Dec 1, 2015 7 min read

Wake Up To Politics - December 1, 2015

To read today's edition of Wake Up To Politics in a PDF format, click here. Continue reading to find the text of the Wake Up in the body of the email!

Tuesday, December 1, 2015
62 Days until the Iowa Caucuses
343 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!!!
To send me questions, comments, tips, new subscribers, and more: email me at wakeuptopolitics@gmail.com. To learn more about WUTP and subscribe, visit the site: wakeuptopolitics.com, or like me on Twitter and Facebook. More ways to engage with WUTP at the bottom. White House Watch

The President’s Schedule President Barack Obama wakes up in Paris today, for Day 2 of the UN Climate Change Conference, as negotiators from 196 countries hammer out a worldwide, legally binding climate accord, in an attempt to keep the global temperature below 2°C.
This morning, President Obama will meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, on the sidelines of the summit, before heading to the American embassy in Paris to meet with personnel and families.
In the afternoon, Obama will meet with heads of state from “island nations who are most at risk from the threat of climate change,” including the Seychelles, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, St. Lucia, and Barbados to “highlight the stakes involved at the Paris talks given the existential challenge that these countries face from rising sea levels,” according to the White House.
Finally, the President will hold a press conference before departing Paris and returning to the U.S. Even as President Obama leaves, the UN Conference last until December 11, and U.S. government officials will remain in Paris as negotiations continue.
While Obama may not be there at the end of the conference, whatever agreement emerges from the negotiations will immediately become a key part of his legacy as President.

