Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - July 24, 2015
From Ballotpedia
|
Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential Briefing was sponsored by the Leadership Project for America. | ||||
|
Friday's Leading Stories
- Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, Jeb Bush and Ben Carson are scheduled to appear at the National Urban League convention Florida next week. Described as “the premier organization for economic empowerment in the United States for African-Americans,” the event is considered an opportunity for presidential candidates to connect with black voters on issues like “education, violence, prison reform and mandatory minimum prison sentences for non-violent crimes.” Clarence McKee, a Republican consultant who worked under Ronald Reagan, recommended the candidates focus their speeches on jobs. (Sun Sentinel)
- According to The New York Times, two inspectors general have requested the Department of Justice launch a criminal investigation to determine whether classified emails were mishandled in connection with the personal email account Clinton used as secretary of state. Clinton spokesman, Nick Merrill, responded to the allegations on Friday morning, “Contrary to the initial story, which has already been significantly revised, [Clinton] followed appropriate practices in dealing with classified materials. As has been reported on multiple occasions, any released emails deemed classified by the administration have been done so after the fact, and not at the time they were transmitted.” It is not yet known if the Department of Justice will pursue the enquiry or if Clinton would be the target of the investigation. (The New York Times, Politico)
- A poll conducted by the Wilson Perkins Allen Opinion Research group for Ted Cruz’s campaign found Marco Rubio had the highest favorability rating among Republican voters with 66 percent. When the Perkins Allen data was used to determine each candidate’s Selzer Score, which weighs first- and second-choice responses with whether a voter would ever support that candidate, Walker rose to first, followed by Trump, Bush, Cruz and Rubio. (National Journal)
Democrats
Joe Biden
- On Thursday, Joe Biden visited Theranos, a laboratory services company in California, to discuss changes in the medical industry. After noting healthcare information should be more accessible, Biden said, “Healthcare is not a privilege, it’s an absolute right.” (The Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Lincoln Chafee
- According to the National Journal, Lincoln Chafee reported zero employees worked on his campaign this past quarter. (National Journal)
Hillary Clinton
- During a campaign stop in South Carolina on Thursday, Hillary Clinton defended Planned Parenthood after congressional Republicans demanded it be defunded. She highlighted affordable family planning and cancer screenings as programs the organization provides outside of reproductive health services. “It is unfortunate that Planned Parenthood has been the object of such a concerted attack for so many years, and it’s really an attack against a woman’s right to choose, to make the most personal difficult decisions that any woman would face,” Clinton said. (Politico)
- In response to calls from some Democrats to reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act, which separated the activities of commercial banks and securities firms, Clinton said the issue of banking regulation was “more complicated” than one law could address. “I’m not interested in just saying there is one answer to the too-big-to-fail problem,” Clinton said. (The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times)
- Clinton endorsed the Equality Act, a bill introduced yesterday by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Representative David Cicilline (D-R.I.), which seeks “to protect LGBT people nationwide from discrimination in credit, education, employment, housing, federal financial assistance, jury service and public accommodations.” (The Huffington Post)
Martin O’Malley
- Martin O’Malley became the first presidential candidate to endorse the Equality Act, an anti-discrimination bill protecting LGBT individuals, on Thursday. O’Malley tweeted, “I proudly support the new LGBT civil rights bill – we must continue to fight for a more open, respectful & inclusive nation.” (Washington Blade)
Bernie Sanders
- Julia Barnes has been hired as Bernie Sanders’ New Hampshire state director. Barnes previously worked on Joe Biden’s presidential primary campaign, and is Sanders’ seventh paid staff member in New Hampshire. (New Hampshire Union Leader)
Jim Webb
- Vice Chairman of the Cerro Gordo County Democrats Dean Genth has criticized Jim Webb for planning to skip a major Iowa fundraiser on August 14. “Someone needs to help him realize how damaging it is to his campaign if he alienates the Iowa caucuses,” Genth said. Joe Stanley, Webb’s campaign director in Iowa, defended Webb. “Missing one event and having someone say we’re backing off campaigning in Iowa is, I’ll be honest with you, a little ridiculous,” he said. Webb has a previous commitment in New Hampshire on that date. (USA Today, The Des Moines Register)
Republicans
Jeb Bush
