A new Franklin Pierce University/Boston Herald poll in New Hampshire finds Donald Trump topping his rivals with 18% support, followed by Jeb Bush at 13%, John Kasich at 12%, and Sen. Ted Cruz at 10%.
Trump Leads in Iowa
A new Suffolk University poll in Iowa finds Donald Trump leading the GOP field with 17%, followed by Scott Walker at 12%, Marco Rubio at 10%, Ben Carson at 9%, Ted Cruz at 7%, Carly Fiorina at 7% and Jeb Bush at 5%.
Rubio Sticks to Sporadic Game Plan
New York Times: “The Rubio presidential campaign so far has been a lot of fits and starts: It impresses. It raises expectations. Then it goes quiet.”
“Mr. Rubio describes this rhythm as part of a long-term plan. Much like Jeb Bush, a fellow Floridian who refers to himself as ‘the tortoise’ on a slow and steady path, Mr. Rubio is aiming to keep his head down until the fall, when more voters will be paying attention.”
Roger Ailes Picked Donald Trump Over Megyn Kelly
New York Magazine: “Trump is now back in Fox’s fold, but the lengths that Ailes went to in order to win Trump back revealed a rare moment of weakness for the Fox chief. Since Trump’s ‘blood’ comment on Friday, some Fox executives have wanted Ailes to personally call Trump and broker a truce.”
“But resecuring Trump access could prove to be a temporary victory for Ailes. Having backed down to the GOP front-runner and all but sacrificed one of his biggest stars to appease the conservative base — a.k.a. Fox viewers — Ailes has set a dangerous precedent. The message is clear: Fox reports, but the audience decides.”
Bush Plans Foreign Policy Attack on Clinton
Jeb Bush “is planning to issue a full-throttle attack Tuesday night on the Obama administration’s handling of Iraq and terrorism issues, asserting that Hillary Clinton ‘stood by’ as secretary of state when the situation in Iraq deteriorated, creating the conditions that led to the rise of the Islamic State as the Obama administration reduced its troop level in Iraq,” the New York Times reports.
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I think that if no one stands up to a bully, a bully will just keep doing what they’re doing. We’ve got an empty suit here, full of bravado but not full of anything really meaningful for the country.”
— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by National Journal, on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
Donald Trump Remakes the Presidential Campaign
Rick Klein: “Donald Trump may fade – or crest at least – and summer will give way to new storylines of fall. But he’s already invented a new and remarkable campaign style that breaks molds and has uncanny ways of breaking through.”
“Start with the public events, the circus-like gatherings where Trump Force One touches down and the Donald unleashes himself on a crowd, tipping the room toward him. Then add the continuous stream of telephone interviews, where Trump’s voice lashes out in new and unpredictable ways, delivering on expectations almost without fail, and picking new fights from time to time. And then there’s Twitter, which Trump uses as a nuclear campaign button whenever, it seems, a thought or insult occurs to him.”
“For Republicans, and the broader political class, this represents the new normal. Nobody campaigns like Donald Trump. But there’s no campaigning anymore that doesn’t take into account that Donald Trump is in this campaign.”
Trump Quote of the Day
“Well I think he’s probably right, I am the most fabulous whiner. I do whine, because I want to win…I am a whiner, and I’m a whiner and I keep whining and whining until I win.”
— Donald Trump, quoted by The Hill, saying he agreed with conservative author Rich Lowry that he is “the most fabulous whiner in all of American politics.”
Cruz Says It’s Foolish to Criticize Trump
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) warned that the Republican presidential candidates who are slamming Donald Trump do so at their political peril, Politico reports.
Said Cruz: “I would … note that an awful lot of Republicans, including other Republican candidates, have gone out of their way to smack Donald Trump with a stick. Now I think that’s just foolish.”
