Presidential Primary Brief: 379 days until Election Day
125 days until AL Presidential Primary 379 days until Election Day Convention Dates: Republican July 18-21 2016, Democratic July 25-28 2016 Weekly Headlines: Lincoln Chafee ends his presidential campaign Joe Biden says no to 2016 presidential race Jim Webb drops out as a Democrat, but could run as Independent Press Clips: Poll: Republicans view Donald Trump as strongest presidential candidate (PBS News 10/25/15) Republican voters view Donald Trump as their strongest general election candidate, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll that highlights the sharp contrast between the party’s voters and its top professionals regarding the billionaire businessman’s ultimate political strength. Seven in 10 Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters say Trump could win in November 2016 if he is nominated, and that’s the most who say so of any candidate. By comparison, 6 in 10 say the same for retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who, like Trump, has tapped into the powerful wave of antiestablishment anger defining the early phases of the 2016 contest. Longtime Obama ally David Plouffe endorses Hillary Clinton (MSNBC 10/24/15) Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe endorsed Hillary Clinton Saturday, just ahead of a key Democratic Party event here, where Obama’s campaign first showed major signs of breaking past the thought-to-be inevitable Clinton. “Now, to be honest, during the most intense days of the 2008 primary, I would never have imagined writing this piece. And I doubt Team Clinton felt any differently about me,” Plouffe wrote in a post on Medium. Marco Rubio’s ‘Sanctuary City’ Law And The 2016 Election: Can Republicans Win Without Latino Voters? (IB Times 10/20/15) When Kate Steinle, a young, white woman, was shot on a San Francisco pier by an undocumented immigrant in July, Republican presidential candidates responded with outrage. Undocumented immigrants are often criminals, Republican presidential front- runner Donald Trump had been saying, and Steinle’s death was cited as proof. Among the GOP leaders who subsequently launched a war against sanctuary city policies like the one embraced by San Francisco, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio vowed to end federal funding for local governments that don’t comply with federal immigration laws. The harsh rhetoric marked a sudden shift for Rubio, a leading Republican presidential candidate who was once seen as the new diverse face of the GOP and a link to the nation’s increasingly important Hispanic voters. Jeb Bush hunkers down with family to assess his candidacy (CBS News 10/23/15) Jeb Bush will attend a finance meeting this weekend in Houston convened by former President George H. W. Bush and attended by Bush’s brother, former President George W. Bush, CBS News has learned. The session, designed to assess where Bush’s candidacy stands in the face of large-scale staff cutbacks and underwhelming poll numbers, will also be attended by Bush’s mother, Barbara Bush. The governor’s campaign confirmed the meeting will be held Sunday and Monday. 11-Hour Benghazi Hearing Brings Out the Many Faces of Hillary Clinton (NBC News 10/23/15) In eleven hours of testimony, former secretary of state and current Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton answered questions in a long-awaited appearance before a House committee investigating the Benghazi attacks on Thursday. It’s the eighth Congressional investigation and the third time Clinton has testified on the death of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, at the U.S. compound in the Libyan city in 2012. Behind Ben Carson’s rebellious public image, a DC insider is hard at work (Reuters 10/25/15) Oct 25 U.S. presidential candidate Ben Carson may be the farthest Republican voters can get from the party’s establishment: A retired neurosurgeon with a penchant for inflammatory comments who has never held, much less run, for elected office. While many of his rivals are concentrating on hiring staff and renting offices in key states like New Hampshire and Iowa, Carson is pursuing a more unorthodox campaign, sometimes less visible to the naked eye, that has fueled his rise to the top of the polls. He is just behind Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican 2016 presidential nomination. Donald Trump: No apology for questioning Ben Carson’s Seventh-day Adventist faith (Washington Post 10/25/15) Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Sunday that he saw no reason to apologize for raising the issue of rival Ben Carson’s Seventh-day Adventist faith during a recent campaign rally. “I would certainly give an apology if I said something bad about it. But I didn’t. All I said was I don’t know about it,” Trump