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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - July 12, 2016
From Ballotpedia
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Tuesday's Leading Stories
- Robert Payne, a federal judge in the District Court for the District of Virginia, issued a permanent injunction on Monday invalidating a Virginia state law binding party delegates to vote for a presidential candidate at their national nominating convention based on the outcome of the state’s primary. “The ruling applies only to Virginia’s delegates to both party conventions, but it may give an impetus to Republicans in other states who are pushing for a ‘conscience clause’ that would unbind all delegates,” The Wall Street Journal noted. (The Wall Street Journal, Ballotpedia)
- The Republican Platform Committee will again meet on Tuesday. Yesterday, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) and Amy Carnevale (R) successfully petitioned the Republican Platform Committee to include stronger language in the party’s platform regarding building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, which mirrors Donald Trump’s policy. Categorizing border security as being of the “highest priority,” the new language reads, “That is why we support building a wall along our southern border and protect if all ports of entry. The border wall must cover the entirety of the southern border and must be sufficient to stop both vehicular and pedestrian traffic." (CNN)
Polls
- In a Monmouth University poll of Nevada voters released on Monday, Hillary Clinton narrowly leads Donald Trump, 45 percent to 41 percent. Gary Johnson garnered 5 percent support. “Clinton has the lead among women voters by 53% to 38% and Trump has the edge among men by 44% to 37%. White voters prefer Trump by 49% to 37%, while Hispanic, black and Asian voters overwhelmingly choose Clinton by 64% to 23%,” the pollsters found. (Monmouth University)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- In an interview with Vox conducted on June 22 and published on Monday, Hillary Clinton discussed a wide range of domestic issues with interviewer Ezra Klein. (Vox)
- On extreme poverty and welfare reform: “We had policies that I think contributed greatly to the increase in childhood poverty starting in 2001, the Great Recession being the worst of those. But there were also policy decisions, regulatory changes — providing more leeway to the states, so that they did not have either the requirement or the incentive to continue lifting people, particularly kids, out of poverty. … I think we have to do much more to target federal programs to the poorest, where intergenerational poverty is once again a cycle. Congressman Jim Clyburn has a creative idea called the 10-20-30 approach, where you would put a percentage of federal funds — 10 percent of federal funds — in those communities that are most impoverished and have been for 30 years.”
- On reducing the deficit and distributional fairness: “Last summer, I gave two economic speeches which called for strong growth, fair growth, and long-term growth. And I think the three go together. It is important that we look at how they can converge, because I do believe we’ve got to grow the economy. I’m an economic growth Democrat, so I believe that. But we also have to make it fairer, and part of the way we make it fairer is by shifting some of the tax burden onto those who have done really well despite all of the macro- and microeconomic ups and downs in the global economy and here at home. And that’s why the Buffett Rule; that’s why a fair share surcharge on incomes above $5 million; that’s why closing the loopholes, like the carried interest loophole.
- On the benefits of immigration: “I think there are three big problems we have to address. One is just the human cost of those 11 million undocumented immigrants. I have met many of them — in fact, we all have, whether we acknowledge it or not. And these are hardworking people. These are people who are already contributing to the economy, whose children are in schools, who are really absolutely committed to the American dream. … I think also, though, there’s a lot of evidence that moving toward comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship would be good for our economy. We already know that undocumented workers are putting about $12 billion into the Social Security trust fund with no anticipation at this point that they’ll ever get anything out. They’re paying payroll taxes; they’re paying other forms of taxes — state and local as well as federal.”
- On the challenges of providing tuition-free higher education: “I had several concerns about Sen. Sanders’s program. I thought it was hard to justify claiming it was free when it was going to have to be paid for by state governments, by a lot of state governments — up to a third of the cost — that were not particularly well-known for supporting higher education. They’ve in fact been disinvesting. And I think it’s more important that we incentivize reinvestment in public higher education.”
- On her low favorability rating: “The media environment — particularly the social media environment — drives negativity. It’s what captures eyeballs. It’s what gets people to tune in or log on. It is just human nature. Saying something negative about somebody, whether it was a negative ad 30 years ago or a negative tweet or other allegations today — there’s just a really rich environment for that to capture people’s minds and change their attitudes. … And it’s always amusing to me that when I have a job, I have really high approval ratings; when I’m actually doing the work, I get reelected with 67 percent of the vote running for reelection in the Senate. When I’m secretary of state, I have [a] 66 percent approval rating.”
