The Lid: “Here’s what a big fundraising quarter at this stage of the political cycle doesn’t mean: 1) That those donors will be loyal to you if you falter in the future, and 2) that you’ll win your party’s nomination. In fact, we went back through the last three presidential cycles’ worth of Q3 reports and noticed that each one’s big winner (Rick Perry in 2011, Hillary Clinton in 2007, Mitt Romney in 2007 and Howard Dean in 2003) didn’t win their party’s nomination.”
McCarthy Tries to Walk Back Benghazi Comments
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) appeared on Fox News to walk back his comments that House Benghazi Committee was about taking down Hillary Clinton’s approval rating.
Said McCarthy :”This committee was set up for one sole purpose, to find the truth on behalf of the families of four dead Americans. Now I did not intend to imply in any way that that work was political. Of course it is not, look at the way they have carried themselves out. The point I was trying to make and I want to be very clear about this, I wasn’t saying the committee was political, that committee is solely to get the truth out.”
But as First Read notes, the Republican Party’s House campaign arm, ran the following fundraising solicitation yesterday: “You’re now a Benghazi Watchdog. Let’s go after Obama and Hillary Clinton. Help us fight them now.” It’s since been deleted.
Trump Quote of the Day
“There’s a lot of animosity on both sides. It’s an amazing thing. The level of animosity is incredible actually and it would be nice if the Republican Party, as an example, because that’s what we’re thinking about right now, if they could all come together and we could be friendlier.”
— Donald Trump, in an interview on Morning Joe.
Hickenlooper Worried About Clinton Campaign
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) became the latest Hillary Clinton supporter to express doubt about her candidacy for president, saying the 2016 election is “kind of grim, to be blunt,” the Denver Post reports.
Said Hickenlooper: “I don’t know where this whole thing is going to go in terms of her … (e-mail) server and whether there is something in there that is really going to turn out to have broken the law — which I think would be the death knell.”
Bush Super PAC Sends Tracker to Rubio Event
“The Florida family feud between Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio took a surprising turn on Thursday night when a tracker for a super PAC supporting the former governor tried to slip into an Iowa event for Rubio, whose staff quickly spotted and removed him,” Politico reports.
“The incident involving the Right to Rise super PAC stripped away another veneer of civility between the two friends-turned-campaign rivals, who have been slowly escalating their criticisms of one another.”
Quote of the Day
“I have not gone out licking the boots of billionaires and special-interest groups.”
— Ben Carson, quoted by Bloomberg.
McCarthy Hands Clinton Gift By Undermining Hearings
Hillary Clinton’s “upcoming appearance before the U.S. House Select Committee on Benghazi was supposed to be a crucible: a chance for Republicans to prosecute the former secretary of state for her handling of the 2012 terrorist attacks that killed four Americans as well as for her use of a private e-mail server,” the Washington Post reports.
“Instead, it may have turned into a political gift for Clinton following this week’s suggestion by the likely next House speaker, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), that the taxpayer-funded Benghazi investigation was politically motivated. Clinton’s allies say his comments will help recast Clinton’s scheduled Oct. 22 hearing as a partisan inquisition rather than a fact-finding mission about the attacks in Libya.”
“McCarthy boasted in two television interviews on Tuesday that the committee’s work already had achieved a desired result: Clinton’s decline in the polls.”
Operatives from Failed Campaigns Move to Bush
“It’s been almost two months since Jeb Bush was atop a Republican presidential poll in New Hampshire or South Carolina. He’s never quite been the top choice in Iowa. He’s fifth in a pair of national polls this week,” Bloomberg reports.
“But those numbers aren’t keeping Bush from picking up supporters around the country in the scramble to scoop up men and women from recently folded presidential campaigns.”
Obama Says Mass Killings Must Be Politicized
A “visibly angry” President Obama made an impassioned case that gun violence is “something we should politicize” following a mass shooting at an Oregon college, The Hill reports.
Said Obama: “This is a political choice that we make, to allow this to happen every few months in America. We collectively are answerable to those families who lose their loved ones because of our inaction.”
Politico: “Reiterating that “thoughts and prayers” are not enough, a visibly frustrated Obama called on state legislatures, governors and Congress to work with him to implement effective gun legislation that could prevent future shootings.”
Wonk Wire: Mass shootings since Sandy Hook
Trump Leads In Yet Another National Poll
A new Economist/YouGov poll finds Donald Trump leads the GOP presidential race with 25%, followed by Marco Rubio at 16%, Ben Carson at 15%, Ted Cruz at 9%, Carly Fiorina at 8%, Jeb Bush at 7% and Rand Paul at 4%.
Key finding: “The old conventional wisdom that Bush would be the inevitable GOP nominee seemed to disappear sometime in August as Trump remained on top in the polls. Today, more than a third of Republicans continue to regard Trump as the party’s likely nominee. Bush is far behind,”
Biden Eyes Political Operatives for Possible Role
Vice President Joe Biden’s “small team of political advisers has been quietly reaching out to Democrats who could join the campaign in senior roles, including State Department official Marie Harf and former Obama campaign official Paul Tewes,” the AP reports.
Romney Says Trump Will Not Be the Nominee
Mitt Romney said he sees the Republican contest breaking into two brackets: “the more insurgent, outspoken, tea party perhaps bracket” and “the more mainstream conservative bracket,” according to the Washington Post.
In the former, he placed Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. In the latter, Gov. Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio, Sen. Lindsey Graham, Carly Fiorina and Gov. John Kasich.
But Romney was definitive in predicting the front-runner’s fate: “Donald Trump will not be the nominee. Ultimately our nominee will come from the mainstream conservative bracket. I don’t know who that will be.”
CNN’s Virtual Reality Debate
Stephen Colbert looks at the latest technology promised for this month’s Democratic presidential debate.
Treasury Will Debt Limit Will on November 5
The Treasury Department said it would reach the debt limit a month earlier than was expected by many on Capitol Hill, Roll Call reports.
“Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told Congress in a new letter that thanks in part to lower-than-expected quarterly tax receipts, the extraordinary measures to forestall breaching the debt limit, combined with the new revenues, will run their course just a week after the resignation of Speaker John A. Boehner (R-OH) takes effect.”
Conway Has Lead for Kentucky Governor
A new Survey USA poll in Kentucky finds Jack Conway (D) leading Matt Bevin (R) in the race for governor, 42% to 37%, with Drew Curtis (I) at 7%.
Clinton Will Appear on ‘Saturday Night Live’
Hillary Clinton “is scheduled to appear on Saturday Night Live this weekend, the latest — and highest stakes — appearance of her current push to show her funny, personable side as the campaign heads into the critical first Democratic debate and she faces headwinds in Iowa and New Hampshire and a potential challenge from Vice President Joe Biden,” the New York Times reports.
“In a top-secret appearance that her campaign would not confirm, Mrs. Clinton will meet her comedic counterpart, Kate McKinnon, who has portrayed the former first lady to effusive praise… In order to appear, Mrs. Clinton turned down the chance to give the keynote address to the influential Human Rights Campaign, the country’s most powerful lesbian and gay rights group, which will allow her to make the debut SNL appearance of her 2016 campaign.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“We’ve really got a mess in the financial system with regard to campaigns right now… We’ve gotta rethink campaign finance.”
— Mitt Romney, quoted by the Huffington Post.
Clinton Maintains Big Lead in Democratic Race
A new USA Today/Suffolk University poll finds Hillary Clinton continues to lead the Democratic field with 41% — a double-digit drop in two months — followed by Bernie Sanders at 23% and Joe Biden at 20%.
