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Why Clinton Shouldn’t Move Too Far Left

January 19, 2016 at 9:51 am EST By Taegan Goddard 24 Comments

Charlie Cook: “A hard move to the left would make her job of winning over independent and moderate voters in the general election even more challenging. Independents tend to have very complicated views of Clinton, seeing her on one hand as smart, knowledgeable, and competent, but on the other hand as not particularly likable or trustworthy. Big ideological swings over the course of the campaign aren’t likely to help her credibility.”

“It can’t be fun for Clinton to be Sanders’s piñata this month and next, but for March 1 on, it shouldn’t be that bad, and there is no point winning the nomination if you render yourself unelectable in the fall.”

Is Trump Backing Off Attacks on Cruz?

January 19, 2016 at 9:45 am EST By Taegan Goddard 10 Comments

Rick Klein: “Don’t look now, but is Donald Trump pulling his punches on Ted Cruz? A day after unleashing a new series of attacks on his chief rival on the Sunday shows, Trump didn’t mention Cruz by name at either of his big campaign events Monday… That decision comes after a few days where major conservative talk radio hosts – notably, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin – have publicly warned him of the dangerous game he’s playing in attacking Cruz.”

“It’s impossible to overstate the cover people like Limbaugh and Levin have given Trump in their willingness to accept him as a conservative, despite countless statements he made in the past that point to a much different ideology. Now that Cruz’s ‘New York values’ attack has brought those statements back to the surface, any hesitation among conservative leaders is notable, particularly down the campaign’s stretch. Trump may yet best Cruz in Iowa and beyond. But for one of the few times in a campaign he’s dominated, Trump is going to need to find a new strategy.”

What’s Canadian About Ted Cruz?

January 19, 2016 at 9:43 am EST By Taegan Goddard 12 Comments

Marco Rubio’s super PAC put out a new ad attacking Ted Cruz, one that plays off talk about his eligibility to be president.

The Most Important Date in the GOP Race

January 19, 2016 at 9:36 am EST By Taegan Goddard 2 Comments

This piece is only available to Political Wire members.

Most analysts still believe that despite the chaos of the Republican presidential campaign, a winner is most likely to emerge by mid-March.

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Clinton’s Campaign Comes Down to Iowa

January 19, 2016 at 9:33 am EST By Taegan Goddard 22 Comments

First Read: “If she wins Iowa, Clinton will be set up to separate herself from Bernie Sanders in South Carolina and the March 1 primaries — after which her campaign can start to focus on the general election. But if she loses Iowa, then, yes, a highly competitive Democratic race will extend into April and May. And that’s not all — panicky Democrats will become even more nervous, Joe Biden’s phone will ring, Michael Bloomberg’s phone will ring, too.”

“Make no mistake, Bernie Sanders isn’t going away. But if you assume, one way or another, that Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, Iowa will determine whether she gets it the easy way or the hard way. So on the Democratic side, no contest will be more impactful than the Iowa caucuses, which are now less than two weeks away.”

Santorum Calls Deportations a ‘Blessing’

January 19, 2016 at 8:58 am EST By Taegan Goddard 27 Comments

Sen. Rick Santorum says the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants would be a “blessing” to impoverished Latin American countries that would benefit from skills they have learned in the United States, the Des Moines Register reports.

Said Santorum: “You are talking about folks who are going to be the leaders of their countries.”

Charles Koch Started Plotting 40 Years Ago

January 19, 2016 at 8:52 am EST By Taegan Goddard 9 Comments

Politico: “In a recent round of interviews, Charles Koch, the billionaire industrialist and political patron, has been stressing that he only recently became involved in politics… But according to what appear to be two never-before-seen documents — a paper Charles wrote in 1976 and an unpublished history of Charles’ political evolution — Charles began planning his ambitious remaking of American politics 40 years ago, transitioning from libertarian ideologue to conservative power broker.”

“For his new movement, which aimed to empower ultraconservatives like himself and radically change the way the U.S. government worked, he analyzed and then copied what he saw as the strengths of the John Birch Society, the extreme, right-wing anti-communist group to which he, his brother David and their father, Fred Koch, had belonged. Charles Koch might claim that his entry into politics is new, but from its secrecy to its methods of courting donors and recruiting students, the blueprint for the vast and powerful Koch donor network that we see today was drafted four decades ago.”

New Film Documents Anthony Weiner Implosion

January 19, 2016 at 8:36 am EST By Taegan Goddard 11 Comments

New York Times: “In May 2013, Huma Abedin and Anthony D. Weiner allowed filmmakers full access to his mayoral campaign with the hopes that the end result would document a spectacular political comeback, with Mr. Weiner being sworn in as mayor of New York having emerged from a scandal centered on explicit texting that forced him to resign from Congress. Things did not go quite according to plan.”

