Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - November 30, 2015
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Monday's Leading Stories
- On Sunday, Chris Christie won the “potentially critical endorsement” of the New Hampshire Union Leader. Publisher Joseph McQuaid wrote, “As a U.S. attorney and then a big-state governor, he is the one candidate who has the range and type of experience the nation desperately needs. We don't need another fast-talking, well-meaning freshman U.S. senator trying to run the government. We are still seeing the disastrous effects of the last such choice. Chris Christie is a solid, pro-life conservative who has managed to govern in liberal New Jersey, face down the big public unions, and win a second term. Gov. Christie can work across the aisle, but he won't get rolled by the bureaucrats. We don't need as President some well-meaning person from the private sector who has no public experience. Gov. Christie is right for these dangerous times. He has prosecuted terrorists and dealt admirably with major disasters. But the one reason he may be best-suited to lead during these times is because he tells it like it is and isn't shy about it. ...Gov. Chris Christie is exactly the conservative Republican needed to take the fight to Hillary Clinton next fall and then get about the serious business of defending us and rebuilding our economy.” (New Hampshire Union Leader, USA Today)
- At her campaign event “Hard Hats for Hillary” in Boston on Sunday, Hillary Clinton announced her plan to invest $275 billion in infrastructure development. She said, “Investing infrastructure makes our economy more productive and competitive. To build a strong economy for our future, we must start by building strong infrastructure today.” To finance the plan, she proposed a number of business tax reforms, including ending “preferences for companies that stash their profits in overseas banks to avoid U.S. taxes” and ending “a corporate tax loophole that allows large companies to avoid taxes by moving their headquarters overseas,” according to the USA Today. Her full five-year plan will be released later today. (USA Today)
- On Thursday, Donald Trump’s campaign issued a statement in response to a New York Times journalist who claimed that Trump made fun of his disability. In a statement, Trump said, “I have no idea who this reporter, Serge Kovalski [sic], is, what he looks like or his level of intelligence. Despite having one of the all-time great memories, I certainly do not remember him. ...Kovaleski must think a lot of himself if he thinks I remember him from decades ago — if I ever met him at all, which I doubt I did. He should stop using his disability to grandstand and get back to reporting for a paper that is rapidly going down the tubes.” He also demanded an apology from The New York Times. (Time)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- While discussing the recent shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood and the terrorist attacks in Paris at the New Hampshire Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner on Sunday night, Hillary Clinton criticized Republicans for not considering gun control measures. She said, “This is truly unbelievable, that after what we’ve seen in Paris and other places, Republicans will not bring up a bill that will prohibit anyone on the no-fly list from buying a gun in America. If you are too dangerous to fly in America, you are too dangerous to buy a gun in America. How many more Americans need to die before we take action?” (The Hill)
- After a two and a half year wait on a Freedom of Information Act request, the Huffington Post obtained a confidential January 2013 memo sent by Clinton to Barack Obama about closing Guantanamo Bay. Clinton wrote, "We must signal to our old and emerging allies alike that we remain serious about turning the page of GTMO and the practices of the prior decade. The revitalization of transfers, efforts to prosecute some detainees in federal courts, a longer-term approach to the return of Yemeni detainees, and credible periodic reviews would send the signal and renew a credible detention policy." Clinton also suggested that Obama move detainees to U.S. soil. She wrote, "If the law permits, I recommend that you consider transfers to the United States for pre-trial detention, trial, and sentences.” (Huffington Post)
- Senate Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to Clinton’s lawyers “about possible joint defense agreements or other coordination to respond to questions from Congress and other legal inquiries.” A $22,000 invoice from a “Colorado-based firm that handled Clinton’s private email server billed her for ‘legal defense’ and ‘PR’ related to the device” prompted the inquiry. In the letter, Grassley wrote, “In particular, the committee needs to know whether the parties involved have participated in any third-party fee arrangements or joint defense agreements. As you are aware, such arrangements can pose conflict-of-interest issues.” (The Hill, Grassley.Senate.gov)
