Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - January 22, 2016
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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential Briefing was sponsored by the Leadership Project for America. | ||||
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Friday's Leading Stories
- National Review released a special edition on Friday featuring essays from 22 leading conservatives condemning Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy. “Some conservatives have made it their business to make excuses for Trump and duly get pats on the head from him. Count us out. Donald Trump is a menace to American conservatism who would take the work of generations and trample it underfoot in behalf of a populism as heedless and crude as the Donald himself,” the editors wrote in the issue’s introduction. Trump responded by calling the magazine “a failing publication that has lost it's [sic] way.” The Republican National Committee also weighed in, removing National Review as a partner in one of its upcoming primary debates in February. (National Review, CNN,Politico)
Polls
- According to a CNN/ORC poll released on Thursday, Bernie Sanders now leads Hillary Clinton in Iowa, 51 percent to 43 percent. If the sample were to only include Iowans who previously caucused in 2008, then Clinton holds a 17-point lead over Sanders. On the Republican side, Donald Trump registers 37 percent support, placing him ahead of Ted Cruz with 26 percent and Marco Rubio with 14 percent. Trump’s lead over Cruz narrows to two points if the sample is limited to previous caucus-goers. (CNN)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- In an interview on CNN on Thursday, Hillary Clinton said she did not understand Bernie Sanders’ suggestion that Planned Parenthood and the Human Rights Campaign supported her because they were “establishment” organizations. She said, “I just don't understand what that means. He's been in Congress, he's been elected to office a lot longer than I have. … He's been in the Congress for 25. And so I'll let your viewers make their own judgment.” (CNN)
- In an op-ed about democracy and voting accessibility posted to CNN’s website on Thursday, Clinton said that she would fight for a constitutional amendment to repeal Citizens United, if necessary. She added that she would restore and expand the Voting Rights Act. “All Americans should be automatically registered to vote on their 18th birthdays, unless they opt out. Every state should have at least 20 days of early in-person voting. And no one should ever have to wait more than 30 minutes to cast a ballot,” she wrote. (CNN)
- During a campaign event in Iowa on Thursday, Clinton emphasized the feasibility of her policy plans in comparison to Sanders’. She said, "I'll tell you, I'm not interested in ideas that sound good on paper but will never make it in the real world. I care about making a real difference in your life. And that gets us to the choice that you have to make in this caucus. Now, Senator Sanders and I share many of the same goals, but we have different records and different ideas about how to drive progress." (Politico)
- Politico reported on Thursday that Bill Clinton has become more involved in his wife’s bid for the presidency, expressing concern with the campaign’s strategy to focus on the four early voting states rather than the delegate-rich March primary states. (Politico)
Martin O’Malley
- Kevin Geiken, a Democratic strategist in Iowa, said on Thursday, “The most coveted person in Iowa politics is an undecided person or the O’Malley nonviable folks.” O’Malley, who is polling at 5 percent in the state, must reach 15 percent support at each caucus to be viable. Otherwise, his supporters will be wooed by other candidates. (The New York Times)
- While campaigning in New Hampshire on Thursday, O’Malley lamented the structure of the Democratic primary. “As a challenger campaign, we have been stretched thin in the most undemocratic of Democratic primaries, with the fewest debates and debates hidden on Saturdays,” he said. He added, “I think people are growing weary of the two front runners, and I think people are looking for an alternative, and so that is our shot.” (The New Hampshire Union Leader)
Bernie Sanders
- In “America,” a new ad released on Thursday for the Iowa and New Hampshire markets, Bernie Sanders features clips of Americans across the country attending Sanders’ campaign events as a Simon & Garfunkel song plays. David Brock, the founder of Media Matters, criticized the ad for predominantly featuring white supporters. He said, “From this ad it seems black lives don’t matter much to Bernie Sanders.” (Huffington Post ,The New York Time s)
- Sanders’ campaign released a statement on Thursday criticizing Hillary Clinton’s healthcare plan for being vague. “Her website promises she’ll ‘expand affordable coverage, slow the growth of overall health care costs and make it possible for providers to deliver the very best care to patients.’ How exactly? Does she have a plan to improve Medicare or Medicaid? Does she have a plan to provide insurance for 29 million Americans who still lack coverage and more who are underinsured? If she does have a plan to achieve universal health care, voters deserve to see it. If she does not have one, voters in Iowa and New Hampshire deserve to know that too,” spokesman Michael Briggs said. (Bernie Sanders for President)
Republicans
- During a press conference on Capitol Hill on Thursday, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) railed against the Republican frontrunners, saying, “Donald Trump I think is the most unprepared person I've ever met to be commander in chief. And when it comes to Sen. Cruz, he's exhibited behavior in his time in the Senate that make it impossible for me to believe that he could bring this country together.” When asked to choose between the two, Graham said, “It's like being shot or poisoned. What does it really matter?" (CNN)
