Ballotpedia s Daily Presidential News Briefing - September 4, 2015

← Sep 3

Sep 7 →

Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential Briefing was sponsored by the Leadership Project for America.

2016 Presidential Election
Date: November 8, 2016

* * *

Candidates
Winner: Donald Trump (R)
Hillary Clinton (D) • Jill Stein (G) • Gary Johnson (L) • Vice presidential candidates

* * *

Election coverage
Important dates • Nominating process • Ballotpedia's 2016 Battleground Poll • Polls • Debates • Presidential election by state • Ratings and scorecards

* * *

Ballotpedia's presidential election coverage
2028 • 2024 • 2020 • 2016

* * *

Have you subscribed yet?

Join the hundreds of thousands of readers trusting Ballotpedia to keep them up to date with the latest political news. Sign up for the Daily Brew.
Click here to learn more.

## Friday's Leading Stories

## Contents

* 1 Friday's Leading Stories
* 2 Democrats
* 2.1 Joe Biden
* 2.2 Hillary Clinton
* 2.3 Bernie Sanders
* 2.4 Jim Webb
* 3 Republicans
* 3.1 Jeb Bush
* 3.2 Ben Carson
* 3.3 Chris Christie
* 3.4 Ted Cruz
* 3.5 Carly Fiorina
* 3.6 Mike Huckabee
* 3.7 John Kasich
* 3.8 Bobby Jindal
* 3.9 Rand Paul
* 3.10 Rick Perry
* 3.11 Marco Rubio
* 3.12 Donald Trump
* 3.13 Scott Walker
* 4 See also

* In Monmouth University’s first national poll since the August 6, 2015, Republican debate, Donald Trump leads the Republican field with 30 percent support. Ben Carson is second with 18 percent. Dropping four points, Jeb Bush is tied with Ted Cruz for third at 8 percent. In nine head-to-head Republican matchups featuring Trump, Carson was the only candidate who beat him. (Monmouth University)
* Trump announced on Thursday he would sign the Republican National Committee’s loyalty pledge to not run as a third-party candidate. “I will be totally pledging my allegiance to the Republican Party and the conservative principles for which it stands,” Trump said. (The Washington Post)

## Democrats

### Joe Biden

* On Thursday night, Joe Biden said he “would not hesitate” to run for president if he could launch a “viable” campaign. He added, however, “The most relevant factor in my decision is whether my family and I have the emotional energy to run. The honest to God answer is I just don't know." (CNN)

### Hillary Clinton

* The State Department requested all cases related to Hillary Clinton’s private email server be consolidated so that only one judge could dictate search requests and deadlines, bringing “order” to the process. (The Washington Times)
* Cheryl Mills, an advisor to Clinton, testified before the Select Committee on Benghazi on Thursday. The committee rejected Mills’ request to testify in public, but U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) asked the committee to release a copy of Mills’ testimony. “The entire public does not deserve to have leaks that are taken out of context, and leaving the wrong impression,” Cummings said. (The New York Times)
* Clinton is scheduled to give her third national interview on Friday afternoon with NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell. (Politico)
* Whistleblower Edward Snowden commented on Clinton’s email investigation on Thursday, saying, “This is a problem because anyone who has the clearances that the secretary of state has, or the director of any top-level agency has, knows how classified information should be handled.” (The Guardian)

### Bernie Sanders

* Defending his opposition to war on Thursday, Bernie Sanders said, “War should be in my view, the last resort of a great nation. We should explore every other option – and I know that opens up the political types: ‘Oh, you’re wimpy. You don’t want to go to war.’ Well, I don’t accept that. I’ve talked to too many people who came home without legs, without eyesight, with traumatic brain injury.” (The Huffington Post)
* Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said of Sanders on Thursday, “The president is pleased that there is some enthusiasm and some excitement on display about a variety of candidates in the Democratic field. That is going to lead to a robust debate and that is going to lead to a strong Democratic candidate in the general election.” (The Washington Times)
* Sanders said his presidential campaign websites lacks a section on foreign policy because “our support is growing faster than our political infrastructure.” (Bloomberg)
* Karl Rove suggested on Thursday that Sanders would struggle outside of his home of Vermont and its neighboring states. “[Southern] states are going to be difficult for a self-described Democratic socialist from granola-eating Burlington, Vermont to win," Rove said. "Not all Democrats live in places like Ann Arbor and Berkeley or Boulder or Burlington." (Newsmax)

### Jim Webb

* Describing his campaign as “insurgent,” Jim Webb asked for contributions from supporters in an email on Thursday. “The time is finally right for our under-financed insurgent campaign to be taken seriously, in the media, among Republicans and independents, and even in the inner circles of the Democratic Party’s power structure. … But with enough financial help to keep us in the game, the moment has come for us to break into the political mainstream and seriously compete for the Presidency," Webb wrote. (The Washington Post, Augusta Free Press)

