Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - November 24, 2015
From Ballotpedia
|
Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential Briefing was sponsored by the Leadership Project for America. | ||||
|
Tuesday's Leading Stories
- Marco Rubio said at a town hall in Iowa on Monday that the U.S. should film and broadcast its military efforts against ISIS. “I want the world to see how these ISIS leaders cry like babies when they're captured. I want the world to see how these ISIS leaders, once captured, begin to sing like canaries if they survive.” He continued, “We should be carrying out attacks against (ISIS) leadership nodes, videotaping the whole thing, and putting it up on YouTube so the world can see these people are not invincible." (CNN)
- On Monday, Ben Carson briefly corroborated Donald Trump’s claim that there were “thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the collapse of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. “I saw the film of it, yes,” Carson said, referring to “newsreels” of the alleged incident. (The Huffington Post)
- Several hours later, Carson’s communications director, Doug Watts, released the following statement: “Dr. Carson does not stand by the statements that were reported today. He was hearing and thinking something differently at the the [sic] time. He does, however, recall and had his mind focused on the celebrations in the Middle East. He is not suggesting that American Muslims were in New Jersey celebrating the fall of the twin towers [sic]." (NBC News)
- Poll: In a survey of likely Republican voters in three early voting states – Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – Donald Trump retained his lead with 30 percent support or higher. In Iowa, Ted Cruz surged to second with 21 percent, the first time a Republican candidate other than Trump or Ben Carson has crossed the 20 percent threshold in any national or state poll in several months. In New Hampshire, Trump stood at 32 percent and Marco Rubio followed with 13 percent. Carson and Cruz tied for third place with 10 percent. The South Carolina poll had similar results with Trump in first place at 35 percent, Carson in second with 19 percent, and Rubio in third with 16 percent. (CBS News, The Nation)
- Poll: According to a new national poll from The Washington Post and ABC News, more respondents said they trusted Hillary Clinton to “handle the threat of terrorism” than Bush, Carson, Cruz, Rubio or Trump. Her largest margins of victory were against Carson at 9 points and Trump and Cruz at 8 points each. (The Washington Post, CNN)
- Poll: In Iowa, Cruz has unseated Carson for second place with 23 percent to Carson’s 18 percent, according to a poll from Quinnipiac University released on Tuesday. Trump maintains a narrow lead with 25 percent support. (Quinnipiac University)
- Poll: Hillary Clinton now leads in both Iowa and New Hampshire, according to a pair of surveys conducted by CBS News and YouGov. She leads Sanders 50 percent to 44 percent in Iowa and 52 percent to 45 percent in New Hampshire. With an increased focus on national security, the survey also determined that “Eighty-four percent in Iowa say Clinton is ready [to be commander-in-chief] and 60 percent say so about Sanders. In New Hampshire, where Sanders leads, 83 percent say Clinton is ready and 69 percent feel Sanders is ready.” (CBS News)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- Hillary Clinton criticized the merger of Pfizer and Allergan, two large pharmaceutical firms, into one company headquartered in Ireland. She said in a statement, “For too long, powerful corporations have exploited loopholes that allow them to hide earnings abroad to lower their taxes. Now Pfizer is trying to reduce its tax bill even further. This proposed merger, and so-called ‘inversions’ by other companies, will leave U.S. taxpayers holding the bag. As President, I will fight to reform our tax system to reward growth, innovation, and job creation here in the United States. We cannot delay in cracking down on inversions that erode our tax base.” (Washington Times)
- According to a profile in The New York Times, Clinton has not mentioned her Democratic opponents at recent campaign events. Instead, she focuses on distinctions between Democratic and Republican economic policies. “[Republicans] are running on the same economic policies that have failed us before. Trickledown economics, cut taxes on the wealthy, get out of the way of big corporations. Well, we know how that story ends, don’t we?” Clinton said on Friday at a rally in Tennessee. In her stump speech, she also spends time discussing how to defeat the Islamic State. U.S. Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said he believed “third-party forces are working in her favor” as the central issue of the campaign has begun to shift from the economy to national security and foreign policy. (The New York Times)
- Announced by New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (D) on Monday, Clinton’s campaign launched “Mujeres in Politics” to encourage more Latinas to engage in civic life. "The narrative out there is that Latinos don't participate in the primary, they don't caucus. Everyone is focused on the general. The goal is for Latinos to play a decisive role in the primary and the caucus,” said Lorella Praeli, Clinton’s director of Latino outreach. (NBC News)
