Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - May 11, 2016
From Ballotpedia
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Wednesday's Leading Stories
- On Tuesday night, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump won their respective party primaries in West Virginia. Trump also won the Nebraska GOP primary. (Ballotpedia)
- Sanders won West Virginia with 51.4 percent of the vote, and he picked up 16 delegates. Hillary Clinton earned 36 percent of the vote, and she picked up 11 delegates. (Ballotpedia)!
- Trump won West Virginia with 76.7 percent of the vote, and he picked up 3 delegates. (Ballotpedia)
- According to Ballotpedia senior writer James A. Barnes, “Further evidence of the excitement around Trump’s candidacy is that Republicans set a new record for turnout, even though they didn’t have a competitive race. West Virginia Republicans beat their previous high mark of 155,692 set in 1976, when Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan were locked in a tight battle for the Republican presidential nomination. When all the votes are tallied the 2016 GOP turnout is likely to break 190,000 and could exceed 200,000. Democratic turnout in West Virginia was likely to fall more than 100,000 short of the 359,854 mark set in 2008. (The modern Democratic high mark was 372,577 set in 1976.)” (Ballotpedia)
- Trump won Nebraska with 61.4 percent of the vote, and he picked up 36 delegates. (Ballotpedia)
- After winning West Virginia’s Democratic primary election last night, Sanders said in a statement, "We fully acknowledge we have an uphill climb ahead of us, but we're used to that. We have been fighting uphill from the day this campaign began. And after all the votes are cast and counted and this contest moves to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, the delegates will decide which candidate is the strongest nominee to take on Donald Trump in November. All of the evidence indicates that I am that candidate." (CBS News)
- After winning West Virginia and Nebraska’s Republican primary elections last night, Trump said, "It is a great honor to have won both West Virginia and Nebraska, especially by such massive margins. My time spent in both states was a wonderful and enlightening experience for me. I learned a lot, and that knowledge will be put to good use towards the creation of businesses, jobs, and the strengthening and revival of their economies." (CBS News)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton proposed allowing Americans to buy into Medicare before the age of 65, the current age to receive healthcare coverage under the program. Clinton said, “I’m also in favor of what’s called the public option, so that people can buy into Medicare at a certain age.” She added that “‘people 55 or 50 and up,’ could voluntarily pay to join the program.” (The New York Times)
- According to The Hill, “Facebook employees as individuals have donated more than $114,000 to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton this election cycle, by far the most of any presidential candidate.” Earlier this week, a Gizmodo report found that Facebook was suppressing content from conservative news sources, an allegation Facebook has denied. (The Hill, The New York Times)
- According to The Washington Times, Clinton has received $73,437 in political donations during the 2016 presidential cycle from U.S. Justice Department officials, while Bernie Sanders has received $8,900, and Donald Trump has received $381. David Bossie, president of the watchdog group Citizens United, commented on the donations, saying, “I’m not surprised in the least to see more evidence that shows the politicization of the Justice Department. How can Democrat political appointees fairly investigate someone who is about to become their nominee for president?” (The Washington Times)
- According to CNN, Clinton is targeting suburban, female voters by discussing “kitchen table issues like backing universal pre-kindergarten, rolling out a plan for affordable childcare and touting her position on equal pay for women” in small events in Kentucky and Virginia. During one event, Clinton said, “[I]f people are going to talk about family values -- something Republicans routinely do -- ‘then we have to value families.’ … And no family should have to pay more than 10 percent of their income on childcare. … It is the most important job that any of us can do and we are making it really expensive and very difficult. We need to do more to help provide quality childcare like what we are seeing here." (CNN)
- On Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden said, “I feel confident that Hillary will be the nominee, and I feel confident she’ll be the next president.” (ABC News)
