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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - October 7, 2015
From Ballotpedia
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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
- Poll: According to a Goucher College poll conducted September 26 to October 1, when asked who they would vote for if the election were held today, 43 percent of Maryland Democrats say they would vote for Hillary Clinton. Joe Biden garnered 23 percent, Bernie Sanders followed with 17 percent, Martin O’Malley and Jim Webb both earned 2 percent, while Lincoln Chafee came in last with 0 percent. (Goucher.edu) (Washington Post)
- Poll: According to a poll released on Tuesday, Clinton leads the Democratic primary race with 42 percent. Sanders comes in second with 24 percent followed by Biden with 20 percent. Public Policy Polling also tested “a fantasy field,” including all possible Clinton challengers. Clinton is still in the lead with 37 percent, followed by Biden with 20 percent, Sanders with 19 percent, Elizabeth Warren with 11 percent, Al Gore with 4 percent, Michael Dukakis and John Kerry with 2 percent and Martin O'Malley with 1 percent. (Public Policy Polling) (International Business Times)
- Poll: According to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted September 25 to October 5, Hillary Clinton leads the Democratic field in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Clinton leads in Florida with 43 percent. Sanders and Biden are tied at 19 percent. Clinton leads in Ohio with 40 percent. Biden has 21 percent, and Sanders has 19 percent. In Pennsylvania, Clinton also leads with 36 percent. Biden has 25 percent, and Sanders has 19 percent. (Quinnipiac)
- Poll: According to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted September 25 to October 5, Donald Trump leads his Republican opponents in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Trump leads in Florida with 28 percent, followed by Carson with 16 percent with, Rubio with 14 percent, Bush with 12 percent, Fiorina with 7 percent and Cruz with 6 percent. Trump leads in Ohio with 23 percent, followed by Carson with 18 percent, Kasich with 13 percent, Cruz with 11 percent and Fiorina with 10 percent. Trump garnered 23 percent in Pennsylvania, followed by Carson with 17 percent, Rubio with 12 percent and Fiorina with 8 percent. (Quinnipiac)
Democrats
Joe Biden
- On August 1, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd published an article about Beau Biden urging his father to run for president shortly before he passed away. According to a report released on Tuesday by Politico, Joe Biden was the one who leaked the story to Dowd. Politico reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere argues, “It was no coincidence that the preliminary pieces around a prospective campaign started moving right after that column.” A spokesperson for Biden said, “The bottom line on the POLITICO story is that it is categorically false and the characterization is offensive.” (Politico) (NBC News)
- Draft Biden 2016 released a web video this morning titled "Joe Biden -- 'My Redemption,'" which features some of the personal tragedies Biden has experienced. (YouTube)
Lincoln Chafee
- Grammarly, a grammar checking app, examined the grammar of the comments left on each presidential candidate’s Facebook page. According to the study, Lincoln Chafee’s “supporters are most grammatical (while also being rarest), making 3.1 errors per hundred words.” (King5.com) (San Francisco Gate)
Hillary Clinton
- According to The Washington Times, the State Department directed Hillary Clinton “to go back and search for still more emails” and asked “her to see whether her Internet providers can recover any of the messages believed to be missing from a ‘gap’ during her first months in office.” (The Washington Times)
- On Tuesday, Clinton said that she would make a decision about the Trans Pacific Partnership now that the 12 nation trade deal has been finalized. She said, "I'm going to be diving into that tonight. I'm going to be talking to people about it. They're giving me all the information they can gather so that I can make a timely decision.” (NBC News)
Lawrence Lessig
- On Tuesday, Lawrence Lessig announced that he raised $1 million and is going to air a $100,000 TV ad buy. According to MSNBC, “The ad shows Republican presidential candidate and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio covered in corporate logos and promises Lessig is the only candidate who can fix what he deems a corrupt system.” (MSNBC) (Wall Street Journal)
- In an interview with Breitbart on Tuesday, Lessig said that DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz has been too busy to meet with him and doesn’t consider him a serious candidate. She set up a call with Lessig and then cancelled, and is refusing to include him in the Democratic debates. Lessig said, “It’s hard to see how you can have a debate with Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb onstage and not me.” Lessig also praised Donald Trump for calling out other Republican candidates for taking money from Super PACs. Lessig criticized Hillary Clinton for “taking tons of money from Wall Street,” and for not being “committed to solutions like Glass-Steagall.” He criticized Bernie Sanders too, saying, “My criticism is that he’s out there promising the moon and the promises are just not possible. They’re not credible in the current environment until we change this corrupted democracy first.” (Breitbart)
Martin O’Malley
- During an interview on Tuesday with Concord News Radio, Martin O’Malley criticized Bernie Sanders’ stance on gun regulations. He said, “I think his opinions and his position on this are different than the mainstream of the Democratic Party anyway. He voted against the Brady Bill and is someone who has at times even advanced pet pieces of legislation like the immunity for gun manufactures, one of the few things he’s gotten through Congress.” (Buzzfeed)
Bernie Sanders
