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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - July 21, 2016
From Ballotpedia
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Thursday's Leading Stories
- The Republican National Convention continued on Wednesday, featuring vice presidential nominee Mike Pence as its keynote speaker. “You have nominated a man for president who never quits. Until now, he's had to do it all by himself against all odds, but this week, with this united party, he's got backup,” said Pence. It was U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), however, who gave the most memorable speech of the night by refusing to endorse Donald Trump and telling voters to "vote your conscience.” Cruz continued, “Vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution.” He concluded his speech to a mix of applause and jeering. (The Chicago Tribune, CNN, The New York Times)
- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) responded to Cruz’s speech, "Ted Cruz said you can vote your conscience for anyone who will uphold the Constitution. In this election there is only one candidate who will uphold the Constitution."
- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said during his speech, "Let me be clear: a vote for anyone other than Donald Trump in November is a vote for Hillary Clinton.”
- In an interview on Wednesday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said of Cruz’s speech, “I think it was awful. And quite frankly, I think it was something selfish.” He added, “He signed a pledge. And it's his job to keep his word. I think it was too cute and I think you saw at the end of the speech that the crowd was waiting for him to do the right thing and realized that he wasn't going to do it."
Polls
- In its first Upshot presidential election forecast model on Wednesday, The New York Times found that Hillary Clinton has a 76 percent chance of winning the presidency. “Our model suggests Mrs. Clinton is a strong favorite in 14 states and the District of Columbia, enough to give her 186 of the 270 electoral votes she needs to win the White House. Add to this eight more states that polls currently show are leaning Democratic — including Minnesota, Michigan and Pennsylvania — and Mrs. Clinton would have 275 electoral votes and the presidency,” according to The New York Times. (The New York Times)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce endorsed Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, marking the organization’s first presidential endorsement. During an interview at the Republican National Convention, Javier Palomarez, the chamber’s president, said, "We believe she's the best person for the job. She's got experience. She's got the temperament and track record." (The Hill)
- The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that Clinton has narrowed her vice presidential choices to U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Labor Secretary Tom Perez. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is also said to still be in contention due to her popularity with liberals and fundraising draw. (The Associated Press)
- In an interview on Wednesday, former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson charged that Clinton’s campaign was being run on principles “espoused by evil.” He explained, “When you look at the principles that are espoused by Christ, by Christianity, and you look at what's espoused by evil. And then you look at things like killing babies, you look at things like redefining marriage, away from what the biblical definition is, I think that there's pretty good consistency there.” (Politico)
- Clinton’s campaign has $44.4 million cash on hand and raised $36.4 million in June. (NBC News)
- Priorities USA, a super PAC supporting Clinton, raised nearly $12 million in June and has $40 million cash on hand. (CBS News)
Republicans
Donald Trump
- Meredith McIver, a speechwriter for the Trump Organization, took responsibility on Wednesday for incorporating passages from a 2008 speech by First Lady Michelle Obama into Melania Trump’s convention speech. McIver said in a statement, “A person [[[Melania Trump]]] has always liked is Michelle Obama. Over the phone, she read me some passages from Mrs. Obama’s speech as examples. I wrote them down and later included some of the phrasing in the draft that ultimately became the final speech.” McIver added that Donald Trump rejected her offer to resign. Trump later tweeted, “Good news is Melania's speech got more publicity than any in the history of politics especially if you believe that all press is good press!" (The Wall Street Journal, CNN)
- In an article from The New York Times sketching out Trump’s vice presidential search, it was reported on Wednesday that Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., attempted to recruit Ohio Gov. John Kasich to serve as his father’s running mate. He reportedly said that Kasich would be the most powerful vice president in history and placed in charge of domestic and foreign policy. Trump, then, would be responsible for “making America great again.” Kasich turned down the offer. (The New York Times, CNN)
- An aide for the campaign denied the story, saying, “Completely false. His vetting read like a trashy novel.”
- Trump Jr. also personally denied the story, telling CNN, “You know the way I conduct myself. Do you really believe I would say, '(John Kasich) is in charge of foreign and domestic policy and (Donald Trump) will focus on making America great again'? What am I, a meathead?”
- Al Baldasaro, an adviser to Trump on veterans affairs, said in a radio interview on Tuesday that Hillary Clinton “should be put in the firing line and shot for treason” for her role in the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack. A spokesperson for the Secret Service said that they were “aware of this matter and will conduct the appropriate investigation.” (Politico)
- According to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Trump is considering requesting civil service laws be changed if he is elected president to make it easier to remove holdovers from the previous administration. “It’s called burrowing. You take them from the political appointee side into the civil service side, in order to try to set up ... roadblocks for your successor, kind of like when all the Clinton people took all the Ws off the keyboard when George Bush was coming into the White House,” Christie said. (Reuters)
- Trump’s campaign has $20.2 million cash on hand and raised $26.7 million in June. (NBC News)
- In an interview with The New York Times published on Wednesday, Trump “called into question whether, as president, he would automatically extend the security guarantees that give the 28 members of NATO the assurance that the full force of the United States military has their back. For example, asked about Russia’s threatening activities that have unnerved the small Baltic States that are among the more recent entrants into NATO, Mr. Trump said that if Russia attacked them, he would decide whether to come to their aid only after reviewing whether those nations ‘have fulfilled their obligations to us.’” (The New York Times)
Third Party Candidates
Jill Stein (Green Party)
- Jill Stein called the Republican National Convention (RNC) “a microcosm of the corporatization of U.S. policy across the board,” in an interview with The Real News Network released on Wednesday. She continued, “And it's a system of militarization and of the growth of a police state to which both Democrats and Republicans have contributed. The Republicans are perhaps more out front and frank and scary in their talk, but this has been a process that both political parties have massively contributed to. So indeed it's like watching a theater of the absurd or a kabuki theater to see all that's wrong in our society being celebrated at the RNC. And I would include that it's not ‘Make America great again,’ it's ‘Make America hate again.’” (The Real News Network)
Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party)
- In an interview on Wednesday, Gary Johnson hinted that he has spoken with former presidential nominee Jeb Bush (R) about an endorsement. Johnson said, “I can't say that we haven't had conversations, but no push on the conversations.” He added, “You don't go from being Republican-elected, you don't go from being the Republican nominee to say, 'Hey, I'm supporting Gary Johnson.’ You go to say, ‘Hey, I'm going to look at his campaign.’” (Politico)
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
