Image 01 Image 03
Sign In or RegisterLogout

2016 Democratic Primary Tag

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on January 11, 2016 47 Comments
Bad news for Hillary Clinton as Fox News reported Monday that the FBI has expanded its investigation. What began as an investigation into Hillary's use of a personal email account during her tenure as Secretary of State due to classified information found on their home-brewed server has expanded to include examination of business conducted the The Clinton Foundation. Fox News reported:
"The agents are investigating the possible intersection of Clinton Foundation donations, the dispensation of State Department contracts and whether regular processes were followed," one source said. The development follows press reports over the past year about the potential overlap of State Department and Clinton Foundation work, and questions over whether donors benefited from their contacts inside the administration. The Clinton Foundation is a public charity, known as a 501(c)(3). It had grants and contributions in excess of $144 million in 2013, the most current available data.

Posted by Mike LaChance on January 11, 2016 17 Comments
In what would be a dream ticket for some and a nightmare to others, Bernie Sanders has been dropping some not-so-subtle hints that he would select Elizabeth Warren as his running mate. This would be a smart move on Bernie's part. He has been functioning as a stand-in for Warren and derives support from her wing of the Democratic Party. The left would be electrified. The rest of the country would be horrified as these two Neo-Marxists traveled the land promising to take wealth from some and give to others. Mohit Priyadarshi reports at The Inquistr:
Feel the Bern? Bernie Sanders Leads Hillary Clinton in New Poll, Tips Elizabeth Warren for Vice President Bernie Sanders’ supporters may finally have something to cheer about. The Vermont senator seems to be establishing a significant lead against fellow Democratic Party presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, with Fox News January polls tipping Sanders to be ahead of Clinton by a 50-37 percent margin among New Hampshire Democratic primary voters.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on January 10, 2016 9 Comments
After years of claiming to be pro-Second Amendment, Hillary Clinton has changed her tune and is now attacking Bernie Sanders on his one weakness with progressives / socialists: guns. ABCNews reports:
Following a week in which the president outlined his planned gun control actions, Hillary Clinton is hitting her rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, on his record -- and Sanders and his campaign are responding in full force, portraying the former Secretary of State as a flip-flopper. “When it really mattered, Senator Sanders voted with the gun lobby and I voted against the gun lobby,” Clinton told Chris Matthews on “Hardball” tonight.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on January 09, 2016 28 Comments
As we discussed last weekend, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' is wooing supporters of Republican presidential contender, Donald Trump. Not uncommon in a general election, reaching across party lines to glad-hand during primary season should be bizarre. But in this particular election cycle, both Trump and Sanders' strongest support comes from two strikingly similar groups of disenchanted Americans. Back to last weekend's post exploring this phenomenon:
Sound impossible? Data suggests otherwise. Though Trump has successfully syphoned off some traditional Republican supporters, the majority of his support base is comprised of a very particular kind of Democrat.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on January 06, 2016 23 Comments
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has made life difficult for centrist Democrats. Sanders self-identifies as a Democratic Socialist; a label most Democrats avoid like the plague. During and interview airing Tuesday, Hardball's Chris Matthews asked Hillary Clinton to explain the difference between a Democrat and a Socialist. Not once, not twice, but three times Matthews asked Hillary to explain how Democrats and Socialists are different. Clinton refused. Instead she talked about peace, love, and unity. Yes, really.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on January 04, 2016 19 Comments
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton may have shored up the Coast to Coast vote during an interview with New Hampshire's Conway Daily Sun.
she chatted with this reporter, who had asked her about UFOs in 2007 while working for the Cabinet Press in Milford, NH. She recalled that 2007 exchange with a smile and seemed to have fun discussing the topic. "Yes, I'm going to get to the bottom of it," said Clinton with enthusiasm. Back in 2007, Clinton had said that the No. 1 topic of freedom-of-information requests that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, received at his library was UFOs. Last year, Bill Clinton told late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel that he wouldn't be surprised if Earth is visited by aliens since so many planets out there may support life.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on January 03, 2016 34 Comments
Donald Trump has attracted a somewhat unorthodox foe -- Democratic presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders. Because the 2016 election cycle hasn't been bizarre enough, we now have a self-professed Democratic-socialist candidate actively attempting to woo supporters away from the Republican frontrunner during primary season.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on January 01, 2016 10 Comments
In the wake of news that only one person showed up at a Martin O'Malley event in Iowa, news that he has failed to make the ballot in Ohio is probably unwelcome for the floundering campaign. The Hill reports:
Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley failed to qualify for the ballot in Ohio. A spokesman for the Ohio secretary of state confirmed to The Hill on Thursday that O'Malley did not get the necessary 1,000 signatures to appear on the March 15 ballot. O'Malley's campaign submitted 1,175 signatures, but only 772 were found to be valid, according to the secretary's office. "While this news is disappointing, we are exploring all of our options," Haley Morris, a spokeswoman for O'Malley, said in a statement. Morris said that O'Malley will "campaign vigorously" in the Buckeye State and noted that he is on the ballot in 18 other states. O'Malley, a former Maryland governor, has failed to gain traction for his 2016 Democratic bid, placing well behind former secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in recent polls.
For his part, however, O'Malley is not giving up on his campaign just yet and has opened a new campaign HQ in Waterloo [insert obvious one-liners here].

