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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - November 18, 2015
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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
- During an interview on Fox News, Bobby Jindal announced the suspension of his campaign for president. He said, "I've come to the realization that it is not my time, I am suspending my campaign for president of the United States. I cannot tell you what an honor it has been to run for president of the United States. ...Going forward, I believe we have to be the party of growth and we can never stop being the party that believes in opportunity. We cannot settle for The Left’s view of envy and division. We have to be the party that says everyone in this country - no matter the circumstances of their birth or who their parents are – can succeed in America.” (The Hill)
- Poll: According to a poll conducted by the University of Mary Washington, Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders 63 percent to 27 percent among likely Democratic voters in Virginia. Martin O’Malley trails with 5 percent support. (University of Mary Washington )
- Poll: According to a poll conducted by the University of Mary Washington, Ben Carson leads Donald Trump 29 percent to 24 percent among likely Republican voters in Virginia. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz follow with 11 and 10 percent, respectively. (University of Mary Washington )
- Poll: Among likely Democratic voters in Colorado, Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders 55 percent to 27 percent. Martin O’Malley trails with 2 percent, according to a Quinnipiac poll. (Quinnipiac)
- Poll: Among likely Republican voters in Colorado, Ben Carson leads Marco Rubio 25 percent to 19 percent, according to a Quinnipiac poll. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz follow with 17 and 14 percent, respectively. (Quinnipiac)
- Poll: Among likely Republican voters in New Hampshire, Donald Trump leads with 23 percent support, according to a WBUR/MassINC poll. Marco Rubio and Ben Carson are tied with 13 percent support. Ted Cruz follows with 8 percent, and Jeb Bush and John Kasich are tied with 7 percent support. (WBUR/MassINC)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- On Tuesday, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) endorsed Hillary Clinton. In a statement, SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry said, “Hillary Clinton has proven she will fight, deliver and win for working families.” (The Hill)
- At a campaign event in Dallas on Tuesday, Clinton expressed her support for allowing Syrian refugees into the country. She said, "We have always welcomed immigrants and refugees. We have made people feel that if they did their part, they sent their kids to school, they worked hard, there would be a place for them in America." (CBS News)
- Clinton criticized Bernie Sanders’ proposal to raise taxes as part of his healthcare plan during a rally on Tuesday. She said, “I don’t see how you can be serious about raising working and middle class families' incomes if you also want to slap new taxes on them—no matter what the taxes will pay for. ...I was actually the only one on that debate stage who will commit to raising your wages and not your taxes.” (Bloomberg)
Martin O’Malley
- Martin O’Malley discussed his record of gun control and reducing crime when he was mayor of Baltimore during a campaign event on Tuesday. Addressing the fact that Baltimore recently recorded the 300th murder in the city this year, he said, “There are things that actually work to reduce violent crime, there are things that work to improve drug treatment, and hopefully Baltimore will get back on track. I believe she will. I wasn’t able to make her immune to setbacks. I left the office of mayor eight years ago, I left the office of governor eight or nine months ago, but I still feel a tremendous responsibility as a presidential candidate to put forward the ideas and actions that actually can save lives.” (Telegraph Herald)
- On Tuesday, O’Malley’s spokeswoman Haley Morris said, "After the governor's debate strong performance in Iowa on Saturday night, we're shifting more resources and staff to Iowa and the other early states. We have always run a lean campaign and will continue to do so." (CBS News)
Bernie Sanders
- After Hillary Clinton and members of her campaign team criticized Bernie Sanders’ healthcare plan for raising taxes on the middle class, Sanders’ spokesman Michael Briggs said in a statement, “Clinton tried to use the tragedy of 9/11 as a political excuse for her coziness with Wall Street interests, including the millions she has received in Wall Street campaign funding over her career. That defense of the Clinton campaign’s corporate fundraising has been widely assailed in the media and on social media. In an attempt to divert the public’s gaze from Wall Street coziness, the Clinton campaign has launched a false attack on universal health care—something she has previously supported.” (Bloomberg)
