Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee relegated to undercard at next GOP debate
Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee have been relegated out of prime-time and onto the undercard at next week’s GOP presidential debate. And former New York Gov. George Pataki and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham won’t appear at all. That’s the decision announced Thursday night by Fox Business, which is hosting next Tuesday’s debates. Eight candidates will appear in the prime-time debate. That’s the fewest of the campaign to date. The selections were made by the financial news network based on national preference polls. Candidates had to average at least 2.5 percent or higher in the four most recent major polls conducted through Wednesday to be featured in the prime-time debate. The threshold for the undercard was 1 percent. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Alabama Jobs Foundation sees Robert Bentley’s move on gambling authority as call to action
The Alabama Jobs Foundation came out in favor of Gov. Robert Bentley‘s move on Thursday to devolve authority over the state’s anti-gambling laws to local county governments. “The governor’s action today reinforces a message the Alabama Jobs Foundation set forth at the outset of this debate: Gambling already exists in Alabama, but we have not reaped the full financial impact nor have we maximized job creation opportunities,” said AJF chairman Chip Hill. “The Alabama Jobs Foundation will continue to fully support passage of the Constitutional Amendment proposed by Senator Del Marsh that will further regulate gaming, generate over 400 million dollars annually, provide over 11,000 new jobs and have a statewide economic impact of over 1.2 billion dollars. “Polling indicates that the people do not want the ultimate decision on this issue to be made by the legislature or the governor. Eighty-nine percent of Alabamians want the final say by having the right to vote on gaming,” said Hill Thursday afternoon. The Alabama Jobs Foundation, a business-backed advocacy group founded earlier this year in part by former Auburn head football coach Pat Dye, had previously announced its support for comprehensive gaming reform and for expanding gaming to make up for state’s budget deficits.
Mo Brooks, Bradley Byrne, Gary Palmer among reps telling EPA: No more ethanol in our gas
Alabama congressional delegates Mo Brooks, Bradley Byrne, Gary Palmer and Robert Aderholt are among 184 conservative-leaning members of Congress urging the Environmental Protection Agency to abandon a new Renewable Fuel Standard plan. The proposal calls for increased levels of biofuel blending in the nation’s gasoline supply, a controversial policy embraced by few Republicans. The House members signed a letter Thursday addressed to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy calling on her to use the agency’s statutory authority to waive a provision passed by Congress in 2007 set to expand biofuel blending levels next year, breaching the current “E10 blendwall” which governs current levels. “Multiple studies have shown detrimental economic harm may be caused by breaching the E10 blendwall,” wrote lawmakers, citing a Congressional Budget Office report that predicted the change could raise the price of fuel by 26 cents per gallon. They also cited a paper by the think tank Charles Rivers Associates, which said the blendwall increase would lead to “limited availability, higher consumer costs, and fewer sales of conventional transportation fuels.” The group called the EPA’s current plans to implement the biofuel changes “impractical,” as it would take “decades, not months to build out the compatible vehicle fleet” and infrastructure necessary to accommodate the new, higher-ethanol gasoline required by the proposal.
Robert Bentley attempts to clear way for bingo casino to reopen
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley is trying to clear the way for VictoryLand bingo casino and others to reopen. Bentley on Thursday signed an executive order that said local law enforcement should be the primary enforcer of gambling laws. He rescinded the first executive order he gave after taking office in 2011 that directed the responsibility to the attorney general’s office. The decision comes as the attorney general’s office is appealing a judge’s order to return seized machines to VictoryLand by Nov. 16 because other casinos continued to operate. Bentley said the court ruling raised concern about the “unequal enforcement” of Alabama gambling laws. The surprise move is the latest twist in the state’s long running legal battle over the legality of the slot machine look-alikes. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
U.S. House passes defense spending bill, take 2
The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a revised $607 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Thursday, after a previous version of the bill had been vetoed by President Barack Obama last month. The new bill passed 370-58 in the House, with the support of the entire Alabama delegation. “Although this bill was not perfect, I was pleased it passed the House with my strong support after President Obama chose to play political games by vetoing the original NDAA,” said Congressman Mike Rogers (AL-03) of the new bill. “It is imperative our military have assurance of funding, and I hope this bill will move quickly through the Senate and President Obama will sign it into law.” The revised bill included $5 billion in spending cuts that were not included in the previous legislation, reflecting a budget agreement between the Obama administration and Congressional GOP leadership. The agreement addressed what the President previously called a Republican “gimmick” — using a wartime account known as Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) — to fund defense. U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne (AL-01) took to Facebook to share the news of the bill’s passing, “The House just passed, by a veto-proof majority, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This is the bill President Obama vetoed a few weeks ago that includes authorization for three additional Littoral Combat Ships, which are built in part by Austal USA in Mobile. I was proud to help make the bill a reality, and I call on the President to stop with the political games and finally sign the bill.” The Senate is expected to vote on, and pass, the revised NDAA as soon as next week.