Asked why, Cruz paused and then replied: “Donald Trump had a rally in Phoenix, Ariz. to which between 10 and 20 thousand people came out. When you attack and vilify the people at that rally as crazies, it does nothing to help Republicans win in 2016. I’d like every single person at that rally to show up and vote in 2016, knock on doors with energy and passion, and turn this country around.”
Perry’s Fundraising Dries Up
“Rick Perry’s presidential campaign is no longer paying its staff because fundraising has dried up, while his cash-flush allied super PAC is preparing to expand its political operation to compensate for the campaign’s shortcomings,” the Washington Post reports.
“Perry, who has struggled to gain traction in his second presidential run, has stopped paying his staff at the national headquarters in Austin as well as in the early caucus and primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, according to a Republican familiar with the Perry campaign who demanded anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.”
Lessig Mulls Presidential Bid
Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig is thinking of running for president, the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Lessig will announce that he will explore a protest bid for the Democratic nomination. If he can raise $1 million in small donations by Labor Day, Mr. Lessig said, he will run.”
Quote of the Day
“I certainly will not apologize for doing good journalism, so I’ll continue doing my job without fear or favor. This is a tough business and it’s time now to move forward.”
— Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, quoted by the New York Times, noting she would not respond directly to any of Donald Trump’s numerous insults and disparaging statements about her.
Trump Moves to Beef Up Campaign Staff
“Donald Trump is ready to move on,” Politico reports.
“After a weekend of controversy and campaign infighting, Trump embarked on an effort to bulk up a depleted staff and to flesh out specific policy proposals. But questions remained about how far his campaign would go to build up a first-rate political operation, and whether the moves were announced simply to change the conversation.”
Political Reporters Just Don’t Get Donald Trump
Jack Shafer: “Demagogues like Donald Trump exhaust the patience of the political press corps because reporters fundamentally misunderstand the candidate’s appeal.”
“Reporters like to think that logic and reason hold sway, so they believe a demagogue can be easily disarmed by exposing his crimes against logic, his pandering to the uninformed and his manipulative emotionalism. They’re entirely wrong—as the last month of The Donald’s unlikely rise to the top of the Republican presidential heap has demonstrated day after day.”
Club for Growth Backs Five Candidates
“The political arm of the Club for Growth is stepping up its involvement in the 2016 White House race, formally steering donations to five top Republican presidential contenders supported by its board,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
The chosen five: Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker and Jeb Bush.
“This marks the first time the influential conservative group has called on its members to write checks to presidential candidates and coincides with a separate effort to curb the progress of celebrity real-estate mogul Donald Trump by drawing attention to its concerns with his past statements.”
Donald Trump and Rogers Ailes Make Up
New York magazine: “Now, it appears both sides want peace. This morning, Trump tweeted that Ailes called to assure him that Fox will cover him ‘fairly’ going forward. According to two high-level Fox sources, Ailes’s diplomacy was the result of increasing concern inside Fox News that Trump could damage the network. Immediately following Thursday’s debate, Fox was deluged with pro-Trump emails. The chatter on Twitter was equally in Trump’s favor.”
Said one Fox News source: “In the beginning, virtually 100 percent of the emails were against Megyn Kelly. Roger was not happy. Most of the Fox viewers were taking Trump’s side.”
“Things got worse for Ailes over the weekend. In a phone conversation, Trump told Sean Hannity that ‘he was never doing Fox again,’ according to one person with knowledge of the call. The anti-Kelly emails, and threat of a boycott by Trump, seem to have pushed Ailes to defuse the war.”
Perry Stops Paying Staff in South Carolina
Rick Perry’s campaign team in South Carolina is no longer being paid by his presidential campaign, National Journal has learned.
Said Perry state director Katon Dawson: “Pay is only one reason people do this. We’ll be able to live off the land for a while.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“I realize that the best way to make news is to mention Donald Trump. That’s the gold standard for making news these days. So, I’ve decided to randomly put his name into my remarks at various points, thereby ensuring that the news media will cover what I have to say.”
– Gov. Bobby Jindal, quoted by the Washington Post.
