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2016 Republican Primary Tag

Posted by Amy Miller on July 16, 2015 12 Comments
Carly Fiorina has joined the Buzzfeed Video cast of players in a new promo spot Buzzfeed is flogging as an effort "to show the men of BuzzFeed what it’s like to be a woman in the workplace." I'm sure you know what's coming. Watch: I sat at my desk for a good ten minutes working through my feelings about this one. For years, I have encouraged Republicans to be bold with their messaging, to branch out to different markets, and to stop taking themselves so damn seriously all the time.

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 14, 2015 11 Comments
Scott Walker announced his run for president yesterday in a speech that was well received by many on the right. Yet before he even announced, some pundits were calling him the front runner. On the FOX News program Political Insiders, analysts Doug Schoen, Pat Caddell and John Leboutillier cited a Real Clear Politics poll which puts Walker way ahead of the other candidates in Iowa. Leboutillier notes that Walker understands the mechanics of a primary and the metrics associated with political advertising. Caddell suggests that Walker's message is compelling, his victory over big unions is very compelling for Republican voters, and that he shouldn't be underestimated. They also address the ascendancy of Trump in the polls, but suggest things will shift once the Republican debates begin. Watch the whole segment below:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 13, 2015 6 Comments
Last week, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker used Instagram and Twitter to tease his plans for a run at the presidency. He has a slick digital game, but did that polish translate as Candidate Walker steps into the spotlight? Monday at 5:00 p.m. CST, Scott Walker took the stage in Waukesha, Wisconsin and formally announced his campaign for president. If you missed the announcement live, you can watch it here:

Posted by Amy Miller on July 12, 2015 40 Comments
On Friday, presidential hopeful Donald Trump hosted a press conference in LA featuring the families of victims killed by illegal immigrants. Before he turned it over to the families, he spent a great deal of time raking the press over the coals for their coverage of his comments about illegal immigrants. It was vintage Trump, but it also led into some pretty powerful content, teed up for a duly-shamed press corps. Watch (the conference lasts for nearly an hour, and testimony from the families begins at about the 7 minute mark):

Posted by Amy Miller on July 11, 2015 6 Comments
We've seen some slick, modern advertising out of 2016 Republican field so far, but Mike Huckabee decided to go in a different direction with his latest ad hitting the Obama Administration over its irresponsible Iran policy. Huckabee's ad is a reboot of a 1964 ad backing Lyndon B. Johnson in his reelection bid against Barry Goldwater. "Daisy" depicted a small girl counting up as she picks petals off of a flower; when she reaches 10, a voiceover counts down to zero, and a nuclear bomb explodes. Here is the original: The reboot features the DNC video, plus scrolling text urging supporters to sign a letter to John Kerry on Huckabee's website. Check it out:

Posted by Amy Miller on July 10, 2015 15 Comments
Navigating a large and dynamic primary field can be tense for even a top-tier candidate, but what about those who fall in the middle (or bottom) of the pack? Those who haven't yet risen to the top of the pool are facing extra pressure heading into an early debate qualification process that some say puts too much emphasis on celebrity and name recognition, and not enough on viability as a candidate. Today Lindsey Graham lashed out on Fox News, and against Fox News, about the network's plan to use national polling data to limit participation in debates. Watch:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 10, 2015 8 Comments
Friday afternoon, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker utilized his social media accounts for a pre-campaign digital roll out. Teasing the news on Twitter just moments before, Walker's staff directed Twitter followers to Instagram.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 10, 2015 13 Comments
"To me, a feminist is a woman who chooses her own life," said presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina. "The life she chooses could be to have five children and stay home and home school them." In June, Fiorina wrote a powerful article called, "Redefining Feminism: The state of women in America." Fiorina charted her career progress and addressed the deterioration of feminism over the years.
Feminism began as a rallying cry to empower women—to vote, to get an education, to enter the workplace. But over the years, feminism has devolved into a left-leaning political ideology where women are pitted against men and used as a political weapon to win elections. Being empowered means having a voice. But ideological feminism shuts down conversation—on college campuses and in the media. If you are a man—or a woman—who doesn’t believe the litanies of the left, then you are “waging a war on women” or you are a “threat to women’s health” or you are variously described as “window dressing” —Joni Ernst—or offensive as a candidate—Carly Fiorina. The progressive view of feminism is not about women. It is about ideology. And their policies are not working for women.

