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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - January 27, 2016
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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential Briefing was sponsored by the Leadership Project for America. | ||||
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Wednesday's Leading Stories
- On Tuesday, Trump announced that he will not attend the Fox News/ Google debate on Thursday night. He said, “Let’s see how much money Fox is going to make on the debate without me.” Fox News released the following statement commenting on Trump’s decision: “This is rooted in one thing – Megyn Kelly, whom he has viciously attacked since August and has now spent four days demanding be removed from the debate stage. Capitulating to politicians’ ultimatums about a debate moderator violates all journalistic standards, as do threats, including the one leveled by Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski toward Megyn Kelly. In a call on Saturday with a Fox News executive, Lewandowski stated that Megyn had a ‘rough couple of days after that last debate’ and he ‘would hate to have her go through that again.’ Lewandowski was warned not to level any more threats, but he continued to do so. We can’t give in to terrorizations toward any of our employees.” (The New York Times)
- Before Trump’s announcement, Roger Ailes, the chairman and chief executive of Fox News, said, “Megyn Kelly is an excellent journalist and the entire network stands behind her — she will absolutely be on the debate stage on Thursday night.” The network also released the following statement: “We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president — a nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings.” (The New York Times)
- Prior to his announcement, Trump tweeted that that Kelly had a “conflict of interest” and “should not be allowed to be the moderator of the next debate.” He also said in an interview, “I don’t like her [Kelly]. She doesn’t treat me fairly. I’m not a big fan of hers at all.” (The New York Times)
- On Tuesday, prior to Trump's announcement, Fox News published the lineup for the next GOP debate on Thursday. Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Ben Carson, Chris Christie and Rand Paul all qualified to appear on the main stage. According to Business Insider, “Candidates for the main stage needed to be in a top-five standing in an average of five recent state polls in Iowa or New Hampshire or within the top six in an average of five recent national polls.” Mike Huckabee, Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum and Jim Gilmore will appear in the undercard debate. (Business Insider)
- Former New York governor George Pataki, who dropped out of the 2016 race for president in December, endorsed Marco Rubio on Tuesday. Pataki said, "I fear if Donald Trump is our party's nominee, then Hillary Clinton will be President. Fortunately, Republicans who want to win have a conservative alternative in Marco Rubio - a person who will not only unite our party, but defeat Hillary Clinton in November." (NBC News)
Polls
- According to an ABC News/ Washington Post poll released on Tuesday, Donald Trump leads Ted Cruz 37 percent to 21 percent in the race for the GOP nomination. Rubio and Carson follow with 11 percent and 7 percent, respectively. (ABC News/ Washington Post)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton released the ad, “Children.” The ad features “four decades worth of footage to show her extended record on families and children in a new 60-second spot running in Iowa,” according to The New York Times. (The New York Times)
- During a campaign event in Iowa on Tuesday, a voter asked Clinton if she would consider appointing President Obama to the Supreme Court. She said, "Wow, what a great idea. No one has ever suggested that to me, I love that, wow. He may have a few other things to do but I tell you that's a great idea. I would certainly take that under advisement. I mean he’s brilliant, and he can set forth an argument, and he was a law professor, so he’s got all the credentials. Now we do have to get a Democratic Senate to get him confirmed so you’re going to have to help me on that, OK?" (ABC News)
Martin O'Malley
- On Tuesday, Martin O'Malley announced that he will visit 13 Iowa cities ahead of the Feb. 1 Iowa caucus. (The Des Moines Register)
Bernie Sanders
- Bernie Sanders will meet with President Obama in the Oval Office today. There is “no formal agenda” for the meeting, according to an Obama spokesperson. (The New York Times)
- On Tuesday, Sanders’ campaign manager Jeff Weaver said that Sanders does not plan to participate in the February 4 Democratic debate sponsored by MSNBC and the New Hampshire Union Leader because the Democratic National Committee has “said this will be an unsanctioned debate, so we would not want to jeopardize our ability to participate in future debates.” Weaver added that what is needed “is a rational, thought-out schedule of debates. Not just ad hoc debates scheduled whenever a network decides they want to have one. … We think there should be at least three or four more debates following the ones that are currently scheduled. Senator Sanders has wanted more debates from the beginning of this campaign, and we are happy to see that it looks like we are likely to get them. … We want a schedule of debates. This ad hoc adding a debate when somebody wants it is not a good way to run things.” He also said that Sanders would attend if the DNC sanctions the debate. (The New York Times)