- Bernie Sanders told Vermont alternative-weekly Seven Days, “If you passed the strongest gun-control legislation tomorrow, I don't think it will have a profound effect on the tragedies we have seen.” (Business Insider)
Jim Webb
- Christian Post reporter Ray Nothstine noted that Jim Webb has changed his stance on gay marriage. “In his book A Time to Fight, Webb said, ‘In church handouts and on Christian radio they claimed I was in favor of gay marriage, despite repeadetely {sic} telling everybody that I am a Christian and that, in my faith, marriage is between a man and a woman.’ Ballotpedia now lists Webb as ‘comfortable with same-sex marriage.’ The New York Times also reports that Webb has flipped his position and calls same-sex marriage ‘good for the country.’” (ChristianPost.com)
Republicans
Jeb Bush
- Jeb Bush released a web video titled “Why I’m Running,” which criticizes President Barack Obama and highlights his accomplishments as governor of Florida. (The New York Times) (YouTube)
- According to The New York Times, Bush put forward “a proposal to deal with legislators who repeatedly miss votes. While missing votes is a widespread issue in Congress, the move is a specifically relevant as Mr. Bush tries to beat back a threat from Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.” (The New York Times)
- During a campaign speech in Iowa, Bush criticized the liberal policies of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. He said, “Whether it's (former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary) Clinton coming to Iowa and promising more money, more regulation, more spending, or Bernie Sanders, who I think is going to get the Olympic gold medal for the most promises made in a year before the election. Eighteen trillion dollars of promises in new spending from the Bern. (He's) leading, by the way, against Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire." (USA Today)
- The Center for Public Integrity’s Carrie Levine questioned the transparency of Bush’s super PAC, Right to Rise USA, in Time on Wednesday. She wrote, “The super PAC’s biggest single vendor this year through June is a mysterious limited liability company, LKJ, LLC, whose owners are hidden behind the state of Delaware’s opaque registration laws. The company doesn’t appear to have a website or a physical office. ...The company’s Delaware origin makes it impossible to determine whether a chief Bush lieutenant is embedded in — and profiting from — the cash-flush tangle of entities created to boost his bid.” (Time)
Ben Carson
- In response to last week’s Oregon campus shooting, Ben Carson said that he would fight back against a gunman if he was attacked. He said, “I would not just stand there and let him shoot me. I would say: ‘Hey, guys, everybody attack him! He may shoot me, but he can’t get us all.’” Carson also suggested that teachers should be armed. He said, “If the teacher was trained in the use of that weapon and had access to it, I would be much more comfortable if they had one than if they didn’t.” (The New York Times)
- During an interview on “The View,” Carson discussed his stance on abortion and expressed his support for birth control. He said, “We are killing babies all over the place. I’ve spent my entire career trying to preserve life and give people quality of life, even operating on babies in the womb, operating all night long sometimes on premature babies. And I get to meet those people when they’re adults, and productive adults. There is no way you’re going to convince me that they’re not important, that they’re just a mass of cells.” (Breitbart) (The Daily Beast)
Chris Christie
- According to Ben Dworkin, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, Chris Christie’s “record in New Jersey on gun control is decidedly mixed. He's vetoed some gun control legislation, he's signed some legislation -- as he talks to audiences that have a much more expansive view of the Second Amendment than many in New Jersey, I think he is shifting his emphasis as he talks about this." In August 2013, “after signing into law 10 pieces of gun violence and firearm-related bills,” Christie said, “These commonsense measures will... strengthen New Jersey's already tough gun laws,” according to CBS News. (CBS News)
Ted Cruz
- Ted Cruz announced that Republican Nevada Assemblyman Jim Wheeler, a former member of Scott Walker's Nevada campaign team, is endorsing his bid for president. (Nevada Public Radio)
Carly Fiorina
- Carly Fiorina discussed her strategy for combatting ISIS during an interview with Dom Giordano on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT. She said, “The Turks have been asking us to help them maintain a no fly zone in the northern part of Syria. We haven’t. I would. The Kurds have been asking us to arm them for three years. The Kurds are the most effective fighting force on the ground to date, particularly against ISIS. We haven’t armed them. I will. The Egyptians have asked us to share intelligence. They’re fighting ISIS on the ground as we speak. The Saudis have asked us for support. We haven’t provided it. The Jordanians have asked us for bombs and material to help them fight ISIS. We haven’t done it. All of these allies are bound together by a common enemy, Iran, ISIS and now Russia. They are prepared to stand up and push back and fight, but they must see leadership and support and resolve from us. I would provide it.” (CBS Philly)
- Fiorina discussed legal and illegal immigration on the Laura Ingraham Show on Tuesday, saying that legal immigration is as big of a problem as illegal immigration. She said, “It’s not just that we have people sneaking across the border, it’s not just that we have sanctuary cities, it’s not just that our border is insecure. Our legal immigration system has been a problem for 25 years now. It truly has.” (Daily Caller)
Jim Gilmore
