Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - October 2, 2015
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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential Briefing was sponsored by the Leadership Project for America. | ||||
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Friday's Leading Stories
- Many presidential candidates have responded to the shooting at a community college in Oregon on Thursday, taking to Twitter to express their condolences. Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley both mentioned gun control in their comments. Other candidates offered their “thoughts and prayers” to the community. (ABC News)
- Poll: A USA Today/Suffolk University national poll released on Thursday found Hillary Clinton leading Bernie Sanders 41 percent to 23 percent. When asked to describe each candidate, respondents most commonly called Clinton “liar/dishonest” and “untrustworthy/fake.” Sanders was described as a “socialist” and “favorable/good.” The poll also found that 70 percent of respondents believed Clinton’s private email server use will harm her in the general election. (USA Today)
- Poll: In a new Gravis Marketing poll of South Carolina voters, Donald Trump led Ben Carson 29.1 percent to 16.4 percent. Carly Fiorina was the only other Republican candidate to receive double-digit support with 11.1 percent. Hillary Clinton topped the Democratic field with 50 percent. Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders followed with 19 percent and 13 percent, respectively. (The State)
Democrats
Joe Biden
- In a speech discussing public-private partnerships in New York on Thursday night, Joe Biden distinguished himself from Bernie Sanders. He said, “Listen, I’m not Bernie Sanders. He’s a great guy, by the way. No he really is. I’m not a populist. But I’m a realist.” (MSNBC)
- Biden offered “an extremely personal response” to the community impacted by Thursday morning’s college shooting in Oregon. He referenced the loss of his own children and his wife’s profession as a community college instructor. He also noted the U.S. is “basically the only civilized country in the world where we have these massive murders." (Business Insider)
Lincoln Chafee
- The Boston Globe published a profile of Lincoln Chafee on Thursday highlighting his frugal and measured approach to campaigning. Chafee said it was difficult to get name recognition. “Not getting invited on the Sunday shows makes it harder,” he explained. Chafee also noted that although he has made controversial statements before, namely his call to allow Edward Snowden to return to the U.S. and to end drone strikes, coverage of his campaign has instead been fixed on his support for the metric system. (The Boston Globe)
Hillary Clinton
- In an audio recording of Hillary Clinton’s speech at a private fundraiser last week, Clinton said the Supreme Court was “wrong on the Second Amendment” and pushed for a ban on “assault weapons.” (Washington Free Beacon)
- According to CNN, Clinton is focusing on outreach to Latino voters in October. Her efforts begin with the launch of the Latinos for Hillary coalition, endorsement announcements from Latino leaders and campaign appearances in Texas. (CNN)
- Discussing Russia’s airstrikes in Syria on Thursday, Clinton said, “I personally would be advocating now for a no-fly zone and humanitarian corridors to try to stop the carnage on the ground and from the air, to try to provide some way to take stock of what’s happening, to try to stem the flow of refugees.” (MSNBC)
- James Comey, the director of the FBI, emphasized politics would not impact the agency’s investigation into whether classified emails were mishandled on Clinton’s private email server. He said, “If you know my folks, you know they don’t give a rip about politics. And my job as director of the F.B.I. is to ensure that we remain those things I said we are: competent, honest and independent — and that we do our work well. Part of doing our work well is we don’t talk about it while we do it.” (The New York Times)
Lawrence Lessig
- Lawrence Lessig wrote an op-ed for Politico accusing Democratic Party leadership of “marginalizing” him by preventing him from participating in the Democratic presidential debates. “The DNC still has not formally welcomed me into the race—despite my raising money at a faster pace than more than half the pack, and being in the race nearly a full month. Polls, in turn, have taken the hint, only including me sporadically on questionnaires: of the last 10 major polls, only three mentioned my candidacy,” Lessig noted. (Politico)
Martin O’Malley
- Martin O’Malley presented his campaign finance reform plan on Thursday. In addition to fighting for Citizens United to be overturned, O’Malley would seek to establish “publicly financed congressional elections within five years” and bipartisan redistricting commissions. O’Malley also called for an overhaul of the Federal Election Commission and its disclosure requirements. (The New York Times, Martin O'Malley for President)
