Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - July 23, 2015
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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential Briefing was sponsored by the Leadership Project for America. | ||||
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Thursday's Leading Stories
- Donald Trump suggested he might run as a third-party candidate if the Republican National Committee, which Trump said “has not been supportive,” does not treat him fairly. “I’ll have to see how I’m being treated by the Republicans. Absolutely, if they’re not fair, that would be a factor,” Trump said. (The Hill)
- The GOP and Democratic Party have respectively raised $3 million and $811,000 this year to finance their nominating conventions in 2016. Neither party can depend on the $18.2 million of public funding each received in 2012 to produce conventions which cost more than $66 million. Last year, President Obama signed a law redirecting those funds to childhood disease research. (The Hill)
- In response to the arrest and alleged suicide of Sandra Bland in Texas two weeks ago, Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley have called for a full investigation and more attention to police brutality and race. These comments follow Sanders' and O'Malley's struggle to address the "Black Lives Matter" movement. (CNN)
Democrats
Joe Biden
- Joe Biden visited a manufacturing plant in North Hollywood yesterday whose employees will benefit from Los Angeles’ plan to increase the minimum wage to $15 by 2020. Biden championed a similar increase in the federal minimum wage, saying it is “as much about dignity as it is the ability to be paid fairly.” (The Los Angeles Times, Variety)
Lincoln Chafee
- Speaking with The Washington Examiner about the Republican Party, Lincoln Chafee said, “I haven't changed but my old party changed. They now have more of an emphasis on social issues and less on fiscal responsibility.” Chafee served in the U.S. Senate as a Republican and in the role of governor of Rhode Island as an Independent and Democrat. (The Washington Examiner)
Hillary Clinton
- Democratic political consultant David Axelrod said Hillary Clinton will need a running mate who appeals to Hispanics if she wants to win the election. Axelrod submitted Bush’s successful 2000 campaign where he received 44 percent of the Hispanic vote and Romney’s unsuccessful effort in 2012 with 27 percent as evidence of this demographic’s importance. Axelrod proposed San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro, Senator Tim Kaine and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack as potential options for vice president. (The Boston Herald)
- Clinton will spend this weekend campaigning in central Iowa. The trip marks Clinton’s third visit to Iowa this month. (The Des Moines Register)
Martin O’Malley
- After Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus criticized Martin O’Malley for connecting the growth of ISIS with climate change, Lis Smith, O’Malley’s deputy campaign manager, responded in a statement, “If Republicans want to have a debate about either foreign policy or science, we have a message for them: bring it on. On both topics they are trapped in the past.” (Bloomberg)
Bernie Sanders
- Bernie Sanders introduced a bill in the Senate to raise the federal minimum wage to $15. Speaking at a rally on Capitol Hill to striking workers, Sanders said, “A job must lift workers out of poverty, not keep them in it. The current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is a starvation wage and must be raised to a living wage.” Democrats had previously introduced a $12 federal minimum wage bill in April. (The Huffington Post, Bernie Sanders 2016)
Republicans
Jeb Bush
- After a visit to the Carolina Pregnancy Center in South Carolina on Wednesday, Jeb Bush said of Planned Parenthood’s use of fetal tissue from abortions, “It just troubles me that you would sell body parts. It just makes no sense to me. That is not a compassionate situation. Congress has every right to investigate these abuses because [Planned Parenthood] receives $500 million dollars from the federal government.” (Politico, The Washington Post)
- Jeb Bush criticized the “divisive” nature of Donald Trump’s rhetoric while being careful not to insult Trump’s supporters. Bush said, “I respect the sentiments people feel when they hear Trump talk. The problem with Mr. Trump's language is that it's divisive, it's ugly, it's mean-spirited. We have to separate him from the people that have legitimate concerns about the country." (BBC News)
- While campaigning in New Hampshire on Wednesday, Bush said subsidies for the wind, solar, oil and gas industries should be phased out through tax reform. (National Journal)
- During a campaign stop in South Carolina, Bush said decisions regarding Confederacy-related names and symbols, like changing the name of a local high school sports team from the Rebels, “ought to be sorted out at the local level.” (The State)