said during an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” one of three Sunday talk shows on which the billionaire businessman talked about recent polls that showed Carson pulling ahead of him in Iowa. Bernie Sanders Wants To Bring Back Your 40-Hour Workweek (Huffington Post 10/24/15) Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) thinks Americans may have forgotten about the 40-hour week. “A hundred years ago workers took to the streets” to fight for 40 hours, Sanders told The Huffington Post. “And a hundred years have come and gone, we’ve seen an explosion in technology, we’ve seen an explosion in productivity, we have a great global economy, and what do you have? The vast majority of people are working longer hours for lower wages.” American workers with full-time jobs work an average of 42.7 hours per week, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Including part-timers in the calculation puts the average American workweek at 39 hours. CNBC Sets Lineups for Republican Debates Next Week (NY Times 10/21/15) CNBC has set the stages for the Republican presidential debate next Wednesday. The 6 p.m. undercard will feature Rick Santorum, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, George Pataki and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. They will be relegated to the early slot because their average national poll numbers in the last five weeks are below 2.5 percent. The main event, to begin shortly after 8 p.m., will have 10 candidates: Donald J. Trump, Ben Carson, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Huckabee, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, Gov. John Kasich
Presidential Primary Brief: 386 days until Election Day
132 days until AL Presidential Primary 386 days until Election Day Convention Dates: Republican July 18-21 2016, Democratic July 25-28 2016 Weekly Headlines: Democratic debate: Fact-checking the candidates Poll: Donald Trump still leads, Ben Carson in second Joe Biden camp to allies: Be ready Press Clips: Everyone but Jim Webb says Black Lives Matter (The Daily Beast 10/14/15) At Tuesday’s CNN debate, the Democrats all endorsed the movement, with Sanders invoking Sandra Bland and Clinton pushing for criminal justice reform. Only Jim Webb refused to go along. Every Democratic candidate on the CNN debate stage Tuesday night made it clear they support the Black Lives Matter movement—except rogue militaristic outsider Jim Webb. Bernie Sanders, a noted supporter of the group’s message who has met with its activists, got the question first. “Do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? Let’s put that question to Senator Sanders,” a bespectacled Anderson Cooper asked. Clinton and Sanders seriously out-‐fundraised GOP candidates, minus super PACs (The Week 10/16/15) Thursday night was the deadline for 2016 presidential candidates to file their Federal Election Commission Financial reports for the last quarter, and the big takeaway is that the two leading Democrats are crushing the Republican field in direct campaign contributions. The six Democrats who filed raised a combined $123.2 million from July 1 through Sept. 30, while the 15 Republican candidates raised a combined $143.5 million. Amid overall high spending, the cash-on-hand numbers are even more telling: Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) start the fall with $60.1 million in their coffers, only slightly less than the $61.2 million for all 15 Republicans. Averse to fundraising, Donald Trump still rakes in millions (CBS News 10/16/15) Can it be simultaneously true that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump swears off traditional campaign fundraising while still raking in a substantial sum of money from private contributions? The answer appears to be a resounding yes: on Thursday, Trump’s campaign announced that it raised $3.9 million between July and September this year. The figure came as a surprise to some, given Trump’s oft-expressed aversion to the kind of donor-courting in which other candidates engage. RNC Chair: GOP ‘Cooked as a party’ if we don’t win 2016 election (TPM 10/16/15) Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus said on Thursday that the 2016 presidential election will make or break the party. In an interview published early Friday morning, he told the Washington Examiner that even during a presidential election year, the RNC is still responsible for supporting House and Senate candidates. “However, I think that we have become, unfortunately, a midterm party that doesn’t lose and a presidential party that’s had a really hard time winning,” Priebus told the Examiner. “We’re seeing more and more that if you don’t hold the White House, it’s very difficult to govern in this country — especially in Washington D.C.” John Kasich outlines broad economic