- Aidan King, the digital organizer for Sanders’ campaign, helped the “Grassroots for Sanders” group raise over $1 million for Sanders. The group has “over 150,000 subscribers” and “is a subsection of the online discussion site Reddit, which allows users to organize around topics.” According to the Burlington Free Press, “Over $50,000 of the million came in during the 48-hour period surrounding Sanders' appearance on CNN's Democratic town hall forum, which aired Monday night. It took the board six months to raise its first half-million, but only about a month to raise the second.” (Burlington Free Press)
Republicans
Jeb Bush
- On Tuesday, when Jeb Bush was asked by reporters if he thinks that Donald Trump is a Christian, Bush replied, “No, I don’t know what he is. I don’t think he has the kind of relationship he says he has if he can’t explain it any way that shows he is serious about it.” Bush also commented on Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr.’s endorsement of Trump. Bush said, “For a guy who has stated he has never sought forgiveness, it’s hard to imagine how someone who is a strong believer would embrace that idea. There may be other reasons that Mr Falwell is supporting him.” (ABC News)
- Right to Rise, the super PAC supporting Bush, began “airing an ad in South Carolina that features a photo of Terri Schiavo, the Pinellas County woman, who died 10 years ago despite Bush's efforts to halt the removal of her feeding tube,” according to the Tampa Bay Times. The narrator in the ad says, "He's a man of deep faith who fought time and again for the right to life." Terri Schiavo’s husband, Michael Schiavo commented on the ad saying, "It is simply disgusting that Jeb Bush and his super Pac would exploit my wife’s tragedy for his crude political gain. Shame on Jeb Bush.” (Tampa Bay Times)
- On Tuesday, Bush released the ad “Jobs.” In the ad, Bush says, “If we build the best possible business climate, no one can compete with the United States. My plan will create 19 million new jobs. The American Dream will be possible for millions who have forgotten what it looks like.” (FloridaPolitics.com)
Ben Carson
- On Tuesday evening, Ben Carson said that “he’s ‘not concerned’ about whether moderators Megyn Kelly, Bret Baier, and Chris Wallace will be fair” during Thursday night’s Republican debate. Carson said, “I remember this same group of moderators asking me some pretty tough questions too, and that’s okay—as long as we’re going to actually talk about the issues and not about personalities, I’m going to be very happy.” Carson added that he “would not be surprised if he [Trump] ends up in the debate. It wouldn’t surprise me at all.” (Breitbart)
Chris Christie
- On Tuesday, Chris Christie announced a plan to keep Atlantic City from filing for bankruptcy. According to The New York Times, “The agreement falls short of an outright takeover by the state of the city’s government, but it would leave state officials to make all of the important decisions about how to reduce its crushing debt of $240 million and slash the size and cost of its civil services.” Christie commented on the plan saying, “The urgency of the city’s current financial predicament cannot be understated.” (The New York Times)
Ted Cruz
- Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, endorsed Ted Cruz on Tuesday. During an interview on Fox News, Perkins said, "I believe the one who is best positioned, best prepared to lead this nation forward, pulling it out of the tailspin that this president has put us in, I believe is Ted Cruz." (The Huffington Post)
- On Tuesday, Cruz challenged Donald Trump to a 90-minute one-on-one debate. He said, “Lincoln-Douglas, Mano a Mano, Donald and Me.” Commenting on Trump’s decision not to attend Thursday night’s debate, Cruz said, “If someone didn’t show up at the interview, you know what they’d say? ‘You’re fired,’ ” He added, “You know, Donald is a fragile soul. You know, if she [Megyn Kelly] asks him mean questions, I mean, his hair might stand up.” (The New York Times)
Carly Fiorina
- On Tuesday, Carly Fiorina criticized Hillary Clinton, saying, “it is ‘open season on America’ for terrorist organizations when top leaders lie about the threats,” according to Breitbart. Referring to the moment in a Benghazi hearing when Clinton replied to a question about her actions before four Americans were killed in the 2012 terrorist attacks in Libya by saying, “What difference does it make?,” Fiorina said, “This is what difference it makes. When our embassy is purposefully attacked by terrorists and four Americans including our ambassador are killed and the next day you stand up and lie about it to the American people instead of saying, ‘The United States of America has been attacked by terrorists and we will seek retribution,’ Mrs. Clinton, you say to every adversary and every terrorist organization in the world, ‘[it’s] open season on America.’ That is what difference it makes Mrs. Clinton – that is what difference it makes.” (Breitbart)
Mike Huckabee
- On Tuesday, Mike Huckabee “warned that the Iowa caucuses faced an uncertain future if a candidate backed by corporate interests won,” according to the Des Moines Register. Huckabee said, “If they can basically buy the election, the Iowa caucuses will never, ever be what they have been. It will never be in the future that candidates will again come and do the full Grassley and go to all 99 counties. They’ll just raise a bunch of money in New York, California, Texas and Florida — where all the political money tends to be. They’ll buy up all the (advertising). You’ll never meet the candidates. … Elect a candidate who is funded by the donor class interest from New York, when you do that, you can probably kiss the caucuses good-bye.” (Des Moines Register)
