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Wake Up To Politics - April 30, 2015

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Thurssday, April 30, 2015
558 Days Until Election Day 2016It's Thursday, April 30, 2015, I'm Gabe Fleisher for Wake Up To Politics, and reporting from WUTP world HQ in my bedroom - Good morning: THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL!!!
To send me questions, comments, tips, new subscribers, and more: email me at wakeuptopolitics@gmail.com. To learn more about WUTP or subscribe, visit the site: wakeuptopolitics.com, or read my tweets and follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/Wakeup2Politics or read stories on Wake Up To Politics by clicking the media logos at the bottom.
2016 Central

  • Bernie Sanders to Run for President as a Democrat Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, will announce his 2016 presidential campaign today.
  • Sanders, 73 years old and a self-described socialist, will make his announcement at noon today with a low-key press conference in the Senate TV/Radio Gallery at the U.S. Capitol. He won’t hold a rally until May, with an event planned for his home state of Vermont.
  • The Vermonter will be running for the Democratic nomination, despite his Senate affiliation as an Independent (who caucuses with the Democrats), which will not change. Sanders will be Hillary Clinton’s first major primary challenger; more could join the primary to Clinton’s left, including former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee, and former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb.
  • Sanders is expected to challenge Clinton on issues they differ on, from trade, especially the Trans-Pacific Partnership opposed by him and many Democrats but supported by President Obama and Secretary Clinton to the Iraq War, which she voted for but he voted against. In addition, there are many issues (chief among them, the Keystone XL pipeline and income equality) that Clinton has been noncommittal on but Sanders is vocal about.
  • Bernie Sanders was first elected to the U.S. House in 1990 as an Independent, and to the Senate in 2006. He is the longest-serving Independent in congressional history; Sanders is also currently ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee.
  • Real Clear Politics has found that in polls of the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, Sanders averages at 5.6% support…compared to 62.2% for Clinton. This places him at fourth, also behind Warren and Biden (averages of 12.7% and 9.8%, respectively). O’Malley, Webb, and Chafee are all below 2%. While Clinton obviously starts with a huge advantage, neither of the others who average better than Sanders (Warren and Biden) are sure bets to run, and much of Warren’s base is likely to vote Sanders.
  • Fun Fact: Bernie isn’t the only Sanders running for office. The Vermont Senator’s brother Larry is currently running to be a member of the United Kingdom Parliament. More, from National Journal: http://www.nationaljournal.com/2016-elections/bernie-sanders-has-a-brother-and-he-s-also-running-for-office-20150429
  • Race to 45: Travel Tracker Hillary Clinton The former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate is in Washington, D.C. today to hit up the fundraising circuit. Clinton will attend two fundraisers, one at the home of Frank White, Jr., a big Obama bundler in 2008, and one at the home of Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, a top supporter of all the past Clinton presidential runs (as well as the Clinton Foundation), who Bill Clinton appointed Ambassador to Portugal.
  • Both events cost $2,700, the maximum donation to a presidential campaign during the primaries.
  • Jeb Bush The former Florida governor will attend the National Review Institute’s Ideas Summit in Washington, D.C. and participate in a Q&A with National Review editor Rick Lowry. Other potential presidential candidates, Bobby Jindal and John Kasich, as well as Marco Rubio, a declared candidate, will speak at the summit Friday.
  • While in D.C., Bush will also fundraise today, attending a 9 AM “coffee and discussion” with a price tag of $1,000 to $10,000.
  • Carly Fiorina The former business executive, set to announce a presidential bid Monday, will be the guest at a national security forum hosted by Americans for Peace, Prosperity and Security. The event will be at 11:30 at the University of New Hampshire – Manchester. This is the first of many planned forums the group is holding with 2016 candidates.
  • Jim Gilmore The former Virginia governor is in New Hampshire today on the first day of a two-day swing that will bring him to 7 stops across the state. This is the potential candidate’s 5th trip to the Granite State since January.
  • Donald Trump The business magnate is in Davenport, Iowa today, speaking at a Scott County Republican fundraiser.
  • Links: Clinton Speaks on Race, Criminal Justice Reform Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke Wednesday at Columbia University on her proposals to reform the criminal justice system.
  • Clinton also spoke about the protests in Baltimore, and unveiled her vision, including “end[ing] the era of mass incarnation” and providing “body cameras for every police department in the country”.
  • More, on the speech, from Politico: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/hillary-clinton-justice-race-baltimore-reaction-117466.html?hp=lc2_
  • Also, from the Washington Post: how parts of Clinton’s speech Wednesday, and other parts of her campaign, goes against her husband’s presidential legacy: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-hillary-clinton-is-running-against-parts-of-her-husbands-legacy/2015/04/29/e34778ae-ee79-11e4-8abc-d6aa3bad79dd_story.html
  • Link: Walker’s Donor Advantage Jeb Bush may start with a fundraising advantage, but Scott Walker has more ties to top GOP donors than him or any other presidential candidate. Of the top 250 Republican donors, about half have donated to Scott Walker’s past campaigns, compared to 30% to Rubio’s campaigns, 20% to Cruz, and 10% to Christie. From the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/29/upshot/scott-walkers-strength-in-donors.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&abt=0002&abg=0

White House Watch

  • The President’s Schedule At 10:50 AM, President Obama will head to the Anacostia Library in Washington, D.C. for a live “virtual field trip,” which he will participate in along with middle school students from across the country.
  • While at the library, President Obama will also talk about expanding access to books for low-income students, announcing that “Nine major publishing houses will donate digital access to about 10,000 of their popular titles, worth about $250 million....[and] about 30 towns and cities said they would introduce or press ahead with plans to put a library card in the hand of every student, a move that would help give lower income students access to digital books in libraries even if they lacked Internet access or devices at home,” according to the Washington Post.
  • At 2:55 PM, the President will sign into law the Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015. The bill, authored by Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), was passed by voice vote in both chambers of Congress.
  • At 3:20 PM, Obama will sit down with members of the New Democrat Coalition in the Cabinet Room. The Coalition is a group of moderate House Democrats; many of them oppose President Obama’s trade deal, and this meeting gives the President a chance to sell them on it. The sit-down follows President Obama’s Wednesday meeting with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, who also opposes the trade deal.
  • Link: the President Thanks Ms. Hefty As he honored the 2015 National Teacher of the Year on Wednesday, President Obama asked everyone to share about a teacher who shaped them with #ThankATeacher. And he’s walking the walk, publishing an essay about Ms. Hefty, his fifth grade teacher. Read his essay, via Medium: https://medium.com/bright/my-fifth-grade-teacher-fedc4a20191d?awesm=ofa.bo_t4wU
  • Thank you to all of my teachers: many of whom are reading this newsletter; I would not be writing it if not for their encouragement of learning. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

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