Wake Up To Politics - September 2, 2015
Wake Up To Politics - September 2, 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!
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
433 Days Until Election DayIt's 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 or subscribe, visit the site: wakeuptopolitics.com, or read my tweets and follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/Wakeup2Politics or read stories on Wake Up To Politics by clicking the media logos at the bottom.
Capitol Hill News
- Obama Just One Senator Away From Needed Amount on Iran Deal With Sens. Bob Casey (D-PA)’s and Chris Coons (D-DE)’s Tuesday announcements that they support the Iran nuclear deal, President Barack Obama is just one vote away from the amount of senators needed to sustain his veto of the expected resolution of disapproval the House and Senate are likely to pass in the weeks ahead.
- Obama needs 34 Democratic Senators; Casey and Coons are #32 and #33. A number of senators are undecided, making it likely that at least one will support the deal. With the nuclear agreement’s growing support, the possibility is emerging that if 41 senators come out in support of the deal, they could filibuster the disapproval resolution, stopping it from going to Obama for a veto anyway. The House is widely expected to pass the resolution, however.
2016 Central
- CNN Changes Debate Rules; Fiorina Headed to Primetime CNN has changed the rules determining who qualifies for its primetime Republican presidential debate September 16, and who will be relegated to the “kiddie table”.
- While the 10 appearing in the primetime debate was previously going to be the top 10 in an average of national polls (conducted by approved organizations) between July 16 and September 10, candidates now qualify for primetime by polling in the top 10 in an average of the same polls between August 7 and September 10.
- The change is widely seen as helping Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, who spiked in the polls after her performance in the August 6 “kiddie table” debate, and complained to CNN and the Republican National Committee (RNC) that she would not able to move up to primetime in the CNN debate because the sample of polls would include surveys conducted from before the first debate.
- After putting out a statement just days ago defending the criteria, the network says it decided to change them due to a lack of polling since August 6 that would balance out the July polls. Since the first debate, only three polls have been released from the organizations CNN approved, and the network said it only expects two more to come out.
- “As a result [of little polling],” CNN said in a statement, “We now believe we should adjust the criteria to ensure the next debate best reflects the most current state of the national race.”
- As of today, the rules change means the only difference from the previous debate lineup is that Fiorina will be added, joining Bush, Carson, Cruz, Christie, Huckabee, Kasich, Paul, Rubio, Trump, and Walker. However, with two more polls coming out, that is subject to change.
- Fiorina deputy campaign manager Sarah Isgur Flores responded to the change by tweeting, “We look forward to watching Carly debate the other frontrunners at the Reagan Library,” where the debate will be held. Fiorina posted on Facebook as well, saying “I am so grateful to the grassroots supporters and conservative activists who weren’t afraid to take on the political establishment and challenge the status quo to make this happen. Thanks to you, we will be able to share our message of leadership and citizenship with Republican voters on the main debate stage on September 16th.”
- RNC Chairman Reince Priebus also announced support for the new criteria. A statement from Priebus read: “I applaud CNN for recognizing the historic nature of this debate and fully support the network’s decision to amend their criteria.”
- The change is a win-win-win, for CNN (more ratings), the RNC (more diversity), and Fiorina (more visibility).
- She’s in the primetime debate. But, a National Journal profile of Fiorina asks, can she break out into the top tier for good? http://www.nationaljournal.com/twentysixteen/2015/09/01/can-carly-fiorina-make-jump?mref=home
- 2016 Trends I followed all 23 candidates for President on Twitter and Instagram, liked them all on Facebook, subscribed to their mailing lists and YouTube pages. Just for you, I am consuming all of their tweets, posts, pictures, emails, and videos – and culminating the best presidential candidate social media posts of the previous day in this column I like to call 2016 Trends:
- Instagram #selfie: photographers for Mike Huckabee (https://instagram.com/p/7GgPzFBPHj/) and Scott Walker (https://instagram.com/p/7G266Xszvv/) both snapped shots yesterday of the candidates taking selfies.
- Twitter #grammar: Donald Trump tweeted this Tuesday: “Every Poll has me winning BIG.If you listen to dopey Karl Rove, a Trump hater, on @oreillyfactor, you would think I'm doing poorly. @FoxNews” Did you catch the mistake? Poll, not pole.
