“I’ve known almost every person that’s run for president since I’ve been twenty-nine years old and it all gets down to personal considerations, because you have no right as an individual to decide to run. Your whole family is implicated.”
— Vice President Joe Biden, in an interview with America magazine, on whether he’ll run for president in 2016.
Bloomberg: “The signs of Walker’s precipitous fall were all too vivid Sunday afternoon inside Serena’s Coffee Café in Amana, Iowa, where about 40 stoic supporters showed up for his first retail campaign event in the state since Wednesday’s debate. Gone were most of the network television cameras that had followed Walker much of the summer. Just one network was on hand, along with one reporter-photographer from a nearby station in Cedar Rapids. A second event at a Pizza Ranch in Vinton, Iowa, brought out another small crowd, along with one local TV camera.”
“Walker lingered at both events, shaking virtually every hand. He’d woken Sunday morning to news that he’d fallen below 1 percent in the most recent national CNN poll, a new all-time low for his candidacy that could further rattle donors.”
Politico: “A short-term CR will be very difficult for any number of reasons, but the controversy over Planned Parenthood is perhaps the biggest one. The dispute over continued funding for the organization has added a hyperemotional element to what already is a hyperpartisan and dysfunctional budget process. Some Republicans have vowed never to vote for any legislation — including a CR — that maintains this funding, while the White House has promised to veto any bill that ends it. With Congress not likely to have the votes to override a veto, this issue alone could easily bring government operations to a halt on Oct. 1.”
“As if that wasn’t enough, the inability of congressional Republicans in recent days to stop the Obama-negotiated Iran deal from going into effect has increased their already high frustration with the White House. Some GOP representatives and senators are now considering using the CR to stop the agreement by including language preventing the State Department from spending money to implement the deal. That, too, likely would result in a presidential veto that would not be overridden.”
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The Hill: “Republicans want to use Pope Francis’s visit to Congress this week — the first-ever by a pontiff — to highlight their opposition to abortion rights. Democrats, meanwhile, hope the pope will lend new momentum to their efforts to address climate change, reform immigration law and win public approval for a nuclear deal with Iran.”
“Papal experts say Francis’s address to a joint session of Congress Thursday is unlikely to fit wholesale into either party’s agenda, though they expect it to be more of a headache for Republicans.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders drew an estimated 3,000 people to a boisterous rally here Sunday night at the University of New Hampshire, about five times as many people as rival Hillary Clinton attracted to an event two days ago at the same campus, the Washington Post reports.
Said Sanders: “You may not know this, but what you’re part of tonight is the largest turnout for any presidential candidate in New Hampshire.”
“Garbage men get used to the smell of bad garbage.
— Speaker John Boehner, in an interview with Politico, on the endless hours he spends fundraising.
A new Siena poll in finds Hillary Clinton is viewed unfavorably by more New Yorkers than those who have a favorable view of her for the first time ever, 51% to 46%.
Her favorability rating has seen a net drop of 21 points since July.
The super-PAC supporting Gov. John Kasich’s campaign for president is invoking Donald Trump’s iconic helicopter in a new TV commercial that will target New Hampshire voters this week, Bloomberg reports.
Ben Carson is standing by his view that a Muslim should not be president of the United States, telling The Hill in an interview that whoever takes the White House should be “sworn in on a stack Bibles, not a Koran.”
Said Carson: “I do not believe Sharia is consistent with the Constitution of this country. Muslims feel that their religion is very much a part of your public life and what you do as a public official, and that’s inconsistent with our principles and our Constitution.”
Sarah Palin defended the arrest and suspension of Ahmed Mohamed, a 14-year-old Muslim student from Texas, after he brought a homemade clock to school, MSNBC reports.
Palin said the initial reports about Mohamed and his clock were “fishy,” and concluded with “Right. That’s a clock, and I’m the Queen of England.”
Gov. John Kasich is clarifing his recent comment about Latinos, saying they “occupy jobs from top to bottom,” Politico reports.
The GOP presidential hopeful’s clarification comes after he stirred controversy with a comment that critics said reduced Latino immigrants to a stereotype of hotel maids.
Said Kasich: “To be clear, I believe that, from top to bottom, Hispanics play a critical role in America, not only today, but going forward.”
Donald Trump dismissed critics who have accused him of failing to stand up for Muslim Americans after a controversial town hall exchange last week, the Washington Post reports.
Said Trump: “I have friends that are Muslims. They are great people, they are amazing people…but we certainly do have a problem. I mean, you have a problem throughout the world. You have radicals that are doing things. I mean, it wasn’t people from Sweden that blew up the World Trade Center.”
“If you agree I’m huggable and the American people agree I’m huggable then I’m going to be the 45th president of the United States. I don’t think there’s going to be any doubt about that.”
— Gov. Chris Christie, in a CNN interview.
Contrary to reports suggesting Vice President Joe Biden’s wife remains an obstacle to his potential presidential run, sources tell NBC News that Jill Biden is fully behind him for another bid.
“And that looks more likely by the day. Sources have indicated that Biden’s been meeting with Democratic leaders during his travels around the nation over the past week to tell them he wants to do it and thinks there’s room for him to make a credible bid if he does.”
Donald Trump refused to tell NBC News say if he would be comfortable with a Muslim president.
Said Trump: “Would I be comfortable? I don’t know if we have to address it right now. But I think it is certainly something that could happen. Some people have said it already happened, frankly — but of course you won’t agree with that.”
Donald Trump told ABC News that Carly Fiorina was responsible for “one of the worst deals made in business history” while CEO of Hewlett Packard and that “she destroyed the company that she was at before then.”
Said Trump: “I mean she’s been terrible. And, you know, she’s got a good pitter patter, but if you listen to her for more than five minutes straight, you get a headache.”
Ben Carson told NBC News he would not support a Muslim as President of the United States.
Said Carson: “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that.”
He also said that Islam, as a religion, is incompatible with the Constitution.
A new NBC News/Survey Monkey poll finds Donald Trump continues to lead the crowded GOP presidential field with 29%, followed by Ben Carson at 14%, Carly Fiorina at 11%, Jeb Bush at 8%, Ted Cruz at 7% and Marco Rubio at 7%. No other candidates gets more than 3% support.
Interestingly, nearly a third of Republican voters now say that they expect Trump will be the eventual nominee.
A new CNN/ORC poll finds Trump leading with 24%, followed by Fiorina at 15%, Carson at 14%, Rubio at 11%, Bush at 9%, Cruz at 6% and Mike Huckabee at 6%.
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.
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