Robert Bentley devolves anti-gambling authority to local officials
Gov. Robert Bentley signed an executive order Thursday placing responsibility for anti-gambling laws on local county governments, revoking that authority from the state attorney general. The new order – Executive Order 13 – reverses an earlier order which disbanded the Governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling and placed the attorney general in charge of gaming. “Executive Order 13 clarifies that local law enforcement officers should determine the legality of the Constitutional laws as those laws relate to their own counties. Recent rulings have raised concern with the unequal enforcement of Alabama’s criminal laws, including gambling laws,” said Bentley announcing to move. “By signing Executive Order 13, we are clarifying exactly where the responsibility for enforcing laws lies and that is with the local elected officials,” he said. The move was also due in part to the cost of state-level enforcement, amid major budget cuts passed by the Legislature and enacted by Bentley, beleaguered of late by a public divorce and tension with Montgomery lawmakers. Alabama has spent in excess of an estimated $9 million and “expended immense resources for several years” for the enforcement of Alabama’s anti-gambling laws, the governor’s office said. The order says additional state spending on enforcing the anti-gambling laws should be limited. Bentley’s new decision reverses his first-ever executive proclamation, Executive Order 1, issued in January 2011, the same month he took office. Executive Order 13 formalizes a recommendation he made to Attorney General Luther Strange earlier this year that all authority over investigation and implementation of the state’s anti-gambling provisions devolve to the local leve. Read the full executive order here.
Email insights: Counting out Jeb Bush is a big mistake
For anyone who appreciates presidential politics, it would be a fool’s errand to write off Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign. In a new email update from Right to Rise PAC — providing exclusive information from the campaign trail – the former Florida governor is far from finished, despite “lagging national polls” and receiving less airtime than any other candidate during the “much-maligned” CNBC debate. According to Right to Rise chair Mike Murphy, Bush will ultimately prevail, particularly over last week’s “noise and chatter.” History bears this out, he adds. “We’ve cautioned before on national polls and we’ll repeat it: at this time four years ago the national polls had anointed Herman Cain the frontrunner.” As focus groups have indicated, the race is anyone’s to win, with Bush making respondents “maybe list” 90 percent of the time. And Bush – who is in the midst of a campaign renaissance – was “on fire” at a New Hampshire rally this week. The same holds true at other events in Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Murphy’s email provides clips of a few of the events, showing Bush is much more on his game than what is portrayed in recent reports. As for the other Floridian in the race, Marco Rubio may be enjoying somewhat of a surge in popularity, but that only means that the national media will be “finally taking a serious look” at his record. And that’s not good for the freshman Senator, Murphy says. “It is important that every GOP candidate get fully vetted by the voters before we put that candidate up against Hillary Clinton and the Democrat machine,” he writes. Most important in this race – as should be in any political contest – are issues. Right to Rise promises to provide a series of fair, issue-centered contrasts between Bush, other serious candidates and Democrats. Taking in account the support of dedicated professionals like Murphy and Right to Rise, counting out Bush (at any point) would certainly be a big mistake.