- Clinton’s campaign announced that Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, will discuss tax reform with Clinton at a campaign rally on Dec. 16 in Omaha, Nebraska. According to a Clinton aide, they “will discuss their shared support for tax reforms aimed at ensuring that the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share.” (Bloomberg)
Martin O’Malley
- At the New Hampshire Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner on Sunday night, Martin O’Malley criticized Donald Trump’s language, calling it “fascist.” O’Malley said, "Trump says we should be monitoring everyone of the Muslim faith, keeping some kind of registry, maybe even issuing special ID cards. Let me ask you this. Who is next? Catholics? Trade unionists? Artists? We've seen this road before, and it does not lead to a good place. Panic and political opportunism are a toxic mix -- a mix that can often precede fascism or the plunging of our republic into a security state.” (ABC News)
- In a Thanksgiving day op-ed, O’Malley discussed his plan to make sure that no child is hungry. He wrote, “The fact is, we can make sure that no child goes hungry – not in some distant time or the next generation, but within five years. That’s why I have made eliminating child hunger by 2020 one of my 15 Goals for Rebuilding the American Dream – which will serve as a guide, day in and day out, for what I would do as president.” O’Malley proposed, “fighting back against austerity budgets that hurt our people and do nothing to grow our economy.” He also proposed restoring “cuts to key nutrition programs like SNAP” and the National School Lunch Program. (Concord Monitor)
Bernie Sanders
- Bernie Sanders’ campaign has been highlighting his success with female voters. According to the Washington Post, “As of the last reporting period at the end of September, some 301,154 women gave money to Sanders” and “approximately 240,000 women” gave money to Hillary Clinton. However, “Sanders claims more than 689,000 individual donors to nearly 400,000 for Clinton. That means that the former secretary of state still can brag that a higher percentage of her contributors are women -- 60 percent versus 44 percent for Sanders.” (The Washington Post)
- Sanders’ spokeswoman Symone Sanders said that the donations show that "the grassroots enthusiasm for Senator Sanders is unmatched by any other candidate. The fact that so many women have decided to donate to the senator's campaign says that his policies and record are indeed resonating with women across the country." (The Washington Post)
- On Wednesday, Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver told Reuters that the campaign will “add more staff in each of the states holding nominating contests on March 1.” In addition, the campaign has “begun adding two dozen additional paid field staffers in the first contest in Iowa, which holds caucuses on February 1.” (Reuters)
Republicans
Jeb Bush
- On CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Jeb Bush discussed Donald Trump’s media strategy, his lack of national security knowledge and whether he would support Trump if he is the GOP nominee. Commenting on Trump’s relationship with the media, Bush said, “He knows what he’s saying. He’s smart. He’s playing you guys like a fiddle, the press, by saying outrageous things and garnering attention. That’s his strategy, to dominate the news.” Bush then criticized Trump for not talking “about the issues at hand that are of national security importance for our country. To keep us safe is the first priority of the president, and he’s all over the map, mis-informed at best and praying on people’s fears at worst.” Although Bush will support Trump if he wins the party’s nomination, he said, “I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt to see how the campaign unfolded. But if you listen to him talk, it’s kind of scary to be honest with you, because he’s not a serious candidate. Look, I’ve said – because anybody is better than Hillary Clinton, let me just be clear about that. But I have grave doubts about Donald Trump’s ability to be commander in chief.” (The Hill)
Ben Carson
- Ben Carson, who is touring Jordan, said on Sunday that the Syrian refugees he has spoken with during his tour have told him that “Their main desire is to be repatriated in their homeland.” He also said that the refugees want the United States to support the Jordanians. He explained, “The Jordanians have done a yeoman's job in terms of putting up these camps. But the reason that the camps are not full is because they are not supported by the international community. In terms of money, when I looked at the refugee camps in Jordan, there's about a three billion [dollar] shortfall annually. That's how much money we spent last year on Halloween candy.” (The Hill)
- In a Thanksgiving Day op-ed, Carson urged Americans to learn from each other despite our differences. He wrote, “We are blessed to live in the greatest country in the world, where each of us can use our God-given talents to achieve our dreams. There is no place as unique as America, because regardless of where one comes from, all of us have the freedom to choose our destiny; for no one's future has been written yet. ...So despite our challenges, despite how disparate we are from one another, this Thanksgiving grants us an opportunity to come together and learn from one another. We are more alike than we are different and in the things that do make us unique, they grant us with an opportunity to find the beauty of the human soul.” (The Hill)
