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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - July 29, 2015
From Ballotpedia
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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential Briefing was sponsored by the Leadership Project for America. | ||||
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Wednesday's Leading Stories
- All 16 Republican candidates will now be able to participate in a forum or debate on August 6, according to Michael Clemente, an executive vice president for FOX News. The network has removed a requirement that each participant have a national polling average of at least 1 percent. (Politico)
- Although Scott Walker has publicly announced he will “compete anywhere in the country,” at a private gathering in St. Louis, Missouri, Walker stated he was going to participate in midwestern states’ primaries rather than Florida’s, where Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio already have leverage. (Real Clear Politics)
- Politico reported on Wednesday the Koch brothers have barred Donald Trump from accessing voter data and analytics developed by i360 or joining in events like the Americans for Prosperity summit next month. (Politico)
Democrats
Lincoln Chafee
- While acknowledging Hillary Clinton’s frontrunner status in the Democratic primary, Lincoln Chafee said he was going to continue to pace himself while campaigning. “The reality is that Secretary Clinton has a huge head start, has all the endorsements and all the money, and the rest of us are scrambling,” Chafee said. “I’ve got to pace my budget. I’m not going into debt, not going to spend more than I raise.” (The New York Times)
- In a CNN interview on Tuesday, Chafee said foreign policy was the issue area where he and Clinton differed the most. “She’s a hawk. She’s more of the unilateral, muscular approach to the world, which is not working, obviously. And we just have to change that. I’m more of the internationalist, strong diplomatic core, working to prevent war. What I like to say is wage peace,” Chafee said. (CNN)
- Chafee insisted Democrats need to emphasize the role the GOP played in triggering instability in the Middle East. “I think it’s important for the Democratic party to make this chaos in the Middle East a Republican chaos. They were the ones that created Iraq and created all the problems now… ISIS, Boko Haram in Nigeria, it all started with the invasion of Iraq. Politically speaking, the Democratic party needs to show that’s a Republican mistake,” Chafee explained. (TIME)
Hillary Clinton
- After Hillary Clinton unveiled part of her climate change policy over the weekend, she received backlash for using a private jet to travel. On Tuesday, an aide to Clinton announced her campaign “will be carbon neutral” and will “be offsetting the carbon footprint and that includes travel.” Clinton had previously pledged to run a carbon neutral campaign in 2008. (CNN)
- House Speaker John Boehner (R) demanded Clinton “come clean” and release her private email server to the State Department’s inspector general on Tuesday following allegations her account held at least four emails with classified information. (Newsweek)
- Although Clinton continues to defend Planned Parenthood and the health services it provides following the release of undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood officials allegedly discussing the sale of fetal tissue from abortions, she stated in an interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader, “I have seen pictures from them and obviously find them disturbing.” (New Hampshire Union Leader)
Martin O’Malley
- Martin O’Malley is scheduled to visit Puerto Rico over the weekend, making him the first 2016 Democratic presidential candidate to campaign on the island. (The Washington Post)
Bernie Sanders
- Bernie Sanders questioned Hillary Clinton’s commitment to climate change given her neutral position on the Keystone XL pipeline. In a statement released on Tuesday, Sanders said, “I agree with Secretary Clinton about the need for substantial investment in sustainable energy. But that is not enough. We must make significant reductions in carbon emissions and break our dependency on fossil fuels. That is why I have helped lead the fight in the Senate against the Keystone pipeline which would transport some of the dirtiest fossil fuel in the world. It is hard for me to understand how one can be concerned about climate change but not vigorously oppose the Keystone pipeline.” (Politico, Bernie Sanders 2016)
- Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Sanders said he supported unionization and neutrality checks for the media. “It is hard to have a vibrant democracy, where people are hearing all kinds of ideas from different perspectives, when you have a handful of multinational corporations controlling the flow of information. And to a very significant degree, that is the case right now. For example, there have been studies out there taking a hard look at how the Trans-Pacific Partnership was covered and to the degree that it was covered. And the result is there was almost no coverage on network news about the most important trade agreement in the history of this country. Is that an accident? Who determined that the TPP, covering 40 percent of the world’s economy, was not a significant issue? So I very much worry about media consolidation. I think all workers in whatever area — it’s not just the media — do have a right to form a union without harassment on the part of their employers,” Sanders said. (The Washington Post)
Jim Webb
- Joining Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, and Mike Huckabee, Jim Webb will speak to the AFL-CIO Executive Council today in Maryland. (ABC News)
Republicans
Jeb Bush
- Conducting a telephone town hall on Tuesday, Jeb Bush discussed a diverse set of issues with New Hampshire residents. He advocated for Congress to reject the Iran nuclear deal with a veto-proof majority, increasing U.S. air support in ISIS-affected areas and encouraging local law enforcement to enforce the visa expirations of legal immigrants. (WMUR)
- The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday the names of several large donors to Bush’s super PAC, Right to Rise. These fundraisers, donating at least $1 million, include Brad Freeman, Alex Navab, Craig Duchossois, Ray Hunt and Steve Lessing. (The Wall Street Journal, International Business Times)
Ben Carson
- In an op-ed for The Washington Times, Ben Carson contended the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is “the ultimate example of regulatory overreach, a nanny state mechanism asserting its control over everyday Americans that they did not want, did not ask for and do not need.” Carson suggested the CFPB has wasted money to build an unnecessarily expensive headquarters and to create solutions to problems that do not exist, ultimately hurting consumer choice. (The Washington Times)
- Despite articles in The Atlantic and The Hill on Wednesday suggesting Carson has suffered the most for Donald Trump’s sharp rise in popularity, Carson maintains he benefited from Trump’s entry into the race. “He gets a lot more media attention. The things that we talk about are very similar,” Carson said, adding he believes Trump’s supporters will be drawn to other candidates who are not career politicians. (The Atlantic, The Hill, The Blaze)
Chris Christie
- Chris Christie unequivocally stated on Wednesday that marijuana would not be legal under a Christie administration. “If you’re getting high in Colorado today, enjoy it. As of January 2017, I will enforce the federal laws,” Christie said. (Politico)
- During a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Christie dismissed polling data from Monmouth University that suggested Donald Trump was attracting voters away from Christie. “First of all, it's a Monmouth University poll, so you guys should know by now that the Monmouth University polls [are] created just to aggravate me. Just look at Patrick Murray and his tweets, there couldn't be a less objective pollster about Chris Christie in America,” he said. (NJ.com)
- Although Christie has previously said he’s done discussing Trump, he suggested on Tuesday that Trump wouldn’t be “an effective president.” Christie added, “It hurts the credibility of the presidency. You have to have some experience in [the] actual difficulty of governing … You need to understand how you have to work with other people, how if you disagree with someone, you can’t just fire them.” (MSNBC)
Ted Cruz
- While some of his colleagues have called for a congressional investigation into Planned Parenthood, Ted Cruz said the Department of Justice should also investigate the organization to see if any federal laws were violated. By not doing so, Cruz suggested, “The Obama Justice Department is operating as little more than a partisan arm of the Democratic National Committee.” (Newsmax, The Washington Post)
Carly Fiorina
- In a radio interview on “The Howie Carr” show on Tuesday, Carly Fiorina compared Hillary Clinton’s email controversy to Tom Brady’s destruction of a cellphone following Deflategate. “Maybe Tom Brady learned how to wipe his phone clean by watching Hillary Clinton wipe her server clean. I mean, hey, if the secretary of state can just wipe out all relevant information on an investigation involving her, maybe Tom Brady decided, 'I can just wipe out all the text messages as an investigation swirls about me?’” Fiorina said. (Business Insider)
Lindsey Graham
- Lindsey Graham co-wrote an op-ed in The Des Moines Register on Wednesday to promote the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act he sponsored in the Senate. Calling America’s adoption of abortion a “radical policy” and comparing it to existing laws in countries like North Korea and the People’s Republic of China, Graham said legalizing abortion “was never chosen by the American people, and whenever given the opportunity to express their convictions, they reject that policy.” (The Des Moines Register)
