Ted Cruz downplays Trump raising concerns over Canadian birth
Ted Cruz tried to make a joke Tuesday out of Republican presidential rival Donald Trump raising questions about whether the Texas senator’s birth in Canada could be a liability if he becomes the GOP’s nominee. Trump told The Washington Post in an interview Tuesday that Cruz’s Canadian birthplace and his holding a double passport was a “very precarious” issue that “a lot of people are talking about.” Trump has ramped up his attacks on Cruz since the Texas senator sprinted ahead of the billionaire businessman in some opinion surveys in early-voting Iowa. Cruz, in response to questions about Trump’s comments, said the best way to respond was to laugh it off and “move on to the issues that matter.” He first reacted on Twitter, posting a link to a video from the 1970s television show “Happy Days” showing the character Fonzie water skiing over a shark. The moment, known as “jumping the shark,” has come to refer to the use of a gimmick to halt the decline of a television show or other effort. “What the American people are interested in is not bickering and back and forth,” Cruz told reporters before a town hall in Sioux Center that drew hundreds of people. Cruz was concluding the second day of a six-day swing through Iowa before the Feb. 1 caucuses, while Trump was holding a rally in New Hampshire. The U.S. Constitution says only a “natural born Citizen” may be president. Legal scholars, however, generally agree the description covers foreign-born children of U.S. parents. Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta, in 1970 while his parents were working in the oil business there. His mother, Eleanor, is from Delaware, while his father, Rafael, is a Cuban who became a U.S. citizen in 2005. Cruz has said that because his mother is a citizen by birth, he is also one. Under U.S. law, anyone born to a U.S. citizen is granted citizenship no matter where the birth takes place. Cruz renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2014, amid speculation he was preparing for a presidential run, less than a year after he released his birth certificate. But that didn’t stop Trump from raising the issue Tuesday. “Republicans are going to have to ask themselves the question: ‘Do we want a candidate who could be tied up in court for two years?’ That’d be a big problem,” Trump said in The Washington Post interview. “It’d be a very precarious one for Republicans because he’d be running and the courts may take a long time to make a decision. You don’t want to be running and have that kind of thing over your head.” Trump was one of the loudest voices questioning whether President Obama was born in Kenya and thus not eligible to be U.S. president. Obama is an American citizen born in Honolulu; his father was Kenyan, his mother American. Previous foreign-born Americans — notably Republicans John McCain and George Romney — have run for president with some mention, but no serious challenges, of their eligibility. The comments mark a reversal for Trump, who in September downplayed Cruz’s birthplace in an interview with ABC. “I hear it was checked out by every attorney and every which way and I understand Ted is in fine shape,” he told the network then. But Trump has been ratcheting up his attacks on Cruz in recent weeks. Trump first unleashed a verbal assault on Cruz in December at an event in Des Moines where he questioned Cruz’s evangelical faith. “I do like Ted Cruz, but not a lot of evangelicals come out of Cuba,” he said of the country where Cruz’s father, an evangelical preacher, was born. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Marco Rubio: Can’t “Fix America” from GOP-held House, Senate
After five years in the U.S. Senate, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is dismissing Congress’ ability to change much about America. “We’re not going to fix America with senators and congressmen,” Rubio charged during a Tuesday town hall-style meeting with voters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Only presidents, he said, can set the nation’s policy agenda. Rubio, who is running for president, was responding to a question about missing Senate votes in recent years. Rubio said his voting record “is close to 90 percent” during this, his first and only term in the Senate. He could have run for Senate re-election and the White House at the same time, but decided to forgo a second term and focus on his White House campaign. “I have missed votes this year,” Rubio conceded at the Cedar Rapids event. “You know why? Because while as a senator I can help shape the agenda, only