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Trump Gets Outhustled for Delegates Again

April 8, 2016 at 9:02 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 26 Comments

“Colorado is not going well for Donald Trump. After a shake-up at the top this week in which Trump empowered Paul Manafort to manage the campaign’s troubled delegate operation, Sen. Ted Cruz swept a third straight Congressional District convention Thursday night. All three delegates selected were listed on a slate put forward by the Cruz campaign,” MSNBC reports.

“Trump aides concede that Colorado is not a promising state, but the level of disorganization at Thursday’s event suggested problems that ran deeper than the top-line results.”

First Read: “More Colorado GOP delegates will be selected today before Saturday’s state convention, where an additional 13 delegates will be picked. And if last night was any indication — as well as what happened in North Dakota last weekend — it’s possible Cruz wins all of them.”

‘New Yorkers Aren’t Stupid, Ted’

April 8, 2016 at 9:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 40 Comments

A super PAC aligned with Gov. John Kasich is up with a new advertisement slamming Sen. Ted Cruz ahead of New York’s primary next week.

Americans Really Don’t Like Trump

April 8, 2016 at 8:59 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 44 Comments

A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds that 7 in 10 people, including close to half of Republican voters, have an unfavorable view of Donald Trump.

“It’s an opinion shared by majorities of men and women; young and old; conservatives, moderates and liberals; and whites, Hispanics and blacks — a devastatingly broad indictment of the billionaire businessman.”

Trump Announces Campaign Shuffle

April 8, 2016 at 8:45 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 12 Comments

Donald Trump announced that he is reorganizing his campaign, giving an expanded role to veteran strategist Paul Manafort, the Washington Post reports.

“With a growing possibility that Trump will not arrive at July’s GOP convention having the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination on the first ballot, his campaign will have to put more emphasis on the nuts-and-bolts, ground-level organizing at which his closest rival, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, has excelled.”

“That includes assuring that the delegates, many of whom will be picked in coming weeks at district and state conventions around the country, are people who will be loyal to Trump if the convention goes beyond a first ballot in selecting a nominee.”

Chris Cillizza: “Trump is not a dumb man. He didn’t get to where he is … by not grasping when things are slipping away from him … [T]he writing appears to be on the wall. Manafort will run things going forward.”

Trump and Clinton Lead In California

April 8, 2016 at 8:19 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 40 Comments

A new Field Poll in California finds Donald Trump leading the GOP presidential race with 39%, followed by Ted Cruz at 32% and John Kasich at 18%.

Key finding: “The poll finds Trump holding the lead among likely GOP primary voters in two regions – the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area, and those living in the nine-county Southern California region outside of Los Angeles County. Cruz is preferred over Trump among voters in Los Angeles County and those living in the state’s vast, but sparsely populated interior that includes the Central Valley and the Sierra mountain region.”

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders 47% to 41%.

Unbound Delegates May Block Trump

April 8, 2016 at 8:13 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 22 Comments

Washington Post: “West Virginia looks perfect for Donald Trump: a struggling working-class state filled with the types of voters who have backed him elsewhere and could deliver one of his biggest victories. But a sweep there might not matter. That’s because as many as 34 delegates — the entire contingent — may be free to back whomever they want at the Republican National Convention.”

“Much the same is true in Pennsylvania, home to a hotly contested April 26 primary, where there are 57 uncommitted delegates. Other states and territories, from Colorado to Wyoming to Guam, will also send squads of unbound representatives.”

Sanders Goes Too Far In Attacks

April 8, 2016 at 8:11 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 135 Comments

Paul Krugman: “It’s one thing for the Sanders campaign to point to Hillary Clinton’s Wall Street connections, which are real, although the question should be whether they have distorted her positions, a case the campaign has never even tried to make. But recent attacks on Mrs. Clinton as a tool of the fossil fuel industry are just plain dishonest, and speak of a campaign that has lost its ethical moorings.”

“Holding people accountable for their past is O.K., but imposing a standard of purity, in which any compromise or misstep makes you the moral equivalent of the bad guys, isn’t. Abraham Lincoln didn’t meet that standard; neither did F.D.R. Nor, for that matter, has Bernie Sanders (think guns).”

“The Sanders campaign has brought out a lot of idealism and energy that the progressive movement needs. It has also, however, brought out a streak of petulant self-righteousness among some supporters. Has it brought out that streak in the candidate, too?”

Democrats Actually Like Their Candidates

April 8, 2016 at 8:02 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 38 Comments

Gallup: “Seven in 10 Democrats have a positive view of each of their party’s two contenders. Clinton has a little more negative baggage, with a 26% unfavorable rating compared with Sanders’ 13%. Sanders has a somewhat higher percentage responding ‘Never heard of/Don’t have an opinion.’ But they are both well-liked.”

“This is significantly different from the Republican side, where the percentage of Republicans who like Donald Trump is 55% and those who like Ted Cruz is 52%. Plus, Trump’s unfavorable rating among Republicans is 40%, while Cruz’s is almost as high at 38%.”

