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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - July 21, 2015
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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
- Governor of Ohio John Kasich has become the 16th Republican to enter the presidential race. As the sitting governor of a pivotal swing state, Kasich is considered a credible candidate. However, he will have to raise his national profile and polling figures if he is to be eligible to participate in the first Republican primary debate on August 6. (The New York Times)
- Donald Trump’s commentary on John McCain’s status as a war hero continued to receive criticism from not only candidates but also veterans and media organizations.
- The founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Paul Rieckhoff, said Donald Trump was “not a leader in veterans’ philanthropy, unless he’s donated a lot of money that nobody knows about.” (The New York Times)
- Describing Trump as "a feckless blowhard who can generate headlines, name recognition and polling numbers not by provoking thought, but by provoking outrage," the editorial staff of The Des Moines Register has called for him to withdraw from the presidential race. (The Des Moines Register)
- Marco Rubio said Trump's comments were “not just absurd” but also “offensive,” adding, “I do think it disqualifies someone for higher office.” (The Hill)
- George Pataki has also said, “Trump has disqualified himself from leading this country.” (Breitbart)
- Trump wrote an op-ed in USA Today defending his comments, saying the media was distorting his words. "My record of veteran support is well-documented. I served as co-chairman of the New York Vietnam Veterans Memorial Commission and was responsible, with a small group, for getting it built," he added. (USA Today)
- An ABC News/Washington Post poll released on July 20, 2015, placed Trump ahead of the GOP presidential field with support from 24 percent of respondents. The poll, conducted over four days, saw support for Trump drop on the final day after Trump’s comments on McCain were made public, falling to less than 10 percent. (Politico)
- A recent poll of Hispanic voters conducted by Univision has Hillary Clinton leading the Democratic field with 73 percent support in a hypothetical Democratic primary. No other Democratic candidate received double-digit support. In a matchup with Jeb Bush, Clinton defeated Bush with 64 percent of the Hispanic vote to Bush’s 27 percent. Donald Trump fared even worse, losing to Clinton 70 percent to 16 percent. (Univision Noticias)
- C-SPAN will hold a candidate forum three days before FOX News’ August 6 debate. Chris Christie, Ben Carson, John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham and George Pataki have already confirmed they will be attending. (Latin Post)
Democrats
Lincoln Chafee
- Speaking at the Iowa Democratic Party’s Hall of Fame Celebration on July 17, 2015, Lincoln Chafee said he would make the United States a leader at the United Nations and filter money used on what he described as endless wars to education and environmental protection. (The Des Moines Register)
- Chafee received zero support in a Monmouth University poll of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters released on July 15, 2015. (Monmouth University)
Hillary Clinton
- Hillary Clinton has proposed raising the capital gains tax on short-term investments. Clinton will introduce the details of the plan later this week. (The Huffington Post)
- After “Black Lives Matter” activists protested against how Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders discussed racial inequality in recent speeches, Clinton posted on Facebook on July 20, 2015, that systemic inequities in the United States are as much the product of economic inequality as they are racism. (The Huffington Post)
- Clinton spent $7.7 million to purchase TV spots in Iowa and New Hampshire for ads set to air November through February. (Politico)
- Senator Mitch McConnell said the "gender card alone is not enough" to win the election. Clinton responded yesterday, saying, "There is a gender card being played in this campaign. It’s played every time Republicans vote against giving women equal pay, deny families access to affordable child care or family leave, refuse to let women make decisions about their health or have access to free contraception." (The Hill)
Martin O’Malley
- In a July 20, 2015, interview with Bloomberg Politics, Martin O’Malley connected the rise of ISIS with climate change. He said, “One of the things that preceded the failure of the nation state of Syria and the rise of ISIS, was the effect of climate change and the mega-drought that affected that nation, wiped out farmers, drove people to cities, created a humanitarian crisis that created the symptoms — or rather, the conditions — of extreme poverty that has now led to the rise of ISIS and this extreme violence.” (Real Clear Politics)
Bernie Sanders
- Bernie Sanders will introduce a bill on July 22, 2015, to raise the federal minimum wage to $15. Sanders had previously said, "The simple truth is that working people cannot survive on the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, or $8 an hour or $9 an hour. If people work 40 hours a week, they deserve not to live in dire poverty.” (The Hill)
Jim Webb
- Following the shooting at two Marine recruiting offices in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Webb has argued military service members should be allowed to carry weapons at military facilities. (MSNBC)
- Speaking at the Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame on July 17, 2015, Webb said he would not have supported an invasion of Iraq or authorized the use of military force in Libya. (The Des Moines Register)
Republicans
Jeb Bush
- Jeb Bush’s campaign and the super PAC, Right to Rise, have separately released videos positioning Bush as “the anti-Donald Trump." (The Miami Herald)
- Speaking at Florida State University on July 20, 2015, Bush called for government reform. He expressed support for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, reform of military procurement procedures, a presidential line-item veto right, hiring fewer federal employees and instituting a six-year waiting period before former Congressman can lobby. (The Washington Times)