agenda in New Hampshire (NBC News 10/15/15) Presidential hopeful John Kasich outlined his economic agenda in front of a crowd of students at Nashua Community College, pledging to balance the federal budget in eight years and transfer many responsibilities of the Department of Education and Department of Transportation to the states. The underlying message: Believe him because he has done it before. Standing to the side of a giant ticking clock showing the pace of the rising national debt, the Republican governor of Ohio proposed that as president, he would “immediately” put the nation on a path to a balanced budget, and would accomplish it within eight years. And he promised to work with Congress and the states to pass a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget. Jeb Bush weighs in on Afghan strategy, Donald Trump (CBS News 10/16/15) A day after President Obama announced that he would slow U.S. plans to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, Republican presidential contender Jeb Bush announced his support for the strategy. “I would take the recommendation of the general that was responsible for it, who’s now the chairman of the joint chiefs: 10,000 troops,” Bush said. “I think that’s the proper place to be-without a timeline. Because the minute you create a timeline… your opponents, your enemies are organizing for, waiting you out. And I think that’s the proper thing to do.” Mr. Obama announced Thursday that the U.S. would continue to keep its 9,800 troops in the country through the majority of 2016, reducing that number to about 6,000 forces after 2016. How Ben Carson transformed from doctor to 2016 presidential candidate (USA Today 10/12/15) In early 2013, Ben Carson was largely known as a best-selling author, a celebrated pediatric neurosurgeon and subject of a television movie starring Cuba Gooding Jr. It was a compelling narrative: a boy brought up in poverty on the southwest side of Detroit by a single mother; a lousy student with a bad temper who turned it around to graduate from Yale, get a medical degree from the University of Michigan and become the youngest doctor, at the age of 33, to head a surgical division at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Hundreds of Obama bundlers missing from Clinton’s elite fundraising ranks (USA Today 10/18/15) Hundreds of wealthy Democrats who raised money for President Obama’s re-election have not yet joined the top fundraising ranks of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, raising hopes among some of Vice President Joe Biden’s supporters that there remains a path for his late entry into the race. Just 76, or less than 10 percent, of the 833 individuals who collected political cash for the 2012 Obama-Biden campaign are listed among Clinton’s “Hillblazers,” her campaign’s designation for people who already have bundled together at least $100,000 on her behalf, a USA TODAY analysis of Clinton’s newly updated fundraiser list shows. When Donald Trump quits (Politico 10/18/15) After sending mixed signals about what might drive him to withdraw from the presidential race, Donald Trump settled on a definitive answer last month: “I’m never dropping out.” The next day, he tweeted, “I’m leading big in every poll and we
Email Insights: Alabama GOP Chairman Terry Lathan responds to the Democratic debate
Tuesday night the the Democratic presidential hopeful took the stage for their first nationally televised debate. Hosted by CNN in Las Vegas, the debate — featuring Lincoln Chafee, Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley, Bernie Sanders and Jim Webb — gave the candidates an opportunity to stand out, share their opinions on major issues, and with any luck increase their poll numbers. Wednesday morning, Alabama Republican Party chairman Terry Lathan sent the following email in response to the debate: “I was pleased to see the liberal and progressive Democrat candidates on display yesterday evening for all of America to witness. The candidates’ mindsets, thoughts and words were divisive and harmful to our nation. They did not speak on the economy or the flat-lined job growth that citizens desperately need addressed. Contrasted with the Republican presidential candidates, many of whom have released or are soon to release their economic growth plans, the Democrats are stuck in the ditch of no ideas, are playing the blame game and have a bankrupt vision for our nation. “Barack Obama said he would fundamentally transform America, and he did just that. Unfortunately, he has taken us down a road that is destructive and harmful. The Democrats displayed in last evening’s debate that they are walking along that same path. “We look forward to November 2016, when we will take our nation back from the lines of thoughtless and reckless actions that have been thrust upon us.”