a president can set the agenda. We’re not going to fix America with senators and congressmen.” Members of the House and Senate, especially those on the campaign trail, routinely distance themselves from the unpopular Congress. Doing so is an especially potent applause line this presidential campaign year, in which outsiders such as billionaire developer Donald Trump, who has never held public office, have built up solid support among Republican voters. Republican presidential rival Ted Cruz, a Texas senator, delights in asserting that his unpopularity among members in both parties makes him an establishment outsider in Washington. Adding his voice to the anti-Washington talk, Rubio on Tuesday vowed to put “the full weight and force of the presidency” behind a plan to institute term limits for members of Congress. “You’re going to get better government when you have new people constantly coming in,” he said. “What happens over time is you get stale. You lose your drive. You become a creature of the institution. You fall in love with the institution. You think defending the Senate is more important than fighting on behalf of America.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Donald Trump continues to lead GOP field, according to NBC News poll
Donald Trump continues to lead the pack in the race for the Republican nomination, according to a new NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll. Among Republicans and Republican-leaning registered voters, the New York businessman has 35 percent support. That’s compared to 18 percent for Sen. Ted Cruz and 13 percent for Marco Rubio. The NBC News/SurveyMonkey weekly election tracking poll covered Dec. 28 through Jan. 3, and was conducted online among a national sample of 3,700 adults over the 18. Trump has the highest support among white evangelical voters — @nbcnews/SurveyMonkey poll https://t.co/eG8OuciT7D pic.twitter.com/ycsQnoxUcR — NBC News (@NBCNews) January 5, 2016 Ben Carson received 9 percent support among Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters; while Jeb Bush received 6 percent support in the one-week period. Five percent of respondents said they didn’t know who they would support. Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning registered voters, Hillary Clinton has 53 percent support, compared to 36 percent for Bernie Sanders. Seventy-seven percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning registered voters said they believe Clinton will win the Democratic nomination. Clinton holds lead over Sanders heading into primaries — @nbcnews/SurveyMonkey poll #2016 https://t.co/k7AZM7mog7 pic.twitter.com/ZYt9v4PdXg — NBC News (@NBCNews) January 5, 2016
Marco Rubio super PAC goes after Chris Christie in 2 new ads
According to an average of polling in New Hampshire compiled by Real Clear Politics, Marco Rubio is now at 13.3 percent support in New Hampshire, putting him 13 percentage points behind Donald Trump. That second place status is relatively tenuous, however, with Ted Cruz trailing him with an average of 12 percent, and Chris Christie two points behind, averaging 11.3 percent. Conservative Solutions PAC, a super PAC supporting Rubio’s presidential candidacy, is now going after the New Jersey governor in two new ads that surfaced Monday. One of them goes after Christie regarding his management of the Garden State. Titled, “Look at Me,” the ad bashes Christie for mismanaging New Jersey, where he’s now beginning his third year of his second term in office. It lists a survey that says that New Jersey has the highest tax burden in the nation, last in job growth, and mentions the controversial incident known as “BridgeGate” that appeared at one point to doom Christie’s hopes for higher office. The other, called “Favorite,” blasts the Jersey governor for being a faux conservative. It begins by showing him with his infamous greeting of President Barack Obama just before the 2012 general election, when the president visited New Jersey shortly after Hurricane Sandy slammed the state. It goes on to attack Christie for supporting an Internet sales tax, Medicaid expansion, and Common Core. “One high-tax, Common Core, liberal energy loving, Obamacare Medicaid expanding president is enough,” the ad says at its conclusion. Christie did back Common Core standards back in 2013, but now says he “supports state educational standards over Common Core.” Conservative Solutions PAC spokesman Jeff Sadosky says the two ads are a “significant part of our multimillion dollar ongoing ad buy in New Hampshire, but yes, there is also a digital campaign that moves with the TV ads.”