- Among Cuban-American Republicans, Bush led Marco Rubio by 8 percentage points in a new poll conducted by Bendixen & Amandi International for the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald. (The Miami Herald)
Ben Carson
- Ben Carson won a GOP presidential straw poll on July 20, 2015, held by the D.C. Republican Party, earning 44 percent of the vote. (Breitbart)
Chris Christie
- Chris Christie received 1 percent support in a Monmouth University poll of potential Iowa caucus attendees released on July 20, 2015. He was ahead of only George Pataki. Poll director Pat Murray said, “Iowa voters took a look at him and they didn’t like him.” (NJ.com)
- Christie promised to defund Planned Parenthood if he were elected president. To show his commitment to this pledge, Christie cited his record of defunding the organization in six New Jersey state budgets. (NJ.com)
- Criticizing Hillary Clinton for “pandering” on the issue of immigration, Christie said there should be no pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. This is a policy shift from Christie's position in 2010. (Breitbart)
Ted Cruz
- Oklahoma Rep. Jim Bridenstine endorsed Ted Cruz on July 20, 2015. (The Oklahoman)
- Cruz is expected to introduce an amendment to the highway funding bill to bar government contributions to healthcare for members of Congress. (Roll Call)
Carly Fiorina
- Carly Fiorina released a video in collaboration with BuzzFeed to highlight workplace sexism. (BuzzFeed)
- Although Fiorina has been polling 14th nationally, she placed fifth in the most recent New Hampshire poll. On the likelihood she will qualify to participate in the August 6 GOP debate, Fiorina said, “Everybody’s sort of fixated on this first debate and I’ve been honest, I’d love to be on that first debate stage and I’m working really hard to get there. I think I will be. If I’m not, it’s not the end of the world, it’s not the end of the campaign.” (Politico)
Lindsey Graham
- On July 20, 2015, Lindsey Graham, joined by Joe Lieberman and John McCain, launched a 60-day multi-state “No Nukes for Iran” tour to encourage members of Congress to disapprove of the Iran nuclear deal. (Bloomberg)
- Graham said of the Iran nuclear agreement, “You've ensured that the Arabs will go nuclear. You've put Israel in the worst possible box. This will be a death over time sentence to Israel if they don't push back.” (Business Insider)
Mike Huckabee
- In an interview with LifeNews, Mike Huckabee said more needs to be done to stop abortion than defunding Planned Parenthood. He explained, “It’s not enough to say we’ll end funding for these butchers at Planned Parenthood. We need to end the disgusting disregard for human life that is the foundation for the infanticide that is beneath the dignity of our nation. We didn’t end slavery by just limiting how many slaves a person could own or for how long—we recognized that it is a violation of basic human rights. Let’s stop this slaughter and ask God’s forgiveness for not doing it sooner.” (LifeNews)
Bobby Jindal
- On July 17, 2015, a day after the Chattanooga shooting at two Marine recruitment offices, Bobby Jindal issued an executive order to permit some national guard personnel at military facilities to be armed. (Office of the Governor, Bobby Jindal)
Rand Paul
- Rand Paul has said he will do everything he can to defund Planned Parenthood. He stated in an interview on FOX News, “Everything that Planned Parenthood does other than abortion is done by community health clinics. There is no reason in the world to have Planned Parenthood other than abortion. No taxpayer dollars should go to it because they are indirectly, if not directly, paying for abortion. . . . We should stop all funding for Planned Parenthood.” (The Daily Signal)
- Following the Chattanooga shooting at two Marine recruitment centers, Paul stated there should be heightened security for immigrants coming from “countries that have hotbeds of jihadism and hotbeds of this Islamism.” (Breitbart)
- Paul released a video on July 21, 2015, calling for a one-page tax code, before he burned, shredded and chainsawed a copy of the current tax code. (Business Insider)
- Paul has announced plans to introduce legislation permitting soldiers to be armed at military sites. (The Washington Post)
Rick Perry
- Rick Perry has stated his support for a ban on openly gay leaders in the Boy Scouts of America. (TIME)
Marco Rubio
- Marco Rubio criticized the Supreme Court for creating law rather than interpreting it. Rubio said, “The next president of the United States must nominate Supreme Court justices that believe in the original intent of the Constitution and apply that. We need more Scalias and less Sotomayors.” (MSNBC)
- Rubio said July 20, 2015, will be remembered as "Obama's Capitulation Monday" because embassies were opened in Washington, D.C., and Havana, Cuba, and the United Nations voted to approve the Iran nuclear deal ahead of a congressional vote. Rubio elaborated, "Monday’s events at the U.N., Washington and Havana leave no doubt that we have entered the most dangerous phase of the Obama presidency in which the president is flat-out abandoning America’s vital national security interests to cozy up to the world’s most reprehensible regimes.” (The Washington Times)
Rick Santorum
- While speaking at the Family Leadership Summit over the weekend, Rick Santorum suggested legal immigration of unskilled workers should be reduced by 25 percent to increase wages in the U.S. (AP)
Donald Trump
- While speaking at a campaign rally in South Carolina, Donald Trump made public Lindsey Graham’s private cell phone number. (Politico)
Scott Walker
- On July 20, 2015, Scott Walker signed into law a bill prohibiting non-emergency abortions after 20 weeks in Wisconsin. The law does not include exceptions for rape or incest. (Politico) Hillary Clinton criticized the act, tweeting, “Gov. Walker signed dangerous abortion restrictions into law in WI - without exceptions for rape or incest. Extreme and unacceptable. -H.” (Twitter)
- Walker issued an executive order today to allow members of the Wisconsin National Guard to carry weapons while on duty. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
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