- On Monday, Clinton said it was “not smart” to summarily reject Muslim refugees because of its potential impact on law enforcement. She said, “If you're in law enforcement, ... you want the people in the communities that you are looking to get information from to feel like they want to help you. And if the message from people who are running for president, for example, is that we don't want to take any Muslims whatsoever, that's not good for law enforcement." (U.S. News & World Report)
- Clinton said on Sunday that the 1973 Helms Amendment, which prohibits the use of foreign assistance funds for abortion, should be reconsidered in conflict zones where rape is used as a weapon of war. She said if a woman cannot be provided with access to abortion, "then we have to help them in every other way and to get other people to at least provide the options. … They will be total outcasts if they have the child of a terrorist or the child of a militia member. Their families won't take them, their communities won't take them." (CNN)
Martin O’Malley
- On Monday, Martin O’Malley criticized the Pfizer-Allergan merger, characterizing the arrangement as a way for Pfizer to avoid certain taxes. He said in a statement, “The Pfizer-Allergan merger is fundamentally unfair, and a prime example of how our capitalist economy is not supposed to work. American small businesses and middle-class taxpayers do not have the ability to game the system and avoid paying the taxes they owe — Pfizer should not be able to either.” (Washington Times)
- During a campaign stop at Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire on Monday, O’Malley said the Paris terrorist attacks “were far more likely to have been stopped by better Homeland Security actions in Brussels and Paris than by more firepower in Syria and Iraq.” (Boston Herald)
Bernie Sanders
- Bernie Sanders declined to reject the support he has received from the Nurses United for Patient Protection super PAC on Monday, maintaining he does not have a super PAC. "What I have said over and over again is that I have not and will not raise a nickel for a super PAC. I am the only Democratic candidate who does not have a super PAC. I will not have a super PAC. They are nurses and they are fighting for the health care of their people. They are doing what they think is appropriate. I do not have a super PAC,” Sanders said in an interview on CNN. (CNN)
- In a statement on Monday, Sanders condemned the merger between pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Allergan. “The Pfizer-Allergan merger would be a disaster for American consumers who already pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. It also would allow another major American corporation to hide its profits overseas. The Obama administration has the authority to stop this merger, and it should exercise that authority. Congress also must pass real tax reform that demands that profitable corporations pay their fair share of taxes,” Sanders said. (U.S. Senator for Vermont, Bernie Sanders)
- The International Association of Iron Workers Local 7, a union representing approximately 3,000 members in New Hampshire and New England, endorsed Sanders on Monday. “Whether it’s his support for a $15 minimum wage, his willingness to take on Wall Street or his commitment to getting corporate money out of politics, Bernie’s vision for America is our vision,” said Steve Williams, a business agent for the union. (New Hampshire Union Leader)
Republicans
- James A. Barnes, a senior writer for Ballotpedia, surveyed 124 Republican insiders and operatives and found that 47 percent believed Donald Trump was harming the Republican Party. One insider said, “He meaningfully lowers the level of political discourse, which is really saying something in 2015.” Another commented, “Trump is engaging a type of voter that is apathetic right now and he will hopefully keep them engaged through the general election, regardless of whether he wins the nomination.” (Ballotpedia)
- Jim Gilmore, Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee and John Kasich have reached an agreement with NBC to receive “equal time” following Donald Trump’s episode of “Saturday Night Live.” The network is still in negotiations with George Pataki. (Variety)
- Poll: The Pew Research Center surveyed Republican-leaning voters, finding in a poll released on Monday that 71 percent of those respondents “angry” with the government had a favorable view of Ben Carson. Asked about Donald Trump, 64 percent of “angry” Republican-leaning voters favored him compared to only 48 percent of voters “not angry” with the government. (The Hill)
Jeb Bush
