On Dallas trip, Barack Obama will try to make sense of shootings
For President Barack Obama, the decision to return early from an overseas trip after a series of shocking shootings will prove to be easy compared to his next challenge: Comforting an America rattled by the violence. After arriving from Spain late Sunday, Obama will fly Tuesday to Dallas, the scene of the massacre of police officers that, on the heels of two caught-on-video police shootings, has emerged as a tipping point in the national debate about race and justice. Obama is due to deliver remarks at an interfaith memorial service and is expected to meet with victims’ families and with local law enforcement officials mourning their own. Former President George W. Bush, his wife, Laura, and Vice President Joe Biden will also attend, and the ex-president will deliver brief remarks. To some degree, the trip is a familiar ritual for a president who has embarked in recent years on similar consolation missions with relentless frequency. But it’s clear that Obama views the moment as distinct. In choosing to the deliver a high-profile speech, the president has tasked himself with ministering to Americans as they make sense of a frustrating cloud of issues swirling around the shootings. The president sees delivering this sort of guidance a core part of his leadership, so much so that some of his memorable speeches were in honor of mass shooting victims, including his challenge to protect children from guns in Newtown, Conn. – “We’re not doing enough.” – and his singing of “Amazing Grace” after the shooting in a black church in Charleston, S.C. But it’s far from clear whether these moments fostered movement – either on legislation or race relations – and Obama has had to face the limits of his rhetoric. As he has in the past, Obama will search this week for a way to break through. As he traveled to Poland and Spain last week for meetings with European leaders, the president was publicly working through his thoughts. At times, he acknowledged “anger” and “confusion” in the public, and at other times he seemed to downplay the enormity of events. On the shootings by police of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana, Obama called for more activism and reforms. And he sought to impress upon white Americans what he said he and other African Americans already know: The problem is real. On the shooting in Dallas, Obama cast Micah Johnson, the sniper killed in a standoff with police, as “demented” and his motives as unknowable. People should not believe that “the act of a troubled individual speaks to some larger political statement across the country,” he said. “It doesn’t.” Obama also pointed to other forces driving discontent at home and in Europe – lone-wolf terrorism or economic instability wrought by globalization – and tried to sell his policies aimed at each. The comments highlighted this president’s rationality and a tendency to analyze people’s fears rather than validate them – both traits that at times have limited his ability to connect. Asked Saturday about rising worries about safety, Obama cited crime statistics. He bluntly dismissed comparisons to the domestic turbulence of the 1960s as overblown. “That’s just not true,” he said. Obama’s remarks also captured the president continuing to try to serve as bridge builder between white and black Americans, protesters and police. It’s a role that helped catapult him to political stardom, but one he’s struggled to inhabit as president during a period of sharp political polarization and continued racial tensions. Still, Obama wasn’t about to cede the role this week. White House officials said the decision to trim his trip to Spain by one day was driven in part by not wanting other, divisive voices to fill the void left in his absence. On Sunday, a few hours before returning home, Obama tried again to walk a center line, as he issued a plea for better understanding between police and demonstrators taking part in the protests across the country. “I’d like all sides to listen to each other,” he said. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
College-educated whites put hole in Donald Trump coalition
Wanda Melton has voted for every Republican presidential nominee since Ronald Reagan in 1980, but now the Georgia grandmother plans to cross over to support Democrat Hillary Clinton. “I’m not a real fan of Hillary,” Melton says from her office in Atlanta. “But I think it would just be awful to have Donald Trump.” She adds: “I cannot in good conscience let that happen.” Melton is among a particular group of voters, whites with college degrees, who are resistant to Trump. Their skepticism comes as an ominous warning as Trump struggles to rebuild even the losing coalition that Mitt Romney managed four years ago. College-educated whites made up more than one-third of the electorate in 2012. Polls suggest Trump trails Clinton with those voters, especially women. “Donald Trump simply cannot afford to lose ground in any segment of the electorate” that supported Romney, said Florida pollster Fernand Amandi. Romney’s strength with that group, for example, made for a close race in Florida, where President Barack Obama won by less than 75,000 votes out of more than 8.4 million cast. Some Republicans worry Trump’s approach — his unvarnished, sometimes uncouth demeanor and his nationalist and populist arguments — guarantees his defeat, because the same outsider appeal that attracts many working class and even college-educated white men alienates other voters with a college degree. Ann Robinson, 64, is a lifelong Republican in a Trump’s home state of New York, a Democratic stronghold that the real estate tycoon cites as an example of where he can “expand the map.” Robinson sneers at the proposition and says she’ll vote for Clinton. “It’s just not a reasonable movement,” she says of Trump’s populist pitch. “I’m not sure he can actually be their savior. She has so much more experience. Trump has nothing.” Mary Darling, 59, is an Illinois Republican who said she won’t vote for Trump or Clinton. “If they could just soften his edges, people would flock to him, but that’s just not going to happen,” she said. Lew Oliver, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party in Florida, says he’s prepared for an uphill fight in no small part because of Trump’s struggle among more educated voters. “The fundamentals aren’t in our favor, and some of his comments aren’t helping,” Oliver said. Romney drew support from 56 percent of white voters with college degrees, according to 2012 exit polls. Obama notched just 42 percent, but still cruised to a second term. A Washington Post-ABC News poll taken in June found Clinton leading Trump among college-educated whites 50 percent to 42 percent. Polling from the nonpartisan Pew Research Center pointed to particularly stark numbers among white women with at least a bachelor’s degree. At this point in 2008 and 2012, that group of voters