Presidential Primary Brief: 392 days until Election Day

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2016 Presidential Primary Brief_13 Oct Update

138 days until AL Presidential Primary
392 days until Election Day

Convention Dates: Republican July 18-21 2016, Democratic July 25-28 2016

Weekly Headlines:

Primary Brief_GOP Poll_13 Oct 2015

 Primary Brief_Dem Poll_13 Oct 2015

Press Clips:

These 5 facts explain a confusing U.S. presidential race (TIME 10/8/15)

The presidential campaign silly season is upon us, and it hasn’t disappointed. But the race to succeed Barack Obama is about to get much more serious. With competition among Republicans getting tougher and the first Democratic debate on October 13, now’s a good time to take stock of the U.S. presidential race. These five facts detail which numbers to pay attention to—and which ones don’t matter.

Ted Cruz sees slow and steady path to 2016 presidential victory (The Hill 10/5/15)

Ted Cruz is playing a slow and steady campaign, but for the firebrand Texas senator, that doesn’t translate into being quiet. In the past week alone, he has stolen supporters from fellow Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul (Ky.), won the rousing support of evangelicals and had to be shut down by Senate leaders for trying to complicate efforts on a short-term funding extension with a protest vote against Planned Parenthood funding.
That reelects Cruz’s efforts to try to emerge as the consensus anti-establishment candidate if and when the top three outsider candidates, and his biggest rivals, peter out.

Rupert Murdoch: Ben Carson would be a ‘real black president’ (NBC News 10/8/15)

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has suggested that President Barack Obama is not a “real black president.” The 84-year-old billionaire said in a tweet late Wednesday that Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson would give the U.S. “a real black president who can properly address the racial divide.” The American-Australian business magnate tweeted an apology Thursday — 12 hours after the original message — saying there was “no offense meant” and that he found “both men charming,” presumably referring to Obama and Carson.

Clinton donors place side bets on Biden (Politico 10/8/15)

A Denver-based philanthropist who in May was appointed to the board of the pro-Hillary Clinton PAC Correct the Record has stepped down from the position and donated to the campaign to draft vice president Joe Biden into the race, POLITICO has learned.

LGBT rights activist Scott Miller and his husband, mega-donor Tim Gill, each gave $25,000 to Ready for Hillary last year and have supported her candidacy and the coordinating rapid response PAC. But the couple, who over the years have given millions to progressive candidates and causes, are close to Biden and his potential entry into the race has changed the calculus for them — together they have now donated $50,000 to the Draft Biden campaign as well.

John Kasich in a struggle with opponents to define Republican party (CBS News 10/8/15)

Republican presidential contender John Kasich has split from other conservatives in his party on issues like immigration and same-sex marriage, but he’s not denouncing the GOP’s values just yet. “I think I have right to define what the party is, Charlie,” Kasich told “CBS This Morning” host Charlie Rose early Thursday. “Look, if I win, I have a right to define what the party is, and along the way I’m defining what it is.”

Draft Biden launches first ad in 2016 presidential race (Reuters 10/7/15)

Draft Biden, the political action committee created to urge Joe Biden to jump into the 2016 presidential race, has released its first national television ad in the latest sign the vice president is moving closer to a decision to run. The ad urges the vice president to run for the Democratic party’s nomination for the 2016 election, although Biden has said that he has not yet decided on a run and is weighing the matter with his family. The ad focuses on Biden’s personal history, including the deaths of his first wife and a daughter in 1972, and uses a recording of the vice president’s commencement address earlier this year at Yale, in which he talked about how that changed his life.

For Chris Christie, gun control creates a snag in his 2016 pitch (CBS News 10/6/15)

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has staked out a role in the 2016 Republican primary as the candidate who can get things done — even with Democrats. “Compromise isn’t capitulation,” the governor recently said on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. “It’s an option not to talk to the other side. That should not be an option. You get sent [to Washington]to work, to govern. That’s what I’ve done in New Jersey. Doesn’t mean we always agree, but we find compromise.”

Inside Bernie Sanders’ unorthodox debate prep (Politico 10/8/15)

Hillary Clinton has had aides lined up to run her debate prep for months. A Washington super lawyer is mimicking Bernie Sanders, and her top policy staffer is acting as Martin O’Malley. Sanders started studying for next Tuesday’s event not even a full week ago. And that’s because his two top aides sat him down in Burlington on Friday and asked whether he had a plan. Sanders has briefing books, a couple of meetings with policy experts and an abiding aversion to the idea of acting out a debate before it happens. He knows the stakes are high, his staff says. But the candidate, whose New Hampshire polling and fundraising prowess have put a scare into Clinton, is uninterested in going through the motions of typical debate practice.

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