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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - September 15, 2015
From Ballotpedia
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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
- In an ABC News/Washington Post national poll released on Monday, Donald Trump led the Republican field with 33 percent. Ben Carson was the only other Republican to receive double-digit support with 20 percent. Hillary Clinton remained in the lead of the Democratic field with 42 percent, a 21-point drop from her performance in the same poll in July. Bernie Sanders came in second with 24 percent and Joe Biden followed with 21 percent. (Langer Research)
- Donald Trump leads in New Hampshire with 28 percent, according to a Monmouth University poll released on Monday. Ben Carson and John Kasich follow with 17 percent and 11 percent, respectively. (USA Today)
- Scott Walker announced his labor policy platform on Monday at a town hall meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada. Walker’s plan calls for prohibiting federal workers from forming unions, eliminating the National Labor Relations Board, establishing a federal right-to-work law nationally, mandating greater disclosures from unions and repealing regulations under the Obama administration requiring paid sick leave and overtime for salaried employees. (Associated Press)
Democrats
- All six declared Democratic presidential candidates are scheduled to appear this weekend at the annual convention for the New Hampshire Democratic Party. (WMUR 9 ABC)
Joe Biden
- Joe Biden, speaking for the Obama administration, told Prime Minister of Montenegro Milo Đukanović on Monday that the United States would support Montenegro joining NATO if the country “continues pursuing reforms and boosts popular support” for NATO membership. (The Washington Times)
- As Biden mulls a presidential bid, his supporters are developing a “campaign-in-waiting.” Jon Cooper, the national finance chairman for the Draft Biden super PAC, said, “I’ve personally reached out to more than 30 top Obama bundlers, and half of them have already committed to raise money for Biden if he runs.” (The Wall Street Journal)
Hillary Clinton
- According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, Hillary Clinton’s support among women has fallen from 71 percent in July to 42 percent now. (The Hill)
- Clinton responded to her slipping poll numbers on Monday, saying, “You know, I’m not one of those who ever thought this was going to be a straight shot. I’ve been and around enough campaigns to know there’s an ebb and flow. Polls go up and down, people’s attention and decision making changes over time.”( ABC News)
- Clinton addressed sexual assault on college campuses at a campaign event in Iowa on Monday. She said, “Rape is a crime wherever it happens. Schools have an obligation—a legal obligation and a moral obligation—to protect every student’s right to get an education free from discrimination, free from fear.” Clinton’s proposals included “more comprehensive on-campus resources for survivors, fairer investigative and disciplinary processes for both accusers and the accused, and increased preventative education.” (Yahoo)
- A timeline produced by the State Department and obtained by Judicial Watch showed for a month and a half after becoming secretary of state in 2009 Clinton did not receive email on her private email account. (The Hill, Judicial Watch)
Martin O’Malley
- Martin O’Malley wrote an op-ed in The Gazette on Monday calling for at least 12 weeks of paid leave for parents regardless of gender, sexual orientation or marital status. O’Malley also advocated for “making pay data publicly available by sex, race, and ethnicity, so that all employees can see that they’re making a fair wage for their job.” (The Gazette)
- On Monday, CNN also published an op-ed by O’Malley on gun violence prevention. He said he would change federal procurement policies of firearms to prevent trafficking and revoke the licenses of dealers who “routinely” sell guns that are used by criminals. (CNN)
- Over the weekend, O’Malley’s campaign manager, Dave Hamrick, wrote a letter to other Democratic presidential campaigns asking them to support the expansion of the Democratic primary debate schedule from 6 debates to 12 debates. (Bloomberg)
Bernie Sanders
- Bernie Sanders spoke at Liberty University, an evangelical Christian college, on Monday. His campaign described the event “as an effort to highlight the importance of those with differing views engaging in civil discourse.” (The New York Times)
- According to The Wall Street Journal, Sanders’ proposals would cost “at least $18 trillion in new spending over a decade.” (The Wall Street Journal)
Republicans
Jeb Bush
- Jeb Bush announced his cybersecurity platform on Monday. His plan would seek to prioritize cybersecurity as a “critical element of our national defense and economic well-being,” change the culture of government to recognize the “people who protect our systems are just as important as the technology itself,” provide more support to intelligence professionals, develop international cooperation around the issue of cybersecurity, utilize public-private partnerships to improve cybersecurity and remove regulatory barriers that stifle technological development. (Jeb Bush for President)
- Bush released a bilingual ad on Monday entitled “Todos Somos Americanos” featuring his bicultural family. (The Washington Post)
Ben Carson
- In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Monday, Ben Carson reiterated his apology to Donald Trump for making remarks about his faith. “I said something that sounded like I was questioning his faith. I really wasn’t, I was really talking more about mine. But it was said in an inappropriate way, which I recognized and I apologized for that. It’s never my intention to impugn other people,” Carson said. (The Wall Street Journal)
- Carson described the behavior of Black Lives Matter demonstrators towards Martin O’Malley earlier this summer as “bullying.” Carson said, “Of course all lives matter. Of course we need to be concerned about everyone. Of course we need to extend respect to everyone. And you know, when we get off into a little thing that says 'no, this is the only thing you can say' – that's sickening to me." (CBS News)
- Carson called for reform of the veterans health care system in an op-ed for USA Today on Monday. He recommended offering veterans more choice and portability through health savings accounts, improving response time, making specialized treatment accessible and providing better transition services for veterans returning to civilian life. (USA Today)
Chris Christie
- Chris Christie said gun rights activists in his state would call him “the only reason that the Second Amendment is still alive in New Jersey.” While governor of New Jersey, Christie vetoed bills that would have reduced the permitted size of ammunition magazines and banned .50-caliber rifles. (NJ.com)
