Jeb Bush sees conservatism at stake in 2016

Jeb Bush says he misjudged the intensity of anger among Republican voters before his White House campaign and believes the country in 2016 is “dramatically different” than in past elections. Yet he insists he’s still a viable candidate, and one who has broadened his mission to include defending conservativism from GOP front-runner Donald Trump. “I just think it’s important to fight this fight,” a reflective Bush said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I don’t know what the consequences politically for me are. But I do think it’s important that the conservative party nominate a conservative, and someone that understands the role of America in the world.” In particular, Bush reaffirmed his commitment to conservative social issues in an AP Conversation, the latest in a series of extended interviews with the candidates to become the nation’s 45th president. The former Florida governor spoke to the AP in Iowa, where he argued the Supreme Court should overturn its landmark Roe v. Wade ruling affirming abortion rights and, as he has for weeks, pummeled Trump incessantly. But as the state’s leadoff Feb. 1 caucuses draw closer, the Republican Party’s summertime front-runner shows few signs of momentum. Bush is favored by just 4 percent of likely caucus-goers in the respected Iowa Poll, published Wednesday by The Des Moines Register and Bloomberg News, down 2 points in the past month and mired in sixth place. To be sure, Bush isn’t giving up. Yet rather than talking about winning in the early voting states, Bush says he’s working to “beat expectations” in the February contests before moving “into March as a candidate that’s viable.” “After that, the fur starts flying pretty quick,” he said. “We’ll be viable.” The son of one president and brother of another, Bush told AP this week he was never comfortable with his place as the early favorite for the GOP nomination. He effectively blocked 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney from entering the race, winning over many of Romney’s donors en route to raising more than $100 million last year to support his bid. But that political pedigree and fundraising prowess scared no campaign rivals, least of all Trump, who got into the race the day after Bush in June. Bush told AP he failed to predict Trump’s popularity, reflected in the real estate mogul’s sustained lead among GOP voters in preference polls and the large, raucous crowds he draws to his rallies. “This is dramatically different, because the country is dramatically different, and people are reflecting their anger and angst in a way that is very different than any time that I can recall,” Bush said. “And I’ve been involved in politics for a long while.” Bush continued, “So, in recognition of that, what I want to do is make sure that the conservative cause is advanced. Not just in talk shows and think-tanks and wherever conservatism is talked about in all sorts of different ways, but in governing.” Bush’s vow to champion conservative principles to counter Trump’s rise came hours before President Barack Obama condemned “voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who don’t look like us, or pray like us, or vote like we do, or share the same background,” in his final State of the Union address. That thinly veiled reference to Trump, who has made building a wall on the U.S. southern border and barring Muslims from entering the United States the cornerstones of his campaign, was echoed moments later by South Carolina’s Republican governor, Nikki Haley. In delivering the official Republican response to Obama’s speech, she called on voters to tune out “the siren call of the angriest voices.” It’s a message Bush has carried forward for weeks, predicting a moment when Republican primary voters would start to see Trump as more showman than statesman and begin to favor an experienced leader in uncertain economic times and perilous ones overseas. That hasn’t happened. When asked to describe Bush, the majority of three dozen people taking part in a recent GOP focus group led by Republican pollster Frank Luntz used words such as “weak,” ”irrelevant,” and “loser.” Only a few said “experienced.” At one point, Luntz even apologized to a Bush staff member watching the panel from behind one-way glass. “He’s the wrong guy at the wrong time,” Luntz said. “If this had been four years ago, he’d be president.” As Bush’s campaign and well-funded super PAC search for a spark, he has more recently seized on Trump’s past contributions to Democrats, moderate social positions and public praise of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton to show he’s a charlatan whom others are too meek to take on. “The pursuit of that, of protecting the conservative cause, it’s being hijacked by Donald Trump, who’s not a conservative,” Bush said. “And others are cautious about expressing this, because God forbid you get into a Twitter war with a guy who has a lot of free time on his hands, I guess.” Trump’s rise and Bush’s underwhelming showings in the Republican debates raised concern among some Bush donors in the fall. Bush has since poured his energy into policy proposals, especially on confronting the Islamic State group, and redoubling his effort in New Hampshire. Bush says his case to voters is backed by eight years as a “reform-minded” governor in Florida. He served in Tallahassee from 1999 to 2007, and in those years consistently staked out positions aimed at curbing abortion,  something he would do again if elected president, he said. “I’d like to see Roe v. Wade overturned,” Bush said. Should the Supreme Court overturn the 1973 decision, Bush said states would be empowered to decide the fate of abortion, “which is the proper place for its regulation.” Bush promised to work with Congress to strip federal money from Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, promote adoption programs and expand “crisis pregnancy centers,” which Florida began financing when he was governor. “There’s a lot that can be done to protect life

