Wake Up To Politics - March 13, 2015
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Friday, March 13, 2015
606 Days Until Election Day 2016It's Friday, March 13, 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!!!
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From the Editor's Desk
This will be the last edition of Wake Up To Politics for two weeks, while I take a spring break. I will be back on Monday, March 30.
But…this next week still look for “Wake Up To Politics” in your inbox, because Presidential Madness is returning. Longtime subscribers will recall the Presidential Madness bracket I had subscribers fill out a few years back, and we’re going to do it again! For more details, read the email I will be sending tomorrow, and in the week ahead.
The week after that, I will be totally gone – but then will return with the news.
Sorry, but I hope you all have a great break!
Gabe Fleisher
Editor-in-Chief
White House Watch
The President’s Schedule At 11:15 AM Mountain Time, President Obama will arrive in Phoenix, Arizona.
At 12:10, Obama will receive a briefing on veterans issues at the Phoenix VA Medical Center, the site of a national veterans health care crisis. After long wait times for veterans at the Phoenix hospital were exposed, an outcry began that resulted in the resignation of Obama’s Veterans Affairs Secretary. The President was criticized for not visiting the hospital during his last visit to Arizona, in the middle of the VA health care crisis.
At 3:25 PM Mountain Time, the President will depart Phoenix for the White House, where he arrives at 10:15 PM Eastern Time.
Weekend Preview: Gridiron Dinner President Obama will speak at the Gridiron Dinner Saturday, an annual Washington event hosted by the Gridiron Club, a prestigious organization of journalists made up almost exclusively of Washington newspaper bureau chiefs.
This is the 130th Gridiron Dinner; every U.S. President since Benjamin Harrison has spoken at the dinner (Obama already has in 2011 and 2013). The event traditionally includes comedic and self-deprecating speeches from a representative of each political party and the sitting administration, and “roasts” of other attendees.
This year, President Obama will be representing his administration, while the Democratic speaker will be Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, and the Republican speaker will be Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is exploring a bid to succeed Obama not only in Saturday’s program, but in the Oval Office as well.
2016 Central
2016ers Turn to New Hampshire Three potential GOP presidential candidates will be competing for the attention of New Hampshire voters this weekend, with Jeb Bush, Rick Perry, and Scott Walker all headed there.
Perry, the former Texas governor and 2012 presidential candidate, will be in the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state today, speaking at a town hall-style event.
Meanwhile, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will be making his first visit to New Hampshire in 15 years Saturday, and will spend the trip at a business roundtable in Hudson and speaking at a house party in the Dover home of a former state GOP chairman.
Finally, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will be in the state Saturday as well, delivering the keynote address at a state GOP grassroots training and rally.
Although this trio – and their fellow 2016ers – have made many trips to Iowa in recent weeks, these is their first visits to New Hampshire in years, as some of them prepare to split their time between the two states in the next year.
History News: Not an Oxymoron
America’s Founding Documents Head to England For the first time in history, America’s Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights will be displayed in Great Britain.
These two documents, one of which announced America’s independence from Britain and the other of which began a new age of America as its own country, will be displayed at in England starting Saturday and lasting until September.
The exhibit is at the British Library, and will feature Thomas Jefferson’s handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence, one of 12 original copies of the Bill Rights, and two original copies of the Magna Carta.
Today's Tidbit
Former White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer was interviewed on Grantland’s “Hollywood Prospectus” podcast, and was asked about the difference between Hollywood’s portrayal of the White House and his time at the Obama White House.
The clip is here; my favorite tidbit is Pfeiffer’s disclosure that during the government shutdown, there was “not unserious conversation” of President Obama going to the Capitol to confront Republicans, as the fictional President Bartlet did in the “West Wing” government shutdown episode.
The issue? Bartlet walked to the Capitol to compound his point, while Pfeiffer said, “We probably would have driven because Secret Service, their head would have exploded.”