John Kasich
- American Future Fund, a “conservative dark money group,” will begin airing ads opposing John Kasich in New Hampshire. According to the Huffington Post, the group “made a $549,000 buy with local station WMUR 9 in New Hampshire” that will run until Feb. 14. “The 30-second television spot will attack the GOP governor as a ‘supporter of Common Core,’ Obamacare, Medicaid expansion, and raising taxes.” (Huffington Post)
Rand Paul
- On Tuesday, Jim Gray, the Democratic mayor of Lexington, announced that he will run for Rand Paul’s Senate seat. Gray said, "Sen. Paul confuses talking with results. He offers ideas that will weaken our country at home and aboard [sic]. And he puts his own ambitions ahead of Kentucky." Paul commented on Gray’s campaign, saying, "It's hard for a Democrat to run in Kentucky. The last Democratic candidate wouldn't even admit who she voted for. He'll have to admit who he voted for, whether he supports Obamacare, whether he supports the war on coal." (The Washington Post)
Marco Rubio
- On Tuesday, Marco Rubio released the ad, “Listening.” In the ad, Rubio says, “Washington is broken and both parties are to blame. But it will never get better if we keep sending people to Washington who will say or do anything to get elected.” (Time)
- During interview with CBS News' Major Garrett, Rubio, a first-term senator, attempted “to tamp down fears about his inexperience.” Rubio said, "The problem is Barack Obama is not a bad president because he was a one-term senator. He has seven years of presidential experience. He's as bad today as he was on day one. In fact, he's worse. … It's clear that it wasn't experience that was his problem. It was his ideology and his ideas that has set America back. We're going to reverse all of that." (CBS News)
Rick Santorum
- During an interview on Tuesday, KCRG-TV 9 anchor Chris Earl asked Rick Santorum why he has been focusing on issues that matter to “middle-income Americans” with “technical skills.” Santorum said, “I believe it’s the only way for Republicans to really ascend and win the Presidency. We are not talking to the vast majority of Americans that feels like neither political party cares about them. I always talk about the 74% of Americans age 25 or older who do not have a college degree. The reality is that a lot of Americans don’t feel like either party is talking about ‘how am I going to get those Americans not a college degree but what about people who are not going to have a college degree and want to have a good-paying job?’. We don’t have anybody talking about the key. I believe the key to doing that is bringing back the manufacturing base here and I believe we have an opportunity here now that China is in a downturn to take advantage of that. Good tax policy, good regulatory policy and a president who would lead and make that a priority and drive people to go into technical schools and vocational training in their high schools and stop talking down to people who work with their hands and in a factory. Those are good-paying jobs we want people to have and they’re not the past. They can also be the future.” (KCRG.com)
- Santorum was also asked about why he discusses immigration from an economic perspective. Santorum explained, “It goes back to the American workers, going back to the folks who are struggling. If you look at the folks who are coming into this country, both legally and illegally, most of them are wage earners and most of them are having the effect of suppressing wages in America. We brought 35 million people into this country, legally and illegally, over the last twenty years and, in that same time, wages have grown at the lowest rate at any time in American history. The reality is that bringing all of those workers into this country, or bringing them in illegally, is having an effect on working men and women and no one is out there fighting for them. No one is saying ‘we need to look at immigration’, not from the standpoint of people who broke the law, what are we going to do to take care of them but the impact on American workers and how we can stem the tide of immigration to improve wages and opportunities for people in this country.” (KCRG.com)
Donald Trump
- On Tuesday, Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr., endorsed Donald Trump. In a statement, Falwell said that Trump is “a successful executive and entrepreneur, a wonderful father and a man who I believe can lead our country to greatness again.” (The Washington Post)
- On Tuesday, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio endorsed Trump. In a statement Arpaio said, “Donald Trump is a leader. He produces results and is ready to get tough in order to protect American jobs and families. I have fought on the front lines to prevent illegal immigration. I know Donald Trump will stand with me and countless Americans to secure our border.” (Time)
- Trump posted a series of tweets criticizing Bob Vander Plaats, “an influential evangelical figure in Iowa who endorsed Mr. Cruz,” according to The New York Times. Trump tweeted: “@bobvanderplaats begged me to do an event while asking organizers for $100,000 for himself—a bad guy! ... Why doesn't phony @bobvanderplaats tell his followers all the times he asked for him and his family to stay at my hotels-didn't like paying.”
- Vander Plaats responded to the tweets saying that they showed “who Donald Trump really is.” He added that Trump offered to let his family stay in one of his hotels for free. Vander Plaats explained, “The problem is that Donald Trump expects that if he has a friendship with you and he does anything nice for you, he controls you.” (The New York 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