Jeb Bush
- Politico and The New York Times published articles on Thursday reporting that Jeb Bush supporters have started to blame Mike Murphy, the super PAC Right to Rise’s chief strategist, for Bush’s poor performance in the Republican primary. Donors and insiders have questioned the wisdom of allowing John Kasich to “own the airwaves in New Hampshire” and the non-response to Donald Trump’s anti-establishment and “low energy” attacks on Bush. (Politico, The New York Times)
- In an ad released on Thursday by Bush’s campaign, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are presented as candidates who are “all talk” and no action on foreign policy. “Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio had a chance to stand for fighting against Assad and ISIS and both backed away because it wasn’t popular at the time. We need someone with a steady hand, with proven leadership skills and the ability to go to Congress to get an authorization to use military force to rid this from the face of the earth,” Bush says at the end of the clip. (NBC News)
- During a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Wednesday night, Bush endorsed the idea of a nuclear weapons-free world. He said, “I think there should be a goal of — an aspirational goal, a Reagan-esque goal if you will — of elimination of all nuclear weapons in the world. I think that is not a naive aspiration.” This is a deviation from the belief held by some Republicans, like former Vice President Dick Cheney, that denuclearization weakens the U.S. (Foreign Policy)
Ben Carson
- The Washington Examiner reported on Thursday that Black America’s Political Action Committee, a super PAC supporting Ben Carson, is attempting to raise funds to continue airing a radio ad in South Carolina that presents Carson as an alternative to Donald Trump. The super PAC’s president Alvin Williams wrote, "If Carson fails to win in South Carolina, then his campaign for president could die beneath the palmetto trees!" (The Washington Examiner)
- Barry Bennett, Carson’s former campaign manager, continued to publicly discuss why he believed Carson’s campaign has stalled on Wednesday. “He's also a 64-year-old African-American male, who culturally is what he is right? He's not comfortable with homosexuality, right? And there was nothing we could do to make him talk about it in a lexicon that is much more modern,” Bennett said during an event at the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service. (CNN)
Chris Christie
- Chris Christie defended his resistance to attacking other Republican candidates on Thursday in New Hampshire. “I had a half a dozen people come up to me and say to me that they’re really disgusted with all the ads up here and all the negativity from Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. And they said we’re really happy that you’re above the fray, you’re talking about yourself in your ads, you’re not talking about anyone else.” He added that he was going to “continue” to be a “positive choice” for voters. (The Hill)
- “I'll do what I need to do when I need to do it. Trust me on this: I have a plan,” Christie said on Thursday, when asked why he had not attacked Donald Trump. He said that anyone who attends a Trump event should ask him how he planned to accomplish his proposals. (USA Today)
- Christie said on Thursday that he would leave the campaign trail and return to New Jersey if the forecasted blizzard in the state made it necessary. “I gave everybody their assignments. I'll be back on the phone at 10 p.m. tonight. They know if they need me before then, they just call me and get me. We've got through this rodeo a bunch of times before, we know how to do it,” he said. (Action News)
Ted Cruz
- U.S. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) denied on Thursday that he told The Associated Press he would vote for Bernie Sanders over Ted Cruz. “@AP is trying to create discord where there isn't discord by telling lies,” Burr tweeted. Associated Press Vice President Paul Colford said that “we stand by our story.” (Talking Points Memo)
- In a new ad set to air in Iowa until the caucuses on February 1, Cruz criticized the Obama administration’s handling of the release of ten Navy soldiers last week. “If I’m elected president, no serviceman or servicewoman will be forced to be on their knees, and any nation that captures our fighting men and women will feel the full force and fury of the United States of America. I will have your back,” Cruz says in the ad. (The Dallas Morning News)
- Salon reported on Thursday that Cruz’s campaign has worked with the anti-abortion advocacy group Flint Right to Life to collect and distribute water bottles “expecting moms and moms of little ones” impacted by the city’s water crisis. (Salon)
- Cruz announced on Thursday that his health insurance had been canceled in Texas as a result of the Affordable Care Act. (CNN)
- CNN reported on Thursday that U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the most senior Republican in the Senate, said he believed the Republican Party would lose if Ted Cruz were its nominee. He said, “There's a lot of people who don't feel he can appeal to people across the board. For us to win, we have to appeal to the moderates and independents. We can't just act like that only one point of view is the only way to go. That's where Ted is going to have some trouble." Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier responded, "Of course D.C. establishment politicians are abandoning Marco Rubio and running to Trump, because they want a candidate who will cut deals to keep them in power." (CNN)
Carly Fiorina
