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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - December 3, 2015
From Ballotpedia
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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential Briefing was sponsored by the Leadership Project for America. | ||||
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Thursday's Leading Stories
- The Washington Post obtained a seven-page memo from Ward Baker, the executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, discussing in September the campaign strategies that Republican congressional candidates should use if Donald Trump wins the presidential nomination. In the memo, Baker encourages candidates to adopt Trump’s “anti-Washington populist agenda” while staying away from the “problem” of what Trump has said about women. Baker also warns, “Spending time attacking our own nominee will ensure that the GOP vote is depressed. That will only serve to topple GOP candidates at every level. Maintain the right amount of independence, but avoid piling the nominee.” (The Washington Post)
- Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez (D) is set to formally endorse Hillary Clinton on Friday and begin campaigning for her in Iowa. "Progressives believe in making progress, which is why I'm proud to endorse Hillary Clinton who I know will continue fighting to ensure our children and grandchildren can achieve their highest and best dreams,” Perez said in a statement. (Politico)
- Bill Millis, one of Ben Carson’s top fundraisers, announced on Wednesday that he was leaving Carson’s campaign because of conflict with other staffers. “I disagree with the campaign, but I’m hoping and praying that the concerns I have are wrong. I’m one, and they are the masses. And they decided to move forward with the campaign as is,” Millis said. Barry Bennett, Carson’s campaign manager, said of Millis’ exit, “Mr. Millis is a member of the corporate board. Today, he resigned that position. He had no role in the campaign, and his departure will not alter the campaign in any way.” (The Wall Street Journal)
- Poll: In a Quinnipiac University national poll released on Wednesday, Hillary Clinton improved her performance in head-to-head matchups against Republicans since November, now narrowly defeating Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Ben Carson. Bernie Sanders “does just as well, or even better,” in the same match-ups. He registered the largest margin running against Cruz with 49 percent to Cruz’s 39 percent. (Quinnipiac University)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- On Wednesday, Hillary Clinton called for an independent federal inquiry of the Chicago Police Department and the death of Laquan McDonald. Her campaign released the following statement: “Hillary Clinton is deeply troubled by the shooting of Laquan McDonald and the outstanding questions related to both the shooting and the video. Mayor Emanuel’s call for a task force to review practices of the Chicago Police Department is an important step, but given the gravity of this tragic situation, she supports a full review by the Department of Justice.” (The Chicago Sun-Times)
- Clinton’s sent an email to supporters on Tuesday challenging Ted Cruz’s statement that he has “never met anybody—any conservative—who wants to ban contraceptives” and listing five instances where Cruz advocated for policies that would limit women’s access to birth control. “Hey, Ted Cruz? Let us introduce you to one conservative trying to limit access to contraceptives. His name is Ted Cruz,” the email reads. A Cruz spokesman responded, “The Clinton team must be reading the same polls we are that show Cruz rising, so it is not surprising she would attack. That’s all she can do because she has no ideas of her own.” (The Wall Street Journal, Hillary Clinton for President)
Martin O’Malley
- The Boston Globe reported on Tuesday that Martin O’Malley may not win any delegates in Iowa due to the stringent rules governing Democratic caucuses in the state. Unlike the Republican caucus which will record votes for candidates receiving only 1 percent support, “In each of the 1,700 Democratic caucus precincts in Iowa, a candidate must have enough support to be considered viable. In most locations, this means a candidate must have support from at least 15 percent of people in attendance at the caucus. In smaller precincts, that percentage is higher.” (The Boston Globe)
Bernie Sanders
- In an interview on Iowa Public Radio on Wednesday, Bernie Sanders commented on the new Renewable Fuels Standard level for 2016 which reduces the minimum amount of ethanol to be blended with gasoline. He said, “Well, I share that concern of Iowa corn growers, and I’ll tell you why. I happen to believe that climate change is the great environmental crisis that we face, and what the scientist tell us is that if we do not get our act together in the near future, a bad situation will become much worse. And what that means is that we have got to do everything we can to break our dependence on fossil fuel, move to energy efficiency and move to sustainable energy. I know Iowa has done a really great job in terms of wind, and in terms of biofuels, so I think we have to be supportive of that effort. And take every step that we could, and in every way we can including the growth of the biofuels industry to break our dependency on renewable fuels." (Iowa Public Radio)
Republicans
Jeb Bush
- On Wednesday, Jeb Bush wrote an op-ed for Fox News proclaiming his commitment to Israel in the face of terrorist acts from Hezbollah and Hamas. He added, “Hamas also knows that Israel takes extraordinary care to avoid civilian casualties when defending itself, and exploits Israel’s respect for innocent Palestinian lives by using human shields and locating weapons stockpiles and firing positions in schools and hospitals. Such horrific exploitation of innocents in the promotion of terror reminds us there can be no moral equivalence between Palestinian terrorism and Israel’s efforts to defend itself against it.” (Fox News)
