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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - January 5, 2016
From Ballotpedia
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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential Briefing was sponsored by the Leadership Project for America. | ||||
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Tuesday's Leading Stories
- Bernie Sanders is set to announce his Wall Street reform policy during a speech in New York City on Tuesday. In his prepared remarks for the event, Sanders said, “To those on Wall Street who may be listening today, let me be very clear. Greed is not good. Wall Street and corporate greed is destroying the fabric of our nation. And, here is a New Year’s Resolution that we will keep: If you do not end your greed we will end it for you.” According to The Wall Street Journal, although it was not clear what new proposals Sanders might offer, he was expected to focus on the Glass-Steagall Act as a vehicle to “crack down on the shadow banking system.” (The Wall Street Journal)
- Ben Carson released his new tax plan on Monday, which centers on the institution of a 14.9 percent flat tax. Individuals and families living 150 percent below the federal poverty level, however, would be required to pay a smaller amount. Carson’s plan would also eliminate deductions for mortgage interest, charitable giving and local taxes. (The New York Times)
- Donald Trump released his first TV ad on Monday, which focuses on the threat of ISIS and illegal immigration. As the ad’s narrator says that Trump will build a wall across the U.S.-Mexico border, footage of dozens of Moroccans crossing a border into Spanish territory is shown. Trump’s campaign defended the potentially misleading scene, saying, “The use of this footage was intentional and selected to demonstrate the severe impact of an open border and the very real threat Americans face if we do not immediately build a wall and stop illegal immigration. The biased main stream media doesn’t understand, but Americans who want to protect their jobs and their families do." (The New York Times, The Hill)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- Former President Bill Clinton delivered his first speech on the campaign trail as a surrogate for his wife, Hillary Clinton, on Monday. Speaking to supporters in New Hampshire, Clinton said, “I do not believe in my lifetime anybody has run for this job at a moment of great importance who was better qualified by knowledge, experience and temperament to do what needs to be done now to restore prosperity, to deal with these human issues, to make us as safe as possible." Despite Donald Trump’s criticism of Bill Clinton over the weekend, Clinton declined to directly comment on him or his attacks. When asked about Trump, Clinton said, “The Republicans have to decide who they want to nominate. I think there's always attempts to take the election away from the people." (CBS News)
- Hillary Clinton also refused to discuss Donald Trump at a campaign event on Monday. She said, “I've adopted a New Year's resolution. I'll let him live in his alternative reality. I'm not going to respond." (CNN)
- According to CNN, Clinton has begun to cast Bernie Sanders as unelectable in her stump speeches. She said in Iowa on Monday, “I am absolutely determined that we're going to make sure we have a Democrat to succeed President Obama so we don't let the Republicans rip away the progress we have made together.” She warned that since a Republican president would “reverse all of President Obama's executive orders,” it “really matters who is sitting in the Oval Office." (CNN)
- Clinton announced on Tuesday a plan on Tuesday to expand autism insurance and access to early screening. She would also seek to establish the Autism Works Initiative to increase the number of employed people with autism and to launch “the first-ever adult autism prevalence study.” (Hillary Clinton for President, AL.com)
Martin O’Malley
- Martin O’Malley tweeted on Monday that he supported President Obama’s executive action on gun control given Republicans’ “refusal to act.” (Twitter)
- O’Malley has begun a thirty-day tour of Iowa called the “New Leadership Tour.” In addition to appearing at campaign events, he has phone-banked and canvassed in the state. (NBC News)
Bernie Sanders
- During a campaign event with seniors in New Hampshire on Monday, Bernie Sanders said he was not running for the presidency on a whim. “When you grow up in a three-and-a-half-room, rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn, that's kind of not the message that you get,” he said. He added on policy that the country was at a “critical” time, and “when so many seniors are struggling to keep their heads above water economically, we have to expand Social Security benefits, not cut them.” (WMUR Manchester)