- In an interview with Yahoo Global News anchor Katie Couric, Sanders discussed how the U.S. should respond to the terrorist attacks in Paris. He said, “What we have got to be is not just strong and tough, but we have got to be smart. I think in terms of the refugees, clearly it goes without saying that any refugee coming into this country has got to be vetted, but to simply say that when hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing Syria, are fleeing Afghanistan, that we or Europe or the Gulf region will turn our backs on those people, I don’t think that’s what America is about.” (Yahoo News)
- In the same interview, Couric asked Sanders to respond to allegations that he is “not that strong on foreign policy.” Sanders said, “Oh, really? Well, compared to whom? Which candidate voted [for] the biggest foreign policy blunder in the modern history of America, and let me give you a hint: It wasn’t Bernie Sanders. It was Hillary Clinton.” (Yahoo News)
Republicans
- John Kasich, Lindsey Graham and George Pataki sent letters asking for 12 minutes and five seconds of air time, the same amount of time Donald Trump was given when he appeared on “Saturday Night Live.” According to The Hill, “Under the FCC’s equal opportunity rules, stations that feature a presidential candidate during a non-news broadcast must disclose details of the appearance. Other qualified candidates can petition to get an equal amount of time on the air.” (The Hill)
Jeb Bush
- On Tuesday, during an interview on Bloomberg Politics' “With All Due Respect,” Jeb Bush said that banning Syrian refugees from coming to the United States is not the way to solve the problem with ISIS. He said, “The answer is to lead, to resolve the problem in Syria.” Bush also clarified his previous statement about asking the U.S. to let in Christian refugees, noting that it was not meant to discriminate against other refugees. He said, “There's no discrimination to simply say that you want to protect religious minorities that are being exterminated.” (Bloomberg)
Ben Carson
- According to The New York Times, two of Ben Carson’s foreign policy advisors said he has “struggled to master the intricacies of the Middle East and national security and that intense tutoring was having little effect.” Duane R. Clarridge, one of Carson’s advisors, said, “Nobody has been able to sit down with him and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East.” (The New York Times)
- In response to the article in The New York Times, Doug Watts, a Carson campaign spokesman, wrote in an email: "Mr. Clarridge has incomplete knowledge of the daily, not weekly briefings, that Dr. Carson receives on important national security matters from former military and State Department officials. He is coming to the end of a long career of serving our country. Mr. Clarridge's input to Dr. Carson is appreciated but he is clearly not one of Dr. Carson's top advisors. For the New York Times to take advantage of an elderly gentleman and use him as their foil in this story is an affront to good journalistic practices." (Business Insider)
- In an op-ed in for Time, Carson discussed the terrorist attacks in Paris and argued against allowing Syrian refugees to come to the U.S. He wrote, “This Monday, I sent letters to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker Paul Ryan urging Congress to terminate all public funding for ongoing federal programs that seek to resettle refugees from Syria into the U.S. I also call on the American people to stop viewing Islamic extremism through the lens of political correctness.” (Time)
Chris Christie
- Chris Christie sent a letter to President Obama on Tuesday notifying him that New Jersey would not accept any Syrian refugees. He wrote, “Neither you nor any federal official can guarantee that Syrian refugees will not be part of any terroristic activity.” (Bloomberg)
- On Tuesday, Christie vowed to veto a bill in New Jersey’s Assembly that would allow individuals to obtain a driver’s license without proof of identity. Christie said, “To consider doing this in the current environment is not only irresponsible, but dangerous.” (New York Post)
Ted Cruz
- Courageous Conservatives PAC, a super PAC supporting Ted Cruz, will begin playing a radio ad criticizing Marco Rubio for his immigration policy and membership in the “Gang of Eight.” The narrator in the ad says, “When Marco Rubio teamed up with John McCain, Chuck Schumer and Bob Menendez to push his Gang of Eight amnesty scheme, he said he wanted to secure the border. But then Rubio voted against every border security amendment Ted Cruz and Jeff Sessions proposed. Every one. It was part of the deal Rubio made with Obama: no amendments, even on border security. ...Marco Rubio betrayed our trust, failed us, and he’s done nothing since coming to Washington but push for amnesty.” (The New York Times)
- Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, “a high-profile conservative activist and the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas,” endorsed Cruz on Tuesday, according to CNN. Thomas said, "He's distinguishing himself as somebody who can make things happen and excite the country to bring us back on course.” (CNN)