Posted by Amy Miller on July 09, 2015 15 Comments
Republicans and Democrats have given Jeb Bush a taste of his own foot over comments the presidential candidate made during a live-streamed interview with a local New Hampshire news outlet. Reporters with The Union Leader were quizzing Bush about his plans to grow the economy and reform the nation's tax structure when Bush said that, in order to grow the economy, "people need to work longer hours." Via ABC News:
He was answering a question about his plans for tax reform and responded: “My aspiration for the country and I believe we can achieve it, is 4 percent growth as far as the eye can see. Which means we have to be a lot more productive, workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows. It means that people need to work longer hours” and, through their productivity, gain more income for their families. That's the only way we're going to get out of this rut that we're in.”
Watch:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 09, 2015 54 Comments
Donald Trump thought it was a good idea to pick a fight with former Texas Governor Rick Perry, apparently. "Failed at the border" is a pretty serious charge, and one that the good Gov decided to address. "Hey Donald, I saw your tweet the other day but I think you might need to borrow my glasses to get a good look at the steps I took to secure the border while I was the Governor of Texas. I cant support what you said, but no one knows the concern Americans have about our porous border than I do."

Posted by Amy Miller on July 08, 2015 14 Comments
I remember my first unfriending-by-way-of-politics. I was 25; I'd made it all the way to my second year of law school without alienating a single person in the digital space---give me a medal. I had posted something negative about nuclear proliferation in Iran, drawing the ire of one of my best friends who also happened to be 100% Persian. Over the course of three or four heated comments, it was friendship over, both online and in the real world. 7 years of friendship, down the drain in an off-cycle. It deserved better. I like to think I've grown out of the kinds of superficial political arguments that end relationships, but there's something about an election cycle that brings out the worst in all of us. Semi-anonymity is a truth serum, and sites like Facebook and Twitter are handing it out for free. Does our addiction to social media mean that our relationships will forever wallow in an extra layer of tension? Probably; and now there's a new app called Who Deleted Me that will show you just how big of an impact your online posts are having on your friends, family and colleagues. Buzzfeed spotted it:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 07, 2015 8 Comments
Monday, Carly Fiorina's campaign announced they'd raised a total of $1.4 million dollars since their early May launch. But $1.4 million is a drop in the bucket compared the fundraising of a few other Republican presidential contenders. According to the Wall Street Journal, "In an email entitled “Momentum,” Frank Sadler, her campaign manager, reminded supporters Mrs. Fiorina’s campaign “launched from a standing start,” and took a glancing shot at Republican front runner Jeb Bush, the son and brother of presidents."
“Until she announced her candidacy, Carly was leading two highly effective charitable organizations,” he wrote. “She was not building the political infrastructure that other presidential candidates spend years (or generations) to cultivate.” He doesn’t mention the fundraising number—which covers money raised through June 30, the end of the second quarter—until the second page of his memo. Mrs. Fiorina, who is considered a longshot candidate for the GOP nomination, is winning 2% of Republican primary voters’ support, according to a RealClearPolitics average of five recent national polls.
Sadler isn't wrong. Baring the ground game Fiorina built in her failed Senate run, her campaign started without much of a foundation. Now that Fiorina is fully invested in the race, the wisdom of jumping in cold is a discussion for another time.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 07, 2015 26 Comments
Somewhat overshadowed by the Independence Day holiday weekend, Rick Perry's unorthodox jobs and economic growth speech ruffled all the right feathers. Candidate job plans tend to blur together because regardless of party affiliation, they're virtually indistinguishable. Reduce/raise taxes, decrease/increase regulation, "get America working again!", "yada yada yada middle class!" Then there's always "something strangling something." Whether it's speech writer laziness or well tested imagery I don't know, but there's always something being strangled. "Bring jobs back to America!" [insert story of someone candidate met while campaigning and how current administration/elected official's policies have made it hard for anecdotal individual to find work] and so on. And that's pretty much every single economic policy speech in modern history. Or at least it was until last Thursday. Perry's economic opportunity speech at the National Press Club last week was unlike any other speech of its kind and brilliantly so.

