Carly Fiorina ends 2016 Republican bid for President
Former technology executive Carly Fiorina exited the 2016 Republican presidential race Wednesday, after winning praise for her debate prowess but struggling to build a winning coalition in a crowded GOP field. “While I suspend my candidacy today, I will continue to travel this country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them,” Fiorina wrote in a Facebook statement. “I will continue to serve in order to restore citizen government to this great nation so that together we may fulfill our potential,” the statement said. Fiorina, 61, entered the tumultuous Republican primary in April. She promoted herself as an outsider with business experience and argued that as the lone woman in the GOP field she was best positioned to oppose likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. After a standout performance in the first undercard debate, Fiorina rose to the mainstage and soared in the polls in the fall. But her momentum quickly stalled and by the end of the year she had dropped back down. Fiorina won applause from women on both sides of the aisle in the second Republican debate in September when she was asked to respond to Donald Trump‘s comments criticizing her face. “I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said,” Fiorina said calmly. Trump sought to smooth things over, saying “I think she’s got a beautiful face and I think she’s a beautiful woman.” Fiorina’s first major foray in to politics was in 2010, when she ran for Senate in California and lost to incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer by 10 points. Throughout her presidential bid, Fiorina emphasized her meteoric rise in the business world. A Stanford University graduate, she started her career as a secretary, earned an MBA and worked her way up at AT&T to become a senior executive at the telecom giant. But she was also dogged by questions about her record at Hewlett-Packard, where she was hired as CEO in 1999. She was fired six years later, after leading a major merger with Compaq and laying off 30,000 workers. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Presidential Primary Brief: 280 days until Election Day
28 days until AL Presidential Primary 280 days until Election Day Convention Dates: Republican July 18-21, 2016, Democratic July 25-28, 2016 Weekly Headlines: Skipping debate, Donald Trump gambles with Iowa Pressure grows on Paul to ditch presidential bid Poll: Sanders and Clinton in tight battle for Iowa Press Clips: Sanders challenges Clinton to 3 new debates (Politico 1/27/16) Hours after Hillary Clinton ratcheted up her pressure on him to accept an invitation to an unsanctioned debate on Feb. 4, Bernie Sanders escalated the debate by calling for three new debates. “From the beginning of this campaign Sen. Sanders has called for more debates. Secretary Clinton has not. Now she is asking to change the rules to schedule a debate next week that is not sanctioned by the DNC. Why is that? The answer is obvious. The dynamics of the race have changed and Sen. Sanders has significant momentum,” said Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver in a statement on Wednesday night, while Sanders was speaking to a packed audience here. Trump gets backing of S.C. lieutenant governor (Politico 1/27/16) South Carolina Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster has thrown his support behind Donald Trump and will appear alongside him at a rally Wednesday .In a statement from the Trump campaign, McMaster said he is “delighted” to support the businessman. “He is a man of accomplishment and speaks the truth in words everyone can understand, instills confidence in the people about our country’s bright future, and reflects and believes in the strength and determination necessary for success,” McMaster said. “These qualities — and his quiet compassion for those in need — are essential to ‘making America great again.’” Faith and the 2016 campaign (Pew Research Center 1/27/16) The conventional wisdom in American politics has long been that someone who is not religious cannot be elected president of the United States. Most Americans have consistently said that it is important to them that the president have strong religious beliefs. And a new Pew Research Center survey finds that being an atheist remains one of the biggest liabilities that a presidential candidate can have; fully half of American adults say they would be less likely to vote for a hypothetical presidential candidate who does not believe in God, while just 6% say they would be more likely to vote for a nonbeliever. Jeb Bush super PAC cash plummets (Politico 1/31/16) The super PAC dedicated to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s flagging campaign for the GOP presidential nomination raised $15 million in the second half of the year ― a massive drop- off from the $103 million it raised in the first half ― according to a report filed Sunday night with the Federal Election Commission. The super PAC, Right to Rise, spent $54 million between the beginning of July and the end of last year, leaving it with $59 million in the bank at the beginning of this year, according to the report. Donald Trump reclaims lead in latest Iowa poll (USA Today 1/30/16) Donald Trump has muscled ahead in Iowa, regaining his lead on the brink of the first votes being cast in the 2016 presidential race. Trump stands at 28 percent, while rival Ted Cruz has slid to 23 percent. But there’s still a strong case for Cruz in this race — he’s more popular and respected than Trump, the final Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll shows. “The drill-down shows, if anything, stronger alignment with Cruz than Trump, except for the horse race,” said J. Ann :, the pollster for the Iowa Poll. Fact check: The seventh Republican debate (USA Today 1/29/16) The Republican presidential candidates debated in Iowa Jan. 28 and stretched the facts: Sen. Marco Rubio went too far in claiming that Hillary Clinton “wants to put Barack Obama on the Supreme Court.” An Iowa resident suggested such an appointment to Clinton, and she said she’d take it “under advisement.” Rubio also said that the White House “still refuses to acknowledge” that the shooting of a Philadelphia police officer on Jan. 7 “had anything to do with terror.” DNC expected to sanction Feb. 4 debate in New Hampshire (Politico 1/31/16) The Democratic National Committee will formally sanction the Feb. 4 debate in New Hampshire, hosted by MSNBC, the network announced on Sunday. The debate will be held at University of New Hampshire in Durham at 9 p.m. ET and will be moderated by MSNBC anchors Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow. All three Democratic presidential candidates, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Gov. Martin O’Malley are expected to attend. Email issues dog Hillary Clinton on eve of Iowa caucuses (New York Times 1/31/16) This is not what Hillary Clinton wanted to discuss the morning before the Iowa caucuses. But, in her brief appearance on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, Mrs. Clinton found herself defending her use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state and reinforcing that she did not knowingly send or receive classified emails. “She lied about the fact that there is nothing classified on my server. Why as long as you can get away with it?” Carly Fiorina says in ABC’s introduction of Mrs. Clinton, who appeared on the show right before her main rival, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. “She put our national security at risk for her convenience,” Chris Christie says.