DNC Chair says Marco Rubio doesn’t appeal to millennial voters

One of Marco Rubio’s chief assets that he’s campaigned on during his run for the White House is that he would be representing a new generation of leadership in Washington. “Are You Ready for a New American Century?” the 44-year-old Florida Senator asks on the homepage of his campaign website. On the eve of the fifth Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas, Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz was asked on a conference call if she feared Rubio’s appeal with millennial voters. “When millennials get a good close look, they’ll see what we see in Florida,” the DNC Chair quipped. “That there’s no ‘there’ there.” The South Florida congresswoman, who served together with Rubio in the Florida Legislature over a decade ago, said that millennials will find his views to be among “the most extreme on the issues that are important to millennials,” who are generally classified as people under the age of 30 or so. “Marco Rubio opposes gay marriage and has consistently not only opposed a woman’s right to make her own reproductive choices, he has the most extreme position and even says that abortion should not be available even if a woman is raped or a victim of incest,” she added. “Millennials have specifically embraced the idea that we need to make this country better together.” Rubio’s position on abortion – that he opposes all such abortion, without an exception for rape and/or incest – certainly puts him to the far right even with the other Republicans in the presidential race when it comes to the issue of choice. He recently walked his position back slightly, saying that he unequivocally backs abortion exceptions when the life of the mother is in danger. He said he also would back legislation with allowances for cases of rape and incest — even though he personally doesn’t support those exceptions. Wasserman Schultz also chastised Rubio, Jeb Bush and the other GOP presidential candidates for saying that they would back Donald Trump if he becomes the GOP’s presidential nominee next year. The DNC Chair’s comments came on the same day that an NBC News and the Wall Street Journal poll published on Monday showed Rubio winning a head-to-head clash with Hillary Clinton, 48 percent to 45 percent (within the poll’s margin of error.) Among independents, his margin of victory would be 44 percent to her 37 percent. Among Hispanics, Rubio would get 36 percent of the vote, compared to Clinton’s 59 percent. Rubio would also perform best with female voters out of the top GOP contenders, capturing 44 percent to Clinton’s 51 percent. The poll was conducted between December 6-9 of 1,000 adults, including 350 respondents with a cell phone only and 32 respondents reached on a cell phone but who also have a land land.  The margin of error for 400 interviews among Republican Primary Voters is ±4.90% The margin of error for 400 interviews among Democratic Primary Voters is ±4.90%

Hillary Clinton proposes $275 billion in new infrastructure spending

Hillary Rodham Clinton called for hundreds of billions in new federal spending on infrastructure on Sunday, kicking off what her campaign says will be a month-long focus on job creation. Standing before a backdrop of union workers and students, the Democratic presidential frontrunner vowed to rebuild “ladders of opportunity” and give a greater number of Americans a “middle-class lifestyle.” “Investing infrastructure makes our economy more productive and competitive,” she said at the launch of “Hard Hats for Hillary,” a new effort by her campaign to mobilize union workers. “To build a strong economy for our future, we must start by building strong infrastructure today.” Clinton was joined by Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, who recently endorsed her campaign, and a number of labor unions backing her bid. “Get your sledgehammers ready because we have a glass ceiling to demolish,” Walsh told a cheering audience crowded into historic Faneuil Hall. The new infrastructure proposals make up the most expensive portion of Clinton’s economic agenda, which her campaign said would exceed the $350 billion she’s already proposed for a college affordability plan. Along with the $275 billion in infrastructure funds, she plans to call for new investments in manufacturing and research in the coming weeks. Her announcement comes as Clinton faces down challenges from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who’ve both stressed the need to increase direct federal spending. Sanders has proposed legislation that would provide more than $1 trillion in new infrastructure spending over the next five years, paid for by raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations. Clinton’s campaign said she would allocate $250 billion to direct investment by the federal government in crumbling roads, bridges, public transit and airports. An additional $25 billion would fund a national infrastructure bank, an idea unveiled by President Barack Obama in his first term that has been blocked repeatedly by congressional Republicans. The bank would support $225 billion in loans intended to spur private investment in struggling projects, adding a total of $500 billion in new infrastructure funds into the economy, her campaign estimates. Her campaign says their plans would create “good-paying, middle-class jobs,” citing a recent study that found wages for infrastructure workers at $38,810, several thousand dollars higher than the national median. The new federal spending would be paid for by closing corporate loopholes, according to her campaign, which did not detail which tax breaks would be targeted. The Republican National Committee accused Clinton of treating American tax dollars like “every day is black Friday.” “The real reason Hillary Clinton isn’t saying how she’ll pay for her trillion-dollar spending increase is because she knows it means raising taxes on the middle class,” said spokesman Michael Short. Clinton’s campaign says she would limit her tax increases to wealthy Americans. They argue that her chief Democratic rival, Sanders, would require middle-class Americans to pay higher taxes to fund his single-payer health care plan — a charge his campaign disputes. “I’m the only Democrat in this race pledged to raise your income, not your taxes,” Clinton said, in a subtle swipe at Sanders. Sanders’ campaign says that his single-payer health system would save taxpayers money in the long run because it would eliminate wasteful health spending. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.