Bernie Sanders
- In a meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Thursday, Bernie Sanders said he supported some undocumented immigrants having access to healthcare under Obamacare. An aide to Sanders clarified that he did not support undocumented immigrants receiving federal subsidies. (Washington Post)
- Following a mass shooting at a community college in Oregon on Thursday, Sanders called for “sensible gun-control legislation.” He said, “We need a comprehensive approach. We need sensible gun-control legislation which prevents guns from being used by people who should not have them. We must greatly expand and improve our mental health capabilities so individuals and families can get the psychological help then need when they need it." (The Hill)
Republicans
- Every Republican presidential candidate, except for Donald Trump who did not receive an invitation, declined an offer to appear at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s annual conference next week. (Huffington Post)
- Ted Cruz’s and Rand Paul’s campaigns both claimed the endorsement of Nevada Assemblyman John Moore (R) on Thursday. Dave Ramirez, the director of Paul’s Nevada state campaign, accused Cruz’s campaign of claiming Moore’s support “without his consent.” Moore, who has made positive comments about both candidates, said, “I don’t understand the whole endorsing, leadership team [thing].” (Politico)
Jeb Bush
- At a town hall event in New Hampshire on Wednesday, Jeb Bush reiterated his support for the U.S. providing assistance to Syrian refugees. His comments came after a Syrian-American shared her personal story and asked what Bush would do to address the instability in Syria and Putin’s efforts to “run this world.” Bush said, “Assad is a brutal dictator. He barrel bombs his innocents — he kills them. He's destroying communities. Two hundred thousand-plus people have died. And people are leaving, not because they're immigrants looking for a better life. They're leaving because they'll die. It's that simple. … We're duty-bound to provide support." (Business Insider)
- Bush said on Thursday that he did not understand why U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) suggested the House Select Committee on Benghazi was formed to politically harm Hillary Clinton. “The Benghazi Committee exists because there should be an analysis of what actually happened, and what the response was, and if there was a cover up afterwards. This isn't to try to damage Hillary Clinton, and I don't quite understand why he said that,” he said. (Talking Points Memo)
- Hank Greenberg, the former CEO of American International Group, Inc., the largest multinational insurance group in the world, endorsed Bush. “Does he have the flair others are looking for? No, but that's not what you judge a candidate on,” Greenberg said. (Bloomberg)
- Two representatives from Right to Rise have been conducting “routine” opposition research on John Kasich at a public library in Ohio where the John R. Kasich Congressional Collection is housed. Kasich’s campaign strategist, John Weaver, tweeted in response, "Those Florida based gremlins are awfully clever! #Not.” (The Columbus Dispatch)
- Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) endorsed Bush on Friday. (Wisconsin State Journal)
Ben Carson
- U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) suggested earlier this week he would consider voting for Ben Carson to be the Speaker of the House. “I would go bold, you don’t have to be a member of Congress to be the speaker of the House. I would support someone like Dr. Carson or somebody like that, I think that would be good,” said DeSantis. (MSNBC)
- On Wednesday, Carson said climate change existed but disputed it was a negative phenomenon. "Is there climate change? Of course there's climate change. Any point in time, temperatures are going up or temperatures are going down. Of course that's happening. When that stops happening, that's when we're in big trouble,” said Carson. (New Republic)
- At the same event, Carson briefly discussed intelligent design. He said, "As far as evolution is concerned, you know, I do believe in micro-evolution, or natural selection, but I believe that God gave the creatures he made the ability to adapt to their environment. Because he's very smart and he didn't want to start over every 50 years." (New Republic)
Chris Christie
- Chris Christie announced his Iowa leadership team on Thursday. Its ranks include many former staffers of Gov. Terry Branstad (R-Iowa) who has yet to endorse a presidential candidate. (The Des Moines Register)
Ted Cruz
