A new CBS News poll in Iowa finds Donald Trump leading the GOP field with 30%, followed by Ted Cruz at 21%, Ben Carson at 19%, Marco Rubio at 11% and Jeb Bush at 5%.
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Trump Way Ahead in South Carolina
A new CBS News poll in South Carolina shows Donald Trump leading the Republican presidential field with 35%, followed by Ben Carson at 19%, Marco Rubio at 16%, Ted Cruz at 13%, and Jeb Bush at 5%.
Trump Pledges to Bring Back Waterboarding
Donald Trump “says if he’s elected president, he’ll bring back enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding for enemy combatants,” The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “I think waterboarding is peanuts compared to what they’d do to us, what they’re doing to us, what they did to James Foley when they chopped off his head.”
He said he would “absolutely bring back interrogation and strong interrogation.”
Trump Leads Nationally for 4th Consecutive Month
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds Donald Trump leading the GOP field with 32%, followed by Ben Carson at 22%, Marco Rubio at 11%, Ted Cruz at 8% and Jeb Bush at 6%. No other candidate has more than 4% nationally.
In the Democratic race, Hillary Clinton leads with 60%, followed by Bernie Sanders at 34% and Martin O’Malley at 3%.
A new Fox News poll also shows Trump expanding his lead to 28%, followed by Carson by 18%, Cruz at 14%, Rubio at 14% and Bush at 5%.
Trump Holds Big Lead in New Hampshire
A new Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll in New Hampshire finds Donald Trump leading the GOP presidential race with 22%, followed by Marco Rubio at 11%, Ben Carson at 10%, Ted Cruz at 9% and John Kasich at 9%.
Interestingly, if Mitt Romney jumped into the race he would lead Trump, 31% to 15%.
Edwards Wins in Louisiana
John Bel Edwards (D) defeated Sen. David Vitter (R) in the race for Louisiana governor, the New Orleans Times Picayune reports.
Baton Rouge Advocate: “Voters’ rejection of Vitter was a stunning turn of events for the U.S. senator, who has been a political powerhouse in the state for years and started his campaign nearly two years ago as the race’s front-runner.”
Vitter surprised supporters with an announcement that he would not run for re-election to the Senate next year: “I’ve reached my personal term limit.”
Trump Steps Up Rhetoric on Muslims Again
Donald Trump “is ratcheting up his rhetoric about American Muslims, saying there’s precedent for monitoring some mosques amid the recent terror wave,” CNN reports.
Said Trump: “I want surveillance. I will absolutely take (a) database on the people coming in from Syria. If we can’t stop it — but we are going to if I win — they’re going back.”
Kamala Harris Faces Campaign Turmoil
“Turmoil and lackluster funding in California Attorney General Kamala Harris’s (D) Senate campaign has some Democratic operatives wondering what’s gone wrong,” The Hill reports.
“Harris this week replaced campaign manager Rory Steele with Juan Rodriguez, who was serving as the campaign’s senior adviser. Harris’ team is also cutting costs to control its high rate of spending, which threatens to overtake the money flowing into the campaign account. These changes follow departures by two finance directors earlier this year.”
“Critics point to Harris’s own personality as the reason for some of the problems.”
Did Jindal Quit Campaign to Sink Vitter?
“In Louisiana, it’s an open secret that Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) concluded a years-long blood feud with Vitter by ending his presidential campaign on Tuesday,” the Washington Post reports.
Said political reporter Julia O’Donoghue: “You can’t get anyone to admit it, but it’s what everyone thinks. We spent two days talking about refugees and then two days talking about Jindal. Those first two days were the only ones in the runoff when John Bel Edwards was on defense.”
GOP Lawmaker Says Refugees Looking for a ‘Paid Vacation’
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) says refugees fleeing war-torn Syria are trying to come to the U.S. for a “paid vacation,” The Hill reports.
Said Brooks: “I’m one of these folks that think we need to stop paying these folks to come here, and we’re paying them about $15,000 a year in free health care, free food, free shelter, free clothing, free transportation.”