Scorecard: How the Democrats fared in their 1st debate
Here’s a look at how the five Democratic presidential candidates performed in Tuesday’s debate at the Wynn Las Vegas resort-casino. — HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON Standing center stage, Clinton went on offense against Bernie Sanders over his views of the economy and record on gun control. She had to defend her shifting views of the Keystone XL oil pipeline and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But questions about her private email server ended with a shared laugh with Sanders. — BERNIE SANDERS Sanders had to answer for his record on gun control, perhaps the one policy area where he’s at odds with liberals in the party. He faced questions about his electability and his approach to the economy. But he gave Clinton a big reprieve when he groused that the “American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.” — MARTIN O’MALLEY O’Malley introduced himself as a can-do former governor, pointing to his work to raise the minimum wage, support gay marriage and address gun control in Maryland. He faced questions about whether his policies as Baltimore’s mayor had sown the seeds of the city’s riots last spring. And when he told Clinton a no-fly zone in Syria would be a mistake, she said she was “very pleased” when he endorsed her presidential campaign in 2008. — JIM WEBB The former Virginia senator tried to tap into the anti-establishment fervor in the country, speaking out against the role of money in politics and Wall Street’s influence. He said his military experience and work in the Pentagon would make him the most qualified commander-in-chief. He complained that he didn’t get the same amount of time to talk as his rivals. — LINCOLN CHAFEE The former Rhode Island governor and senator called himself a “block of granite” when it came to issues and said he was most proud of his judgment, particularly in his vote against the Iraq war. But he clocked in at slightly more than 9 minutes, giving him the least amount of airtime on the debate stage, and was largely an afterthought during the evening. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
CNN: Joe Biden can be a game-day decision for debate
CNN says it will allow Vice President Joe Biden to participate in the first Democratic presidential primary debate even if he decides that day to be a candidate. The network released its criteria for the Oct. 13 debate on Monday. Since Biden has achieved an average of one percent support in three polls — even though he isn’t a declared candidate — CNN said he needs only to file the necessary paperwork or say he will that day to be in the debate. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Lincoln Chafee, Martin O’Malley and Jim Webb have already been invited. Anderson Cooper will moderate the Las Vegas debate. Dana Bash, Don Lemon and CNN en Espanol anchor Juan Carlos Lopez also will question the candidates. Biden aides have cited the CNN debate as one of the major factors in the vice president’s timing in making a decision. They have described it as an important opportunity, if he runs, to establish him as an alternative to Clinton. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Hillary Clinton, Democratic hopefuls to address DNC members
The Democratic National Committee says all five of the party’s main presidential candidates will address DNC members next month. Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb will speak at the DNC summer meeting in Minneapolis on Aug. 28. DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman, says the DNC’s members will leave the meeting “inspired to redouble their efforts” to win the White House in 2016. The five major Democratic candidates spoke at a Democratic party fundraiser in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, earlier this month. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Presidential primary brief: 484 days until Election Day
Welcome to the Monday presidential primary brief provided by Alabama Today. Every week you can find your latest headlines on the presidential primary races as we count down the days until Election Day. 230 days until AL Presidential Primary 484 days until Election Day Convention Dates: Republican July 18-21 2016, Democratic July 25-28 2016 Weekly Headlines: Scott Walker announces campaign blitz after 2016 announcement Republican Jim Gilmore to enter 2016 race for president Biden campaign team taking shape Press Clips: Global warming will play major role in 2016 presidential election (The Patriot News 7/12/15) Pope Francis in mid-June issued an encyclical calling for the world to combat global warming. It was developed with advice from the best scientists in the world, including world-‐famous British physicist/cosmologist Stephen Hawking. The Dalai Lama has endorsed the message. This will force a titanic, worldwide discussion on the issue — partly a scientific debate, partly a food fight from deniers, skeptics and people who honestly feel we have better things to spend our money on. Only one poll number right now tells us anything meaningful about the 2016 election (Washington Post 7/10/15) Although the 2016 election is nearly 500 days away, the nation — or at least the nation’s political junkies — remain hungry for news about the presidential campaign. But what news is there? Polls. So far — in 2015 alone! — no fewer than 57 polls have asked voters to choose between hypothetical nominees Republican Jeb Bush and Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton. So it’s useful to be mindful that “trial heat” polls conducted now have zero