First Read: “We can count as many as 18 potential GOP presidential candidates… So the questions become: How do you fit them all on one stage in the first debate set for August? Do you leave some out, including current and former governors and senators? Or do you hold two different debates in one night — with nine candidates in one hour, and another nine the next? Those are all questions after an earlier suggestion that Republicans might cap the first debate to nine to 12 participants, which would mean that some prominent names might be excluded. National Journal reports that the Republican National Committee is walking back the talk about a cap.”
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Pence Will Run for Re-Election
Any speculation that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) “would pass on a re-election bid following a highly contentious start to 2015 was extinguished Monday,” the Indianapolis Star reports.
The Indiana Republican Party issued a statement saying Pence would formally announce that he’d be seeking re-election in 2016 during the party’s Spring Dinner in June.
Is Fox News Hurting the GOP?
Wonk Wire looks at a fascinating study that says it is.
Clinton Addresses ‘Third Term’ Chatter
Hillary Clinton has started to address a critical issue about her candidacy — the loaded “third term” question, the New York Times reports.
Said Clinton: “We’re going to make clear, I’m not running for my husband’s third term or for President Obama’s third term. I’m running to make history on my own.”
Christie Now Opposes Pathway to Citizenship
Govl Chris Christie “said that he now opposes providing a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, something he supported as recently as 2010,” Bloomberg reports.
Failed Candidate Plotted Attack Against Muslims
Failled Tennessee congressional candidate Robert Doggart (R) “admitted he spent months gathering weapons and plotting an all-out assault on the small Muslim enclave in Delaware County, New York,” the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports.
In a recorded phone call, Doggart told a woman “we’re gonna be carrying an M4 with 500 rounds of ammunition, light armor piercing. A pistol with 3 extra magazines and a machete. And if it gets down to the machete, we will cut them to shreds.”
GOP Hopefuls Step Up Attacks on Bush
“Attacks on Jeb Bush are ramping up even before he enters the 2016 presidential race, with fellow Republicans questioning everything from his conservative bona fides to whether he is prepared for a long campaign to become the party’s nominee,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“It highlights the core challenge of Mr. Bush’s expected formal entry into the campaign: a family name that has given him outsize attention and access to an unparalleled fundraising network that at the same time could make it difficult for him to forge a political independence. It also shows that even though Mr. Bush’s political standing is weaker in Iowa than elsewhere, he remains the focus of the race, with the other presidential hopefuls implicitly defining themselves against him.”
Quote of the Day
“I’ll sum it up for you. Gold diggers gotta dig. That’s all I gotta say.”
— Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), quoted by the Tampa Bay Times, on his divorce battle with his wife.
Clinton Received $225K from Bush-Owned Company
Hillary Clinton “received nearly a quarter of a million dollars last year for a speaking engagement on behalf of Academic Partnerships, a for-profit education company in which Jeb Bush held an ownership stake and on whose board he served,” The Intercept reports.
Super PACs Go Local
National Journal: “Super PACs have made a name for themselves in federal races, where multimillion-dollar behemoths such as American Crossroads and Senate Majority PAC have become almost as important as the campaigns and party committees themselves. They’re expected to play an even larger role in next year’s Republican presidential primaries, when many of them will have far more money at their disposal than the campaigns themselves.”
“But super PACs might be poised to have the most influence in the races farthest away from the national spotlight. The largesse of a few wealthy donors can struggle to make a dent in hyper-competitive Senate and presidential races, where even tens of millions of dollars are just drops of water in the ocean. In smaller races, however, a few million or even thousands of dollars can swing the outcome. And the potential for that kind of influence could encourage their proliferation in races that usually don’t see the kind of big-time spending of their federal brethren.”
Everyone Already Knows Hillary Clinton
New York Times: “Republican presidential hopefuls will spend millions of dollars trying to get voters to remember their names and something that sets them apart. But the one White House contender who needs no introduction faces a different sort of problem: Everybody knows Hillary Rodham Clinton.”
“She did not just co-star in a national soap opera during her husband’s eight-year presidency: She reinvented herself as a senator from the nation’s biggest media market, New York; reintroduced herself again, this time to the nation, as a presidential candidate in 2008 and then remade herself into the country’s chief diplomat. She never left the stage.”
Clinton Emails Won’t Be Released Until Next Year
“More than 50,000 pages of emails from Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state might not be made public until early 2016,” the New York Times reports.
“In response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed this year, the State Department said that reviewing 55,000 pages of exchanges from Mrs. Clinton’s private email account would be labor-intensive and time-consuming.”
Stephanopoulos Signed $105 Million Contract
George Stephanopoulos renewed his contract with ABC last year for $105 million, the New York Post reports.
“The seven-year deal — which dwarfs the five-year, $50 million contract scored by since-suspended NBC rival Brian Williams — was supposed to keep Stephanopoulos in front of ABC’s cameras through 2021. But now his credibility, and future, have been called into question since he admitted Friday that he had donated $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation since 2011, just as the presidential race gears up with Hillary Rodham Clinton the leading Democrats.”
Another Bonus Quote of the Day
“They want me to stay.”
— Gov. Chris Christie (R), quoted by the New York Times, explaining why a poll showed that New Jersey residents, by a 65% to 29% margin, think he would not make a good president.
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“Members deserve to be paid, staff deserves to be paid and the cost of living here is causing serious problems for people who are not wealthy to serve in this institution. We aren’t being paid properly.”
— Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL), quoted by Roll Call, arguing that his $174,000 annual salary isn’t enough.
Obama Foundation Raised $5 Million in First Year
Politico: “The foundation set up to raise money for President Barack Obama’s presidential library in Chicago brought in $5.4 million in donations and pledges during its first year in operation… Obama’s foundation has not announced a specific fundraising goal, but it is expected to seek to raise in excess of $500 million to build the library.”
Best Tweet Response of the Day
Good question, @billclinton. The handle comes with the house. Know anyone interested in @FLOTUS?
— President Obama (@POTUS) May 18, 2015
Bonus Quote of the Day
“They want you to think that there’s a government spook listening in every time you pick up the phone or Skype with your grandkids. They want you to think of our intelligence community as the bad guys, straight out of The Bourne Identity or a Hollywood thriller, and they want you to think that if we weakened our capabilities, the rest of the world would love us more. Let me be clear: All these fears are baloney.”
— Gov. Chris Christie (R), quoted by the Huffington Post, defending the National Security Agency.