- Carly Fiorina reportedly “ambushed” a field trip of Iowa elementary school students on Wednesday when she held an anti-abortion rally at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden and directed the children to join her on stage. “The problem, one parent said, was that the children’s parents had not given Fiorina permission to have their children sit with her – in front of a huge banner bearing the image of an unborn foetus – while she talked about harvesting organs from aborted babies,” The Guardian noted. (The Guardian)
- CARLY for America, a super PAC backing Fiorina, has spent $333,000 on an Iowa radio ad buy this week. After highlighting Fiorina’s personal accomplishments, the ad’s narrator says, “Now, Carly Fiorina is taking on the political class.” (ABC News)
Jim Gilmore
- During a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Thursday, Jim Gilmore discussed national security and health and gun rights. He also focused on improving healthcare for veterans, saying, “I'm committed that veterans get the same standard of care in the Veteran's Administration that you would get in the community. If they can't get it because of distance or lack of specialties, then they should be able to use the Choice program, which should be made more elaborate.” (The Conway Daily Sun)
Mike Huckabee
- When asked to comment on reports that Ted Cruz tithed less than 1 percent of his income, a lower figure than the evangelical standard of 10 percent, Mike Huckabee said on Wednesday, “I just think it’s hard to say God is first in your life if he’s last in your budget. If I can’t trust God with a dime out of each dollar that I earn, then I’m not sure how I can tell him that I trust him with my whole life… To me, it’s a validation of a person’s stewardship and whether they put God first in their life, not just in their political endeavors.” (BuzzFeed)
John Kasich
- Fergus Cullen, the chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, endorsed John Kasich on Thursday. Cullen, who had also considered Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, said he appreciated the “consistent tone” Kasich maintained throughout his campaign. (CNN)
- New Day for Americareleased an ad on Thursday attacking Jeb Bush for being going negative in his campaign. The ad’s narrator says, “Jeb Bush once stood tall. Before his campaign sank like a rock and he started desperately slinging mud on fellow Republicans. That’s not presidential, Jeb.” (Bloomberg)
- In an interview on Thursday, Kasich argued that a flat income tax in the teens was not feasible. He said, “I really believe that the personal tax cuts are going to be very hard to achieve early on. I've been involved in tax reform. I think it's harder than balancing the budget.” (Bloomberg)
Rand Paul
- Rand Paul introduced the “Life at Conception Act” on Thursday, which “would implement equal protection under the 14th Amendment for the right to life of each born and unborn human.” (U.S. Senator for Kentucky, Rand Paul)
- In an interview on Thursday, Paul said that although Ted Cruz had an “authenticity” problem, he worried more about Donald Trump. “I believe he wants more power to come to him and he’ll take care of us all if we just give him power. I’m part of a limited government tradition that says, you know, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I want to devolve power back to the states and the people. There’s a long-standing conservative/libertarian tradition of that, and I’m more than willing to hold that up against what Trump wants because I think what Trump wants is bad for America,” Paul said. (Breitbart)
Marco Rubio
- On Thursday, Marco Rubio criticized Jeb Bush for not joining the Republican fight against the Common Core. He told reporters, “On the issue of Common Core, while we were off and many conservatives around the country were fighting against the Obama agenda, Jeb was nowhere to be found. In fact, he spent most of his time traveling the country trying to push Common Core onto our local school districts and across the country. And in some instances even criticized the conservative movement on some of these things.” (The New York Times)
- At an Americans for Peace, Prosperity and Security forum in New Hampshire on Thursday, Rubio condemned the Obama administration’s handling of U.S.-Cuba relations. Rubio said, “Cuba oppresses its people so bad that today we have a migratory crisis from Cuba that's being under-reported. You literally have thousands of Cuban migrants who have gone to Costa Rica and are now working their way up Central America to cross the U.S. border because once they come into the United States, they're legal." He added, “That is the consequences [sic] of having a dictatorship 90 miles from our shores. They continue to send thousands and thousands and thousands of migrants toward the United States." (CNN)
Rick Santorum
- Rick Santorum criticized the Obama administration’s loosening of travel restrictions to Iran for certain categories of travelers, including businessmen. He said on Thursday, “How can a president of the United States who is charged with protecting this country loosen visa requirements from the area of the world where we know there are people who want to attack us?” (Newsmax)
Donald Trump
- Katie Packer, a campaign strategist who previously worked on former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.)’s 2012 presidential campaign, has launched a super PAC to damage Donald Trump’s campaign. Named Our Principles PAC, the organization is “focused on conservative principles and ensuring that voters have the necessary information to make a wise decision on Election Day.” (Politico)
Third Party Candidates
Jill Stein (Green Party)
- During a campaign stop in Oregon on Thursday, Jill Stein encouraged voters to bring their “moral compass” to politics and refuse to vote for “the lesser evil.” She continued, “The lesser evil, if you look at the track record, has been paving the way for the greater evil.” (Corvallis Gazette-Times)
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
