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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - January 6, 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
- Gary Johnson, a former two-term governor of New Mexico, hinted that he may announce his candidacy for president today. Yesterday he wrote, “Tune in tomorrow. I'll be on @FoxBusiness with @TeamCavuto, and may have some news to share re the #2016presidentialelections. #libertarian.” (Reason, Twitter)
- On Tuesday, Bernie Sanders released his Wall Street reform policy and criticized Hillary Clinton while doing so. He said, “The reality is fraud is the business model of Wall Street. It is not the exception to the rule. It is the rule.” He promised that a Sanders’ administration would hold Wall Street bankers accountable, saying, “Not only will big banks not be too big to fail, but big-time bankers will not be too big to jail.” (The New York Times)
- Sanders’ proposal includes: enforcing stricter regulations on banks; capping “automated teller machine fees at $2 a transaction;” limiting credit card interest rates; allowing post offices to “engage in basic banking services;” ordering “the Treasury Department to create a list of financial institutions that are dangerously large and break them up within his first year in office;” and overhauling “the Federal Reserve by eliminating the central bank’s ‘internal conflicts of interest’ and providing stricter oversight.”
- Sanders also criticized Hillary Clinton, saying, “My opponent says that as a senator, she told bankers to ‘cut it out’ and end their destructive behavior. But, in my view, establishment politicians are the ones who need to cut it out. The reality is that Congress doesn’t regulate Wall Street. Wall Street and their lobbyists regulate Congress. We must change that reality, and as president, I will.”
- Poll: According to a poll released by the Field Research Corporation on Tuesday, Ted Cruz leads the Republican field among likely Republican voters in the California Republican primary with 25 percent. Donald Trump is close behind with 23 percent. Marco Rubio and Ben Carson follow with 13 percent and 9 percent, respectively. (Field Research Corporation)
- Poll: According to a poll released by the Field Research Corporation on Wednesday, Hillary Clinton leads among likely Democratic voters in the California Democratic primary with 46 percent. Bernie Sanders follows with 35 percent. Martin O'Malley comes in at 1 percent. (Field Research Corporation)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- On Tuesday, NARAL Pro-Choice America endorsed Hillary Clinton. In a statement NARAL President Ilyse Hogue said, “Hillary has what it takes to fight Republican attacks on women's reproductive rights, and has the vision and experience to ensure women and families thrive. The stakes this election could not be higher: combating virulent anti-choice rhetoric from the GOP, the opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice in the next term who could preserve our rights and freedoms, and the ability to influence a myriad of state and federal laws that impose extreme ideology on Americans’ personal decisions about when and how to grow our families.” (Huffington Post)
- During an interview Clinton with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on Tuesday, Clinton said, “There needs to be a rival organization to the NRA of responsible gun owners who know that their hunting rights, their shooting rights, their collection rights … all of that is not going to be affected. So I’m going to keep beating the drum, and I’m delighted that the president announced the actions he did today.” (The Guardian)
- After President Obama announced his executive actions to prevent gun violence, Clinton tweeted: “Thank you, @POTUS, for taking a crucial step forward on gun violence. Our next president has to build on that progress—not rip it away. -H” (USA Today)
Martin O’Malley
- Martin O’Malley praised President Obama’s efforts to prevent gun violence on Tuesday, saying, “I strongly support President Obama’s executive actions to limit gun violence. These executive actions are critical, because every day we spend debating gun control is a day that we lose lives — and one American life is worth more than all the gun sales in America. One American life is worth more than all of the gun sales in America. … As President, I will build on President Obama’s progress by taking further executive actions to reform our gun laws.” (Politics USA)
Bernie Sanders
- On Tuesday, Bernie Sanders praised President Obama’s plan to prevent gun violence, saying "a vast majority of the American people, including responsible gun owners who are sickened by the deaths of so many innocent people, agree with the common sense reforms announced today." (USA Today)