Donald Trump releases first television ad
Donald Trump is hitting the airwaves The advertisement, which was first shared with The Washington Post, reiterates the New York businessman’s position on issues like the Islamic State, or ISIS, and illegal immigration. “The politicians can pretend its something else, but Donald Trump calls it radical Islamic terrorism. That’s why he’s calling for a temporary shut down of Muslims entering the United States until we can figure out what’s going on,” said a narrator during the 30-second spot.“He’ll quickly cut the head off of ISIS and take their oil.” The advertisement continues: “And he’ll stop illegal immigration by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for.” The Washington Post reported the advertisement is set to launch Monday as part of a series of ads airing it the final month before the Iowa caucuses. Trump has said he would spend at least $2 million a week on advertisements. The Iowa caucuses are Feb. 1, followed by the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 9. Trump burst to the front of a crowded Republican field shortly after he announced his candidacy, and is one of several untraditional candidates in the race. But unlike other untraditional candidates, Trump has maintained his lead by wide margins for weeks. Recent national polling averages compiled by RealClearPolitics show Trump leads the field, with 15.5 points separating him from his next closest competitor, Sen. Ted Cruz. Cruz leads the pack in Iowa, but just 3.6 points stand between him and Trump, according to averages of Iowa polls compiled by RealClearPolitics. Trump leads in New Hampshire, and RealClearPolitics averages show 13 points separate Trump from his closest competitor, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. The 30-second spot will air in Iowa and New Hampshire, according to The Washington Post. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Presidential Primary Brief: 308 days until Election Day
105 days until AL Presidential Primary 308 days until Election Day Convention Dates: Republican July 18-21, 2016, Democratic July 25-28, 2016 Weekly Headlines: Pro-Cruz super PAC to air $4M in TV ads in Iowa, South Carolina Sanders raises $33M in final quarter, $73M total for 2015 Rand Paul-backing super PAC reserves $500,000 in Iowa ads Press Clips: What 2016 holds in store for guns, the NRA, and the presidential election (Media Matters 1/2/16) Following another series of horrific mass shootings in 2015 that captured the public’s attention, gun safety has emerged as a major campaign issue for the 2016 elections. It’s already clear how the National Rifle Association (NRA) will use the issue to try to swing the elections and hamstring any attempts at new legislation – after all, they’ve been using the same playbook for years. As U.S. gun deaths continue to tick upwards — now on par with automobile deaths — public interest in gun issues in 2015 rose to its highest level since the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. This year, Americans watched news reports of public shootings targeting parishioners in Charleston, South Carolina, service members in Chattanooga, Tennessee, moviegoers in Lafayette, Louisiana, students and educators in Roseburg, Oregon, people visiting a Planned Parenthood health clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and attendees of a Christmas party in San Bernardino, California. Sold out crowd at Donald Trump’s Biloxi rally (WKRG News 1/3/16) Donald Trump’s second trip to the Gulf Coast attracted more than 14,000 people to the Biloxi Coliseum. Hours before the doors opened, the line wrapped around the building. One man said he traveled from Tennessee and showed up at 7:30 a.m. to earn a spot near the podium. “Did I mention this is my 15th Trump rally since August? You have to show up early,” the fan said. Ralph Cihall attracted a small crowd himself when he pulled up in a lime green stretch Hummer limousine adorned with Trump posters on the windows. How the Bush camp plans to save his candidacy (Boston Globe 1/2/16) Jeb Bush and his supporters still have a pile of money to spend — remnants of $100 million raised when he seemed early last year to be a sure bet. They have an expansive ground operation in New Hampshire. And allies have just begun a new ad campaign in Iowa. But nothing they have tried so far has lifted Bush’s terrible poll numbers. And with just four weeks remaining until voting begins, Bush needs to do something to save his candidacy. Ben Carson explains staff shakeup (CNN 1/3/16) Ben Carson explained last week’s major staff shakeup Sunday by saying he’s now “in a different ballgame” and the campaign leadership he had in place was unable to execute its own plans. The retired pediatric brain surgeon and Republican presidential candidate discussed the departure of his chief of staff, communications director and policy director on ABC’s “This Week.” “We have had very good people that had very good ideas and no one predicted that we would even be in the hunt,” Carson told host Martha Raddatz. “It really is quite spectacular what we were able to do. But the fact of the matter is now we’re in a different ballgame and we need the ability to execute and not just have good ideas.” As Hillary Clinton