Archives for July 2015

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How Should the GOP Candidates Handle Trump?

July 31, 2015 at 7:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 10 Comments

Charlie Cook: “For Bush and Rubio (and Kasich if he makes the cut), the best advice would probably be to stay out of Trump’s way. Focus on making a positive impression on—and hopefully connecting with—Republican primary voters and caucus attendees. Each of them should have a game plan for achieving those goals and stick to it, almost no matter what Trump does.”

“But for Sen. Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. Rand Paul, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and, if he makes the cut, former Sen. Rick Santorum—all of whom are running from a distinctly more ideological wing of the party—a wise strategy would be not only to follow the aforementioned advice but also to demonstrate enough anger that they plausibly stand to inherit Trump’s supporters if he does start to drop in the polls.”

Politico: “Several insiders advised that the longer the focus is on Trump’s battles with the others, the better it is for Bush to quietly consolidate support while others struggle to break through.”

Army Falls Short of Recruiting Goal

July 31, 2015 at 6:40 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 17 Comments

“The Army is nearly 14% short of the recruits it will need to fill its ranks, marking the first time in six years — and only the third in the last 20 — that it may fall short of its recruiting goal for the year,” USA Today reports.

Next Batch of Clinton Emails to be Released

July 31, 2015 at 6:31 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 4 Comments

“The State Department is set Friday to post online its next batch of e-mails that Hillary Clinton sent and received on a personal account while she was secretary of state,” Bloomberg reports.

“None is anticipated to contain material directly tied to the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks in Benghazi, Libya. Instead, these e-mails are anticipated to date from an earlier period in Clinton’s tenure as secretary—late 2009 to early 2010. Even so, they will likely draw intense scrutiny from the media, Republicans and others seeking any new political ammunition or gossipy tidbits about the 2016 Democratic presidential front-runner.”

Why So Many Running for President?

July 31, 2015 at 6:12 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 15 Comments

Stuart Stevens: “To what do we owe this bumper crop of candidates? There are three main reasons. 1. This year there is no obvious front-runner; it’s no one’s turn (in stark contrast with the Democratic primary). 2. The outside groups known as ‘super PACs’ make it easier to fund campaigns — and while they guarantee that more money is spent, they also make it easier to raise that money. 3. Republicans believe the next president may very well be a Republican and the nomination is worth winning. While being near the back of the pack in a large field might seem hopeless, strange things happen in politics, and the odds of being the next president are definitely worse if you don’t run.”

Conway Up Slightly for Kentucky Governor

July 30, 2015 at 6:11 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 34 Comments

A new SurveyUSA poll in Kentucky finds Jack Conway (D) with a small lead over Matt Bevin (R) in the race for governor, 45% to 42%, with 13% of voters still undecided.

Trump Will Release Policy Proposals Sometime

July 30, 2015 at 5:27 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 47 Comments

Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said they have specific policy positions ready for release at a time and method of the campaign’s choosing, BuzzFeed reports.

Said Lewandowski: “Candidly? They’re all done. They’re done and we’re waiting for our schedule and we won’t be dictated to by the mainstream media to tell us what we should or shouldn’t be doing and how these positions should be put out front.”

Betting Markets Take Trump Seriously

July 30, 2015 at 5:14 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 63 Comments

The political betting markets give Donald Trump 8-1 odds of winning the Republican presidential nomination, behind only Jeb Bush (8-5), Marco Rubio (7-2) and Scott Walker (4-1).

Trump Makes Play for Palin Vote

July 30, 2015 at 3:49 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 56 Comments

Donald Trump appears to be making a serious play for Sarah Palin’s supporters, the New York Times reports.

Earlier this week Trump flattered Palin “proclaiming that he would love to have her in his cabinet if he won the White House. On Thursday, Mr. Trump showed another sign of respect for Ms. Palin, hiring Michael Glassner to be his campaign’s national political director. Mr. Glassner was chief of staff for Ms. Palin’s political action committee and worked closely with her when she ran for vice president alongside Senator John McCain in 2008.”

Paul Says Trump Rise Due to ‘Loss of Sanity’

July 30, 2015 at 3:38 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 54 Comments

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is attributing GOP presidential rival Donald Trump’s rise in the polls to a momentary “loss of sanity,” The Hill reports.