Bill Clinton opening fundraising spree for wife’s campaign

Former President Bill Clinton is going on a fundraising swing reminiscent of his presidential campaigns of the 1990s. But this time he’s doing it for his wife. Hillary Rodham Clinton‘s presidential campaign has scheduled more than a dozen December events featuring the former president as her team prepares for an end-of-year finance deadline ahead of the first contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. The fundraising blitz, Bill Clinton’s most aggressive stretch of the year, shows how Hillary Clinton’s campaign can multiply her money largesse with the help of her husband, one of the Democratic party’s most prolific rainmakers. Working together, the couple will hold at least five fundraising events on some single days in December. After staying behind the scenes for much of the year, Bill Clinton has slowly begun taking a larger public role in the campaign. And it isn’t just with fundraising. He introduced pop singer Katy Perry at a concert before the Iowa Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson dinner last month and appeared with his wife at a party barbecue in Ames, Iowa, last week. “No one knows her better than him and no one knows the process better, so it’s a natural fit,” said Ira Leesfield, a Miami attorney and longtime Clinton donor. “It’s like Derek Jeter taking the field when he was 38.” The fundraising push comes as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton’s main Democratic challenger, makes campaign finance reform a central part of his message. Hillary Clinton’s ties to Wall Street and financial industry donors will influence her agenda, Sanders has said. Bill Clinton kicks off December with fundraisers in Seattle, Los Angeles, the Phoenix area and in Laredo, Texas, where he will join with Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas congressman who represents the state’s Rio Grande Valley. The former president then raises money on Dec. 7 in Rhode Island with the state’s Democratic governor, Gina Raimondo, and Rhode Island’s congressional delegation. He headlines events in North Carolina later that same day. Later that week, the couple will show how they can spread their fundraising clout around the country. On Dec. 10, Hillary Clinton raises money in New York City while her husband meets with donors in Pennsylvania with stops in Pittsburgh, Bethlehem and Scranton. The next day, the former secretary of state will fundraise in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and St. Louis while her husband appears at events in the Chicago area and Munster, Indiana. In mid-December, the ex-president will raise money in Washington, D.C., including an event at the home of longtime Democratic powerbrokers Vernon and Ann Jordan. He will travel to Richmond later that day for a fundraiser with Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a friend and fundraiser for the Clintons. The Clintons will head into the holidays with a New York City dinner concert with musician Sting on Dec. 17. The event will benefit a new joint fundraising committee called the Hillary Victory Fund and will range from $33,400 per person to $100,000 for couples who serve as event chairs. David Brock, a Clinton supporter who runs several progressive groups aiding her candidacy, said Bill Clinton is a “gifted orator who has the ability to move people.” Brock recalled how in the spring of 2013 the former president spoke at a donor conference for two of his projects, American Bridge 21st Century and Media Matters. It was no standard stump speech, Brock said. “Rather, off the cuff, he wove an intricate tapestry for probably 45 minutes about the history of news and its relation to democracy,” he said. The 150 donors in the New York hotel ballroom were “in a trance,” Brock said. “There’s no one else at his level who is that good,” Brock said. “He says things about you that you can’t say about yourself, making him quite an effective endorser and validator.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.

Hillary Clinton names Terri Sewell, legislative Dems to state campaign committee

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton named a slew of progressive Alabamians to her state campaign committee on Friday, which she is calling the “Alabama Leadership Council.” Among the most powerful members of the 60-member council of supporters is U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, a Democratic congresswoman and the first black woman to represent Alabama in Congress. A number of state lawmakers in Montgomery also made the list, including Sen. Vivian Davis Figure, Rep. Napolean Bracy, and Rep. James Buskey. Longtime supporter and former state co-chair Pat Edington also made the list, as did Vivian Beckerle and Timothy Bolden. The list of Hillary-supporting Yellowhammer State Democrats also includes several party insiders who also cast a vote in the party’s nominating convention. Observers say her path to victory includes running an extensive behind-the-scenes campaign for her party’s delegates, of whom reports say she has racked already secured half. Clinton made a handful of campaign stops in Alabama last week, ahead of her designation of campaign committee members. She weighed in on the closure of several state driver’s license offices  – an issue championed by Sewell – last month as well, calling the move “a blast from the Jim Crow past.” Democrats’ chances of winning carrying Alabama’s are slim to none. The last time the state voted for a Democratic president was in 1976, when then-Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter captured the state’s support.

Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton seek to grab leadership mantle after Paris