- Christie criticized media coverage of presidential candidates’ interactions with each other in an interview on Fox News on Monday night. He said middle-class families trying to pay for college or get a job are not concerned with whether Jeb Bush “should be speaking Spanish” or if he is “low energy.” (Politico)
Ted Cruz
- Ted Cruz was the only male presidential contender to campaign at the National Federation of Republican Women’s annual conference this past week. (The Washington Post)
- State Rep. John Frullo (R-Texas) endorsed Cruz on Monday. (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)
Carly Fiorina
- The CARLY for America super PAC released a video on Monday highlighting Carly Fiorina’s response to Donald Trump’s disparaging comments about her appearance. Using footage from Fiorina’s speech at the National Federation of Republican Women annual conference, the video emphasizes both Fiorina’s identity as a sixtysomething woman and the power of Republican women. (YouTube, MarketWatch)
Jim Gilmore
- Jim Gilmore issued a statement last week in response to his exclusion from Wednesday’s CNN debate. He wrote, “CNN’s decision to keep me, and only me, out of the Reagan Library debate is an attempt to muzzle someone who forcefully opposes the candidates preferred by CNN and by the Republican leadership.” (Concord Monitor)
Mike Huckabee
- Mike Huckabee questioned the intentions of Syrian refugees seeking asylum in the United States. “Are they really escaping tyranny, are they escaping poverty, or are they really just coming because we’ve got cable TV? I don’t meant to be trite. I’m just saying: We don’t know,” said Huckabee over the weekend. (Sun Times National)
- Huckabee minimized Donald Trump’s success with evangelicals in an interview on Fox News on Monday. He said, "I look at it this way: Evangelicals are all over the map, and a lot of them are going with Trump. But this is the dating season, not the marrying season – that comes in February when the caucuses come." (Newsmax)
John Kasich
- John Kasich announced several endorsements from Republican leadership in Georgia on Monday. State Senate Majority Leader Bill Cowsert (R), state Sen. Fran Millar (R) and former state party chair Rusty Paul will be joined by other party leaders to spearhead Kasich’s campaign in the state. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Bobby Jindal
- Bobby Jindal attended a prayer rally on Monday to pay respect to nine Louisiana law enforcement officers who were killed in the line of duty this year. (NOLA.com)
- In an interview on Fox News on Monday, Jindal continued his assault against Donald Trump, suggesting the candidate’s history of bankruptcies gave him “a unique platform to run for president” and could be useful when working with a debt-laden Washington, D.C. (RealClearPolitics)
George Pataki
- In a wide-ranging interview with The Politic, George Pataki said Donald Trump was an “influence buyer” and “subject to political influence.” He also rejected Republican efforts to end abortion entirely. Instead, Pataki said, they should focus on banning abortions after 20 weeks. “The Democrats are always saying Republicans reject science, but the Democrats reject science that says now at about 20 weeks there’s no doubt there’s a life that is sustainable outside of the womb. I believe that is a human life that we have not just a legal right, but an obligation to protect. … So you’re going to hear people talking about ‘I’m going to do this, I’m going to ban abortion, and I’m going to do that,’ it’s not going to happen. Three things can happen, ban abortion after 20 weeks, defund Planned Parenthood, and a permanent ban on using taxpayer dollars to fund abortion,” said Pataki. (The Politic)
Rand Paul
- In an email on Monday, Rand Paul asked more than 100,000 Christian pastors "to help mobilize the grassroots pressure it's going to take to force the Senate to strip Planned Parenthood of every last penny of taxpayer dollars." (LifeSiteNews)
- Paul responded to criticism that his tax plan would cause the government to be underfunded on Monday, saying, “Precisely! That’s my goal. I want the government to be smaller. … And I want the rates to be so low that people will be beating on the door, wanting to come to America to create a business in America.” (The Blaze)
- In an interview with AgriPulse, Paul said he was conflicted on the issue of “voluntary” labeling for genetically modified ingredients. “The labeling requirements are enormously expensive and just add to the cost of foods. Somebody who is poor can't buy as much food because of requiring labels to be stuck on things,” Paul said. (AgriPulse)
- In his latest “Waste Report” that chronicles “egregious examples of waste within the U.S. government,” Paul highlighted the $150,000 of taxpayer money spent to provide yoga classes to some federal agency employees. (U.S. Senator for Kentucky, Rand Paul)
Marco Rubio
- On Monday, Marco Rubio published a Spanish-language version of his previously written op-ed on poverty in America in El Nuevo Herald. (El Nuevo Herald, Miami Herald)
- Lanhee Chen has joined Rubio’s campaign as its policy adviser. Chen, a Hoover Institution Fellow, previously served as policy director for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. (National Review)
Rick Santorum
- In an interview on Monday, Rick Santorum said he would advise Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, “to follow her conscience.” He added, “Because the Supreme Court says something doesn't necessarily mean it's the law of the land. My belief is that when the Supreme Court acts beyond their constitutional authority, then we have every obligation to fight that." (CNN)
Donald Trump
- Donald Trump held a rally with 15,000 attendees in Dallas, Texas, on Monday night. He reiterated his support for constructing a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and said there should be a “big beautiful door” for legal immigrants, particularly well-educated and skilled ones. A counter-rally organized by the League of United Latin American Citizens was held at the same time. More than 1,000 people demonstrated in this “Dump Trump” rally to oppose his candidacy. (NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Daily Caller)
Scott Walker
- Scott Walker defended his position that food stamp recipients should be required to take drug tests, calling it” “progressive” rather than “punitive.” Walker elaborated, "We're trying to help people who are in need of our assistance to get jobs because the best thing we can do with them is to make sure they get the skills and education they need, and make sure they are drug free if they have an addiction, to get back in the workforce." (The Huffington Post)
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
