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Wake Up To Politics - September 22, 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 22, 2015
413 Days until Election Day 2016
132 Days until the Iowa Caucuses
36 Days until the Next Republican Debate
21 Days Until the 1st Democratic DebateIt's Tuesday, September 22, 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.

2016 Central

  • Scott Walker Suspends Presidential Campaign Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, once seen as the frontrunner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination (or at least in the race’s top tier), announced Monday that he was suspending his presidential campaign. Walker’s announcement came after a poor debate performance, which led to his fundraising drying up and a poll denoting him with an asterisk (to show he received 0%), a symbolic sign of Walker’s status in the race.
  • Walker’s low support in that poll, conducted by CNN/ORC, was surprising, even if it was a long time coming: it has been months since his time atop the polls nationally, and in Iowa. Walker’s sudden announcement also took many by surprise: even though his campaign had had money problems, the super PAC supporting him has $25 million on hand.
  • In his remarks Monday, the Wisconsin governor invoked the “eternal optimism” of his hero, Ronald Reagan, saying, “Sadly, the debate taking place in the Republican Party today is not focused on that optimistic view of America. Instead, it has drifted into personal attacks. In the end, I believe that voters want to be for something and not against someone. Instead of talking about how bad things are, we want to hear about how we can make them better for everyone.”
  • Walker then went on a refrain using the phrase “We are the party that believes…,” explaining what how he thinks the GOP has drifted from its core beliefs. Finally, Walker went out with a plea to other GOP candidates to join him in dropping out.
  • “Today, I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the race so that a positive conservative message can rise to the top of the field,” Walker said. “With that in mind, I will suspend my campaign immediately.  I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive conservative alternative to the current frontrunner. This is fundamentally important to the future of the party and - ultimately - to the future of our country.”
  • Even in his final speech as a presidential candidate, Walker refrained from mentioning Donald Trump by name, simply encouraging his opponents to drop out as well, allowing a single conservative alternative to the “current frontrunner”.
  • In the race to being that alternative, Walker may not have had many votes: but he did have endorsements, and many candidates stand to gain from this. Many of Walker’s donors and high-profile endorsers supported him to ensure Jeb Bush would not get the nomination, and are now expected to move on to the next anti-Bush candidate, Marco Rubio.
  • With that – exit Scott Walker from the stage, as the 2016 race has claimed its second victim (despite no one having casted a ballot yet), and the GOP field narrows to 15.
  • 2016 Trends I followed all 23 presidential candidates on Twitter and Instagram, liked them all on Facebook, and subscribed to their mailing lists and YouTube channels…so you don’t have to. Here’s the best posts/tweets/emails/videos from presidential candidates yesterday:
  • #ByeByeScott After Scott Walker announced the suspension of his presidential campaign Monday, almost all [every single one] of his former rivals took to Twitter to bid him farewell, in an attempt to win over his supporters – or even gain an endorsement from Walker himself.
  • As I looked at all the farewell tweets, I noticed they all followed a similar formula: “best wishes” + compliment + “he’s not done yet” = cordial “get out” tweet. I picked each tweet apart to prove it:
  1. “Best Wishes” “I wish…him all the best” (Huckabee), “I wish the best to him” (Rubio), “I wish him…all the best.” (Graham), “Best wishes” (Carson), “My best wishes” (Gilmore), “All the best” (Christie), “Good luck” (Kasich), “All the best” (Cruz), “I wish him all the best.” (Jindal), “All the best” (Paul)
  2. Compliment “I commend him for his courage” (Huckabee), “One of US’ strongest governors.” (Santorum), “Republicans are lucky to have Scott on our team” (Rubio), “A good man who has a proven record of fighting for conservative reforms.” (Bush), “A great governor” (Graham), “Rare politician” (Pataki), “Very nice person” (Trump), “A great Governor, a fighter & a good friend.” (Christie), “A strong leader” (Kasich), “A good friend.” (Jindal)
  3. “He’s Not Done Yet” “He continues to lead the people of Wisconsin” (Huckabee), “People of WI are blessed to have his leadership. Not the last we’ve heard of him!” (Santorum), “He remains one of the best governors in the country and I have no doubt that he'll continue the fight for conservative principles.” (Rubio), “I know he’ll continue…as Governor.” (Bush), “Moving forward” (Carson), “He will continue to provide great leadership for Wiscosin [sic] and America” (Gilmore), “Important voice in the GOP and will be for many years” (Pataki), “Great future” (Trump), “He will continue to work hard for our party & WI.” (Christie), “A bright future” (Kasich), “Continued service to Wisconsin and the country” (Cruz), “Will remain a vital voice in the Republican Party.” (Paul)
  • #LateNightWars Three presidential candidates appeared on competing late-night talk shows Monday, and made sure to tweet about it. Carly Fiorina tweeted a photo with Jimmy Fallon, Ted Cruz tweeted a photo with Stephen Colbert, and Bernie Sanders tweeted a promo for his appearance with Larry Wilmore. Fallon’s “Tonight Show,” Colbert’s “Late Show,” and Wilmore’s “Nightly Show” all air at 11:30pm Eastern Time, and featured appearances by Fiorina, Cruz, and Sanders, respectively, last night.
  • #ShotsFired: Trump vs. Fox News “I am having a really hard time watching @FoxNews,” Donald Trump tweeted Monday, kicking off a Twitter rant against Fox that included a number of tweets (and comments on supporter tweets) attacking the channel and its anchors as being “anti-Trump”.
  • #ShotsFired: Donald vs. Jeb Trump and Jeb Bush once again traded video attacks on social media, the former posting on Instagram, and the latter on Facebook.
  • #selfie Two audience members snap selfies with Hillary Clinton…at once. “Double selfies,” Clinton posts on Instagram.