prepares to unveil new tax plans, previous proposals have occupied a political middle ground (IB Times 1/3/16) Less than a month before Iowa voters head to the polls and officially kick off the long- awaited presidential primary season, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is preparing to unveil tax proposals designed to raise rates on the wealthiest Americans. “As president, I’ll do what it takes to make sure the super-wealthy are truly paying their fair share,” the former secretary of state said in a statement Saturday. “In the coming weeks,” she added, “I will be laying out additional proposals that go beyond the Buffett rule.” Poll shows attacks on Bill Clinton may only help Hillary Clinton (12/31/15) Donald J. Trump made clear this week that nothing was off limits when it came to attacking the Clintons, dusting off names like Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones while calling former President Bill Clinton one of “the great abusers of the world.” Sexual indiscretions of the past, he said, are fair game in an election year. But the numbers show that Mr. Trump, the billionaire developer and Republican presidential hopeful, might not be dealing with a hand as strong as he thinks when he reminds voters of Mr. Clinton’s history of infidelity. Hillary Clinton’s popularity has had its peaks and valleys during her decades in the public spotlight, most recently rising to new heights when she was serving as secretary of state. Her other peak, according to polls, was in 1998 while her husband was embroiled in the Lewinsky scandal and facing impeachment. Marco Rubio plans to reverse Obama’s planned gun limits (TIME 1/3/16) Presidential hopeful Marco Rubio is promising that he would reverse President Obama’s executive action on gun rights on his first day in the White House, his latest play at New Hampshire’s deeply pro-gun Republicans. Speaking Sunday evening in the Granite State, Rubio cast the man he hopes to replace in the White House as someone trampling the Constitution. Rubio’s remarks came hours before Obama was set on Monday to announce new moves to strengthen background checks that would-be gun buyers face. Rand Paul: Hillary will “take us back to war” (The Hill 1/3/16) Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has a warning for war-weary Americans who often criticize the Bush administration for intervening in the Middle East. “It turns out that probably the most likely candidate to take us back to war is Hillary Clinton,” the Republican presidential candidate told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Clinton’s support for regime change in certain situations could pull the U.S. back into war, Paul argued Sunday morning. “The difference is President Obama and Hillary Clinton both supported arming the Syrian rebels, the Islamic
Abrasive Ted Cruz tries to use personality to his advantage
Ted Cruz‘s reputation as an arrogant, grating, in-your-face ideologue has dogged him throughout the Republican presidential race. But it hasn’t stopped the Texas senator’s rise. Cruz is increasingly embracing his irascible persona, trying to turn what could be a liability into an asset. “If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy,” Cruz said at a Republican debate this fall when asked to describe his biggest weakness. “But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home.” Cruz and his supporters relish his outsider status, highlighting his conflicts with fellow Republican senators. Not one has endorsed him for president. A group backing Cruz’s candidacy sent out a fundraising email plea in December with the subject line “Washington hates Ted Cruz.” Cruz frequently rails against the “Washington cartel,” which he argues is scared that conservatives are uniting behind him, and says he’s glad that “Washington elites” despise him. Cruz supporters, including some who turned up for a large rally at an evangelical church near Richmond, Virginia, in December, are embracing the abrasiveness that’s caused Cruz to clash with other Republicans. “They view him as a renegade in the GOP,” said Carter Cobb, 56 and retired from the Navy, from Mechanicsville, Virginia. “He doesn’t toe the party line. That’s what we’re trying to get away from.” To Cobb and others, Cruz is the only candidate willing to make anyone angry and stand up for what he believes in. “It makes me like him all the more. I’ve always liked people who were on the outside,” said Daniel Daehlin, 51, from Richfield, Minnesota. “Ronald Reagan never got along with the establishment. They hated him in 1976 and ’80. I like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington — someone who goes there, speaks his mind and doesn’t try to cater to the inside-the-Beltway crowd.” Myra Simons, a Cruz backer from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, agrees. “Are we going to elect someone just because you can’t sit across the table and have dinner with them?” Simons said. “Or are you going to stand with someone who stands with the Constitution and is serious about the trouble our country is in?” Cruz made his reputation in the Senate by refusing to compromise. He filibustered for 21 hours against President Barack Obama‘s health care law. The confrontational strategy he championed resulted