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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - May 17, 2016
From Ballotpedia
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Tuesday's Leading Stories
- Democrats have primary contests in Kentucky and Oregon on Tuesday with 116 delegates at stake. Hillary Clinton won Kentucky in 2008 and has been campaigning heavily in the closed primary state over the past two weeks. In Oregon, which conducts its primary by mail-in ballot, Tuesday is the final day for ballots to be received. The state is more demographically favorable to Bernie Sanders, but he will need a significant margin of victory there to make a dent in Clinton’s pledged delegate lead. (The Washington Post, CNN)
- Bradley S. Schrager, general counsel to the Nevada Democratic Party, wrote a letter on Monday warning the Democratic National Committee that Sanders’ supporters could disrupt the Democratic National Convention in July given the contentious state convention over the weekend. "We write to alert you to what we perceive as the Sanders campaign's penchant for extra-parliamentary behavior — indeed, actual violence — in place of democratic conduct in a convention setting, and furthermore what we can only describe as their encouragement of, and complicity in, a very dangerous atmosphere that ended in chaos and physical threats to fellow Democrats,” Schrager wrote. Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said that the campaign “had no role in encouraging the activity that the party is complaining about. We have a First Amendment and respect the rights of the people to make their voices heard." (Associated Press)
Polls
- According to an NBC News/SurveyMonkey national tracking poll released on Tuesday, Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination, 54 percent to 40 percent. In general election matchups against Donald Trump, Sanders performs better, leading Trump by 12 points, 53 percent to 41 percent. Clinton would narrowly beat Trump with 48 percent to Trump’s 45 percent. (NBC News)
Democrats
- According to an analysis by CNN, whether superdelegates were eliminated entirely or allocated in a proportional or winner-take-all scheme based on the results of past primaries and caucuses, Clinton would still lead Sanders in the delegate tally. Although Sanders is mathematically eliminated from winning enough pledged delegates before the Democratic National Convention to secure the nomination, he could overtake Clinton in the pledged delegate count if he were to win 67 percent of delegates in the remaining 11 primary contests. (CNN)
Hillary Clinton
- During a campaign event in Bowling Green, Kentucky, on Monday, Hillary Clinton questioned how Donald Trump would perform in a debate against her and said that he would not be able to provide specifics for how he planned to create jobs. “Maybe in the preliminaries like the Republican primary that is all they want to hear. But Americans take their vote for president seriously. They are going to be looking at that TV screen, saying, 'He still doesn't have anything to tell us? Wait a minute,’” she said. (CNN)
- Conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch filed a request in federal court on Monday to interview Clinton regarding her use of a private email server while secretary of state. According to Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton, her “testimony will help the courts determine whether her email practices thwarted the Freedom of Information Act.” (Politico)
- USA Today reported on Monday that Clinton’s team favored demographics over a potential swing state advantage in its vice presidential search. The article also noted the campaign was looking for a candidate who could appeal to Bernie Sanders’ supporters. (USA Today)
- Priorities USA, a pro-Clinton super PAC, released two ads on Tuesday that it will begin airing in Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and Nevada over the next three weeks as part of a $6 million ad buy. One of the ads, “Speak,” features women mouthing statements Trump has made about Megyn Kelly and his daughter Ivanka Trump. The ad concludes with a narrator asking, “Does Donald Trump really speak for you?” (CNN)
- While campaigning in Kentucky on Monday, Clinton said that former President Bill Clinton would have some role in her administration relating to the economy. She said, “I want to help bring back the kind of economy that worked for everybody in the 1990s. I’ve already told my husband that if I’m so fortunate enough to be president and he will be the first gentlemen, I’ll expect him to go to work … to get incomes rising.” A spokesman later clarified that Clinton was not referring to a specific position and that it would be premature to do so. (The Wall Street Journal)
Bernie Sanders
