Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - February 29, 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
- Hillary Clinton won the South Carolina Democratic primary on Saturday. She defeated Bernie Sanders, 74 percent to 26 percent. According to Ballotpedia’s senior writer Jim Barnes, “Clinton’s landslide was propelled by a huge advantage she had among black voters. The television networks’ exit poll, the representative sampling of South Carolina primary voters as they left their precinct voting stations, showed Clinton beating Sanders among black voters by a margin of more than 70 percentage points.” (The New York Times, Ballotpedia)
- New Jersey Gov. and former presidential candidate Chris Christie (R) endorsed Donald Trump on Friday afternoon. “He is rewriting the playbook of American politics because he is providing strong leadership that is not dependent upon the status quo. The best person to beat Hillary Clinton in November is undoubtedly Donald Trump," Christie said at a news conference in Texas. (NBC News)
- U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) also endorsed Trump over the weekend. “Politicians have promised for 30 years to fix illegal immigration. Have they done it? Donald Trump will do it," Sessions said on Sunday. The New York Times called the endorsement “a major blow” to Ted Cruz who has projected a conservative stance on border security and deportation. (The Washington Post)
- After receiving an endorsement from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke on Friday, Donald Trump disavowed his support. In an interview on Sunday, however, he declined to directly condemn white supremacists. He told CNN’s Jake Tapper, after being pressed several times on the issue, "I have to look at the group. I mean, I don't know what group you're talking about. You wouldn't want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. I'd have to look. If you would send me a list of the groups, I will do research on them and certainly I would disavow if I thought there was something wrong. You may have groups in there that are totally fine – it would be very unfair. So give me a list of the groups and I'll let you know." (CNN)
- John Kasich commented, "Apparently he refused to disassociate himself from white supremacists. Every day it's another thing. That's just horrific, right? We don't have any place for white supremacists in the United States of America. It doesn't make any sense. He really needs to make his position clear, and he ought to do it quickly." (The Washington Post)
- Ted Cruz tweeted, “Really sad. @realDonaldTrump you're better than this. We should all agree, racism is wrong, KKK is abhorrent.” (USA Today)
- Marco Rubio said, “Not only is that wrong, it makes him unelectable. How are we going to grow our party with a nominee that refuses to condemn the Ku Klux Klan? Don't tell me he doesn't know who the Ku Klux Klan is." (USA Today)
- Bernie Sanders tweeted, “America's first black president cannot and will not be succeeded by a hatemonger who refuses to condemn the KKK.” (CNN)
- In an interview with The Daily Beast on Sunday, Duke said, “If he [Trump] disavows me fine. Let him do whatever he thinks he needs to do to become president of the United States." (The Daily Beast)
Polls
- In a Suffolk University poll released on Saturday, Donald Trump stands far ahead of the Republican field in Massachusetts with 42.6 percent support. Marco Rubio and John Kasich follow with 19.8 and 17 percent, respectively. (RealClearPolitics)
- Suffolk University found on the Democratic side that Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders in Massachusetts, 49.6 percent to 41.8 percent. (RealClearPolitics)
- According to a new set of polls released by NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist on Sunday, Clinton leads Sanders in Georgia, Tennessee and Texas, by more than 21 points in all three states. In the Republican field, Donald Trump leads in Georgia and Tennessee. Ted Cruz has a 13-point lead over Trump in his home state of Texas. (NBC News)
- In a CNN national poll released on Monday, Trump is poised to cross the 50 percent threshold. With 49 percent support, he is 33 points ahead of his nearest competitor, Rubio. Clinton also maintains a sizable lead over Sanders, 55 percent to 38 percent. (CNN)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- On Friday, Hillary Clinton’s campaign released a new ad, “Gabby,” that features gun control activist and former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords (D) declaring her support for Clinton. (CBS News)
- U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), the former vice chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, endorsed Clinton Friday. He said in a statement, “Every job matters to Hillary and she believes all Americans should have the dignity of a paycheck to raise their families, put a roof over their head, and store away a little money for their children's education at the end of each month." (CBS News)
- The State Department released 1,589 pages of Clinton’s emails on Friday. Eighty-eight documents in this batch were retroactively classified. The final batch of Clinton’s emails is expected to be released on Monday. (CBS News)
Bernie Sanders
- Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich (D), who served in Bill Clinton’s administration, endorsed Bernie Sanders on Friday. He said in a statement, “I have the deepest respect and admiration for Hillary Clinton, and if she wins the Democratic primary I’ll work my heart out to help her become president. But I believe Bernie Sanders is the agent of change this nation so desperately needs.” (Politico)
- On Sunday, U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) resigned from her position as the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee and endorsed Sanders. In a video statement, Gabbard said, “As a veteran of two Middle East deployments, I know firsthand the cost of war. I know how important it is that our commander in chief has the sound judgment required … to know when to use America's military power and when not to use that power." (The Washington Post)
- Sanders said on Sunday that he expected to perform well on Super Tuesday in Massachusetts and win Minnesota, Colorado, Oklahoma and Vermont. He continued, “And I think we've got a number of states coming up that we're going to do extremely well and possibly winning, including California and New York state.” (CNN)
Republicans
- Meg Whitman, the former national finance co-chair of Chris Christie’s suspended presidential campaign, called on Christie’s supporters to reject his endorsement of Donald Trump. She said in a statement, “Chris Christie's endorsement of Donald Trump is an astonishing display of political opportunism. Donald Trump is unfit to be President. He is a dishonest demagogue who plays to our worst fears. Trump would take America on a dangerous journey. Christie knows all that and indicated as much many times publicly.” (NBC News)
Ben Carson
- While campaigning in Texas on Saturday, Ben Carson said he had received calls from “special interests” encouraging him to drop out in exchange for money and support for a senatorial campaign. He said, “I’ve got unanswered calls on my phone right now, ‘Oh, if you did this or did this, and did this, or if you drop out and support this guy, we’ll give you all this money and we’ll make sure you’re a senator here. What a bunch of crap. This is about saving our nation. This is not about horse-trading and making deals.” (The Dallas Morning News)
- Carson said on Saturday that Donald Trump’s support was driven by “people...making decisions based on anger and fear.” He continued, “The real question is are American people going to awaken and recognize what’s going on. I believe the answer to that yes. I do not believe that we are quite that dense. If we were to continue in the vein we are going in right now, yes we would make very very bad mistake.” (Independent Journal Review)
- Bloomberg reported on Sunday that Ted Cruz’s campaign spent weeks trying to deter Carson from publicly discussing that it falsely reported Carson had suspended his campaign the day of the Iowa caucuses. “Some of the Cruz campaign's top surrogates, including Iowa Representative Steve King, initiated meetings with Carson's political team to smooth tense relations with Carson, whose loyal following of evangelical conservatives has become a chunk of voters Cruz is eager to absorb should Carson exit the race,” Bloomberg noted. (Bloomberg)
- On Monday, Fox News published an op-ed from Carson detailing why he did not intend to leave the presidential race. “With every call to drop out, pundits and political operatives salivate over polling percentages – as though the people they represent were commodities to be bought and bartered in the backrooms of D.C.’s exclusive political clubs. This mentality is driving voters away from the political system they have so long supported. The commoditization of the electorate is precisely what drove me into this race,” he wrote. (Fox News)
Ted Cruz
- Ted Cruz said in an interview on Sunday that Donald Trump was obliged to release his tax returns, particularly because he was in the midst of being audited. He continued, “You know, Mitt Romney suggested there could be a bombshell there. I don't know if there is or not. But Donald is hiding them from the voters, and I think he owes candor to the voters.” (CBS News)
- Cruz also speculated on Sunday that Trump was delaying releasing his tax returns because they might show he had dealings with organized crime or Planned Parenthood. He said, “There have been multiple media reports about Donald's business dealings with the mob, with the mafia. Maybe his tax returns show that those business dealings are a lot more extensive than reported. We don't know." (ABC News)
- During a convention of the National Association of Religious Broadcasters in Nashville on Friday, Cruz argued that Republicans should unite behind him in order to defeat Trump. “Right now, Donald Trump has enormous momentum. He’s won three of the first four states incredible momentum. If he continues that momentum and powers through and wins everywhere Super Tuesday he could easily be unstoppable. And I think that would be a grave mistake both for the Republican party and for the country,” Cruz said. (The Wall Street Journal)
John Kasich
