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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - January 7, 2016
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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential Briefing was sponsored by the Leadership Project for America. | ||||
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Thursday's Leading Stories
- Gary Johnson announced on Wednesday that he would seek the Libertarian nomination for the presidency in an interview with Neil Cavuto on Fox Business News. Johnson said, "I do believe that crony capitalism is alive and well. It’s Democrats and Republicans that contribute to that. I’d like to be that choice that is not going to succumb to that.” (Politico)
- The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Hank Greenberg, the former CEO of American International Group, has donated $10 million to Right to Rise, a super PAC supporting Jeb Bush. Austin Barbour, a senior adviser to Bush’s campaign, called the substantial donation “a really big deal, great news.” Because of election laws barring coordination between campaigns and super PACs, Barbour said he had not been aware of Greenberg’s contribution. (The Wall Street Journal)
- Poll: In a new survey of New Hampshire voters released on Wednesday by Public Policy Polling, Donald Trump leads the Republican field by 14 points at 29 percent. Marco Rubio comes in second with 15 percent. John Kasich and Chris Christie are tied for third with 11 percent. Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz follow closely with 10 percent. (Public Policy Polling)
- Poll: On the Democratic side of the new Public Policy Polling survey, Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire 47 percent to 44 percent. Martin O’Malley is a distant third with 3 percent support. (Public Policy Polling)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- On Wednesday, Hillary Clinton announced a fundraising goal of $50 million for the first quarter of 2016. (CNN)
- Clinton wrote an op-ed in The Jewish Journal on Wednesday to promote the importance of stronger U.S.-Israel relations. She stated that “the United States and Israel need to work together to address three converging trends: the rise of ISIS and the struggle against radical jihadism, Iran’s increasingly aggressive regional ambitions, and the growing effort around the world to isolate and delegitimize Israel.” She also advocated for the end of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. (The Jewish Journal)
- Fast Company profiled the Clinton campaign’s approach to developing a diverse and talented staff. The process began by hiring Nathaniel Koloc of ReWork as the director of talent acquisition and development, filling a position that does not exist in many campaigns. (Fast Company)
- Clinton said the U.S. and its allies should impose additional sanctions against North Korea if it is proven true that North Korea successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. (CBS News)
Martin O’Malley
- Martin O’Malley failed to meet Ohio’s deadline on Monday to qualify for the state’s ballot as a write-in candidate. (Ohio.com)
- On Wednesday, O’Malley’s caucus director Joseph O’Hern accused the media of blocking O’Malley out of contention. He said, “The national media has a very strong desire to see a two-way race on the Dem side. The Iowa press – they get it. They know what’s going on. That newbie at CNN doesn’t.” (Salon)
- During his speech at the “Battle Born Battleground” caucus dinner on Wednesday, O’Malley criticized Ted Cruz, saying, "I'd like to say that Donald Trump is the most outrageous and unqualified person ever to run for president. But really, that's not fair to Ted Cruz.” He continued, “Cruz actually says that the answer to gun violence is more guns. Senator, the answer to cancer is not more cancer, the answer to poverty is not more poverty, and the answer to gun violence isn't more guns." (NBC News)
Bernie Sanders
- In response to North Korea’s claim that it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb earlier this week, Bernie Sanders said the U.S. “is going to have to lean on China.” He continued, “China is North Korea's closest ally and they're going to have to push North Korea to start adhering to international agreements.” (CBS News)
Republicans
- All Republican candidates except for Jim Gilmore have made Oregon’s preliminary list of primary candidates, according to a press release on Wednesday from the Oregon Secretary of State. Secretary Jeanne Atkins said she included any candidate with at least 1 percent support. (Statesman Journal)
- Jeff Kaufmann, the chair of the Republican Party in Iowa, answered several questions about the caucus process on Wednesday, including whether military members abroad would be able to participate in how caucus volunteers were trained. (WHO)
Jeb Bush
- Discussing North Korea’s allegedly successful hydrogen bomb test on Wednesday, Jeb Bush said, “If they have long-range missile capability to deliver, that is a direct threat to the U.S. and there is nothing more to say about it.” He cautioned, however, that “we need to make sure it's been confirmed. You wake up in the morning, you see the news...it's not always necessarily turns out to be.” (CBS News)
- Bush also commented on Saudi Arabia’s mass execution of 47 prisoners over the weekend, saying, “A strong relationship with Saudi Arabia would allow us to say you shouldn't be executing people for the types of crimes they committed.” (CBS News)
