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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - October 5, 2015
From Ballotpedia
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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential Briefing was sponsored by the Leadership Project for America. | ||||
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Monday's Leading Stories
- The National Education Association, the country’s largest teachers union with 3 million members, endorsed Hillary Clinton on Saturday. (CNN)
- Poll: An NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll released on Sunday found Donald Trump in the lead in Iowa and New Hampshire with 24 percent and 21 percent, respectively. Ben Carson came in second in Iowa with 19 percent, while Carly Fiorina claimed the second spot in New Hampshire with 16 percent. (Wall Street Journal)
- Poll: For the Democratic field in the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll, Hillary Clinton is ahead of Bernie Sanders in Iowa 47 percent to Sanders’ 36 percent. Their positions reverse in New Hampshire, with Sanders leading by 9 points at 48 percent. (Wall Street Journal)
- Poll: A national Pew Research Center poll released on Friday showed Donald Trump holding his lead at 25 percent. Ben Carson was the only other candidate to receive double-digit support with 16 percent. (CNN)
Democrats
Joe Biden
- According to CBS News, Joe Biden could announce his presidential run this week. Draft Biden, a super PAC, said on Saturday it had “formed the logistical support to immediately back a campaign once a decision is made.” (CBS News)
- During a speech at the Human Rights Campaign’s annual meeting, Biden applauded the LGBT advocacy group’s work. “You left the Supreme Court absolutely no choice, no choice whatsoever—and I mean that. The very fact that we finally recognize that love is not a political matter, it’s a basic human right, the fact that we recognize that is because of you. … You’ve changed the world in which my grandchildren will grow up,” he said. Biden also suggested many of the Republican presidential candidates were “homophobes.” (TIME)
- In this speech, Biden called transgender rights “the civil rights issue of our time” and expressed support for transgender individuals to serve in the military. (Huffington Post)
- Several Hillary Clinton donors have quietly joined the effort to support a Biden presidential run. (Wall Street Journal)
Hillary Clinton
- Hillary Clinton argued on Saturday that the 14,000 soldiers forced to leave the military because of their sexual orientation should have their service records updated to reflect an honorable discharge. (Washington Post)
- At a campaign event in Florida on Friday, Clinton condemned the influence the National Rifle Association (NRA) has in politics. "What's wrong with us that we can't stand up to the NRA and the gun lobby?" Clinton said the day after a deadly shooting at an Oregon community college. (Newsmax)
- Clinton is set to announce her new gun control policy on Monday at a town hall in New Hampshire. It includes a pledge to take administrative action if Congress does not move to close gun show and Internet sales loopholes. (Huffington Post)
Martin O’Malley
- Martin O’Malley, who previously deployed his gun control platform following the Charleston church shooting this summer, called on Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders “to join [him] in building a new consensus” on how to address gun violence. O'Malley's plan includes a ban on “assault weapons,” requiring every gun owner to be licensed and fingerprinted, prohibiting the federal government from purchasing guns with outdated safety technology and criminalizing gun trafficking. (The New York Times, International Business Times)
Bernie Sanders
- In a statement released on Saturday, Bernie Sanders opposed Hillary Clinton’s recommendation that a no-fly zone over Syria be established. “I support President Obama’s effort to combat the Islamic State in Syria while at the same time supporting those in Syria trying to overthrow the brutal dictatorship of Bashar Assad. I oppose, at this point, a unilateral American no-fly zone in Syria which could get us more deeply involved in that horrible civil war and lead to a never-ending U.S. entanglement in that region,” said Sanders. (Washington Times)
- Bernie Sanders broke the crowd attendance record in Massachusetts for a presidential primary candidate with 20,000 people showing up to see him at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on Saturday. The prior record-holder was Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign with 10,000 supporters. (Chicago Tribune)
Republicans
- Cliff Zukin, a former president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, warned that polls should not be used “to winnow” the Republican presidential field. Due to nearly 90 percent of Americans who are reached not wanting to participate, the diminishing use of landlines and the margin of error in a large field of candidates, using polls could be risky. (Politico)
Jeb Bush
- On Friday, Jeb Bush received criticism from the president for his response to the mass shooting at an Oregon community college. Bush said, “I had this challenge as governor because we had — look, stuff happens. There’s always a crisis and the impulse is always to do something, and it’s not necessarily the right thing to do.” President Obama responded, “The American people should hear that and make their own judgments based on the fact that every couple of months, we have a mass shooting. They can decide whether they consider that ‘stuff happens.’” (Washington Post)
- Former President George W. Bush participated in a fundraiser for his brother in Arkansas on Friday. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
- Alabama Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey (R) endorsed Bush on Monday. (Yellowhammer News)
Ben Carson
- Last week, Ben Carson launched a petition requesting the IRS revoke the Council on Islamic-American Relations’ tax-exempt status. “The Council on Islamic-American Relations (CAIR), a U.S. Muslim group, recently demanded that I withdraw as candidate for the 2016 presidential race. By doing so, the organization has brazenly violated IRS rules prohibiting tax-exempt nonprofits like CAIR to intervene in a political campaign on behalf of—or in opposition to—a candidate,” Carson said. (Washington Times)