- Sanders campaigned at the New Hampshire Primary Student Convention on Monday where he urged attendees to get out and vote. “One of the crises that we are facing as a nation is a huge number of people, including many young people, are giving up on the political process. Regardless of your point of view, I want you to get involved in the political process. I want you to get your friends involved in the political process,” he said. (The New Hampshire Union Leader)
Republicans
Jeb Bush
- Jeb Bush has released a new ad presenting his ISIS strategy that will begin airing in New Hampshire on Tuesday. The ad, which was posted online three weeks ago, features clips of terrorists wielding weapons as Bush says, “The last seven years under President Obama have taught us that problems do not take care of themselves in the absence of American leadership. The United States should not delay in leading a global coalition to take out ISIS with overwhelming force. We are at war with radical Islamic terrorism.” (TIME)
- In an article published by The Washington Post on Sunday, former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) said he had questioned Bush’s chances of succeeding in the general election, when he was considering a run for the presidency in early January 2015. “I like Jeb a lot, I think he’d be a great president, but felt he was unfairly but severely burdened by the W. years — and when I say the W. years, it’s not only what happened to the economy, but the tragedy in Iraq. A Bush-versus-Clinton head-to-head would be too easy for the Democrats,” Romney said. (The Washington Post)
- After BuzzFeed reported that Bush had been incorrectly stating at campaign events that he received an annual award from the National Rifle Association in 2003, including an honorary rifle by actor Charlton Heston, a campaign spokesman said, “In recounting the story, Jeb was mistaken and conflated multiple events unintentionally. Heston met with Jeb at that NRA convention and was the head of the NRA at the time, but it was Kayne Robinson who presented Jeb with the rifle for being keynote speaker. Heston had previously said he supported Jeb’s reelection at a 2002 campaign event. Jeb was lauded by the NRA on multiple occasions … Jeb has a lifetime A+ rating from the NRA.” (BuzzFeed)
- Bush, who is set to appear at a drug addiction and prevention forum in New Hampshire on Tuesday, announced on Monday he would seek to limit “pill mills” offering excessive prescriptions for pain medication and increase access to drug courts. Bush also called for increasing penalties against drug traffickers and violent drug offenders, increasing security along the U.S.-Mexico border and ending duplication of treatment programs across federal agencies. (The Washington Post)
Ben Carson
- Retired Major Gen. Robert Dees, Ben Carson’s new campaign chairman, said on Monday that the U.S. must reconsider “experiments” in the military with women in combat and openly LGBT servicemembers. “There are just certain realities where men can do certain things better, women can do certain things better. We don't need to throw everybody into every position as an experiment just because we're trying to be appear to be fair to everyone,” Dees said. He also recommended that military experts’ positions on LGBT serving openly be considered, with “cohesion” being the focus of any such input. (CNN)
- When asked if he agreed with Dees’ position, Carson said, “One of the things that I learned in a long medical career is that you make decisions based on evidence, and not on ideology. So yes, I would be willing to sit down with people from both sides and examine the evidence and make decisions based on what the evidence shows.” (CNN)
- Carson wrote an op-ed on Sunday for The Washington Times decrying the national debt as the most significant security threat facing the U.S. Carson wrote, “In the past, the debt ceiling drama in Washington has been a game, with the president demanding a hike in the debt ceiling and Congress demanding future spending cuts in return. Things will be different under a Carson administration. There will be no more business as usual in Washington. I will make clear that I will not raise the debt limit unless Congress commits to a viable legislative program with defined action items for budget reform that puts this country on a path of long-term fiscal discipline.” (The Washington Times)
Chris Christie
- Chris Christie said on Monday that Republicans have “a profound, moral duty to work together” to prevent Hillary Clinton from becoming president. “I understand that a certain amount of bluffs and threats are thrown around in any hotly contested election, but do not be fooled; any significant division within the Republican Party leads to the same awful result. Hillary Clinton taking the oath of office in January 2017,” he said. (Politico)
