Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - March 4, 2016
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Friday's Leading Stories
- At the end of last night’s Republican debate in Detroit, Michigan, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich all agreed to support the GOP presidential nominee. Trump said, “Even if it's not me? ... Yes, I will. Yes. I will.” (The Washington Post)
- According to a Ballotpedia Insider’s Poll, John Kasich was the “biggest winner” of last night’s debate. “Ohio Gov. John Kasich finally connected with Republicans who have tended to dismiss his presidential bid.” (Ballotpedia)
- On Thursday, Mitt Romney delivered a speech about Donald Trump that was characterized as “blistering,” “scorching” and meant to “embarrass and humiliate” Trump. Romney criticized Trump’s businesses, his lack of foreign policy knowledge, his character, his wealth, his lack of morality and his admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Romney said, “Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He's playing the American public for suckers. He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat.” (The Hill, NBC News)
- Trump responded to Romney’s attack, saying, “I backed Mitt Romney, you can see how loyal he is. He was begging for my endorsement. I could have said ‘Mitt, drop to your knees.’ He would have dropped to his knees. … He failed horribly. … I’m a much, much better businessman than him. … It was very nasty. I thought he was a better person than that.” (The New York Times)
- New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez endorsed Marco Rubio on Thursday. In a statement, she said, “Marco Rubio is a compelling leader who can unite the country around conservative principles that will improve the lives of all Americans. The stakes for our great country are too high — and the differences between the candidates too great — for me to remain neutral in this race. I wholeheartedly trust Marco to keep us safe and ensure a better tomorrow.” Martinez will campaign with Rubio in Kansas today and in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday. According to CNN, Martinez is “considered by pundits as a potential vice presidential nominee regardless of who wins the GOP nomination.” (CNN, Politico)
- On Thursday, the United Farm Workers, “the largest farmworkers union in the country,” endorsed Hillary Clinton. United Farm Workers President Arturo S. Rodriguez said, "Hillary Clinton has the strong resolve needed to make change happen. And she is the best equipped to defeat the nativist, hateful forces of the current Republican front-runner." (Associated Press)
Polls
- According to a Trafalgar Group poll released on Thursday, Donald Trump leads Ted Cruz 44 percent to 26 percent among likely Republican voters in Louisiana. Rubio and Kasich follow with 15 percent and 5 percent, respectively. (Trafalgar Group)
- A Magellan Strategies poll released on Thursday revealed that Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders 61 percent to 14 percent among likely Louisiana Democratic primary voters. On the Republican side, Trump leads Cruz 41 percent to 21 percent. Rubio and Kasich follow with 15 percent and 9 percent, respectively. (Magellan Strategies)
Democrats
- On Thursday, Fox News’ Bret Baier announced that Sanders will participate in a one-hour “town-hall-style broadcast” in Detroit, Michigan, on March 7, the day before Michigan’s primary election. According to The New York Times, “The Clinton campaign was invited, but ‘is unable to attend due to a conflict in her campaign schedule.’” (The New York Times)
Hillary Clinton
- According to a study conducted by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, “Clinton’s tax plan would raise taxes on the 1 percent by an average of $78,000 per person while keeping taxes for the rest of Americans largely the same.” In addition, her “plan would generate $1 trillion in additional revenue for the government over the first decade and an additional $2 trillion over the next 20 years. Yet three-quarters of those additional funds will come from the top 1 percent of earners. … The top 1 percent — those who earn more than $732,000 a year — would see their taxes increase by an average of $78,284 in 2017… The top 0.1 percent, or those with incomes of over $3.8 million, would see their taxes increase by an average of $519,741. The bottom 20 percent of earners, or those making $23,000 or less, would see their taxes go up by $4 a year in 2017. The middle quintile, or those making $80,000 to $142,000, would see their taxes go up by $44 a year. And the top 20 percent, who make $209,000 or more, would see an average tax hike of $4,527.” (CNBC)
