on Friday in Iowa, Fiorina said that although she would transfer money from the Department of Education to local communities, she would not close the agency. She also expressed approval of the Nevada Education Savings Accounts program, saying, “Our states are our labs of democracy, and the experiment that Nevada is running is an interesting one because it says when parents have choices, students succeed. We need to put the power into parents’ hands, into communities’ hands and give them the choice as to what to do with their education.” She added, “But I won’t dictate from the federal government that program or any other. Direction has to come from the communities." (The Des Moines Register)
- On Sunday, Fiorina said that Donald Trump being named the Republican nominee would be a “big Christmas gift wrapped up under the tree” for Democrats. She continued, “I, however, am the lump of coal in Mrs. Clinton stocking, and she desperately hopes that she does not run against me.” (The Hill)
Lindsey Graham
- Lindsey Graham said this weekend that he would work with Hillary Clinton on national security issues if she were elected president. “If she’s willing to be more robust in terms of destroying ISIL, I’d give her political cover. If she wanted to be more muscular in her foreign policy, I would try to help her,” Graham said. (TIME)
- In a radio interview on Saturday, Graham condemned his Republican rivals for foreign policies he said would “make sure that another 9/11 happens.” He added that “you can’t fix Syria without a ground component. There is nobody left to train that can destroy the caliphate that’s indigenous to Syria. America must be in this regional force for it to succeed.” (Breitbart)
- Graham also criticized Donald Trump for his embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, “What Donald Trump is saying makes no sense. Putin is evil in every way. You know why he polls well in Russia? If you say you disapprove of him, they throw you in jail. Donald Trump doesn’t understand what he’s done in the Ukraine, the women who’ve been raped and barrel bombed in Syria because [of] Putin’s support for Assad. Mr Trump, if you understood what Putin, in terms of the way he runs his country, and the dangers he created throughout the world, you wouldn’t respect him, you’d have condemnation for him.” (Breitbart)
Mike Huckabee
- In a statement on Saturday, Mike Huckabee described the omnibus budget bill that passed on Friday as “a massive new assault on American workers” because it will increase “the number of H-2B visas for foreign blue collar workers by 400 percent.” Huckabee said, “Why would Republicans in Washington want to import 250,000 foreigners to steal blue-collar jobs from Americans in trucking, construction and other industries? Why would Republicans support immigration programs that import foreigners to replace American workers and drive American wages lower than the Dead Sea?” (Daily Caller)
John Kasich
- NBC News reported on Saturday that John Kasich has opened three new field offices in New Hampshire. (NBC News)
- Kasich’s campaign released a parody website this weekend featuring promotional material for a fake Donald Trump-Vladimir Putin ticket with the slogan “Make Tyranny Great Again.” (The Huffington Post)
Rand Paul
- Rand Paul discussed several of his Republican competitors in an interview on Sunday morning. “Well, you know, the difference between Marco Rubio and I is, I show up for work. He's missed about a third to a half of his votes this year. And we had the biggest vote of the whole year, voting on a trillion dollars worth of spending, and he didn't show up. So, yes, I think he ought to resign or give his pay back to the taxpayer,” Paul said. He also said of Trump, “I think he will get wiped in a general election. It would be terrible for any of the ideas of limited government. I'm still not sure that Donald Trump is for limited government, for balanced budgets.” Connecting Trump and Christie directly, Paul continued, "I think this is what is very worrisome about not only Trump, but Christie and others on the stage who are really eager to have war, really eager to show how strong they are. And it also gets to temperament. And that's why it very much worries me to have someone like Donald Trump or a Chris Christie in charge of our nuclear arsenal." (CNN, NBC News)
- In a radio interview on Sunday, Paul condemned how the omnibus budget bill was passed last week. “I voted against it because I won’t vote for these enormous bills that no one has a chance to read. We were given it...the day before the bill came forward, and so this is not a way to run government. It’s a part of the reason why government is broke,” he said. (The Hill)
Marco Rubio
- On CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” Marco Rubio said he was no one should be “honored” by an endorsement from Russian President Vladimir Putin. “He's jailed and murdered journalists, political opponents. He bombed an apartment building as a pretext to attack the Chechens. He is responsible for the downing of the Malaysian airliner over Ukraine, because he provided the antiaircraft weaponry that was used for that,” Rubio said. (Talking Points Memo)
Rick Santorum
- Rick Santorum said on Monday morning that “most” Muslims in the U.S. are not trying to combat Islamic extremism. “There are Muslims in this country who are ... actually going out and trying to establish a 'reform Islam,' trying to deal with the problem, the cancer within Islam. And it's real. … There are lots of Muslims out there who are actually trying to confront the cancer. And the bottom line is, most are not, and that's a problem,” Santorum said. (The Hill)
Donald Trump
- During a campaign rally on Saturday, Donald Trump said of U.S.-Russia relations, "I mean you look, we're all tough guys, but wouldn't it be nice if like Russia and us could knock out an enemy together? Russia has plenty of problems, but I'll tell you what, if Putin likes me, and he thinks I'm a good, smart person, which, I mean I hope he believes it." Trump added. "I mean I am brilliant actually ... If he says something positive, that's a good thing, that's not a bad thing." (CBS News)
- On Sunday, Trump responded to Jeb Bush calling him a “jerk,” saying, “Jeb is an embarrassment to himself and his family, and the Republican Party has essentially -- they're not even listening to Jeb.” (CNN)
- Trump said on Monday that Hillary Clinton should apologize to him for saying he was “becoming ISIS’s best recruiter.” He said, “I will demand an apology from Hillary. She should apologize. She lies about emails, she lies about Whitewater, she lies about everything. She will be a disaster about everything as president of the United States." (TODAY)
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
