Oct 15, 2015 6 min read

Wake Up To Politics - October 15, 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!

Thursday, October 15, 2015
390 Days until Election Day 2016
109 Days until the Iowa Caucuses
30 Days until the Next Democratic Debate
13 Days Until the Next Republican DebateIt's Thursday, October 15, 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.

TODAY:

2016 CENTRAL: FEC reports due, Today on the Trail, the Invisible Primary
WHITE HOUSE WATCH: Obama hosts Hispanic Heritage Month reception, announces Afghanistan troop plan; Biden meets with South Korean president
Q UESTION OF THE DAY: Primary debate historyAND MORE!

2016 Central

FEC Day 2016 presidential candidates must submit their third quarter fundraising reports to the FEC by today. The third quarter, which ended September 30, is a key time for candidates, and the winner of the money race will have momentum going into the final quarter of the year.
Many candidates have already released their reports to the public. So far, on the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton leads her rivals with a $28 million haul in the quarter; Bernie Sanders is close behind her with an impressive $26 million. The only other Democrat to have reported their quarter’s haul is Larry Lessig, who announced that he has raised $1 million in his underdog campaign.
On the Republican side, not many candidates have reported yet. Of those who have, Ben Carson is ahead, having announced last week that he raised $20.2 million in the quarter. Ted Cruz announced a haul of $12.2 million; Carly Fiorina raised $6.8 million; Marco Rubio raised $6 million; while Rand Paul received donations totaling just $2.5 million in the last quarter.
Most Republican candidates have yet to announce their numbers; many, such as Jeb Bush and Donald Trump, will be closely watched to see what their fundraising reports show about their campaigns so far.
Today on the Trail Where are the candidates today?
Iowa In the Hawkeye State today: Carly Fiorina will sit for an interview with Spirit Lake High School’s student news show “Newsbreak,” will speak at a town hall meeting in Spencer, and will attend the Polk County GOP Women’s Chili Cook-Off in Windsor Heights; Mike Huckabee will hold events in Fort Madison, Mount Pleasant, and Donahue.
New Hampshire In the Granite State today: Jeb Bush will participate in a roundtable on domestic violence prevention at the University of New Hampshire Law Center in Concord; John Kasich will unveil his entitlement reform package, the candidate’s plan to fix Medicare and Medicaid, at Nashua Community College; George Pataki will speak at a Rotary Club in Greenville and the Sullivan County Amos Truck Dinner in Newport.
Pennsylvania In the Keystone State today: Marco Rubio will speak at the Chester County Republican Committee Fall Reception in King of Prussia, PA
Texas In the Lone Star State today: Hillary Clinton will speak at a Latinos for Hillary Grassroots Organizing Meeting in San Antonio and attend a Q&A with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
The Invisible Primary New endorsements in the presidential race from Wednesday:
Jeb Bush The former Florida governor picked up the support of New Hampshire State Senate President Chuck Morse yesterday. Morse, who will serve as co-chair of Bush’s campaign in the state, is the highest-ranking Republican to make an endorsement this cycle.
Hillary Clinton After many insiders called her Tuesday debate performance a success, Clinton scored an endorsement from another Democratic senator Wednesday. Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey announced his support for Clinton; he is the 34^th Senate Democrat (out of 46) to do so.
Also Wednesday, yet another union announced its support for Clinton, this time the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. Other unions that have endorsed Clinton include the National Education Association (NEA); the American Federation of Teachers (AFT); the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry (UA); the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers; the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC); and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM).
In addition, at her San Antonio event today, Clinton is expected to be endorsed by Julian Castro, the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and former mayor of San Antonio, as well as a likely contender to be Democratic vice presidential nominee.

**ICYMI: Return of the Whiteboard** In case you missed it, the 2016 edition of Whiteboard Wednesday debuted yesterday. I am re-posting the whiteboard below; for more on what it shows about the State of the Race in both presidential primary contests, see the “Whiteboard Wednesday” section in yesterday’s Wake Up.

White House Watch

The President’s Schedule The only event on President Obama’s public schedule is a 4:15pm East Room reception. Obama will speak at the event, which marks Hispanic Heritage Month, as well as the 25^th anniversary of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.
One of the musical acts performing at the reception will be the Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club, a legendary Cuban band, the “first Cuba-based musical act to perform under [the White House] roof in more than five decades,” according to the Associated Press.
According to reports, the President will also announce changes to his Administration’s Afghanistan plan. Obama is expected to announce the current 9,800 U.S. troops stationed in the country will remain there until the end of 2016. The new plan calls for the number to drop to 5,500 by early 2017, when Obama leaves the White House.
President Obama had previously announced U.S. forces in Afghanistan would be decreased to 5,500 by the end of this year, although that plan has reportedly been ditched.
As the discharge delays continue, there seems to be no end in sight for a mission that marked its 14^th anniversary just last week.
VP’s Schedule Vice President Joe Biden will sit down with President Park Geun-hye of South Korea, who meets with President Obama tomorrow.

Question of the Day

Tuesday’s Answer The trivia question Tuesday was: What year was the first presidential primary debate?
The answer is 1948, when former Gov. Harold Stassen (MN) and Gov. Thomas Dewey (NY), who were running against each other for the Republican presidential nomination, faced off in a radio debate in Portland, Oregon. The hour-long debate focused entirely on outlawing the Communist Party in the United States, the only presidential debate to be limited to a single issue, and was listened to by 40-80 million people.
Dewey was considered the winner of the May 17 debate, and won the Oregon primary four days later, as well as the GOP nomination, although he lost to President Harry Truman in November.
The 1948 Dewey-Stassen debate was the first presidential debate ever held (in a primary or general election). Debates were not yet routine in primary races, however: the next primary debate was in 1956, between the Democratic presidential candidates. Democrats held presidential debates again in 1960, 1968, and 1972. In 1980, both parties held presidential primary debates (the first Republican debate since 1948). Both parties have held primary debates in every presidential election since (except the parties of an incumbent running unchallenged for re-nomination).
Meanwhile, general election debates were first held in 1960, but not again until 1976, as they have in every election since.
GREAT JOB…Joe Bookman, Steve Gitnik, and Rick Isserman!