Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - February 22, 2016
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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
- Jeb Bush suspended his presidential campaign on Saturday night after placing fourth in the South Carolina Republican primary. “We put forward detailed, innovative, conservative plans to address the mounting challenges that we face. Because despite what you may have heard. Ideas matter, policy matters. I truly hope that these ideas that we have laid out will serve as a blueprint for a generation of conservatives leaders at every level of government so that we can take back our country,” Bush told supporters. (RealClearPolitics)
- Donald Trump scored a decisive victory in the South Carolina Republican primary with 32.5 percent of the vote. By winning the state and each congressional district, Trump secured all 50 of South Carolina’s delegates. Marco Rubio edged out Ted Cruz for second place, securing 22.5 percent of the vote to Cruz’s 22.3 percent. (Ballotpedia, U.S. News & World Report)
- Hillary Clinton defeated Bernie Sanders in the Nevada caucuses on Saturday night, 52.7 percent to 47.2 percent. Clinton earned 19 of the state’s pledged delegates, four more than Sanders’ 15 pledged delegates. (Ballotpedia, NBC News)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- The State Department released 1,100 additional pages of Hillary Clinton’s emails from her time as secretary of state on Friday. This batch included 64 retroactively classified emails and exchanges about the U.S. military intervention in Libya, Clinton’s authority to direct foreign policy and commentary on Vice President Joe Biden’s performance in a 2012 vice presidential debate. (Politico)
- Priorities USA Action, a super PAC backing Clinton, received $9.5 million in contributions in January. Hedge fund manager James Simons gave the largest donation of $3.5 million. (CNN)
- Clinton opened her first campaign office in Maine at the end of last week. (NECN)
- Discussing her potential strategy and trust issues in the general election on Sunday, Clinton said, “I'm going to do what I have always done. I'm going to keep, you know, reaching out to voters. I understand that voters have questions. I'm going to do my very best to answer those questions. I think there's an underlying question that maybe is really in the back of people's minds. And that is, you know, is she in it for us or is she in it for herself?” (RealClearPolitics)
Bernie Sanders
- On Sunday, Bernie Sanders attributed his second-place finish in Nevada to low voter turnout. “What I've said over and over again, we will do well when young people, when working-class people come out. We do not do well when the voter turnout is not large. We did not do as good a job as I had wanted to bring out a large turnout,” Sanders said. (The Washington Post)
- Colorado Rep. Joe Salazar (D) endorsed Sanders on Saturday. According to The Denver Post, “Salazar's endorsement shows Sanders can appeal to Latinos, a coveted voting bloc in Colorado.” (The Denver Post)
- Progressive Kick, a super PAC supporting Sanders, released a website this week to allow voters to follow which candidate Democratic superdelegates have pledged to support and to encourage them to “contact superdelegates individually and get commitments not to overturn the primary results.” (TIME)
- Although Sanders outraised Hillary Clinton in January, he ended the month with far less money left over in the bank after spending $35 million to expand his campaign’s infrastructure. Sanders has $14.7 million in cash to Clinton's $33.7 million. (The Washington Post)
Republicans
Ben Carson
- The Hill reported on Sunday that in January Ben Carson’s campaign spent $6.2 million and raised $3.8 million. It also noted that “if his campaign continues spending at its current rate and doesn't substantially increase its fundraising, it will be running on little more than fumes by the end of this month.” (The Hill)
- In an op-ed for The Detroit Free Press on Saturday, Carson said one of his first acts as president would be to “enact a six-month tax hiatus whereby U.S. corporations with profits parked overseas would be given the opportunity to bring it back to the U.S. at no penalty.” (The Detroit Free Press)
- On Saturday, Carson wrote an op-ed for Forbes detailing his personal journey from a disadvantaged background to neurosurgery and generally outlining his plan for tax, healthcare, education, energy spending and regulatory reform. (Forbes)
- Carson met with Ted Cruz on Thursday night to discuss the Cruz campaign’s tactics during the Iowa caucuses. The Daily Beast reported on Friday, “Carson’s campaign confirmed the meeting—which was was [sic] supposed to be short and off-the-record—and blamed the Cruz campaign for leaking the fact that it occurred in an attempt to rectify his public image.” (The Daily Beast)