In a presidential campaign that has suddenly shifted in focus to terrorism and security, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican Jeb Bush both see opportunities to cast themselves as best prepared to be commander in chief in tumultuous times. In back-to-back foreign policy speeches this week, Clinton and Bush outlined blueprints for defeating the Islamic State, the extremist group blamed for last week’s attacks in Paris that killed 129 and left hundreds more wounded. While some of the details differed, most notably on the role of U.S. ground forces, the plans of both candidates are grounded in a belief the next president must be more aggressive than the current one in order to defeat the Islamic State group. “It is time for American leadership again,” Bush said Wednesday in remarks from The Citadel. Clinton echoed that sentiment one day later, declaring: “This is a time for American leadership.” Bush and Clinton’s dueling speeches were a reminder of a time when the 2016 general election seemed destined to be a contest between members of two prominent American political families seeking a return to the White House. Clinton’s campaign has so far proceeded largely according to plan. After spending the summer struggling with questions about her use of a private email account and server while secretary of state, she has steadied her campaign and appears to be in strong position to fend off a challenge from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent seeking the Democratic nomination. Bush’s bid for the Republican nomination, however, has so far been a stunning disappointment to many of his supporters. While the former Florida governor raised eye-popping sums of money for his super PAC, he’s struggled to connect with voters and gain traction in a crowded GOP field dominated to date by political novices Donald Trump and Ben Carson. Bush backers have long predicted — and more recently, nervously hoped — that as voting draws closer, Republican voters would begin evaluating candidates less on their visceral appeal and more on competency and policy expertise. Bush’s speech at The Citadel had been planned for weeks, but the Paris attacks gave him an opportunity to remind voters that the next president will quickly confront vexing problems. “If these attacks remind us of anything, it is that we are living in serious times that require serious leadership and that the free world needs to act,” Bush said. He advocated bolstering the U.S. military’s presence on the ground in Syria and Iraq, but didn’t say how many troops he envisioned sending into the chaotic region, nor did he outline what functions they would carry out. Bush’s remarks were generally well-received by Republicans, though there was little sense that they marked a turning point for his struggling candidacy. “What he said was fine,” said former Sen. Jim Talent, a Republican from Missouri who has advised GOP presidential candidates on foreign policy. “I don’t know that it breaks him out of the pack through.” Clinton’s remarks Thursday served as a reminder of her fluency on international issues, cultivated in part during her four years as President Barack Obama‘s secretary of state. Her biggest risk comes from being associated with Obama’s foreign policy, given that polls show the public is increasingly pessimistic about the president’s handling of world affairs. While Clinton has been careful to avoid criticizing Obama’s approach to the Middle East, she emphasized in her remarks the ways she would tackle the situation differently, including setting up a no-fly zone over Syria. Bush, too, supports a no-fly zone, as well as the creation of “safe zones” to offer protection to Syrians. Bush and Clinton were also in agreement in their calls for arming the Kurds, one of the most effective fighting forces in the region, and bolstering the involvement of Arab partners. “They’re both part of a broader political consensus that seems to have developed over the course of the campaign that the U.S. needs to do more,” said Nick Heras, a Middle East researcher at the Center for New American Security, a Washington-based think tank. The candidates’ starkest difference came on the issue of sending American ground troops into Iraq and Syria to directly fight the extremists. While Bush said that step was imperative, Clinton said she would resist deploying ground forces even if the U.S. were directly attacked. Asked whether it would really be possible to resist calls for such action in the wake of a terror attack on U.S. soil, Clinton conceded there would be enormous pressure. But, she added, “I think it would be a mistake.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.

GOP candidates disavow Donald Trump’s call for Muslim database

Republican presidential candidates on Friday swiftly condemned Donald Trump‘s call for requiring Muslims in the United States to register in a national database, drawing a sharp distinction with the GOP front-runner. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called Trump’s proposal “abhorrent.” Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Trump was trying to “divide people.” And Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has largely avoided criticizing Trump throughout the 2016 campaign, said that while he was a fan of the billionaire businessman, “I’m not a fan of government registries of American citizens.” “The First Amendment protects religious liberty and I’ve spent the past several decades defending the religious liberty of every American,” Cruz told reporters before a town hall-style event in Sioux City, Iowa. The rebuke followed Trump’s call Thursday for a mandatory database to track Muslims in the U.S. In a video posted on MSNBC.com, Trump was asked whether Muslims would be required to register. He replied, “They have to be.” He said Muslims would be signed up at “different places” and said the program would be “all about management.” Religious and civil liberties experts said Trump’s idea is unconstitutional on several counts. The libertarian Cato Institute’s Ilya Shapiro said the idea also violates basic privacy and liberty rights. The comments follow the terror attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and wounded hundreds more. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the carnage, elevating fears of attacks in the U.S. and prompting calls for new restrictions on refugees fleeing war-torn Syria. Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton took to Twitter Friday and challenged all Republican candidates to disavow Trump’s comments. “This is shocking rhetoric,” she wrote. “It should be denounced by all seeking to lead this country.” Several did just that. “You’re talking about internment, you’re talking about closing mosques, you’re talking about registering people, and that’s just wrong,” Bush said Friday on CNBC. A spokesman for Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the candidate “does not support databases based on one’s religion.” Kasich, the Ohio governor, said requiring people to register with the federal government because of their religion “strikes against all that we have believed in our nation’s history.” Kasich has faced criticism following the Paris shooting for saying he would set up an agency with a “mandate” to promote what he calls “Judeo-Christian values” overseas to counter Islamist propaganda. The campaign trail comments come amid a debate on Capitol Hill about refugees from the Middle East. The House passed legislation Thursday essentially barring Syrian and Iraqi refugees from the United States. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has slotted the bill for possible Senate consideration, though it’s unclear whether the chamber could get enough votes to override a veto by Obama, who opposes the measure. The unified pushback against Trump was rare. Republicans have vacillated in their handling of other inflammatory comments from the bellicose billionaire, wary of alienating the front-runner’s supporters but also increasingly concerned that he’s managed to maintain his grip on the GOP race deep into the fall. Legal experts quickly weighed in to outline the unconstitutionality of Trump’s proposal. “Individuals cannot be singled out for government surveillance and monitoring based on their religious beliefs,” said Steven Shapiro, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union. Marci Hamilton, a Yeshiva University legal expert on religious liberty, said requiring Muslims to register appears to be a clear violation of the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom. “What the First Amendment does and what it should do is drive the government to use neutral criteria,” Hamilton said. “You can use neutral criteria to identify terrorists. What it can’t do is engage in one-religion bashing. That won’t fly in any court.” Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who has challenged Trump’s standing atop the GOP field, raised eyebrows Thursday when he compared blocking potential terrorists posing as Syrian refugees from entering the U.S. to handling a rabid dog. “If there’s a rabid dog running around in your neighborhood, you’re probably not going to assume something good about that dog,” Carson told reporters at a campaign stop in Alabama. “It doesn’t mean you hate all dogs, but you’re putting your intellect into motion.” The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned both Trump and Carson’s comments as “Islamophobic and unconstitutional.” “Donald Trump and Ben Carson are contributing to an already toxic environment that may be difficult to correct once their political ambitions have been satisfied,” CAIR’s Robert McCaw said in a statement. A super PAC supporting Kasich had started running a television advertisement in New Hampshire questioning Trump and Carson’s preparedness for being commander in chief. The ad opens with pictures of Trump, Carson and President Barack Obama as a narrator says, “Job training for president does not work.” The ad then pivots to a review of the national security issues facing the country and argues Kasich is the only candidate with a plan to defeat the Islamic State. The first reference to a database for Muslims came in Trump’s interview with Yahoo News published earlier Thursday in which the billionaire real estate mogul did not reject the idea of requiring Muslims to register in a database or giving them special identification cards noting their religion. “We’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely,” Trump told Yahoo News. He also suggested he would consider warrantless searches, according to Yahoo, saying, “We’re going to have to do things that we never did before.” Asked by reporters Thursday night to explain his Yahoo comments, Trump suggested his response had been misconstrued. “I never responded to that question,” he said. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

