Image 01 Image 03
Sign In or RegisterLogout

2016 Democratic Primary Tag

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 27, 2015 6 Comments
We might have a new contender for Worst Campaign Video of the Season... thus far. Set to Stacy's Mom by Fountains of Wayne, an unfortunately catchy ditty from 2003, Chelsea's Mom appears to be pro-Hillary campaign tune. This string rendition begins with four dudes sitting in a campaign office singing "Chelsea's Mom has got it going on" into their phones. It's all downhill from there. "Chelsea do you remember back in ninety-three-e-e-e-e? Your Mom was quite the First Lady, I think you'd agree-e-e-e. She and Bill lead the nation what a wonderful pai-ai-ai-air." I wish I was joking.

Posted by Jay Caruso on June 24, 2015 10 Comments
Despite not having taken the step to even announce that he's considering to announce a possible announcement about a run for the presidency, Joe Biden's people are quietly saying he will decide soon. Biden's entry into the race would certainly shakes things up. Despite the Hillary juggernaut, Biden could be a formidable opponent, and would certainly poll better as a candidate than he is now as Vice President. As for the potential run, CNN reports:

In just more than a month, Biden will determine whether or not to make another go at the top job. And while many Democrats say they're doubtful he will launch a presidential campaign, his supporters are holding out hope he decides to challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

As he steps back into public life, Biden has set an early August deadline for making his intentions known, said a Democrat familiar with his thinking. Before his son's death, Biden consistently said he wasn't ruling out making a third bid for president.

U.S. News and World Report first reported Biden's August deadline. His office declined to comment on Biden's presidential aspirations.

On the question of polling, Hillary at this point has a commanding lead:

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on June 22, 2015 14 Comments
Self-described socialist and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has a record of being remarkably supportive of the Second Amendment.  (Remarkable because he's a favorite among progressives.)   Considering the leftward movement of the Democratic party and their avid support for all sorts of gun control, this could be a potential problem for Sanders. In the wake of the Charleston shootings, Sanders was asked about gun control, and despite the president's latest push, he was very cautious in his response.  CNN reports:

Two days after a white man walked into a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, and killed nine people, the Vermont senator and presidential candidate took a cautious approach on gun control Friday when speaking with reporters after an event in Las Vegas.

"I think the people of Vermont understand that guns in Vermont are different than guns in Chicago or guns in Los Angeles," Sanders said, telling the assembled journalists that he thinks "it is wrong" when people are "in some cases suicidal and in some cases homicidal" are "still being able to purchase guns."

Sanders, saying his home state of Vermont has "zero gun control," acknowledged that different parts of the country have different outlooks on guns.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 18, 2015 20 Comments
Sid Blumenthal's testimony before the House Select Committee on Benghazi created even more questions about former Secretary Clinton's private email usage. Blumenthal provided the committee with 60 new emails; emails the committee says the State Department did not provide. The State Department kicked the can back to Mrs. Clinton saying they didn't turn over the Blumenthal emails because Mrs. Clinton never passed them on to the State Department. This revelation only confirms suspicions that emails relevant to the Benghazi investigation exist, but have not been handed over to either the State Department or the House Select Committee. Fox News reports:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 17, 2015 18 Comments
Hillary might have her work cut out for her after all. A new poll shows Sen. Sanders narrowing Hillary's gap in the sparsely populated Democratic presidential primary field... at least in New Hampshire. According to a poll released by Morning Consult, Hillary's lead in New Hampshire has dwindled to 12 points over the Vermont's socialist hero. The same percentage of respondents indicated they're currently undecided. Bernie Sanders gaining on Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire polling 2016 presidential election

Posted by Jay Caruso on June 16, 2015 19 Comments
When you're one of the oldest candidates in the Presidential race, you have to find a way to appeal to a younger crowd. Barack Obama was only 46 when he entered the race for President back in 2007. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, is 67.  It wasn't much of a surprise to see her invoke a 50 year old song during her campaign event on Saturday. It backfired on her---the Rubio team quickly responded. Considering that, it was rather odd to see the list of songs her campaign chose to be on the Hillary 2016 Spotify Playlist:
It appears that Hillary Clinton is riding the streaming music wave. Her campaign released her official 2016 Spotify playlist Saturday morning ahead of her first major rally in New York -- and they're lively tunes containing themes of positivity and resiliency. None of the 14 songs on the 67-year-old candidate's playlist was released before 1999, and the list includes popular female artists such as Sara Bareilles, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry and Ariana Grande.
Ironic isn't it? She should have had Alanis Morissette on the list.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 15, 2015 15 Comments
Monday, Daily Mail designated print pool reporter, David Martosko, was denied access to a Hillary Clinton campaign event in New Hampshire.

