Apr 6, 2016 7 min read

Wake Up To Politics - April 6, 2016

Wednesday, April 6, 2016
216 Days Until Election Day 2016 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!!!
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Wisconsin Results: Cruz, Sanders Demolish Frontrunners Wisconsin’s independent streak was evident in the state’s presidential primaries Tuesday, with Badger State voters delivering defeats for the frontrunners in both parties – Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton – instead ushering the underdogs – Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders – to decisive victories.
Cruz won 48.3% of the vote in Wisconsin, taking at least 33 delegates, to Trump’s 35.1%, allowing him at least three delegates, according to the Associated Press (AP). John Kasich took a mere 14.1% of the vote, and was once again shut out with delegates. Three more delegates are yet to be allocated, but they are expected to go to Trump.
On the Democratic side, Sanders won in a similar landslide (winning all but three counties in the state, and taking huge lead in progressive Dane County, which includes Madison) – but the delegate landscape looks very different. Sanders also won with a 13% margin, taking 56.5% to Clinton’s 43.1% – but has only been allocated nine more delegates than Clinton. Currently, AP has allocated 45 delegates to Sanders, and 36 to Clinton, leaving five pledged delegates available.
Cruz, speaking in Waukesha County (the Republican bastion of the Milwaukee area, which delivered his win), declared Wisconsin’s results a “turning point” in the Republican primary race. “As a result of tonight, as a result of the people of Wisconsin defying the media, defying the pundits, I’m more and more convinced our campaign is going to earn the 1,237 delegates needed to win the Republican nomination,” he said. “Either before Cleveland or at the convention in Cleveland, together we will win a majority of delegates, and together we will beat Hillary Clinton in November.”
While Ted Cruz is still unlikely to reach the magic number of 1,237, even after Wisconsin, Tuesday’s primary does go lengths in stopping Donald Trump from getting there – making a contested convention likelier than ever. More than it was a Cruz victory, the Wisconsin primary was a loss for Trump and the first win of the consolidated “Never Trump” coalition, finally turning the momentum in the GOP race around.
Trump responded to his loss characteristically, with a campaign statement crediting “Lyin’ Ted Cruz” with winning only due to his support of the “entire party apparatus behind him” in Wisconsin. Trump’s campaign went on to accuse Cruz of stealing the nomination: “Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet – he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump,” the statement continued.
Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, also claimed the momentum in his own slog against Hillary Clinton, pointing to a string of victories in the most recent contests. “Now this campaign has won seven out of the eight caucuses and primaries. With your help on Saturday we’re going to win here in Wyoming,” Sanders said, addressing supporters in Laramie. “And then we are headed to New York…I believe we've got an excellent chance to win New York and a lot of delegates in that state. ... We have an excellent chance to win in Oregon and to win in California, and I think that a lot of these super delegates are going to be looking around and will be saying which candidate has the momentum.”
But, Sanders’ recent wins have come in mostly small states – and Democratic delegate rules make each state split their delegates, meaning large victories in New York and California are his only chance at catching Clinton in the delegate count. In a rare move, Clinton did not speak after the election results were announced, merely sending a concession tweet, reading “Congrats to @BernieSanders on winning Wisconsin. To all the voters and volunteers who poured your hearts into this campaign: Forward!”
And “forward” the presidential campaign marches, with Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders in the driver’s seats (for now), making this month critical for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to stay on track in the paths to their respective nominations.
Next Stop: “New York City has long fancied itself the center of the universe. The 2016 election has only stockpiled the evidence. There is the billionaire from Queens, who speaks little of that borough anymore from his Fifth Avenue skyscraper, and the socialist from Brooklyn, who rails against a certain capitalist-crowded street in Lower Manhattan. There is the bravado, the profanity, the showmanship sizzle, the overpriced steaks.”
“Accents have reigned — ‘yuge’ ones. ‘Billionehhhs’ have had their r’s redistributed to ‘idears.’ And now, at long last, it seems the presidential race could meet its match: The circus is coming to the Big Apple.”
“For the first time since 1988, New York is hosting a meaningful presidential primary — two, actually — bracing for bipartisan chaos as the candidates prepare to blitz the country’s pre-eminent media market.” (New York Times)
Also Coming Up: “Three weeks ahead of the Pennsylvania primary, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are holding on to single-digit leads among likely voters in their state's primaries, according to the results of the latest Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.”
“Trump earned the support of nearly four in 10 likely voters — 39 percent — while Texas Sen. Ted Cruz earned 30 percent…On the Democratic side of the ballot, Clinton leads Bernie Sanders 50 percent to 44 percent, with subsets of voters largely split along the usual demographic lines of age and gender, as well as political ideology.”White House Watch
The President’s Schedule A quiet day for President Obama, with no public events on his schedule – just his 11am Presidential Daily Briefing.
Following the First Lady At 3pm, First Lady Michelle Obama will host a Nowruz event at the White House, marking the Iranian New Year. The holiday, which signals the beginning of Spring, is celebrated by over 300 million people in the Middle East, Central and Southwest Asia, and Eastern Europe.
The White House event will feature “Persian cuisine and the traditional Nowruz table, known as the ‘Haft Seen,’ which includes seven items symbolizing such concepts as renewal, joy, love, beauty, health, and patience,” according to a White House release.Capitol Hill News
Senate: Today At 11am, the upper chamber will hold a cloture vote on reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The vote, which requires 60 “yeas,” could hinge on unrelated tax breaks “to support investments in geothermal, small wind power, and other renewable energy forces” which Democrats wanted added to the bill, after they were excluded from the wind and solar power tax credit package last year, according to the New York Times.
Currently, FAA funding is set to expire on July 15. The package pending before the Senate will reauthorize the agency for two years, through the 2017 fiscal year. Without a funding mechanism, thousands of airport construction workers and FAA employees would stop work.
Another Democratic amendment, expected to be supported by Republicans, will heighten airport security in the wake of the Brussels attacks last month.
Grayson Broke Law, according to Investigative Report “There is ‘a substantial reason to believe’ that U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson broke federal law and House ethics rules in connection with his offshore hedge fund and other actions in office, according to an investigative report released Tuesday.”
“But the House Committee on Ethics, which received the report, said the probe into Grayson requires ‘further review,’ so it did not announce any final decision about his fate.”
“Investigators were initially looking into whether Grayson, D-Orlando, used his position in Congress to solicit investors to the Grayson Fund, partially based in the Cayman Islands. But the report also found possible ethical and federal law violations in his work as a lawyer, investments and the use of his office and staff.” (Orlando Sentinel)

Question of the Day

Today’s Question As the Church of Latter-Day Saints celebrates its birthday (the 186^th anniversary of Joseph Smith’s organizing of the church in Fayette, New York) – which 2016 presidential candidate (suspended or still running) is a member of the Mormon Church?
Send your answer to trivia@wakeuptopolitics.com … correct respondents will be featured in tomorrow’s edition of Wake Up To Politics!