- Although a tax on carbon emerged as a new plank in the Democratic Party’s platform over the weekend, Clinton energy policy adviser Trevor Houser told The Associated Press that the policy was not part of Clinton’s energy plan. (The Hill)
- The Communications Workers of America, a labor union which previously backed Bernie Sanders, endorsed Clinton on Monday. It cited her opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership and support of the Verizon worker strike as a foundation for its endorsement. The Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC and U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) also endorsed Clinton on Monday. (The Hill, CNN)
- In a letter on Monday, House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) formally requested that the Justice Department investigate whether Clinton "committed perjury and made false statements during her testimony under oath before congressional committees." They continued, "The evidence collected by the FBI during its investigation of Secretary Clinton's use of a personal email system appears to directly contradict several aspects of her sworn testimony.” U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) condemned the request, saying in a statement, “Republicans are now squandering even more taxpayer dollars in a desperate attempt to keep this issue alive and bring down Secretary Clinton's poll numbers ahead of the election." (CNN)
- Politico published a profile on Secretary of Labor Tom Perez and his developing relationship with Clinton. “Unlike the other people being speculated about as running mate picks, Perez has actually gotten to know the Clintons, and they’ve both taken a shine to him after the year he spent putting his own progressive credentials on the line to knock back Bernie Sanders. Arguing forcefully that she’s a change agent—the former president’s made clear he’s particularly sensitive when people say otherwise—appears to have made an impression, too,” Politico reported on Monday. (Politico)
- On Monday, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper denied a request by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to restrict Clinton’s access to national security briefings. (NBC News)
Republicans
- House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is set to speak for 10 minutes at the Republican National Convention next week about “the sharp contrast between Republican ideas and four more years of Obama-like progressive policies; and the need for conservatives to unite around Republican candidates in advance of a critical election.” (Politico)
- The Associated Press conducted a state-by-state review of the Republican Party’s presidential operation and found the number of staff lagged behind estimates made in March. “Some examples of Republican shortfalls: Ohio Republicans thought they were going to see 220 paid staffers by May; in reality there are about 50. Plans for Pennsylvania called for 190 paid staffers; there are about 60. Iowa's planned ground force of 66 by May actually numbers between 25 and 30. In Colorado, recent staff departures have left about two dozen employees, far short of the 80 that were to have been in place,” The Associated Press reported on Monday. (The Associated Press)
- The 2012 presidential campaign committee of former House Speaker and potential Trump vice presidential pick Newt Gingrich (R) remains $4.6 million in debt. (The Daily Beast)
Donald Trump
- In an interview with The Washington Post on Monday, Donald Trump discussed his vice presidential search. He said he had narrowed the pool down to five candidates, including retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn. "I will make my mind up over the next three to four days. In my mind, I have someone that would be really good,” Trump said. He also noted that he preferred political experience to military experience, explaining, "I have such great respect for the general, but believe it or not that will be one of my strong suits. I was against the war in Iraq from the start." He continued, “Someone respected by the establishment and liked by the establishment would be good for unification. I do like unification of the Republican Party." (The Washington Post)
- Retired Lt. Gen. Flynn clarified his position on abortion rights on Monday, calling himself a “pro-life Democrat” and saying, “This pro-choice issue is a legal issue that should be decided by the courts. I believe in law. If people want to change the law, they should vote so that we can appoint pro-life judges. I believe the law should be changed." (Talking Points Memo)
- Trump described himself as “the law-and-order candidate” during a campaign rally in Virginia on Monday. He discussed law enforcement and veterans affairs during the speech. Trump continued, “We need to clean up the corruption in government, and Hillary Clinton will never be able to do it. She’s incompetent and has proven time and time again that she doesn’t have what it takes. Doesn’t have it. Crooked Hillary Clinton, sadly, is the secretary of the status quo, and wherever Hillary Clinton goes, corruption and scandal follow. Just look at her life.” (Politico)
- A minute-long ad criticizing laws that limit which public restroom a transgender individual can use is set to air on Fox News during Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. (The New York Times)
- Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who has been rumored to be on Trump’s radar for vice president, said on Tuesday that he “would decline consideration for any role." (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