- With the deadline approaching on December 10, Bush became the first presidential candidate to submit his list of delegates for the Tennessee primary. The list includes former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioners Bill Hagerty and Randy Boyd. (Miami Herald)
Ben Carson
- In an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday, Ben Carson discussed the tenets of his faith and their influence on his campaign. He said that although he believes Jesus Christ could “come any time,” he does not believe there will be a “Rapture” where Christians will “meet the Lord in the air” prior to Christ’s return. He added that he does not believe Hell exists. “I try to lead a life that would be consistent with the principles that God has set before us,” Carson said. (The Washington Post)
- Fifteen faith leaders in South Carolina endorsed Carson on Wednesday. “I am grateful for their support of my candidacy and vision for the country, and even more grateful for what they do to shape our values and elevate our character. I look forward to working with them to offer both political and moral leadership for America,” Carson said. (Breitbart)
- Carson said on Wednesday he would consider potential judicial nominees’ position on abortion when making an appointment. “As far as abortion is concerned, I would very much look at appointing judges who have a record of honoring life,” he said during a town hall in South Carolina. (The Washington Times)
Chris Christie
- While discussing his opposition to resettling Syrian refugees in the U.S. on Wednesday morning with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Chris Christie pointed to terrorist incidents involving women and children. “Listen, George, we have seen women and children play roles in terrorist attacks before. The fact is, we can all play to the UN crowd and say we want to get applause from those folks around the world – I'm worried about the homeland here, and the American people are worried about their safety and security." (CNN)
- Former New Hampshire House Speaker Donna Sytek (R) endorsed Christie on Tuesday. She said, “There’s no question about Governor Christie being willing to be a practical politician and get things done in a way that recognizes the problems — doesn’t avoid them, doesn’t talk platitudes, but rolls up his sleeves and makes the tough decision.” (New Hampshire Union Leader)
Ted Cruz
- Since campaigns are prohibited from directly coordinating with super PACs, they will publicly release footage on a video-sharing site like YouTube to provide super PACs with the raw material for future ads. On Wednesday, CNN produced a video compiling clips from 15 hours of such footage of Ted Cruz and his family and friends to demonstrate “the strange world of political ad-making.” (CNN, New York Magazine)
- In an interview with the Associated Press published on Wednesday, Cruz said there would be more stability in the Middle East if dictators in Iraq, Egypt and Libya had not been deposed. "If you topple a stable ruler, throw a Middle Eastern country into chaos and hand it over to radical Islamic terrorists, that hurts America," Cruz said. He added that removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power would be "materially worse for U.S. national security interests.” (U.S. News & World Report)
- Cruz is holding a Senate hearing next Tuesday to question the degree to which climate change is a man-made phenomenon. “The four witnesses scheduled to appear at the hearing are all prominent climate change skeptics,” according to Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)
Carly Fiorina
- Four former Nevada Republican State Chairwomen – Earlene Forsythe, Lia Roberts, Amy Tarkanian and Valerie Weber – have joined Carly Fiorina’s leadership team in Nevada. Tarkanian said of Fiorina, “She will turn the power structure around so we have a bottom-up growth economy. She’ll focus on implementing policies that help build strong families, and she will foster an economic climate that helps create new jobs and fixes our broken economy.” (Breitbart)
- On Wednesday, Fiorina criticized President Obama’s and Hillary Clinton’s responses to the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. She said, “Without knowing any of the facts of what has happened there or why, President Obama and Hillary Clinton immediately came out and made a political statement for gun control. Instead of Mrs. Clinton calling for more laws, why don’t we enforce the laws that we have and, as well, enforce the Second Amendment?” (Breitbart)
Jim Gilmore
- Jim Gilmore suggested on Wednesday he was staking his presidential campaign on gaining a higher profile in New Hampshire. During a campaign stop at New England College, he said, “I have the experience, the credentials. But, I’ve gotta be known. I’ve gotta be better known. The way to do that is New Hampshire – no place else. I need your help, and I’m asking for it right now.” (Concord Monitor)
Lindsey Graham
- In a radio interview on Tuesday, Lindsey Graham said that “Ted Cruz's foreign policy has been uneven and he has done more to allow ISIL to gain a foothold in Syria than any Senator other than Rand Paul.” He asserted Cruz’s policy shifts were motivated by politics, saying, “I think [Ted Cruz] is an opportunist, he's a libertarian when it is hot. When Rand Paul was talking about droning people in a cafe, Ted Cruz introduced legislation saying you couldn't hold people as enemy combatants indefinitely. … They get due process, but in Cruz's theory they are common criminals. So he has voted to gut data mining systems. So he is trying to do two things: he's trying to steal votes from Rand Paul, he's trying to catch those people who leave Trump and Carson by being hard on immigration and other emotional issues.” (RealClearPolitics)