ability to predict the winner of an election that’s 16 months away. Polls don’t even tell us much about primaries and caucuses that are six months away. Upcoming polls to lock in GOP debate Field (Politico 7/7/15) John Kasich may be the last Republican to enter the presidential fray, but his timing could be the best: Exactly two weeks after the splash of his planned announcement on July 21, Fox News Channel will average together the latest polls of the Republican Field and determine which 10 of the 16 announced candidates will participate in the First debate in Cleveland. Making the cut gives a candidate the platform to stand out in a crowded Field; not making the cut leaves him or her knocking on the door. Immigration reform key issue in 2016 election (USA Today 7/6/15) At her job at an investment management firm in small-‐town Nebraska, Analy Gonzalez is “constantly reminded” of the economic strain immigrant workers face. Gonzalez, who often works with migrant workers, says she sees firsthand the need for immigration reform, particularly for young immigrants. “Speaking about immigration reform is something that you grow up with having an immigrant family,” the 25-‐year-old says. “A lot of the people that I help are immigrants working really difficult jobs with no education, just trying to get by.” Jim Webb clarifies position on the Confederate flag (CBS News 7/9/15) Democratic presidential candidate and former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb said Thursday that the Confederate Flag at the South Carolina Capitol has “long been due to come down,” but he also called for some historical perspective on the issue, suggesting people should not use the debate over the flag to demonize the South. “The Confederate battle flag was a battle flag. It assumed a lot of unfortunate racist and divisionist overtones during the civil rights era,” Webb said in an interview on CBS This Morning, his first with a national broadcast outlet since announcing his candidacy earlier this month. The demographics of 2016 look brutal for Republicans (Washington Post 7/10/15) If you want to understand why the debates over the Confederate flag and Donald Trump’s immigration outbursts have so many senior Republicans reaching for their acid reflux pills, take a look at this bracing new demographic analysis from Charlie Cook and David Wasserman. Cook and Wasserman note that historical patterns should favor the GOP in the 2016 presidential election, because the same party rarely keeps the White House after previously holding it for two terms. But that advantage will be swimming upstream against these demographics. How Bernie Sanders plans to win and change Washington (CBS News 7/12/15) Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, says he’ll be able to build a giant grassroots movement of support to win the Democratic nomination and the 2016 election, but that he’ll also go one step further than President Obama did successfully harness his grassroots support to change Washington. In an interview on CBS’ Face the Nation Sunday, Sanders said that the president ran “one of the great campaigns in the history of the United States of America” in 2008, but he also made a mistake by trying to negotiate fair compromises with Republicans and their leadership in Congress.
Presidential primary brief: 491 days until Election Day
Welcome to the Monday presidential primary brief provided by Alabama Today. Every week you can find your latest headlines on the presidential primary races as we count down the days until Election Day. 237 days until AL Presidential Primary 491 days until Election Day Convention Dates: Republican July 18-21, 2016; Democratic July 25-28, 2016 Weekly Headlines: Chris Christie launches 2016 presidential bid Jim Webb announces 2016 presidential run Scott Walker formally enters 2016 presidential election Press Clips: What Jim Webb would need to do to win (NY Times 7/3/15) Mr. Webb’s voters may look a lot like him: ideologically idiosyncratic white men moved more by economic fairness and a noninterventionist foreign policy than cultural liberalism. His opposition to the Iraq war, among other foreign engagements, could offer Mr. Webb an attentive audience among some Democrats in dovish Iowa. And there may be a small band of populists and veterans in South Carolina who will Eind his background and message appealing. New Hampshire Democrats puzzled by Lincoln Chaffee (ABC News 7/3/15) Presidential candidate Lincoln Chafee stands before a few dozen people at a meeting of New Hampshire’s Belknap County Democrats. The Republican-‐turned-‐independent-‐turned-‐ Democrat gets nods of approval when he tells them he was the only Republican senator to vote against authorizing the war in Iraq. Then smiles turn to laughter when he pitches another idea: The U.S. should switch to the metric system. Scott Walker calls for respect on same-sex marriage ruling (CNN 6/28/15) Scott Walker said same-sex marriage proponents should respect the religious opinions of those who disapprove of same-sex couples having the right to legally wed. Speaking in Denver at the Western Conservatives Summit on Saturday, the Wisconsin governor spelled out his criteria for judges and weighed in on the religious liberty debate. “To me, it is not freedom from religion, it is freedom of religion, which ultimately means we have the right to practice our religious beliefs and not have others interfere,” he said in an onstage interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. Report: Joe Biden’s son told him to run in 2016 (Politico 6/29/15) Vice President Joe Biden’s sons reportedly