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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - November 3, 2015
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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential Briefing was sponsored by the Leadership Project for America. | ||||
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Tuesday's Leading Stories
- Lawrence Lessig suspended his campaign on Tuesday. He accused the Democratic National Committee of changing the debate qualifications and making his campaign “impossible.” Steve Jarding, a consultant to the campaign, said if Lessig were invited to participate in the next Democratic presidential debate he would “return to the race.” (Larry Lessig for President)
- Poll: Ben Carson leads the Republican field with 29 percent according to a national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Monday night. Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz follow with 23 percent, 11 percent and 10 percent, respectively. The Wall Street Journal reported, “Support for Mr. Carson has tripled since July, and he is the first Republican to top 50% when voters’ first and second choices are combined. Unlike some Republicans who surged in the GOP contest four years ago, Mr. Carson’s support has grown steadily during the primary campaign, suggesting that it may prove more durable than for those earlier candidates.” (The Wall Street Journal)
- Poll: Hillary Clinton now leads the Democratic field with a 31-point margin according to a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. She received 62 percent support to Bernie Sanders’ 31 percent support. Martin O’Malley registered at 3 percent. The poll was conducted after last month’s first Democratic presidential debate, House Select Committee on Benghazi hearing and Joe Biden’s announcement he would not run for president. The poll found, “Among swing voters, the share who say they are not satisfied with her response to the Benghazi controversy has plummeted from 84% at the beginning of October to 40% now, although only about a quarter — 23% — are satisfied.” (MSNBC)
- Poll: In Iowa, Donald Trump and Ben Carson are nearly tied with 22 percent and 21 percent, respectively, according to a Public Policy Polling (PPP) poll released on Monday. “Carson continues to be easily the most popular of the Republican candidates in Iowa with 74% of GOP primary voters viewing him favorably to only 13% with a negative opinion. He's also the most frequent second choice in the state with 19% picking him on that front to 12% for Rubio, and 10% each for Cruz and Trump. When you combine first and second choices Carson leads the way with 40% to 32% for Trump,” PPP noted. (Public Policy Polling)
- Poll: In the Democratic field in Iowa, Hillary Clinton holds a 32-point lead over Bernie Sanders with 57 percent support in the latest PPP poll. “Clinton is really dominating with several key groups in Iowa. Among seniors she's up 74/13 and with women she's up 61/21. She leads across the board with the various constituencies we track but it is tighter with younger voters (43/40), men (51/31), and voters who identify themselves as 'very liberal' (48/30),” PPP reported. (Public Policy Polling)
- Poll: Donald Trump maintained his lead in New Hampshire in a Monmouth University poll released on Monday. He placed first with 26 percent and was followed by Ben Carson with 16 percent and Marco Rubio with 13 percent. “Most of these results are within a few points of each candidates’ vote share back in September, except for Marco Rubio whose support has tripled from 4%,” the pollsters at Monmouth noted. (Monmouth University)
Democrats
- Bloomberg reported on Monday that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have intensified their campaigns in New Hampshire. Sean Downey, President Obama’s New Hampshire political director in 2012, observed, "There’s a key difference between the Clinton campaign and the Sanders campaign in that Clinton made an early investment in recruiting top volunteer organizers, top paid field organizers, political supporters like state senators who make a massive difference. At the end of the day, those things count for something and it’s one of the many things that’s going to make a difference for Clinton at the end." (Bloomberg)
Hillary Clinton
- On Monday, Hillary Clinton privately met in Chicago with family members of African-American youths who were killed in shootings, including the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Tamir Rice. “We have allowed our criminal justice system to get out of balance,” she said. (CNN, The New York Times)
- Maura Keefe, the former chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), has joined Clinton’s campaign as its congressional liaison. According to Politico, Keefe “also worked for Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro as press secretary and chief of staff, the 1996 reelection campaign for President Bill Clinton and the 2004 John Kerry presidential campaign.” (Politico)
Martin O’Malley
- On Tuesday, Martin O’Malley is introducing the seven executive actions he would issue to address gun control. These include “imposing new rules on gun manufacturers by leveraging federal procurement rules and closing ‘broad exemptions’ to the ban on armor-piercing ammunition.” (The Baltimore Sun)
Bernie Sanders
- Bernie Sanders’ campaign has hired Erika Andiola as its Latino outreach strategist for the Southwest. “Erika's personal story as a Mexican undocumented woman with an undocumented family and a long history of advocacy for Latinos speaks directly to the campaign's commitment to fight for immigrants, Latinos and working-class Americans in every community across the country,” said Arturo Carmona, Sanders’ Latino outreach director. (Fox News Latino)