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 05, 2015 10 Comments
Back in March, Ted Cruz raised $2 million in three days but the haul his campaign and supporter groups has brought in over the last three months makes that look like small potatoes. According to a new report from Reuters, Cruz has entered impressive territory:
Cruz presidential campaign says supporters donated $51 million Republican Senator Ted Cruz and the outside groups supporting his presidential bid have raised more than $51 million in the three months since he launched his campaign for president, according to a statement from his campaign on Sunday. Cruz, who announced his candidacy on March 23 in a speech at the conservative school Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, has raised far less in donations directly to his campaign than his supporters have collected for the four outside spending groups supporting him. The statement said there were 175,000 individual donations to the campaign with an average contribution of $81. About $10 million came in during the second quarter of the year.

Posted by Amy Miller on July 05, 2015 9 Comments
2016 will be the year of the flooded field...and the foreign policy debates...and campaign propaganda that doesn't look like campaign propaganda. This week Rick Perry released a new campaign cartoon that tells the story of a frustrated little stick man who flees Obama country for the promised land of Texas. Our protagonist finds prosperity in the Lone Star State, under the watchful guidance of one Governor Rick Perry, and ends the spot by sending in a modern, slick, mobile donation to the campaign. Easy peasy! Watch:

Posted by Jay Caruso on July 01, 2015 11 Comments
When a 2 or 3 year old is caught doing something wrong, they often react with complete shock they did something wrong. They genuinely believe whatever it is they were doing was perfectly fine and cannot comprehend why they're being scolded. The media is often like that of a small child. A toddler. At the start of June, the NY Times and Washington Post weighed in with articles about Marco Rubio's finances. The headline at the NY Times read, "Marco Rubio’s Career Bedeviled by Financial Struggles." Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post quipped, "Here’s the real issue with Marco Rubio’s finances" and wrote:
That's all totally fine. If Rubio wants a boat, he can buy a boat. The issue for Rubio is that he is investing so much of his appeal on his "I have lived the American Dream" story that he necessarily has to accept that that story will be inspected closely to see what it tells us about him and how he might run the government if he is entrusted with doing so.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 30, 2015 6 Comments
Presidential hopeful Sen. Cruz is a long-time fan of The Simpsons. In April, Sen. Cruz joined the crew at The Federalist to chat about his favorite episodes show off a few of his best impressions. "Cruz talked about how much he loved “Round Springfield”, the episode where Jazz musician Bleeding Gums Murphy passed away, imitating the voices of James Earl Jones as Mustafa, Darth Vader, and Jones himself," wrote The Federalist. Today, BuzzFeed News released video proof of Cruz's love for the animated TV show. "Hi, I'm Ted. With Harry Shearer retiring, I'm auditioning for any part I can get in The Simpsons." Having been part of the show since it debuted in 1989, Shearer announced his retirement from the show in May. The New York Times reported:
It is not looking like an okely-dokely day in the town of Springfield: Harry Shearer, an Emmy Award-winning cast member of “The Simpsons,” who provides the voices of characters like the irritatingly upbeat neighbor Ned Flanders, the billionaire tyrant Mr. Burns and his faithful manservant, Smithers, has indicated that he is parting ways with this long-running Fox animated series.”
Enter BuzzFeed News and Sen. Cruz:
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