- During an appearance on Comedy Central’s “Nightly Show” with Larry Wilmore, Sanders told the host why he thinks young people are drawn to his campaign. He said, “A lot of young people are asking themselves how it happens that in America today with all this new technology and productivity, how does it happen that everything being equal, if we don’t turn it around they’re going to have a lower standing of living than their parents?” Second answer is young people by definition are idealistic. They want us to lead the world, they want us to lead the world in combatting climate change. I am really deeply moved by this. They are disgusted by racism and some of the rhetoric in this country.” (BuzzFeed)
Republicans
Jeb Bush
- Speaking about President Obama's “call for enhanced background checks,” Jeb Bush said Obama’s plan to prevent gun violence "shows an utter disregard for the Second Amendment as well as the proper constitutional process for making laws in our nation." (USA Today)
- At the Addiction Policy Forum at Southern New Hampshire University on Tuesday, Jeb Bush discussed his daughter’s drug addiction. He said, “What I learned was that the pain that you feel when you have a loved one who has addiction challenges and kind of spirals out of control is something that is shared with a whole lot of people.” Bush also proposed the following drug control measures: “preventing drug abuse and addiction, strengthening the criminal justice system, securing the border with Mexico to stop the flow of illegal drugs, and improving treatment and recovery programs.” He said, “For dealers, they ought to be put away forever as far as I’m concerned. But users — I think we have to be a second-chance country.” (The New York Times)
Ben Carson
- Ben Carson took to Twitter on Tuesday to criticize President Obama’s executive actions on gun control. He wrote, “The President's actions have everything to do with advancing his political agenda & little to do with actually protecting American citizens.” (USA Today)
Chris Christie
- During a campaign event in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Chris Christie discussed the Black Lives Matter movement and the race riots in the 1960s when a voter asked: “How would a President Christie make sure that Black Lives Matter activists ‘stay peaceful’ and not begin the sort of riots that ‘destroyed cities’ in the 1960s?” Christie said that the “circumstances today are certainly different than in the 1960s” and noted that the riots were in response to “a completely racist enforcement of the law, especially in our southern states” and the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He continued, “Justice has to be more than a word, everybody, justice has to become a way of life in our country. The attorney general, law enforcement officers and elected officials across the country have to be reminded that the perception of justice is almost important as justice itself.” (The New York Times)
- Christie discussed campaign finance reform while campaigning in New Hampshire this week. He said, “I’m expected to run a nationwide campaign to 330 million Americans at $2,700 a person. If you think that’s a good system, then what you think is, that I should spend almost every minute of every day raising money.” He proposed allowing any person or entity to donate any amount of money as long as the donation is disclosed in 24 hours. He said, “If we do 24 hour disclosure, it will take all these stupid rules away. We have to stop pretending that we can somehow jury-rig this system to make it clean.” (Wall Street Journal)
- Christie told the Washington Post on Tuesday that he “couldn’t care less” about the negative ads a super PAC supporting Marco Rubio recently released. He said, “I just don’t think Marco Rubio’s going to be able to slime his way to the White House. He wants to put out a whole bunch of negative ads? Go ahead. I hope that he will acknowledge at some point that I couldn’t care less.” Christie then turned to Rubio’s record on immigration, saying, “The guy who advocated for amnesty and then ran away when the topic got too hot tells you two things: He’s not a reliable conservative, A, and, B, whenever it gets too hot, Marco turns tail and runs. I’m not the least bit concerned that Marco Rubio will hurt me with conservatives. Marco Rubio has work himself to do with conservatives.” (Washington Post)
Ted Cruz
- On Tuesday, Ted Cruz released the ad, “Invasion.” The ad focuses on Cruz’s immigration policy and uses his remarks from the November 10, 2015, debate. In the ad, Cruz says, “The politics of it [immigration] would be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were coming across the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation.” Cruz then proposes building a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico and instituting stronger border control measures. (Dallas News)