- Former New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman (R) endorsed John Kasich on Friday. She said, “Gov. Kasich is the lone voice of reason and optimism in a very loud room. His winning combination of tax cuts, balanced budgets and job creation will revive the American economy just like it has done for Ohio. John Kasich is the leader we need to offer greater opportunity to every American, and I'm proud to offer my unqualified support to his campaign." Whitman previously wrote an op-ed in December 2015 comparing Donald Trump to dictators Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. (NJ.com)
- Former Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood (R) and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (R) also endorsed Kasich. (CNN, Politico)
- Although Kasich predicted on Sunday that Donald Trump would sweep Super Tuesday, he said his plan was “to hold [his] own” before campaigning in the north. (CNN)
- The Detroit Free Press endorsed Kasich on Sunday. The editorial board lauded Kasich’s acknowledgment of climate change and emphasis on bipartisanship, but expressed concerned with his positions on Planned Parenthood and labor unions. It concluded, “President Kasich? We'd hardly stand up and cheer. But among the choices available on GOP side, it's the best outcome available.” (The Detroit Free Press)
Marco Rubio
- After calling on Donald Trump to release his tax returns, Marco Rubio released five years of his own on Saturday evening. Rubio and his wife earned an average of $531,000 per year through their employment and royalties from book deals. (NBC News)
- Marco Rubio and Donald Trump engaged in a series of back-and-forth insults following the Republican presidential debate on Thursday night. During a rally on Friday, Rubio read several of Trump’s negative tweets, criticizing the comments and noting words that were misspelled. He said, “I only reach two conclusions — number one, that’s how they spell those words at the Wharton School of Business where he went, or number two, just like Trump Tower, he must have hired a foreign worker to do his own tweets.” Throughout the weekend, Rubio’s jabs turned even more personal as he insulted Trump’s “small hands” and use of tanner. He said, "Donald Trump isn't gonna make America great, he's gonna make America orange.” (Politico)
- U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) endorsed Rubio on Sunday. He called Rubio "the conservative candidate who can inspire us, win the election and lead our country." (Politico)
- The editorial board of The Richmond Times-Dispatch gave an early endorsement to Rubio on Saturday. It wrote, “It is well known that this newspaper often — though not always — endorses Republicans. We do so again today, in part because we find the continuing ethical lapses of Hillary Clinton unacceptable and the economic proposals of Bernie Sanders absurd. … But it is the flaws of two men [Ted Cruz and Donald Trump] seeking the Republican nomination that pushed us into abandoning our usual practice of making a presidential endorsement in the waning weeks of October.” (The Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Donald Trump
- Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, criticized Marco Rubio on Saturday for his support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and globalism. He said, “Marco Rubio’s career has been a career of deception for the singular purpose of advancing his own ambition and financial standing and campaign fundraising in order to put him in a position to end forever the existence of the United States as a country with sovereign, protected, secure, defined, certain boundaries.” (RealClearPolitics)
- Trump suggested on Friday that he would take action against Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, for the Post negatively reporting about him. He said, “He [Bezos] wants political influence so that Amazon will benefit from it. That's not right. And believe me, if I become president, oh, do they have problems. They're going to have such problems. … When they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money.” (CNET)
- On Sunday, Trump said that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over a class-action lawsuit related to Trump University, was treating him unfairly because of his position on immigration. “I think is has [sic] to do perhaps with the fact that I'm very, very strong on the border, very, very strong at the border, and he has been extremely hostile to me,” Trump said. (Fox News)
Third Party Candidates
Jill Stein (Green Party)
- Asked to comment on frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Jill Stein said in an interview on Saturday, “They are both very much representatives of the oligarchy: Hillary Clinton who was on the Board of Directors for Walmart. There is no more oppressive corporation for workers’ rights and women than Walmart, who never found a word that she didn’t support. Donald Trump – it is hard to say exactly where he stands because he changes his mind all the time. One thing is very clear, he is not friendly to immigrants. For him not to understand that in our country we are all immigrants and in fact that immigrants are really the vitality and the diversity of our communities, our economy, our culture. This is a very dangerous thing - this is a slippery slope to fascism. There is nothing inspiring, enlightened about either of those campaigns.” (RT)
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
