Hillary Clinton tells Cosmopolitan that she can’t decide which Republican presidential candidate would be the worst for young women.
Said Clinton: “It’s so hard to choose just one. Most of them have the wrong ideas about the economy, gun violence, criminal justice, voting rights, the environment—issues that shape women’s lives in all kinds of ways.”
She added: “It’s a nine-way tie.”
Jeb Bush said that he “would push to reverse the Supreme Court decision paving the way for super PACs that spend big money backing candidates — including himself,” The Hill reports.
Said Bush: “If I could do it all again I’d eliminate the Supreme Court ruling… This is a ridiculous system we have now where you have campaigns that struggle to raise money directly and they can’t be held accountable for the spending of the super PAC that’s their affiliate.”
“I thought it was really weird.”
— Jeb Bush, quoted by Politico, on Sen. Marco Rubio repeating the same line many times during the last GOP debate.
Jonathan Chait: “There are three reasons, in descending order of obviousness, for a liberal to earnestly and patriotically support a Trump Republican nomination. The first, of course, is that he would almost certainly lose… Second, a Trump nomination might upend his party… About half of Republicans favor higher taxes on the rich, a position that has zero representation among their party’s leaders. And those Republicans are the most likely to support Trump.”
“The third reason to prefer a Trump nomination: If he does win, a Trump presidency would probably wind up doing less harm to the country than a Marco Rubio or a Cruz presidency. It might even, possibly, do some good.”
Out this week: Breakthrough: The Making of America’s First Woman President by Nancy L. Cohen.
“Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews with women governors and senators from both parties, experts, political operatives, and a diverse array of voters, Breakthrough paints an intimate portrait of the savvy women who’ve built an alternative to the old boys club and are rewriting the playbook for how women succeed in politics.”
Stuart Stevens: “In politics one is blessed by the weaknesses of opponents and there has rarely been such a gift as Donald Trump. He is the perfect foil for a serious candidate ready to define his depth of knowledge and genuineness of intent against Trump’s vapid narcissism… And yet the Republican field of past and present governors, senators, and a world famous physician have decided that the better strategy is to attack not the idiot who has the most votes but the more serious candidates who don’t have many votes.”
Nate Silver: Maybe Chris Christie should have taken on Donald Trump?
Domenico Montanaro: “Because of a quirk in how the state party allocates delegates and how fractured the ‘establishment’ field is, it could mean that an anti-Trump vote will actually be a vote for the New York billionaire… Some 40 percent of Trump’s delegates could be coming from people who cast their votes explicitly in opposition to him — or at least for candidates running very different campaigns.”
Sen. Ted Cruz is out with a deceptive new mailer that masquerades as official government business and promises people there’s a “check enclosed” when it’s actually asking for money instead, the Huffington Post reports.
Gov. John Kasich has more than 300 Ohio volunteers in New Hampshire, National Review reports.
“The force is testament to the effort Kasich has put in to the first-in-the-nation primary state, but it also showcases the level of enthusiasm for Kasich in his home state of Ohio, which is likely to make him a key player whether or not he becomes the party’s nominee.”
“Here is the story on Jeb. He is a stiff who you wouldn’t hire in private enterprise. This is a stiff. This is a guy that, if he came looking for a job, you’d say no thank you. And that’s the way it is.”
— Donald Trump, in an interview on Morning Joe.
First Read: “No matter who finishes second/third/fourth/fifth in New Hampshire, don’t expect anyone to drop out after New Hampshire, especially after smelling blood versus Rubio. That’s maybe the biggest consequence of Rubio’s debate performance. And it complicates his path to victory in South Carolina, because that same traffic-jam dynamic will continue in the Palmetto State if everyone stays in the race.”
Donald Trump said he wouldn’t call his second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses a “loss,” arguing that he would have come in first if Ted Cruz hadn’t taken votes from Ben Carson, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “It wasn’t a loss, I came in second. And I only came in second because of the fact that Cruz took a lot of votes away from Carson that should not have been taken away.”
He even suggested hat the results could be reversed.
The latest UMass-Lowell tracking poll in New Hampshire finds Donald Trump leading the GOP presidential race with 34%, followed by Ted Cruz at 13%, Marco Rubio at 13%, John Kasich at 10% and Jeb Bush at 10.
In the Democratic race, Bernie Sanders leads Hillary Clinton, 56% to 40%.
“Bill Clinton uncorked an extended attack on Sen. Bernie Sanders, harshly criticizing Mr. Sanders and his supporters for what he described as inaccurate and “sexist” attacks on Hillary Clinton,” the New York Times reports.
“He even likened an incident last year, in which Sanders staffers obtained access to Clinton campaign voter data, to stealing a car with the keys in the ignition.”
NBC News: “The former president appeared angry as he poured scorn on his wife’s opponent, portraying the Sanders campaign as dishonest and his healthcare proposals as unrealistic.”
Washington Post: “For weeks, former president Bill Clinton has been the doomsday device of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign — a mighty weapon capable of doing great good or harm to her campaign — so held in reserve until absolutely needed.”
“Marco Rubio isn’t really a robot – he isn’t dumb or teleprompter-tied – but he is a calculating and cautious candidate, and in the mean, fast-moving 2016 primary, caution can sometimes kill,” Politico reports.
“Gloss, discipline, natural speaking talent and planning have been the hallmarks of Rubio’s methodical presidential campaign, positioning him for a surprise third-place win in Iowa, and a possible surge here on Tuesday. Rubio knows his path to his party’s nomination is narrow – a needle-thread between the tea party and establishment wings of a divided GOP – but he’s also an fundamentally risk-averse politician who often seeks the safety of a script, as his mechanical recitation of the same anti-Obama talking points four times at the final debate before the primary here painfully revealed.”
“Donald Trump enjoys a wide lead in polls ahead of Tuesday’s primary here, but the election will again test the billionaire’s ability to flout modern campaigning by relying on star power instead of data-driven voter outreach and advertising to propel turnout,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Washington Post: “Tuesday’s primary marks a crucial moment for the campaign, which skeptics accuse of failing to build a robust national ground game that will turn out voters. Campaign officials have aggressively fought the criticism and hope to prove that they are capable of transforming Trump’s enormous crowds into an electoral victory.”
Donald Trump is in “full populist mode” as he wraps up his New Hampshire campaign, Byron York reports.
“There were portions of Trump’s Plymouth speech that sounded like Bernie Sanders, if Sanders had Trump’s sense of showmanship. In fact, Trump mentioned Sanders favorably, saying they agree on trade. Trump also said Sanders is correct in his charge that Hillary Clinton is compromised by the big-money contributions she has accepted — a charge the billionaire developer aimed at his Republican rivals as well.”
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.