- Christie took several veiled shots at his Republican rivals during a campaign event at a college in New Hampshire on Monday. “These are among the most dangerous and perilous times in our country’s recent history. These times and these challenges demand a grown up to be our candidate. They demand someone who has been fighting today’s battles in the arena, not someone who’s been sidelined for years [Jeb Bush]; not running away from the battles when they get too hot [Ted Cruz] or when they get too discouraged. Showtime is over, everybody. We are not electing an entertainer-in-chief. Showmanship is fun but it is not the kind of leadership that will truly change America. [Donald Trump],” Christie said, with the likely target of his comments in brackets, according to Washington Post writer Jennifer Rubin. (The Washington Post)
- Former President of the New Hampshire Senate Peter Bragdon (R) endorsed Christie on Monday. “Governor Christie demonstrated his strong leadership abilities when he worked with leaders of both parties in his state to achieve historic public employee pension reform and close a $13 billion budget deficit left by his predecessor,” Bragdon said. (The New Hampshire Union Leader)
Ted Cruz
- While campaigning in Iowa on Monday, Ted Cruz said that he hoped the armed occupation of a federal building in Oregon would end “peaceably.” Cruz said, “Every one of us has a constitutional right to protest, to speak our minds, but we don’t have a constitutional right to use force of violence or threaten force of violence on others.” (The Huffington Post)
- Alice Stewart, who recently left her post as the communications director for Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign, has joined Cruz’s campaign as a national spokeswoman and senior adviser. (Politico)
- In an ad released on Monday by Keep the Promise I PAC, a super PAC supporting Cruz, Marco Rubio is presented as a politician who does not offer serious leadership. It features a clip of Rubio on the phone prior to a debate, saying, “Yeah, I know I have a debate, but I gotta get this fantasy football thing right.” (The Wall Street Journal)
Carly Fiorina
- Carly Fiorina answered a series of 12 questions from The Christian Post on Monday, including what Americans opposed to same-sex marriage should do following Obergefell v. Hodges and the importance of Fiorina’s faith to her politics. “I have been tested. My faith has been tested. I have battled breast cancer. I have buried a child. Through it all, the love of my family and my personal relationship with Jesus Christ has seen me through. And on this journey my family and my faith will see me through as well. I will not falter, and I will not shrink from this fight,” Fiorina said. (The Christian Post)
- Fiorina called Donald Trump “the Kim Kardashian of politics” in an interview on FOX News on Tuesday. She explained that they were both “famous for being famous, and the media plays along.” (Politico)
Jim Gilmore
- Jim Gilmore will participate in the First-in-the-Nation Presidential Town Hall in New Hampshire later this month, along with six other Republican candidates already confirmed for the event. (WMUR Manchester)
Mike Huckabee
- Following reports that President Obama will issue executive orders to create stricter gun regulations, Mike Huckabee said on Monday that Congress needs to “[g]row a spine” instead of passively resisting his policies. He added, “The common denominator with the mass shootings are gun-free zones and, in some cases, terrorism and mental health issues. It’s not that people who are law-abiding citizens have access to guns.” (The Des Moines Register)
- Huckabee said on Sunday that this election cycle has been “one of the most bewildering” that he has participated in. "It’s almost as if the more experience, the more preparation one has had for this job, it’s almost like it’s a detriment than it is an asset. ... If somebody comes and tells you, ‘vote for me because I’m a fighter,' I just want to ask you something: if you fight but never win, what’s the point?" Huckabee said, tacitly criticizing Ted Cruz. (The Washington Post)
John Kasich
- When asked to comment on the occupation of a federal government building in Oregon, John Kasich said on Monday that he was not familiar with the situation. “Kasich's profession of no knowledge about the situation was unexpected because presidential candidates who visit Iowa are routinely quizzed at length about current events and policy issues while on the campaign trail,” William Petroski of The Des Moines Register noted. (USA Today)