Jeb Bush upbraids Donald Trump at New Hampshire Republican forum
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush unleashed a fury of criticism against Donald Trump on Saturday before imploring New Hampshire voters to forgo the billionaire businessman in the state’s Feb. 9 primary. “You have a chance to reshape this whole primary,” Bush told hundreds of voters at a state Republican Party presidential candidate forum. Trump, who continues to dominate polling in the first primary state, did not attend the event. Nor did Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is neck-and-neck with Trump in first-to-nominate Iowa and rising in New Hampshire. A host of candidates fighting for survival in the 2016 race appeared alongside Bush. Among them: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, former CEO Carly Fiorina and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. But only Bush delivered harsh words for Trump. “He’s a gifted entertainer, but he’s not a conservative,” Bush said, citing Trump’s past support for Democrats, including the Clintons, past stances on social issues and previous support for a single-payer health care system, noting “that’s Bernie Sanders’ position.” He slammed Trump for saying Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam prisoner of war and two-time New Hampshire presidential primary winner, is not a “war hero” because he was captured. Bush also reminded voters of Trump’s remarks about women and immigrants. “It is not strong to insult women; it is not a sign of strength when you insult Hispanics,” Bush said. “(Or) when you say that a prisoner of war is a loser because they got caught.” Rubio and Kasich, meanwhile, largely stayed away from attacking fellow Republicans. Rubio offered only veiled attacks against Cruz and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie over taxes. Instead, he stuck largely to his campaign speech and focused his criticism on President Barack Obama and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. “We are on the road to decline right now, and the reason is because in 2008 America elected a president who wasn’t interested in fixing the problems of America,” Rubio said. He criticized Obama for his stance on gun rights, immigration, education, military and foreign policy. “The result is the anger and frustration that people are feeling now,” the Florida senator said, echoing the feelings of Trump’s supporters and populist message. But, without naming rivals Trump and Cruz, the Rubio said voters cannot “just elect any Republican.” Kasich, by contrast, said it’s pointless to spend time focusing on Obama, who has only months left in office. Kasich in recent days has said he plans to keep his focus on what’s ahead. But, he noted he’s excited about the prospect of challenging Clinton in a general election. “She’s a fragile candidate,” he said. “In the general, I’m gonna have a ball.” Paul criticized rival Rubio and other Republican senators for pushing to raise military spending, which he said would add to the $19 trillion national debt. The Kentucky senator, whose campaign is struggling to gain traction, also said that Rubio, Bush and other Republicans are eroding Americans’ civil liberties in the fight against terror. They “want more surveillance of you,” he said. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Presidential race shows evolving gender roles in politics
Carly Fiorina has a husband who quit his career to further hers. Chris Christie boasts of his wife being the family’s top earner. Hillary Clinton is looking to get back into the White House, but this time as president. In the 2016 presidential campaign, a modern take on gender roles is increasingly on display in both parties. With two women running for president, a number of high-powered career spouses in the mix and an increased focus on policies to support two-income families, 2016 is shaping up as a different kind of election, said Anne Marie Slaughter, who four years ago wrote a popular essay in The Atlantic on why she left a job in the State Department to spend more time with her family. “I think what is changing is, this is the year of the family,” said Slaughter, now president and CEO of New America, a Washington-based nonprofit. And that means more attention on “how you support the family with policies for women and men.” While more women have been running at a state and local level, this is the first time both parties have a woman running in a serious way. This gives former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm reason to hope decisions about running for office are no longer just being made “based on one’s plumbing.” Compared with her 2008 run, heavy on national security, Clinton this time has heavily stressed issues that are meant to appeal to women and families: health care, pay equality, education, child care, family leave. She says “these aren’t just women’s issues, they are economic issues that drive growth and affect all Americans.” This is murky territory for Clinton. She has a long record as an advocate of women’s advancement and speaks often and passionately about her baby granddaughter. But her potential Republican rivals have raised questions not only about her husband’s past infidelities but about how she might have contributed to efforts to discredit some of the women known or alleged to have been involved with him. Donald Trump flatly accused her of enabling Bill Clinton‘s philandering. Among Republicans, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has proposed increasing the child tax credit and creating a tax credit for employers that provide family leave. Rep. Paul Ryan asserted his need for family time when agreeing to become House speaker. Christie says voters are meeting a new generation of candidates with “different types of marriages and different types of relationships than people in the generation before. It really is necessitated by the increasing role and prominence of women in the workforce and by necessity, too.” Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University, said that in recent years there has been a shift in both how female candidates talk about their personal lives and family-oriented policies. The political reasons are clear. “The Democrats have to mobilize the base and the Republicans have to whittle away at the women’s vote,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Support from women, who typically lean toward Democrats, was vital for President Barack Obama, who won re-election in 2012 with 55 percent of female voters, while Republican opponent Mitt Romney won 52 percent of men, according to exit polls analyzed by Walsh’s center. Obama won about the same percentage of women in 2008 as he did in 2012. The two-career marriages on display in the campaign are in keeping with the rise of women in the workforce. About 58 percent of working-age women were employed in 2012, compared with 38 percent in 1963, federal statistics show. Mothers work at even higher rates – with about 70 percent of women with children under 18 working. Christie’s wife, Mary Pat Christie, was a former Wall Street executive who out-earned him for most of their marriage. Heidi Cruz, wife of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, is on leave from her job at Goldman Sachs. Jane Sanders is a key adviser to husband Bernie Sanders. And Fiorina’s husband, Frank, was a corporate executive until he retired early to support her high-powered career. With a more diverse group campaigning, the role of political spouse may get a reboot. Ex-President Clinton and Frank Fiorina are campaigning in Iowa as potential “first gentlemen.” Many of the other spouses are out on the trail. The campaign has also gone beyond the usual (and still ubiquitous) sugar-coating of family life of the candidates, as Fiorina discussed the stepdaughter she lost to drug and alcohol addiction, Jeb Bush opened up about the daughter who’s struggled with drug abuse and Christie acknowledged a complicated marital history. Still, stereotypes tend to die hard. During a recent Republican debate, Christie seemed caught in a time warp back to the 1950s when talking about Los Angeles families dealing with a terrorist scare. “Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound,” he said. “Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children.” And then there’s Trump, who has tossed various sexist insults at certain women – saying at one point that a debate moderator had “blood coming out of her wherever” – yet insists at rallies that he would “cherish women” as president. Republished with permission of the Associated Press
Presidential Primary Brief: 293 days until Election Day
41 days until AL Presidential Primary 293 days until Election Day Convention Dates: Republican July 18-21, 2016, Democratic July 25-28, 2016 Weekly Headlines: Debate over refugees will be heated in 2016 presidential race NBC replaced by CNN for GOP’s Super Tuesday debate Trump bungles Bible reference at Liberty University Press Clips: 5 takeaways from the Democratic debate (Politico 1/18/16) Hillary Clinton, facing an unexpectedly stout challenge from Bernie Sanders, threw diplomatic dignity to the wind in the fourth Democratic debate, attacking the senator even if it reinforced his characterization of her as an establishment politician so desperate she’d say anything to win. Sanders’ stunning gains in New Hampshire and Iowa have put a jolt into a Clinton campaign that had grown increasingly confident at the end of 2015 and forced her to take risks she might have avoided with a firmer grip on her party’s loyalty. In the three previous debates, Clinton adopted an attitude of pre-presidential diffidence, but on Sunday night she was brawling like a Republican, slamming Sanders on guns, health care reform and taxes. Fact checking the sixth round of GOP debates (The Washington Post 1/14/15) Fox Business News aired two GOP presidential debates on Jan. 14: a prime-time event starring seven candidates and an earlier debate featuring three second-tier contenders, based on an average of recent polls. Not every candidate uttered statements that are easily fact checked, but following is a list of 14 suspicious or interesting claims. As a bonus, we also fact-checked comments by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who boycotted the second-tier debate and instead appeared on “The Daily Show.” As is our practice, we do not award Pinocchio’s when we do a roundup of facts in debates. Jeb Bush invokes MLK as he unveils education plan (Politico 1/18/16) Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush offered a sweeping school choice-centric education plan Monday with proposals that would allow parents to spend government dollars on the pre-K program of their choice and give college students a $50,000 line of credit to pay tuition. Bush unveiled his plan on Martin Luther King Jr. Day as he Eights to stay relevant in a GOP race dominated by Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, invoking education as a civil rights issue. His plan also includes allowing federal dollars for schools with many low- income students to follow a child to a new school and doubling federal support for charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run. His campaign said the plan is budget neutral, and it would cut the federal Education Department by 50 percent, but much of what he wants would likely require congressional approval. Christie vs. Rubio heats up in GOP debate (USA Today 1/15/16) The growing rivalry between Chris Christie and Marco Rubio spilled into Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate. The two are battling to become the top so-called establishment alternative to Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Rubio hit first. “I like