- According to CNN, “Bryan Pagliano, the former State Department staffer who helped set up Hillary Clinton's private email server, began his cooperation with the FBI and the Justice Department under an immunity deal late last year after initially rebuffing investigators, according to a U.S. law enforcement official. The FBI has done at least one interview with him, and under the cooperation agreement, he may be asked to do more interviews.” (CNN)
- On Thursday, Clinton released a video on Twitter mocking the Republican presidential candidates for fighting with each other, while promoting the “kindness and unity” of the Democratic candidates. (CNN)
Bernie Sanders
- During a campaign event at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on Thursday, Bernie Sanders criticized the Democratic and Republican frontrunners. He criticized Hillary Clinton for taking “several months” to make a decision about the Keystone XL Pipeline. He said, “Now, the main opposition to the Keystone pipeline was kind of a no-brainer. If you believe in climate change, why in God’s earth would you think about supporting the excavation and the transportation of some of the dirtiest fossil fuel in the world?” He also criticized Donald Trump saying, “What Trump is doing is what demagogues have always done, and that is you scapegoat minorities — people who are fairly helpless or who are poor. Some Latino working in a kitchen someplace, making $8 an hour, is not the cause of your problem. The cause of your problem is corporate greed, it’s Wall Street.” (Omaha.com)
Republicans
- The following comments from last night’s GOP debate in Detroit, Michigan, are from a transcript prepared by The Washington Post.
Ben Carson
- Ben Carson qualified for last night’s debate, but he decided not to participate. (The New York Times)
- During an interview with Katie Couric on Thursday, Carson did not say if he is going to drop out of the race, but he noted that he would address the future of his campaign at the Conservative Political Action Conference today. He also told Couric that he hopes voters will focus on issues and not the feuds between the candidates. He said, “I want people to start thinking about the real issues that are threatening America right now. Those issues are not how big someone’s hands are or how long someone’s nose is. If there were a good path forward I would certainly take it, but there isn’t. And I would say, please look at the policies of each one of the candidates and see which ones really align well with your thinking, and go with the one that is closest to thinking the way that you do.” Carson did not endorse anyone during the interview “but promised to support the primary’s eventual winner,” according to Yahoo. (Yahoo)
- During an interview on “The Alan Colmes Show,” on Thursday, Armstrong Williams, Carson’s advisor, said that Carson is done with politics. Williams said, “No political, no politics in his career going forward.” When Colmes asked, “Really? He doesn’t want to do this again, he’s done with politics,” Williams replied, “Done, brother, done.” (Fox News)
Ted Cruz
- On how taxes will be collected if he abolishes the IRS: “So my simple flat tax I have rolled out in precise detail how it will operate where every American can fill out our taxes on a postcard. And if you want to actually see the postcard, see all the details, you can find them on our Web site. It's tedcruz.org. When he we get rid of all the corporate welfare, all the subsidies, all the carve-outs in the IRS code, it dramatically simplifies it. And under Obama, the IRS has become so corrupt and so politicized we need to abolish it all together. Now, at the end of that there will still be an office in the Treasury Department to receive the postcards but it will be dramatically simpler.”
