Jan 4, 2016 6 min read

Wake Up To Politics - January 4, 2015

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Monday, January 4, 2015
28 Days until the Iowa Caucuses
309 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 returned from his Hawaii vacation yesterday, and has one item on his public schedule today:
At 2:10pm, the President will meet with Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, FBI Director James Comey, and ATF Acting Director Thomas Brandon to “discuss what executive actions he can take to curb gun violence.”
Later this week, President Obama is expected to announce his new executive orders on gun control, which will likely focus on expanding background checks at gun shows.
Since the attacks in Oregon and California last year, the President has been reviewing possible action on gun control, which will be a mission of his in 2016. “My New Year’s resolution is to move forward on our unfinished business as much as I can,” Obama said in his weekly address last week. “That’s especially true for one piece of unfinished business: Our epidemic of gun violence.”
Before the executive orders have been released, Republican presidential candidates already begun attacking them over the weeekend as affronts on gun rights (Trump: “An assault on the Second Amendment”; Rubio: “All these executive orders he’s gonna come out with tomorrow that are going to undermine our Second Amendment rights.”) and unilateral actions circumventing Congress (Jeb Bush: “[using] executive powers he doesn't have is a pattern that is quite dangerous”; Chris Christie: “[Obama] wants to act as if he is a king, as if he is a dictator.”; Carly Fiorina: “Delusional, dangerous, not to mention unconstitutional”)
Democrats, meanwhile, have been largely supportive of Obama’s new executive actions, with Hillary Clinton saying Sunday, “I applaud the President for taking a hard look at that,” and Bernie Sanders concurring. “I think he’s doing what the American people would like him to do,” Sanders said Sunday.

Capitol Hill News

Congress: Today Both house of Congress will end a two-week recess today to convene the second session of the 114^th Congress at Noon. While this is when Congress formally returns, it is only for pro forma sessions. No votes will be held in the House until Tuesday, or in the Senate until next Monday.

2016 Central

Trump, Kasich Join Ad Wars Donald Trump and John Kasich will both air their first TV advertisements today, with very different spots.
Trump’s 30-second ad, which will air in Iowa and New Hampshire, is titled “Great Again,” and focuses on his bombastic policy proposals.
As photos fade in and out of President Obama and Hillary Clinton, then a battleship, the San Bernardino suspects, immigrants going across the Mexican border, and ISIS militants – a narrator summarizes Trump’s positions as the appropriate image appears.
“He’s calling for a temporary shutdown of Muslims entering the United States, until we can figure out what’s going on,” the voiceover says. “He’ll quickly cut the head off ISIS and take their oil. And he’ll stop illegal immigration by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for.”
Finally, the ad ends with Trump at a campaign rally repeating his famous slogan: “We will make America great again!”
Meanwhile, Kasich’s ad, also 30 seconds in length, is titled “America: Never Give Up,” The spot, scheduled to air in New Hampshire, focuses more on Kasich’s background.
With photos of his hometown and music in the background, a narrator begins, “He lived a hardscrabble life in a rusty steel town. John Kasich never gives up.” The ad then shows Kasich at various points in his career, when bucked expectations in balancing the federal budget as chairman of the House Budget Committee and saving Ohio from deficit as governor.
The ad then ties Kasich’s resilience with America’s, ending by showing stock photos of Americans: “They say America’s best days are behind us: America, never give up.”
With less than a month to the Iowa caucuses, and under 40 days until the New Hampshire primary – Trump and Kasich also have different intentions with their advertisements: while the former must solidify his lead, the latter must break out.
Today on the Trail Where are the presidential candidates today?
Iowa Caucus, February 1
Hillary Clinton will hold two “Fighting For Us” Town Halls in Davenport and Cedar Rapids and an Organizing Event in Des Moines, as part of a two-day Iowa swing to “discuss her plans to get results for children and families so they can get ahead and stay ahead.”
Ted Cruz will hold an event with evangelical author James Dobson and a Town Hall in Winterset and make Retail Stops in Carroll, Boone, Missori Valley, and Guthrie Center, as part of his weeklong “Cruzin’ to Caucus” swing through Iowa
Mike Huckabee will attend a local GOP breakfast in Ames, hold “Huckabee Huddle” events in Iowa Falls (on honoring veterans) and in Odgen and Webster City (on protecting Social Security), and hold a Town Hall on manufacturing jobs in Clarion, continuing his “month-long final push” through Iowa.
John Kasich will hold a “Coffee with John Kasich” event in West Des Moines and a Town Hall in Des Moines, before continuing on to New Hampshire.
Marco Rubio will hold a Town Hall in Burlington, continuing his “New Year, New American Century” swing through Iowa, after arriving from New Hampshire today.
New Hampshire Primary, February 9
Chris Christie will deliver a speech on “restoring American leadership” in Goffstown and hold a “Tell It Like It Is” Town Hall in Concord
Bill Clinton will make his first campaign trip for his wife with Organizing Events in Nashua and Exeter to “discuss how Hillary Clinton will make a difference for families in the Granite State and across the country.”
Carly Fiorina will hold a “Coffee with Carly” event in Salem and a Meet and Greet in Nashua as part of a weeklong New Hampshire swing.
John Kasich will hold a Town Hall in Manchester to begin a weeklong New Hampshire swing
Rand Paul will make two Diner Stops in Dover and hold a “Stand with Rand” Town Hall in Laconia to “discuss the importance of protecting the entire Bill of Rights, and being boldly for conservative ideals that limit the powers of the Washington Machine.”
Marco Rubio will deliver a speech on “national security in the 21^st century” at a Town Hall in Hooksett.
Bernie Sanders will hold a Town Hall in Manchester to “discuss a wide range of issues, including criminal justice reform, his plan to combat climate change, getting big money out of politics and his college affordability plan,” as part of a two-day New Hampshire swing.
Massachusetts Primary, March 1
Donald Trump will hold a rally in Lowell.