Wake Up To Politics - September 24, 2015

Sep 24, 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!

Tuesday, September 24, 2015
411 Days until Election Day 2016
130 Days until the Iowa Caucuses
34 Days until the Next Republican Debate
19 Days Until the 1st Democratic DebateIt's Thursday, September 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.

Capitol Hill News

Pope Francis Addresses Congress After meeting with President Obama Thursday, Pope Francis now heads to the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue, where he becomes the first Pontiff in history to address a joint meeting of the United States Congress.
The Pope and his delegation will enter the Capitol at 9:20am Eastern Time, and he will first have a one-on-one meeting with House Speaker John Boehner, who speaks often of his Catholic faith. This is a significant event in Boehner’s career: Since entering House leadership over 20 years ago, he has invited the past two popes to address Congress (both declined).
Similar to the State of the Union, Boehner and Vice President Joe Biden will sit behind the Pope during the address and will preside over the Joint Meeting until Francis arrives, while Supreme Court justices, Cabinet members, and others stream in.
At exactly 10:01:30am, the House Sergeant-at-Arms, in his familiar booming voice, will announce: “Mr. Speaker, the Pope of the Holy See,” recognizing him as a head of state rather than as a religious leader.
Pope Francis will speak for about 40 minutes, in English (as opposed to his native Spanish, or the Catholic Church’s Latin) with no teleprompter. What he says will be very important: whether he stays above the issues, instead speaking about morality, or directly mentions partisan topics like climate change, immigration, and abortion.

2016 Central

Polling Roundup A new poll from Quinnipiac University came out early Thursday morning, with interesting results in the presidential race.
In the GOP primary, Donald Trump remains in first place, at 28% (just a three-point drop from the last Quinnipiac poll, in August), and Ben Carson remains right behind him, with 17%, an five-point increase from his August showing. Carly Fiorina shoots to third place, with a seven-point bump to 12%.
After Fiorina, the members of the next tier either stayed steady or saw increases of just two or three points: Jeb Bush at 10%, Marco Rubio at 9%, Ted Cruz at 7%. The remainder of the candidates failed to take more than 2%.
Meanwhile, on the Democratic side: Hillary Clinton stays strong with 43% support, with Bernie Sanders at 25%. None of the other announced candidates received more than 1%, although potential candidate Joe Biden took 18%. The poll showed Clinton leading Sanders, 52%-30%, if Biden decides not to run, meaning more Biden supporters go to Sanders than to Clinton.
Joe Biden and Ben Carson Carson do best in general election matchups: Carson beats Hillary Clinton (49%-42%) while Biden beats Jeb Bush (46% to 41%), Donald Trump (51% to 40%), and Carly Fiorina (46% to 43%).
Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, loses to Carson (42% to 49%), Bush (42% to 44%), and Fiorina (43% to 44%), while she also bests Trump (45% to 43%), although by a much smaller margin than Biden.
And Carson and Biden against each other? Tie, 45% to 45%.

White House Watch

The President’s Schedule At 2:35pm, President Barack Obama will meet with members of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHS CC), which is led by the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Surgeon General, who hold the ranks of admiral and vice admiral.
The Commissioned Corps also includes over 6,600 dentists, dietitians, engineers, environmental health officers, health service officers, nurses, physicians, pharmacists, scientists, therapists, and veterinarians.
In the Oval Office meeting today, President Obama will “sign a citation awarding the Presidential Unit Citation to PHS CC members who participated in the Ebola containment efforts in West Africa,” according to the White House.
At 7:15pm, the President will welcome his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, with a dinner at the Blair House (the presidential guest house). According to USA Today, Xi’s visit, which comes amid contentious U.S.-China relations, will have a “low-key opening”. The official matters, including a State Dinner, come tomorrow.

Question of the Day

Today’s Question The PHS CC is one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. Five of the others will be familiar: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard. What’s the seventh?
Answer the trivia question by emailing (wakeuptopolitics@gmail.com) or tweeting (@WakeUp2Politics) me by the end of the day with the correct answer (which you can obtain by any method – please consult friends, family, coworkers, books, or the Internet!)
Tuesday’s Answer On Tuesday, the trivia question was: Who was the first Pope to visit the White House?
The answer…Pope John Paul II, who served atop the Catholic Church from 1978 to 2005, and visited Jimmy Carter’s White House in October 1979.
GREAT JOB…Jakob Gibson, Joe Bookman, and @Anthony_Bergen (of the fantastic Dead Presidents blog), who answered via Twitter!
HONORABLE MENTION to…Steve Gitnik, who answered Pope VI – the first pope to visit the United States (he went to New York City, and did meet with President Lyndon B. Johnson, but never stopped at the White House).