in a 16-day partial government shutdown and alienated GOP leaders. But his reading of “Green Eggs and Ham” during that filibuster became a seminal moment for Cruz. He frequently refers to it, including in a recent television ad he ran in Iowa where he reads to his two daughters from reimagined holiday stories with a conservative bent such as “The Grinch Who Lost Her Emails.” While the ad was designed to be funny, Cruz is not known for his sense of humor. Foreign Policy magazine once described him as “the human equivalent of one of those flower-squirters that clowns wear on their lapels.” The national collegiate debating champion has shown his brusque side in the presidential debates, including the most recent one in Las Vegas when he refused to stop talking even as moderator Wolf Blitzer of CNN tried to shut him down. Craig Mazin, who was Cruz’s freshman roommate at Princeton, went so far as to tell the Daily Beast in a 2013 interview that he would be happier with anyone other than Cruz as president. “I would rather pick somebody from the phone book,” Mazin said. But Cruz has shown a lighter side that his campaign says demonstrates he’s not as unlikable as his reputation suggests. Cruz acted out scenes from “The Princess Bride” during a November interview at WMUR in New Hampshire, and that clip has been watched more than 250,000 times on YouTube. After rival Donald Trump referred to Cruz as “a little bit of a maniac,” the Cruz campaign tried to laugh it off by posting a video on Twitter of the song “Maniac” from the film “Flashdance.” Research shows that the importance of a candidates’ likability may be overrated anyway, said David Redlawsk, a Rutgers University expert in Iowa electoral politics who is spending the fall at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. “Voters are looking for a whole range of things,” Redlawsk said, “and likability is just one small part of that.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
7 things to watch in monthlong sprint to Iowa’s caucuses
The 2016 presidential election has defied all expectations so far. An enormous field of GOP candidates, still a dozen strong with a month to go before the leadoff Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1. The billionaire outsider who has tapped into the anger and fears of a nervous nation. A son and brother of presidents who is struggling to connect with voters despite his tremendous financial advantage. In less than a month, voters will begin having their say in what could turn out to be a bitter, monthslong fight for the Republican nomination. On the Democratic side, front-runner Hillary Clinton is banking on neatly locking up the nomination as her GOP rivals tear each other down. Some things to watch for in the four-week sprint to the Iowa caucuses: DONALD TRUMP’S CHECKBOOK To date, wealthy businessman Donald Trump has run a frugal campaign, skipping expensive television advertising as his Republican rivals and their affiliated super political action committees spend tens of millions of dollars on airtime. Trump has promised that that’s about to change, announcing plans last week to spend $2 million a week on the air in three early voting states. Will Trump follow through on that promise? Television ad prices are only increasing as the voting draws closer, and Trump has yet to reserve any airtime. TED CRUZ’S CLERGY Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is building a large organization of support in Iowa, amassing county leaders across the state and tapping a member of the clergy in each of the 99 counties. The son of a preacher, Cruz aims to take a well-worn path to victory in Iowa: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2008 and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum in 2012 generated similar support among the state’s evangelical voters, and each won the caucuses. The question is whether that network of religious conservatives will coalesce behind Cruz this time or splinter. Cruz has made strides, picking up the endorsements of Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats and Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. ESTABLISHMENT CHOICES Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who entered the race in June as the front-runner, jokes that his father, former President George H.W. Bush, has taken to throwing shoes at his television set in response to Trump. But as the caucuses near, the laugh lines have given to persistent frustration among party elders and its professional class that Trump remains a viable candidate. Several have said an effort must be mounted to take down Trump, but a coordinated campaign of negative ads has so far failed to materialize. That’s because in part to concerns that it could backfire and further motivate Trump’s supporters, but also because several candidates vying to be the establishment choice are still in the race. Will there be an attempt to undermine Trump? Will Bush — or Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Ohio Gov. John Kasich or New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — emerge as the clear alternative to Trump before Trump or Cruz collects too many delegates to matter? DEPARTURE LOUNGE Two low-polling Republicans quit in December: South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former New York Gov. George Pataki. While all the remaining candidates insist they’re not going anywhere, pressure could grow on other candidates to bow out and narrow the field. Among those feeling the heat: Santorum, who has failed to produce the kind of excitement that propelled him to that Iowa victory four years ago. If he and others at the bottom dropped out and endorsed the same candidate, it could give rise to the Trump alternative who some are desperately seeking. CLINTON’S TEST A third-place finish in 2008 in Iowa completely disrupted Clinton’s strategy to win the Democratic nomination, and she never could catch then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. This time, Clinton has poured significant resources and staff into the state. Polls show her with an edge over her chief rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent. If Clinton wins Iowa, a loss in New Hampshire to Sanders would be easier to contain. Back-to-back losses in Iowa and New Hampshire would generate fresh worries among Democrats about their front-runner. JANUARY SURPRISES The attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, shifted voters’ focus to national security issues. That was to the detriment of less-experienced and less-hawkish candidates, including retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson on the GOP side and Sanders. Another attack, especially on American soil, could further diminish candidates without experience in office or those uncomfortable with a campaign focus on foreign policy. FINAL DEBATES The Republicans have two more debates — Jan. 14 in South Carolina and Jan. 28 in Iowa — before the Feb. 1 caucuses. Democrats will debate Jan. 17, also in South Carolina. The GOP debates in 2015 broke viewership records, and the next two probably may provide make-or-break moments as undecided voters begin making up their minds. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Hillary Clinton campaign reports $37M in primary money in Q4
Hillary Clinton‘s presidential campaign said Friday it raised $37 million in the past three months and more than $112 million in all of 2015 to support her bid for the Democratic nomination. Clinton’s team also said she raised $18 million for the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties nationwide in the fourth quarter, putting her total haul for the past three months at $55 million. The fundraising for the DNC and state parties is aimed at helping Clinton in the general election should she win her party’s nomination. Clinton’s fourth-quarter amount exceeded the $28 million she raised in the three months that ended Sept. 30. Heading into the January sprint toward the leadoff Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1, Clinton’s campaign said it has nearly $38 million in cash on hand. “Thanks to the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have joined together and powered this historic campaign, we are now heading into Iowa and New Hampshire with the resources we need to be successful,” campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement. Clinton’s campaign had set a goal of $100 million for the primary in 2015. Clinton’s chief rival, Bernie Sanders, did not immediately report his fundraising totals for the quarter that ended on Dec. 31. But the Vermont senator has collected more than 2 million individual contributions and raised money online at a vigorous pace, taking in about $40 million through the end of September and ending that period with about $27 million in the bank. His campaign has noted that most of its donors have given in small increments — about $20 to $30 apiece — allowing Sanders to return to them repeatedly. While Clinton has built a steady lead in national polls, Sanders remains competitive against her in Iowa and holds a slight advantage in New Hampshire, his New England neighbor which holds its primary on Feb. 9. The third major Democrat in the race, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, has lagged behind Clinton and Sanders in fundraising and polls. The Clinton campaign said more than 60 percent of its donors in 2015 were women. It also said 94 percent of the donations it received in the fourth quarter came in increments of $100 or less, but it did not say what percentage of its overall fundraising total came from such small-dollar donors. The campaign spent about $75 million in 2015, building large organizations in the early voting states and a data-driven operation to connect with voters. Helped by several fundraisers headlined by former President Bill Clinton, most of Hillary Clinton’s money came via traditional fundraising events, where the price of entry was often the legal maximum donation of $2,700 for the primary. The presidential candidates have until Jan. 31 to report such details to federal regulators. Clinton isn’t alone in releasing some selective details ahead of that schedule. Earlier this week, Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz‘s campaign said it had raised nearly $20 million in the fourth quarter. Cruz’s campaign said in a memo to supporters that he will finish the year having raised more than $45 million, but it did not disclose how much the campaign has spent or how much cash it has on hand.
