“But we have to negotiate great trade deals. I would get the best guys — Carl Icahn is a friend of mine. I’d say Carl, congratulations, handle China. I’d get other guys like Carl. I’d say, good luck, here’s Japan. Believe me, we will do so well. We will make so much.”
— Donald Trump, in an interview on Morning Joe.
The latest WMUR Granite State Poll finds Donald Trump is the top choice of 24% of likely GOP primary voters, doubling the support of Jeb Bush at 12% and Scott Walker at 11%, the only other candidate in double digits.
Key findings: “Not only has Trump surged to the head of the pack in New Hampshire, but also for the first time, he is now viewed favorably by more likely GOP primary voters than unfavorably. And, he is named as the candidate best able to handle key issues facing the nation, from the economy to terrorism, and from immigration to health care policy.”
“It violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it’s just an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or being elected president. And the same thing applies to governors, and U.S. Senators and congress members.”
– Former President Jimmy Carter, quoted by the Huffington Post.
You're reading the free version of Political Wire
Upgrade to a paid membership to unlock full access. The process is quick and easy. You can even use Apple Pay.
Washington Post: “Maybe it should have been a tip-off that the two 20-somethings were so overly excited to meet Scott Walker. Like dramatically excited. The young woman was literally bouncing with excitement. And the young man had a homemade sign declaring that the Republican governor should become president.”
“As Scott Walker smiled and put his arms around Tyler McFarland, 23, and Giselle Hart, 20, the sign flipped. Suddenly Walker was posing with a fake, game-show-style check made out to him from the billionaire Koch brothers, Charles Koch and David Koch, who plan to spend $889 million on the upcoming election.”
High-powered friends of Starbucks’ CEO Howard Schultz are reportedly eager to anoint him as a challenger to Hillary Clinton, Fortune reports.
“It would mark a shift for Schultz if he does enter the presidential ring. In an interview with Time in February, Schultz was adamant that he would not run for President in 2016: ‘I don’t think that is a solution. I don’t think it ends well,’ he said in the story. He threw a cautious endorsement of Clinton, saying he was content to ‘see what Hillary does.'”
A new CBS News/New York Times poll shows Donald Trump continuing to lead the crowded field of candidates with support of 24% of prospective Republican primary voters, followed by Jeb Bush at 13% and Scott Walker at 10%.
A new Bloomberg poll finds Trump at 21%, Bush at 10% and Walker at 8%.
“Vice President Biden would have to clear high hurdles to defeat Hillary Clinton if he launched a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination,” The Hill reports.
“The biggest one? Carving out a niche — and a reason for his candidacy — in a race that is being dominated by the former secretary of State.”
“The first thing I’m probably going to do is catch up on my sleep. I’ll probably do that for a couple of months.”
— President Obama, quoted by The Hill, on his post-presidential plans.
Politico: “It appears increasingly unlikely that Rick Perry will get a chance to atone for his disastrous 2012 debate performance — or attack his 2016 nemesis, Donald Trump — when Republicans spar for the first time Thursday in Cleveland.”
New York Times: “After weeks of preparing for a smash-mouth debate with Donald J. Trump, 14 Republican candidates found themselves instead Trump-less but sandwiched into a constricting format on Monday night, delivering strikingly uneven performances just days before the first big test of the presidential primary contest.”
“Rather than making the other contenders look more presidential, however, the event, at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., seemed to shrink the candidates. Assembled in the front row, the Republicans gawked as each rival took his or her turn on stage, looking at times as if they were being forced to sit through a tedious school assembly.”
“Republicans are divided over whether they should use this fall’s government funding bill to attack Planned Parenthood — and risk a high-stakes shutdown fight — after Senate Democrats blocked a standalone bill to defund the organization on Monday evening,” Politico reports.
“On one side is presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who’s pushing Republicans to do everything within their power to strip the organization of federal support after Monday’s bill failed to clear a filibuster, 53-46. But a group of veteran Republican legislators is urging a more cautious approach, and reminding GOP colleagues that just two years ago their fight to defund Obamacare via a government funding bill produced a disastrous shutdown without making a dent on the Affordable Care Act.”
A new Fox News poll finds Donald Trump leading the GOP presidential race with 26%, followed by Jeb Bush at 15%, Scott Walker at 9%, Ben Carson at 7%, Mike Huckabee at 6%, Ted Cruz at 6%, Marco Rubio at 5%, Rand Paul at 5%, Chris Christie at 3% and John Kasich at 3%.
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds Trump leading with 19%, followed by Walker at 15%, Bush at 14%, Carson at 10%, Cruz at 9%, Huckabee at 6%, Paul at 6%, Rubio at 5%, Kasich at 3%, Perry at 3% and Christie at 3%.
New financial disclosures show that Gov. Scott Walker has two credit-card debts of more than $10,000 apiece on separate cards and is paying an eye-popping 27.24 percent interest rate on one of them, National Journal reports.
“The Republican presidential candidate has cast himself as both a fiscal conservative leader and a penny-pinching everyman on the campaign trail, often touting his love of Kohl’s, the discount department store. His newly published financial disclosure shows that, like many Americans, Walker has few assets, some major debts (including more than $100,000 for student loans for his children), and a punishing interest rate on his credit-card obligations.”
A new Rutgers-Eagleton poll finds Donald Trump leading Gov. Chris Christie in a New Jersey GOP presidential primary, 21% to 12%, with Jeb Bush and Scott Walker back at 10%.
Gabriel Sherman: “According to the source, candidates will be chosen from the following polls: Monmouth University (released today), NBC News/Wall Street Journal (August 2), Quinnipiac University (July 30), Bloomberg, CBS/New York Times, and Fox News (all releasing tomorrow). If a poll from ABC News or another organization fitting Fox’s criteria is released overnight, then it will be swapped in.”
“Based on the five most recent polls that meet Fox’s standards, Trump will be center stage flanked by Jeb Bush and Scott Walker. On the bubble, it’s looking like Ohio governor John Kasich will edge out Rick Perry for the final spot. If current numbers hold, the remaining prime-time participants will be: Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie, Ben Carson, and Rand Paul.”
The Upshot: Who gets in the debate?
John Heilemann: “The Clintons and their adjutants.… comprehend, if dimly, that in the short term a Biden entry would make their lives sheer hell, and in the medium term could be quite dangerous, for three reasons beyond the obvious. First, it would radically exacerbate an already punishing set of media dynamics for Clinton…. Second, a Biden candidacy would escalate the Bernie Sanders threat…. Third, with Biden in the race, the Democratic establishment would have a viable alternative.”
“The absence of a plausible fallback option has been no small part of the reason the party’s panjandrums have been laboring to suppress their misgivings about the swirl of controversies around Clinton’s e-mail practices and her family’s foundation.”
A new Monmouth poll finds Donald Trump has widened his national lead to 26% and now holds a more than 2-to-1 advantage over his nearest Republican rivals, Jeb Bush at 12% and Scott Walker at 11%.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), the state’s top law enforcement officer, turned himself into jail to be booked on felony securities fraud charges, the Texas Tribune reports.
“Wearing a pin-striped suit and a red tie, he smiled slightly for his mugshot. Then, he was promptly released from the Collin County Jail on $35,000 bond… Afterward, he apparently slipped out of the courthouse undetected, avoiding the throng of waiting media and Democratic protesters.”
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.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.