Ben Carson
- Ben Carson suggested overincarceration could be the product of overly comfortable prison facilities. Carson explained, “I think that we need to sometimes ask ourselves, 'Are we creating an environment that is conducive to comfort where a person would want to stay, versus an environment where we maybe provide them an opportunity for rehabilitation but is not a place that they would find particularly comfortable?'" (The Washington Post, Salon)
Chris Christie
- Chris Christie called whistleblower Edward Snowden “a piece of garbage” and “a traitor” in an interview on FOX News. He added he “wouldn’t put any [Navy] SEALS life at risk” to retrieve Snowden from Russia and suggested “people like Rand Paul” empowered Snowden. (Breitbart, FOX News)
- New Jersey Assemblyman Joseph Lagana has introduced a bill to prevent governors from paying for travel, food, lodging and security for political activities outside of New Jersey with tax dollars. Christie, for example, has spent approximately 240 days outside of New Jersey since 2014 at a cost of around $677,000. (Asbury Park Press)
- State Senators Loretta Weinberg and Raymond Lesniak are set to introduce a bill today to require New Jersey governors resign from office if they elect to run for president. (Asbury Park Press)
Ted Cruz
- During a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, Ted Cruz called for term limits for Supreme Court justices, saying, “We did not establish philosopher kings in this country.” (The Huffington Post)
- Cruz introduced a bill on Wednesday to rename the street in front of the newly opened Cuban Embassy after Oswaldo Payá, a Cuban political activist. Cruz noted the torture of his aunt by the Castro regime before saying, “There is absolutely no reason to legitimize and enrich them now, and it is my hope that this gesture will reassure those fighting for freedom in Cuba that there are still some in the United States who stand with them.” (The Blaze)
- Cruz introduced legislation to abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He said in a statement, “The agency continues to grow in power and magnitude without any accountability to Congress and the people. The only way to stop this runaway agency is by eliminating it altogether.” (The Hill, U.S. Senator for Texas, Ted Cruz)
- In a video released on Wednesday, Cruz highlighted his intention to see Planned Parenthood defunded for providing fetal tissue from abortions for use in medical research. (The Daily Caller)
- In a statement to the Independent Journal Review, Cruz’s campaign commended Donald Trump for visiting the Texas-Mexico border “to really see what is going on and call attention to illegal immigration.” (Independent Journal Review)
Carly Fiorina
- During a campaign stop in Iowa, Carly Fiorina said the 2016 presidential election will be more about values than politics. She explained, “It’s not just about Republicans versus Democrats … I actually think this election is a fight over whether conservative values, principles and policies would benefit this nation moving forward, or if progressive values and policies would.” (The Des Moines Register)
- Fiorina is scheduled to appear at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Monday to discuss foreign policy and national security. (Breitbart)
Lindsey Graham
- Making light of Donald Trump’s release of his private cell number earlier this week, Lindsey Graham released a video showing the various ways a person could destroy a cell phone. (The Wall Street Journal)
- In an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Graham said Trump was “a political car wreck where people slow down and watch.” He cautioned, however, “When he crossed the line with John McCain and other veterans, that was the beginning of the end.” (The Washington Times)
- Graham expressed disappointment that he is unlikely to be eligible to participate in the August 6 debate, saying, “I think it sucks.” He added that the criteria “makes no sense” because it rewards “celebrity” and national recognition. (Politico)
Mike Huckabee
- During an appearance on FOX News’ “America’s Newsroom,” Mike Huckabee suggested the debate over defunding Planned Parenthood is an opportunity to address “America’s nightmare of abortion.” Huckabee explained, “It's time for this country to decide whether or not we believe that the willful destruction of a human body, a human life and talking about the selling of parts of a baby as if we were trading parts for a Buick at an auto parts store, whether it's time to decide that's not civilized behavior.” (Newsmax)
John Kasich
- John Kasich is set to meet with 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney today in New Hampshire. Romney has previously held private meetings with Chris Christie, Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush this summer. (Yahoo)