was almost evenly divided between Obama and the Republican nominee. This June, Pew found Clinton with a 62-31 advantage. Conversely, Pew found Trump still leads, albeit by a slightly narrower margin than did Romney at this point, among white women with less than a bachelor’s degree. Should Trump fail to even replicate Romney’s coalition, he has little hope of flipping many of the most contested states that Obama won twice, particularly Florida, Colorado and Virginia. Trump’s struggles among college whites have Democrats eyeing North Carolina, which Obama won in 2008 before it reverted back to Republicans, and even GOP-leaning Arizona and Georgia. The education gap for Trump isn’t new. Exit polls in the Republican primaries found him faring better among less educated groups. Trump particularly struggled with better-educated Republicans when Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., was in the presidential race. Republican pollster Greg Strimple of Idaho says the gap is understandable. Voters without a college education, he said, are more likely to be struggling financially, to feel alienated from the political class Trump rails against and to find solace in his promise to stop illegal immigration. College educated voters “may have had relatively stagnant incomes, but they can still look at their 401(k)s and think about the future,” Strimple said. “They’re free to care more about things like tone.” Clinton’s campaign sees the persuadable portion of the electorate as being made up largely of women, many with college degrees. It has tried to reach them by hammering Trump as “dangerous” and “temperamentally unfit” for the job, while her initial general election advertising blitz focuses on her achievements in public life. Strimple said Trump must counter that with a constant “indictment of the last eight years, an indictment of Hillary Clinton. That can get some of those voters back.” The question for Trump, though, is how many Wanda Meltons are already lost. “He’s just not in control of himself,” she says. “That personality type is not suited either to leadership or protecting the country.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Barack Obama announces decision to leave 8,400 troops in Afghanistan aids allies
President Barack Obama‘s decision to slow the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan will be welcomed at the NATO summit this weekend, providing aid for allied forces in the country and bolstering U.S. efforts to get more pledges of support for the war from U.S. allies. Obama’s move quells lingering questions within NATO about America’s commitment to the ongoing conflict. And it will allow the U.S. military to expand its work with Afghan forces as they face a resurgent Taliban and a troubling presence of Islamic State fighters in the country. The president announced Wednesday that he will leave 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan into 2017, rather than cut the force to 5,500 at the end of the year as initially planned. Military commanders, members of Congress and allied leaders had pressured the administration to maintain the current 9,800 troops in Afghanistan. The issue will be discussed at the NATO summit in Warsaw, including U.S. plans to encourage allies to strengthen their commitments to Afghanistan, with more funding, troops, or other support. Last month, NATO allies agreed to extend their Afghanistan training mission and keep troops in all four sections of the country in 2017. Those decisions shelved earlier plans to consolidate forces in and around Kabul next year, ending the current hub-and-spoke system. The NATO decision, however, relied on the U.S. remaining in Afghanistan to provide security, logistics and other support for the allies, particularly German troops working with Afghan forces in the north and Italian troops doing the same in the west. Defense Secretary Ash Carter told NATO allies last month that the U.S. would continue that support. But U.S. officials quietly acknowledged that maintaining that support would be difficult with only 5,500 U.S. troops, as Obama planned. Obama announced last month that he was authorizing U.S. forces to once again conduct airstrikes against the Taliban when needed in critical operations, and that American troops would accompany and advise Afghan conventional forces on the ground, much as they have with Afghan commandos. Doing all of that with 5,500 troops would be risky, officials said. “It just thins you out enormously, and so you just end up with a multiple higher level of risk,” said retired Adm. James Stavridis, the former NATO commander. “If you go down to 5,500 troops, your risk goes up vertically because your allies don’t stay with you and because you have half the capacity.” Stavridis, now dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University, added that it would be hard to maintain the hub-and-spoke allied presence in the north and west without keeping at least 8,000 U.S. troops in the country. Obama acknowledged the “precarious” security situation in Afghanistan during his troop announcement at the White House on Wednesday, saying he would not allow any group to use Afghanistan “as a safe haven for terrorists to attack our nation again.” “It is in our national security interest – especially after all the blood and treasure we’ve invested in Afghanistan over the years – that we give our Afghan partners the very best opportunity to succeed,” Obama said. Obama came into office promising to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but this decision ensures that he’ll leave with the U.S. still enmeshed in conflicts in both of those countries while wrestling with new ones in Syria and Libya. The president said the U.S. mission would remain narrowly focused on “training and advising” Afghan forces and supporting counterterrorism operations against the remnants of al-Qaida, the group that attacked the U.S. on Sept. 11. Republican leaders in Congress who favor a larger force said Obama’s new plan was preferable to the old one, but they criticized him for not keeping the full 9,800. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the partial drawdown would increase the dangers for the remaining troops, calling it “more a political decision by President Obama than a military one.” Though Obama touted progress in Afghanistan, including better-trained security forces, the situation remains perilous, with Afghan battlefield deaths rising and civilian casualties hitting a record high. Progress in stabilizing Afghanistan has been undermined by the resurgence of the Taliban, which were removed from power in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion but have lately stepped up their deadly attacks. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Guns, immigration and Zika top agenda as Congress returns