Chris Christie
- On Thursday, Chris Christie questioned Hillary Clinton’s changing stance on the strategy in Iraq. He said, “she’s for some type of like surge in Iraq, and she’s claiming that that created stability in Iraq, when she opposed the surge in 2007-08, and mocked President George W. Bush for doing it. Now she’s trying to say that was a good thing? This woman changes positions so frequently that you know, she makes you dizzy. And the fact is that that’s not the way you can operate American foreign policy.” (Ames Tribune)
- On Wednesday, Christie released the ad, “Nothing Left Unsaid.” The ad features moments from a recent speech in which Christie discussed why he is running for president. (Breitbart)
Ted Cruz
- On Sunday, Ted Cruz responded to an ad released by a nonprofit group that supports Marco Rubio. The ad criticizes Cruz’s support for the USA Freedom Act, a bill “which limited the federal government’s bulk collection of phone metadata,” according to The New York Times. Cruz attacked Rubio’s record on immigration, saying, “Senator Rubio’s campaign has been desperate to change the topic from his longtime partnership with and collaboration with President Obama and Chuck Schumer in pushing a massive amnesty bill.” (The New York Times)
- On Saturday, Cruz released the ad “Trust Ted.” In the ad, Rep. Jim Bridenstine criticizes an organization supporting Marco Rubio for calling Cruz weak on national security. Bridenstine defends Cruz's "stand against President [Barack] Obama's appeasement of those who threaten our security, from Iran, to [the Islamic State], to Russia." (Newsmax)
Carly Fiorina
- During an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Carly Fiorina criticized Planned Parenthood for blaming anti-abortion rhetoric for the attacks on a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado on Friday. She said, “This is so typical of the left, to immediately begin demonizing the messenger because they don’t agree with the message. What I would say to anyone who would try to link this terrible tragedy to anyone who opposes abortion or the sale of body parts, is this is typical, left-wing tactics.” (The Hill)
- During the same interview, she argued that terrorism, not climate change, is the biggest national security threat. She said, “That’s delusional for President Obama, Hillary Clinton or anyone else to say that climate change is the biggest security threat.” (Fox News)
Jim Gilmore
- After Donald Trump hosted “Saturday Night Live,” some GOP candidates, including Jim Gilmore, asked for equal airtime. Gilmore said, “This is about fairness. N.B.C. allowed Trump to appear in a non-news setting and that is a violation of the fairness doctrine where other candidates are concerned.” Gilmore is using his airtime to show his ad “Trust,” which highlights the threat of terrorism and Gilmore’s foreign policy credentials. The ad is airing on “18 N.B.C. affiliates in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina,” according to The New York Times. (The New York Times, Gilmore for America)
- On December 4, Jim Gilmore will speak at an event hosted by the Cheshire County Republican Committee in New Hampshire. (Sentinel Source)
Lindsey Graham
- On CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Lindsey Graham said the American people should be prepared to go to war with ISIL “because if you don’t destroy ISIL in Syria, which is their headquarters, we’re going to get attacked at home. I cannot stress to you how urgent it is that we destroy ISIL. Every day that goes by that they hold millions of people under their sway is a bad day for us, because they’re going to hit us at home if we don’t put them on the run.” Arguing that others in the Middle East are ready to fight ISIL, he proposed sending 10,000 U.S. troops to help coalition forces fight the terrorist organization. He added, “So the region is ready to fight, the region hates ISIL, they’re coming after the Sunni Arab nations and Turkey hates ISIL, the entire region wants Assad gone, so there’s an opportunity with some American leadership to do two things.” (The Hill)
- On Friday, Security Is Strength PAC, a Super PAC supporting Graham, released the ad "Doorstep.” In the ad, Senator John McCain discusses Graham’s national security credentials and argues that Graham will protect the nation. The Super PAC released a second ad featuring “Army Capt. Ken Caubble of Arkansas, who served in Iraq from December 2003 to March 2005,” according to Tampa Bay News 10. In the ad, Caubble says, “I fought to keep the war over there. Senator Graham is the voice of veterans. This is war and it is time to protect our families and our country’s future.” (Tampa Bay News 10)
Mike Huckabee
