Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - March 9, 2016
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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
- In a major upset over Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders won the Michigan Democratic primary on Tuesday. Polling in early March and late February showed Clinton with a lead over Sanders ranging from 11 to more than 30 points. Sanders won 50 to 48 percent. According to exit poll data, 58 percent of Democratic primary voters in Michigan said international trade "takes away U.S. jobs." Sanders, who has taken stances against international trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, won a majority of those voters. In the Republican primary, Donald Trump beat Ted Cruz, 37 percent to 25 percent. (Ballotpedia)
- Clinton and Trump had resounding victories in Mississippi. Clinton won 83 percent of the Democratic vote and Trump won 47 percent of the Republican vote. (Ballotpedia)
- Republican primary contests were also held in two other states. Ted Cruz won the Idaho primary with 45 percent of the vote, defeating Trump by 17 points. In the Hawaii caucuses, Trump was the victor with 42 percent of the vote. (The New York Times, The New York Times)
Polls
- According to a CNN/ORC poll released on Wednesday, Donald Trump leads Marco Rubio in Florida, 40 percent to 24 percent. He also narrowly beats John Kasich in his home state of Ohio, 41 percent to 35 percent. In the Democratic race, Clinton tops Sanders by 27 points in Florida and 30 points in Ohio. (CNN)
- Quinnipiac University found Clinton ahead of Sanders in Florida by a 30-point margin, in a poll released on Wednesday. The race in Ohio was closer by their measure with Clinton leading Sanders, 52 percent to 43 percent. (Quinnipiac University)
- According to an ABC News/Washington Post general election matchup released on Wednesday, Clinton leads Trump by nine points, 50 percent to 41 percent. (ABC News)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- The Washington Post published a debrief explaining why Hillary Clinton lost in Michigan despite a double-digit advantage in the polls leading up to the primary and what that result could mean for other Rust Belt states like Ohio. “It gets to the key distinction that Sanders has been hammering for months, that he will address economic insecurity and that Clinton won't. Trade in Michigan is a very specific iteration of that issue. But it's clearly a point of weakness for Clinton. In a recent national poll, the thing people worried about most with Clinton's candidacy was her connection to Wall Street. That probably didn't do her much good in Michigan,” wrote Philip Bump. (The Washington Post)
- Clinton spoke against the tipped minimum wage last week during a rally in New York. “We are the only industrialized country in the world that requires tipped workers to take their income in tips instead of wages,” she said. (BuzzFeed)
- Discussing the conflict between Apple and the FBI on Monday, Clinton said it was a “dilemma” without a clear solution. “There has got to be some way to protect the privacy of data information. There has got to be some way to avoid breaking data encryption and opening the door to a lot of bad actors. But there has to be some way to follow up on criminal activity and prevent crimes and terrorism,” she said. (Bloomberg)
Bernie Sanders
- Bernie Sanders filed a lawsuit against Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) seeking to allow 17-year-olds to vote in the state’s presidential primary. "The secretary of state has decided to disenfranchise people who are 17 but will be 18 by the day of the general election. Those people have been allowed to vote under the law of Ohio, but the secretary of state of the state of Ohio has decided to disenfranchise those people to forbid them from voting in the primary that is coming up on March 15," Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager, said. (CNN)
- On Tuesday, three superdelegates from Vermont pledged to support Sanders at the Democratic National Convention. (Politico)
- The Sanders campaign opened its sixth office in Ohio on Tuesday. (Cincinnati.com)
Republicans
Ted Cruz
- Neil Bush, the brother of former President George W. Bush and former Gov. Jeb Bush, joined Ted Cruz’s national finance team on Tuesday. (USA Today)
- While campaigning in North Carolina on Tuesday afternoon, Cruz criticized Donald Trump for asking his supporters to take an oath to support him “like subjects to a king.” He also dismissed Trump’s criticism of his faith, saying, “When he goes down to attacking people’s faith, you can tell that Donald is worried. Donald is upset.” (The Charlotte Observer)
- Cruz’s campaign announced on Tuesday that it had raised more than $70 million. In the past five weeks alone, $15 million was donated. (The Wall Street Journal)
John Kasich
- John Kasich denied on Tuesday that he had told Michigan supporters that he needed to do well in their state or he would “have to roll up the carpets and go back.” When pressed by reporters, Kasich said that he often spoke without a teleprompter. “Do I want to do well in Michigan? Of course I do. I’m going to Ohio, O.K.? Let’s not be confused. And I’m going to win Ohio. End of story,” he added. (The New York Times)
- Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, recorded a robocall for Kasich in Ohio. Practically identical to the statement he made in a similar call for Marco Rubio in Florida, Romney says, “These are critical times that demand a serious, thoughtful commander in chief. If we Republicans were to choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future would be greatly diminished, and I’m convinced Donald Trump would lose to Hillary Clinton.” (The New York Times)
- Kasich was asked in a radio interview on Tuesday if he had ever smoked marijuana. He responded, “I mean, I did, but let me ask you this: What is the relevance of what I might have done 30 years ago? I mean, this is not what matters when we pick a president. … But there’s gonna be a limit to the kind of ‘gotcha’ questions I’m gonna answer as we go forward in this campaign.” He added that he believed the legalization of marijuana “is a very, very bad thing to do.” (Marijuana.com)
Marco Rubio
- On Tuesday, Marco Rubio accused Ted Cruz’s campaign of spreading the story published by CNN that his advisers were encouraging him to drop out. He said, “It is just false. They just made it up. There’s no other way to describe it other than the fact that they made it up. And in fact they have now gone back and said they have one source, not in the campaign, but someone who knows someone who knows someone. … It ain’t true, it is a lie, and unfortunately looks like Ted Cruz’s campaign is putting out emails in places like Hawaii, telling people about it, and you saw that with Ben Carson earlier. It’s just not true.” (BuzzFeed)
- Rubio and U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) sent a letter to the Departments of Human and Health Services (HHS) and the Treasury on Tuesday to request an explanation for why the HHS was not reallocating reinsurance collections to the Treasury as Affordable Care Act regulations provided. “We are again disappointed with the Administration’s willingness to unlawfully direct money to health insurers at taxpayers’ expense,” Rubio and Hatch wrote. (The Hill)
- The pro-Rubio Conservative Solutions PAC reported a $5 million ad buy in Florida on Tuesday night. Its newest ad, “Believe,” uses a quote from former President Ronald Reagan to frame the story of Rubio’s “American dream.” (The Washington Post)
Donald Trump
- The Huffington Post reported that several billionaires and leaders from the technology sector gathered with Republican establishment leadership earlier this week to discuss Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy. The following men were reportedly in attendance: Apple chief executive Tim Cook, Google co-founder Larry Page, Facebook investor Sean Parker, SpaceX founder Elon Musk, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Speaker Paul Ryan and strategist Karl Rove. (The Huffington Post)
- Trump released a three-minute video on Monday to “set the record straight” about Trump University and its legal challenges. He argued that people were satisfied with the course: “We have 98 percent of the people that took the courses where they have reports like this where they, for some reason, signed report card at the end, which I think is a great idea and a great thing that they did. But when they are on the stand they will be shown and shown these reports.” (The Huffington Post)
- In a statement released by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) on Tuesday regarding Trump University, the consumer protection organization stated, “During the period when Trump University appeared to be active in the marketplace, BBB received multiple customer complaints about this business. These complaints affected the Trump University BBB rating, which was as low as D- in 2010. As the company appeared to be winding down, after 2013, no new complaints were reported. Complaints over three years old automatically rolled off of the Business Review, according to BBB policy. As a result, over time, Trump University’s BBB rating went to an A in July 2014 and then to an A+ in January 2015.” (Better Business Bureau)
- When asked in an interview with local television station WKYC on Tuesday if he would consider John Kasich for vice president, Trump said he would “certainly” do so. He added, however, that Kasich must “start working quickly, because he's way, way down. He hasn't won anything. He's bottom of the barrel right now." (THV11.com)
Third Party Candidates
Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party)
- The Libertarian Party held its second presidential debate on Monday. The Libertarian Republic said of Gary Johnson’s performance that “he continued to show why he is the front-runner and probable nominee. He was calm and able to explain his positions with clarity. His strongest claims came when he was able to draw upon his record as Governor of New Mexico.” (The Libertarian Republic)
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