- Facebook #history: Ben Carson answers questions on Facebook every night, and this one from Tuesday night caught my eye: “First up tonight is another question about our campaign bus. Angela heard that the bus was actually built for Maya Angelou, and wants to know if it is true. The company we leased the bus from says that it is indeed true. She apparently enjoyed traveling the country by bus. There is a built-in table and bench where I am told she often wrote. I once visited with her in her home before she died. She was an amazing woman who built goodwill across race and culture, and I am lucky to have met her.”
- Email Of all the media candidates use to communicate with supporters, email is one of the most frequent. I subscribed to all the candidates’ mailing lists Monday morning, right after this school year’s first edition of Wake Up To Politics. By Tuesday night, I had received 36 emails from the 23 candidates (some, such as Marco Rubio, sent as many as 7 in the two-day period). Here’s a highlight from those emails:
- #flattered: Late Monday night, as reporters were sifting through the latest dump of Hillary Clinton emails, one emerged where she praised her now-opponent Martin O’Malley. He sent supporters a picture of the email, and wrote: “I saw this email yesterday—something Secretary Clinton sent Senator Mikulski back in 2010—and was flattered.”
- Clinton had written, “How’s our friend, Martin, doing? I know he has a rematch when he should be reelected by acclamation for steering the ship of state so well. Pls give him my best wishes.”
- O’Malley jumped on her saying he should win by acclamation (a compliment), writing supporters: “Here's the thing: I didn't win in Maryland by acclamation. I won because of supporters like you. I won because we fought for progressive change—and guess what? We succeeded: we passed marriage equality, passed the DREAM act, and raised the minimum wage. We made progress where it counts, and I'm happy to see Secretary Clinton thought so, too. Democrats are not going to win THIS election by acclamation either…”
- #ShotsFired: Jeb vs. Donald And now for a social media battle that played out across multiple platforms the past few days between Jeb Bush and Donald Trump:
- Monday: Donald à Jeb – Trump posts a video on Instagram attacking Bush’s immigration stance.
- Monday: Jeb à Donald – Bush posts a photo on Instagram of a newspaper showing Democrat Nancy Pelosi claiming the Speaker’s gavel with an inscription from Trump: “Nancy – You are the greatest! Good luck”.
- Tuesday: Donald à Jeb – Trump posts a video on Instagram showing Bush praising Hillary Clinton, with the comment “No more Clintons or Bushes!”
- Tuesday: Jeb à Donald – Bush posts a video on YouTube and another on Twitter. The YouTube video showing Trump making comments clashing with conservative views on abortion, health care, and other issues; the Twitter video shows an old interview with Trump where he is asked, “Why are you a Republican?” Trump’s response: “I have no idea”. Bush tweeted, “The answer is, you’re not”.
- Tuesday: Donald à Jeb – Then, Trump ended the feud by tweeting, “Yet another weak hit by a candidate with a failing campaign,” referring to Bush. He continued, asking the question everyone was wondering: “Will Jeb sink as low in the polls as the others who have gone after me?”
- It’s true, many of the candidates who have attacked Trump have emerged with weakened campaigns and less support. Is Bush next?
White House Watch
- The President’s Schedule On his final day in Alaska, President Obama will travel to Dillingham, Alaska where he will discuss climate change with local fisherman and their families.
- The President will then go to Kotzebue, Alaska, where he will deliver remarks, before departing Alaska and returning in Washington, D.C.
- The Vice President’s Schedule Vice President Joe Biden, who is currently mulling a 2016 bid, travels to Miami today for a speech on expanding college access at the Science Center at Miami Dade College.
- Tonight, he will speak at a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) event in Miami. Tomorrow, he will meet with leaders of the Miami Jewish community to discuss the Iran nuclear deal.
Question of the Day
- Yesterday’s Answer Yesterday, the trivia question was on the namesake of Lyon County, where Rick Santorum finished his “Full Grassley” tour of Iowa.
- The answer is…the county was named for Civil War general Nathaniel Lyon, the first Union general to be killed in the war.
- CONGRATULATIONS…Brad Chotiner, who correctly answered!
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