Gun control, immigration and money to combat the Zika virus top the congressional agenda as lawmakers sprint toward the political conventions this month and a seven-week summer recess. Amid all that, Republicans plan to squeeze in a meeting with Donald Trump on Thursday. The House and Senate have just eight legislative days before their break, and lawmakers have scheduled a handful of politically charged votes with implications for incumbents in November’s election. In the House, legislation to fight terrorism and a gun control measure that already failed in the Senate are planned for this week. House Speaker Paul Ryan said a GOP plan to keep suspected terrorists from obtaining firearms would do so “without compromising a citizen’s basic bill of rights,” including the rights to bear arms and receive due process under the law. In the Senate, immigration bills and legislation to impose labeling on genetically modified food are on tap. Unclear is whether Republicans and Democrats can resolve the dispute over funds for the mosquito-borne Zika virus now that summer is in full swing, or whether the matter will have to wait until September when Congress returns. A look at the issues: ___ ZIKA Back in February, President Barack Obama requested $1.9 billion in emergency money to fight Zika, which causes grave birth defects and has infected 287 pregnant women in the United States and 250 in U.S. territories, according to the most recent numbers from the Centers for Disease Control. Congress has failed to fund the request as the issue has been caught up in partisan fights and the typical dysfunction. House Republicans rammed through a bill that would provide $1.1 billion by cutting money from other government agencies. The legislation, to the anger of Democrats, would bar new funding for Planned Parenthood clinics in Puerto Rico and allow pesticide spraying that environmentalists argue would be harmful. Senate Democrats have blocked the bill and another vote is expected this week, although progress is unlikely. ___ GUN CONTROL Bowing to election-year pressure from Democrats, Ryan, R-Wis., says the House will vote on a GOP proposal aimed at keeping suspected terrorists from obtaining firearms, a measure backed by the National Rifle Association. Democrats want to vote on their own gun control bills, and they haven’t ruled out a return to disruptive tactics if they’re rebuffed. Ryan indicated on Tuesday that Democrats are unlikely to get a vote. Democrats staged a sit-in on the House floor that lasted nearly 26 hours last month to call attention to their demand for gun-control votes. The sit-in followed the June 12 mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, that killed 49 people and heightened attention on the national toll taken by firearms. The GOP bill would let the government block firearms purchases for suspected terrorists, but only if prosecutors can prove in court that the buyer is involved in terrorism. It would also establish a new office within the Department of Homeland Security to focus on preventing extremist groups from recruiting followers. Democrats say the Republican bill is too weak. They want votes on one measure expanding background check requirements for gun buyers, and a second banning firearms sales to terror suspects without requiring prosecutors to first prove the buyer was embarking on terrorism. ___ FAA REAUTHORIZATION Key House and Senate lawmakers are close to a deal on a bill to extend the Federal Aviation Administration’s programs and policies, which are due to expire on July 15. Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., chairman of the House Transportation Committee, has agreed to temporarily drop his contentious plan to privatize the nation’s air traffic control system in order to allow a bill to move forward. Negotiations have focused on what policy provisions to include in the extension. There is strong support in both chambers to include an array of proposals to enhance airports security in light of recent airport attacks in Istanbul and Brussels. Proposals to extend new protections to airline consumers, relax medical requirements for private pilots and lift some restrictions on commercial drone flights are also under discussion. ___ TRUMP House and Senate Republicans are slated to meet with the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee less than two weeks before the party convention in Cleveland. Among those expected to attend the separate sessions are Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee, Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Joni Ernst of Iowa, all of whom have been mentioned as possible running mates for the blustery billionaire. Trump’s short list of possible vice presidential candidates is heavy with Washington insiders who could help usher his agenda through Congress. ____ IMMIGRATION Senate Democrats are expected to block a GOP bill that would withhold congressional funding from so-called sanctuary cities that shield residents from federal immigration authorities. Republicans also are proposing a bill to impose a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for any person who illegally re-enters the country after being removed. Republicans have pushed for action since last year when 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle was shot in San Francisco. The man charged in the killing was in the country illegally despite a long criminal record and multiple prior deportations. He had been released by San Francisco authorities despite a request from federal immigration authorities to keep him detained. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
‘Ready to pass the baton:’ Barack Obama campaigns with Hillary Clinton
President Barack Obama vigorously vouched for Hillary Clinton‘s trustworthiness and dedication on Tuesday, making his first outing on the campaign stump for his former secretary of state just hours after his FBI director blasted her handling of classified material. Shirt sleeves rolled up in campaign form, Obama declared, “I’m ready to pass the baton.” “I’m here today because I believe in Hillary Clinton,” he said. “I have had a front-row seat to her judgment and her commitment.” The energetic Obama-Clinton appearance in North Carolina was a show of Democratic unity in a state Clinton is hoping to put back in the party’s column. But the moment wasn’t what her campaign and the White House imagined during the long primary season. Shortly before the president and his would-be successor flew to Charlotte together, FBI Director James Comey announced he would not recommend charges against Clinton for her email practices – but only after he presented a searing description of her “extremely careless” handling of classified information that ensured the matter won’t be going away. The White House declined to comment on Comey’s findings, saying the investigation was not formally closed and it did not want to appear to be influencing prosecutors. Still, the timing of the trip pulled the president into a controversy he has at times tried to keep at arm’s length. His appearance with