- Jim Gilmore offered a proposal for fighting terrorism on his website. He wrote, “First, we must have the strong presidential leadership that can lift up the American people and bring them to understand that in this longest war the enemy will have some successes, even in future terrorist attacks on our homeland. ...Second, we must strengthen our intelligence capabilities – not only satellites but intelligence agents in hostile nations – who can provide the information essential to interdicting and deterring attacks on Americans at home and abroad.” He also noted the importance of understanding radical Islam. (Gilmore for America)
Lindsey Graham
- On Tuesday, before heading to South Carolina to assess the damage done by Hurricane Joaquin, Lindsey Graham defended his vote against directing funds to the victims of Hurricane Sandy. He told The Washington Post, "The Hurricane Sandy package was $60 billion. Forty-seven states got community development funding. They repaired Amtrak corridors unaffected by Sandy. It was a pork-fest. We had a $24 billion alternative that was focused on Sandy. What do we know now? We know that of the money appropriated, only 11 percent was appropriated in the first year. A lot of this money was unaccounted for and mismanaged. When I put together a package, if one is needed, it will be detailed for this event. It won't have anything to do with other needs in South Carolina, and I will fight like a tiger to make sure somebody doesn't use our tragedy for their advantage. You'll see how it should be done." (The Washington Post) (CNN)
- Graham argued that President Obama needs to form a coalition to fight ISIL, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s expanding influence in the Middle East and Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad. On Tuesday he said, “Putin is doing what I would have suggested. He’s forming a regional force of Syrians, Hezbollah, Iranians, and now Russian ground forces, with Russian air power, and they’re going to go after the people that threaten Assad. The president of Russia has told the president of the United States to go to hell.” (BuzzFeed) (The Hill)
John Kasich
- On Tuesday, John Kasich criticized Donald Trump’s plan to deport undocumented immigrants. He said, “The idea that we’re going to pick these folks up and ship them out? I mean, that is just unbelievable. The thought of it. What are we going to do — ride into neighborhoods and announce, ‘Come out now, you’re going to the border.’” (The Columbus Dispatch)
Bobby Jindal
- Bobby Jindal criticized the father of the individual who murdered nine individuals at an Oregon community college last week. On Tuesday, Jindal wrote, "This killer's father is now lecturing us on the need for gun control and he says he has no idea how or where his son got the guns. ...Why didn't he know? Because he failed to raise his son. He should be ashamed of himself, and he owes us all an apology." (NOLA.com)
Rand Paul
- On Tuesday, Rand Paul, spearheaded a letter asking Health and Human Services Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson to investigate fetal tissue research supported by the department in response to allegations that Planned Parenthood was compensated for aborted fetal tissue. Paul and 34 other senators wrote, “We request that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conduct an audit of all fetal tissue research supported by HHS, specifically examining the Department’s oversight of contractor and grantee compliance with the laws governing fetal tissue research.” (RollCall)
- In response to the U.S. military strike that hit a hospital in Afghanistan, Paul argued that U.S. troops should not be there. During an interview on Tuesday with Wolf Blitzer, he said, "the Afghans need to step it up and defend themselves. ...I think this goes to a bigger question and this is the question President Obama should have to answer: Why are we still at war in Afghanistan? What is the U.S. objective, what's the U.S. mission and why are we bombing anybody in Afghanistan?" (CNN)
Marco Rubio
- On Tuesday, during an interview with NBC's the “TODAY show,” Marco Rubio defended missing Senate votes after Donald Trump criticized him for being a “lazy” senator. He said, "The majority of the job of being a senator isn't walking onto the Senate floor and lifting your finger on a non-controversial issue and saying which way you're going to vote. The majority of the work of a senator is the constituent service." NBC News also noted that in April Rubio criticized his colleagues for missing votes. He said, "If you don't want to vote on things, don't run for the Senate. If you don't want to vote on things, don't run for office. Be a columnist. Get a talk show. Everyone who runs for office knows that what we are called to do here is vote on issues on which sometimes we are uncomfortable.” Rubio has missed 59 votes since he announced his bid for president. (NBC News) (CNN)
Donald Trump
- Donald Trump told CNN's Chris Cuomo on Tuesday that he supports allowing Americans to legally buy and own assault weapons. Trump said, "You have to be because the bad guys are going to have them anyway. What happens when the bad guys have the assault weapons and you don't in a confrontation?" CNN noted that Trump took a different stance in his 2000 book "The America We Deserve,” writing, "I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I also support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun.” (CNN)
- During an interview with Fox News's Bret Baier on Tuesday, Trump reiterated his support for eminent domain. He said, "Eminent domain, when it comes to jobs, roads, the public good, I think it's a wonderful thing. And remember, you're not taking property… you're paying a fortune for that property." (The Washington Post)
- On Monday, Donald Trump sent Marco Rubio 24 bottles of “Trump Ice Natural Spring Water,” two “Make America Great Again” towels, bumper stickers, and a note that read: “Since you’re always sweating, we thought you could use some water. Enjoy!” Rubio responded to the joke on Tuesday saying, “Apparently the water is very high quality water. It’s top notch water that he sent us. So we’re grateful for the gift.” (ABC 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