“Instead, Weiner… provides an unfettered look at the implosion of Mr. Weiner’s mayoral campaign and a wrenching inside account of the couple’s interactions in the aftermath of his second explicit texting scandal.”

For GOP to Survive, Trump and Cruz Must Lose

January 19, 2016 at 7:51 am EST By Taegan Goddard 49 Comments

Michael Gerson, who worked with Ted Cruz on George W. Bush’s first presidential campaign, writes that “he is actually more of a demagogue than an ideologue.”

Said Gerson: “For Republicans, the only good outcome of Trump vs. Cruz is for both to lose. The future of the party as the carrier of a humane, inclusive conservatism now depends on some viable choice beyond them.”

Trump Says He Would Be Better than Reagan

January 19, 2016 at 7:48 am EST By Taegan Goddard 19 Comments

Donald Trump tells The Brody File that he will be “much stronger in protecting the Evangelicals” than Ted Cruz and invoked Ronald Reagan.

Said Trump: “Ronald Reagan, he didn’t read the Bible every day, seven days a week. But, he was a great president. And he was a great president for Christianity. And frankly, I would say that I would be a far better leader.”

Jolly Will Stop Asking for Money

January 19, 2016 at 7:32 am EST By Taegan Goddard 6 Comments

Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) will stop personally fundraising for his U.S. Senate bid, National Journal reports.

“The highly unusual move—in the middle of a marquee Senate race—comes as Jolly prepares to roll out legislation that would bar all members of Congress from personally asking for campaign contributions. It’s an effort to put Congress back to work on pressing issues like national security.”

Trump and Clinton Stay Way Ahead Nationally

January 19, 2016 at 6:43 am EST By Taegan Goddard 4 Comments

A new NBC/SurveyMonkey poll finds Donald Trump leading the GOP field with 38%, followed by Ted Cruz at 21%, Marco Rubio at 11% and Ben Carson at 8% — all essentially unchanged from last week. No other Republican gets more than 4%.

In the Democratic contest, Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders nationally, 52% to 36% — again unchanged from a week ago.

Trump Way Ahead in Florida

January 19, 2016 at 6:29 am EST By Taegan Goddard 7 Comments

A new OpinionSavvy poll in Florida finds Donald Trump leading the GOP presidential race with 31%, followed by Ted Cruz at 19%, Jeb Bush at 13%, Marco Rubio at 12% and Ben Carson at 7%.

Clinton Prepares for Long Slog

January 19, 2016 at 6:01 am EST By Taegan Goddard 21 Comments

Hillary Clinton’s campaign “is preparing for a primary fight that could stretch into late April or early May and require a sprawling field operation in states and territories from Pennsylvania to Guam,” the New York Times reports.

“Even though the Clinton team has sought to convey that it has built a national operation, the campaign has invested much of its resources in the Feb. 1 caucuses in Iowa, hoping that a victory there could marginalize Mr. Sanders and set Mrs. Clinton on the path to the nomination. As much as 90 percent of the campaign’s resources are now split between Iowa and the Brooklyn headquarters, according to an estimate provided by a person with direct knowledge of the spending. The campaign denied that figure.”

Black Voters Would Be Key to Trump Victory

January 19, 2016 at 6:01 am EST By Taegan Goddard 64 Comments

“If Donald Trump becomes the next president of the United States, there will be plenty of surprises along the way. One of the biggest will be the help he gets from black voters,” Politico reports.

“According to Republican pollsters and Trump’s allies, the GOP poll-leader — who has been dogged by accusations of racism, most recently for tweeting out a chart that exaggerated the share of murders committed by blacks — is poised to out-perform with this demographic group in a general-election matchup with Hillary Clinton.”

Audit the Ted

January 19, 2016 at 6:00 am EST By Taegan Goddard 8 Comments

Sen. Rand Paul lobbed a new attack at Sen. Ted Cruz “in the form of an unusual web video the Kentucky senator wants to go viral,” Politico reports.

Rubio Kicks Off Ad Blitz

January 19, 2016 at 5:24 am EST By Taegan Goddard 1 Comment

Bloomberg: “For months, Jeb Bush and the super-PAC supporting him have dominated the airwaves in the states that will cast early votes in the in the Republican presidential campaign. But in the last four weeks, Marco Rubio and his allied super-PAC have pulled ahead of his one-time political mentor turned presidential rival.”

GOP Image Takes a Hit During Primary Battle

January 18, 2016 at 6:30 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 77 Comments

“The tumultuous race for the Republican nomination is taking a toll on the GOP’s image, with more than four-in-ten voters saying that the primary contest has soured their perceptions of the Republican Party — more so than impressions of the Democrats,” according to the latest NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll.

“In the poll, 42% of registered voters said the primary race has made them feel less favorable about the GOP, compared to just 19% who said they feel more favorable. Thirty-eight percent said the brawl for the Republican nomination hasn’t changed their view of the party as a whole.”