urged him to run for the White House in 2016, according to The Wall Street Journal. Biden’s son Beau, who died last month of brain cancer at the age of 46, wanted his father to get into the race, according to the report. “It’s no secret that Beau wanted him to run,” Dick Harpootlian, a former chairman of South Carolina’s Democratic Party and a longtime Biden supporter, told the Journal. “If he does what Beau wanted him to do, he’ll run.” As left wins culture battles, GOP gains opportunity to pivot for 2016 (NY Times 6/27/15) A cascade of events suggests that 2015 could be remembered as a Liberal Spring: the moment when deeply divisive and consuming questions of race, sexuality and broadened access to health care were settled in quick succession, and social tolerance was cemented as a cornerstone of American public life. Yet what appears, in headlines and celebrations across the country, to represent an unalloyed victory for Democrats, in which lawmakers and judges alike seemed to give in to the leftward shift of public opinion, may contain an opening for the Republican Party to move beyond losing battles and seemingly lost causes. Rick Perry: Republicans must reach out to black voters (CBS News 7/2/15) Former Texas Governor Rick Perry said Thursday that Republicans have lost their “moral legitimacy as the party of Lincoln” after having given up on trying to win the support of African-‐Americans. Perry, who declared his presidential bid at the beginning of June, told an audience at the National Press Club that it’s time for Republicans to “reclaim our heritage as the only party in our country founded on the principle of freedom for African-‐ Americans.” He said Republicans have been “content to lose the black vote,” because they could win elections without African-‐American support. Poll: Bush, Trump rising nationally for GOP, but both trail Clinton (CNN 7/1/15) With nearly all of the expected 2016 presidential candidates formally in the race, a new CNN/ORC national poll Einds two recent entrants to the GOP Eield on the rise, while Hillary Clinton maintains her position atop the Democratic Eield, though holding a slightly slimmer lead. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and businessman Donald Trump top the list of GOP presidential contenders following their back-‐to-‐back campaign launches in mid-‐June, and are the only two Republican candidates holding double-‐digit support among Republicans and Republican-‐leaning independents. Lindsey Graham tells Iowan: I don’t want you to vote for me (CBS News 7/3/15) Conservative Sen. Lindsey Graham has made it clear he’s extremely concerned about the threat of Islamic terrorism, but he isn’t willing to outlaw a whole religion over it. When a voter in Iowa suggested barring Islam in the U.S. in response to ISIS, Graham quickly shut him down, the Des Moines Register reports. “You know what, I’m not your candidate,” Graham said, cutting him off. “I don’t want you to vote for me. I couldn’t disagree with you more.” Romney to host Christie, Rubio in New Hampshire (Politico 7/3/15) Mitt Romney is opening up his sprawling New Hampshire vacation home to 2016 rivals Marco Rubio and Chris Christie this weekend. Christie and his wife Pat are planning to have dinner with the former GOP presidential candidate on Friday night at his home near Lake Winnipesaukee and spend the night, according to a report in The Washington Post. On Saturday they plan to walk in the town’s Fourth of July parade, which is a tradition for the Romney family.
Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb opens presidential bid
Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb announced his presidential campaign on Thursday, opening a long-shot bid against Hillary Rodham Clinton and a field of Democratic rivals for the party’s nomination. Webb, in an announcement posted on his campaign website, acknowledged he would face major hurdles but vowed to bring an outsider’s voice to the 2016 race. “I understand the odds, particularly in today’s political climate, where fair debate is so often drowned out by huge sums of money. I know that more than one candidate in this process intends to raise at least a billion dollars,” Webb wrote. But he said the nation “needs a fresh approach to solving the problems that confront us and too often unnecessarily divide us. We need to shake the hold of these shadow elites on our political process.” Webb, 69, a decorated Vietnam veteran and former Navy secretary under President Ronald Reagan, surprised many Democrats when he became the first major figure in the party to form a presidential exploratory committee last November. He has outlined the roots of a campaign message that include helping working-class Americans compete in the economy, tackling campaign finance reform and preventing the U.S. from getting involved in foreign entanglements like Iraq and Afghanistan. Webb’s opposition to the Iraq War — his son Jimmy served in the war — played a central role in his surprise Senate election in 2006 against Republican Sen. George Allen. While he chose not to seek re-election after one term, his military and foreign policy credentials could allow him to become a debate stage foil to Clinton, who was President Barack Obama‘s secretary of state. Webb has said U.S. foreign policy has been “adrift” since the end of the Cold War and called for a new foreign policy doctrine that would outline the circumstances in which the U.S. would use military force. Webb has made frequent trips to the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, but early polls show him trailing in a field dominated by Clinton that also includes Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Presidential primary brief: 526 days until Election Day