Bernie Sanders
- On Tuesday night, after winning West Virginia’s primary, Bernie Sanders discussed income inequality and criticized Hillary Clinton. According to The Oregonian, “Sanders noted that the Waltons, who own Walmart, are one of the richest families in the country. He added that Walmart employees are sometimes paid so little that they have to seek public assistance in the form of food stamps and Medicaid to make ends meet. He closed the anecdote by saying that one of the Waltons has donated ‘thousands and thousands of dollars’ to Clinton's campaign. Addressing the Walton family directly, Sanders added this zinger: ‘Instead of making campaign contributions to Secretary Clinton, pay your workers a living wage.’” (The Oregonian)
- During a campaign rally on Tuesday in Stockton, California, Sanders blamed the city’s job losses on Wall Street. Sanders said, “It looks to me like Stockton is ready for a political revolution. Stockton is a community that has many problems. They’re not alone in this country. Many cities in America are facing enormous problems. … People of Stockton know Wall Street very, very well. You know what Wall Street’s greed, recklessness and illegal behavior have done to this community.” (KCRA.com)
- On Thursday, Sanders will hold a campaign event in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. (Argus Leader)
- On Friday, Sanders will host a rally in Fargo, North Dakota. According to Valley News Live, he will “discuss a wide range of issues, including getting big money out of politics, his plan to make public colleges and universities tuition-free, combating climate change and ensuring universal health care.” (Valley News Live)
Republicans
- During an interview on Tuesday, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said it is a "stupid" idea for conservative Republicans to draft someone to challenge Donald Trump. When asked if he had spoken with conservative leaders about challenging Trump, Priebus said, "No, I have not talked to Mitt Romney or [Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska]. I don't believe it for a second. And you know what, in some ways, maybe I should talk to them about it, but on the other hand, ... I'm not gonna give any gas to that fire. … All it will do is ensure a liberal Supreme Court for generations. I think that people will understand pretty shortly that this isn't a game. This is about the future of the country and we need to make sure that we have the White House." (U.S. News)
- On Tuesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan discussed the lack of unity in the Republican Party. He said, “We shouldn’t just pretend our party is unified when we know it is not. We can’t fake it, we can’t pretend. We have to actually unify.” Ryan and Trump will meet on Thursday to discuss how to bring members of the party together. (The Wall Street Journal)
- On Tuesday, Ted Cruz ruled out a third-party presidential bid. He said, "I have no interest in a third-party run. … Listen, we have suspended the campaign because I can see no viable path to victory. But let's be clear: We're not going to win Nebraska today." (The Hill)
Donald Trump
- Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, will oversee Trump’s vice presidential selection process. Ben Carson, who created a list of possible vice presidential candidates for Trump, will step away from the process and focus on preparing Trump for his meeting with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), according to Armstrong Williams, Carson’s business manager. Williams said, “What Trump wanted from Carson were names of who he would recommend for a potential candidate. He was among several other people making recommendations. Once those names were submitted, they decided to have [Corey] Lewandowski head up. … That vetting process is a long process and a tedious process. Now Carson is involved in making sure that everything goes well with Thursday’s meeting.” Carson will have a phone conversation with Ryan before Ryan’s meeting with Trump on Thursday. (The Daily Beast, The Washington Post)
- London’s newly elected mayor, Sadiq Khan, who is the first Muslim to hold the office, criticized Trump’s plan to ban all Muslims from entering the country “until political leaders can ‘figure out what is going on’ with jihadist terrorism.” Kahn wrote on Twitter, “Trump’s ignorant view of Islam could make both our countries less safe. It risks alienating mainstream Muslims. London has proved him wrong.” (The New York Times)