- On Friday, Carson shared a photo of himself on Facebook holding up a sign proclaiming, “I am a Christian,” and encouraged his supporters to do the same. The post had more than 1 million likes and was shared more than 170,000 times by Sunday night. He later called off the effort, deeming it “inappropriate” given the shooting at an Oregon community college. (Newsmax)
Chris Christie
- When discussing the power struggle for Republican leadership in Congress, Chris Christie said on Sunday he “would rather jump off the Brooklyn Bridge than be in Congress.” He then highlighted his record as a governor, saying, "I've not only gotten things done like pension reform and tenure reform that people said could never get done, but also I've vetoed more than 400 bills. And every one of those vetoes has been sustained. That shows I can keep the Republican Party together.” (New York Daily News)
Ted Cruz
- Ted Cruz is currently the only presidential candidate scheduled to attend Club for Growth’s conference on October 15. “We believe he's a very pro-growth senator and would be a good pro-growth president,” said a spokesman for Club for Growth. (CNN)
Carly Fiorina
- Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, criticized Carly Fiorina on Saturday for perpetuating a “lie” about a video Fiorina claimed showed a live-birth abortion. “It is extraordinary that someone running for president would lie in that way. This has been completely discredited by every reputable news source. And yet Carly Fiorina seems to continue to repeat the same lie,” Richards said. (The Hill)
- According to Reuters, the Koch brothers are taking a “serious look” at Fiorina following her strong performance at the first two Republican presidential debates. (Reuters)
Lindsey Graham
- Lindsey Graham is launching a 10-day trip to New Hampshire beginning on Wednesday. U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will join him over the weekend. Graham registered less than 1 percent support in the state in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Saturday. (Bloomberg)
Mike Huckabee
- Mike Huckabee criticized President Obama for not highlighting that Christians were targeted in the mass shooting at an Oregon community college last week. “The president always wants to be defensive and tell us there is no such thing as Islamic terrorism. These aren’t religious people even though we all know they are. But when it seems that the target is a Christian, he conveniently just ignores it, denies it or just moves on to something else. I do think it is incredibly significant that there was a religious intent and motive in this shooter’s attitude,” said Huckabee. (The Blaze)
John Kasich
- John Kasich defined New Hampshire as the crossroads for his presidential campaign. He said on Friday, “We’ve got about 128 days to go until the NH primary. We do well here, we’re moving on. We do terrible here, it’s over. No confusion about that. This is very, very important to us.” Kasich fell to sixth place in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll of voters in the state. (Boston Globe, Cleveland.com)
Bobby Jindal
- Bobby Jindal questioned Ted Cruz’s support for Donald Trump on Friday. He tweeted, “.@TedCruz why won't you stand up to @RealDonaldTrump on single payer healthcare? That's not conservative leadership.” (CNN)
Rand Paul
- On Sunday, Rand Paul rejected claims his campaign would soon fold. “I think the rumors of my demise are somewhat exaggerated, to say the least. … We run a tight ship around here. We plan on being in for the long haul, and I think ultimately celebrity will sort of filter out of this,” he said. (CNN)
Marco Rubio
- Calling Russian President Vladimir Putin “a gangster and a thug,” Marco Rubio said the U.S. was “barreling toward a second Cold War” with Russia. His comments came during a speech on foreign policy at the Americans for Peace, Prosperity and Security forum on Friday. Rubio also noted he would provide more intelligence and military support to Ukraine and “impose visa bans and asset freezes against top Russian officials.” (USA Today)
- Former Nevada Governor Bob List (R), who previously supported Scott Walker, has endorsed Marco Rubio. (Las Vegas Sun)
- Rubio issued a statement on Friday criticized the Obama administration for not supporting pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong last year. “As it has done so many times before on human rights issues, the Obama Administration’s public statements and actions during the movement’s 79 days were marked by equivocation that put America on the wrong side of history and ran afoul of longstanding U.S. policy, enshrined in the Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992,” Rubio said. (U.S. Senator for Florida, Marco Rubio)
Rick Santorum
- Over the weekend, Rick Santorum attended the Practical Federalism Forum in New Hampshire where he was asked to define “practical federalism.” Santorum said, “The idea that you can handle a problem at the individual, family, community level that is where we should put the burden. If it is too big of a problem for that area then move it up to a local government, then state government, and it is only when the problem becomes overwhelming that the federal government needs to weigh in.” (Caffeinated Thoughts)
Donald Trump
- Donald Trump suggested on Sunday that the mass shooting at an Oregon community college last week would have had fewer casualties if more people were armed. He said, “I can make the case that if there were guns in that room other than [the shooter's], fewer people would have died. Fewer people would have been so horribly injured.” He also pointed to mental illness and “copycat” behavior as causes of such violent incidents. (Huffington Post)
- On Saturday, Trump questioned why “young” and “strong” male Syrian refugees weren’t fighting for Syria. He said accepting a large number of Syrian refugees “could be one of the greatest military coups of all time,” likening it to “a Trojan horse.” (Newsmax)
- Trump expressed support for Russia’s military intervention in Syria. "I like that Putin is bombing the hell out of ISIS, and it's going to be ISIS. I'll tell you why — Putin has to get rid of ISIS because Putin doesn't want ISIS coming into Russia," said Trump. He added that that did not mean he trusted Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I'm not justifying Putin, but you watch — he'll get bogged down there. He'll be there, he'll spend a fortune, he'll be begging to get out,” he said. (Washington Examiner)
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