Welcome to a new Monday presidential primary brief provided by Alabama Today. Every week you can find your latest headlines on the presidential primary races as we count down the days until Election Day. 273 days until AL Presidential Primary 526 days until Election Day Convention Dates: Republican July 18-21 2016, Democratic July 25-28 2016 Weekly Headlines: Lincoln Chafee to announce presidential run on June 3 Rick Santorum runs for White House again George Pataki announces 2016 presidential bid For more polling data visit RealClearPolitics. Press Clips: Pro-‐Rand Paul group gets ready to rumble with anti-‐NSA ad (Politico 5/29/15) A super PAC supporting Sen. Rand Paul (R-‐Ky.) for president has released an ad that treats Sunday’s legislative battle over the Patriot Act more like a monster-‐truck rally or a Wrestle-mania tournament. “Get ready America,” the voiceover in the video says as a bald eagle breathes Gire, a bomb explodes and lightning strikes, “for the biggest brawl for liberty of the century.” Nate Silver: What to watch for in 2016 election (Detroit Free Press 5/29/15) Here are several lessons for the 2016 presidential elections from prognosticator Nate Silver, founder of the phenomenally accurate FiveThirtyEight.com. He spoke Thursday at the Mackinac Policy Conference. The nomination of Democrat Hillary Clinton is inevitable, but the general election will be a toss-‐up. Democrats have a weak bench and Republicans have a Give-‐ring circus of overlapping candidates between moderate, establishment, Christian conservative, tea party and Libertarian. “It’s a real tight for space.” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is definitely in trouble and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is possibly in trouble. “Its very difficult to win the primary when most of the voters don’t like you,” Silver said of Christie. Ben Carson wins Southern Republican straw poll ahead of 2016 presidential election (Christian Today 5/29/15) Doctor-‐turned-‐politician Ben Carson easily won the Southern Republican Leadership Conference straw poll held in Oklahoma on Saturday in the first major survey on the popularity of at least 17 declared or prospective candidates for the Republican Party’s nomination for the November 2016 election. Carson, a popular social conservative who is a Gierce opponent of Obamacare, won 25.4 percent of the vote. Also getting considerable shares of the vote were Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz who received 20.5 percent and 16.6 percent of the vote, respectively. Sanders wants to debate Republicans (Politico 5/31/15) Bernie Sanders on Sunday called for a more robust debate schedule beginning this summer. The Vermont senator, challenging front-‐runner Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, also proposed on NBC’s “Meet the Press” some debates with Republican White House hopefuls. “We need a lot more debates in this campaign,” Sanders said. “I hope very much that we can begin with the Democratic candidate debates as early as July and have some Republicans in those debates as well.” Ohio Gov. Kasich looks to announce 2016 presidential bid this summer (WaPo 5/27/15) Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has been actively gauging reactions to a possible campaign for president in 2016, is now moving rapidly to assemble the staff and financial resources for such a bid and is looking to declare his candidacy sometime after June 30, according to knowledgeable Republicans. The two-‐term governor and former House member is running through a checklist before formally entering the race, but strategists close to Kasich and other longtime friends say there is no doubt that he will soon join the crowded Gield of those vying for the GOP nomination. Marco Rubio won’t compete in Iowa Straw Poll (Politico 5/30/15) Sen. Marco Rubio will not participate in the Iowa Straw Poll, his campaign team confirmed Saturday. The Florida senator and 2016 hopeful’s decision marks the latest blow to the August event long considered a staple on the Republican road to the presidential nomination. Jeb Bush, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Mike Huckabee have all said they won’t participate this cycle. Many, including Gov. Scott Walker and Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz have yet to signal whether they will attend. What impact will frustrated veterans have on 2016 election? (Haaretz 5/25/15) Memorial Day in America moves me to predict that one of the stories to watch is the growing bitterness of the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. The Associated Press had a piece of this story over the weekend, when it reported that GIs or ex-‐GIs who fought in Iraq “have been watching in frustration” as “Republican presidential contenders distance themselves from the decision their party enthusiastically supported to invade that country.” O’Malley’s long-‐shot bid gets complicated start (Politico 5/30/15) Martin O’Malley’s presidential bid has always been a long-‐shot, but the odds looked even longer Saturday as he officially kicked off his campaign from Federal Hill Park. The run-‐up to his launch here could hardly have been worse, complicated in recent weeks by unrest in the city where he served as mayor and the unexpected early momentum of another Hillary Clinton challenger: Bernie Sanders. At one time, O’Malley figured to be Clinton’s default rival for the Democratic nomination. He won two terms as governor of Maryland, winning by wide margins, and honed his national fundraising chops as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. Bernie Sanders facing ‘uphill battle’ in Iowa (USA Today 5/29/15) Sen. Bernie Sanders, (I-VT), began his first visit to Iowa since announcing his run in the Democratic presidential primary with a standing-‐room-‐only crowd in the eastern city of Davenport. The Thursday night turnout was more than even the organizers expected. Kevin Perkins, a Davenport resident and planner of the event, said that the auditorium at St. Ambrose University had been set up to seat 300 people. As people poured in, Perkins and other organizers opened up an adjacent room. Perkins estimated that 750 people showed up in total.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to run for president