Carly Fiorina
- At a campaign event on Tuesday in Concord, New Hampshire, Carly Fiorina highlighted her experience on the CIA’s External Advisory Board and as an advisor at the National Security Agency as reasons for why she is the strongest candidate on foreign policy. She said, “I will make a strong statement. I am the most qualified leader in foreign policy running in the Republican party. Why do I say that? Because I have spent decades in Europe, I have spent decades in the Middle East. Because I know more world leaders on the stage today than anyone running, with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton – but I didn’t do photo ops with them.” (Concord Monitor)
- Fiorina also discussed allowing Syrian refugees into the U.S. during the event. She said, “As pitiful as these pictures are of mothers and their children – as pitiful as they are – the truth is this: The vast majority of these refugees are young, able-bodied men looking for work. And we do not have a moral obligation to provide everybody looking for work with an opportunity to work. So let’s start with that.” (Concord Monitor)
Jim Gilmore
- In a press release, Jim Gilmore criticized President Obama’s strategy for fighting terrorism. He wrote, “We need to attack, condemn and eliminate the so-called Islamic state. The attacks on ISIS must be unlimited, and the criminal forces of that ideology must be destroyed. Furthermore, additional steps must be taken to protect our homeland. Muslims around the world share in the responsibility for these barbaric attack by their silence. President Obama must break his silence and lead the world to a new way of thinking about the way Muslims can work together to end terrorism by putting the authority of his office behind the courageous statement of President al-Sisi. The United States should be the cornerstone of a new alliance among our allies among the Middle Eastern nations formed along the lines of NATO. Our allies in the Arab world and Israel must be able to rest assured that we will stand with them against aggression, whether it emanates from Iran, terrorist networks or interlopers such as Russia and China.” (Facebook)
Lindsey Graham
- On Monday, Lindsey Graham re-released his plan to defeat ISIS. The plan “focuses on increasing our military intervention in Iraq and Syria in partnership with regional allies and providing humanitarian aid that is essential to stabilizing these nations and preventing them from becoming failed states.” Graham said, “I stand ready to work with President Obama to implement a comprehensive plan, such as what I outlined earlier this year, to defeat ISIL and stop the growing threat of radical Islamic terrorism. We cannot wait another 6 months, or for, God forbid, an attack on our homeland, to go in on the ground and hit them there. There is no other way to defeat this threat – we must go in on the ground and stop them over there.” (Lindsey Graham for President)
- On Tuesday, Graham discussed his campaign with Alan Colmes. Graham said, "[Sen. John] McCain just endorsed me this past week. He won there [New Hampshire] twice so I'm doing weddings, funerals, bar mitzvahs. ...If I do well in New Hampshire, I will win my home state. I'll be the hometown guy coming back with momentum and be seen as a viable candidate.” (The Washington Examiner)
Mike Huckabee
- Mike Huckabee has criticized President Obama for wanting to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center. In response to the terrorist attacks in Paris, Huckabee wrote, “Close our borders instead of Guantanamo.” However, when he was running for president in 2008, Huckabee proposed closing the facility. He said, “I think the problem with Guantanamo is not in that its facilities are inadequate. It’s the symbol that it represents. It’s clearly become a symbol to the rest of the world as a place that has become problematic for us as a nation. I was quite frankly impressed with the quality of the facilities and even the attention to care that was given to the detainees, but that aside, it doesn’t alter that Guantanamo to the rest of the world is a symbol that is not in our best interests to continue pursuing.” (Buzzfeed)
John Kasich
- In a speech highlighting his national security credentials at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., John Kasich said that the U.S. must respond to ISIS’s attack on Paris. He said, “Unless we want to see bloodshed in America, we need to get serious immediately about dealing with this threat. There can be no negotiating with this darkness, we must simply defeat it. ...I believe America is exceptional. It is simply a statement of the obvious. We’re exceptional because of our uniqueness. It’s not someone else’s job nor is it our job alone. We can fix this.” (The Hill)
George Pataki