Republicans
- Although representatives from nearly every Republican presidential campaign joined together on Sunday to draft a letter with candidates’ demands for future debates, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina and John Kasich have refused to sign the letter. According to CBS News, “Kasich's and Fiorina's campaigns both suggested that the demands in the letter were petty. The letter demanded, among other things, that the debate hall be kept no warmer than 67 degrees, that the campaigns get pre-approval of any graphics, and that the debate moderators let the campaigns know ahead of time whether any questions will come from the audience.” (CBS News)
Jeb Bush
- Jeb Bush launched his “Jeb Can Fix It” tour on Monday in Tampa, Florida. “Let me tell you something, when the dust clears, and the delegates are counted, we’re going to win this damn thing,” Bush said to a crowd of 400 supporters. He will campaign the rest of the week in South Carolina and New Hampshire. (The New York Times, CNN)
- After the Republican National Committee suspended debates hosted by NBC News, including one scheduled for February with Telemundo, Bush said there still should be “a Telemundo or a Hispanic debate — it happened four years ago. Telemundo’s not part of the problem of CNBC." (The Washington Post)
- Janan Grissom, a former director of administration in George W. Bush’s 2004 campaign, has replaced Christine Ciccone as Bush’s chief operating officer. (Politico)
- When asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if he would adopt a litmus test for potential Supreme Court nominees, Bush said, “I don't believe in litmus tests, but I'm going to make sure that my appointments to the Supreme Court would have a consistent proven record of judicial restraint.” He added, “I would ask deep questions about judicial philosophy, and then make sure that the person had a proven record. I think the lessons of the last few years is that you've got to fight for your candidates that you nominate, and they ought to have a clear, consistent record so that you have a higher assurance they're not going to wander off.” (NBC News)
Ben Carson
- Ben Carson has the most supporters of any presidential candidate on Facebook, according to The Wall Street Journal on Monday. He has 4.5 million Facebook fans to Donald Trump’s 4.1 million and Hillary Clinton’s 1.7 million. (The Wall Street Journal)
- Newsweek profiled Carson for its cover story this week. “Conservatives have… [embraced] Carson as the ideal foil to President Barack Obama. Media baron Rupert Murdoch even suggested on Twitter last month that Carson would be ‘a real black president,’ something he later apologized for. Carson’s own remarks in recent years likening Obamacare to slavery and claiming the president has hurt race relations in America have alienated many in the black community, who lionized the doctor’s groundbreaking medical achievements and philanthropy. But it seems clear, looking back, that the underlying philosophy was always in Carson’s work, if not expressed in such polarizing language. ‘Ever since I’ve known him, he has been strongly in favor of the individual, individual liberties, individual responsibilities to be the best they can be,’ says Dr. Donlin Long...a longtime mentor to Carson,” Newsweek’s Emily Cadei wrote. (Newsweek)
Chris Christie
- On Monday, Chris Christie continued his criticism of President Obama and his handling of tensions between police officers and urban residents. “We have liberal policies that tie the hands behind the backs of police officers and then when incidents happen, accuse them of misconduct first and then do the investigation later. And you’ve got a president of the United States who does not support law enforcement. Simply doesn’t,” Christie said. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Christie’s statements were “particularly irresponsible, but not surprising for somebody whose poll numbers are closer to an asterisk than they are double-digits.” (The Washington Times)
Ted Cruz
- Ted Cruz sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday requesting the Justice Department preserve documents related to the alleged targeting of conservative organizations by the IRS. “Given this Administration’s refusal to conduct itself appropriately, or take the issue of the potential illegal conduct of IRS employees seriously, any subsequent administration should reserve the right to reopen the matter, conduct its own investigation, or appoint a special prosecutor to conduct an investigation,” Cruz wrote. (The Washington Times)
Carly Fiorina
- After a co-host of “The View” said Carly Fiorina “looked demented” during last week’s debate, Fiorina has scheduled an appearance on the show for Friday. “My message to the ladies of ‘The View’ is man up. If you want to debate me on policies, the Obama administration, for example, has been bad for women. Planned Parenthood is harvesting baby parts. If you don’t like those facts or those messages, man up and debate me on them. But don’t sink to talking about my face,” Fiorina said on Monday. (Sun Times National)
- Current Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman said over the weekend Fiorina was not qualified to be president solely because she had previously managed a major corporation. "While I think business strengths are important, I also think having worked in government is an important part of the criteria. I think it's very difficult for your first role in politics to be President of the United States and so I think having experience in either the Senate or as the governor of a state is really important,” Whitman, who endorses Chris Christie, said. (CNN)