He added: “You know, just go down the litany of wealth-transfer programs that these people are entitled to, and that answers very quickly why so many of them want to come to the United States of America, we’re paying them to come here. Paid vacation!”
Obamacare Sign Up Will Coincide with Election
“The next sign-up season for 2017 health coverage under the Affordable Care Act will begin just as the 2016 election campaigns draw to a close, under draft rules released by the Obama administration on Friday afternoon,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“That will leave millions of individuals to start considering their options under the law—and renewed publicity about it—shortly before voters go to the polls Nov. 8, 2016 to determine the next president, as well as congressional and state offices.”
Clinton Can’t Shake Wall Street Image
New York Times: “Mrs. Clinton’s windfalls from Wall Street banks and other financial services firms — $3 million in paid speeches and $17 million in campaign contributions over the years — have become a major vulnerability in states with early nomination contests. Some party officials who remain undecided in the 2016 presidential race see her as overly cozy with big banks and other special interests. At a time when liberals are ascendant in the party, many Democrats believe her merely having ‘represented Wall Street as a senator from New York,’ as Mrs. Clinton reminded viewers in an October debate, is bad enough.”
Edwards Holds Big Lead in Louisiana
The final Market Research Insight poll in Louisiana before today’s runoff for governor shows John Bel Edwards (D) solidly ahead of Sen. David Vitter (R), 52% to 40%.
Trump Backs Off Muslim Registry Idea
“Under assault from Democrats and Republicans alike, Donald Trump on Friday drew back from his call for a mandatory registry of Muslims in the United States, trying to quell one of the ugliest controversies yet in a presidential campaign like few others,” the New York Times reports.
“The daylong furor capped a week of one-upmanship among Republican presidential candidates as to who could sound toughest about preventing terrorism after the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris. Polls show the national mood has soured on accepting refugees from Syria amid concerns about potential terrorist attacks within the United States.”
Politico: Why the Muslim database won’t doom Trump
GOP Operative Seeks to ‘Defeat and Destroy’ Trump
“A well-connected GOP operative alarmed by the enduring strength of Republican Donald Trump’s presidential bid is planning a ‘guerrilla campaign’ backed by secret donors to knock him out of the race,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Liz Mair, former online communications director of the Republican National Committee, recently created Trump Card LLC to ‘defeat and destroy’ the celebrity businessman’s candidacy… The anti-Trump crusade aims to unite contributors who are backing a variety of the Republican primary candidates… Opposition research, grass roots organizing and donor outreach has been going on for weeks, Ms. Mair said, while declining to name any supporters.”
Hoyer Sees Possible Wave in 2016 for Democrats
“Republicans currently hold their largest majority in the House of Representatives since the New Deal and Democrats would need to flip 30 seats next November to regain control of the chamber. It’s a tall order, but Minority Whip Steny Hoyer isn’t ruling out a wave election next year,” Real Clear Politics reports.
Said Hoyer: “I’m not predicting at this point in time we’ll take the 30 seats we need, but I do not believe that is impossible either. I think it would be very possible that we could well do that.”
Brownback Beats Jindal as Most Unpopular Governor
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) “is the second-least popular governor is the nation, based on a new project that set out to find all governors’ approval ratings,” the Baton Rouge Advocate reports.
“The findings, compiled by Morning Consult, showed only Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) was viewed less favorably than Jindal, who this week ended his presidential run.”
King Says Obama Filling Country with Terrorists
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) told the Boston Herald that President Obamap’s upbringing in Indonesia has given him an entirely different idea of what America should be like.
Said King: “We just should remember that, when — where we grew up is — when we were in our grade school that’s when the world was right and we tend to want to recreate that idyllic scene in our adulthood thinking that’s the best thing for America. And in my case, it is. I grew up with Fun with Dick and Jane. Wonderful. But you know, while I was going on, he was going to a school in Indonesia, so his idea of America is entirely different than the idea that most Americans have of what we ought to be like, and he’s filling our country up with people that will continue to attack us.”