- Jeb Bush defended Martin O’Malley after he received backlash from activists for saying, “Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter.” When asked if O’Malley should have apologized, Bush answered, “No, for crying out loud, no. I mean we’re so uptight and so politically correct now that you apologize for saying lives matter?” (Yahoo)
- After being confronted at a New Hampshire town hall meeting on Thursday on his plan to “phase out” Medicare, Bush called the program an “actuarially unsound healthcare system” and added that Social Security is an “underfunded retirement system. He said, “The people that are receiving these benefits – I don’t think we should touch that, but your children and grandchildren are not going to get the benefits that they believe they are going to get or that you think they’re going to get. Whenever you get into a conversation about reforming entitlement the first thing that you can be guaranteed of is that the left will attack you and demonize you.” (The Wall Street Journal)
- According to an anonymous Bush aide, Bush raised more than $500,000 at two events in New Jersey on Thursday. (The New York Times)
Ben Carson
- Ben Carson wrote an op-ed in The Washington Times comparing busing programs to the Obama administration’s new initiative to promote more racially integrated neighborhoods through Department of Housing and Urban Development funding. Carson said, “These government-engineered attempts to legislate racial equality create consequences that often make matters worse. There are reasonable ways to use housing policy to enhance the opportunities available to lower-income citizens, but based on the history of failed socialist experiments in this country, entrusting the government to get it right can prove downright dangerous.” (The Washington Times)
- Although Carson has expressed a desire to repeal Obamacare, he called its ban on barring people with pre-existing conditions from purchasing insurance “one of the very few bright spots in an otherwise horribly written law.” (Washington Examiner)
Chris Christie
- Chris Christie has bought $250,000 of advertising time on FOX News. These ads, likely put forward to increase Christie’s poll numbers and help clinch his spot in the August 6 GOP debate, will run today through August 9. (The New York Times)
- In Christie’s second televised ad, the candidate claimed President Obama is “lying to the American people about” the Iran nuclear deal. (Washington Examiner)
- Christie said if he were elected president, he would work with the secretary of transportation and the governors of New York and New Jersey to build new tunnels under the Hudson River. He had ended such a tunnel construction project in 2010 because “the federal government was contributing to it, the state of New Jersey was contributing to it and the state or city of New York was contributing nothing. And New Jersey was going to be responsible for every nickel of cost overruns, which at that time was estimated to be three to five billion dollars.” (Politico)
Ted Cruz
- Brent Bozell, president of the Conservative Victory Committee and former president of the National Conservative Political Action Committee, has endorsed Ted Cruz. (MSNBC)
- When asked if he thought it was appropriate Donald Trump publicized Lindsey Graham’s private phone number, Cruz responded that the media was focusing on “Republican-on-Republican violence” instead of important matters like the Iran nuclear deal. He added, “Each of them are big boys and they can take care of themselves.” (Roll Call)
- While speaking on the Senate floor this morning, Cruz accused Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) of lying about making a deal with Democrats to allow a vote to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank in exchange for their support of last month’s trade bill. Cruz then derided the agency as “an egregious example of corporate welfare” and “crony capitalism.” (Business Insider, Politico, Washington Post)
Carly Fiorina
- During a campaign stop in Iowa, Carly Fiorina criticized the federal government’s support of farmers following an avian flu outbreak in the state. “The money for indemnification to farmers should have gone from the federal government to the state and the state should have been in charge of distributing it,” Fiorina said. (The Des Moines Register)
- Fiorina said “it would be a rather selfish gesture” if Donald Trump were to run as a third-party candidate, and said she would continue to focus on “solutions” while “the boys are going to fight.” (Radio Iowa)
Lindsey Graham
- Lindsey Graham is scheduled to hold a town hall meeting in Salem, New Hampshire, on Monday, focusing on the Iran nuclear deal. (WMUR ABC 9)
Mike Huckabee
- Mike Huckabee called a federal court’s decision to strike down North Dakota’s “fetal heartbeat” law earlier this week “an unconstitutional, immoral act of judicial tyranny.” He said in a statement, “The people of North Dakota came together and decided to prohibit abortions after one could detect a fetal heartbeat. The court has no authority to reject this law and invalidate or ignore the will of the people. I stand with the people of North Dakota and reject this ruling.” (LifeSiteNews, Mike Huckabee for President)
John Kasich