Chris Christie, but we cannot afford to have a president of the United States that supports Common Core. We cannot afford to have president of the United States that supports gun control,” he said. “Chris Christie wrote a check to Planned Parenthood,” the Florida senator continued, adding the nation can’t afford to have a president supportive of Barack Obama’s agenda. Clinton dodges question on Obama’s Syria red line (Politico 1/17/16) Hillary Clinton dodged a question at Sunday’s Democratic presidential debate about whether President Barack Obama erred by not taking military action in Syria in 2013 after he laid down a “red line,” vowing to act if chemical weapons were used there. Asked by NBC’s Andrea Mitchell if Obama should “have stuck to his red line once he drew it,” the former secretary of state did a verbal tap dance, saying that the situation worked out for the best since Syrian President Bashar Assad ended up relinquishing his chemical weapons stockpile. Ben Carson back in South Carolina for a week of events (WRDW 1/18/16) Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson is back in South Carolina this week for a few events, including a discussion on law and the Constitution. The retired neurosurgeon is participating in a forum Monday evening sponsored by the Conservative Leadership Project. At the Brookland Baptist Banquet and Conference Center, Carson is sitting down with state Attorney General Alan Wilson. Fiorina likens Hillary Clinton to Mexican drug lord El Chapo (CNN 1/15/16) Carly Fiorina said Friday that Hillary Clinton is “more qualified for the Big House” than the White House and compared her to the recently captured Mexican drug lord El Chapo. “Hillary Clinton has spent her entire life on a quest for power. She has avoided prosecution more times than El Chapo. Honestly. We’ve run out of ‘gates,’” Fiorina told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on “New Day.” Fiorina added, “Once again, she wants to be in the White House. The truth is she is more qualified for ‘the Big House.’” That is why I am continuing to talk about the reality of the political establishment – of which Mrs. Clinton is example, exhibit A — the political establishment does not serve the interest of the American people.” How Bernie Sanders’ “political revolution” would change the nation (The Washington Post 1/18/16) What is Bernie Sanders talking about when he says he wants a “political revolution”? The answer is a series of policies that would offer vast new government-funded benefits to individual Americans, including health insurance, paid maternity leave and free tuition at public colleges. To make those things possible, Sanders — a Vermont senator, “democratic socialist” and Democratic presidential candidate — would impose a variety of new taxes on the wealthy, on corporations and on Wall Street trade. He also would give the federal government a new level of control over the college experience, the price of prescription drugs and child care — by making these sectors of the economy far more dependent on federal money. Martin O’ Malley wants “just 10 seconds” (USA Today 1/17/16) When you’re struggling to gain traction in
Presidential TV ad roundup: 1/18/16 edition
More than 110,000 ads spots have aired in at least 48 states — the ad wars of Election 2016 are officially upon us. In what promises to be the most expensive presidential election in U.S. history, candidates and their respective Super PACs have spent nearly $100 million on political advertising in 2015 alone, according to Kantar Media/CMAG estimates. Here are the ads the candidates released this past week: Jeb Bush Title: They said Published: Jan. 7, 2016 Tone: Concerned Title: Enough Published: Jan. 14, 2016 Tone: Critical and disappointed Title: Protecting religious freedom Published: Jan. 15, 2016 Tone: Brave Ben Carson Title: Education is the fundamental principle of what makes America a success Published: Jan. 8, 2016 Tone: Caring Title: Ensuring a secure America through strength, deterrence and principled leadership Published: Jan. 12, 2016 Tone: Sincere Title: Ben Carson on faith and family values Published: Jan. 14, 2016 Tone: Peaceful Carly Fiorina Title: It is time to take our country back Published: Jan. 11, 2016 Tone: Cheerful Ted Cruz Title: Cruz Commander Published: Jan. 13, 2016 Tone: Playful Chris Christie Title: Strong and clear Published: Jan. 14, 2016 Tone: Determined Rand Paul Title: Trump Time Published: Jan. 7, 2016 Tone: Playful Title: Time To Audit The Fed Published: Jan. 9, 2016 Tone: Depressing Marco Rubio Title: Happening Published: Jan. 15, 2016 Tone: Determined Title: Support Published: Jan. 15, 2016 Tone: Protective Hillary Clinton Title: Olivia Published: Jan. 4, 2016 Tone: Encouraging Title: I’m with him Published: Jan. 12, 2016 Tone: Determined
Darryl Paulson: Why Donald Trump won’t win the GOP nomination
As we rapidly approach the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, speculation increases that Donald Trump will likely be the Republican presidential nominee. I believe Trump has no better than a 20 percent chance of winning the nomination. We all know the common criticisms of Trump. He has made outrageous statements about Mexicans as “rapists,” John McCain as not a military hero, and his rants against Carly Fiorina‘s ugly face and Megan Kelly bleeding from “wherever.” We know Trump has flip-flopped on almost every major issue including abortion, national health care and his attitude toward Hillary and Bill Clinton. We know that Trump has spent far more time as a Democrat or independent than as a Republican and he has given most of his $1.5 million in political donations to Democrats, including large contributions to Nancy Pelosi and the Clinton Foundation. We know that Trump has never been a conservative. Besides calling himself a liberal on health care, Trump quit the Republican Party in 1999 saying, “Republicans