- On Wednesday, Bush appeared to fully embrace his moniker of the “joyful tortoise” when he handed a turtle figurine to a child at a campaign event and said, “Slow and steady wins the race.” Bush explained to reporters after, “I give them out to kids. Slow, steady progress -- that's what that means. I have a bunch of turtles. I got the little baby Jesus, I got my rosary beads and I got three turtles.” (CNN)
- Bush defended his record in Florida when compared to Chris Christie’s record in New Jersey on Wednesday night. "I’ve got a proven conservative record of reform and we need to reform Washington. If past is prologue, why wouldn’t you go with the guy who did the big things? It wasn’t simple to take on the teacher’s union and beat ‘em. To create the first and second and third statewide voucher programs in the country or eliminate affirmative action and replace it with a more successful model or cut taxes every year and go from double-A to triple-A bond rating,” he said. (The Washington Post)
Ben Carson
- A Doctor in the House: My Life with Ben Carson, a memoir by Candy Carson, is out this week. In an interview promoting the book on Wednesday, she accused the media of criticizing her husband and others with “untruths, without checking to make sure it's untrue." She continued, “It's hurtful, but then again, we understand that while the media is the one business that's protected by our Constitution, some of the media is unethical. So it's something that you kind of come to expect now. So he says listen to what I say, not what they say I say." (CNN)
- In its analysis of Carson’s tax plan, the Tax Foundation found on Wednesday that tax revenues would be reduced by $2.5 trillion once the country’s increased GDP and number of full-time jobs, expected to rise as a result of the plan, were factored in. (Forbes, The Tax Foundation)
Chris Christie
- Chris Christie said on Wednesday that Jeb Bush’s experience as governor of Florida was easy because of the state’s Republican-controlled legislature and strong economy. He said, "Jeb had a Republican legislature his entire time in Florida. He had a free ride. And he had a free ride during some of the greatest economic times this country has ever seen in the late 90’s and early 2000s. But he wouldn’t know the first thing to do if he was in New Jersey for a week and dealt with a Democratic legislature, hostile interest groups, huge unions – he didn’t have to deal with any of that in Florida.” He also said that Bush was not “prepared for the White House.” (Politico)
- On Wednesday morning, Christie attributed North Korea’s alleged hydrogen bomb test to “weak American leadership” from the Obama administration. He said, “The problem here is that it's been a weak response by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the last seven years. You know, three out of the four nuclear detonations that the North Koreans have done have happened on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's watch, and they have just not acted strongly at all around the world.” (Asbury Park Press)
- According to an analysis from an NPR member station, Christie’s security costs while traveling out-of-state to campaign in 2015 may exceed $1 million. It is unclear whether Christie or the state is responsible for paying for these services. (NPR)
- Christie’s campaign released an ad on Wednesday in New Hampshire to address Marco Rubio’s offensive against Christie. Titled “We Need to Keep Our Eye on the Ball,” the video shows footage from Christie’s speech at a New Hampshire college where Christie says, “Do not be fooled: Any significant division within the Republican Party leads to the same awful result — Hillary Rodham Clinton in January of 2017.” (The New York Times)
Ted Cruz
- U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who previously endorsed Ted Cruz in November, has joined Cruz’s campaign as his national campaign co-chairman. He will participate in Cruz’s 28-country tour through the state this week. (The Dallas Morning News)
- Cruz blamed President Obama and Hillary Clinton for North Korea’s allegedly successful test of a hydrogen bomb, accusing them of permitting a “megalomaniacal maniac to acquire nuclear weapons, and now potentially a hydrogen weapon.” He added, “When we look at North Korea it is like looking at a crystal ball. This is where Iran ends up if we continue on the same misguided path.” (The Huffington Post)
- Newsweek senior writer Alexander Nazaryan deleted a tweet on Wednesday that featured an image of Nazis with the following caption: “Ted Cruz has a strong ground game in Iowa.” Conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro pointed to the tweet as evidence of media bias. Nazaryan later tweeted, “I deleted my tweet calling Ted Cruz a Nazi. Not fair to his totally decent supporters, as much as I dislike the man himself.” (The Washington Post)
Carly Fiorina
- In an interview with Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday, Carly Fiorina questioned why President Obama and Hillary Clinton were not commenting on calls for Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel (D) to resign after evidence surfaced of potential police mishandling of the shooting death of Laquan McDonald in 2014. “Just imagine for one moment if the mayor of Chicago were not President Obama’s personal friend. Just imagine for a moment if this were a Republican, what President Obama would be saying and doing. He has been incredibly silent on this tragedy,” she said. (The Hill)
- On Wednesday morning, Fiorina posted the following statement on North Korea’s alleged hydrogen bomb test: "Of course North Korea would conduct a nuclear test after watching Iran willfully violate an agreement they just made without consequence of any kind from this administration. North Korea is yet another Hillary Clinton foreign policy failure. America cannot lead from behind.” (Facebook)