- In the latest national poll from The Washington Post and ABC News, Jeb Bush registered his weakest performance with 6 percent support. At his peak in March 2015, Bush had 21 percent. According to Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post, “The strongest argument Bush had going for him was his inevitability; he was the front-runner and was going to stay that way so you might as well get on board or run the risk of being left behind. With that message now rendered useless, Bush continues to cast around for another one that might work: One week he is the ‘fix it’ guy, the next he is the one who is serious enough and strong enough to deal with the threat of terrorism.” (The Washington Post)
- In a radio interview on Friday, Bush called Donald Trump’s plan to send back Syrian refugees “appalling.” He said, “If we’ve screened refugees, if you’re a Christian Syrian who but for the good fortune of escaping and crossing through ISIS territory, and crossing the Turkish border, stuck in a refugee camp, and go through the process to prove you’re not an Islamic terrorist, you come to the United States, this noble country, to send them back to their slaughter? I find it appalling.” (BuzzFeed)
Ben Carson
- On Monday, Ben Carson said it was “hypocrisy” that the media ignored his foreign policy positions, presenting him as ignorant on the subject. "I've said for multiple months, is that if we take the fight to [ISIS] over there, we're much less likely to have to fight them over here. … I find it a little frustrating when I say things like that and nobody ever pays any attention. And they say, 'Carson doesn't know anything about foreign affairs.' And yet, everybody picks up on all of the stuff that I say, including President Obama, and starts using it themselves. I think it's very, very strange,” Carson said. (NBC News)
- Armstrong Williams, an adviser to Carson, said on Monday that the campaign was aiming to win 13 percent of the African-American vote against Hillary Clinton, making it “mathematically impossible for her to win” in the general election. Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) won 6 percent of the African-American vote in the 2012 presidential election. (Bloomberg)
Chris Christie
- Next Friday, Chris Christie is scheduled to deliver a speech on national security at a forum hosted by Americans for Peace, Prosperity, and Security. He is also set to meet with the Republican Jewish Coalition and hold a private meeting with House Republicans next week. (The Des Moines Register, NJ.com)
Ted Cruz
- American Encore, a conservative nonprofit group, has made a $200,000 ad buy in Des Moines, Iowa, featuring an ad attacking Ted Cruz for supporting the USA Freedom Act earlier this year. Images from the Paris terrorist attacks play as the narrator says, “When Ted Cruz had the chance to fight Barack Obama’s dangerously weak anti-terror policies, he didn’t. Instead, Cruz voted to weaken America’s ability to identify and hunt down terrorists.” (National Review)
- On Monday, a super PAC backing Cruz, Keep the Promise, announced it was expanding its operations in South Carolina by hiring 14 full-time field directors and county organizers. “It's a targeted voter contact and targeted data-driven grassroots program. There is nothing as sophisticated as what we are going to be doing to reach voters in SC,” wrote a Keep the Promise spokeswoman in an email. (The Hill)
Carly Fiorina
- According to a survey conducted by the College Republican National Committee during the fourth Republican debate on November 10, more than 80 percent of respondents said they were “more likely” to support Carly Fiorina following her performance in the debate. She narrowly edged out Rand Paul and Ben Carson who each stood at 78 percent or more. (USA Today)
Lindsey Graham
- Last week, Lindsey Graham criticized Donald Trump for supporting the creation of a database of Muslims in the U.S. He said in an interview on Friday, “There are 3,500 American Muslims in uniform. Such things are an offense to them, their families. What are they fighting for as American Muslims? The same freedoms that you and I enjoy. God bless them.” He added, “The only time you’ll get surveilled if I’m president is based on the conduct of your behavior.” (BuzzFeed)
- In a joint interview with U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) over the weekend, Graham accused Ted Cruz of “political opportunism” when he voted against the National Defense Authorization Act. He also said of candidates who want to identify all Muslims in the U.S., “You completely don't understand the war when you say things like that. So it is a form of xenophobia that is no substitute for an actual plan. The way you win the war is, you destroy the terrorists; you build up others in the faith. Ninety percent of this faith doesn't want what 10 percent are selling.” (The Washington Post)
Mike Huckabee
- In an op-ed for Fox News on Monday, Mike Huckabee argued that the Obama administration’s plan to “resettle more than 10,000 unchecked, unscreened foreigners across America towns” poses “a direct threat” to the U.S. He added, “After [the Mali] attack in West Africa, Obama’s new domestic terrorism plan probably requires Americans to memorize Koran verses.” (Fox News)
John Kasich
- In two conference calls with Ohio state legislators hosted by John Kasich on Monday, Kasich’s supporters both directly and indirectly condemned Donald Trump’s candidacy, “Our nation has too much at stake to risk putting another inexperienced person in the White House,” said U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio). Trump held a rally in Ohio on Monday night. (NBC News)