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 13, 2015 18 Comments
Hillary Clinton announced her intention to run for president back in April with the release of a video but apparently, that wasn't the real launch of her campaign. The second and all-new launch happened today on New York's Roosevelt Island which, ironically, used to be called Welfare Island. Attendees were told to expect 'airport style security' for the event. Luckily for Mrs. Clinton's staff, it doesn't look like they had to worry about crowd overflow:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 11, 2015 29 Comments
I enjoy reading or hearing stories that humanize candidates. The story of Mitt Romney helping to remove a stump from a neighbor's yard was a good one, or how the Perry family adopted Marcus Luttrell -- also a heartwarming, warm fuzzy inducing tale. Even John McCain recounting his time as a POW was powerful stuff. These stories provide insight into how candidates live beyond the flashy lights, teleprompter flanked podiums, and soundbites of the politisphere. They're meaningful. In many ways, these stories explain a core part of who they are. But that's not the case with Politico's latest slobberfest. Thursday morning, Politico published a story called Every wedding should have a Hillary Clinton Bible reading. Obvious disagreement with the premise aside, what are we supposed to take from this story? What does it say about Hillary? That we now have proof Mrs. Clinton can read?

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 09, 2015 14 Comments
Hillary Clinton's made-to-order nomination for 2016 may not be as safe as she thought. Once again, many people in the far left base of the Democratic Party, i.e. primary voters, are rejecting Mrs. Clinton for a progressive upstart from the senate. Jonathan Topaz of Politico:
Wisconsin straw poll surprise: A narrow Clinton win Hillary Clinton is crushing the rest of the Democratic presidential field in national polls, but over the weekend, in a Wisconsin straw poll, there was reason to give the Clinton camp pause and the Bernie Sanders camp hope — Sanders scored a strong second-place finish with 41 percent of the vote, to Clinton’s 49 percent. The Vermont senator, a self-described democratic socialist and a long shot for the White House, received 208 of 511 delegate votes at the Wisconsin Democratic Party convention in Milwaukee on Saturday, while Clinton won votes from 252 of the delegates, leaving her just short of a majority. Vice President Joe Biden and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who announced his candidacy late last month, each received 3 percent of the vote. Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, who is considering a bid, won 2 percent, while former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, who announced his long-shot candidacy last week, received 1 percent.
Professor Jacobson noted this story yesterday on Twitter:

Posted by David Gerstman on June 08, 2015 25 Comments
The New York Times yesterday featured an article on Hillary Clinton's electoral strategy for 2016. In short, she apparently is mimicking President Barack Obama's strategy for his second term.
Instead, she is poised to retrace Barack Obama’s far narrower path to the presidency: a campaign focused more on mobilizing supporters in the Great Lakes states and in parts of the West and South than on persuading undecided voters. Mrs. Clinton’s aides say it is the only way to win in an era of heightened polarization, when a declining pool of voters is truly up for grabs. Her liberal policy positions, they say, will fire up Democrats, a less difficult task than trying to win over independents in more hostile territory — even though a broader strategy could help lift the party with her.
There's a phrase in those two paragraphs, "era of heightened polarization," that's worth reflecting on. I know how all right thinking people lament the growing partisanship in politics, but there's a pretty clear cause and effect implicit here, though the Times won't admit it: Obama in his quest for reelection, pursuing a narrow strategy, has increased the polarization in politics. Clinton plans to follow suit. I question if this is a wise strategy for Clinton to pursue. I'm not alone.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on June 05, 2015 20 Comments
With the media busy normalizing socialism for Bernie Sanders, it's no wonder that few are reporting on his latest plan to spend $5.5 billion to employ a million young people. Bloomberg has the details:
The Employ Young Americans Now Act is the sort of legislation that would have struggled even in a Democratic Congress. In a Capitol controlled by Republicans, it might as well propose taxing churches to pay for sex reassignment surgeries on a moon base. The legislation, introduced by Michigan Representative John Conyers, would create a $5.5 billion fund, $4 billion earmarked for the employment of people between 16 and 24, $1.5 billion for job training grants. There are no pay-fors. It would ask a Congress that is dead-set against "big government" to employ people, with the help of big government.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on June 03, 2015 31 Comments
Hillary is putting the majority of her campaign eggs in one basket, and that may prove to be a mistake.  As I've noted previously, she is banking on her potentially historic role as the first woman president to clear the way for the nomination.  Indeed, when asked about her achievements, her supporters can't name any and fall back on the fact that she's a woman (and a Democrat). Running on her gender is proving more challenging than her team supposed.  Unable to attract a measly 125 women to her recent "women only" event, Team Hillary decided to allow men to attend.  The New York Post reports:
Hillary Clinton had trouble attracting high-powered women to a New York talk hosted by Silda Wall Spitzer two weeks before her campaign officially kicks off. Sources said that after ticket sales fizzled for an intimate, $2,700-per-person, “just for women” meeting on Monday, the event was thrown open to men at the 11th hour, and the deadline extended to buy tickets. The “Conversation With Hillary Clinton” event at Midtown law firm Akin Gump was originally aiming to attract 125 women. An email invitation seen by Page Six said the event is “just for women.” But by Friday, “They’d only sold 50 tickets, so they threw it open to men,” a source said. “Ticket sales were supposed to close at 10 a.m. Sunday, but the hostesses were working the phones and pushed the deadline till Monday.”