Mike Huckabee
- When asked by Yahoo’s Katie Couric if he believed in climate change, Huckabee responded, “I think the climate’s been changing over the entire history of the earth.” Huckabee added that mankind “probably does” contribute to climate change, but dismissed its impact, saying, “A volcano in one blast will contribute more than 100 years of human activity.” (Yahoo, The Huffington Post)
John Kasich
- John Kasich suggested the media should move on from reporting allegations Donald Trump had sexually assaulted his ex-wife several decades ago. “Just leave him alone,” Kasich said, before suggesting that political dialogue should evolve. “Maybe the nature of the beast ought to change a little bit. You know, there are limits here. I'm sure that it is extremely painful for him, for his former wife, for his kids, and that shouldn't be what we're doing in this business.” (CNN)
Bobby Jindal
- Although Bobby Jindal condemned Mike Huckabee’s comments on the Iran nuclear agreement as “outlandish,” he maintained his strong disapproval of the terms of the deal. “We don’t get anytime, anywhere inspections. You have thousands of centrifuges left in Iran. Israel hates this deal. Assad in Syria loves this deal. So our enemies love this deal, our allies don’t like this deal. Israel is our most important ally. We need to be standing with Israel. Let’s look to the substance of this deal. This is a very, very bad deal,” Jindal said. (CBS News)
Rand Paul
- Rand Paul called on Hillary Clinton to refund at least $10,000 in donations from Planned Parenthood while speaking at an anti-abortion rally on Tuesday. “Hillary Clinton’s hands are stained by accepting this money. She needs to immediately return every red cent she has receive from Planned Parenthood employees,” Paul said. (The Washington Post)
Marco Rubio
- During a speech at Furman University in South Carolina on Tuesday, Marco Rubio said the United States should retaliate against cyberattacks. “If we’re going to be attacked in cyber by China, we have to show a willingness to do the same. And again, I don’t want to get into a cyber war. But I’m telling you unilateral disarmament only encourages other nations to do more of this. The Chinese today believe that the costs of cyber warfare are outweighed by the benefits. They think they gain more than lose, and they think they can get away with it,” Rubio explained. (Greenville News)
Rick Santorum
- Working Again, a super PAC supporting Rick Santorum, released an ad on Monday contrasting Santorum with Rand Paul and Mike Huckabee, calling him “the one conservative conservatives can trust.” (YouTube)
- Speaking at a campaign stop in South Carolina on Tuesday, Santorum highlighted the importance of communication to winning the presidential election. “You better be a good communicator. Since the 1970s … the best communicator has won, Democrat or Republican it doesn’t matter. The best communicator has won the election. We better be good and have someone who can connect with the American voter. … There is a large group of voters out there up for grabs that we haven’t gotten,” Santorum explained. (The Augusta Chronicle)
Donald Trump
- In a radio interview with Kevin Scholla of Mama Grizzly Radio, a station dedicated to covering news about Sarah Palin, Trump said he would “love” if Palin joined a hypothetical Trump administration. “She really is somebody that knows what's happening. She's a special person, she's really a special person. She's got a following that's unbelievable,” Trump said. (NBC News)
- Speaking with FOX News’ Greta van Susteren on Tuesday, Trump stated he took no issues with Huckabee’s Holocaust analogy regarding the Iran nuclear deal. “I think he's a very good guy, Huckabee, by the way, and I'm really OK with it. Some people are saying, 'Oh, the tone,' and I saw Jeb Bush, who I also think is a nice person, but it's not about tone. I mean, they're chopping off Christians' heads in Syria and lots of other places and we're worried about tone. I think what Mike has done is he has hit a nerve and he's made people think a little bit,” Trump said. (Bloomberg)
- Elizabeth Beck, an attorney who deposed Donald Trump in 2011, accused Trump of having a “meltdown” after she requested they take a break so she could pump breast milk. An attorney for Trump, Allen Garten, alleged Trump called Beck “disgusting” because she had attempted to use her breast pump in the deposition room. (CNN)
Scott Walker
- According to the latest Economist/YouGov poll, four in ten Republicans have confidence in Scott Walker’s ability to manage an international crisis. Notably, a third of respondents stated they did not know whether to characterize Walker as a conservative, moderate or liberal. (YouGov)
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