are just too crazy right.” We know that PolitiFact awarded Trump the “lie of the year” for his numerous misstatements during the campaign. Of the 77 statements PolitiFact investigated, they rated 76 percent of them Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire. Among the lies cited by PolitiFact was Trump’s comment that he watched “thousands of Muslims” cheering the fall of the World Trade Center on 9/11. You think at least one person would have a photo or video of that incident. None of it has damaged the Trump campaign yet. In fact, the more outrageous his statements, the more his numbers rise. So, why will Trump not win the Republican nomination? Because he will either suffer a Howard Dean-like fall, or because his support is concentrated among people who are not Republicans and people who are less likely to vote. Ross Douthat wrote in The New York Times that Trump’s support will vanish as Election Day approaches. As Joe Trippi, Howard Dean’s campaign manager wrote, “People get more pragmatic the closer they get to an actual vote.” According to Trippi, this is what happened to Dean. Why waste a vote on someone unlikely to win? Second, Trump will lose because much of his support comes from people who are not Republican and who don’t vote. Trump’s strongest support comes from what The New York Times called “a certain kind of Democrat.” It is hard for anyone to win the nomination of a political party when much of their support comes from people in the other party. As we get past the early caucuses and primaries, the candidates will face several closed primaries, where only members of a party can vote. If his support comes from Democrats, they will not be able to vote for him in states such as Florida and New York where Trump is doing well in the polls. A final problem for Trump is that much of his support comes from individuals who are least likely to vote, especially in caucuses and primaries. Civis Analytics, in a study of 11,000 Republican-leaning supporters, found that Trump would get 40 percent of the vote of those who have less than a 20 percent chance of voting. Unless Trump has a plan to compensate for these problems, he may quickly find himself, much like Dean, going from first place to out of the race in a period of weeks. If Trump loses the Iowa caucus, where Cruz is now leading, the bottom could fall out of his campaign very quickly. For a “winner” like Trump to lose the first major race of the campaign season would reduce the sense of inevitability that Trump will win the nomination. As other Republicans fall by the wayside, it is unlikely that Trump will win their support. Conservative and evangelical voters are unlikely to align with Trump, who is only a Republican of convenience. • • • Darryl Paulson is Professor Emeritus of Government at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and resides in Palm Harbor, Florida. For more state and national commentary visit Context Florida.
Diane Roberts: Hey, football fans! How’s Donald Trump gonna do?
Greeting sportsfans, I’m Brent Toast of ESPN, along with former Heisman winner Johnny Twitt. Welcome to the most important event of 2016, the college football national championship! Who will prevail? Will it be the Clemson University Tigers, led by evangelical whackjob Dabo Swinney, or the Crimson Tide of Alabama, coached by gazillionaire and part-time Bond villain Nick Saban? But first, let’s look at the second-most important event of 2016, the race for the White House. Who’s playing with his hand in the dirt? Who’s got his ears pinned back? And — this is crucial — who’s No. 1 in pandering? Johnny? Thanks, Brent. Right now I’d say you’ve got to give the edge to Carly Fiorina. Her 40 time ain’t that hot — at 22 hours, it’s right up there with the Matanuska Glacier — but there’s nobody out there more shameless. Check this out: Minutes before Stanford took the field against an Iowa team already demoralized by the sheer number of Republican hopefuls crisscrossing the state, Fiorina sent this tweet: “Love my alma mater, but rooting for a Hawkeyes win today. #Rose Bowl.” Whoa, Johnny! That’s impressively, you might even say, stupidly, brazen. You got it, Brent. Between Christian McCaffrey’s running and the Stanford band’s halftime show featuring cow-tipping and references to FarmersOnly.com, Iowa collapsed like wet wheat. At least Fiorina tried to make a play. All Jeb Bush could come up with was free coozies at the pregame pep rally. Coozies, Johnny? That’s right, Brent. Coozies, black and gold, with “Hawkeyes for Jeb” on ‘em. That’s pretty tragic right there, Johnny. Not even “Jeb for the Hawkeyes.” No. No. What about Marco Rubio? Could be a momentum issue: the Michigan Wolverines delivered an old-fashioned fanny-whupping to Marco Rubio’s Gators down in the Citrus Bowl. That had to hurt. Bad year all round for Florida, Johnny. Houston owned FSU in the Peach and USF got slapped harder than a redheaded stepchild by Western Kentucky. Plus, Rick Scott is their governor. Ugly, Brent. Ugly. What’s happening with the Democrats, football-wise? Well, Brent, no one’s actually seen the Democrats, since they held their debates on game nights, and Hillary Clinton has failed to tell us who she’s supporting in Monday night’s championship game. I have to think it’s Clemson: the state of Alabama has pretty much outlawed Democrats. South Carolina has an early primary, too. What about Donald Trump? Well, that’s the big question. We reached out to his campaign but all they’d say is that he roots for the Wharton School of Business. The Wharton doesn’t have its own football team, Johnny. Must be some confusion with the U Penn Quakers. Au contraire, Brent. Trump specifically stated that the Quakers are “huge losers” and that he would kill ISIS the way they taught him to at Wharton. Well, OK, then. In related news, we now know who bankrolled the skywriting over the Rose Bowl, you know, the “Trump is Disgusting”? A property developer from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Name’s Stan Pate. Democrat? No, a Republican. Scary. Developer versus developer. It’s like the Civil War. Whatever. Trump’s getting some football love from former Georgia Bulldog great Herschel Walker and Patriot QB Tom Brady … Hot wife. Can’t argue with you there, my friend, but those guys have been hit in the head many, many times. Hard. Got to remember that, Johnny. Stay with us — we’ll be right back with Sen. Bernie Sanders, our guest picker on GameDay. Can he beat Rick Ross and Katy Perry? • • • Diane Roberts teaches at Florida State University. Her latest book is “Tribal: College Football and the Secret Heart of America.” For more state and national commentary visit Context Florida.