- On Tuesday, Cruz responded to Donald Trump’s questioning of his eligibility to run for president. Cruz, who was born in Canada and whose mother is an American citizen, posted a clip from the “jump the shark” episode of “Happy Days,” which, according to The New York Times, “has become a cultural reference for when something once popular has become overdone and gimmicky.” Cruz also said, “What the American people are interested in is not bickering and back and forth,” (The New York Times, Twitter)
Carly Fiorina
- Carly Fiorina shared the story of her stepdaughter’s struggle with drug addiction at the Addiction Policy Forum at Southern New Hampshire University on Tuesday. She said, “There’s an old saying. The eyes are the window to the soul. And as Lori grew progressively sicker, the sparkle, the potential, the possibilities that had once filled her life – disappeared from behind her eyes.” Fiorina called for treatment solutions to fight drug addiction rather than imprisonment. Speaking about her stepdaughter’s time in jail, she said, “I know that experience did not help because I saw her as she came out.” (ABC News)
- Ovide M. Lamontagne will serve as Fiorina’s state chairman for New Hampshire. Ovide said, "I am honored to support Carly and to help lead her campaign here in NH. In my opinion, Carly is the most conservative candidate who can win. She is a principled, passionate and positive conservative leader who can keep our nation secure and protected while jump-starting our economy and preserving our freedoms and liberties." (Sentinel Source)
Jim Gilmore
- After President Barack Obama discussed his executive actions to curb gun violence, Jim Gilmore said, "The president is suggesting he can rule by decree. That's not right. If the Congress doesn't act, that doesn't mean he has the right to act." (NECN.com)
Mike Huckabee
- In Iowa on Tuesday, a voter asked Mike Huckabee about his strategy to defeat ISIS. Huckabee said, “You recruit, you allocate more money to that budget, it isn’t going to be cheap. If you plan to fight a war, you need to be able to afford.” (KIMT.com)
- On his podcast, Huckabee said that, although the individuals occupying a building in Oregon to protest the federal government’s control of land in the western United States are “extremists,” the issue that they are highlighting is important. He said, “Now I know the media and left are going to try and paint everyone who opposes overbearing federal land management as violent, right-wing crazies, but it’s funny how they didn’t dismiss protesters who occupied Wall Street as left-wing crazies. But don’t let the feds off the hook that easily. The actions of a handful of extremists don’t negate a very serious issue. ... With the rise of big government and the growing political power of the radical environmental movement, we now have land management bureaucrats who know, and care nothing, about farmin’ or ranchin’, but who gladly put the echo cause of the month ahead of the rights of those who have lived and worked on these lands for generations. I want to be clear, there’s no right to break the law. There’s no right to trespass or occupy government property. I’m not defending that tactic at all. It’s unlawful and counterproductive. But western state residents do have the right to be angry at the way the federal government denies their basic rights.” (BuzzFeed)
- On Tuesday, Huckabee called President Obama’s gun control plan a "blatant, belligerent abuse of power." He said, "I will never bow down and surrender to Obama’s unconstitutional, radical, anti-gun agenda." (USA Today)
John Kasich
- On Tuesday, John Kasich commented on President Obama’s executive actions on gun control. He said, “You don’t just shove these things down their throat. All you’re doing is further poisoning the well. you have got to be able to get along with people who are the lawmakers and not just take it into your own hands, no matter how frustrated you get.” (Union Leader, Columbus Dispatch)
- On Monday, New Day for America, the super PAC supporting Kasich, sent mailers to voters in New Hampshire criticizing Chris Christie. The mailer highlights Christie’s economic record and reads: “How will Republicans defend his failed record? His budget isn’t balanced. His credit rating is dropping. His economy is failing. Chris Christie: Tough talk. Weak record.” (National Journal)
Rand Paul
- Speaking at the New England College New Hampshire Student Convention on Tuesday, Rand Paul discussed ending the war on drugs, criminal justice reform, his opposition to regime change and a no-fly zone in Syria and President Obama’s executive actions on gun control. (WMUR)
- On ending the war on drugs: Criticizing politicians like Jeb Bush who have admitted to using marijuana, Paul said, “It’s a matter of do as I say but not as I do. I think it’s time we end the war on drugs.”