Ted Cruz raises $20 million in last 3 months, cementing status as contender
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz‘s campaign said Wednesday it has raised nearly $20 million over the past three months, a large haul that further cements the Texas senator’s status as a serious contender for the nomination heading into the Iowa caucuses. Cruz’s campaign said in a memo to supporters that he will finish the year having raised over $45 million. That means his haul over the final quarter will be significantly larger than the $12 million he raised during the previous three months of the year. He had raised more than $26 million through the end of September. “Just over a month away from the start of the caucuses and primaries we have a network in place with the resources required to win that is the envy of every other campaign,” read the memo, sent Wednesday by Cruz Campaign Manager Jeff Roe. The campaign, he said, has received over 670,000 donations from over 300,000 donors, spanning 66 percent of U.S. ZIP codes. The memo did not disclose how much the campaign has spent or how much cash it has on hand heading into the new year. But the campaign had more than $13 million in the bank at the end of September – more than any of Cruz’s rivals. Candidates aren’t required to report their end-of-year fundraising numbers until Jan. 31, the eve of the Iowa causes. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Amid attendance attacks, Marco Rubio focuses on Iowa
Amid new criticisms about his Senate attendance record, Marco Rubio says some of his rival candidates are getting “a little desperate and a little nasty.” The Florida senator kicked off an Iowa tour Tuesday, as a super political action committee backing Jeb Bush announced a new ad in the state accusing Rubio of missing a Senate meeting after the November terrorist attacks in Paris. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also piled on during an Iowa stop, questioning Rubio’s Senate attendance. After a town hall meeting in the leadoff caucus state, Rubio said the ad from Right to Rise “isn’t accurate,” adding that as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee he attended a different briefing on the Paris attacks. Asked about Christie’s comments, he said the governor had been away from New Jersey “half the time.” “Candidates I think as we get down the stretch here some of them get a little desperate and a little nasty in their attacks,” Rubio said. Rivals have tried to make an issue of Rubio’s attendance in the Senate. In 2015, he has missed about 35 percent of roll call votes, according to GovTrack.us. That’s more than any of the other senators running for president. But several Iowans at the event said they weren’t troubled by Rubio’s Senate record. “He’s out here trying to get the popular vote of the people,” said Mary Reed, 65, of Bellevue, Iowa, who is considering supporting Rubio “Missing a few votes does not bother me. Before over 125 people in Clinton, Iowa, Rubio — who was joined by his family and Rep. Trey Gowdy, of South Carolina — kept his remarks focused on President Barack Obama and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, rather than his Republican counterparts. “I have lived many of the things that people face,” Rubio said. “I want to know how Hillary Clinton is going to lecture me about people living paycheck to paycheck. I grew up paycheck to paycheck.” Rubio stressed his support for securing the borders, investing in the military and repealing the Affordable Care Act. He also said he would back a convention of the states to amend the U.S. Constitution, to pass amendments dealing with term limits and a balanced budget. Conservative groups have been pushing for such an event, which has never happened since the original convention in 1787. Rubio said he supported a convention limited to those two topics. Rubio is wrapping up his year in Iowa, where the Feb. 1 caucuses will kick off presidential voting, but has tried to avoid prioritizing any one of the early voting states, by running a nationally focused campaign that leans on strong debate performances and television advertising. Unlike Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has set his sights on Iowa, or former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is pushing hard in New Hampshire, Rubio continues to spread his time and money across the early states, showing no indication he will choose just one to make his mark. While supporters say Rubio just needs to stay in the top cluster in the first few states, some see his approach as risky. But Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said