Hillary Clinton targeted in ad from group tied to Koch brothers

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday makes her first appearance in a negative advertisement funded by the wealthy Republican donors tied to billionaires Charles and David Koch. A 30-second ad aimed at Internet users in South Carolina and Florida shows headlines about the number of veterans who have died while awaiting health care. Then it shows a recent MSNBC interview with Clinton, who said of problems at the Department of Veterans Affairs, “It’s not been widespread as it has been made out to be.” “Not widespread?” text in the ad says. “Our veterans deserve better.” The digital ad, backed by at least $100,000 from Concerned Veterans for America, a nonprofit group that does not identify its donors, is timed to run as Clinton participates in a Democratic candidate forum in South Carolina. Clinton is “completely out of touch” with VA issues, which are “inarguably widespread,” Dan Caldwell, a spokesman for Concerned Veterans for America, told The Associated Press on Thursday. After Republicans criticized her remarks in the MSNBC interview, Clinton’s campaign said she was “outraged” by VA delays in providing care. Concerned Veterans for America is one of a half-dozen political and policy groups funded by the Kochs and hundreds of like-minded donors. That network is poised to spend a generous portion of at least $750 million over this year and next on issues relevant to the presidential race. The ad marks the first major paid media effort by a Koch group to ding Clinton’s 2016 candidacy. As she gains steam in a three-candidate Democratic primary, while the Republican nominating process is far from settled, GOP groups are beginning their Clinton attack efforts. The veterans ad follows a television commercial a week ago by a political group called Future 45. That ad focused on Clinton’s work as secretary of state, particularly in Libya, concluding with a narrator saying: “Responsible for a disaster. More threats. More war.” Although the group spent only about $65,000 airing the spot a few times, according to Kantar Media’s CMAG ad tracker, there are signs that more Clinton attacks are on the way. On Monday at a New York fundraiser for Republican opposition group America Rising, headlined by 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney, donors were encouraged to support Future 45, an attendee told the AP. The attendee was not authorized to share details from the private event and requested anonymity. Republican hedge-fund billionaires Paul Singer of New York and Kenneth Griffin of Chicago are among those who have already written six-figure checks to Future 45, a fundraising report filed in July shows. The group’s name references the 45th president, who will be elected next November. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.

Many Bush backers in New Hampshire have “moved on” from Jeb

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks at the Growth and Opportunity Party at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa

Jeb Bush sought to revive a sagging campaign for president in New Hampshire on Tuesday, committing anew to a state with deep ties to his family. He’ll start from a position of weakness that some family loyalists say is of his own making. Eager to distinguish himself from his family legacy at the outset of his 2016 bid, Bush failed to tap the support of many longtime friends in the state. Many in the old Bush network now say they’ve picked another candidate to support or are staying out of the primary process altogether. “Folks who had historically been with his father and his brother and were looking to maybe participate in his campaign were basically ignored,” said former Sen. Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican, who endorsed Bush last week and is now a top backer of his campaign. “A lot of those people moved on,” Gregg said. Even now, as Bush returns to New Hampshire for a three-day swing on his “Jeb Can Fix It” tour and shifts staff up from his Miami headquarters, some prominent Bush family supporters say the campaign still hasn’t contacted them. John Stabile, a four-time state Republican Party chairman who was finance chairman for George H.W. Bush‘s presidential bids, said he’s not alone among Bush advocates who expected to get a call from Jeb Bush — and have not. “It’s been mind-boggling to me that the people we worked with for a long time never heard from anybody,” said Stabile, who’s unsure whether he’ll endorse any candidate this time around. Having started the 2016 campaign as the GOP’s early front-runner, Bush has tumbled in preference polls as voters flock to political outsiders such as Donald Trump and Ben Carson. “I do not know any people who are strong supporters of the governor,” said Bruce Perlo, chairman of the Grafton County GOP, referring to Bush. “Maybe he’s got bad advisers, maybe he doesn’t understand the national scene, maybe he doesn’t understand New Hampshire. I don’t know – there’s something that’s not gelling for him.” After a lackluster performance in this past GOP debate, Bush shook up his campaign and refocused on New Hampshire. Aides have said this week’s bus tour will be the first of long-stretches of time in the state, where Bush plans to keep holding town hall-style meetings while adding more informal “retail” stops where he can chat at length with small groups of voters. “I do think he’s running a classic New Hampshire campaign, which is exactly what’s going to benefit him the most,” Gregg said. Rich Killion, Bush’s senior New Hampshire adviser, says the campaign is going after “every vote and everybody,” and will be well-positioned to turn out supporters on Election Day. “That can only be done through New Hampshire shoe leather and hard and disciplined follow-up,” Killion said. Bush has a dozen paid staff in New Hampshire, more than any other state, and plans to add more. His campaign and an allied super PAC plan to spend at least $28 million on advertising there – almost triple their budget for any other early state, according to data provided by Kantar Media’s CMAG advertising tracker. Those resources alone haven’t yet won over longtime Bush loyalists, either because they were ignored early – or just think it’s time for someone with a different last name. Among them are former New Hampshire attorney general Tom Rath, former state lawmakers Doug and Stella Scamman, and former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu, all past Bush-family supporters who are now backing Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Stella Scamman said the couple did have a personal meeting with Bush, but chose Kasich because they believe it’s time for “new players on the scene.” Mark Vincent, chairman of the Hillsborough County GOP, said party activists are worried that nominating Bush would put the party in a weak position to take on Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton in the general election – and Bush’s lackluster debate performances haven’t helped persuade them otherwise. “Maybe if Jeb continues to do a lot of appearances and a lot of town halls and what not, maybe that will make people forget the debate a little bit and they’ll give him a second look,” Vincent said. The day after Bush was overshadowed in the GOP’s third debate, he drew an overflow crowd last week to a town hall in New London. That same day in Portsmouth, a number of voters who saw him said they liked what he had to say. But Bush strayed little from the message he’s delivered for months, pointing to his record as governor of Florida to show he’s a conservative who can get things done. Joel Maiola, a top strategist for George W. Bush‘s 2000 New Hampshire campaign who has yet to sign on with any candidate in this election, said it’s a message that’s yet to win over many voters. “You’ve got to be a little creative and step out of the box a little bit,” Maiola said. “He’s got the résumé and he’s got the substance, but what’s his closing argument?” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

Cold war between 2016 GOP rivals Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio heating up

Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio are on course for a collision. There once was mutual public deference. But that has eroded as the Florida Republicans battling for the presidential nomination have come to see the other as the main threat to lofty ambitions: Bush claims the party establishment’s mantle, Rubio wants be the party’s fresh national face. Bush now routinely compares Rubio’s background to Barack Obama‘s before the Democrat became president. Rubio says it’s “time to turn the page,” a reference that strikes as hard at Bush’s long family legacy as it does at Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton. The rise of GOP outsiders such as Donald Trump and Ben Carson has increased the stakes for Bush and Rubio as they try to become the mainstream alternative. Whoever wins this internal contest will show whether experience or fresh leadership is the bigger priority for GOP centrists. From Bush, there’s a sense of urgency in his contention that Rubio, in his first Senate term, has not proved his leadership credentials. The ex-governor and his team are frustrated, too, that this shortcoming they attribute to Rubio has not become more of a liability for him. It’s part of the mantra Bush has repeated since the Republicans’ second debate in California a month ago, when Rubio won praise for staying above the fray. He has since drawn nearly even with Bush in national polls, although both remain in the high single digits. “We’ve got a president that the American people supported based on the fact that he was an eloquent guy,” Bush said in Iowa last week. “And he had nothing in his background that would suggest he could lead.” Though describing Obama, it’s a slight to Rubio. He delivers a compelling story about his parents’ flight from Cuba and his working class background, but he has been in the Senate less than five years and has missed much of its business this year while campaigning for president. Evidence of the tension between the Florida politicians was on display Thursday when Rubio’s campaign, minutes after the Bush organization announced raising $13.4 million in the last quarter, boasted it had more cash on hand. Rubio reported having nearly $11 million in his coffers compared with Bush’s $10 million. But about $1 million of Rubio’s cash cannot be accessed unless he wins the GOP nomination, a point Bush campaign spokesman Tim Miller pounced on via Twitter. “Lying about budgets. Guess Marco picked up something in the Senate,” Miller tweeted Friday. Rubio’s campaign reported raising $5.7 million from July through September, down from $9 million in the three months prior. Bush’s team says that shows he’s been losing steam. Yet Bush advisers are clearly put off by the senator’s durability. Hopes have not come to pass that rivals could be chased from the field with Bush’s mammoth fundraising effort in the first half of the year — yielding more than $100 million for his campaign and the super PAC supporting him. They are competing for many of the same voters. Each has won statewide election — Bush twice, Rubio once — in Florida, a hefty prize in the presidential election. They also have pull among Hispanic voters, whom Republicans want to draw away from Democrats. Both men speak fluent Spanish. Yet both have been surpassed in the early months of the primary campaign by the billionaire Trump and retired neurosurgeon Carson. Those challengers have ridden dissatisfaction with the government to a lead in national and early state polls with four months before Iowa leads off the 2016 voting. Rubio is more subtle than Bush as the two men draw distinctions between each other, but his meaning is unmistakable. In New Hampshire recently, Rubio said the election is “a generational choice” and political leaders in both parties are “out of touch.” Rubio is 44, Bush is 62. “We will not change direction if all we do is keep electing the same kind of people,” Rubio said in Portsmouth. “This election cannot be one of those elections where we just promote the next person in line, where we just vote for the person the experts tell us we have to vote for.” The remarks are aimed as much at Bush, whose father, George H.W. Bush, was elected president 27 years ago, as at Clinton, whose husband defeated the elder Bush for re-election 23 years ago. The connections between Rubio and Bush go back to the late 1990s when Bush, then governor, contributed $50 to Rubio’s campaign for a West Miami commission seat. When Rubio became the first Cuban-American to ascend to Florida House speaker, Bush gave him a sword to remind him to stay true to his conservative values. “I can’t think back on a time when I’ve ever been prouder to be a Republican, Marco,” Bush said then. Rubio in his memoir, “An American Son,” praised Bush’s “creativity and daring.” “Jeb is my friend,” Rubio told reporters in Florida when asked about Bush’s jabs. “I have tremendous respect for him as a person and for what he did for Florida as governor.” Those jabs are more frequent now, but Rubio is countering from his corner. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.