Marco Rubio wins support of Idaho billionaire Frank VanderSloot
Idaho billionaire Frank VanderSloot said Wednesday he will support Republican Marco Rubio for president, adding another prominent donor to the Florida senator’s endorsement list. “He’s clearly, in our opinion, the brightest of the bunch,” said VanderSloot, founder and chief executive of the health care products company Melaleuca. “He has a great understanding of what it takes to have a robust economy and he has a real firm grasp on international affairs.” VanderSloot said he plans to raise money for Rubio, but has not decided how much to give personally. In 2012, VanderSloot and his company gave $1.1 million to Restore Our Future, a super political action committee that helped GOP nominee Mitt Romney. He also was one of Romney’s national campaign finance co-chairs, raising at least $2 million for the campaign. VanderSloot said he and his wife gave $50,000 in June to the Conservative Solutions PAC, which is backing Rubio’s campaign. VanderSloot has contributed $2,700, the maximum allowed by law, to the presidential campaign of former technology executive Carly Fiorina. He said Fiorina ran a close second in his deliberations about who to endorse, but he concluded she lacks Rubio’s charisma. “Marco Rubio has a big edge on Carly Fiorina on the likeability factor,” he said. “He is just so dang likable.” VanderSloot is the latest major GOP donor to sign on with Rubio, joining investor Paul Singer and hedge fund manager Cliff Asness. VanderSloot said many big donors have been hesitant to make a public endorsement before a clear front-runner emerged. But he said such a delay will only help candidates such as billionaire businessman Donald Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson — candidates he doesn’t think can unite the country and win the White House. “We’re stepping out earlier, because it’s a dangerous game to play if we don’t,” he said. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Can-do campaign biographies: There’s often more to the story
For most presidential candidates, a compelling personal history is an essential item in the campaign tool kit. Think Hillary Rodham Clinton and her campaign statements about fighting for women. Marco Rubio and his biography of the immigrant family that made good. Carly Fiorina and her “secretary to CEO” career path. Ben Carson and his up-by-the-bootstraps persona. For an electorate hungering for authenticity, a strong back story matters. But, just as tales at the dinner table sometimes get embellished, so do stories on the campaign trail. Blame human nature, fuzzy memory or political calculation. In any event, “if you’re going to err, you are probably going to err on the side of advancing your own cause — and that’s true for everybody,” says Stanley Renshon, a political psychologist at New York University. As Donald Trump wrote in one his books, “A little hyperbole never hurts.” Some candidate narratives are rock solid. Others fall apart on closer inspection. And many fall somewhere in between: a little bit cock-eyed or requiring the addition or subtraction of a key detail or two. Questions about a biography can be telling to voters, Renshon says. “If your biography is suspect, and who you say you are needs to be revised frequently,” he says, “then how are we going to be tell whether or not, when you say you are going to do something for us, that you actually will wind up doing that?” A closer look at some of the tales told by the campaign class of 2016 — and the back story to those back stories. HILLARY CLINTON Clinton re-raised some eyebrows this week with her Veterans Day tale of checking out whether she should join the Marines back in 1975. She was 27 that year, the year she married Bill Clinton and was working as a lawyer in Arkansas. She said the Marine recruiter “looks at me and he goes, ‘Um, how old are you?’ ” Clinton recalled. “And I said, ‘Well, I’m 26, I’ll be 27.’ And he goes, ‘Well, that’s kind of old for us.’ And then he says to me … ‘Maybe the dogs will take you,’ ” meaning the Army.” Why would Clinton, a lawyer, want to join the Marines? The idea was met with skepticism back in 1994, when she told the story as first lady, and again this week, when Republicans used it as an opportunity to rehash any number of alleged Clintonian embellishments. In response to a recent Associated Press query, her campaign said “her sole reason for visiting the recruitment center was to determine if there was a suitable opportunity for her to serve in some capacity. Her interest was sincere and it is insulting, but not surprising, that Republicans would attack her for this, too. “ The episode inevitably brought fresh reminders of Clinton’s 2008 tale about a harrowing visit to war-torn Bosnia in March 1996 as first lady. Clinton, during her 2008 run for president, recalled landing under sniper fire and running with her head down to get in her vehicle. She joked that one mantra around the Clinton White House was that “if the place was too small, too dangerous or too poor, send Hillary.” Security was very tight