Ted Cruz
- Former Gov. and current U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) endorsed Cruz on Friday. “What struck me about Ted is the fact that he had come out against those ethanol subsidies. We need another fighter in Washington, in the Oval Office,” said Sanford during a rally for Cruz in Charleston. (The Washington Post)
- Cruz is facing legal challenges to his eligibility to run for president in federal courts in Alabama, Texas and Utah, and state courts in Illinois and Vermont. (ABC News)
- The California Republican Assembly (CRA) endorsed Cruz on Sunday. CRA President Tom Hudson said in a statement, “Cruz is a hero to the conservative movement and he’s right in line with what we need in California and nationwide. The conscience of the Republican Party has spoken.” (Ted Cruz for President)
John Kasich
- John Kasich signed a bill to defund Planned Parenthood in Ohio on Sunday. It will “redirect about $1.3 million in state-directed grants from Ohio's 28 Planned Parenthood centers to federally qualified health centers, health departments, and other facilities that don't perform elective abortions or contract with organizations that do. It also earmarks $250,000 from Medicaid funding for community health centers only.” (Cleveland.com)
- In an interview published on Friday, Kasich criticized Bernie Sanders’ argument that the “business model of Wall Street is fraud.” He said, “I don't even know what that means. What does he mean it’s a fraud? Wall Street’s there to provide some of the glue to make that economic system churn. I mean, did we have problems there? Of course. Is there too much greed? Of course. Are there rules and regulations that are necessary? Of course. But what’s he think we should do, abolish Wall Street? I mean, it’s so absurd.” (Politico)
- It was announced on Sunday that Mike Schrimpf, the deputy chief of staff to Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R), had joined Kasich’s campaign as communications director. (Cleveland.com)
Marco Rubio
- In an interview on Sunday morning, Marco Rubio said he could give the Republican Party “the best chance to unify” and defeat the Democratic presidential nominee. He continued, "Who do the Democrats fear most? Who do they not want to run against? I think everyone now acknowledges that's me. We've got to bring the Republican Party together. We're not gonna win – we're not going to beat Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders – if we're still divided in September or October." (CNN)
- Rubio said it would “be presumptuous” to say that he was considering South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) for vice president, but noted that “she is going to be on the top of everyone's list.” (USA Today)
- Reuters reported Sunday that most of Jeb Bush’s financial backers were expected to migrate to Rubio. One former Bush fundraiser, Brian Ballard, predicted, “Ninety-five percent of Jeb's money is going to end up with Marco." (Reuters)
- U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) endorsed Rubio on Saturday. “I believe [Rubio] is somebody who can bring a positive change, which is needed, to Washington. I also appreciate his stand for strong national defense, and he’s very consistent we’ve got to have a strong national defense,” Wilson told The Post and Courier. (The Post and Courier)
Donald Trump
- On Sunday, Donald Trump predicted that he would face Hillary Clinton in the general election with “the greatest turnout in history.” He added, “I’ll win states that Republicans don’t even think of. People are not going to die on the streets of any city or of any place if I’m president. And every time I say it, I get standing ovations from Republicans.” (TIME)
- Trump criticized President Barack Obama for not attending Justice Antonin Scalia’s funeral mass on Saturday. He tweeted, “I wonder if President Obama would have attended the funeral of Justice Scalia if it were held in a Mosque? Very sad that he did not go!” (Twitter)
- On Friday, Trump called for his supporters to boycott Apple until it assists the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the investigation into the San Bernardino shooters. (CNN)
- South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer (R) endorsed Trump on Friday. "More than anything, I like him taking on the establishment, whether it be in business or whether it be in politics,” Bauer said. (NBC News)
Third Party Candidates
Jill Stein (Green Party)
- Jill Stein won the Illinois Green Party presidential preference vote on Friday with 86.9 percent support, earning 20 pledged delegates. Two uncommitted delegates and a pledged delegate for competitor William P. Kreml round out the state’s delegates to the Green Party Presidential Nominating Convention in August. (Green Party Watch)
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
