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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - July 19, 2016
From Ballotpedia
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Tuesday's Leading Stories
- The Republican National Convention began on Monday with the approval of the rules package and party platform by voice vote. There was some confusion on the floor after a group of nine state delegations filed a petition for a roll call on the rules package. U.S. Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), who was serving as the convention chair during the vote, abandoned the stage for approximately 10 minutes as Donald Trump’s team whipped votes to tamp down the petition. Womack returned and held a second voice vote finding, again, that the rules package had been approved. Womack then said the roll call petition did not have the requisite number of signatures because three states had withdrawn. Ken Cuccinelli, the former attorney general of Virginia, accused leaders in his party of cheating. He said, “They cheated. They cheated and that’s what you just saw. You saw them violate their own rules. If the rules don’t matter, I’m not quite sure why we spend all this time writing them.” (CNN, MSNBC)
- Convention speeches throughout the evening focused on strengthening the military, fighting terrorism, and Hillary Clinton. (The New York Times, The Guardian, CNN, Politico)
- Veterans Marcus Luttrell, John Tiegen, and Mark Geist discussed military actions abroad and the threat of terrorism.
- Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke defended law enforcement and dismissed the Black Lives Matter movement. “When they come to save your life, they don’t ask you if you’re black or white — they just come to save you!” Giuliani said.
- Patricia Smith, who lost her son Sean in the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack, said that Clinton should be in prison. “I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son,” Smith said. She continued, “This entire campaign comes down to a single question: If Hillary Clinton can’t give us the truth, why should we give her the presidency?” During Smith’s speech, Trump called into Fox News to comment on race relations and his defeat of Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the primary.
- In an unusual move, presumptive nominee Donald Trump appeared at the convention on the first night to introduce his wife, Melania Trump. She discussed her experience as an immigrant to the United States and presented her husband as a family man. The content of her speech was overshadowed by accusations that she had plagiarized two paragraphs from First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. “In writing her beautiful speech, Melania's team of writers took notes on her life's inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking. Melania's immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it such a success," said senior communications adviser Jason Miller in a statement.
Polls
- In a Ballotpedia survey of nearly 300 Republican delegates released on Monday, more than 80 percent said they were satisfied with Donald Trump’s vice presidential selection of Mike Pence. “While some delegates expressed reservations about Pence, even those who were not Trump delegates were pleased with the selection, with roughly two out of five saying that they were ‘enthusiastic’ about the choice of the Indiana governor,” according to senior writer Jim Barnes. (Ballotpedia)
- According to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Telemundo poll, Clinton leads Trump among Latino voters, 76 percent to 14 percent. (NBC News)
- In a four-way Marketing Research Group poll of Michigan voters released on Monday, Clinton topped the field with 34 percent. Trump followed with 29, Johnson, 3, and Stein 2. (Marketing Research Group)
- Clinton also led in a four-way national poll released by Monmouth University on Monday with 45 percent. Trump came in a close second with 43 percent and Johnson and Stein followed with 5 percent and 1 percent, respectively. (Monmouth University)
Democrats
- The Office of Special Counsel found on Monday that Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro violated the Hatch Act—which prohibits federal employees from influencing elections while serving in their official capacity—by discussing Clinton’s candidacy with the HUD seal behind him. "In responding to a journalist's question about the 2016 election, I offered my opinion to the interviewer after making it clear that I was articulating my personal view and not an official position. At the time, I believed that this disclaimer was what was required by the Hatch Act. However, your analysis provides that it was not sufficient,” Castro said in a statement. (CNN)
Hillary Clinton
- Hillary Clinton spoke at the NAACP’s annual convention in Cincinnati on Monday where, in response to the police shooting deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile and the Dallas and Baton Rouge attacks on police officers, she said, “This madness has to stop.” Clinton said she would “bring the full weight of the law to bear in making sure those who kill police officers are brought to justice. There can be no justification, no looking the other way.” Clinton also noted the importance of improving the criminal justice system. “There is, as you know so well, another hard truth at the heart of this complex matter: Many African-Americans fear the police,” Clinton said. (The New York Times)
- On Monday, federal judge Emmet Sullivan declined to make a decision on whether Clinton would be deposed at the request of conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch in a FOIA-related lawsuit. He said he would make a decision “as soon as I can.” (The Hill)
- “Confessions of a Republican,” a new web video released by the Clinton campaign on Monday, recreates a 1964 ad against Barry Goldwater by featuring the same actor from the original ad, Bill Bogert, expressing his concern with Donald Trump’s candidacy. (The Hill)
Republicans
Donald Trump
- In an interview on Monday, Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort discussed several notably absent Republican leaders at the national convention. “Certainly the Bush family, while we would have liked to have had them, they're part of the past. We’re dealing with the future,” he said. Manafort added that Ohio Gov. John Kasich was “embarrassing his state” by not attending. (The Los Angeles Times, Fox News)
- The New York Times reporter Jason Horowitz published a profile of Melania Trump on Monday, tracking her roots in Slovenia and rise as a fashion model. (The New York Times)
- On Monday, Trump accused President Barack Obama of creating a “tremendous divide in this country.” He said of Obama’s speeches on the targeting of police officers, “I watch the president and sometimes the words are okay, but you just look at the body language — there’s something going on. Look, there’s something going on. And the words are not often okay, by the way.” Trump added that there was also “definitely something going on” with the police shootings of black men. “And that has to do with training and it has to do with something, but there is something going on that maybe . . . we can’t recognize it or we can’t see it unless you’re black. And it’s an experience, there’s no question about that,” he continued. (The Washington Post)
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