Posted by Mike LaChance on December 30, 2015 4 Comments
Democrat presidential candidate Martin O'Malley held a campaign event in Iowa Monday and one single person showed up. In O'Malley's defense, it was snowing in Iowa but still... one guy? Here's the worst part, the guy left uncommitted. Nick Gass reported at Politico:
One person shows up to O'Malley event in Iowa, remains uncommitted Amid a vicious winter storm on Monday that forced some presidential campaigns to cancel their scheduled stops in Iowa, only Martin O'Malley decided to press on. And one man at his last event, the only person to show up, in fact, "was glad to see me," the former Maryland governor said. But he still would not commit to caucus for O'Malley.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on December 27, 2015 8 Comments
Jim Webb dropped out of the 2016 Democrat primary in October due to low polling, low fundraising, and low voter enthusiasm, but as Amy noted at the time, his team was even then making noises about an independent run. Those noises have become much more noticeable as Webb has launched direct attacks on Hillary regarding her tenure as Secretary of State and her specific mishandling of Libya (not, however, anything about #Benghazi) and the "Arab Spring" debacle. https://twitter.com/JimWebbUSA/status/680750510236897280 Writing on Facebook, Webb railed against Hillary's "inept" mismanagement and "nonsensical" comments; he even takes a shot at the lapdog media for not holding her to account.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 22, 2015 9 Comments
Hillary Clinton flat-out lied when she claimed during the Democratic Debate on December 19, 2015, that ISIS was showing videos of Donald Trump's immigration comments as a recruiting tool. Despite the lack of any proof of the video claim, Team Hillary is refusing to apologize, and instead has fallen back on the more general claim that Trump still is ISIS's best recruiting tool:
“He is becoming ISIS’s best recruiter,” she said. “They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists.”… When asked if Mrs. Clinton would apologize, Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said, “Hell no. Hillary Clinton will not be apologizing to Donald Trump for correctly pointing out how his hateful rhetoric only helps ISIS recruit more terrorists.”
Really? One can disagree with Trump's comments AND acknowledge that Hillary lied and Team Clinton is distracting from Clinton's own failures as Secretary of State.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 21, 2015 13 Comments
In early October 2015 we wrote about an academic study showing Democrats Moving Left Faster Than Republicans Moving Right:
The meme we’ve been hearing for years is that radical right-wing “hard liners” are hijacking the Republican party and forcing it to the right; however, an interesting new study argues that Democrats are moving more quickly to the left than Republicans are moving to the right. It also indicates that the Democrats’ move leftward has had the unintended consequence of moving state legislatures to the right.
A Gallup survey released today confirms that Democrats are moving left
Democrats' desire for a "liberal" or "very liberal" candidate has grown, from 30% in 2007 to 36% now. However, the largest share of Democrats and Democratic leaners -- 40% -- still mostly prefer a moderate candidate. This desire has shrunk somewhat from 48% in 2007. Because of these shifts, Democrats are now about as likely to say they prefer a liberal nominee (36%) as a moderate nominee (40%), while in 2007, they had a clearer preference for a moderate (48%) than for a liberal (30%)....

