Political Wire

Archives for December 2015

The Income Defense Industry

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The New York Times reports on how “the very richest Americans have financed a sophisticated and astonishingly effective apparatus for shielding their fortunes.”

“Operating largely out of public view — in tax court, through arcane legislative provisions and in private negotiations with the Internal Revenue Service — the wealthy have used their influence to steadily whittle away at the government’s ability to tax them. The effect has been to create a kind of private tax system, catering to only several thousand Americans.”

GOP Flirting with Chaos at Convention

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Ben Ginsberg, the former counsel to both Mitt Romney’s and George W. Bush’s presidential bids, detailed three possible scenarios in the Wall Street Journal for the Republican convention:

“Three convention scenarios can emerge after 56 states and territories choose their delegates between Feb. 1 and June 7: There will be a clear winner, a bunched up field of several candidates, or a leader who can’t get a majority of delegates on the first ballot. The latter two scenarios would make Cleveland uncharted territory.”

Trump Vows to Spend Big

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“Donald Trump claims his campaign is tens of millions of dollars under budget. But now, he’s apparently ready to spend big,” Politico reports.

“However, it’s not clear what spending ‘big’ would look like for Trump, or even whether he’ll follow through. For the third quarter, his campaign originally budgeted $25 million for TV advertising, but ended up spending nothing.”

Wall Street Journal: “Trump’s campaign is starting to use a computerized system to track support ahead of Iowa’s first-in-the-nation nominating contest, a sign it is spending more money on his presidential bid.”

Obama Readies Wave of New Regulations

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“President Obama is preparing to unleash a wave of new regulations in 2016, as he looks to shore up his legacy on public protection issues during his final year in office,” The Hill reports.

“The Securities and Exchange Commission, the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Labor are all expected to finalize major federal rules that critics say are long overdue.”

Carson Will Announce Campaign Changes Next Week

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Ben Carson “pledged to announce next week changes to his campaign, following days of back-and-forth about whether his operation is due for a shakeup,” Politico reports.

“Carson has given mixed signals in recent days about whether he’s planning to make personnel shifts and other changes in a bid to revive his flagging campaign. Last week, the retired neurosurgeon did interviews with The Washington Post and The Associated Press in which he hinted that changes were coming and said ‘everything is on the table.’ But before the day was over, he took his words back and laid blame on the two media outlets.”

Tennessee Could Decide GOP Nominee

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Politico: “Tennessee is now one of the biggest hubs for GOP political activity in the country. … Tennessee has 58 delegates up for grabs on March 1. That’s the third-biggest slate of delegates available that day, following Texas and Georgia … An ad buy in Knoxville, in the eastern part of the state, can also hit corners of Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky.”

Trump Gets Access to RNC Voter File

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“Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, which has faced doubts about its ability to translate enthusiasm into votes, in the past few weeks quietly signed an agreement allowing it to use the Republican National Committee’s massive voter file,” Politico reports.

“For the Trump campaign, it means access to a database containing a trove of information on more than 200 million Americans, which can be used to power a get-out-the-vote effort. And for the RNC, it means that any information Trump collects from his supporters, many of whom are not traditional Republicans, will be fed back into the database for future use by the party and its candidates.”

Why 2016 Won’t End Our Political Dysfunction

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The Money Network of Malaysian Politics

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“Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was fighting for his political life this summer after revelations that almost $700 million from an undisclosed source had entered his personal bank accounts.”

“It still isn’t clear where the $700 million came from or where it went. But a six-month Wall Street Journal examination revealed that public entities spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a massive patronage machine to help ensure Mr. Najib’s United Malays National Organization stayed in power. The payments, while legal, represented a new milestone in Malaysia’s freewheeling electoral system, according to ruling-party officials.”

Trump Plans Big TV Ad Blitz

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Donald Trump is planning an advertising blitz that could cost upwards of $2 million a week ahead of the Iowa caucuses, Fox News reports.

“The initial wave of ads will focus on Trump’s vision and his stance on key issues—no bio spots necessary for the celebrity candidate—but that could change if any GOP rivals target him with negative commercials… If Trump pours big bucks into an ad campaign—and no budget has been set—he could again confound the prognosticators.”

A Deep and Growing Ideological Divide

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Gerald Seib: “This divide will be especially apparent early in the new year, when the most divided groups in America, the Republican and Democratic voters who show up for primary elections and caucuses, hold the keys to the presidential selection process. These folks disagree, deeply, on an array of social issues, on the nation’s top priorities, and on what kind of leader they are seeking in the next president.”

“Collectively, these voters are driving Republican candidates to the right and Democratic candidates to the left—and ensuring that the challenge of bringing the country together will be tougher after the election, regardless of who wins.”

Emanuel Faces Growing Pressure to Resign

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Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) said he would “cut his family vacation in Cuba short to address the fatal shooting of two more black residents by a city police department already under federal investigation over its use of deadly force,” Reuters reports.

“The decision comes after activists stepped up calls for Emanuel’s resignation over his handling of policing in the nation’s third-largest city.”

Carson Pledges a More Aggressive Campaign

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Ben Carson said his campaign plans “alterations” to respond more aggressively to challenges to his life story and foreign policy expertise that have created a negative impression of him with some voters, Bloomberg reports.

Said Carson: “We have kind of taken a nonchalant attitude. That’s the wrong thing to do, so you will see much more aggressiveness in that region.”

Super PACs are a Bust in Iowa

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“Super PACs may not be the unrivaled political force many have predicted — at least in Iowa, the Des Moines Register reports.

“The groups, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on behalf of candidates, have spent $26.6 million to benefit candidates’ Iowa campaigns through Dec. 12. But many of them have little to show for their investment.”

“More than a third of that money has gone to support candidates who have dropped out of the race, and another third has gone to support former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a Republican who is polling in single digits.”

Huckabee Bets on Trump in Clash with Clinton

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“When it comes to Donald Trump’s threat to go after Bill Clinton as the former president ramps up campaigning for his wife’s bid, Mike Huckabee is all in on his Republican rival,” Politico reports.

Said Huckabee: “Look, nothing’s backfired on Donald Trump yet. I’d put my money on him. Frankly, he’s played the whole media game like a kid on Christmas morning with a toy drum. He’s beaten the heck out of them, and I honestly don’t think that this is going to hurt Donald Trump … and I think the Clintons have some vulnerability here.”

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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