on Clinton’s goodwill tour to Bosnia, but officials said at the time that she took no extraordinary risks. Video of the visit shows her being greeted by a child on the tarmac and given a warm hug — not ducking and running. BEN CARSON The retired neurosurgeon and political neophyte has crept to the front of Republican polls with his inspirational tale of rising above an impoverished upbringing in Detroit and overcoming violent tendencies as a youth to reach the top ranks of medicine. His campaign has brought a cascade of questions about elements of his personal history. Carson last week clarified previous claims that he’d been offered a scholarship to West Point, saying that while he’d been told he could get an appointment to the school, he never applied. He also faced questions about his oft-repeated claim that he tried to stab a close friend as a teenager. Citing privacy concerns, his campaign has refused to name the person involved. In addition, police in Baltimore recently said they didn’t have enough information to verify Carson’s account of being held at gunpoint at a fast-food restaurant there more than 30 years ago. Carson said at the latest GOP debate that he’d faced lies about his life story and undergone unprecedented public scrutiny. “Thank you for not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that,” he told the moderators. CARLY FIORINA Fiorina loves to recount her tale of rising from a secretary position to the executive suite at Hewlett-Packard as a story that is “only possible in this nation and proves that every one of us has potential.” Her political action committee’s website is fromsecretarytoceo.com. This isn’t exactly a rags-to-riches story, though. Her father was a lawyer and her mother was an abstract painter. Fiorina’s stint as a secretary at a real estate brokerage firm came when the Stanford graduate quit law school after deciding it wasn’t for her. “I answered the phones. I typed. I filed,” she recounted in a 2001 commencement address at Stanford. “My parents were, understandably, quite concerned. This wasn’t exactly what they’d hoped for, for their Stanford graduate.” Eventually, she went off to Italy to teach English, and then decided to go to business school and get an MBA. From there she soon began her march up the management ladder. MARCO RUBIO Rubio’s bio on his Senate website says his parents “came to America from Cuba in 1956 and earned their way to the middle class working humble jobs — my father as a bartender in hotels and my mom as a maid, cashier and retail clerk.” That’s a revised version of the story Rubio related early on as a freshman senator, when he offered himself as “the son of exiles” who “understand what it
Carly Fiorina says she is the leader the world needs in a time of terror
If you’ve followed any of the stump speeches of the 15 Republican candidates still standing in the race for the presidential nomination, you know that everyone of them spends considerable time criticizing what they call the fecklessness of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton‘s foreign policy. So in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris apparently committed by the Islamic State on Friday, most of the candidates who appeared at the Republican Party of Florida’s Sunshine Summit on Saturday in Orlando had a target rich environment in which to attack. Speaking in her staccato style that has won her acclaim on the campaign trail, Carly Fiorina delivered an intense message of U.S. exceptionalism and boasted extensively about her credentials to lead the nation (and the world) in the continuing war on Islamic terrorism. “Our most pressing and immediate national security challenge is radical Islamic terrorism around the world, and here at home, both lone wolves, and packs of wolves,” Fiorina said to a cheering crowd. “ISIS must be confronted and it must be destroyed and we must call it what it is.” “No, Mrs. Clinton. No, Mr. Obama. Climate change is not our most pressing national security challenge,” she commanded, again to whoops and cheers throughout the hotel ballroom. No candidate on Saturday elicited such enthusiasm. Listing important European and Middle Eastern allies by name who she says are fighting ISIS on the ground, Fiorina promised it would be a new day for them if she was elected president. “All, every single one of them has asked the United States of America for support. For weapons. For material. For intelligence sharing. Mostly, this administration has said no. I. Will. Say. Yes.” As the former head of Hewlett-Packard has said in the debates and on the campaign trail, her first two phone calls would be to “my good friend, Bibi Netanyahu,” to tell him that the U.S. will standby Israel always and forever. Her second call will be to the Supreme Leader of Iran (who she said may not take the call). He’ll get the message, she says, which is to say, new president, new nuclear deal. That wasn’t the end of her boasting about her national security cred. “I understand the world, and who’s in it. I have operated around the world for decades. In business, in charity, and in policy. I have held the highest security clearances available to a civilian. I have advised the CIA, the NSA, departments of Defense, Secretary of State, Homeland Security. We need a president who will speak. He will see. Who will act on the truth. She must understand,” as the crowd erupted. “She must understand how truly exceptional this nation is, and call evil by its name.” “Others will not call it Islamic terrorism, ” she added. “I will, and I have the courage to lead.” She concluded by invoking Margaret Thatcher‘s comment that she wasn’t ready to manage the decline of a great nation. “We’ve been managing the decline of this great nation for far. Too. Long. Now.” All in all, it was another impressive performance. Yet so far, the robust fundraising and poll numbers haven’t followed suit.
