“Donald Trump will host a group of nearly two dozen influential Republicans on Monday afternoon for an off-the-record gathering that his allies hope will improve his relationship with the congressional GOP and the party’s Washington establishment,” the Washington Post reports.
“The meeting is Trump’s first major meeting with lawmakers and key Republican figures since last fall, when he met with a smaller group at the Capitol after his speech at a protest against the Iranian nuclear agreement.”
Los Angeles Times: “After overseeing nearly a decade of economic growth and enormous social gains for the poor, the ruling Workers’ Party now appears helpless as Brazil plunges into the sort of economic collapse and institutional crisis that was common here in the last century.”
“Over the last week, a dizzying array of judicial actions, government reorganizations and media revelations have left it unclear who is governing the world’s fifth most populous nation.”
“When he says that there could be riots, that’s inappropriate. While we have our differences and disagreements, we’re Americans. Americans don’t say, ‘Let’s take to the streets and have violence.'”
— Gov. John Kasich, quoted by The Hill, on Donald Trump warning of violence at the Republican National Convention.
“Donald Trump is fighting efforts to hold a trial in a federal class-action lawsuit over his Trump University real-estate program either just before or after the Republican National Convention in July,” Politico reports.
“Such a trial has the potential to pull Trump off the campaign trail in order to serve as a witness. And in a filing late Friday night in federal court in San Diego, lawyers for Trump said plaintiffs’ lawyers are intentionally trying to schedule the trial to interfere with his presidential campaign.”
“Republican leaders adamantly opposed to Donald Trump’s candidacy are preparing a 100-day campaign to deny him the presidential nomination, starting with an aggressive battle in Wisconsin’s April 5 primary and extending into the summer, with a delegate-by-delegate lobbying effort that would cast Mr. Trump as a calamitous choice for the general election,” the New York Times reports.
“Recognizing that Mr. Trump has seized a formidable advantage in the race, they say that an effort to block him would rely on an array of desperation measures, the political equivalent of guerrilla fighting.”
“There is no longer room for error or delay, the anti-Trump forces say, and without a flawlessly executed plan of attack, he could well become unstoppable.”
Nate Cohn: How Trump could miss his delegate target
A new Y2 Analytics poll in Utah finds Ted Cruz leading the GOP presidential race with 53%, followed by John Kasich at 29% and Donald Trump at 11%.
“If Kasich and Trump are able to cut into Cruz’s lead, dropping him below 50 percent of the vote, they’d be able to snag some of the delegates. But under Utah rules, a candidate must get at least 15 percent of the vote to be eligible, which means Trump would need to gain some ground.”
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) “is facing what may be the toughest reelection of his Senate career in an unpredictable presidential year, when many voters are angry with Washington,” The Hill reports.
“Early polls show McCain tied with his Democratic challenger, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ), at around 40 percent despite having nearly 100-percent name recognition in the state he has represented in either the Senate or House since 1983.”
“After successive campaigns in which President Obama expanded the Democrats’ electoral map options by focusing on fast-growing and increasingly diverse states, a 2016 race between Clinton and Trump could devolve principally into a pitched battle for the Rust Belt,” the Washington Post reports.
“Among the 18 states that have been in Democratic hands since the 1992 election are Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Along with Ohio and Iowa, those heartland states are likely to be the most intensely contested battlegrounds in the country if the Trump-Clinton race materializes.”
“All those states have higher concentrations of white voters, including larger percentages of older, white working-class voters, than many of the states in faster-growing areas that President Obama looked to in his two campaigns.”
“Under no circumstances. Are you people kidding me?”
— Gov. John Kasich, in an interview with NBC News, on whether he would be Donald Trump’s running mate. He also rejected the idea of being Sen. Ted Cruz’s running mate.
Washington Examiner: “As of last Wednesday afternoon, at least a quarter million registered Republicans had already voted in Arizona, taking advantage of the state’s 26-day early voting period. Based on the timeline, this means those 250,000 Arizona Republicans all voted without knowing Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) would no longer be a candidate by election day.”
A MBQF Consulting poll taken last week suggests that 16 percent of Arizona early voters had already cast ballots for Rubio.
“Donald Trump’s older sister, federal appeals court judge Maryanne Trump Barry, received a threatening letter in Philadelphia on Friday — one day after the GOP front-runner’s son received a suspicious piece of mail containing white powder,” sources told NBC News.
Sam Wang: “Kasich has no path to getting a majority of delegates. However, he does have a way to prevent Trump from getting a majority. That would be to completely withdraw from winner-take-all states. In fact, he should say so publicly, the way that Rubio pulled out of Ohio last week. In these states, he divides the ‘non-Trump’ voter bloc, which polling suggests is about 55-60% of Republican voters. Therefore if Kasich does not drain support from Cruz, Cruz can win those states’ delegates.”
“Kasich should still campaign in the remaining proportional states, which are: Utah, New England (New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island), the Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington), and New Mexico.”
Donald Trump “made an aggressive overture to the Mormon community here in Utah Friday evening, praising members of the church while also off-handedly mocking the authenticity of 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s faith,” the Washington Post reports.
He added: “I have many friends that live in Salt Lake. I have a lot of friends, I have a lot of friends. By the way, Mitt Romney is not one of them. Did he choke? Did this guy choke? He’s a choke artist, I can’t believe. Are you sure he’s a Mormon? Are we sure?”
“If brokered conventions and third-party insurgencies aren’t enough, consider the chaos that Zika could bring to the United States this summer,” Politico reports.
“If the mosquito-borne virus linked to birth defects hits big — and that’s a big if — it could stir a panic like Ebola, set off an epidemic of finger-pointing and create new fear and acrimony over reproductive rights, global warming and immigration, all at the height of a presidential campaign.”
“The disease is moving northward — it’s already in Cuba and Puerto Rico, which declared a public health emergency last month and froze the price of condoms. The mosquitoes that carry Zika are well-entrenched in some southern states and expected as far north as New York City by July.”
“While Marco Rubio was flailing in Florida, Ted Cruz’s team was lying in wait, preparing to move state by state, donor by donor to capture Rubio’s supporters after his fall. And with Rubio out, that effort is now in full swing,” Politico reports.
“Even before Rubio formally exited the race, Cruz’s team was communicating with donors and other prominent Rubio supporters — Cruz senior foreign policy adviser Victoria Coates, for example, was checking in with people like prominent Bush administration figure and Rubio backer Elliott Abrams.”
“Going to Salt Lake City, Utah, for a big rally. Lyin’ Ted Cruz should not be allowed to win there — Mormons don’t like liars!”
— Donald Trump, tweeting ahead of the Utah primary.
Sharron Angle (R) has filed to run for the U.S. Senate in Nevada, the Las Vegas Review Journal reports.
Angle, a tea party darling, had faced Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) in 2010 after winning the GOP primaries and lost to him. This time around, she’ll challenge Rep. Joe Heck (R-NV) in a primary.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.