Jim Gilmore
- Jim Gilmore again expressed frustration with qualification requirements for Republican presidential debates in an interview with Fusion. “The CNN debate was the first debate that excluded me, and I think it was deliberate, it was wrong, it wasn’t in the national interest. I have a voice that really should not be silenced. … I can’t control the way that some arbitrary back-room person someplace sets down a rule.” (Fusion)
Lindsey Graham
- Lindsey Graham said on Monday that the Republican presidential candidates were “trying to take control of the [debate] process” and recommended CNN “evenly divide” the debate into two groups and “give everybody a fair shot.” Graham disagreed, however, with Ted Cruz’s suggestion that moderators should only be people who have voted in a Republican primary. "Journalists are not supposed to be Republicans or Democrats. I know there's media bias. You know there's media bias. But I thought the CNN debate was a well-done debate by Jake Tapper,” he said. (Newsmax)
John Kasich
- John Kasich announced his plan to eliminate the Department of Commerce on Monday. “Commerce is a case study in Washington dysfunction. It's like a basement that politicians keep stuffing pet projects into and it never gets cleaned out. As a result, needed efforts suffer and costs and efficiency are ignored. I will break it up, put the pieces we need in the right places, send other pieces back to the states and simply stop doing those things that aren't needed,” Kasich said. Under his plan, some of the agency’s responsibilities would be adopted by the Statement Department, International Trade Commission and Department of Housing and Urban Development. (Cleveland.com)
George Pataki
- Although George Pataki sent two representatives to the all-Republican debate discussion on Sunday, he tweeted on Monday, “In my view it doesn’t matter much who asks the questions, it’s about the opportunity to share a message and vision.” (The Wall Street Journal)
Rand Paul
- In an op-ed for Breitbart published on Monday, Rand Paul contrasted socialism with the roots of American democracy and capitalism. “Socialism is the absence of choice. Under socialism, some government official decrees who can enter into business. Both sellers and buyers are controlled by the state. Bernie tries to rationalize his socialism by calling it democratic socialism. But it doesn’t matter if a majoritarian or an authoritarian takes away your choice. The result is the same–lack of choice,” Paul wrote. (Breitbart)
- When asked if he would accept an invitation to be Donald Trump’s vice president, Paul said in an interview with comedian Larry Wilmore, “It would be an utter and absolute disaster, and I would want no part of it.” (The Week)
- As Republican candidates offer their proposals for new debate formats, Paul said there was one that appealed to him. “That would be a debate with no moderator, which would be kind of interesting, where you just sat around a table in groups of maybe five around a table and just had a discussion,” said Paul on Monday. (MSNBC)
Marco Rubio
- U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) endorsed Marco Rubio on Monday. "Our country needs a new generation of leadership and I believe Marco Rubio presents this nation with the greatest possibilities and opportunities to meet the challenges of this generation,” Gardner said. (Politico)
Donald Trump
- In an interview on Bloomberg’s “With All Due Respect” on Monday, Donald Trump launched an offensive against Marco Rubio. "I think he's highly overrated. I think he's an overrated person. I don't think he's going to make it,” Trump said. He also questioned Rubio’s loyalty, saying, “He's probably a nice person. Another thing I didn't like about him, and I don't like about him: He should have been more loyal to Bush. I didn't know him at all. I was told that he would never run because Bush was his mentor. Bush really helped him. ... He was very, very disloyal to Bush. I don't like that." (Business Insider)
- Trump called Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz “crazy,” “a terrible person,” and “a highly neurotic woman” on Monday. A spokeswoman for the DNC responded, "The Republican front-runner's misogynistic attacks are sadly representative of the GOP's outdated approach to women and the issues that affect them and their families. Whether it's trying to get between them and their doctor, opposing equal pay for equal work, or using offensive language, the Republican Party is wrong for women." (CNN)
- The Congressional Hispanic Caucus issued a statement of opposition to Donald Trump hosting SNL this coming weekend. “Trump’s racist remarks and his continued rhetoric demonizing Latinos and immigrants has created fear within these communities around the country, many of which are represented in Congress by Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus,” the statement read. (TIME)
- Trump said on Monday that Bernie Sanders killed his campaign when he did not attack Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server while secretary of state. “When Sanders gave up the emails, I said ‘He’s dead, that’s the end of him. It was a great soundbite for about three minutes, for three seconds, they clapped for about three seconds,” Trump said. (Burlington Free Press)
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