- The federal Election Commission has requested that Keep the Promise I, a super PAC supporting Ted Cruz, explain why it contributed $500,000 to CARLY for America, a super PAC backing Carly Fiorina. Kellyanne Conway, the president of Keep the Promise I, said, “Keep the Promise I made the donation in June to Ms. Fiorina at that time because we thought she had important things to say that weren't being heard, including her poignant and effective criticism of Mrs. Clinton, at the time, the likely Democratic nominee." (CBS News)
Lindsey Graham
- Lindsey Graham expressed concern over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent interventions in the Middle East. “The Iranian-Russian alliance is bad news for us because he wants to prop up Assad, who is a proxy of Russia and a puppet of Iran. Why is that bad for us? It means that Syria never heals itself and the war continues to go on,” said Graham. (CBS Philly)
Mike Huckabee
- In a video released on Thursday, Mike Huckabee compared the “Washington political machine” to “a strip club.” The clip’s narrator continues, “The political class dances for the donor class, and the working class gets stuck with the tab.” (Salon)
- Huckabee announced his North Carolina leadership team on Thursday. Former U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor (R-N.C.) and pastor Mark Harris will co-chair Huckabee’s campaign in the state. (Asheville Citizen-Times)
- Huckabee wrote an op-ed for Fox News on Thursday arguing for major reforms in how Congress operates. He called for term limits for legislators and judges, banning former members of Congress from becoming lobbyists, withholding pay if there’s no budget and requiring members of Congress to resign if they are seeking a different elected office. (Fox News)
John Kasich
- On Friday, John Kasich advocated for the creation of no-fly zones in Syria to provide civilians there with “sanctuaries from violence” as Russia targets the country with airstrikes. “Russia's recent military build-up and intervention in Syria are neither intended to defeat ISIS nor to relieve the suffering of Syrian refugees. Mr. Putin's real goals are quite different: to take military action to rescue Assad's criminal government from its death and to strengthen Russia's strategic position in the Eastern Mediterranean. This is unacceptable and must stop,” Kasich said in a statement. (Yahoo)
Bobby Jindal
- Bobby Jindal wrote an op-ed for Fox News on Thursday critiquing Donald Trump’s proposal for “government controlled health care.” Jindal warned, “If we capitulate on this issue, we lose our rationale as a political force. This is conservatism’s last redoubt. Health care is our Alamo. It will either be the gateway through which the forces of corruption and socialism ride, or it will become emblematic of the conservative revolution which takes back our country.” (Fox News)
George Pataki
- George Pataki expressed interest in participating in CNBC’s primetime debate on Thursday. “I hope as people hear my message and understand my record that I'll have a chance to be perhaps in the other debate," he said. He would need an average of at least 3 percent in recent national polls, but in this week’s USA Today/Suffolk University poll, Pataki registered no support. (Newsmax)
Rand Paul
- Rand Paul reported $2.5 million in contributions from the summer quarter, a significant drop from the $7 million he raised between April and June of this year. (Washington Post)
- Paul agreed to participate in a town hall with Bernie Sanders “anytime, anywhere.” Sanders’ campaign has not offered a comment on the proposal. (Truth in Media)
Marco Rubio
- Marco Rubio indirectly defended his decision to be absent for the vote on defunding Planned Parenthood and setting a budget. Rubio said the country needed politicians “aggressively” fighting for conservative principles rather than appearing for a “show vote.” He added, “What you just described is why I’m running for president. I’m not even running for re-election in the Senate. I’m running for president because we can’t change any of this unless we have people like that in the presidency.” (The Des Moines Register)
Donald Trump
- Donald Trump said on Thursday he would withdraw from the presidential race if his performances in polls seriously declined. “I’m not a masochist. Right now, I’m leading every poll, in most cases big. ... If that changed, if I was like some of these people at 1 percent or 2 percent, there’s no reason to move forward. ... If I tank, sure, I go back to business. Why wouldn’t I?” Trump said. (The Fiscal Times)
- Speaking of Russia’s military intervention in Syria, Trump said, “Russia destroyed itself, you know, when it was the Soviet Union. They spent so much money in Afghanistan, they got bogged down. You watch — I bet they get bogged down again. They’re going to go in here. They’re going to get bogged down again.” (Washington Times)
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