Breaking silence, Joe Biden team leans in on potential 2016 run

Joe Biden is sending out an unmistakable “forget-me-not” plea for 2016, brushing past signs of a Hillary Rodham Clinton resurgence with fresh and direct suggestions he could be on the verge of entering the presidential race. The vice president’s political team broke its months-long silence on the subject with a letter circulated by one of Biden’s closest friends and top advisers. In the letter, though Biden is still officially undecided, former Sen. Ted Kaufman describes a “campaign from the heart” that Biden would wage and says a decision isn’t far off. “If he decides to run, we will need each and every one of you — yesterday,” Kaufman says temptingly, alluding to the breakneck speed at which Biden would have to ramp up a campaign. To its recipients — Biden’s former Senate, White House and campaign staffers — Thursday’s letter smacked of an unambiguous indication Biden was all but green-lighting a presidential campaign. Several individuals familiar with the letter say it was circulated with Biden’s blessing. The individuals weren’t authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity. For his part, Biden has been silent on the issue for weeks while allowing his own self-imposed deadlines to fly by. His indecision has led many Democratic leaders to publicly write off his prospects, particularly as Clinton revels in a strong debate performance and an impressive stretch of fundraising, solidifying her status as the Democratic front-runner. Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders both announced this week they’d raised more than $25 million in their last three-month stretch, a potent reminder that many of the Democratic establishment’s donors and top players have already committed to a declared candidate. To some Democrats, Biden runs the risk of being perceived as a spoiler at this point, drawing votes away from Clinton without any substantial prospect for electoral success. In public comments, the GOP is all but laying out a welcome mat. Even Biden friends and aides remain at a loss to explain exactly what is holding up his decision. In more than a dozen interviews over the past week, individuals close to the vice president described a man still wrestling with whether he and his family would be well served by campaign pressures while they continue grieving the death of Biden’s son in May. Yet more than two months after Biden began seriously weighing that question, those individuals said it was unclear what could change that would push him from undecided to yes or no. Still, Biden and his team are approaching their just-in-case preparations for a potential campaign with a new level of seriousness. This week he has been placing calls to top Democratic strategists in early primary states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina to solicit candid assessments of his chances, according to individuals familiar with the calls. Biden’s team has also had detailed conversations with campaign data and analytics experts to determine how quickly he could ramp up the digital side of his campaign, the individuals said. For Biden’s supporters, including those backing the Draft Biden super PAC, those signals serve as the reassurance they were seeking that their enthusiasm hasn’t been misplaced. “The steps that we’re seeing toward a potential candidacy are definitely creating some excitement and anticipation and hope in people that this might be happening,” said Mike Cuzzi, a former Obama campaign official in New Hampshire who is supporting the pro-Biden super PAC. He added that Biden’s supporters were “eager for him to make a determination.” Clinton’s supporters feel the same, but for different reasons. After her widely lauded performance in Tuesday’s debate, her campaign chairman told reporters it was time for Biden to make up his mind. Clinton herself said in an interview with The Boston Globe that she had discussed the campaign with Biden a few months ago. “I said: ‘You know, Joe, this is totally up to you and your family. We were friends before, we will be friends after, whatever you decide,’” she told the newspaper. Republicans, meanwhile, have been pining for a Biden campaign, in hopes that a more combative Democratic primary would weaken Clinton. “Right now there’s no question Joe Biden would be the toughest candidate for Republicans to beat in the general election,” said Republican National Committee spokeswoman Allison Moore. The lack of certainty has also put President Barack Obama in a delicate position, caught between loyalties to his vice president and his former secretary of state. “I’m not going to comment on what Joe’s doing or not doing,” Obama said Friday, describing Biden as his “very able vice president.” Most recent polls show a hypothetical Biden candidacy running third, behind both Clinton and Sanders, with support in the high teens. Biden appears to primarily draw voters who would otherwise lean toward supporting Clinton. Surveys have shown a recent uptick in positive opinions of Biden nationally, with 85 percent of Democrats viewing him positively in a Gallup Poll this month. In the letter, Kaufman offered the first clues to Biden’s rationale for a run, describing an “optimistic” campaign that would focus on expanding middle-class opportunity and protecting Obama’s legacy. He also drew an implicit contrast with Clinton, who has been criticized by some as appearing calculated or overly choreographed. “I think it’s fair to say, knowing him as we all do, that it won’t be a scripted affair,” Kaufman said. “After all, it’s Joe.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.