Said Paul: “I think this is a temporary sort of loss of sanity, but we’re going to come back to our senses and look for someone serious to lead the country at some point.”

Bonus Quote of the Day

July 30, 2015 at 2:24 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 8 Comments

“It’s not even disputed that programs that I’ve initiated have helped at least 25 million people. We’re going to keep trying to help people between now and when my innocence is proven.”

— Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA), quoted by the Philadelphia Inquirer, on his corruption indictment.

Bonus Trump Quote of the Day

July 30, 2015 at 2:19 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 31 Comments

“I think I’d get along very well with Vladimir Putin. I just think so. People say, ‘What do you mean?’ I think I would get along well with him.”

— Donald Trump, quoted by TPM.

Donald Trump Winning on Facebook by a Landslide

July 30, 2015 at 2:02 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 23 Comments

Wall Street Journal: “According to Facebook, Mr. Trump is easily the most-talked candidate of the 2016 election — and it’s been that way ever since he announced he was running for the White House on June 16. In the past 30 days, Mr. Trump has dominated the conversation so heavily on the social network, that no other candidate has come close to reaching him, even for a day.”

The Latest on Wonk Wire

July 30, 2015 at 1:59 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Here’s what’s trending on Wonk Wire today:

An Inside Look at Mark Sanford

July 30, 2015 at 12:12 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 11 Comments

The New York Times runs a fantastic review of The Speechwriter: A Brief Education in Politics by Barton Swaim.

“Mr. Swaim is so talented a writer, and has such an eye for a telling detail, that you suspect you could put him in any workplace — chicken-processing plant, airport sunglass emporium, stoner skate park — and he would make it come alive in the best possible way. He happens to have great material in Governor Sanford, as demanding, disorganized, dissatisfied, conceited, odd, bullying and cheap a boss as a reader could hope for.”

‘Total Confusion’ at Fox News Over Debate

July 30, 2015 at 11:27 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 54 Comments

The polls that Fox News will use to determine participants in the first GOP presidential debate “remains an open question and a source of controversy,” New York Magazine reports.

“In the absence of a clear answer from the network, advisers for both Kasich and Perry have taken to lobbying Ailes and Fox executives to use polls that put their guy over the line.”

Said one network personality: “There’s total confusion about all of it. The Second Floor is making it up as they go along.”

Maine Speaker Files Suit Against Governor

July 30, 2015 at 11:20 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 10 Comments

Maine House Speaker Mark Eves (D) will file a civil lawsuit against Gov. Paul LePage (R), alleging that the governor used taxpayer money and the power of his office to prevent his hiring at a private school, the Portland Press Herald reports.

The Awkward Contradiction in Scott Walker’s Campaign

July 30, 2015 at 11:12 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 19 Comments

For Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), “there’s something awkward about the Harley-Davidson motorcycles that he has been posing on at presidential campaign stops: each one bears a sticker on its frame that reads ‘Union made in the USA,'” Reuters reports.

“Walker has made the iconic American brand a centerpiece of his campaign kick-off tour this month, visiting four dealerships and sometimes showing off his own 2003 Harley Road King as he seeks to harness its appeal to older white male voters. But there is another side to Harley that the Republican candidate has been less vocal about — it is a leading example of a successful company that has a strong relationship with labor unions.

Trump’s Campaign for Relevance

July 30, 2015 at 10:49 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 34 Comments

Matt Bai: “Trump himself doesn’t worry me. That’s because I don’t think for a moment that he wants the job. What Trump wants — craves, actually — is relevance. The man has a clinical phobia of obsolescence. He puts his name on every building he owns just to make sure people will have to speak it out loud.”

“He has no plan for actual governance and no ambition to actually govern. It’s possible that his daily barrage of insults and diatribes, each more outrageous than the last, is really a kind of self-sabotage, as if he’s trying to figure out how awful he can be before the show starts to lose viewers. Even if Trump managed to get the nomination (which he won’t), the broader electorate would recoil at the things he says, and he’s probably counting on it.”

“What does worry me is that Trump really is a proven visionary. He’s brilliant at seeing the next ego-leveraging opportunity. He’s the first interloping network star to jolt a presidential race, but no way is he the last… What Trump is doing, and it’s a twisted kind of public service, is showing all of us how easy it is now to successfully manipulate a media in economic distress and a presidential process that caters, more and more, to an ever-dwindling bloc of extremists on either side.”