- Although John Kasich just announced his presidential run this week, a recent analysis of leading polls by Real Clear Politics suggests Kasich may qualify for the August 6 GOP debate. (Crain's Cleveland Business, Real Clear Politics)
Bobby Jindal
- Following a deadly shooting at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, last night, Bobby Jindal traveled to Lafayette to provide support to the victims and their families. When asked about gun control this morning, Jindal responded, “Let's focus on the victims right now. Let's focus on their recoveries. There'll be a time, I'm sure folks will want to jump into the politics of this. Now is not the time." (The Times-Picayune)
George Pataki
- In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, George Pataki said Donald Trump is harming the Republican Party “by diverting the dialogue” from policy comparisons of Republican and Democratic positions. (The Wall Street Journal)
Rand Paul
- During a Senate hearing on the Iran nuclear deal yesterday, Rand Paul reiterated his support for a diplomatic solution to nuclear proliferation in Iran. “I continue to support a negotiated solution and think it preferable to war. I think a military solution in all likelihood would accelerate the possibility of them having nuclear weapons. However it does have to be a good deal and I think that’s the debate we have,” Paul said. (Politico, Washington Post)
- According to Bloomberg, Paul will likely be the only Republican candidate who does not sign a contract with the Republican National Committee and i360 to receive voter profiles. Instead, Paul plans to develop a data management system “that will allow him to maintain full control of any data collected by his campaign or affiliated super-PAC and set up a distinct power base beyond 2016 entirely independent of the Republican Party.” (Bloomberg)
Rick Perry
- A Texas court dismissed a coercion of a public servant charge against Rick Perry this morning. The felony charge was one of two indictments of Perry last summer stemming from allegations he had tried to force an elected official to resign through the improper use of his position. An abuse of official capacity charge still remains. (The New York Times)
- Perry released a statement on Thursday accusing Donald Trump of being “a hypocrite when it comes to border security.” Perry said of Trump’s visit to Laredo, Texas, “I hope he will explain to the people of Laredo why he thinks they should be on the hook to secure our country’s border with Mexico, rather than the federal government. I hope he will explain to the Hispanic Americans he meets why he thinks they are rapists and murderers. And I hope he will apologize for ridiculing the selfless work of the men and women of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Rangers, Texas Game Wardens and Texas National Guard to protect our communities in the face of the federal government’s failure to secure the border.” Linked at the bottom of Perry’s statement are articles regarding Trump’s employment of undocumented immigrants for a construction project. (Perry for President)
Marco Rubio
- In an interview this morning on CBS, Marco Rubio said, “Donald Trump’s not going to be the nominee of the Republican party.” He suggested Trump was benefiting from the abundance of media coverage focused on him. (Washington Times)
- Rubio also insisted the next president does not have to honor the Iran nuclear deal even Congress approves it. “This is a deal with the Obama administration. It is not a treaty. It is not binding on the next president. And I anticipate that the next president of the United States may very well – and if it’s me, I will – reimpose the American sanctions that are in the law right now,” Rubio said. (CBS News)
Rick Santorum
- Having focused his early campaign efforts on Iowa, Rick Santorum made his first trip to New Hampshire today since announcing his presidential run two months ago. (New Hampshire Public Radio)
Donald Trump
- In a phone interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Donald Trump tempered suggestions that he would run as a third-party candidate. “The best way to win is to win as a Republican. I do not want to do independent at all. If I’m treated poorly, that’s one thing,” Trump said, noting that the Republican National Committee (RNC) has treated him “with tremendous respect.” This is a shift from Trump’s comments in The Hill yesterday, when he said, “The RNC has not been supportive.” (Politico, The Hill)
- “The Glenn Beck Program,” a conservative radio program, will no longer be covering Trump’s campaign. (The Hill)
- During a trip to the Mexican border yesterday, which Trump claimed put him in “great danger,” he reiterated his support for a wall along the border “in certain sections.” (The Washington Post)
Scott Walker
- In an op-ed published by Breitbart today, Scott Walker called on Congress to vote against approving the Iran nuclear deal. “If elected president, I would terminate the deal on day one,” Walker wrote, before targeting Hillary Clinton as a proponent of the deal who has “betrayed the American people” and Israel. (Breitbart)
- Walker canceled a campaign stop on Thursday evening in order to attend the funeral of one of the Marines killed at military recruitment centers in Chattanooga, Tennessee. (Fox 8)
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