- On criminal justice reform: “Criminal justice reform in general is something that should bring us together, both right and left. We shouldn’t have a system in which the wealthy are able to escape and the poor are caught up in a terrible situation. I’m not here to encourage (drug use). I’m just here to tell you we shouldn’t put people in jail for hurting themselves. And understand that there is a racial disparity in how we are putting people in jail for doing drugs.”
- On his strategy in the Middle East: “I think the facts actually argue very strongly in my favor, that when we’ve tried regime change, it hasn’t made us safer and it hasn’t made the world more stable. Each time that a strong man has been deposed in the Middle East, we’ve gotten chaos, the rise of radical Islam, and we’ve gotten less safe.”
- On Obama’s executive actions on gun control: “He needs to come to Capitol Hill and ask us to write a law. But he can’t declare law, otherwise he would be a king. I think what he’s done is going to be found unconstitutional.”
- On Tuesday, Paul’s campaign announced that Charlie Borders, a former state senator, will serve as the Northeastern Kentucky field representative. (Daily Independent)
Marco Rubio
- After President Obama discussed his executive actions to prevent gun violence, Marco Rubio told Fox News that his plan is "part of a broader narrative. And that is that this president is obsessed with undermining the Constitution in general, but the Second Amendment in particular." (USA Today)
- After reports surfaced that North Korea “claimed to have conducted the successful test of a hydrogen bomb” on Tuesday, Rubio criticized President Obama for his inaction. He said, "I have been warning throughout this campaign that North Korea is run by a lunatic who has been expanding his nuclear arsenal while President Obama has stood idly by. If this test is confirmed, it will be just the latest example of the failed Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Our enemies around the world are taking advantage of Obama's weakness. We need new leadership that will stand up to people like Kim Jong-un and ensure our country has the capabilities necessary to keep America safe." (Politico)
Rick Santorum
- On Tuesday, Rick Santorum explained why he released an ad criticizing Ted Cruz. He said that Cruz has "a pretty-strong record of not accomplishing things and being very divisive. I don't think we need more of that in Washington. What we need is someone who's a fighter, but someone who can bring people together and accomplish something to get this country going." He added that Cruz’s “filibuster of Obamacare was a failed strategy that elevated one person and threw everybody else under the bus. Here's what divisive leadership is that accomplishes nothing — and here's what real leadership is that can make us safe." (Newsmax)
- During an interview on SiriusXM radio’s “Breitbart News” program on Tuesday, Santorum discussed his strategy for dealing with the nuclear agreement with Iran. He said, “Number one is we have to take the down nuclear facilities within Iran. Day one, my inaugural address, I will refute the Obama agreement and I will say that the Iranians must open up their facilities. If they do not open them up and begin to dismantle them, each and every one, allow us access to all military facilities, and if they don’t, then we will take them out. We will take them out through an air and missile campaign. We do not need to put boots on the ground. Just like the Iraq and Syria, nuclear program, where the Israelis came in and took them out. They didn’t start a war in either of those cases. They stopped a war in both of those cases. And that’s what we will do here.” (BuzzFeed)
Donald Trump
- On Monday night, Donald Trump questioned whether Ted Cruz, who was born in Canada and whose mother is an American citizen, is eligible to run for president. Trump said, “Republicans are going to have to ask themselves the question: ‘Do we want a candidate who could be tied up in court for two years?’ That’d be a big problem. It’d be a very precarious one for Republicans because he’d be running and the courts may take a long time to make a decision. You don’t want to be running and have that kind of thing over your head. I’d hate to see something like that get in his way. But a lot of people are talking about it and I know that even some states are looking at it very strongly, the fact that he was born in Canada and he has had a double passport.” (Washington Post, NPR)
- On Tuesday, Trump called President Obama’s executive actions on gun control “no good” and “no fair.” He added, “They are not going to screw around with the Second Amendment. It is not going to happen. That is the way it is.” (Washington Times)
Third Party Candidates
Jill Stein (Green Party)
- In an interview with Mediapart.fr, Jill Stein criticized the Democratic and Republican parties and called the primary debates “a form of reality television in which candidates try to deceive, rather than inform, the public,” according to Green Party Watch. (GreenPartyWatch.org)
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