- During an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, Mike Huckabee criticized Planned Parenthood for blaming the recent attack on a Colorado facility on anti-abortion activists. He said, "I don't know of any pro-life leader... who has suggested violence toward Planned Parenthood personnel or some act of violence toward their clinics.” He added that it is "a little bit disingenuous on the part of Planned Parenthood to blame people who have a strong philosophical disagreement with the dismembering of human babies and with the selling of body parts." Huckabee called the attack an act of domestic terrorism. (The Hill)
- On Friday, Huckabee released the ”Thanksgiving.” In the ad, Huckabee “praises French President Francois Hollande for his actions after the Paris attacks, at the expense of President Obama, who, he says in the spot, ‘demanded open borders, declared war on Republicans, and lectured us on what being a Christian means,’” according to CBS News. The ad is airing on NBC. After Donald Trump hosted “Saturday Night Live,” NBC agreed to give other candidates the same 12 minutes of airtime that Trump received from the network. (CBS News)
John Kasich
- During an interview on ABC’s "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" on Sunday, John Kasich, who is the only GOP candidate who said he will not support Donald Trump if he wins the party’s nomination, said, "He's not going to [be the nominee]. So we're not even going to go there.” When asked again about supporting Trump, Kasich said, "He's not going to be the nominee... because, at the end, look, he may have 20 percent of the vote. But he's got 80 percent of Republicans who don't support him. And somebody has to call him out on this kind of divisive language. I think he's very divisive and I do not believe he will last. Because somebody who divides this country here in the 21st century, who's calling names of women and Muslims and Hispanics and mocking reporters, then say I didn't do it but he did do it, it's just not going to happen." (The Hill)
- On Friday, Kasich released the ad, "Defending Our Way of Life." In the ad Kasich says, "America needs to assemble a coalition of our friends in Europe and our friends in the Middle East to destroy ISIS. We destroy them in the name of humanity. And if we come together we will absolutely secure a better future for our country." The ad is airing on NBC. After Donald Trump hosted “Saturday Night Live,” NBC agreed to give other candidates the same 12 minutes of airtime that Trump received from the network. (CBS News)
George Pataki
- On December 4, George Pataki will speak at an event hosted by the Cheshire County Republican Committee in New Hampshire. (Sentinel Source)
Rand Paul
- Rand Paul discussed the role of faith in America in an op-ed on Sunday. He wrote, “I believe that leaders guided by faith, leaders guided by virtue, are essential. Most of our presidents recognized this principle, especially President Washington. He recognized that freedom requires an undergirding of faith. Washington believed that democracy depended upon a virtuous people. His prayers and writings, and those of the other great presidents in our history contained in the pages of ‘Our Presidents & Their Prayers: Proclamations of Faith by America’s Leaders,’ reveal how integral our religious traditions were to our founding, and I believe, to our future as well.” (Washington Times)
- Democrats in Kentucky are struggling to find a candidate to challenge Paul for his U.S. Senate seat, according to the Courier-Journal. Actress Ashley Judd, state Veterans Affairs Commissioner Heather French Henry and Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer have been mentioned as possible challengers. (Courier-Journal)
Marco Rubio
- Marco Rubio has been trying to gain support from evangelical Christians, but some pastors in Iowa are questioning Rubio’s views on gay marriage and whether he believes sexual preference is a choice or biologically determined. According to Breitbart, “Many ministers are reortedly {sic} skeptical of Rubio because they’re unsure whether Rubio’s views are in line with the teachings of the Bible when it comes to the issue of gay marriage. Some Iowa pastors say they want ‘to know Rubio’s authentic feelings about gay rights.’” The pastors are also concerned with Rubio’s ties to billionaire Paul Singer, “a major donor to Rubio’s presidential campaign and the founder of a super-PAC whose purpose is to help make the Republican Party pro-gay marriage.” (Breitbart)
- On NBC’s “Today Show” on Thursday, Rubio criticized the Obama administration’s strategy for dealing with ISIS. He said, “The way these rules of engagement of these air strikes have not allowed them to be as successful as necessary. They’ve unnecessarily avoided taking strikes because they’re concerned if they blow up the oil plant that there might be civilians – even just one – killed. And look, that’s always a legitimate concern that we have, but we must destroy their revenue source, which is their ability to generate oil.” (The Hill)
Rick Santorum
- On Saturday, Rick Santorum discussed raising the minimum wage while handing out food at a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Anderson, South Carolina. He said, "Look, I know this is going to be heartburn for some people. I support small, gradual increases in minimum wages ever since I was in Congress. I don't support what Obama wants to do. I think that's ridiculous, absurd. Twelve dollars, $15 is not right." (Independent Mail)