- Kasich will be campaigning across New Hampshire this week, including the Addiction Policy Forum hosted by Southern New Hampshire University on Tuesday. (Concord Patch)
Rand Paul
- Rand Paul’s campaign has launched a new initiative to get 10,000 students from Iowa to participate in the caucuses there. Cliff Maloney, Paul’s national youth coordinator, said on Monday, “For the first time in years, the Iowa Caucus is scheduled to take place while college is in session. This means that for the first time in years, the youth vote matters, and this is not something they take lightly. The mainstream media and the political consultant class typically undermines the youth vote.” The campaign also released an ad featuring student activists promoting Paul. (The Blaze)
- In response to the occupation of a federal refuge in Oregon, Paul said on Monday, “I’m sympathetic to the idea that the large collection of federal lands ought to be turned back to the states and the people, but I think the best way to bring about change is through politics. That's why I entered the electoral arena. I don’t support any violence or suggestion of violence toward changing policy." (The Washington Post)
- Paul wrote an op-ed in The New Hampshire Union Leader on Tuesday on the balance between national security interests and personal liberty. “Sweeping bulk data collection simply doesn’t work. Spying on Americans failed to stop the underwear bomber or the Boston Marathon attack. In both circumstances, the FBI and other officials received tips of suspicious activity, but with billions of innocent Americans’ phone calls to worry about, they did not have the time or the resources to sift through the data that was actually important, and real threats went undetected. … Let’s spy on more terrorists and not on innocent Americans. I reject the premise that our Constitution does not work as it is written and that we must choose between having the Bill of Rights and national security,” he wrote. (The New Hampshire Union Leader)
Marco Rubio
- While speaking at the American Legion in New Hampshire on Monday, Marco Rubio criticized his “isolationist” rivals for endangering the U.S. He said, “On the other side of this election is the party of Reagan, the party of strong national defense and moral clarity, yet we have Republican candidates who propose that rulers like Assad and Putin should be partners of the United States, and who have voted with Barack Obama and Harry Reid rather than with our men and women in uniform. We have isolationist candidates who are apparently more passionate about weakening our military and intelligence capabilities than about destroying our enemies. They talk tough, yet they would strip us of the ability to keep our people safe." (USA Today)
- The editorial board of The Chicago Tribune published an op-ed on Monday condemning Rubio for blocking a floor vote to confirm Roberta Jackson as ambassador to Mexico. “You find out if she has the trust of Congress by putting the nomination to a confirmation vote. The use of Senate power to prevent that vote just affirms the sense that Rubio's first priority is perpetuating gridlock. This is a petulant and consequential act by Rubio,” the board wrote. (The Chicago Tribune)
- Conservative Solutions PAC, which backs Rubio, released two videos on Monday accusing Chris Christie of being scandalous and not aligned with Republican values. They are expected to air in New Hampshire beginning Tuesday. (Philly.com)
Rick Santorum
- On Monday, Rick Santorum released an ad called “Fairy Tales,” which suggests Ted Cruz is not a “serious” enough presidential candidate to defeat ISIS. “You want someone to read one hell of a bedtime story? Ted Cruz is your guy. If you want to protect America and defeat ISIS, Rick Santorum’s your president. Because serious times needs serious people.” (Politico)
Donald Trump
- Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly said in an interview in Vanity Fair this month that Donald Trump tried to gain her favor prior to announcing his presidential run. She said that “he would send me press clippings about me that he would just sign ‘Donald Trump.’ And he called from time to time to compliment a segment. I didn’t know why he was doing that. And then when he announced that he was running for president, it became more clear. But I can’t be wooed. I was never going to love him, and I was never going to hate him.” (Vanity Fair)
- In an interview on CNN on Monday, Trump said of President Obama’s use of executive authority to expand background checks on gun buyers, “Pretty soon you won't be able to get guns. It's another step in the way of not getting guns.” (CNN)
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