Clinton was a reminder that it was his appointee who declined to pursue criminal charges. Yet Clinton and Obama did not veer from their display of lock-step unity. The duo flew to Charlotte together on Air Force One, they rode to the rally together in Obama’s armored limousine, known as “The Beast.” Clinton shared photos of her grandchildren, Charlotte and newborn Aidan, with the president. As they were welcomed by a screaming crowd of supporters, the president led chants of “Hillary!” as they stood onstage under banners reading “Stronger Together.” Referring back to their own primary battle in 2008, Obama said, “We may have gone toe to toe, from coast to coast, but we stood shoulder to shoulder for the ideals that we share.” Clinton’s Republican rival didn’t let the Democratic duo’s outing go unanswered. As the rally began, Donald Trump released a lengthy statement casting the joint appearance as an example of a “rigged” political system. “It was no accident that charges were not recommended against Hillary the exact same day as President Obama campaigns with her for the first time,” Trump said. Clinton shot back early as she introduced the president, chiding Trump for once leading the questioning of the president’s birthplace. She said Obama was a man that “I was honored to stand with in the good times and the bad times, someone who has never forgotten where he came from. And, Donald, if you’re out there tweeting, it’s Hawaii.” Obama, too, got in a dig at Trump. “Anybody can tweet but nobody actually knows what it takes” to be president, he said. Obama’s and Clinton’s journey from political opponents to close political allies was a steady theme in the event. The Clinton campaign hopes Obama can reassure voters about her experience, talent and character – and speak to their questions about her honesty and trustworthiness, some of which stem from the email investigation. Indeed, the president took on the criticism of Clinton directly, casting the negative impressions of her as a result of her many years in the political spotlight. He also noted that he had benefited from Americans’ desire for a fresh face. “Sometimes we take somebody who’s been in the trenches and fought the good fight and been steady for granted,” Obama said, as Clinton sat behind him. “As a consequence that means sometimes Hillary doesn’t get the credit she deserves. But the fact is Hillary is steady and Hillary is true.” Clinton noted that she has been Obama’s loyal ally, lavishing praise on his record in the White House and saying he doesn’t get the credit he deserves for overseeing the nation’s economic recovery. She recalled her surprising decision to join his team after their bruising 2008 Democratic primary and shared memories of her four years in the administration, from crashing a meeting with the Chinese at a global climate summit to being in the Situation Room during the raid on Osama bin Laden “He’s made difficult, even unpopular, decisions for the good of our country,” she said. Obama and Clinton originally planned to make their first campaign appearance together in Wisconsin, a Democratic-leaning state where Clinton struggled in her primary fight with Bernie Sanders. Campaign aides viewed that as a way to forge Democratic unity after the bruising primary and consolidate the party’s voters in a state Clinton needs to carry in November. The June 15 rally was postponed due to the mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub. By the time the campaign and White House got around to rescheduling, Clinton aides said the landscape had shifted – they are now far less worried about bringing along Sanders voters and more interested in using the president to rally voters in one of the most divided general election battlegrounds. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
With few political allies, Donald Trump plans celebrity convention
Donald Trump‘s team promises an extraordinary display of political entertainment at this month’s Republican National Convention, with the accent on entertainment. The former reality television star plans to feature his high-profile children at the summer gathering in Cleveland, with the hope they’ll be joined by a number of celebrity supporters. Prospects include former Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and longtime boxing promoter Don King. “I’m going to be involved, definitely,” said King, who lives in Cleveland and is a passionate supporter of the presumptive Republican nominee. “He’s my man. I love him. He’s going to be the next president.” While those bold-face names have yet to be confirmed, the fact they’re on Trump’s list is a reminder that many of the Republican Party’s biggest stars aren’t willing to appear on his behalf. The GOP’s two living presidents, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, its most recent presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, and Ohio’s Republican governor, John Kasich, all plan to avoid the four-day event that traditionally serves as a powerful display of party unity heading into the sprint toward Election Day. “He’s going to have to bring all his skills to bear to make this work, not just in Cleveland, but for the next four months,” said Matt Borges, the Ohio Republican Party chairman. “It won’t be easy, but that’s what he’s got to do.” Trump’s team says he’s up to the challenge. “This is not going to be your typical party convention like years past,” said Trump spokesman Jason Miller. “Donald Trump is better suited than just about any candidate in memory to put together a program that’s outside of Washington and can appeal directly to the American people.” When Hillary Clinton hosts her party at the Democratic National Convention the following week, she’ll face a different issue entirely: how to squeeze in the many popular, prominent Democrats backing her campaign. Along with Clinton and her eventual vice presidential pick, there are sure to be speeches from President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, first lady Michelle Obama and, of course, the candidate’s husband, former President Bill Clinton. There’s also Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a favorite of progressives and one of Trump’s fiercest critics. Warren is on Clinton’s running-mate shortlist but will surely be slotted for a prominent convention speech even if she’s not selected. By necessity as much as preference, Trump’s team is crafting a far different lineup. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, one of the likely speakers, praised Trump’s plan to use his celebrity connections to reach a broader audience. “Trump understands that if he can appeal to consumer America, he drowns political America,” Gingrich told The Associated Press. He said he had little idea of what kind of show to expect, but recalled a recent conversation with a Trump family member who confidently told him, “We know how to do conventions.” “My children are all going to be speaking: Ivanka, Tiffany, Don, Eric. They’re going to be speaking,” Trump said Friday during an appearance at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver. “My wife is going to be speaking at the convention. We’re going to have a great time.” Trump’s campaign has also been in touch with aides to chief primary rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has been trying to win a speaking slot. Other national leaders under consideration include former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Gingrich. Some celebrities backing Trump have passed on the chance to be a part of the show. Among them: former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka, who told the Chicago Tribune last week, “I spoke with Mr. Trump this afternoon, and he invited me. But I don’t think I’m going to go.” Clinton’s speaking program, too, isn’t without its uncomfortable riddles. There’s no public sense yet of what role she’ll give to Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator whose surprisingly strong challenge in the Democratic primary has yet to officially come to an end. Sanders says he’ll vote for Clinton, but he’s yet to formally endorse her and is pushing for changes to the Democratic platform. Ivanka Trump predicted in a recent radio interview the GOP convention would be “a great combination of our great politicians, but also great American businessmen and women and leaders across industry and leaders across really all sectors, from athletes to coaches and everything in between.” “I think it will be a convention unlike any we’ve ever seen,” she said. “It will be substantive. It will be interesting. It will be different. It’s not going to be a ho-hum lineup of, you know, the typical politicians.” And that will still leave room for complaints from Trump’s Republican skeptics. “Whatever you want to say about Trump, he’s been a showman. And I expect something completely different,” said former Kasich adviser Jai Chabria. “I find it hard to believe that that’s going to be enough to put him over the top.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Obama campaign machine revving up to elect Hillary Clinton
The vaunted data-driven machine that twice got President Barack Obama elected is revving up to help elect Hillary Clinton, as Democrats look to recreate the tactical advantage they used against Republicans in 2008 and 2012. With Obama’s popularity rebounding, Democrats have been eagerly awaiting the president’s return to campaigning, and he’ll hold his debut event for her Tuesday in North Carolina. Yet campaign officials say just as critical to her success could be an Obama political operation that remains potent four years after his re-election, including deep troves of voter and donor information, and a corps of trained field staffers and volunteers that Clinton’s campaign is now co-opting. The crown jewel of Obama’s machine, an email list of supporters that included 20 million addresses in 2012, is now fully available to Clinton. That list had been closely held within an Obama campaign committee that still exists to pay off old debt. Democratic groups and even Obama’s Organizing for Action nonprofit had to rent the list for a hefty sum. Now a copy of that list, which helped propel Obama to record-breaking fundraising, is controlled by the Democratic National Committee, which can send emails at will without going through Obama’s campaign. That’s according to individuals familiar with the list, who weren’t authorized to discuss the arrangement and requested anonymity. Just recently, the DNC started sending emails signed by Clinton to the entire list, including one last week inviting donors to enter a raffle to be Clinton’s guest to the Broadway musical “Hamilton.” For Clinton supporters, the handover of the email list is the clearest indication that concerns that sprang up after Obama’s re-election have turned out unfounded. In 2013, when Obama declined to transfer the list to the national party, some Democrats griped that he was holding out on his party by sequestering his most coveted campaign resources. Mitch Stewart, Obama’s battleground states director in 2012, said there was some disagreement that year about whether Obama’s tech-infused strategy would work for other Democrats, or whether the phenomenon was Obama-specific. He said the continuity between Obama’s campaign and Clinton’s was proving it can be sustained. “The people involved in the Clinton campaign aren’t having to relearn the lessons in 2016 that we already learned in 2008 or 2012,” said Stewart, who since started a consulting firm that’s helping Clinton’s campaign. “A lot of them are the same people.” Obama campaign veterans permeate Clinton’s operation at just about every level. Elan Kriegel, who ran data analytics for Obama, is doing the same job for Clinton, and Obama pollster Joel Benenson is now her chief strategist. At Clinton’s Brooklyn headquarters, her battleground states director, national organizing director, political engagement chief and communications director are all former Obama hands. In the most competitive states that will help determine the winner, Clinton has hired former Obama aides to build out her operation for the general election. Her state directors in Ohio, Colorado, Iowa and Nevada all had experience on Obama’s campaigns. For Clinton, the Obama imprimatur is particularly critical because of the election’s arithmetic, which suggests she’ll win the White House if she can carry the “Obama coalition” — young people, minorities and women — with similar numbers. Those groups haven’t always shown up for Democrats when Obama isn’t on the ballot, making their reliability an open question for Clinton. That’s where Obama’s much-touted data operation comes in. After gathering troves of data in 2008 about donors and voters —for instance, which magazines they subscribe to, whether they like to vote early, how likely they are to open certain emails — the campaign in 2012 debuted the ability to merge all those factoids into one dataset that can triangulate how best to reach an individual voter. That data file now lives at the DNC, where it’s updated with new information from state elections agencies and commercial databases. “The aspiration is to make it an inheritance, so that the campaign can spend its time working on the next incremental innovation and piece of infrastructure from a foundation of where the last campaign left off,” said Joe Rospars, who was Obama’s chief digital strategist in both campaigns and whose firm has done work for Clinton’s campaign. But Lindsay Walters, a Republican National Committee spokeswoman, said Republicans are prepared to rival Clinton’s campaign with a data-intensive operation of their own. She said despite Obama’s help, Clinton’s poll numbers had proven that she’s been unable to match his appeal to millennials and black voters. “To use his model is to tap into all those voters, and right now, she’s falling short,” Walters said. The Obama-Clinton cross-pollination extends to the money race, where high-dollar Obama donors are contributing to Clinton in large numbers. Priorities USA, a super PAC set up by former Obama officials to support his re-election, was taken over by Clinton allies and repurposed to help her win the White House, and many of the same donors who funded the group in 2012 are returning with their checkbooks, including media moguls Haim Saban and Fred Eychaner, who have both given the group millions this year. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Pentagon revokes controversial transgender ban for U.S. military
Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Thursday removed one of the final remaining barriers to military service by lifting the Pentagon’s ban on openly transgender people serving in the U.S. military. “Effective immediately, transgender Americans may serve openly,” Carter said at a news conference. “They can no longer be discharged or otherwise separated from the military just for being transgender.” Carter continued, “Our mission is to defend this country, and we don’t want barriers unrelated to a person’s qualification to serve preventing us from recruiting or retaining the soldier, sailor, airman or Marine who can best accomplish the mission. We have to have access to 100 percent of America’s population for our all-volunteer force to be able to recruit from among them the most highly qualified — and to retain them.” Alabama 1st District U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, was quick to weigh in on the Pentagon’s decision. “It is frustrating the Pentagon now has a strategy for transgender service members, but they still lack an actual strategy for defeating radical Islamic terrorism,” said Byrne in a news release. “Once again it seems the Obama Administration is more interested in advancing a political agenda than they are in proposing sound policy.” According to Carter, within 90 days the Pentagon will create a guidebook for commanders on rules regarding transgender service members as well as medical guidance to doctors. Within one year, transgender individuals will be allowed to join the armed forces, provided they have been “stable” in their preferred gender for 18 months, he continued. Lifting the transgender ban was the latest move in a series of controversial cultural changes in the military in recent years — from the 2011 decision to end the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy barring gays and lesbians from serving openly, to Carter’s December 2015 decision lifting restrictions on women serving in combat roles. Many critics have called Wednesday’s decision “social engineering” that risks troop readiness and the ability to fight. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, a Marine Corps veteran, said President Barack Obama was using the military “to fight culture wars.” “This is yet another example of President Obama using America’s military to fight culture wars instead of to fight real wars against the enemies of our nation,” Perkins said in a prepared statement. “Considering the abysmal condition of our military and a decline in readiness, why is this a top priority for the Obama administration?” Perkins continued. “Before changing any policy, the impact on military readiness has to be the first consideration. Defense Secretary Carter has failed to explain how this new policy makes our military more capable of winning wars.” Rep. Byrne shares Perkins’ concern over troop readiness. “As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I am committed to holding the Obama Administration accountable and ensuring their political agenda does not directly harm our military readiness,” Byrne concluded.
Hillary Clinton raising big dollars at tiny fundraisers
A single elevator could have accommodated the donors who recently gathered with Hillary Clinton at home of the Pritzker family in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood. Small in number, the group was big in largesse, contributing at least $1 million to help elect her and other Democrats this fall. To raise that much money, it would have taken a 37,000-seat stadium of Bernie Sanders fans each chipping in the campaign’s self-described average donation of $27. In her quest for the White House, Clinton is using every fundraising technique at her disposal, including intimate salon-style gatherings with elite donors. Together with small-donor efforts such as email marketing and happy hours for young professionals, these events are helping Clinton collect as much as $1 billion to battle presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. The mini-fundraisers have landed big money: At least $19.5 million has flowed from 16 of them over the past two months, according to an Associated Press review. But they also may open her up to criticism. Like her Democratic opponent Sanders, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump eagerly depicts Clinton as bought and paid for by her wealthy contributors. “The people who rigged the system are supporting Hillary Clinton because they know as long as she is in charge nothing’s going to change,” Trump told employees of an aluminum scrap metal factory in a speech on Tuesday. And as Clinton works to win over liberals in her party after a divisive primary, the events may undercut her argument that she would be a strong proponent of campaign finance reform. Clinton says Democrats cannot unilaterally disarm in the midst of a tough presidential election, but once in the White House she’d work to reduce big money in politics — a line President Barack Obama also used. Both Clinton and Trump can solicit checks of $350,000 or more from a single donor thanks in part to a Supreme Court ruling that lifted an overall per-person cap on political contributions. That’s roughly triple what the individual donor limit was in 2012. The resulting money flow could help the presidential candidates build robust on-the-ground voter contact and turnout operations, as well as pay for costly advertising. That’s in addition to what’s available on the super PAC side: those groups, which cannot directly coordinate their spending with the candidates, face no contributions limits whatsoever. Clinton has made high-dollar fundraisers a staple of her campaign financing plan, frequently pairing a small pricey event with a far larger one that has a much lower entry fee. It’s a version of what Obama did in 2012, when he held small roundtables with big donors, often just a few blocks from the White House at the Jefferson Hotel. In addition to the 10-person Monday night confab at the home of J.B. and M.K. Pritzker — some of the heirs to the Hyatt hotel fortune — Clinton has held at least nine other events with 15 or fewer donors, according to AP’s review. On Wednesday, the candidate mingled with 15 donors at trendy San Francisco brunch spot Boulettes Larder. Other top-tier fundraisers include a 15-person gathering in late May at the