Marco Rubio’s low-budget campaign looks to ramp up as voting nears
For months, Marco Rubio‘s campaign team in South Carolina operated out of a staffer’s garage, plotting strategy for the first-in-the-South primary from freshly painted yard sale furniture and tiny classroom desks. The shoestring budget setup was a point of pride for the Republican presidential candidate’s team. Now, with Rubio enjoying a burst of momentum as the early voting contests edge closer, the Florida senator’s campaign is moving beyond its lean and mean roots. On Wednesday, Rubio’s South Carolina team officially moved out of the garage and into a proper campaign headquarters — though they brought some of the yard sale furniture along with them. “This election could very well be decided in this state,” Rubio told the crowd gathered at the office in Columbia, South Carolina’s capital. Rubio’s team also opened offices in Nevada a few weeks ago. His staff grew by about 30 percent in October, with more than 70 people now on the campaign payroll. The new hires include communications and digital advisers, as well as field workers to boost voter contact and advance staff to help set up larger and more frequent events in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, the first four states to vote in the nomination contest. Whether Rubio can effectively build up his campaign infrastructure in those states may determine whether he can turn his natural political talents and easy appeal with GOP voters into primary victories. “Everywhere I go I hear folks talking about him,” said Glenn McCall, a Republican National Committeeman from South Carolina. “So it’s the right time to come into the state, set up shop and set up more time here.” While Rubio’s advisers say they’re simply executing the next phase in a carefully crafted campaign blueprint, there’s no doubt the team’s early penny-pinching was driven in part by necessity. The senator’s fundraising has been underwhelming and his money totals trailed several rivals through summer and fall, including a lackluster $6 million haul in third financial reporting period of the year. But buoyed by strong performances in the last two GOP debates, Rubio has been attracting more high-dollar donors, including billionaire investor Paul Singer and New York hedge fund manager Cliff Asness. With more cash in the pipeline, Rubio is expected to spend more money on travel to early voting states and on larger events aimed at putting him in front of as many voters as possible. Rubio communications director Alex Conant pointed to a 450-person event in New Hampshire last week and a similar sized event in Davenport, Iowa, on Wednesday as examples of the type of settings the candidate will appear at more regularly. Rubio’s more robust travel plans are welcome news to some Republicans in early voting states who have griped for months that the senator wasn’t spending enough time on the ground meeting with donors and wooing important backers. While some candidates have all but taken up residency in Iowa and New Hampshire, Rubio has been a more sporadic presence. “He’s recognizing that in order to win in New Hampshire, you need to be available to voters — not just once or twice but more often than that,” said Donna Sytek, a prominent New Hampshire Republican. She called Rubio an “attractive candidate” but said she’s also still considering Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina. Rubio’s backers believe the campaign’s fiscal caution has already been validated by the early money woes of other candidates. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker quickly built a large and expensive operation, but was forced to withdraw from the race after just two months when his fundraising stopped covering his bills. And despite raising more than $100 million for his super PAC, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush slashed payroll spending by 40 percent after campaign fundraising slowed. To be sure, the Rubio team’s tales of cheapness have helped the campaign define the Florida senator as a scrappy underdog taking on wealthier rivals. Campaign manager Terry Sullivan has bragged about sticking Rubio on budget airline Frontier — which he called “a special kind of hell” — and touted his rule of personally approving expenses over $500. At one of the campaign’s Nevada offices, staffers tried to do their part to live up to the less is more mantra. After noticing a pizza place next to a campaign office had free wireless internet that required a password, a staffer walked over and bought two pieces of pizza and asked for the internet access code. But the cost-cutting measure was short-lived. After about three weeks, the pizza place caught on and asked the Rubio team to stop. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
