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2016 Election Tag

Posted by Amy Miller on October 03, 2015 8 Comments
A new Pew poll dropped on Friday and told us what we already know about this election cycle: American voters are ready for something different. We could have told you that months ago, citing the popularity of candidates like Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina as a prime example of been-there-done-that fatigue. The latest polling data (1,502 adults were surveyed, including 1,136 registered voters) serves to validate those candidates' rising stars More from Pew:
Since March, the share of all registered voters who say it is more important for a presidential candidate to have “new ideas and a different approach” has surged – with virtually all of the increase coming among Republican and Republican-leaning voters. Today, by more than two-to-one (65% to 29%), Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters say it is more important that a candidate have new ideas than “experience and a proven record.” Just five months ago, GOP voters valued experience and a proven record over new ideas, 57% to 36%.

Posted by Mike LaChance on September 26, 2015 1 Comment
Despite pleas from numerous high level progressives over the last few years, Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren is still insisting that she will not run for president in 2016. In an appearance on the Late Show this week, Stephen Colbert gave Warren celebrity treatment and asked her the question one more time. Curtis Houck of NewsBusters has the story:
Stephen Colbert Cozies Up to Elizabeth Warren, Pleads with Her to Run for President Near the tail end of his opening monologue, Colbert hyped that Warren “has launched a one-woman crusade against the billionaire class” and is “like Batman, but her enemy is Bruce Wayne.” Later in the September 24 program, Colbert introduced her as “the sheriff on Wall Street” and admitted to her that “you’ve come a long way, baby, if I may coin a corporate phrase.” Reminiscing about the first time he met her, Colbert hyped that she serves as “one of the household names in American politics and yet you are one of the few household names that is not running for president of the United States.” He then pleaded: “Are you sure you're not running for the president of the United States?

Posted by Amy Miller on September 25, 2015 15 Comments
Jeb Bush is lashing out against the entitlement state---but he's taking a page out of Mitt Romney's book to do it. During a town hall meeting in South Carolina last night, Bush touted Republican outreach efforts to minorities by taking a slap at the Democratic tendency to promise a lot of "free stuff" in return for votes. Unfortunately for Bush, however, Democrats (and some Republicans) were reminded of Mitt Romney's failed 2012 attempts to reach out to a broader base. Via WaPo:
"Look around this room," a man told Bush, who spoke to a mostly white crowd. "How many black faces do you see? How are you going to include them and get them to vote for you?" asked the man, who was white. Bush pointed to his record on school choice and said that if Republicans could double their share of the black vote, they would win the swing states of Ohio and Virginia. "Our message is one of hope and aspiration," he said at the East Cooper Republican Women’s Club annual Shrimp Dinner. "It isn't one of division and get in line and we'll take care of you with free stuff. Our message is one that is uplifting -- that says you can achieve earned success."
Listen:

Posted by Amy Miller on September 22, 2015 6 Comments
Back in 2012, Mitt Romney got raked over the coals for saying during a presidential debate that he had "binders full of women" from which he picked some of his top advisors. It was a memeworthy moment for the Romney campaign, and gave birth to a truckload of "binder" memes. Feminists immediately protested---why wasn't Romney able to immediately name smart, qualified women to his staff? Why did he need to curate names in order to diversify his male-only senior staff at Bain? It's a meme that should have died with the 2012 cycle, but alas---I must resurrect it in the name of making fun of Hillary Clinton. Clinton has made a name for herself as someone who has climbed the ladder, crashed through the glass ceiling, and created for herself a very comfortable perch. She has played the gender card more times than seems reasonable (or possible,) and frequently stumps on women's issues as a way of distinguishing herself from her opponents. So why is she having trouble answering a fluff question about women? All 5,472 Republican presidential candidates were asked in this month's CNN debate which woman they would choose to put on the ten dollar bill. Their answers ranged from prominent historical figures to their own wives, but each candidate managed to burp up a response to a question with no right answer. Clinton? Not so much. Watch, courtesy of TMZ:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on September 21, 2015 2 Comments
Monday Judicial Watch released 50 new pages of emails from top Hillary Clinton aide, Huma Abedin. Released as a result a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit instigated by Judicial Watch, the emails are from the clintonemail.com server and were penned during Former Secretary Clinton's tenure at the Department of State. To be clear, the emails are not part of the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's home-brewed email server. They were found in the Department of State's records, but contain an address on the clintonemail.com domain. Judicial Watch asserts the State Department is intentionally delaying release of emails recently submitted by Abedin. As Judicial Watch notes, the emails show Clinton was not the only one using her non-secured server.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on September 18, 2015 17 Comments
For everything that might be wrong with large media outlets, there's no escaping the control they wield over election cycles. They possess the power to crush White House dreams or make them a reality. Which is part of why headlines like this are hilarious: media influence elections politico headline donald trump decline scott walker Yesterday, we discussed a report released by the Media Research Center that revealed CNN devoted a whopping 78% of its GOP primary coverage to Donald Trump. The skewed timeshare was reflected in the network's GOP debate held Wednesday, the first 45 minutes of which were questions about their favorite subject -- Donald Trump. The end game? Ratings. And it worked for CNN. The cycle is relatively simple: how the media churns and burns through candidates