Mike Huckabee
- Mike Huckabee released the following statement, in part, on Wednesday addressing North Korea’s nuclear bomb testing: “Let's hope the story about North Korea’s nuclear testing of an H-bomb turns out to be nothing more than another hollow boast from North Korea's mega-maniac dictator with the funny haircut. But true or not, this is the sort of threat that many feared was inevitable once we started allowing an aggressive rogue state to develop nuclear reactors "for peaceful energy purposes," with assurances that UN inspectors would prevent them from ever weaponizing that program. Another reminder why the Iranian deal is unacceptable because this is what happens when state sponsors of terror and aggression get weapons they are not mature enough to handle.” Huckabee also criticized Congress for giving “unchecked power to negotiate for this nation” to President Obama. (Facebook)
- During a campaign stop in Iowa on Wednesday, Huckabee said morality was necessary to put the “country on track.” He continued, “Morality doesn’t necessarily mean that you are imposing a religion. It imposes a basic sense of self-respect and respect of others that is equal to the respect you have for yourself.” (The Gazette)
John Kasich
- The Republican Party of Ohio is expected to vote to endorse John Kasich on Friday. According to Chrissie Thompson of The Cincinnati Enquirer, “State parties and chairpeople around the country, especially in early-voting states, often try to stay neutral in the presidential race, preferring to support the candidate their voters elect. An Ohio Republican Party spokeswoman acknowledged the party's plan is unusual in an open primary and as compared with other state parties in 2016, but said it falls within the party's bylaws.” (The Cincinnati Enquirer)
Rand Paul
- Kelley Paul, a political consultant and the wife of Rand Paul, said in an interview with Bloomberg that she would end an ad opposing Ted Cruz with the word “two-faced." She said of Cruz, "In many cases he's appropriated a lot of Rand's positions and then wants to sort of have it both ways.” (Bloomberg)
- When asked to comment on Cruz’s eligibility to run for president, Paul said on Wednesday, “You know, I think without question he is qualified and would make the cut to be prime minister of Canada. Absolutely without question, he is qualified and he meets the qualifications." He added, “It is interesting, and I think sometimes people point out that it’s a double standard, in the sense that people went out, hot and heavy, including Donald Trump you know, about President Obama when there was really nothing more than conjecture that he wasn’t born in the country. And yet, there hasn’t been really the same outrage at all for someone who actually is born in another country.” (Talking Points Memo)
Marco Rubio
- U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) endorsed Marco Rubio on Wednesday, saying, “Marco Rubio is a conservative leader who understands the challenges facing American families in the 21st century. I'm looking forward to hitting the campaign trail with Marco to talk about the future of our country and the importance of electing a next-generation conservative in 2016." (The Salt Lake Tribune)
- In an op-ed in USA Today on Wednesday, Rubio wrote that he would “promote a convention of states to amend the Constitution and restore limited government.” Rubio continued, “This method of amending our Constitution has become necessary today because of Washington’s refusal to place restrictions on itself. The amendment process must be approached with caution, which is why I believe the agenda should be limited to ideas that reduce the size and scope of the federal government, such as imposing term limits on Congress and the Supreme Court and forcing fiscal responsibility through a balanced budget requirement. Limiting the agenda will prevent the convention from being overtaken by special interests.” (USA Today)
Donald Trump
- Barry Bennett, Ben Carson’s former campaign manager, said on Wednesday that he believed Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee for president. “All you've got to do is compare the size of everyone's rallies. And that's really a demonstration of grassroots support. Donald Trump is having 10,000, 12,000 people show up at rallies. A lot of these guys are having five or six people show up at their events in Iowa. There's just not a comparison. You know, the establishment can fret about it all they want, but this is the new reality,” Bennett said. (CNN)
- The Parliament of the United Kingdom is set to debate on January 18 whether Trump will be banned from entering the U.K. In response, Trump has threatened to cancel his plans to invest £700 million in Scotland. (CNN, The Guardian)
- Trump said on Wednesday that North Korea’s aggression should be addressed by China. He said, “If they don't solve that problem, we should be very tough on them on trade -- meaning, start charging them tax or start cutting them off. You'd have China collapse in about two minutes." He added that South Korea should pay the U.S. “very substantially for protecting them.” (CNN)
Third Party Candidates
Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party)
- In an interview with The Atlantic on Wednesday, Gary Johnson said he had “no delusions of grandeur” in running for president. Instead, he hopes to be “a voice of reason in this process.” (The Atlantic)
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