## Republicans

### Jeb Bush

* Jeb Bush responded to Donald Trump’s statement that he should not speak Spanish on the campaign trail on Thursday. Bush said, “Taking this to the logical conclusion, I guess, no more French classes for public schools? 'German, no we can’t have that. You can only speak English.’ I mean English is the language of our country and people that come to this country need to learn English. That doesn’t mean they should stop speaking their native tongue. … I think this is pretty bizarre to be honest with you. And it sends a pretty ugly signal to people that somehow we’re creating a different standard for one group against the other.” (The Huffington Post)
* Speaking of the Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Bush said on Thursday, “[She] is sworn to uphold the law and it seems to me there ought to be common ground, there ought to be big enough space for her to act on her conscience and for, now that the law is the law of the land, for a gay couple to be married in whatever jurisdiction that is.” (NBC News)

### Ben Carson

* With 67 percent, Ben Carson had the highest favorability rating of any Republican in Thursday’s Monmouth University poll. (Monmouth University)

### Chris Christie

* Chris Christie signed the Republican National Committee’s loyalty pledge live on Fox News on Thursday. (The Washington Post)
* Christie blamed President Obama for the global refugee crisis at a campaign in New Jersey on Thursday. Speaking of a Syrian boy who drowned off the coast of Greece, Christie said, “That young child today is a symbol for this country’s inaction and this president’s deceit. This president has allowed these folks to be slaughtered. I frankly can't imagine as president of the United States how you could permit this to happen on this scale, and now we're seeing those results. And it's much different when you read about it, and when you see it – it becomes even more powerful." (The Washington Post)
* On Thursday, Christie called Jeb Bush and Donald Trump’s dueling this week a “food fight.” He said, "It's not about the two of them — it's about the American people. They have enormous frustrations and anger about the way the government's not working right now, but the two of them are having this food fight back and forth about personal issues. They're attacking each other personally. And I think the people in our party and the American people in general are really tired of this.” (NJ.com)

### Ted Cruz

* Ted Cruz called a federal judge’s order to jail Kim Davis, a Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, an act of “judicial tyranny” on Thursday. Cruz said in a statement, “Today, judicial lawlessness crossed into judicial tyranny. Today, for the first time ever, the government arrested a Christian woman for living according to her faith. This is wrong. This is not America. I stand with Kim Davis. Unequivocally. I stand with every American that the Obama Administration is trying to force to choose between honoring his or her faith or complying with a lawless court opinion.” (Ted Cruz for President)

### Carly Fiorina

* The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Carly Fiorina was “virtually guaranteed a spot on the main [CNN] debate stage” later this month as a result of Monmouth University’s latest poll. (The Washington Post)
* At a campaign stop in Maine on Thursday, Fiorina discussed leadership and accountability. She said, “It’s time the president remembers who he or she works for. The first thing I would do as president is put a system in place to hold myself and my team accountable.” (Bangor Daily News)
* Although Fiorina said she would sign the Republican National Committee’s loyalty pledge, she described it as an “unenforceable” agreement. (The Washington Times)

### Mike Huckabee

* Mike Huckabee began a “Free Kim Davis Now” petition on his presidential campaign website to defend the Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The petition reads, “Dear President Obama, Attorney General Lynch, & Judge Bunning: Immediately release Kim Davis from federal custody. Exercising Religious Liberty should never be a crime in America. This is a direct attack on our God-given, constitutional rights.” (Mike Huckabee for President)
* Huckabee tweeted on Thursday afternoon, “What a world, where Hillary Clinton isn't in jail but #KimDavis is. #ImWithKim.” (Business Insider)
* Huckabee wrote an op-ed in the Daily Caller on Thursday criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement for using anti-police rhetoric in its protests. Huckabee said, “It’s time for President Obama and the Democratic Party to stop pandering to a movement that riots and supports violence against police. (Daily Caller)

### John Kasich

* According to Business Insider on Thursday, operatives from other Republican campaigns are beginning to launch an offensive against John Kasich, claiming he is too liberal on issues like the Iran nuclear deal, support for the expansion of Medicaid and approval of budgets cuts resulting from sequestration. (Business Insider)
* Kasich is scheduled to participate in a Q&A session with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in October. (Business Wire)

### Bobby Jindal

* Mike Reed, a spokesman for Bobby Jindal, said the candidate supported the Kentucky county clerk jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. “We believe the U.S. Constitution, Louisiana Constitution, Louisiana's Preservation of Religious Freedom Act, as well as our Executive Order prevents government from compelling individuals to violate sincerely held religious beliefs," Reed said. At a campaign stop in Iowa on Thursday, Jindal said, “I think it's time to end discrimination against Christians. We're not a society where we're supposed to take God out of the public square." (NOLA.com, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier)
* Jindal set September 14 as a day of prayer for police officers in Louisiana. (The Town Talk)

