Gov. Scott Walker “has concluded he no longer has a path to the Republican presidential nomination and plans to drop out of the 2016 campaign, according to three Republicans familiar with his decision, who spoke on condition of anonymity,” the New York Times reports.
Said one insider: “The short answer is money. He’s made a decision not to limp into Iowa.”
Walker called a news conference in Madison at 6 p.m. ET.
Here’s what’s trending on Wonk Wire today:
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Frank Rich: “Far from being an apocalyptic harbinger of the end-times, it’s possible that his buffoonery poses no lasting danger. Quite the contrary: His unexpected monopoly of center stage may well be the best thing to happen to our politics since the arrival of Barack Obama.”
“In the short time since Trump declared his candidacy, he has performed a public service by exposing, however crudely and at times inadvertently, the posturings of both the Republicans and the Democrats and the foolishness and obsolescence of much of the political culture they share. He is, as many say, making a mockery of the entire political process with his bull-in-a-china-shop antics. But the mockery in this case may be overdue, highly warranted, and ultimately a spur to reform rather than the crime against civic order that has scandalized those who see him, in the words of the former George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, as ‘dangerous to democracy.'”
“Pope Francis will arrive at a military base outside the capital on Tuesday afternoon to open his first visit to the United States, and President Obama will be there to welcome him. It is a gesture the president has extended to virtually no other foreign visitor,” the New York Times reports.
“And little wonder. For Mr. Obama, there may be no more potent ally in the world in his quest to bend the arc of history, to use a favorite phrase, than a pope who helped him restore diplomatic relations with Cuba and who has spoken out on issues like economic inequality, immigration, climate change and criminal justice reform.”
A new CNN/ORC poll finds Hillary Clinton with a big lead in the Democratic presidential race at 42%, followed by Bernie Sanders 24% and Joe Biden 22%.
“Biden’s support comes almost entirely from Clinton’s camp. Without the vice president in the race, Clinton’s numbers climb by 15 percentage points, while Sanders’ increase by only 4 points — giving Clinton a nearly 2-to-1 lead at 57% to 28%, with O’Malley moving up to 2%.”
Jonathan Chait: “Donald Trump’s candidacy exposed a burning, and heretofore mostly concealed, resentment of immigrants among large segments of the Republican base. As the campaign has proceeded, it has exposed a second related resentment, which Republicans have only barely concealed: paranoia and hate against Muslim-Americans.”
First Read: “If you wanted another example of how Donald Trump — who helped lead the “birther” movement against President Obama during his first term in office — has negatively impacted the Republican presidential race, look no further than the last 72 hours… This is what happens when a party welcomes with open arms someone who continues to espouse ‘birther’ views — and when that someone leads the party’s presidential nominating race. Would we be discussing President Obama’s religion (again) and whether a person of Muslim faith can/should be president without Trump? Doubtful.”
“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.”
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.”
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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