- In the past week, Graham filed petitions to appear on the ballot in Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia. In the face of calls that he withdraw from the presidential race due to poor polling results, Graham said in a statement that this ballot achievement “marks an important milestone for our strong political organization throughout the country.” (The State)
Mike Huckabee
- In response to the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, on Wednesday afternoon, Mike Huckabee said there were two “common denominators” to most mass shootings: “a mentally unstable person” and a “gun free zone.” (Salon)
- On Wednesday, Huckabee said he opposed a slight increase to the federal gas tax to help fund military efforts against terrorism. “Why do we need to raise taxes? You always want to raise taxes. Why don't we have the exploration of our energy, sell it, take away the marketplaces [and] we've become the supplier to Europe, Asia and Africa,” Huckabee said. (Newsmax)
John Kasich
- During a campaign stop in New Hampshire, John Kasich warned the “fantasy tax plans” proposed by his Republican presidential rivals could lead to a Democratic victory in 2016. “What I get concerned about is if you have a plan where the numbers don’t add up, come the fall, I worry it’s going to put Hillary in the catbird seat, putting her in a much stronger position to win,” he said. (The Washington Post)
- On Wednesday, the pro-Kasich super PAC New Day for America responded to a letter from Donald Trump’s lawyer, Alan Garten, regarding its planned advertising campaign against Trump. "As you can see, the advertisement produced by New Day For America simply uses Mr. Trump's own statements to question his fitness to serve as commander in chief. Moreover, with limited exceptions that are not applicable here, because The Trump Organization as a corporation is prohibited under federal election laws from contributing or coordinating with Mr. Trump's campaign, we were surprised to see that the letter came from you, as General Counsel to The Trump Organization rather than from Mr. Trump's campaign counsel,” New Day for America’s letter reads. (CBS News)
Rand Paul
- According to journalist McKay Coppins in his new book, The Wilderness, Rand Paul’s senior adviser and religious liaison Doug Wead questioned the conviction of Paul’s Christianity. When Wead was asked if he believed that Paul was Christian, he answered, “I don’t think we can know. I don’t know if he knows.” According to Coppins, Paul was also given a “crash course in conservative Christianity” to appeal to evangelicals. (Daily Caller)
- In response to the Coppins’ story, Wead released the following statement on Wednesday: “Rand Paul is a great man and a compassionate Christian. I have heard him talk about his faith publicly on multiple occasions, one of which was in an interview with Justin Machacek. In that interview, Sen. Paul makes it clear that he is a born again believer. Nothing I have ever heard him say privately contradicts the idea of his Christianity.” (Daily Caller)
- Paul expanded his campaign operations in New Hampshire earlier this week, adding three staffers and a new office in the state. Matt Chisholm, who previously worked as a staffer for the Stop Hillary PAC and former Gov. Jon Huntsman (R-Utah)’s 2012 presidential campaign, is one of the new hires. (WMUR)
Marco Rubio
- On Wednesday, Marco Rubio co-sponsored the Liberty Through Strength Act II to make permanent certain provisions of the Patriot Act and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. “This bill will not fix the misguided and flawed USA Freedom Act that went into effect on December 1, nor will it reverse the dangerous, unilateral disarmament of portions of our intelligence collection apparatus undertaken by President Obama and his administration. However, passage of this bill will ensure that key tools used by the intelligence community and law enforcement to defend our cities and towns are permanently reauthorized and that the metadata already collected is not discarded until it no longer has any intelligence value,” said Rubio in a statement. (U.S. Senator for Florida, Marco Rubio)
- According to ABC News, Rubio will begin expanding his Hispanic outreach efforts after hosting only three events since April targeting Hispanic voters. “I’ve never asked people to relate to me because of how I pronounce my last name. I ask them to relate to me because of my history, why I believe in the American dream, and my own personal experience with the American dream,” Rubio said. (ABC News)
Donald Trump
- U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said on Wednesday that if Donald Trump were to win the Republican nomination, he could jeopardize other election results down the ballot. "Obviously we all know from history that if you have a weak top of the ticket, that has a significant effect on the states, particularly the swing states. So, of course I worry. All of us have to worry about the viability of the top of the ticket,” he said. Commenting on some of Trump’s incendiary rhetoric, he added, “You cannot alienate Hispanic voters and expect to win an election.” (The Hill)
- While discussing how the U.S. could defeat the Islamic State with minimal civilian casualties, Trump recommended targeting terrorists’ family members. He said, “The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families, when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, don't kid yourself. When they say they don't care about their lives, you have to take out their families.” (CNN)
- Trump tweeted on Thursday morning that he planned to release a “full medical report” from his personal doctor in the next two weeks. “It will show perfection,” he wrote. (CNN)
Third Party Candidates
Jill Stein (Green Party)
- In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Jill Stein encouraged supporters in eleven states to contribute money to her campaign in December in order to qualify for federal matching funds. “Support our clean-money, people-powered campaign,” she wrote. (Facebook)
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