- While campaigning in Puerto Rico on Monday, Bernie Sanders said that it was “unacceptable to me for the United States government to treat Puerto Rico like a colony during a time when its people are facing the worst fiscal and economic crisis in its history.” He said that he opposed calls from “the vulture capitalists on Wall Street” for more austerity. Sanders argued that the Federal Reserve should use its emergency authority to allow for the restructuring of Puerto Rico’s debt. “I believe that Congress should act immediately to give Puerto Rico the same authority granted to every municipality in this country to restructure its debt under the supervision of a bankruptcy court,” he added. (The Nation)
- Sanders said on Monday that he would pardon political prisoner Oscar López Rivera if he were president. López Rivera has been in prison for three decades following a conviction for seditious conspiracy and several other charges. (The New York Post)
- The only sitting U.S. senator to endorse Sanders, Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), said on Monday that Sanders would not launch an independent presidential bid if he does not win the Democratic nomination. He said, “You know, Bernie went into this and he said, 'There's no way I'll be Ralph Nader.' We're not going to split the party, we're not going to empower the Republicans. He understands the damage that Bush did to this nation, and is not going to allow Trump to follow on and do even more damage.” (CNN)
Republicans
- In a radio interview on Monday, Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus said that he would like to see “a degree of diversity” with Trump’s vice presidential pick. "Now whether it be diversity of age, or whether it be diversity of gender or ethnic background — somehow or another," he added. (The Week)
- Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) said on Monday that he could not see himself serving as Trump’s vice president because of the differences in their policies. “Those are two very inconsistent messages, so it would be very hard for me – unless he were to change all of his views and become a uniter – for me to get in the middle of this thing,” Kasich said. He also rejected a potential third-party run, saying it would be “not constructive” and “a silly thing.” (CNN)
Donald Trump
- Rowanne Brewer Lane, who was interviewed by The New York Times for its investigation into Trump’s treatment of women, said she found the article “very upsetting” for how it characterized her relationship with Trump. "He never offended me in anyway. He was very gracious, I saw him around all types of people, all types of women. He was very kind, thoughtful, generous, he was a gentleman,” she said on Fox News. Trump tweeted about the interview on Monday morning, writing, “Wow, Rowanne Brewer, the most prominently depicted woman in the failing @nytimes story yesterday, was on @foxandfriends saying Times lied.” (CBS News)
- Trump senior adviser Barry Bennett will attend a meeting on Wednesday at Facebook’s headquarters to discuss allegations that the social network has excluded conservative news sources from trending feeds. (ABC News)
- Politico interviewed several U.S. Senate Democrats to determine how they would work with Trump if he won the presidency. U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) commented, “I believe in the 80-20 rule. … Let’s find the 80 percent that we agree on and work to focus on that, and set aside the 20 percent and we’ll worry about that later. Work with a President Trump might be a little more challenging. Might be 20-80.” Others, like retiring Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), declined to imagine such an outcome. (Politico)
- Trump is scheduled to meet with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on Wednesday to discuss his foreign policy. According to The Washington Post, “Meeting with Kissinger has become a rite of passage for many ambitious Republicans, especially those who land on the party’s presidential ticket. Sarah Palin had a high-profile meeting with him in 2008 when she became the GOP vice-presidential nominee, seeking his counsel and association with his credentials.” (The Washington Post)
- BuzzFeed reported on Monday that Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was in the process of developing a book, How Trump Did It, about Trump’s unconventional campaign strategy. “Despite false reports to the contrary, I am not writing a book. I am under a strict confidentiality agreement with Mr. Trump,” Lewandowski responded on Monday evening. (BuzzFeed)
- Veteran pollster Tony Fabrizio has joined Trump’s campaign, Politico reported on Monday. “Tony is flat-out one of the smartest dudes I know. He proved it with Rick Scott — much to my personal detriment, he knows how to take a deeply flawed candidate and sell them to the voters. If I was a Republican running for president or dogcatcher, I’d want him in my corner,” said former Obama campaign adviser Steve Schale. (Politico)
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