- New Day for America, a super PAC supporting Kasich, released an online ad on Monday attacking Trump. In the ad, several clips of Trump making controversial statements about his daughter, U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), African-Americans and Megyn Kelly appear in between text that reads: “Presidential? Commander in Chief? Leader of the Free World?” (Politico)
Rand Paul
- Rand Paul is promoting his Senate run and a new book on Christianity, Our Presidents & Their Prayers, in Kentucky this week. At a book signing event on Monday, Paul expressed his position on increasing the number of troops in the Middle East. He said, “If we have any boots on the ground, they need to be Arab boots on the ground. The only long-lasting victory, the only long-lasting peace is going to come when Islam rises up and says we are going to stamp out this aberration that is not really true Islam. They are never going to accept a peace that is enforced by people who are not of the same religion." (WLWT Cincinnati)
- At the same event, Paul also discussed his own spirituality. He described his faith as “a daily process of trying to be more Christ-like.” He added, “I’m a physician and it’s not always easy seeing, I guess, tragedy in life. I’ve seen people die up close and personal. And I think it’s not always easy to see God’s hand in evil or misfortune.” (The Courier-Journal)
- On Friday, Paul said that Dzhokar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the perpetrators of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, were an example of why there was “great risk” in accepting refugees. He said, “The Boston bombers came here and as refugees, we coddled them, we gave them free stuff, we gave them free housing, and yet, they decided to attack us, so there’s a great risk.” According to BuzzFeed, the Tsarnaev brothers came to the U.S. on tourist visas and were later granted political asylum. (BuzzFeed)
Marco Rubio
- U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) endorsed Rubio on Monday. She said in a statement, “I am proud to endorse Marco Rubio as he will focus on strengthening our economy and creating jobs. Marco understands that preparing the workforce for the changing economy continues to be a primary focus in the Pacific Northwest and across our country." (OregonLive.com)
- As part of a $20 million ad buy in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, Rubio has released a new ad focusing on his father’s story and work ethic. "My father stood behind a small portable bar in the back of a room for all those years so that I could stand behind this podium in front of this room in this nation. That journey from behind that bar to behind this podium, that's the essence of the American Dream,” Rubio narrates. (NBC News)
Donald Trump
- Representatives from five major TV news networks reportedly met on Monday to discuss Donald Trump’s poor treatment of journalists at his campaign events, including restricting access and threatening to blacklist those who do not comply with his rules. At a rally on Saturday, Trump launched several attacks against the media and individual journalists, calling The Washington Post’s George Will “a dummy” and veteran journalist Cokie Roberts “a lightweight.” He also said of the cameramen who were attempting to record the ejection of a protester, “Look at those bloodsuckers back there. … They don't want to show the crowd because they're dishonest people, I'm telling you. They're dishonest people. The media is so dishonest." (Business Insider)
- In a statement on Monday, Trump said it was “disgusting” that the pharmaceutical firm Pfizer would relocate its headquarters overseas as part of a merger with Allergan. "The fact that Pfizer is leaving our country with a tremendous loss of jobs is disgusting,” he said. (Reuters)
- Some American Muslims have responded to Trump’s call for their registration in a national database by posting images of their military, hospital and university identification cards on Twitter. For example, one Muslim Marine tweeted, “Hey @realDonaldTrump, I'm an American Muslim and I already carry a special ID badge. Where's yours? #SemperFi #USMC.” It has been retweeted more than 33,000 times. (Foreign Policy)
- On Monday morning, Trump demanded an apology from detractors who said his claim that there were “thousands” of people in New Jersey cheering on September 11, 2001, was false. He tweeted the following September 18, 2001, news clip from The Washington Post: “In Jersey City, within hours of two jetliners’ plowing into the World Trade Center, law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops while they watched the devastation on the other side of the river.” (Twitter, The Hill)
- In a video posted to his Instagram account, Trump superimposed images of the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi burning with video clips of Hillary Clinton laughing. He captioned the brief video: “Hillary, there is nothing to laugh about.” (CNN)
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