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on September 18, 2015 154 Comments
Thrust into the national spotlight thanks to Wednesday night's GOP presidential debate, everything about Carly Fiorina is under the media's microscope. Much has been said about Fiorina's job record, particularly her tenure at Hewlett-Packard. Fiorina was fired from HP in 2005, a fact her opponents love to mention. The Washington Post reported:
Fiorina got a taste of that new scrutiny before the debate had even ended Wednesday night. When her business record came under attack during the event, there was a spike in Google searches for “Carly Fiorina fired” and “Carly Fiorina fired why.” Fact-checkers quickly challenged her familiar assertions that, under her leadership, HP “doubled the size of the company, we quadrupled its top-line growth rate, we quadrupled its cash flow, we tripled its rate of innovation.” The main force driving the higher numbers was Fiorina’s decision in 2001 to merge HP with rival company Compaq. It was a controversial move — one that Dell founder Michael Dell dubbed “the dumbest deal of the decade” — and helped lead to her ouster. There are also certain to be reminders of the 30,000 layoffs that occurred at HP on her watch. But none of this comes as a surprise to Fiorina, who clearly has been preparing for the onslaught and faced similar fire when she ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2010 against incumbent Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). During the debate, Trump taunted her: “I only say this — she can’t run any of my companies. That I can tell you.” Her rejoinder was to bring up the four times that Trump’s companies filed for bankruptcy: “You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people’s money.”
As Justin Fox of Bloomberg Politics points out, that Fiorina wasn't the best CEO in corporate history is simply fact. But how much of what happened at HP was Fiorina and how much was reflective of the industry at the time?

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on September 17, 2015 16 Comments
Not only are Hillary's favorability ratings tanking, but her email woes don't appear to be dissipating anytime soon. Here's the latest:

"Email" defines Hillary Clinton

A Gallup word cloud published Wednesday is probably not what Mrs. Clinton was hoping to see.
Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, has offered specific positions on a variety of issues while campaigning. But when Gallup recently asked Americans to say what they recall reading or hearing about her, one word -- "email" -- drowned out everything else.
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Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on September 10, 2015 14 Comments
Team Hillary has a sad because the New York Times published articles that were critical of the embattled former Secretary of State. Clinton's response? Declare war on the NYT and any other publication that publishes content portraying Mrs. Clinton in a negative light, naturally. Heaven forbid a newspaper do their one and only job. Never mind that the NYT endorsed Hillary over Barack in 2008, or that they've largely danced around the whole FBI investigation thing. WAR. The best part? That while Team Hillary is launching mortars at "hostile" press, Mrs. Clinton is publicly declaring she's infinitely and sincerely transparent. Tuesday, the Weekly Standard noted how the NYT recent editorial shakeup followed complaints from the Hillary Clinton Fan Club.
Ever since the start of the campaign, Hillary Clinton boosters have been complaining about coverage of their candidate in the New York Times. And today the paper announced that Washington bureau chief Carolyn Ryan is being demoted -- or shifting roles! -- at the paper. As the Huffington Post outlines, "The New York Times announced Tuesday that Elisabeth Bumiller, a veteran reporter and current Washington editor, will take over as Washington bureau chief -- one of the paper’s most prestigious posts. Carolyn Ryan, who was named bureau chief in late 2013, will transition to a new role as senior editor for politics." Hillary boosters are publicly connecting what they see as bad coverage with Ryan's new role at the paper.

