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Wake Up To Politics - November 2, 2015

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Monday, November 2, 2015
372 Days until Election Day 2016
91 Days until the Iowa Caucuses
1 Day until Election Day 2015It's Monday, November 2, 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 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 will continue his tour promoting criminal justice reform Monday with a visit to Newark, New Jersey.
  • Along with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Obama will visit the Integrity House, a residential facility offering addiction treatment and rehabilitation. The President will also convene a roundtable discussion at the Center for Law & Justice, Rutgers University – Newark.
  • While in Newark, Obama will announce $8 million in Education Department grants to promote the “re-entry process of formerly-incarcerated individuals who are working to put their lives back on track and earn their second chance,” according to the White House. President Obama will also increase tech training and job opportunities for ex-inmates, and will call on Congress to “‘ban the box’ on federal job applications that requires job applicants to state if they have a criminal record,” according to CNN.
  • “NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt will sit for an exclusive interview with President Obama at the Integrity House. The interview, airing tonight, will focus on criminal justice reform, incarceration rates, and other items on Obama’s agenda for his last year in office.
  • President Obama will also travel to New York City to attend fundraisers for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
  • The DNC event will sell seats at the Broadway showing of “Hamilton,” which Obama will attend. The DCCC fundraiser will be held at the home of Jonathon and Jennifer Soros; House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA) and DCCC chairman Ben Ray Luján (NM).

2016 Central

  • Today on the Trail Where are the 2016 candidates today?
  • Jeb Bush will kick off his “Jeb Can Fix It” tour in Florida with a grassroots rally in Tampa, a town hall meeting in Jacksonville, and a campaign event at the Conductive Education Center of Orlando.
  • Mike Huckabee will deliver the necessary paperwork to the Arkansas Secretary of State’s office to officially file for the state’s Republican primary, which will be held on March 1, 2016. The Arkansas filing period opens today; Huckabee, the state’s former governor, will be the first to gain entry onto the state’s Republican primary ballot. Later in the day, Huckabee will address the Arkansas Republican Party's “Raise the Roof Rally” in Little Rock.
  • Carly Fiorina will host a town hall meeting at Smokey Row Coffee Co. in Pella, IA
  • John Kasich will host a town hall with employees of Nationwide Insurance at the company’s regional headquarters in Des Moines, IA.
  • Rand Paul will host a “Students for Rand Paul” rally at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.
  • Rick Santorum will address the Scott County GOP Breakfast in Davenport, IA and host a house party in Marshalltown, IA.

Obituary

  • Fred Thompson U.S. senator. Presidential candidate. Diplomat. Actor. Attorney. Watergate prosecutor. Lobbyist.
  • A distinguished career in politics and other fields behind him, Fred Thompson died Sunday after a decade-long battle with lymphoma, at the age of 73.
  • Thompson was born in Sheffield, Alabama on August 1, 1942; he graduated from Memphis State University (the first college attendee of his family), earning a philosophy and political science degree in 1964, and earned a law degree from Vanderbilt Law School in 1967.
  • The Tennessean’s political career took off shortly thereafter, working as campaign manager of Howard Baker’s 1972 U.S. Senate bid and as minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee, staffing the Republican side of the Watergate investigation. While Thompson has been accused of acting as a White House mole during the investigation (he informed the Nixon defense team of the committee’s knowledge of the White House tapes), he has also been credited with crafting the famous question, “What did the President know, and when did he know it?”, a turning point against Nixon in the committee’s deliberations.
  • Thompson’s service on the Watergate Committee led to positions as Special Counsel to other Senate panels, such as the Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees. He ran for U.S. Senate in a 1994 special election, campaigning around Tennessee in his red pickup truck, leading to his 60-39 victory over Rep. Jim Cooper. Thompson was re-elected in 1996 for a full, six-year term by a 24% margin. His nine-year Senate career included service as chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee.
  • After retiring from the Senate in 2002, Thompson returned to his acting career – which included film roles as Presidents Andrew Jackson and Ulysses S. Grant, presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, and a fictional U.S. Senator, Governor, CIA Director, and White House Chief of Staff, as well as a stint on the cast of the TV show “Law and Order”.
  • In September 2007, Thompson announced a bid for the Republican presidential nomination on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”. Thompson competed in five primaries/caucuses, gaining 11 delegates (from a second-place showing in Wyoming and a third-place showing in Iowa), before dropping out in January 2008.
  • Thompson was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2004; a recurrence of the cancer took his life Sunday at the age of 73.
  • Verbatim Here’s how a number of Republican presidential candidates remembered Thompson this weekend:
  • Jeb Bush (R), former Florida governor:
      “Fred Thompson lived an amazing life, he will be sorely missed. Columba and my prayers are with Jeri and his kids & grandkids”
  • Ted Cruz (R), former Texas senator: “I am saddened by the news of Fred Thompson’s passing. He was immensely talented in both his acting and political careers. As a senator, Fred was a dedicated public servant and I was honored to be an early supporter of his presidential campaign. Heidi and I will keep Fred’s family in our thoughts and prayers.”
  • George Pataki (R), former New York governor: “Fred Thompson was a wonderful man and tremendous public servant. Libby and I extend our deepest condolences to Jeri and the entire family.”
  • Rand Paul (R), former Kentucky senator: “My thoughts and prayers go to Fred Thompson and his family tonight. Rest in peace.”
  • Rick Santorum (R), former Pennsylvania senator: “Karen and I lost a good friend and America lost a great patriot with the passing of Fred Thompson. Our sympathy to Jeri and his family.”
  • Thompson’s Senate predecessor and successor also marked his death:
  • Al Gore (D), former Vice President (whose resignation from the Senate brought upon Thompson’s election to the Senate): “I am saddened to learn of the passing of Senator Fred Thompson. His longtime dedication to public service helped millions of people around the country and here, in our home state. At a moment of history’s choosing, Fred’s extraordinary integrity while working with Senator Howard Baker on the Watergate Committee helped our nation find its way. I was deeply inspired by his matter-of-fact, no-nonsense moral courage in that crucible. Tennessee and our nation owe a great debt to Fred Thompson. We will miss him. My condolences to Fred’s beloved family.”
  • Lamar Alexander (R), U.S. Senator (who succeeded Thompson in the Senate): “Very few people can light up the room the way Fred Thompson did. He used his magic as a lawyer, actor, Watergate counsel, and United States senator to become one of our country’s most principled and effective public servants. He was my friend for nearly fifty years. I will miss him greatly. Honey and I and our entire family send our love and sympathy to Jeri and the Thompson family.”

Question of the Day

  • Today’s Question This is the first possible day a presidential election can be held (on the first Tuesday after the first Monday on November), and six Presidents have been elected on November 2. Name the one of those six presidents who also born on November 2, the only Chief Executive to celebrate their birthday and election to the Presidency on the same day.
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For more on Wake Up To Politics, listen to Gabe on NPR's "Talk of the Nation, the Political Junkie podcast, and St. Louis Public Radio; watch Gabe on MSNBC's "Up with Steve Kornacki, and read about Gabe in Politico, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Globe, and the St. Louis Jewish Light