Sanders Will Speak at the Vatican

April 8, 2016 at 7:24 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 49 Comments

Sen. Bernie Sanders, “an enthusiastic fan Pope Francis’s work, plans to step off the campaign trail next week to speak at a conference hosted by the Vatican on social, economic and environmental issues,” the Washington Post reports.

Said Sanders: “I am grateful to the Vatican for inviting me to talk about an issue that is very dear to my heart, which is how we create a moral economy that works for all of the people rather than just the top one percent.”

Cruz Already Campaigning In California

April 8, 2016 at 7:05 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 6 Comments

“Sen. Ted Cruz will hold two rallies in California on Monday, his first public appearances in the state since it became clear that its June 7 primary is critical in the Texas senator’s effort to win the GOP nomination,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

“But his public appearances on Monday, in the midst of the New York primary and just shy of two months before the California primary, underscore the long odds he faces in the Empire State and the importance of California in his effort to stop front-runner Donald Trump.”

Romney Niece Will Be Trump Delegate

April 8, 2016 at 7:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 2 Comments

“Michigan Republican Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel said Thursday she will pledge her national delegate vote to presidential front-runner Donald Trump since the New York billionaire won last month’s primary,” the Detroit News reports.

“The state chairwoman’s Trump pledge comes after her uncle, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, mounted a concerted national effort to deny Trump the nomination.”

Cruz Says Trump Must Get 50% In New York

April 8, 2016 at 6:57 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 17 Comments

“Ted Cruz’s campaign is setting some awfully high expectations for Donald Trump in New York: Get at least 50 percent, or drop out of the presidential race,” Politico reports.

Said Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe: “If he doesn’t get over 50 percent, he should probably consider dropping out, like everyone else has when they don’t win their home state in a dramatic fashion.”

Wide-Open Colorado Convention Forces Delegate Fight

April 8, 2016 at 6:06 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 6 Comments

“For the first time in 40 years, a presidential candidate will appear at Colorado’s Republican Assembly, a sign of how arcane and obscure rules governing delegates in some states may lead the party to a contested national convention in July,” Bloomberg reports.

“Texas Senator Ted Cruz, fresh from a triumph in Wisconsin, will appeal to the faithful Saturday in Colorado Springs as he seeks to load the state’s complement of 37 delegates with his supporters. He’s already won six and has an extensive grassroots operation orchestrated by Colorado’s Tea Party network. It’s a center of strength for a candidate who has married fervent conservatism, legal acumen and a bent for organization.”

Trump Health Care Ideas Bewilder Experts

April 8, 2016 at 5:57 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 21 Comments

New York Times: “He would allow individuals to take tax deductions for insurance premium payments. But aides acknowledge that this tax break would not be worth much to people whose income is so low they pay little or nothing in federal income taxes. For them, Trump aides say, there would be Medicaid, which the billionaire businessman says he would not cut but would turn into a block grant to state governments.”

“This whipsaw of ideas is exasperating Republican experts on health care, who call his proposals an incoherent mishmash that could jeopardize coverage for millions of newly insured people. But for Mr. Trump’s campaign, such criticism appears only to bolster the candidate’s outsider status.”

Cruz Will Not Apologize to McConnell

April 8, 2016 at 5:10 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 12 Comments

Sen. Ted Cruz said that an apology for calling Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a liar “ain’t gonna happen,” The Hill reports.

Said Cruz: “If the Washington lobbyists want to see that happen, they can hold their breath a long, long time.”

Sessions Not Likely to Be Trump’s Veep

April 7, 2016 at 6:59 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 61 Comments

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) told reporters outside the Senate chamber that he has no expectation of being Donald Trump’s vice presidential candidate and has not spoken with him about who could be on the ticket, The Hill reports.

Said Sessions: “I think that would not happen. I have not talked with him about it. Don’t bet any money on me.”

GOP Can’t Avoid Fights Over Gay Rights

April 7, 2016 at 6:54 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 60 Comments

Washington Post: “Battles erupting across the country over gay rights and other social issues have put Republican candidates in a pinch, deepening fissures between the business interests and social conservatives whose support they depend on and forcing them to go on the defensive nationally amid changing cultural winds.”

“In the past month, three states have passed laws intended to protect rights of those who oppose same-sex marriage and half a dozen have enacted new abortion restrictions. And in Tennessee this week, the legislature passed a law making the Bible the official state book.”

Republicans Seize on Guantánamo Fears

April 7, 2016 at 6:36 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 33 Comments

“Vulnerable Republican incumbents are increasingly raising fears about Guantánamo Bay detainees, following a campaign strategy used by Scott Brown before his surprise victory in a Massachusetts special election for a Senate seat six years ago,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Kirk and Ms. Ayotte both won their seats in the 2010 midterm elections as part of the Republicans’ sweeping wave of victories that year, but they are in danger of losing this fall because their states are leaning to the Democrats; Illinois and New Hampshire voted for President Obama in 2012.”