Posted by Amy Miller on September 06, 2015 3 Comments
This week top presidential contenders from both parties journeyed to Puerto Rico to talk economics, health care, and the future of the commonwealth's place in American politics. Puerto Ricans won't vote in the presidential election, but their 23 delegates could mean the difference between life and campaign death in a field as crowded as the GOP's is, and the Democratic Party's is likely to become; and both Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio appeared determined to stake their claim. Their events were only miles apart, but represented stark differences in the way the two candidates are courting voters. Marco Rubio played to a packed neighborhood bar, and made his speech (mostly in Spanish) while unabashedly wiping the sweat from his face. He made a point to jab at Clinton, referencing the scandal surrounding her private server, and predicting that her vision for Puerto Rico would be limited to the same policies that have contributed to the country's current fiscal crisis. From the AP:
Rubio said the island faces multiple challenges, but remained firm that allowing its municipalities and agencies to declare bankruptcy is not the answer. "I don't believe Chapter 9 would solve Puerto Rico's problems," he said, adding that the island has spent more money than it had available. "Ultimately, if there is no other option left, Chapter 9 is a viable option at that point."

Posted by Mike LaChance on September 04, 2015 36 Comments
Back in July, South Carolina Governor Haley's choices in the wake of the Charleston shootings led many to wonder if she'd be a good choice for VP on the Republican ticket. Now, there's new speculation. William Douglas and David Lightman of McClatchy reported:
S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley fuels Republican VP talk Is she selling the New South or auditioning for a 2016 presidential campaign spot? Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina is generating buzz that she’d be in the mix for the Republican vice presidential spot in 2016, following her successful handling of the removal of the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds after the shooting deaths of nine African-Americans inside a historic Charleston church. Appearing Wednesday at the National Press Club, Haley teetered between deflective and receptive to the VP talk, at first dismissing it as a way-too-early political exercise, given that 17 Republicans are still elbowing each other to win the Republican presidential nomination.

Posted by Amy Miller on September 03, 2015 37 Comments
The former Hillary Clinton aide who set up the now-infamous "home-brew" server has told at least three Congressional committees that if he is asked to testify about Clinton's server or system of records, he will invoke the Fifth Amendment. Magliano worked on Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign as the IT director; after that campaign came to an end, he joined up with a Clinton-affiliated PAC, and helped set up the server in Clinton's New York home. He worked for the State Department from 2009-2013, and is now employed by a tech firm that occasionally contracts with State. He was subpoenaed to testify before the House Benghazi Committee, as well as the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee. More coverage from NBC News:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 01, 2015 4 Comments
You have to love the ingenuity of San Diegans, who are attempting to roll back the tide of liberalism that has has swept over the entire state of California. First, we organized one of the biggest and most effective tea party groups in the state. Now, a local businessman has organized one of the most creative protests I've ever seen, right on the steps of our capitol.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on August 27, 2015 21 Comments
"Ricardo Sanchez known as "El Mandril" on his Spanish drive-time radio show in Los Angeles has taken to calling Donald J. Trump, "el hombre del peluquin." In other words, "The Man of the Toupee," read Trump to an audience in South Carolina. "This is on the front page of the New York Times." Entitled, Donald Trump Gets Earful in Spanish as Latino Outlets Air Disdain, the NTYs article Trump read explored how Spanish media was handling his remarks about the Latino community.
Ricardo Sánchez, known as “El Mandril” on his Spanish drive-time radio show in Los Angeles, has taken to calling Donald J. Trump “El hombre del peluquín” — the man of the toupee. Some of Mr. Sánchez’s listeners are less kind, referring to Mr. Trump, who has dismissed some Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and criminals, simply as “Hitler.” Mr. Sánchez says that he tries to focus on the positive in presidential politics, but he, too, at times has used harsh language to describe Mr. Trump, according to translations of his show provided by his executive producer. “A president like Trump would be like giving a loaded gun to a monkey,” Mr. Sanchez said in one broadcast. “But a gun that fires atomic bullets.”