Posted by Jay Caruso on June 02, 2015 25 Comments
One of the things the Obama team did well in 2012 was to define Mitt Romney before he could really define himself. Rather than seeing Romney as an adventurous entrepreneur who took risks to help fund companies that eventually created tens of thousands of jobs,  the Obama team was able to portray him as  an out of touch oligarch who cared about only the wealthiest of the wealthy. Republicans are using the same tactics thus far with Hillary Clinton (allowing Super PACs and the national party do most of the work), portraying her as out of touch as well as secretive and less than honest when it comes to money she and Bill Clinton have made, her handling of her emails from when she was Secretary of State, and the shenanigans going on within the Clinton foundation. Her avoidance of the press and refusal to answer questions, combined with all of that, is taking its toll. From Politico:
Hillary Clinton is seeing her highest unfavorability ratings in 14 years, according to the latest CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday. Just 46 percent said they view the Democratic presidential front-runner favorably, compared to 50 percent who said they have an unfavorable view. In the preceding April survey, Clinton polled with 53 percent favorable, compared to 44 percent unfavorable.
There's more bad news:

Posted by Amy Miller on June 02, 2015 6 Comments
They way Elizabeth Warren's current devotees talk about Elizabeth Warren reminds me very much of of the way Hillary Clinton's devotees once talked about Hillary Clinton. During my time in high school, undergrad, and law school (so, since 2003 to a couple of years ago,) I remember my girlfriends speaking with awe about the woman who beat the mortification of a cheating husband (who was also the President) to rise to such great political heights, under such pressure, and in the face of such scrutiny and opposition from evil Republicans determined to take out the first woman to ever chip away at the presidential glass ceiling. They didn't just admire her; they loved her, much in the same way that Warren's supporters have now devoted themselves to the prospect of a presidential run. Well, at least they were devoted. They've also been rebuffed by the woman herself (even though the MSM really seems to want her candidacy), and discouraged by a lack of any indication that people close to Warren were setting up a campaign infrastructure. So discouraged, in fact, that Run Warren Run, the drafting campaign set up by Democracy for America and MoveOn.org Political Action, is suspending its operations next week. From The Hill:

Posted by Jay Caruso on May 31, 2015 13 Comments
"Don't you someday want to see a woman president of the United States of America?" That was a line from a speech Hillary Clinton recently delivered for a gathering of the pro-abortion PAC, EMILY's List. It was delivered with all of the warmth and charm we've come to expect from the former Secretary of State, which is to say none at all. "First woman president" is basically what Hillary Clinton's campaign will be, and the media will do all they can to help her across the finish line in order to accomplish that. Take the latest cover of the New Yorker for example: new-yorker-gop-hillary There's "First Woman President" candidate Hillary standing on the outside looking in. The lone woman staring into a locker room loaded up with white guys, right? The New Yorker had this to say about the group of potential GOP candidates in the photo:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 26, 2015 19 Comments
Last week, Bloomberg News' Mark Halperin asked a panel of Iowa Democrats to name one accomplishment from Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State. Just one little accomplishment... One? Something? ANYTHING? A grand total of zero panel members could recall a single noteworthy accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. But we should cut them some slack because they're not wrong. To date, Hillary Clinton has done nothing notable aside from being married to a President, serving as a perfectly forgettable and ineffective Senator, and begrudgingly stepping aside in 2008 to make way for the Obama Presidency. She also pushed some button in Russia, and that seems to be going just swell. Do winning elections and screwing up major diplomatic relations constitute resume-worthy fodder? Carly Fiorina said it best shortly after Hillary made her official 2016 candidacy announcement, "Hillary Clinton’s a highly intelligent woman, hardworking, she’s dedicated her life to public service but unfortunately she does not have a track record of accomplishment or transparency." Expecting a Commander in Chief to have some kind of accomplishments that show their qualifications before getting hired for the job is reasonable, right? Maybe, just not if those accomplishments happened while serving has the head of the State Department, according to U.S. News and World Report's Susan Milligan. On Hardball with Chris Matthews' Milligan said the question posed to the Iowa Democratic panel was "unfair."

Posted by Amy Miller on May 20, 2015 12 Comments
Hillary's "Blumenthal problem" just got a lot bigger. A source close to the House Select Committee on Benghazi told the AP today that the Committee has issued a subpoena to former Hillary Clinton confidant and adviser Sidney Blumenthal. The panel wants answers from Blumenthal about his communications with Clinton during her time as Secretary of State; specifically, if he had any business arrangements with her that led him to communicate with her about Libya. Tensions regarding Clinton's involvement (or, lack thereof, if you believe she ignored the danger) in the disaster at the embassy in Benghazi are compounded by the "delays" Congressional investigators have encountered in their effort to acquire e-mail documentation of Clinton's time as Secretary of State. The two issues are hopelessly commingled, giving democrats an opportunity to accuse Gowdy and other Republicans of purposefully dragging out the investigation.
Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, ranking Democrat on the panel, issued a statement Wednesday assailing the committee's GOP leadership for its handling of the subpoena.
Accessibility by WAH