### Rand Paul

* Rand Paul said of the Republican National Committee’s loyalty pledge, “We have said in the past that I am not going to run as a third party candidate. And I think that is a reasonable pledge to take." (CBS News)
* Paul suggested the jailing of a Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples was a form of “bullying.” He said, “If society is going to change its opinion on what marriage is, I think it'd probably be better through persuasion than through sort of an aggressive tactic where we federalize everything and force people to do things they don't want to do. Ultimately, I think it would be better to probably let people make their own decisions. … I think persuasion is a much better way than sort of bullying people to believe in what you believe in.” (CBS News)
* After Donald Trump announced he had signed the Republican National Committee’s loyalty pledge on Thursday, Paul wrote three tweets stating, “In our first debate, @realDonaldTrump raised his hand in front of 25 million people to not run third party. I called him out for it. I spent the last few weeks making sure people knew it was not acceptable to potentially throw the next election to Hillary. I am glad to see @realDonaldTrump capitulated and changed course after our debate.” (The Hill)
* When asked if he believed it was appropriate for Jeb Bush to speak Spanish, Paul pivoted the conversation to a discussion of assimilation in the Native American community. “I think assimilation is an amazing thing, A good example of how, even in our country, assimilation didn't happen – and it has been a disaster for the people – has been the Native American population on the reservations. If they were assimilated, within a decade they'd probably be doing as well as the rest of us. But instead, seclusion and isolating them – we took their land, and then we put them all on small quadrants of land." (The Huffington Post)

### Rick Perry

* Rick Perry responded to Donald Trump’s suggestion on Thursday that he was “getting out of the race.” Perry said, “The bottom line is I'm still here, I'm still working, and we need to be talking about solutions and not just rhetoric out there.” (Politico)
* Marshall Critchfield was hired to direct the Iowa campaign of Opportunity & Freedom Political Action Committee, a super PAC supporting Perry. (The Des Moines Register)
* Perry said the border has not yet been secured because of a lack of “will at the White House, the will from Washington, to clearly send a message.” Perry said of his team, “We know how to get Mexico’s attention. But most importantly, we’re going to send the message that the border is going to be secure. Boots on the ground, aviation assets, strategic fencing, the border’s going to be secure, and Mexico will salute that, I will suggest to you. They’re not going to have a choice.” (Breitbart)

### Marco Rubio

* Timothy Hugo (R), the third-highest ranking member of the Virginia House of Delegates, will chair Marco Rubio’s campaign in Virginia. (The Washington Post)
* On Friday, Rubio published an op-ed on Medium stating his opposition to allowing Puerto Rico to reorganize its debts under Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Rubio instead proposed addressing unemployment by increasing tax credits for low-income workers and families with children. (Medium)
* Speaking of the Syrian refugee crisis on Thursday, Rubio said, “It's not just solely the United States' responsibility, but it most certainly is in our national security interest that parts of Europe are now being destabilized because of this migratory crisis.” (Newsmax)

### Donald Trump

* During an interview on Thursday with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Donald Trump failed to distinguish between Hamas and Hezbollah. When Hewitt pressed Trump on whether knowing the difference mattered to him, Trump said, “It will when it’s appropriate. I will know more about it than you know, and believe me, it won’t take me long.” (The Wall Street Journal)

### Scott Walker

* Unintimidated PAC, which recently purchased $17 million of airtime in early voting states to promote Scott Walker, released an ad on Thursday showing Walker’s clash with labor activists in 2011 and 2012. "They stormed the Capitol. Threatened his safety. Even tried to recall him. But Scott Walker never backs down," the ad says. (Madison.com)
* Speaking with The Blaze on Thursday, Walker said the Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples should give given “some sort of reasonable accommodation.” He added, “The bottom line in America is we are a nation of laws. But part of those laws — in fact, the most important of those laws — is the Constitution. The Constitution is very clear about protecting freedom of religion, and the freedom to be able to practice religious beliefs in this country. I think it’s incredibly important those rights be protected in today’s society.” (The Blaze)
* Walker wrote an op-ed in Sioux City Journal on Friday discussing foreign policy in the Middle East. “The Obama-Clinton track record demonstrates the danger of putting America’s safety in the hands of people who have not had to make tough decisions in executive positions. Now is not the time for untested leadership,” Walker wrote. He outlined his plan to combat “radical Islamic terrorism” by securing the border, defeating ISIS rather than containing it and restoring “frayed alliances.” (Sioux City Journal)

## See also[edit]

* Presidential election, 2016
* Presidential candidates, 2016
* Presidential debates (2015-2016)
* Important dates in the 2016 presidential race
* Polls and Straw polls
* 2016 presidential candidate ratings and scorecards