the campaign has no plans to “give up on states we can win.” In Iowa, recent polls have found Cruz and Donald Trump battling for first place, with Rubio usually a distant third. He’s seen as competing most directly with others considered part of the GOP establishment: Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Most agree he doesn’t actually need to win the caucuses, but must emerge as the establishment’s leader. A good organization is important in Iowa because caucuses take more effort than a primary, requiring voters to show up at a fixed time on a winter night. The Republican caucuses drew about 120,000 voters in 2008 and 2012 , about 20 percent of registered Republicans. Rubio has fewer paid staff than some competitors and his state director hails from Arkansas. He draws large, enthusiastic crowds and has done at least 49 public events in the state this year — more than Bush or Christie, but significantly fewer than Cruz, who has done at least 80. Questions about Rubio’s organization efforts are echoed in other early voting states, including New Hampshire and South Carolina. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Billionaire Donald Trump to spend millions on ads in GOP race
Billionaire Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he plans to spend at least $2 million a week on television advertising in the first three voting states, a move that would mark a massive departure for a candidate who has so far relied on free media to fuel his insurgent campaign. Despite Trump’s typically ironclad confidence, he told reporters invited aboard his private jet Tuesday he didn’t want take anything for granted. “I don’t think I need to spend anything. And I’m very proud of the fact that I’ve spent the least and achieved the best result,” Trump told reporters before a rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa. “I feel I should spend. And honestly I don’t want to take any chances.” Trump, who leads in national Republican preference polls, has seen his lead dissolve in leadoff Iowa, where Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is surging on the backing of the state’s robust evangelical conservative voting bloc. The front-runner has spent nothing on television advertising to date, and just over $300,000 on radio ad time, according to advertising tracker Kantar Media’s CMAG – far less than his rivals. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, for example, has spent more than $40 million and trails Trump and several other candidates. Trump has teased plans to advertise on television in the past, but ad buys have failed to materialize. While Trump has said he’s willing to spend whatever it takes to win the Republican nomination, he has proven a frugal campaigner, putting very little of his own money on the line. While Trump likes to claim he’s self-funding his campaign, the vast majority of what he’s spent so far has come from donors across the country sending checks or purchasing merchandise from his website. “I’ll be spending a minimum of $2 million a week and perhaps substantially more than that,” he told reporters, adding, “If somebody attacks me, I will attack them very much and very hard in terms of ads.” Trump said he had screened the first two ads and says they touch on immigration, trade and national security policy. When the real estate mogul announced his candidacy in June, he said he planned to spend $35 million by Jan. 1, 2016. Instead, his reliable tendency for combative language has resulted in a steady stream of media coverage, often stemming from comments made during the five GOP debates or during his notoriously meandering speeches at packed rallies. Trump first hinted at plans to start spending at a rally Monday evening in New Hampshire and tweeted about his plans Tuesday morning. Trump also said he believes the thousands who attend his rallies, like the more than 3,000 in Council Bluffs, will ultimately turn out to vote for him. Iowa’s caucuses begin the 2016 voting on Feb. 1, a little more than a month away. He said he has faith in his Iowa team, including Chuck Laudner, who ran former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum‘s winning 2012 caucus campaign. “I actually think all of those people, and maybe even friends of theirs, I really think they are going to come out,” Trump said. However, when Trump began his speech with a shout out to Omaha, Nebraska – just across the river from Council Bluffs – the crowd in the MidAmerica Center roared. Seconds later, when he hailed the Iowans attending, a much smaller round of cheers rang out. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