White House Watch

  • The President’s Schedule At 4 PM, President Barack Obama (joined by his wife, Vice President, and his wife) will greet His Holiness Pope Francis at Joint Base Andrews, where he arrives in Washington, D.C. from Cuba.
  • As White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters, “It is not necessarily routine for the president to greet the foreign leader at Andrews.” It is extremely rare, in fact. But this is no “routine” visit: the Pope is in town, and this is just the start of the pomp and circumstance that comes with a papal visit.
  • Hundreds of Catholics will be on hand to greet Pope Francis as well, and D.C. media and citizens are just as excited. While in America, Francis will meet with President Obama, parade around the Ellipse, and address U.S. bishops (tomorrow); address a joint session of Congress and hold a service in New York City with the mayor and governor (Thursday); speak at the UN, at the 9/11 memorial, visit a school in East Harlem, and hold a mass in Madison Square Garden (Friday); hold a mass in Philadelphia, visit Independence Hall, and visit inmates at a Philadelphia prison (Saturday).

Capitol Hill News

  • Today in the Senate The upper chamber of Congress holds a procedural vote today on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which bans abortions after the first 20 weeks of pregnancy.
  • The measure is expected to be filibustered by Senate Democrats, and even if it passes both houses of Congress, President Barack Obama has threatened to veto it.
  • In addition, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) may announce his plan to avert a government shutdown today. McConnell is expected to announce plans for the Senate to immediately begin working on a short-term spending bill. Both houses must pass the bill before September 30 (just over a week away), or the government shuts down.
  • McConnell’s plan will first include a vote on a spending bill ending funding to Planned Parenthood, which will likely be filibustered by Democrats, allowing McConnell to bring up a continuing resolution that just keeps the government open for two and a half more months and does nothing else. The first vote is important for congressional Republicans, however, to prove to conservatives that Planned Parenthood cannot be defunded, and it is therefore pointless to shut the government down over the issue. But leadership can still keep conservatives happy, since they can claim they still tried, because of the symbolic vote everyone knows will fail.
  • Also today, Senate Democrats will roll out their plan to combat climate change with a bill sponsored by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA). The centerpiece of the measure “would establish as United States policy a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2 percent each year through 2025,” according to the New York Times.
  • Democratic leaders hope the whole caucus will get behind the measure, which is a show of support for the president’s climate plan.

Question of the Day

  • Who was the first pope to visit the White House? Send your answers to wakeuptopolitics@gmail.com! If you’re right, your name will be in tomorrow’s Wake Up!
  • Yesterday’s Answer The answer to Monday’s trivia question (who was the first Muslim member of Congress) is…Keith Ellison of Minnesota.
  • GREAT JOB… Jakob Gibson, Randy Fleisher, Rick Isserman, Steve Gitnik, Christina Hartman, and Amy Fleisher – who all correctly answered the question!

One Last Thing

  • National Voter Registration Day Do you think the top 1% control elections? Do you think millionaires have more power at the ballot box than you? Well, then you'd be right: because research shows a full 99 percent of the wealthiest 1% of Americans turn out and vote. Make sure to register to vote, and make yourself just as powerful as the top 1%.
  • And what better day to register to vote than National Voter Registration Day, which is today! Learn more, and register, at www.nationalvoterregistrationday.org!
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For more on Wake Up To Politics, listen to Gabe on NPR's "Talk of the Nation, the Political Junkie podcast, 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