Protest against Donald Trump hosting ‘Saturday Night Live’ grows
Pressure continued to mount on NBC to cancel Donald Trump‘s guest-host appearance on this weekend’s “Saturday Night Live” as a coalition of advocacy groups delivered petitions to the network Wednesday calling for him to be dropped from the show. The petitions delivered to 30 Rockefeller Plaza, home of NBC and “Saturday Night Live,” marked the latest attempts to dissuade the network from allowing the Republican presidential hopeful to host the show, with the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda earlier asking that NBC reconsider the decision. “There’s mounting evidence that Donald Trump’s racist demagoguery is resulting in real-world violence and physical and verbal intimidation,” Mushed Zaheed, deputy political director of Credo Action, one of the participating groups, said in a statement. In advance of the show, NBC released promotional spots featuring Trump that included one in which he refers to a Republican opponent, Ben Carson, as “a complete and total loser.” Trump drew fire early in his campaign when, as the billionaire developer announced his candidacy, he described some Mexicans who are in the United States illegally as criminals and rapists, prompting NBC to sever its Miss Universe ties with Trump while declaring he would never again appear on “The Celebrity Apprentice.” “It is shameful for ‘SNL’ and NBC to think that racism can be repackaged as comedy,” said Juan Escalante, digital campaigns manager for America’s Voice, another group participating in the coalition. Other participating groups included the National Hispanic Media Coalition, MoveOn.org and National Council of La Raza. About two-dozen protesters were on hand as the petitions were delivered to NBC’s midtown Manhattan offices. Some chanted “dump Trump” and carried signs bearing the same phrase. The coalition is accusing NBC of reversing itself for the sake of a ratings windfall while granting Trump “a free national platform to bolster his racist and xenophobic campaign,” Zaheed said. Alex Nogales, president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, said after delivering the petitions that the protest effort was not over. His group and others would use the days leading up to the broadcast to call on “SNL” sponsors to remove their commercials from Saturday’s show, he said. NBC declined comment on the petitions and did not immediately comment on the attempt to get ads pulled. Meanwhile, Trump drew sharp criticism in an online letter with the names of dozens of prominent writers, filmmakers, academics and others from the United States, Spain and Latin America attached to it, including Oscar-winning writer-director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (“Birdman: Or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance”). “We refuse to keep silent in the face of the alarming declarations of the candidate for the presidency of the United States Donald Trump,” the letter posted Tuesday reads. “His hate speech appeals to the lowest passions like xenophobia, machismo, political intolerance and religious dogmatism.” The letter calls on the American people to “cease to tolerate his absurd positions.” Trump has played a major role in delivering record-breaking ratings to the first three Republican debates and has been a sought-after guest on talk shows and newscasts. Asked about the opposition to his upcoming appearance while promoting his new book in New York on Tuesday, Trump said he was pleased to hear demonstrations were already underway. “Look, I think they should demonstrate” he said. “Ratings will go even higher than they are going to be. It’s going to be one of their highest-rated shows ever and they’re very excited about it.” Asked specifically about the petition, he said: “It’s only going to make it hotter.” Trump also repeated his frequent assertion that he has great relationship with Hispanics, with tens of thousands working for him over the years, he said. Saturday’s appearance will be an “SNL” encore for Trump, who first hosted the show in April 2004, long before his entry into politics, as the breakout star of NBC’s new competition show “The Apprentice.” He appeared on CNN’s “New Day” on Wednesday, where anchor Chris Cuomo voiced surprise that NBC booked him. “I thought you were at war with them,” said Cuomo, “then all of a sudden they wanted to have you on. You say it’s because of ratings.” “You’re never at war when you get great ratings with a network, OK?” Trump replied. “Nobody gets ratings like me.” He went on to say that initially he was asked to do a single sketch on Saturday’s show. Then “SNL” executive producer Lorne Michaels had second thoughts and asked Trump if he would host the entire 90-minute program. “And I said, ‘You know what? I would.’ Because it’s an honor.” “Every single major politician in this country probably for 30 years has done ‘Saturday Night Live’ if they’re invited,” Trump added. “If they’re invited.” NBC would not comment on whether any other presidential candidates are being considered to host “SNL.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