- On Tuesday, George Pataki sent the following tweets criticizing John Kerry and Hillary Clinton: “John Kerry should immediately resign or be fired. Saying there was a rationale for the Charlie hebdo massacre is inexcusable.” “@HillaryClinton said #Benghazi was due to a video, @JohnKerry a cartoon is ‘rationale’ for #Hebdo - team Obama is simply a disgrace…” (Twitter)
Rand Paul
- In response to the terrorist attacks in Paris, Rand Paul “introduced legislation that would suspend visas for visitors, students and refugees from countries that have ‘significant jihadist movements,’” according to the Des Moines Register. He said, “When something like this happens, there should be a wake-up call. The wake-up call shouldn’t be hey, let’s go get into another war in the Middle East. The wake-up call should be let’s defend our country from letting people come in who would attack us.” (Des Moines Register)
- In an op-ed on Tuesday, Paul argued that the way to defeat ISIS is to cut off their money supply. He wrote, “If we are to eradicate ISIS once and for all, it’s time to take a hard look at what is fueling its growth: money. ...From now on, our message to these governments and their ruling families must be clear: take accountability for your role in murdering our citizens or we will freeze your assets. Locate the citizens who are financing terrorism and lock them up or we won’t sell you a single missile or fighter jet. The U.S. does not do business with terror financiers, period.” (Time)
- In the same op-ed, Paul suggested the following strategy for fighting ISIS: “We should consider all our options, including intensifying our covert operations and perhaps considering coordination of air power with Russia, as we determine a winning strategy to eliminate this brutal scourge once and for all. There is no question that we should continue to partner with the Kurds in Iraq and Syria, the only ground force that has a proven track record of taking territory away from ISIS. We must also insist that our Arab ‘allies,’ who face an immediate ISIS threat, focus on the fight.” In addition, he wrote that “defense spending should match our priorities,” U.S. borders should be secured and law enforcement should be supported. (Time)
Marco Rubio
- On Tuesday, Marco Rubio signed onto a bill reauthorizing the Zadroga Act, a bill that provides healthcare for 9/11 survivors and first responders. Rubio said, “Programs designed to meet the unique health needs of those Americans should be renewed, and those who rely on them should not face uncertainty and continued anxiety over their future. Congress must keep faith with the heroes and victims of 9/11, while also making sure our federal government is living within its means and protecting taxpayers. As we continue working on this issue, I hope we can improve this legislation or reach an agreement that meets both these goals.” (New York Daily News)
Rick Santorum
- On Tuesday, Rick Santorum argued that the U.S. should not admit Muslim or Christian refugees. He said, “We should not be admitting either Muslims or Christians, and you’ll say, ‘whoa why won’t you want to admit Christians, because in so doing we would be accomplishing exactly what ISIS wants to accomplish, which is to rid the area of Christians. Which is to rid the area of moderate Muslims. By bringing them here to the United States, they will resettle here and they will never go home. Which is exactly what ISIS wants. They want to decimate the Christian communities and take them over and them have controlled by the more radical Muslim elements.” (Buzzfeed)
Donald Trump
- During an interview on the "Laura Ingraham Show," Donald Trump said that the Obama administration is sending Syrian refugees to states with Republican governors. He said, "They send them to the Republicans, not to the Democrats, you know, because they know the problems. In California, you have a Democrat as a governor. In Florida, you have Rick Scott. So you know they send them to the Republicans because you know why would we want to bother the Democrats? It's just insane. Taking these people is absolutely insanity. I don't know if you know. They're talking about hundreds of thousands potentially. Hundreds of thousands." According to the Associated Press, of the top ten states that have accepted the most refugees, three (California, Pennsylvania and Kentucky) have Democratic governors. (CBS News)
- During the same interview, Trump said that Ted Cruz is his pick for vice president. He said, “Ted Cruz is now agreeing with me 100 percent. ...Well, I like him. He’s backed everything I’ve said.” (The Hill)
Third Party Candidates
Jill Stein (Green Party)
- On Tuesday, Jill Stein appeared at an event in Raleigh, North Carolina to fight for easier ballot access for third party candidates. She said, “North Carolina is perhaps the most difficult state, the most repressive state, for political challenge. One out of every two Americans now no longer identifies as either Democrat or Republican. So it's basically half of American voters who would be locked out by this kind of restricted ballot access system.” (TWC News)
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