- On reversing his position on foreign worker visas: “Well, the abuse of the H1-B program has been rampant. On the face of that H1-B abuse, I have proposed, and promised as president that I will impose a 180 day moratorium on the H1B program to implement a comprehensive investigation and audit because you got U.S. companies that are firing American workers, bringing in foreign workers, and forcing them to train their replacements. And, I would note that is not dissimilar to what we discovered at the last debate concerning the hotel that Donald owns down in Florida. Down in Florida that hotel has brought in hundreds of foreign workers, and afterwards it was really striking. I watched the CNN interview Donald did where he explained, he said, well the problem is you can't find Americans who are qualified, or who want to work as waiters and waitresses. Now, let me ask the people here, how many people have worked as a waiter or waitress? Millions across this country. That is an astonishing statement. You know, Marco's Dad started as a bartender. My Dad started washing dishes, and yet, you know how many Americans wanted those jobs? Roughly 300 applied, Donald hired 17. And, that's why this New York Times tape is so troubling because what's been reported is that Donald told the Editorial Board of the New York Times what I'm saying on immigration, I don't believe. I'm not going to build a wall, I'm not going to deport people, this is all just rhetoric for the voters. Now, if he didn't say that, he has an easy solution. Simply release the tape. But, for everyone at home who's mad at politicians that lied to us, Donald's record right now as he standing here… His record right now is one of repeatedly hiring illegal aliens...abusing (ph) American workers…”
- On bringing manufacturing jobs back to America: “The way you bring manufacturing back to America is, number one, you lift the regulations. As president, I will repeal Obamacare, the biggest job-killer in America. I will pull back the federal regulators, the EPA and all the regulators that are killing small businesses and manufacturing. And my tax plan, which is a very, very detailed plan on the website, tedcruz.org, is what's called border adjustable. We get rid of all the taxes. We get rid of the corporate income tax and the death tax and the Obamacare taxes and the payroll tax. And we replace it with a 16 percent business flat tax that is border adjustable, which means all exports are entirely tax-free and all imports pay the 16 percent business flat tax. That's a 32 percent differential. What that will do, Chris, is bring millions of manufacturing jobs back to this country, bring the steel industry back to this country, create an environment where when we compete on a fair and level playing field, American ingenuity can beat anyone. But right now, the federal government isn't giving us a level playing field.”
John Kasich
- On whether the federal government should bail out the Detroit schools: “Well, look, first of all, I think the mayor now is controlling the schools. This is not much different than what happened in Cleveland, Ohio, where the African-American Democrat mayor, the union, and business leaders came to see me and said, ‘Would you help us to pass legislation to really create a CEO environment so that we can take control of the schools?’ We even invested in a buyout plan, where we bought out the teachers who had been there a long time, because there were so many young teachers who had been laid off who were so enthusiastic to get back in the schools. It worked beautifully. Cleveland's coming back. The Cleveland schools are coming back because of a major overhaul. It's the same thing that has to happen in all of our urban schools. And, frankly, look, if I were president, I'd take 104 federal programs, bundle them into four buckets, and send it to the states, because fixing schools rests at the state and the local level, and particularly at the school board level. Now, I also believe -- I also believe that you need to introduce vocational education in those schools. You need mentoring in those schools. And you need to have a situation where people can have an alternative forum to get a degree. And you need school choice, both vouchers and charter schools. All of those things can come together to help, Megyn. But here's the bottom line. And I'll go quickly. We as adults have to fight in our neighborhoods, in our communities, for our children's education. Put the politics aside, and everyone in this room can play a role in lifting their schools and lifting the students who are in those schools, because too much politics gets in the middle of it, and where we focus as adults, and put children first, we see tremendous results. And the people of this town are going to rise. And they need to be involved. Thank you.”
- On whether gay marriage dissenters have rights: “Well, look, first of all, I try to be a man of faith every day as best as I can, and I try to focus in my faith on the dos and I think the don'ts will take care of themselves once I get the dos right, which is humility, and loving my enemy, and caring for my neighbor. But secondly, look, you're in the commerce business, you want to sell somebody a cupcake, great. OK? But now if they ask you to participate in something you really don't like, that's a whole 'nother issue, OK? Another issue. Here's what I'd like to see happen. The Supreme Court ruled, I don't agree with the ruling. I'm of favor of marriage between -- you know, traditional marriage, a man and a woman. What I hope was going to happen after the Supreme Court ruling is things would settle down. If you go to a photographer to take pictures at your wedding, and he says, I'd rather not do it, find another photographer, don't sue them in court. You know what, the problem is in our country -- in our country, we need to learn to respect each other and be a little bit more tolerant for one another. And at the end of the day, don't go to court. Can't we have common sense in America? That's the way it used to be. And there was a book written called "The Death of Common Sense." We need to bring it back. But at the end of the day, if somebody is being pressured to participate in something that is against their deeply-held religious beliefs, then we're going to have to think about dealing with the law. But you know what, I'd rather people figure this out without having to put another law on the books and have more arguments in this country. Why don't we come together as a country, respect one another, love one another and lift this country? I think that's what people want.”