2016 Central

Takeaways: Hillary Clinton Email Dump The State Department released 7,825 new pages of emails Monday, all from the controversial private server Hillary Clinton used as Secretary of State. Here are my takeaways from the new emails released:
Hillary Clinton is very technologically inept Example: In one email, Clinton responds to a message (which has been classified) with “ROLF!!!” – trying, and failing, to seem cool by using “ROTF,” or “rolling on the floor,” but instead saying “rolling on the laughing floor”.
Hillary Clinton is very reliant on aides Example: In one email, Clinton writes to a staffer, “Hey, I need some help: Do you know what channel on the TV in DC is the program listing? And, specifically, what channel number is Showtime?” Before the aide responds, Clinton followed up: “Because I want to watch ‘Homeland’.” An aide then responds with the Showtime channel on Comcast.
In addition, literally hundreds of times in the released emails, Clinton responds to an article sent by an aide with “pls print” or forwards a congratulatory note she received with “pls respond”.
Homeland > Veep While she is intent on watching “Homeland” in the email detailed above, Clinton is at a loss for words when it comes to “Veep,” another Washington, D.C.-based show. In one email, Clinton writes that “A friend wants me to sign something for Julia Lewis-Dreyfus for Veep. Any ideas?” Her aide’s response: “Let me brainstorm on this one/do some research. I confess I haven't seen the show!”
Team Clinton kept very close watch on the 2012 election In one email, Hillary Clinton provides her analysis of the 2012 Republican presidential primaries, writing: “If Mittens can’t beat Grinch in Florida, there will be pressure on state Republican parties to reopen or liberalize ballot access especially in the caucuses, which as we know are creatures of the parties’ extremes.” Note her nicknames for Mitt Romney (“Mittens”) and Newt Gingrich (“Grinch”) and her comments on caucuses (“creatures of the parties’ extremes”), which are very interesting as she begs for caucus votes in Iowa.
In another email thread, Clinton staffers (and Chelsea Clinton via alias) discuss Mitt Romney’s chances of being elected President…based on his lack of daughters.
Cracking your head is no fun Shortly after falling and getting a concussion, Clinton writes, “Having a cracked head is no fun at all” in one email.
How Hillary Clinton what she does at State In one email, Clinton explains what she does as Secretary of State: “I hurtle around the world on my one woman mission to convey American leadership and influence.”
Find your own Hillary emails at https://foia.state.gov/search/results.aspx.
Christie Gains Key New Hampshire Endorsements New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will spend his 50^th day on the campaign trail in New Hampshire today, a devotion to the “first-in-the-nation” primary state that has worked to his advantage.
On Saturday, the Concord State’s largest newspaper, the New Hampshire Union-Leader, endorsed Christie for President. While the Union-Leader nod is highly coveted, it is by no means a sign that Christie will win the New Hampshire primary.
In fact, the Union-Leader has not had a very high success rate: the newspaper has endorsed the eventual winner of the New Hampshire primary just three times, Ronald Reagan in 1980, Pat Buchanan in 1996, and John McCain in 2008. The newspaper’s 1988 choice, Pete du Pont, and 2012 choice, Newt Gingrich, both came in fourth in New Hampshire; while the paper’s 2000 choice, Steve Forbes, came third in the state, and Pat Buchanan, the 1992 Union-Leader candidate, came in second.
However, the Union-Leader endorsement gives Christie’s lagging campaign renewed viability and shines a spotlight on the ground work he’s put in in New Hampshire. The next Republican debate will also use early state polls in its criteria for the primetime debate, and Christie’s improving New Hampshire numbers will likely return him to the main stage.
In addition, Christie will get another coveted Granite State endorsement on Monday, influential real estate developer/GOP activist husband-and-wife team of Renee and Dan Plummer. Today, he follows that up with announcing former state House Speaker Donna Sytek’s support, another key endorser.
These New Hampshire endorsements don’t mean Chris Christie will win the state’s primary or the Republican nomination – but they’re certainly good signs for the New Jersey governor, who has largely been written off by national media following the Bridgegate scandal that has dogged his campaign.
Today on the Trail Where are the 2016 presidential candidate today?
Jeb Bush will close out a two-day Iowa tour with a coffee and donuts event at the University of Dubuque, and town halls at the Des Moines Area Community College campus in Newton and at the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum in Waterloo, a museum named for the five Sullivan brothers of Waterloo, who were all killed in action together as World War II sailors.
Chris Christie will hold three events in New Hampshire today: a visit to Janie’s Café in Londonderry; a drug recovery roundtable in Concord; and will tape “Candidate Café” in Manchester, an opportunity for undecided voters to dine and chat with Christie. 11 other Republican presidential candidates (and all three Democratic candidates) have participated in the “Candidate Café” series, which is produced by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics and WMUR-TV, ABC's Manchester affiliate.
Hillary Clinton will speak at a National Bar Association event marking the 60th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, where she will discuss “the role lawyers played in the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Civil Rights Movement”. The event will be held in Montgomery, Alabama, at Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, which was named in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, who served as pastor there for five years. King organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott from the church's basement.
Mike Huckabee will continue his Iowa tour with a town hall meeting on “fueling America” in Corning; gatherings in Mount Ayr and Bedford; and an event at the Global Faith Institute at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, a discussion on "national security, Islam in the Midwest and the Syrian refugee crisis" with Dr. Mark Christian, the Egyptian-born founder and President of the Global Faith Institute and a convert from Islam to Christianity.
Marco Rubio will attend an event at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. The event will be part of The Bully Pulpit Series, which “encourages and facilitates political participation throughout the campus community by providing a platform for dialogue with our nation's leaders,” according to the College of Charleston. Since its founding in 2008, the series has hosted more than a dozen presidential candidates and other politicians. Ted Cruz, Martin O'Malley, and Lindsey Graham have also participated this election cycle. Today's event will include remarks by Rubio and questions from the audience. Later today, Rubio will “share his conservative vision for the country” at a rally in Guntersville, Alabama.
Donald Trump will headline a rally at White Mountain Athletic Club in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire.

Capitol Hill News

Senate Schedule With weekly caucus meetings taking up much of the afternoon, the Senate has no votes planned for today, although the chamber plans to begin consideration of a bill to repeal much of Obamacare today.
Republican leaders hope the measure, a budget reconciliation bill that cannot be filibustered, will stop insurgent GOP lawmakers from forcing a shutdown over Obamacare repeal and defunding Planned Parenthood, which this bill already does. The reconciliation bill will likely not be enough for hardline Republicans, however, who may still stick full Obamacare repeal in a spending bill.
A final Senate vote on the measure is expected to be held Thursday.
House Schedule The lower chamber will vote today on four different measures: the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016, the Breast Cancer Research Stamp Reauthorization Act of 2015, and two resolutions.