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will announce his plans to seek the Democratic nomination for president on Thursday, presenting a liberal challenge to Hillary Rodham Clinton. Sanders, an independent who describes himself as a “democratic socialist,” will follow a statement with a major campaign kickoff in his home state in several weeks. Two people familiar with his announcement spoke to The Associated Press under condition of anonymity to describe internal planning. Sanders will become the second major Democrat in the race, joining Clinton. He has urged the former secretary of state to speak out strongly about issues related to income inequality and climate change. The former first lady and New York senator is viewed as a heavy favorite in the primary and entered the race this month. The white-haired senator and former mayor of Burlington, Vt., has been a liberal firebrand, blasting the concentration of wealth in America and assailing a “billionaire class” that he says has taken over the nation’s politics. His entry could be embraced by some liberals in the party who have been disenchanted with Clinton and have unsuccessfully urged Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to join the race. In recent weeks, Sanders has been a forceful critic of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, which would eliminate tariffs and other trade barriers for the U.S., Canada and Asian countries conducting commerce with each other. “One of the key reasons why the middle class in America continues to decline and the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider is because of disastrous trade agreements which have sent millions of decent-paying jobs to China and other low-wage countries,” Sanders said last week. Sanders generated attention in 2010 when he staged a lengthy Senate floor speech opposing a tax agreement by President Barack Obama and Republicans. He has called for universal health care, a massive infrastructure jobs and building program, a more progressive tax structure and reforms to address the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which Sanders says has unleashed a torrent of money from big donors to political candidates. The senator has generated enthusiasm on college campuses and liberal enclaves in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and made several trips to court the influential Democratic voters there. “He will add color,” said Lou D’Allesandro, a Democratic state senator from New Hampshire. “He’s not bashful about anything.” Kathy Sullivan, a New Hampshire supporter of Clinton and a member of the Democratic National Committee, said Sanders’ decision was expected. “I know Hillary Clinton has always been expecting for there to be a competitive Democratic primary in New Hampshire,” Sullivan said. “I think he should be taken seriously.” Karl Rhomberg, a Davenport, Iowa, Democratic activist, said that while he expects Clinton “to be the nominee, I expect her to listen to Bernie, listen to (Martin) O’Malley and listen to people from the left.” He added: “If Bernie is going to put a stake on the left side of the field and draw Hillary toward it, that’s OK with me.” Sanders will start his campaign as a distinct underdog against Clinton, who remains the dominant front-runner. The Vermont senator is likely to face other challengers in the primary, such as O’Malley, the former Maryland governor, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and ex-Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee. A feisty voice for liberal policies, Sanders has long championed working-class Americans. He grew up in a Jewish family in Brooklyn — his father, an immigrant from Poland, sold paint for a living —and his views about the distribution of wealth were formed early. “A lack of money in my family was a very significant aspect of my growing up,” Sanders told the AP in December. “Kids in my class would have new jackets, new coats, and I would get hand-me-downs.” After his graduation from the University of Chicago, Sanders moved to Vermont in the 1960s as part of the counterculture, back-to-the-land movement that turned the state from solid Yankee Republican into one of the bluest in the country. Sanders lost several statewide races in the 1970s before he was elected mayor of Burlington in 1981 — a race he won by 10 votes. He was elected to the House a decade later, then won a Senate seat in 2006. He has carried a consistent message during his political career, arguing that the system is rigged in favor of the wealthiest Americans to the disadvantage of the nation’s poor and working class. Associated Press writer Kathleen Ronayne in Concord, N.H., and Catherine Lucey in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report. Republished with permission from The Associated Press.