- On foreign policy: “In Russia, we need to tell them we're going to arm the Ukrainians with defensive lethal weapons. And we're going to tell Putin if you attack anybody in Eastern Europe in NATO, you attack Finland and Sweden, which is not in NATO, consider it an attack on us. And he will understand that. Secondly, I would tell the Chinese you don't own the South China Sea. Stop hacking us. And we're going to beef up our cyber command. And we're going to be in a position to be able to take out your systems if you continue to do this. Now let's move over into the Middle East. The Egyptians, they know they're on their last legs there because of the attack from ISIS. The Jordanians are -- really have been our friends. They know that they are at risk. So do the Saudis. So do the Gulf states. They are our allies, really, or have similar aims, we need to bring them closer to us. Turkey a critical avenue to the Middle East. We have to bring them towards the West, and not towards the East. And we have a joint, good human intelligence. That is called a semi-trip around the world. And if you gave me more time, I'd finish the trip.”
Marco Rubio
- On the Flint water crisis: “What happened in Flint was a terrible thing. It was systemic breakdown at every level of government, at both the federal and partially the -- both the state and partially at the federal level, as well. And by the way, the politicizing of it I think is unfair, because I don't think that someone woke up one morning and said, ‘Let's figure out how to poison the water system to hurt someone.’ But accountability is important. I will say, I give the governor credit. He took responsibility for what happened. And he's talked about people being held accountable...and the need for change, with Governor Snyder. But here's the point. This should not be a partisan issue. The way the Democrats have tried to turn this into a partisan issue, that somehow Republicans woke up in the morning and decided, ‘Oh, it's a good idea to poison some kids with lead.’ It's absurd. It's outrageous. It isn't true. All of us are outraged by what happened. And we should work together to solve it. And there is a proper role for the government to play at the federal level, in helping local communities to respond to a catastrophe of this kind, not just to deal with the people that have been impacted by it, but to ensure that something like this never happens again.”
- On the Second Amendment: “The Second Amendment, as I've said before, is not a suggestion. It is the constitutional right of every American to protect themselves and their families. It is a right that -- it is the Second Amendment for a reason. It is right after the defense of the freedom of speech for a reason, for clearly the founders of our nation understood and the framers of the Constitution understood that you cannot have life and you cannot have liberty and cannot pursue happiness if you are not safe. And the Second Amendment -- when people talk about gun laws, what they need to realize is, criminals don't follow gun laws. They're criminals. By definition, they ignore the law. But the gun rights of Americans, if you are talking to a law- abiding citizen and a gun-owner like myself, if you pass a law, I will follow whatever the law is. A criminal will not do it. They will continue to pursue these guns on the black market, where they then go out and commit crimes and they steal guns from each other. Gun laws are not effective. They simply do not provide for safety. But they do, however, ensure that law-abiding people don't have access to weapons to protect themselves and guns to protect themselves, but criminals always will be well armed. They don't care about the law; they don't follow the law. We will protect the Second Amendment when I'm president of the United States.”
- On why Trump is unprepared to be commander-in-chief: “Well, first of all, I think, as we've seen throughout this campaign, Donald has not shown a seriousness about the issues of foreign policy. He just simply hasn't. Whether it was the structure of our military, even today he was asked a question about the issue of commanders not following his lead on killing the family of terrorists. And his answer basically was, if I tell them to do it, they're going to do it. Now that's just not true. Foreign policy is not only consequential, I think much of our future now depends on it. You know, I see a lot of young people at my events around the country. I feel great when they come. And I always them that despite the hardships of the moment, I honestly believe that today's Millennials have a chance to be the greatest generation we've had in 100 years. I really do. Because the world today has hundreds of millions of people that can afford to be their clients, their customers, their partners, people they collaborate with. But that won't happen if the world is dangerous and it's unstable. And that will require strong American leadership. The next president of the United States is going to have eight years of a mess of a foreign policy to clean up. That's why it can't be Hillary Clinton. And quite frankly, that's why it can't be someone who simply has not shown the intellectual curiosity or the interest in learning about these very complicated issues. And Donald simply hasn't.”