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 20, 2015 39 Comments
Hillary Clinton flat-out lied during the Democratic Debate on Saturday night. Throughout the debate, even when not the subject of a question, the candidates tried to out-do each other in condemning Donald Trump. It was a preview of a general election strategy. At one dramatic point, Hillary claimed that Trump's comments about a temporary halt to Muslim immigration were being used in ISIS videos as a recruiting tool. It was not a claim made in isolation. It came as Clinton tried to explain her ISIS and refugee strategies in the face of an American public which strongly (though not majority) supports Trump's position. This was Hillary's opportunity to convince the public that people need not give in to fear. Rather than making the case, Hillary just made stuff up:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on December 19, 2015 13 Comments
Three Democratic presidential candidates are about to try their luck at the third Democratic debate of the 2016 election season at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, making this the midway debate stop for Democratic candidates. Only six Democratic presidential primary debates are currently scheduled for the 2016 season. Sponsored by ABC News, the New Hampshire Union Leader has joined the network as a co-sponsor for tonight's debate. Compared to Republican presidential debates, the Democratic field is tiny. Only three candidates will debate one another tonight: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O'Malley. But the spotlight is largely on two: former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. CBS News reported:
ABC News has said questions will focus on national security issues and foreign policy, following the deadly terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. Heading into the debate, Hillary Clinton is leading the pack by wide margins, with Sanders trailing the former secretary of state by 31 points in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.
With data breaches, law suits, and allegations of DNC favoritism towards Mrs. Clinton, this should be quite the show. Livestream available here:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on December 18, 2015 9 Comments
There is not enough popcorn in the world for this one. This is going to be one heckuva show. Politico reported this evening:
Bernie Sanders' campaign on Friday sued the Democratic National Committee for suspending its access to the national voter database, saying the move threatens to undermine the Vermont senator's presidential run. Even as the campaign admitted its staffers had inappropriately reviewed and saved Hillary Clinton campaign data made available as a result of a software error, it emphatically accused the DNC of sabotage and of blatantly favoring Clinton.
This afternoon, Sanders' campaign threatened to sue. Shortly thereafter, they made good on that threat:

Posted by Mike LaChance on December 18, 2015 5 Comments
The last Democratic primary debate was on a Saturday night and the next one is this Saturday night. The one after that will be on a Sunday night. What's going on here is so clear that even liberal journalists have to admit it. Frank Bruni of the New York Times:
The Invisible Democratic Debates What a shamefully imbalanced primary season this has been. For all their flaws and fakery, the Republican candidates have squared off frequently, at convenient hours and despite the menacing nimbus of Donald Trump’s hair; the Democratic candidates have, in contrast, hidden in a closet. Tuesday night’s meeting of Republicans, who sparred in Las Vegas over how to keep America safe, was the fifth. The meeting of Democratic presidential candidates in a few days will be only the third. And who’s going to watch it? It’s on a Saturday night, when a political debate ranks somewhere between dialysis and a Milli Vanilli tribute concert as a desirable way to unwind.

Posted by Mike LaChance on December 16, 2015 5 Comments
It's funny to watch Hillary Clinton attack empty slogans when her party is built on them. In a campaign stop in Minnesota, she thought she was going after Republicans but as Daniel Bassali of the Washington Free Beacon notes, some people heard it differently:
Hillary Clinton Inadvertently Hits Obama: ‘Shallow Slogans Don’t Add Up To A Strategy’ Meant to be a subtle jab at her Republican rivals, Hillary Clinton inadvertently took a dig at President Barack Obama’s current strategy in fighting the Islamic State during her national security speech in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Tuesday. The Democratic frontrunner directly rebuked the concept of containing ISIS, something Obama claimed to have accomplished just hours before the coordinated terrorist attacks that killed 130 people in Paris.
Accessibility by WAH