sprawling Portola Valley, California, home of former eBay chief executive John Donahoe, and a double-header two weeks earlier in posh New York City residences. On that date, Clinton scooped up at least $1.5 million for Democratic efforts at financier Steven Rattner‘s home and then headed to longtime friend Lynn Forester de Rothschild‘s place to double the night’s haul. Donors at those events typically were asked to give at least $100,000 to the Hillary Victory Fund. Clinton also has entertained 50 or fewer donors at six more events where the minimum contribution generally was $33,400. The campaigns can accept only $2,700 per donor for each election, but a victory fund allows candidates to ask for more and then parcel out the money to the campaign, national political party and dozens of state parties. Both Trump and Clinton have set up these kinds of accounts. “When a candidate takes that much money, they become dependent on those donors and cannot afford to act against their wishes,” said Josh Silver, director of Represent.us, a group working to reduce the influence of money in politics through state-level public financing measures. “This is exactly why Democrats and Republicans are falling short on the public interest demands of their constituents, and it has a lot to do with the remarkable popularity of Bernie Sanders.” Even while it rakes in big cash, the Clinton campaign has emphasized its efforts to appeal to the kinds of small donors that fueled Sanders’ insurgent candidacy. Clinton’s campaign also has tried to give some small donors big-donor-level access by holding raffles for private dinners with her. The AP was able to conduct its review of Clinton’s fundraisers because her campaign makes public background information about its finance events. Trump’s campaign does not. Trump associates say he has held several small gatherings with bigger donors, including during a May swing through California. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Congress edges closer to passing Puerto Rico rescue package
Congress edged closer to delivering relief to debt-stricken Puerto Rico as the Senate on Wednesday cleared the way for passage of a last-minute financial rescue package for the territory of 3.5 million Americans. Puerto Rico is in a decade-long recession and has $70 billion in debt. A $2 billion payment to creditors is due Friday. Thousands have fled the island and moved to the U.S. mainland as businesses have closed, schools have struggled with limited electricity and hospitals have asked for cash payment in advance for some medication. The White House and Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress have warned that without help from Washington, Puerto Rico will descend into economic chaos, with signs already pointing to a humanitarian crisis. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., scheduled a final vote on the legislation for Wednesday evening. Earlier Wednesday, the Senate voted 68-32 to move forward on the bill, paving the way for passage. The House passed the bill earlier this month, so Senate passage would send the bill to President Barack Obama for his signature. The legislation would create a control board to oversee the U.S. territory’s finances and supervise some debt restructuring. The legislation would not provide any direct financial aid to the territory, but leaders warned that a bailout could eventually become necessary if Congress doesn’t take this step. “If we don’t act before the island misses a critical debt payment deadline this Friday, matters will only get worse – for Puerto Rico and for taxpayers,” said McConnell said. The control board would be similar to one that oversaw the District of Columbia in the late 1990s. Its seven members would oversee negotiations with creditors and the courts over reducing some debt. In addition to creating the board, the bill would require the territory to create a fiscal plan and fund public pensions, which the Puerto Rico government has shorted by more than $40 billion. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew visited Capitol Hill on Tuesday in a bid to persuade some reluctant Democrats concerned that the board would be too powerful. Democrats have also opposed a provision that would allow the island’s government to lower the minimum wage for some younger workers. Lew urged senators to vote for the bill even though it isn’t perfect, saying that if the island defaults, the government may be forced to shut public transit, close a hospital or send police officers home. He and other supporters warned that if the measure fails to pass before the July 1 payment deadline, the island will face multiple lawsuits from unpaid creditors and could be forced to cut essential services further. The legislation would temporarily block creditor lawsuits. In a rare case of bipartisanship in an election year, the package had the support of Obama and top Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate. “This economic crisis is a humanitarian disaster,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who backed the bill despite frustration that Democrats were blocked from making changes. “Medical services have diminished. Hospitals are unable to pay their bills. Puerto Rico’s largest hospital has closed two of its wings, reduced the number of beds by nearly 25 percent, and cut pay for all employees.” Some Democrats backed the bill unenthusiastically. “I’m not going to let the adequate be the enemy of the barely sufficient,” said Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee. Others voted against it. Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey monopolized the Senate floor for more than four hours Tuesday evening, arguing that the bill adopts a colonial approach over the territory’s 3.5 million U.S. citizens. He said ordinary Puerto Ricans would have little say over the control board and the package favors hedge-fund creditors over island pensioners. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., opposed the legislation for similar reasons. “In my view we need austerity not for the people of Puerto Rico, but for the billionaire Wall Street hedge fund managers who have exacerbated the crisis on the island,” Sanders said on the floor. Republicans were split. Some said the control board wouldn’t be powerful enough. Others said it was the best path forward. “We’re not going to let Puerto Rico go off a cliff here, it’s too important,” said Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. The legislation is needed because Puerto Rico cannot declare bankruptcy under federal law. Mainland municipalities and their utilities can, while municipalities and utilities in Puerto Rico cannot. In the days before the vote, some bondholder groups worked to turn senators against the bill, arguing it doesn’t sufficiently protect creditors and is tantamount to a bailout for the territory. Several labor unions also lobbied against the measure, arguing that a lower minimum wage could take money out of the Puerto Rican economy. Like Lew, Puerto Rican Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla made an 11th-hour visit to Capitol Hill to lobby for votes. “It’s not perfect, but we need it,” Garcia said Tuesday. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Hillary Clinton responds to Benghazi report: ‘It’s time to move on’