Donald Trump
- On what he would cut to make up for his proposed tax cut: “Department of Education. We're cutting Common Core. We're getting rid of Common Core. We're bringing education locally. Department of Environmental Protection. We are going to get rid are of it in almost every form. We're going to have little tidbits left but we're going to take a tremendous amount out. We have various other things. If you look at the IRS, if you look at every single agency, we can cut it down, and I mean really cut it down and save. The waste, fraud, and abuse is massive. Larry Kudlow, great guy, everybody respects him, said my plan for taxes and tax cutting is the best by far of everybody.”
- On writing checks to Hillary Clinton for her 2008 presidential bid: “Actually, it was for business. It was. It was. It was for business. I pride myself, including outside of the United States. I'm doing almost 120 deals outside of the -- which I hope to be able to stop very soon and let my children handle it -- but we're doing many, many deals outside of the United States. I support politicians. In 2008, I supported Hillary Clinton. I supported many other people, by the way. And that was because of the fact that I'm in business. I did support very heavily Ronald Reagan. I also supported George Bush, by the way.”
- On whether he will release the New York Times off-the-record tapes that allegedly reveal his “flexibility” on immigration: “No. I never do that. I would not do that. I don't think -- I have too much respect -- if I deal with you off the record, if I deal with Bret or Chris off the record, I have too much respect for that process to say, just release everything. I would not do that.”
- On what he would do if the U.S. military refused to carry out his proposed orders to target terrorists' families and use extreme interrogation methods, which are illegal: “They won't refuse. They're not going to refuse me. Believe me. Let me just tell you, you look at the Middle East. They're chopping off heads. They're chopping off the heads of Christians and anybody else that happens to be in the way. They're drowning people in steel cages. And he -- now we're talking about waterboarding. This really started with Ted, a question was asked of Ted last -- two debates ago about waterboarding. And Ted was, you know, having a hard time with that question, to be totally honest with you. They then came to me, what do you think of waterboarding? I said it's fine. And if we want to go stronger, I'd go stronger, too, because, frankly… that's the way I feel. Can you imagine -- can you imagine these people, these animals over in the Middle East, that chop off heads, sitting around talking and seeing that we're having a hard problem with waterboarding? We should go for waterboarding and we should go tougher than waterboarding. That's my opinion. … And -- and -- and -- I'm a leader. I'm a leader. I've always been a leader. I've never had any problem leading people. If I say do it, they're going to do it. That's what leadership is all about. … Well, look, you know, when a family flies into the World Trade Center, a man flies into the World Trade Center, and his family gets sent back to where they were going -- and I think most of you know where they went -- and, by the way, it wasn't Iraq -- but they went back to a certain territory, they knew what was happening. The wife knew exactly what was happening. They left two days early, with respect to the World Trade Center, and they went back to where they went, and they watched their husband on television flying into the World Trade Center, flying into the Pentagon, and probably trying to fly into the White House, except we had some very, very brave souls on that third plane. All right?”
Third Party Candidates
Jill Stein (Green Party)
- Jill Stein discussed student loan debt, climate change and drastic changes in the political system during a speech at the University of Illinois on Wednesday night. Stein said, “We need really deep systemic change. And a different way forward based on democracy, justice, and human rights, and a different kind of world that puts people, planet and peace over profit, instead of profit over everything else. … This is not about sitting back and waiting 10 or 20 years for change to be built up. We really need profound, substantive, transformative change, and remember we have the numbers to make it happen. And the power to create that world, it’s not just in our hopes, like some campaigns have told us, it’s not just in our dreams, it’s right here, right now, it’s in our hands, let’s make it happen.” (The Daily Illini)
Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party)
- Gary Johnson spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday. He asked the audience to get him on the presidential debate stage and to Google him. He said, “A request to all of you — you have the ability to do this: get me in the presidential debates. Get the Libertarian nominee for president in the presidential debates.” He also said, “Google me — Gary Johnson. If you’re serious about reducing the size and scope of government, I’m your guy.” (The Washington Times)
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
