Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) said he would “cut his family vacation in Cuba short to address the fatal shooting of two more black residents by a city police department already under federal investigation over its use of deadly force,” Reuters reports.
“The decision comes after activists stepped up calls for Emanuel’s resignation over his handling of policing in the nation’s third-largest city.”
“There are people out there — lots of people, men and women — who think it’s time for a woman president. My message to them will be, ‘How about an honest woman?'”
— Carly Fiorina, quoted by The Hill.
Ben Carson said his campaign plans “alterations” to respond more aggressively to challenges to his life story and foreign policy expertise that have created a negative impression of him with some voters, Bloomberg reports.
Said Carson: “We have kind of taken a nonchalant attitude. That’s the wrong thing to do, so you will see much more aggressiveness in that region.”
“Super PACs may not be the unrivaled political force many have predicted — at least in Iowa, the Des Moines Register reports.
“The groups, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on behalf of candidates, have spent $26.6 million to benefit candidates’ Iowa campaigns through Dec. 12. But many of them have little to show for their investment.”
“More than a third of that money has gone to support candidates who have dropped out of the race, and another third has gone to support former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a Republican who is polling in single digits.”
“When it comes to Donald Trump’s threat to go after Bill Clinton as the former president ramps up campaigning for his wife’s bid, Mike Huckabee is all in on his Republican rival,” Politico reports.
Said Huckabee: “Look, nothing’s backfired on Donald Trump yet. I’d put my money on him. Frankly, he’s played the whole media game like a kid on Christmas morning with a toy drum. He’s beaten the heck out of them, and I honestly don’t think that this is going to hurt Donald Trump … and I think the Clintons have some vulnerability here.”
“It’s been a pretty amazing year, no question about it. Highs and lows. Obviously, going through a process like this is pretty brutal. Everybody told me that it would be, so that doesn’t particularly surprise me.”
— Ben Carson, in an interview with the Washington Post.
MSNBC: “While the Democratic race largely fell into line with early expectations – Hillary Clinton fending off a challenge from the left – the Republican primary has been chaos from its first moments. It feels like every time polls, fundraising, and news coverage start to point one direction, things swerve in another: Front-runners turn into underdogs and then disappear entirely; candidates branded as novelties turn into political powerhouses; and broad theories of how modern American politics work are tested to their limits.”
“We compiled a sampling of once-popular assumptions about the GOP race that have been overtaken by events in 2015. As you might expect, one candidate in particular tends to dominate the list.”
Reuters: “An independent computer security researcher uncovered a database of information on 191 million voters that is exposed on the open Internet due to an incorrectly configured database… The database includes names, addresses, birth dates, party affiliations, phone numbers and emails of voters in all 50 U.S. states and Washington.”
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball presents 48 maps electoral maps from 1824 to 2012.
“Throughout American history, electoral coalitions have been born with fanfare. Then they age and die just like their founders, replaced by some other temporary alignment. Some majorities are flash-in-the-pan but others, like the New Deal coalition, survive for decades, deteriorating only gradually. It will be interesting to see whether the newest in the long line, the Obama majority, continues, dies, or goes into hibernation next year.”
Reuters reports that Pentagon officials “have been throwing up bureaucratic obstacles to thwart the president’s plan to close Guantanamo. Partly as a result of the Pentagon’s maneuvers, it is increasingly doubtful that Obama will fulfill a pledge he made to close the detention center at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.”
Donald Trump slammed the Republican Party of Virginia for its plan to require that 2016 primary voters sign a statement confirming they are Republicans, the Washington Post reports.
“Trump and others say the requirement could discourage independent and first-time voters from casting primary ballots in Virginia, where primaries are open to all registered voters. According to some experts, the voter pledge has the potential to hurt Trump in particular, because his unorthodox candidacy has attracted voters disenchanted with traditional party politics.”
Donald Trump told ABC News that he had no idea he would sustain such a dramatic lead over his rivals for the GOP presidential nomination.
Said Trump: “It’s a very, very big lead, so I didn’t think that we would have that.”
He added: “I am winning. I am beating everybody and, in my opinion, beating Hillary is easier than beating these people.”
Stephen Colbert says Donald Trump is playing his old character better than he ever could, The Hill reports.
Said Colbert: “He’s completely playing on an emotional level – and so beautifully. I mean, it’s one of the reasons why I just can’t do that old character anymore, because he’s doing it better than I ever could, because he’s willing to drink his own Kool Aid and manufacture and distribute it, because he’s got all the cash.”
He added: “I’m not the first person to say this, but I completely agree that he’s my old character with $10 billion.”
“I’m just hoping that as we go forward he’s going to be a unifier. Because I’m going to tell you, you can’t win the White House without winning Ohio. If we have a candidate that comes into Ohio who is a divider, there’s no chance they’re going to win it.”
— Gov. John Kasich, quoted by The Hill, noting that Donald Trump has “toned down the rhetoric” lately.
New York Times: “Since the release last month of video showing a white Chicago police officer firing 16 shots into a black teenager named Laquan McDonald, Mr. Emanuel has been a mayor under siege. A debate over race and policing has swept through many cities this year, but its arrival here has pointed an especially strong spotlight on City Hall. And the fatal shooting of two people by the police Saturday morning, one of them a 19-year-old man with possible mental health problems and the other a 55-year-old bystander, intensified the scrutiny.”
“Even before this, Mr. Emanuel had a complicated, uncertain relationship with some of Chicago’s black residents over the closing of nearly 50 schools and a struggle to slow gang-related gun violence. Those issues helped force him into a difficult runoff election this year as he sought a second term as mayor.”
GQ named Emanuel to its list of “The Worst People of 2015.”
“I think that Donald Trump or any candidate on the other side of the aisle would raise Bill Clinton as somehow a negative to their peril.”
— DNC Chair Debbe Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), in an interview with NBC News.
Politico: “Forget Iowa, which Cruz appears to be locking up. It’s New Hampshire that will cull this field. And with Christie, Bush and John Kasich making this first primary state the singular focus of their campaigns, and Rubio, should he lose Iowa, needing a top-tier finish, the fight to be the mainstream alternative to Cruz or Trump could end here.”
“If Trump wins the Feb. 9 primary a week after Cruz wins Iowa, only one or two candidates finishing behind him will likely have the momentum to carry on. If four or even five candidates split the vote of an establishment electorate that never coalesces behind one standard bearer, there may be only hollow victories to declare on primary night because none will have the firepower to challenge Cruz or Trump in South Carolina.”
For members: A four-way battle for the GOP establishment
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.