Presumed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton responded Tuesday to the closure of the the House Benghazi Committee investigation, saying she would “leave it to others to characterize this report but I think it is pretty clear it is time to move on.” “I have said from the very beginning nothing is more important than the security of our diplomats and our development officials to go into dangerous places around the world pursuing American values, interests and our security,” Clinton said at an event in Denver, CO. “And I said this when I testified for 11 hours that no one has thought more about or lost more sleep over the lives that we lost, the four Americans, which was devastating. And we owe to those brave Americans that we make sure we learn the right lessons from this tragedy.” Clinton also claimed the investigation had taken on a “partisan tinge,” noting that the committee spent $7 million on the investigation. “That’s why I immediately put together an independent committee to go everywhere, look everywhere, come up with what recommendations would help us prevent such tragedies in the future, and that of course should be the goal,” she continued. “I understand that after two years and more than $7 million spent by the Benghazi Committee out of taxpayer funds, it had to today report it had found nothing – nothing to contradict the conclusions of the Independent Accountability Board or the conclusions of the prior multiple earlier investigations carried out on a bipartisan basis in the Congress. So while this unfortunately took on a partisan tinge, I want us to stay focused on what I’ve always wanted us to stay focused on and that is the important work of diplomacy and development.” House Republicans on the committee found that Barack Obama Administration was at fault for a lack of security and a slow response for the deadly 2012 terror attacks at the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Libya. “And the best way to honor the commitment and sacrifice of those we lost is to redouble our efforts to provide the resources and support that our diplomats and our development experts deserve,” Clinton concluded.
Business promotion and politics par for Donald Trump’s golf tour
Donald Trump moved from hole to hole on his wind-swept Scotland golf course Saturday, not a club in hand but promotion on his mind, extolling North Sea views that are among “the great sights of the world.” He squeezed in commentary about the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union and Hillary Clinton‘s tax policies. And when the abbreviated tour of Trump International Golf Links ended at the clubhouse, Trump ditched the pack of reporters trampling on his fairways, hopped into the driver’s seat of a golf cart and gave media mogul Rupert Murdoch and wife Jerry Hall a ride around the property. Business, with a wedge of politics, was par for the day. A Trump scorecard by hole: —On the 10th fairway, he said Texas wouldn’t take a cue from the U.K. and try to secede. “Texas will never do that because Texas loves me.” —On the 13th green, he said fixing the United States would be like repairing a golf course. “It’s not so different, it’s just bigger.” —On the 14th green, he boasted about overcoming some local opposition to building the course. “I am good at getting things zoned.” —On the 18th tee, he warned scrambling reporters: “Don’t fall! I don’t want to be sued.” Trump’s appearance at the course outside Aberdeen was the final event of his two-day tour of his golf resorts in Scotland. While the timing of the trip was not linked to Thursday’s referendum, the U.K.’s surprising vote dominated the questioning of the presumptive Republican nominee for U.S. president. Trump has cheered the outcome and tried to play down American fears about it. The U.S. stock market and global markets plunged Friday after the “leave” side won. “Americans are very much different. This shouldn’t even affect them. I mean frankly, if it’s done properly, if we had proper leadership,” Trump said moments after emerging from his helicopter on the 10th fairway. When pressed about the stock market drop that has caused Americans to fret about retirement plans and savings, Trump suggested that Wall Street was actually worried about President Barack Obama‘s economic policies and the U.S. debt. Trump has linked the nationalist fervor behind the “leave” vote to the forces driving his own campaign. He shrugged off the criticism he received for saying that if the value of the British pound falls, more people would spend money at his courses. “I don’t want to have a plummeting pound,” Trump said. “But if it does plummet, I do well. And if it does well, I do well. I do well in any case.” Trump also muddied the waters about his call for a temporary ban on foreign Muslims from entering the United States. Trump, in a speech this month, added a new element, saying he favors suspending immigration from parts of the world where there is proven history of terrorism against the U.S. and its allies. On Saturday, he said it “wouldn’t bother me” if a Muslim from Scotland tried to enter the U.S. Then, he suggested to reporters that “strong vetting,” and not a ban, would be an essential part of his immigration policy. Spokeswoman Hope Hicks later clarified that Trump’s position has not changed since the speech. The scene outside Aberdeen, a day after Trump reopened a course on Scotland’s opposite coast, again highlighted the unprecedented co-mingling between the candidate’s business and campaign, as well as his ability to create a made-for-TV spectacle. Aides originally said Trump would not talk to reporters. Then they said he would only discuss the golf course. Trump had other ideas. He ended up holding court at four separate holes. Reporters piled into golf carts and ran along fairways to keep up. The roving news conferences doubled as an advertisement for the course, which despite its stark beauty, has failed to live up to Trump’s lofty promises. Trump has claimed to Scottish authorities that he lost money on the course, and it has yet to host a major tournament. He has fought local authorities over a proposed wind farm and the preservation of the dunes that line the course. Though Trump boasted he won his zoning battles with the town, the owners of two houses that line the course remain unbowed. As a protest of Trump’s immigration proposals, which include building a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border, each flew a Mexican flag that could be easily spotted from the course’s clubhouse. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