Donald Trump
- On Monday, “A group of 100 black religious leaders—some of whom are televangelists—are slated to meet with Mr. Trump privately at his campaign headquarters at Trump Tower, and then attend a news conference where some are expected to announce their endorsement,” according to The Wall Street Journal. (The Wall Street Journal)
- During an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Donald Trump dismissed the idea that the current debate about Planned Parenthood’s fetal tissue practices caused a man to murder individuals at a Colorado Planned Parenthood, instead calling the tragedy the act of a mentally disturbed individual. He said, “I think it's terrible. I mean, terrible. It's more of the same. And I think it's a terrible thing. He's a maniac. I think he's a sick person. And I think he was probably a person ready to go. We don't even know the purpose. I mean, he hasn't come out, to the best of my knowledge, with a statement as to why it happened to be at that location. ...This was a man who they said prior to this was mentally disturbed. So, he's a mentally disturbed person. There's no question about that.” (The Hill)
- Trump also commented on edited, undercover videos released by the Center for Medical Progress which show individuals associated with Planned Parenthood discussing the procedures and sale of aborted fetal tissue. He said, “Well, I will tell you there is a tremendous group of people that think it's terrible, all of the videos that they've seen with some of these people from Planned Parenthood talking about it like you're selling parts to a car. I mean, there are a lot of people that are very unhappy about that. I see a lot of anxiety and I see a lot of dislike for Planned Parenthood. There's no question about that.” (The Hill)
- During an interview with Chuck Todd, host of NBC’s "Meet The Press," Trump said that he would not back down from his claim that "’thousands’ of Muslims in New Jersey cheered the fall of the twin towers on 9/11,” according to The Hill. Trump told Todd that his campaign is looking for articles and clips that verify his claims. He said, “And I wouldn't be surprised if we found them, Chuck. But for some reason, they're not that easy to come by. I saw it. So many people saw it, Chuck. And, so, why would I take it back? I'm not going to take it back." (The Hill)
Third Party Candidates
Jill Stein (Green Party)
- During a wide-ranging interview with the Harvard Crimson, Jill Stein discussed her “New Deal legislation,” higher education debt, her future in politics, the “spoiler effect,” political ideology and her hope that Bernie Sanders’ supporters will vote for her in the general election. Excerpts from the interview appear below. (The Harvard Crimson)
- Stein “hopes to replicate key aspects of the New Deal legislation,” which she believes “would allow the US to become fully dependent on renewable energy within 15 years.” She said the plan, “revives the economy, creates well paying living wage jobs that we desperately need at the same time that it greens the economy and the energy system and therefore turns the tide on climate change and makes wars for oil obsolete. It’s a win-win.”
- Stein also discussed her proposal to make “all public colleges free” and erase “all existing student debt.” She said, “Forty million young people are indentured servants without much hope of getting out of debt. We have a generation of hopeless young people who cannot get their way out of debt, who don’t have jobs, and who are watching the climate collapse.”
- Stein remains optimistic about her future in politics because of the current social climate. She said, “There is an occasion where a third party actually won a presidential election coming into it at as a third party. And that was a time of extreme social upheaval, like what we’re in right now. His name was Abraham Lincoln.”
- Stein said that some liberal voters fear the “spoiler effect” and will often vote for the Democratic candidate, rather than a third party candidate, out of fear that doing so will help elect a Republican. She said, “The spoiler effect is the latest propaganda campaign to keep people locked into an abusive political system. This point of view is basically the politics of fear, which tells you can’t vote for what you want, you have to vote against what you fear.”
- When discussing the difference between the Green Party and Democrats, Stein drew the following distinction: “In many ways, Democrats are especially dangerous when they support a corporate agenda. Because they are the lesser evil, progressives are talked out of opposing them, talked out of fighting for living wages, or to stop the [Trans-Pacific Partnership], or to stop the expanding wars.”
- Stein also told the Harvard Crimson that she hopes Bernie Sanders’ supporters will vote for her in the general election. She said, “We will be the Plan B for Bernie.”
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
