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Wake Up To Politics - October 12, 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!

Monday, October 12, 2015
393 Days until Election Day 2016
112 Days until the Iowa Caucuses
16 Days until the Next Republican Debate
1 Day Until the 1st Democratic DebateIt's Monday, October 12, 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.

2016 Central

  • Republicans, Democrats Gather in Granite State for No Labels Convention Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump at one event? That’s right, the liberal Vermont senator and the Republican businessman will both be speaking at the No Labels Problem Solver Convention in Manchester, new Hampshire today, along with Trump’s fellow Republican presidential candidates Chris Christie, Lindsey Graham, John Kasich, and George Pataki, and Sanders’ Democratic presidential rivals Martin O’Malley and Jim Webb. The chairs of the New Hampshire Republican and Democratic Parties will also address the convention.
  • No Labels is a nonpartisan organization working at ridding Washington, D.C. of gridlock and bringing a new era of “bipartisan leadership” where the President and both houses of Congress work together to solve the problems of the nation.
  • Led by a former Republican governor and presidential candidate, Jon Huntsman (UT), and a former Independent senator and Democratic VP candidate, Joe Lieberman (I-CT), the co-chairmen of No Labels, the group has built a National Strategic Agenda, made up of four goals: creating 25 million jobs over the next 10 years, balancing the federal budget by 2030, securing Medicare and Social Security for the next 75 years, and making America energy secure by 2024.
  • These four goals will be at the forefront of the convention, which lasts from 8am to 6pm today, where the attending candidates will be under consideration to receive the No Labels Presidential Problem SolverTM Seal of Approval, which will be awarded to candidates who will go on the record in embracing the National Strategic Agenda and promise to begin work on at least one of the four goals in their first 30 days in office.
  • In the five years since its founding, No Labels has had some legislative victories: the group was behind the bipartisan seating at the 2011 State of the Union, the No Budget, No Pay Act, and other successes. The group has some other very interesting proposals, aimed at making government work, which can be read at nolabels.org/make-it-work
  • Trump, Carson Remain Atop GOP Field in CBS Poll A new CBS News poll released Sunday showed almost no change in the presidential field, with Donald Trump (27%) and Ben Carson (21%) remaining atop the Republican primary race, and Hillary Clinton (46%) ahead of her rivals in the Democratic race.
  • Behind the frontrunners are Ted Cruz (9%), Marco Rubio (8%), Jeb Bush/Carly Fiorina (6%), Rand Paul (4%), Chris Christie (3%), Mike Huckabee/John Kasich (2%), and Rick Santorum (1%), and on the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders (27%), Joe Biden (16%), and Jim Webb (2%).
  • Cruz’s jump to third place is one of the few changes in the field since CBS’ last poll in August, along with Huckabee’s drop from 8% then to 2% now.
  • The poll also tests favorability numbers of the candidates, finding that just four Republican candidates (Carson, Trump, Rubio, Fiorina) are viewed more favorably than unfavorably by Republican voters. Carson’s 62% favorability is a sharp change from Jeb Bush, whose favorability took an 11% drop. Just 32% of likely GOP primary voters view Bush favorably, compared to 38% with unfavorable views.
  • Other interesting nuggets: a look at what kind of President people want, and the discovery that 42% of Americans are now paying attention to the presidential race, a number that was 36% last month, and 31% at this point in the 2012 election.

Question of the Day

  • Today’s Question In honor of Columbus Day (which is today): What was the first state to declare Columbus Day on official holiday? Email me (wakeuptopolitics@gmail.com) with the answer to get your name in tomorrow’s Wake Up!
  • Friday’s Answer On Friday, the trivia question was about House Speaker contender Jason Chaffetz, specifically about the first wife of Chaffetz’ father. The correct answer was Katharine Dickson, better known as Kitty Dukakis, who was married to John Chaffetz (father of the Utah congressman), before they divorced and he married Margaret A. Wood (Jason’s mother) and she married future Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis. All politics are connected!
  • To add to the intrigue: despite the awkward family connection, Dukakis gave Jason Chaffetz his start in politics: the latter served as co-chairman of the 1988Dukakis for President campaign in Utah…before becoming a Republican. Chaffetz is close with the Dukakis family, and his half-brother, actor John Dukakis (the son of Kitty and John Chaffetz).
  • GREAT JOB…Andrew Arkills, Steve Gitnik, Arthur Lieber, and Rebecca Hatlelid Boester, who all answered the trivia question, as well as @BeyondKenny and @jmerzie, who responded on Twitter.
  • Also, thanks to Joe Bookman, who tipped me off to this trivia question in the first place. Do you have a trivia question that should be asked in Wake Up To Politics? Send it to me: wakeuptopolitics@gmail.com!
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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