Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - May 19, 2016
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Thursday's Leading Stories
- Donald Trump released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court nominees on Wednesday. He described the list of six federal court and five state supreme court judges, all of whom were appointed by Republican officials, as “representative of the kind of constitutional principles” he valued. Trump’s short list includes Steven Colloton, Allison Eid, Raymond Gruender, Thomas Hardiman, Raymond Kethledge, Joan Larsen, Thomas Lee, William Pryor, David Stras, Diane Sykes, and Don Willett. (The New York Times, CNN, The Hill)
- Trump received assistance crafting the list from the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society.
- U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) called the list “encouraging.” He said, “Obviously, [Trump’s] never been in a position to make appointments like a governor and others who have been in an executive position. He's been a businessman, and so I think this does provide some reassurance and conservatives will find it encouraging,”
- Three of the judges listed have personal or familial connections to the anti-Trump movement. Don Willett of the Texas Supreme Court tweeted in June 2015 after Trump made his presidential announcement, “Donald Trump haiku— Who would the Donald / Name to #SCOTUS? The mind reels. / *weeps—can't finish tweet*.”
Polls
- In a three-way general election poll conducted by Public Policy Polling for The NM Political Report, Hillary Clinton leads in New Mexico with 41 percent to Donald Trump’s 33 percent and Gary Johnson’s 14 percent. (The NM Political Report)
- Fox News released a national general election poll on Wednesday finding that Trump now leads Clinton, 45 percent to 42 percent, a reversal of last month’s poll finding Clinton seven points ahead of Trump. Sanders topped Trump, 46 percent to 42 percent. His margin decreased from 14 points to 4 points. (Fox News)
- According to a Quinnipiac University poll released on Thursday, Clinton leads Sanders in New Jersey by 14 points, 54 percent to 40 percent. In general election matchups, Sanders performs better against Trump, leading him by 12 points. (Quinnipiac University)
Democrats
- In an interview with The Washington Post, former Governor Ed Rendell (D-Pa.) said that Donald Trump’s support among women would be limited because “ugly” women would be particularly offended by his comments. He said, “Trump’s comments like ‘You can’t be a 10 if you’re flat-chested,’ that’ll come back to haunt him. There are probably more ugly women in America than attractive women. People take that stuff personally.” (The Washington Post)
- Vice President Joe Biden dismissed reports on Wednesday that the Democratic Party was struggling to find party unity. He said, “Bernie Sanders is a good guy. Let Bernie run the race. There's nothing wrong with that." Biden continued, “I'm confident that Bernie will be supportive if Hillary wins, which the numbers indicate will happen. So I'm not worried. There's no fundamental split in the Democratic Party.” (The Los Angeles Times)
- Emmett Hansen, a former Virgin Islands senator, became the first superdelegate committed to Sanders to switch his vote to Clinton on Tuesday. He said, “There are no more windmills to joust against and no more mountains to climb. It comes down to one thing: what’s best for the Virgin Islands, to be fully incorporated into the United States.” (Bloomberg)
Hillary Clinton
- United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta joined Hillary Clinton’s campaign on Wednesday as a senior adviser focused on Latino outreach. (Los Angeles Daily News)
- On Thursday, Politico published a profile of Clinton’s tech operation and how it was surprised by the sophistication of Bernie Sanders’ digital efforts, including the virality of his videos, the number of volunteer coders committed to his campaign, and the emphasis on small donors “in every last email, tweet, post.” Politico reported, “Heading into 2016, Clinton tried to counter her analog image by building a tech team pulled from Barack Obama’s ranks as well as private firms, including Facebook and Google. Leading her effort is Goff, an Obama campaign veteran who helped raised more than $690 million for the president’s reelection and built a social network of followers for the president in the tens of millions; Elan Kriegel, a former NCAA Division III football player and Obama 2012 battleground states director now running Clinton’s data analytics department; and Stephanie Hannon, a former Google executive in her first presidential campaign who is charged with managing a team of 40-plus engineers and software developers.” (Politico)
Bernie Sanders
- Bernie Sanders accepted an invitation to a Democratic debate hosted by Fox News and moderated by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace on Wednesday. (Politico)
- Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz said on Wednesday that Sanders’ response to the chaos at the Nevada Democratic State Convention over the weekend was insufficient. She said, “With all due respect, when there is a ‘but’ in between condemnation of violence generally, and after the word ‘but’ you go on to seemingly justify the reason that the violence and intimidation has occurred, then that falls short of making sure that going forward this kind of conduct doesn’t occur in the future.” Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver responded, “It’s been pretty clear almost from the get-go that she [Wasserman Schultz] has been working against Bernie Sanders — I mean, there’s no doubt about it — for personal reasons.” (Politico, NBC News)
Republicans
- On Wednesday, Yahoo News reported that 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney had ended his efforts to find someone willing to run a third-party bid against Donald Trump. An unnamed Romney adviser said that Romney was concerned there was not more “outrage” about Trump’s candidacy. “This isn’t Venezuela. A politician can’t say ‘I don’t like the press coverage of this paper so I’m going to threaten the business of the person who owns it.’ That is [former Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez,” the source said. (Yahoo News)
Donald Trump
- The New York Times published a profile of Donald Trump on Wednesday covering the changes in his presidential campaign over the past few months. In addition to examining the tension between campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and delegate operations manager Paul Manafort, the article included comments from Donald Trump on the state of the campaign. (The New York Times)
- On the most dangerous place he has ever visited: “Brooklyn. No, there are places in America that are among the most dangerous in the world. You go to places like Oakland. Or Ferguson. The crime numbers are worse. Seriously.”
- On the internal politics of the Republican Party: “One thing I’ve seen over the years,is that the Democrats stick together, and the Republicans eat their young. That’s why they lose so many elections. You know, a normal, very nice, very likable Republican would be hard pressed to win.”
- On his appeal to Hispanic voters: “I’m going to do far better with Hispanics than anyone thought. I have thousands working for me. When this is over, one of my first pictures is going to be me at the Doral with a thousand of my people working there, most of whom are Hispanic and all who love Trump.”
- On his statement that women should be punished for having abortions: “I didn’t mean punishment for women like prison. I’m saying women punish themselves. I didn’t want people to think in terms of ‘prison’ punishment. And because of that I walked it back.”
- Politico reported on Wednesday that Trump was looking to “maximize” the impact of the Republican National Convention by delaying the announcement of his running mate until his convention. “Announcing the vice-presidential nominee before the convention is like announcing the winner of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ before the final show is on the air. This is one of the only opportunities to create tension and drama in the whole show. You better believe Mr. Trump understands that and is looking to maximize that,” said one unnamed campaign insider. Trump was also reportedly considering naming his Cabinet at the event, as well. (Politico)
- In an interview on Fox News on Wednesday night, Trump said that The New York Times should be investigating former President Bill Clinton for “rape,” “massive settlements,” and being disbarred in Arkansas. Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill responded, “It’s not surprising that after a week of still refusing to release his taxes and likening Oakland and Ferguson to the dangers in Iraq, of course he wants to change the subject. So while he licks his wounds, we’ll continue to focus on improving the lives of the American people.” (Politico, The Hill)
Third Party Candidates
Jill Stein (Green Party)
- In an interview with The New York Daily News on Tuesday, Jill Stein discussed some of the obstacles she has faced as a third-party candidate, including supporting a platform that resists “American exceptionalism.” She said, “America needs to move from an era of domination to an era of principles and cooperation. Where has American Exceptionalism gotten us? Six trillion dollars on wars in the Middle East. A million dead in Iraq. A mass refugee migration that is tearing apart Europe. American Exceptionalism is the latest version of blind patriotism and chauvinism. It’s an adolescent mentality at a time when we need to be an adult in the world community.” (New York Daily News)
Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party)
- Gary Johnson is expected to announce on Thursday that he has selected his running mate: William Weld, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts. “It brings an enormous amount of credibility to what it is I'm doing. I'm unbelievably flattered by this and humbled,” Johnson said on Wednesday. (U.S. News & World Report)
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