- On Tuesday, Trump posted an Instagram video showing the 2012 terror attack in Benghazi, Libya, and a laughing Hillary Clinton is heard while the images play. “At the end of the video, a clip is shown of Clinton laughing overlaid on burning images, with a voice heard saying: ‘I don't know why that's funny.’ The video ends with the text: ‘Never forget!’” according to The Hill. The clip of her laughing is from her 2012 testimony before the House Select Committee on Benghazi. (The Hill)
- William Johnson, “a prominent white nationalist leader,” was chosen by Trump’s campaign as a California delegate. When Mother Jones asked the campaign about Johnson on Tuesday, they received the following statement: “Yesterday the Trump campaign submitted its list of California delegates to be certified by the Secretary of State of California. A database error led to the inclusion of a potential delegate that had been rejected and removed from the campaign's list in February 2016.” Mother Jones then contacted Johnson to ask him about the database error. Johnson said, "I accept Trump's explanation. I don't want to gainsay the Trump campaign. If I am not removed from the database, I will resign." According to Mother Jones, “Although the Trump campaign blamed a ‘database error’ for including Johnson as a delegate, the campaign corresponded with him personally just over 24 hours ago.” (Mother Jones)
- On Tuesday, Trump said that he will likely not accept public financing for his general election campaign. He said, "I think I've ruled it out. I don't like the idea of taking taxpayer money to run a campaign. I think it's inappropriate." (Associated Press)
Third Party Candidates
Jill Stein (Green Party)
- RT America hosted a Green Party debate on Monday, and they compiled a list of Jill Stein’s best quotes. They appear below.
- On terrorism: “The threat of Islamic terrorism ‘was created by the CIA and the Saudis in order to fight the Russians in Afghanistan’ before it spread to other parts in the Middle East. … ‘The war in Iraq, Syria, and Libya has fanned the flames of ISIS,’ she added, urging the US to ‘stop the arming and the funding.’”
- On healthcare: “‘Under a Stein administration, when we turn the White House into a ‘Green House,’ we will ensure that everyone has healthcare as a human right,’ Stein said, stressing that the government will have nothing to do with ‘dictating’ the health of US citizens.”
- On Russia: “Stein called the current surrounding of Russia with missiles and nuclear weapons a ‘Cuban missile crisis on steroids’ to which the US is playing a ‘major instigator role.’”
- On the food system: “Stein said that the current ‘unsustainable and industrialized’ food system which has ‘waste at all ends’ is in need of a complete transformation. She advocated the Green New Deal – a food system that would ‘run for people and not for profit.’”
- On trade: “The weapons industry and war profiteers ‘need big enemies’ because they need big, trillion-dollar projects and a nation-state to fight, adding that the US is creating a ‘trade war’ with China right now with the Trans-Pacific Partnership.” (RT)
Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party)
- On Tuesday, Gary Johnson criticized Donald Trump’s immigration policy, praised Bernie Sanders’ stances on social issues, and called Hillary Clinton the "ultimate technocrat.” (CNN)
- On Trump: "With regard to Trump, he's saying some things that I just think are ridiculous and would disqualify any other candidate." Johnson said that Trump’s plan to build a fence on the U.S.-Mexican border is "crazy." Johnson added, "Speaking as a border governor, they (immigrants) are the cream of the crop."
- On Sanders: "When it comes to economics, we come to a 'T' in the road. But on the social side of Bernie, I get it." Johnson called Sanders' social values "very libertarian," and he noted his and Sanders’ opposition to the "War on Drugs" and "[t]he militarization of police."
- On Clinton: Johnson called Clinton the "’ultimate technocrat’ who would grow the size of government. ... ‘What changes with Hillary Clinton? Government tries to do too much.’"
- During the same interview, Johnson discussed why he thinks marijuana should be legalized. He said, “On the medicinal side, marijuana products directly compete with legal prescription drugs that statistically kill 100,000 people a year. And on the recreational side, I have always maintained that legalizing marijuana will lead to less overall substance abuse.” Johnson added that there is a “total disconnect between elected politicians and the public. … Sixty percent of Americans now want to legalize marijuana. But the campaign to legalize marijuana in Colorado was a campaign based on marijuana is safer than alcohol, and it is. It’s safer than everything else that’s out there, starting with alcohol.” (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