- During a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Wednesday, Kasich argued the United States should put troops on the ground to fight ISIS. (The New York Times)
Bobby Jindal
- According to a poll conducted by Bobby Jindal’s campaign, 8 percent of likely Republican caucus attendees in Iowa support Jindal. The poll found Scott Walker, Donald Trump and Jeb Bush placing ahead of the Louisiana governor. (The Advocate)
- Jindal argued there should be one national standard for GMO labeling rather than allowing each state to adopt different guidelines. "What we don't need is a patchwork of contradictory and confusing and expensive label requirements that don't help us," Jindal said. (The Times-Picayune)
- Jindal called for President Obama to fire the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services after the agency announced it would allow modifications to the Oath of Allegiance for immigrants with an opposition to military service “arising from a deeply held moral or ethical code.” (Breitbart)
George Pataki
- In a radio interview on Wednesday, George Pataki said he is not concerned with being cut from the August 6 Republican debate as a result of his national polling. “Whether I'm in the top 10 on the fifth for this debate or not really doesn't bother me because I honestly think there are going to be a lot more debates. It is a marathon — and you fight the fight, make the case,” Pataki said. (Newsmax)
Rand Paul
- Rand Paul introduced an amendment to the highway bill to cut almost $500 million in public funding to Planned Parenthood. Paul said, “The continued disregard and disrespect for human life at Planned Parenthood, a partially taxpayer-funded organization, is shocking and appalling. Recent video revelations, involving potentially criminal activity, make it more obvious than ever that this organization has absolutely zero respect for the sanctity of human life and is an affront to the most basic human dignity enshrined in our founding documents. Not one more taxpayer dollar should go to Planned Parenthood and I intend to make that goal a reality.” (U.S. Senator for Kentucky, Rand Paul)
Rick Perry
- In a speech on Wednesday, Rick Perry said, “Donald Trump’s candidacy is a cancer on conservatism, and it must be clearly diagnosed, excised and discarded.” Perry warned Trump’s rhetoric would send the Republican Party to “the graveyard.” (The Hill)
Marco Rubio
- Marco Rubio joined with 49 other senators in a bipartisan letter to Sylvia Burwell, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, encouraging her to cooperate with any investigations into Planned Parenthood’s role in providing fetal tissue from abortions for medical research. (U.S. Senator for Florida, Marco Rubio)
- Rubio also sent a letter to President Obama recommending that he address human rights violations during his upcoming visit to Ethiopia. Rubio wrote that Obama should “strongly condemn the arrest of political prisoners and encourage the government to respect human rights and the freedom of assembly. It is important that the United States continues to promote democracy and freedom for everyone, including the people of Ethiopia.” (U.S. Senator for Florida, Marco Rubio)
Rick Santorum
- Rick Santorum debated MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on whether Congress could pass a law banning same-sex marriage after the Supreme Court had ruled such a ban was unconstitutional. Santorum maintained Congress and the president have a “right to say what’s constitutional.” Maddow countered that “if there is a question as to the constitutionality of a law, it gets adjudicated.” (MSNBC, Real Clear Politics)
Donald Trump
- In an interview on CNN, Donald Trump accused Jeb Bush of not having the proper temperament to be president. Trump said of Bush, “[H]e is a nice guy, but he doesn’t have the temperament. You know why? He’s too low-key. He’s too laid-back. Can you imagine Bush negotiating with China? You want to talk about temperament — I’ll introduce you to the Chinese. They have temperament.” (The Washington Times)
- After the union representing border patrol agents in Laredo, Texas, announced they would be withdrawing from all events involving Trump during his visit to the Mexican border, Trump’s campaign claimed, “They are being silenced, and are very unhappy about it, as told directly to Mr. Trump. It can only be assumed that there are things the politicians in Washington do not want Americans to see or discuss. It shows that we are not even safe in our own country." (CNN)
Scott Walker
- When Scott Walker was asked which senator he preferred between Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, he answered, “I like Marco a lot. I certainly agree with him a lot on national defense issues.” Walker added that Rubio is the most frequently suggested candidate for vice president he receives by a wide margin. (Politico, 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