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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.”

Christie Says Rubio Won’t Look at Him

January 18, 2016 at 6:00 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 32 Comments

Gov. Chris Christie told Time that the most telling moment of the recent Republican debate came after Marco Rubio “couldn’t look at me in the eye” when the New Jersey governor was responding to an attack.

Said Christie: “I think that’s just a sign of his inexperience and if he can’t look me in the eye, he’s not going to be able to look Hillary Clinton in the eye, he’s certainly not going to be able to look Vladimir Putin in the eye.”

Trump Leads in South Carolina

January 18, 2016 at 5:33 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 23 Comments

A new Opinion Savvy survey in South Carolina finds Donald Trump leading the GOP presidential field with 32%, followed by Ted Cruz at 18%, Jeb Bush at 13%, Marco Rubio at 11% and Ben Carson at 9%.

Jeb Bush and an Uncouth Race

January 18, 2016 at 5:27 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 34 Comments

The New York Times notes that the “era of polite and high society — on the courts and playing fields of New England, in the halls of boarding schools and in the corridors of government — is fast fading. And in many ways, the travails of Mr. Bush’s presidential campaign can be seen as perhaps the last, wheezing gasp of the WASP power structure.”

“Against a frustrated, profoundly un-WASP-like Republican electorate that craves the visceral pugnaciousness of Donald J. Trump or the outsider anger of Senator Ted Cruz, Mr. Bush’s family values — of cordial restraint, of civil discourse, of earnest public service — can seem almost quaint.”

Trump Hints at Big Endorsement

January 18, 2016 at 4:37 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 85 Comments

Donald Trump says in a Facebook post that he’ll have a “special guest” at an Iowa event tomorrow.

Early speculation is that Sarah Palin will endorse Trump at the rally.

The Establishment Candidate Must Win Somewhere

January 18, 2016 at 4:03 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 2 Comments

This piece is only available to Political Wire members.

An emerging narrative suggests that an establishment Republican — such as Marco Rubio or Chris Christie — won’t need to win one of the early voting states because they can rack up delegates in traditional blue states like Massachusetts and California which vote later in the process.

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Has Donald Trump Met His Match In Ted Cruz?

January 18, 2016 at 3:35 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 40 Comments

Rick Klein: “Consider how Cruz is handling Trump – and yes, it’s Cruz handling Trump, and not the other way around. Trump has been trying to draw him out for months with small and often veiled attacks. Cruz refused to engage. Then the birther buzz began, courtesy of Trump. Cruz found an opening for what may go down as the most effective attacks of the race: ‘New York values.'”

“Cruz took his lumps for it. But he knows that being attacked by The New York Daily News, Bill de Blasio, and, especially, Hillary Clinton is a good thing in the Democratic primary. He’s now focused scrutiny on Trump’s past statements and positions – scrutiny he’s been able to avoid via his own bluster and media ubiquity until now.”

“Cruz has vulnerabilities of his own, including some that are only just now surfacing. Trump is now unloading on a man he now calls ‘a nasty guy’ whom ‘nobody likes.’ Cruz is savvy enough to know what kind of words hurt, and what’s just noise.”

RNC Officially Severs Ties with NBC on Debate

January 18, 2016 at 3:35 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 10 Comments

The RNC officially severed ties with NBC for what was supposed to be a Feb. 26 Republican primary debate in Houston, Politico reports.

“The committee voted via conference call Monday after negotiations with NBC failed, two sources familiar with the call confirmed. The RNC initially suspended the relationship with NBC on Oct. 30, following a debate on CNBC that angered many of the campaigns and the RNC for the network’s handling of the debate format and the moderators’ line of questioning.”