Posted by Amy Miller on August 27, 2015 2 Comments
Quinnipiac University released a new poll today showing a slight shift in the way Democrats perceive their potential field of candidates. The numbers also indicate that those surveyed on the Republican end still crave candidates who by their nature are separated from "business as usual" in Washington. More from Quinnipiac:
Vice President Joseph Biden runs slightly better than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton against leading Republican contenders in the 2016 presidential sweepstakes, and has the best favorability rating among top Republican and Democratic candidates, according to a Quinnipiac University National poll released today. Donald Trump leads the crowded Republican pack with 28 percent, up from 20 percent in a July 30 national survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University. This is the highest tally and widest margin for any Republican so far in this election. Ben Carson has 12 percent, with 7 percent each for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. No other Republican tops 6 percent and 11 percent are undecided. Trump also tops the "no way" list as 26 percent of Republican voters say they would definitely not support him. Bush is next with 18 percent. Clinton leads the Democratic field with 45 percent, down from 55 percent July 30, with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont at 22 percent and Biden at 18 percent. No other candidate tops 1 percent with 11 percent undecided. This is Sanders' highest tally and closest margin. Clinton tops the Democrats' "no way" list with 11 percent.
Biden rising, Clinton down, and a whole lot of love/hate for Trump. Sounds like business as usual. The people at Quinnipiac must have sensed that, because the second chunk of their data has proven a source of endless entertainment. Pollsters asked their sample to evaluate the field based on the first word that came to mind when they thought of a particular candidate. The three most common words used to describe Clinton? "Liar," "dishonest," and "untrustworthy." Also making appearances were "criminal," "crook," and the B-word: Poll Word Cloud Association Hillary Quinnipiac 8-27-2015

Posted by Amy Miller on August 26, 2015 17 Comments
James O'Keefe's Project Veritas has released the first in what they say is a series of videos exposing lawlessness within Hillary Clinton's campaign. O'Keefe has targeted leftist groups in the past over voter registration practices---and now, he has taken that fight directly to Clinton's grassroots operation. He claims that his undercover journalists have found Clinton operatives employing a cherry-picking method of registering new voters. Watch: From Time Magazine:

Posted by Jay Caruso on August 26, 2015 20 Comments
Speculation abounds as to whether or not Joe Biden will run for President. Amy wrote earlier about a possible endorsement from the President, and now there is word that Barack Obama has given Biden his official 'blessing' to run:
Vice President Joe Biden received President Barack Obama's "blessing" to make a 2016 bid for the White House, according to a senior Democrat. But that's if Biden chooses to run -- the decision is his. While he doesn't need the President's permission, of course, a potential presidential candidacy was among the topics of their lunch Monday at the White House. The President made clear he would not stand in his way or counsel him against a run, the senior Democrat said.
While Biden is trying to downplay things, he's scheduled to meet with some important people this week:
The Vice President was expected to huddle at his home Monday night with Anita Dunn and Bob Bauer, the husband-and-wife team who have been at Obama's side for much of the last decade, two people familiar with the meeting told CNN. Steve Ricchetti, the Vice President's chief of staff, was also expected to attend.

Posted by Amy Miller on August 25, 2015 88 Comments
Today, Donald Trump renewed his public feud with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly over comments made during the first GOP primary debate:
Trump repeated a claim on Twitter Monday night that Kelly is a 'bimbo,' and Fox chief Roger Ailes demanded an apology on Tuesday after the billionaire leveled a new series of attacks on Kelly during her first show following a lengthy break. 'I liked The Kelly File much better without @megynkelly,' Trump tweeted while she as on the air. 'Perhaps she could take another eleven day unscheduled vacation!'
Fox News big wig Roger Ailes came out today with a statement demanding Trump apologize to Kelly:
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