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, August 31, 2015
435 Days Until Election DayIt's Monday, August 31, 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!!! Wake Up To Politics is back in business! The #WUTPreturns edition is below...
To send me questions, comments, tips, new subscribers, and more: email me at wakeuptopolitics@gmail.com. To learn more about WUTP or subscribe, visit the site: wakeuptopolitics.com, or read my tweets and follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/Wakeup2Politics or like on Facebook: facebook.com/WakeUpToPolitics
White House Watch
The President’s Schedule President Barack Obama heads to Anchorage, Alaska today to kick off a 3-day trip to America’s Last Frontier set to include making history as the first sitting president to visit the Alaskan Arctic. The theme of Obama’s trip will be climate change, as he urges world leaders to take action to combat global warming.
At 10:25 AM, the President departs the White House for Anchorage, Alaska, where he arrives at 1:40 PM.
At 3:15 PM, Obama will convene a roundtable of Alaska Natives at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage.
At 5 PM, President Obama will address the cleverly-named Global Leadership in the Arctic: Cooperation, Innovation, Engagement and Resilience (GLACIER) Conference, also held at the Dena’ina Center. According to the White House, the conference will include “foreign ministers from Arctic nations and key non-Arctic states with scientists, policymakers, and stakeholders from Alaska and the Arctic region to discuss how climate change is reshaping the Arctic, increase global awareness of how Arctic climate change is affecting the rest of the world, and identify individual and collective actions to address these challenges.”
In his weekly address, released by the White House on Saturday, President Obama made clear his intent to showcase proof of climate change while visiting Alaska, saying “This is all real. This is happening to our fellow Americans right now.” Obama continued, stating his plan for America to lead on climate change, with the hope that other countries will follow: “As long as I’m President,” he said. “America will lead the world to meet the threat of climate change."
*All times local
History Lesson From Alaska Dispatch News, “Presidential journeys to Alaska through the years”: http://www.adn.com/article/20150828/harding-1923-presidential-stops-alaska-have-brought-unexpected-and-memorable
2016 Central
Iowa Poll Shows Sanders Gaining on Clinton, Carson Gaining on Trump The closely-watched Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll was released Saturday, showing Bernie Sanders and Ben Carson gaining on their respective parties’ frontrunners.
On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held her lead, as the first choice of 37% of primary voters; Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was the first choice of 30%. Vice President Joe Biden, who is still considering a 2016 bid, came in third with 14%.
Of the Register’s four polls conducted in 2015, Clinton has never before dropped below 50% support. The Sanders campaign responded to his strong showing in the poll with a statement saying, “What this new poll shows is that the more Iowans get to know Bernie the better they like him and what he stands for. We’ve seen the same thing in New Hampshire and across the country.”
Businessman Donald Trump maintained his lead of the Republican primary, capturing support as the first choice of 23%. In second place, neurosurgeon Ben Carson received 18%. Each of the their 15 rivals for the GOP nomination got single digits: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz both got 8%, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio both got 6%, while businesswoman Carly Fiorina rose to 5%.
2016 Trends I followed all 22 candidates for President on Twitter and Instagram, liked them on Facebook, subscribed to their mailing lists and YouTube pages: that's right: I'm consuming all of the presidential candidates' social media activity so you don't have to. Here are the highlights of what’s trending in 2016 today:
Twitter @tedcruz, 8/30: “This cake at tonight's barbecue in New Hampshire is easily one of my favorites,” with a picture of the cake (Bart Simpson, driving a Cruz 2016 car, saying “Hillary’s Cruzin’ for a Bruzin’…Man!”)
Instagram @drrandpaul, 8/30: A regram from louisianaforrandpaul: a portrait of George Washington, photoshopped to show him holding a “Rand Paul for President sign”. Paul’s comment? “Great endorsement :)”
YouTube Hillary Clinton, 8/30: A young Ohioan asks Clinton about cooperation in Washington (“How do you actually expect to get the laws passed?”). Clinton responds by saying she plans to help other Democrats get elected so “it’s not quite as lopsided [in Congress] as it is now” and drew on her previous work with Republicans as Secretary of State and a U.S. Senator.
Travel Log Where are the presidential candidates today?
Iowa Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal speaks at a town hall in Sheldon, IA, hosted by Believe Again, a pro-Jindal SuperPAC.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee holds events in Tipton, Vinton, and Toledo, IA today.
New Hampshire Texas Sen. Ted Cruz headlines a policy forum in Milford, NH. The town hall will "highlight critical issues facing New Hampshire veterans, military families, and—by extension—all Americans," according to Concerned Veterans for America (CVA), which is hosting the event. Also today, Cruz will participate in a roundtable lunch in Concord, NH hosted by the Concord Business Caucus and will attend the opening of his New Hampshire HQ office in Manchester.
Michigan Ohio Gov. John Kasich attends a national security forum at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, MI. The event will be hosted by Americans for Peace, Prosperity and Security (APPS), a foreign policy group founded by former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI).
Today's Tidbit: A piece of news that isn't really news
2020 Central: Kanye for President While accepting an award at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night, rapper/songwriter/producer Kanye West announced plans to run for President in 2020.
“I have decided in 2020 to run for president,” he said, after a long-winded address that included such memorable lines as “Listen to the kids, bro” and “We the millenials, bro” (West is 38), as well as a potential glimpse at his campaign rhetoric: “I don’t know what I stand to lose after this, it don’t matter though, because it ain’t about me, it’s about new ideas, bro, new ideas. People with ideas, people who believe in truth.”
#Kanye2020, which alit Twitter during and after the speech, has already gained a high-profile endorsement: singer/songwriter Miley Cyrus, who said, “Trump, you had my vote, but now Kanye West for president!”, apparently unaware that Trump was running in 2016, while West is looking at a 2020 bid.
If West does run in 2020, he could face Hillary Clinton, who he and his wife have supported and attended a fundraiser for just three weeks ago.
After his announcement, a Tumblr user imagined what a reality TV show about a West Presidency may look like. Here is “Kanye West Wing”: http://thekanyewestwing.tumblr.com/
Best of Twitter @esquire, the Twitter account of Esquire Magazine, tweeted a photo of Kanye West and his First Lady, Kim Kardashian with President Barack Obama, with the comment, “Someday we'll look at this pic the way we did that shot of a young Bill Clinton with JFK.” Or the pic of young Gabe Fleisher shaking the hand of President Obama.
Email WUTP Subscribe to WUTP WUTP Archives
Forward *|FACEBOOK:LIKE|* To change the email address Wake Up To Politics is sent to you: *|UPDATE_PROFILE|* For more on Wake Up To Politics, listen to Gabe on NPR's "Talk of the Nation" 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