Jeb Bush, Ben Carson lead GOP presidential fundraising

Jeb Bush raised $13.4 million this past summer for his Republican presidential bid — more than almost any other primary competitor, but far less than political newcomer Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon who collected about $20 million during the same period. Meanwhile, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bernie Sanders, the two leading Democrats in the 2016 race, each raised more than any of the Republicans who have said what donors gave them between July 1 and Sept. 30. Among those who have yet to share their fundraising information is GOP front-runner Donald Trump, the rich real-estate dealmaker whose mild forays into fundraising include selling his trademark “Make America Great Again” hats. “I thought I’d have spent about $20, $25 million dollars up until this point. You know what I’ve spent? Like nothing,” Trump said Wednesday, crediting media coverage for negating the need to spend on paid ads. With fundraising reports due to federal regulators by midnight Thursday, here’s a look at what we know so far about the state of presidential campaign finance in the third quarter, and what we expect to learn when the candidates’ official reports are filed with the Federal Election Commission. ___ CLINTON, SANDERS RAISE ABOUT THE SAME AMOUNT — IN DIFFERENT WAYS Clinton’s campaign said it raised $28 million in the three months ending Sept. 30. That’s less than what she raised in the early months of her campaign, but more than any previous non-incumbent Democratic presidential primary contestant in the third quarter of the year before Election Day. Most of the money came in through dozens of traditional fundraising events, where the price of entry was often the legal maximum donation of $2,700. Sanders brought in about $26 million, but did so largely through small contributions collected online. He continues to show off his fundraising prowess, harvesting about $2 million in new contributions in the hours that followed Tuesday night’s Democratic debate. “We are doing it the old-fashioned way: 650,000 individual contributions,” Sanders said in his closing statement of that appearance, adding: “We are averaging 30 bucks apiece. We would appreciate your help.” ___ CARSON THE EARLY LEADER IN GOP CONTEST Lots of Republican voters sent a message this summer in preference polls that they want an outsider as their nominee. That’s reflected in how they’re giving to the candidates, too. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson appears likely to post the best haul of the dozen-plus candidates in the GOP field, with about $20 million. But his campaign also spent heavily, burning through $14 million over the same time period. Carson spent most of that money raising money, according to figures the campaign provided to The Associated Press. Still, Carson had about $11 million in available cash as of Sept. 30. One of Carson’s closest fundraising competitors is Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, whose campaign raised $12.2 million in the third quarter and ended the month with $13.5 million in the bank. Although he has been a senator since 2012, he also is running as an outsider, with a focus on the many times he has broken with Senate Republican leadership over issues such as shutting down the government to defund implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Former technology executive Carly Fiorina, who has never held elected office, raised $6.8 million for her campaign — four times as much as she collected at the start of her campaign. Her boost came after strong debate performances that also led to a rise in some national preference polls. ___ LOWER FIGURES FOR OTHERS IN GOP Others in the Republican race found the summer months a tough slog for fundraising. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul raised $2.5 million and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio about $6 million. Paul recently devoted time to a separate bid to keep his Senate seat, leading some to question if he’s still in the White House race. “I wouldn’t be doing this dumb-ass livestreaming if I weren’t,” Paul said in a recent Internet video. “So, yes, I still am running for president. So get over it.” In a memo to supporters on Thursday, the Paul campaign continued to provide assurance that it is “here to stay.” The candidate raised almost $1 million in the 12 days after the September debate, the memo says. Rubio’s campaign argues that it can make its money go the distance because of its extreme frugality. The campaign told top donors that it began October with $11 million socked away. As evidence of its tight ship, Rubio’s campaign manager Terry Sullivan has said he must personally approve all expenses over $500. But Rubio is also getting a boost from a nonprofit group that doesn’t disclose its donors. While the campaign hasn’t purchased any television commercials, the group Conservative Solutions Project has already spent millions of dollars on ads. Weighing on these lower-raising candidates are the fates of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Both dropped out of the 2016 Republican nominating contest for lack of funds. Federal reports filed Thursday show Perry raised less than $300,000 between July 1 and Sept. 11, when he ended his campaign. It had about $45,000 left in the bank at the end of last month, FEC documents show. And Walker, despite having raised $7.4 million in the summer months, quickly burned through the money and dropped out 10 days after Perry. He closed September with less than $1 million in available cash — not enough to cover the nearly 100 employees on his payroll. ___ HOTLY ANTICIPATED REPORTS New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich both entered the Republican entered the race later than the other candidates, meaning Thursday provides the first look at their fundraising. Ahead of Thursday’s filing, Christie’s spokeswoman said the campaign had raised $4.2 million in recent months and had $1.4 million cash on hand at the end of September. Although the haul puts him in the lower tier of Republican fundraisers, Christie played down the importance of money. “We’re doing fine,” Christie recently said