The first presidential primary is still more than two years away and the midterms will almost certainly reshuffle the White House deck of cards, but it’s not too early to consider six events in 2013 could resonate in 2016.
1. Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi Testimony
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson incurred a heap of criticism for his dogged questioning of Hillary Clinton in January about the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya. But amid the heated, unscripted exchange, he may have elicited one of the most potent attack lines Republicans will deploy against her if she runs for president.
“With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided that they’d they go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator.”
“What difference at this point does it make?” will be stitched into ads and replayed thousands of times by Republicans and their conservative allies in an effort to vilify Clinton as incompetent and indifferent to the death of four Americans. In her largely risk-free, uncontroversial tenure at Foggy Bottom, Benghazi stands out as flashpoint. It remains an obsession of right-wing media and animates the GOP base. One top Republican strategist calls it “a tire fire that just doesn’t go out.” And for Clinton’s opponents, her testimony only poured gas on the blaze.
2. The Rise of Ted Cruz
A year ago, Ted Cruz was a little-known senator whose aides bristled at questions about his national ambitions. After leading the government shutdown and traveling to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, Cruz’s designs couldn’t be clearer. While Marco Rubio may have begun the year as the anointed “savior of the Republican Party,” Cruz is ending it as the chief ringleader of movement conservatives. While few strategists envision Cruz as the ultimate GOP nominee, his unapologetic, ideological fervor would reshape the field and the primary fight. “Cruz running would inevitably drag the other GOP primary candidates to the right, potentially further than Romney got dragged” said Democratic strategist Ben LaBolt, who served as press secretary for Obama’s 2012 campaign. “No doubt he’d create a long list of ideological purity tests that would make it more difficult for the nominee to win the general.” Even if Cruz doesn’t run, he’s asserted himself as a prime player whose blessing will be sought after.
3. Terry McAuliffe’s election as Virginia governor
Before this year, Terry McAuliffe was known primarily by Washington insiders as a master moneyman, strategist and mouthpiece for the Democratic Party. As a result of November’s election, he’ll be soon be introduced to the nation as governor of Virginia—the chief executive of one of the most important battleground states in presidential politics. Strategists on both sides of the aisle have long believed that securing governor’s mansions in swing states is one of the most critical factors in determining how a state votes for the White House. Given McAuliffe’s close ties with the Clintons, Republicans now fret their chances at capturing the state in 2016 have taken a demonstrable hit. “Bottom line is that the Democrats, particularly Hillary, have established a foothold in a critical state for 2016,” said Brett O’Donnell, who has worked on several GOP presidential campaigns. “If anyone believes that Terry McAuliffe was primarily interested in being governor of Virginia for any other person, they are naive. It’s a massive change in the balance of power in the state. McAuliffe will do everything in his power to guarantee the state for Hillary.”
4. The Secret Letter Supporting Hillary
A huge, private show of support for a Hillary Clinton 2016 candidacy became public when North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan unintentionally let the cat out of the bag at an EMILY’s List event in October. All sixteen female Democratic senators have signed a letter urging Clinton to run. But the most notable on the list is Elizabeth Warren, the liberal heroine who poses the greatest threat to a Clinton coronation. Public promises to not run for president have been broken before, but Warren’s name on a letter trumpeting Clinton makes her position much tougher to reverse. One Democratic strategist called the letter the biggest sign yet that Clinton could have the easiest walk to a presidential nomination for a non-incumbent in decades.
5. Rubio’s Immigration Play
No potential candidate’s star has dimmed more dramatically over the last twelve months than that of Rubio, who took a bold political risk in championing comprehensive immigration reform that earned the ire of the right. Despite an aggressive public relations strategy and outreach to Republican opinion makers, Rubio took a sustained pummeling. During the first three months of the year, he led most national polls of GOP primary voters. Now he’s stuck at the bottom of the pack, often registering only in the single digits. The whole experience has chastened the Florida freshman, who has tacked right on every issue since. “Looks like he doesn’t like having fallen into the second tier,” muttered one Beltway lobbyist. The only good news for Rubio is that his immigration gambit occurred early enough for him to rehabilitate and recover. The lack of deal has prevented the blowback from being far worse.
6. The Obamacare Debacle
Republicans are convinced they have struck political gold in the botched rollout of Obamacare and seemingly all of the GOP candidates will point to the problems as evidence that an activist government can’t be trusted. For the GOP, it’ll be preaching to the choir. Whoever the Democratic candidate is, on the other hand, will have to navigate the issue with more political dexterity. Republicans are already circulating Clinton’s 2007 quote when she similarly promised people would be able to keep their own health insurance. Nonetheless, some Democrats even believe that by 2016—once the website kinks have been fixed and millions have enrolled—the issue will turn into a net plus.
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For Chris Christie, a YouTube moment is about as common as a traffic jam on the George Washington bridge.
But NJ.com attempts to pinpoint five flashpoints from the year that reveal the governor’s inner ID.
It includes three quotes that encapsulate what Christie is known for: Being blunt, brash and unapologetic.
His moment calling a New York Daily News reporter a “jerk… a complete idiot.”
His moment talking down to a school teacher: “What do you want? I’m tired of you people.”
And his moment telling The Philadelphia Inquirer that “If I was in the Senate right now, I’d kill myself.”
But the top moment recalls a time when Christie showed a rare, if not underappreciated flash of discipline.
It was in the middle of the first gubernatorial debate with Democrat Barbara Buono, when he declined a shot at humor or derision and killed his opponent with kindness.
“She’s obviously a good and caring mother and someone who cares deeply about public service in this state because she’s dedicated her life to it,” Christie said in a response to the customary question asking the candidate to name something he likes about his opponent.
It was a gentler, softer, smarter Christie — and how he fares on the stump in small towns in Iowa and New Hampshire could largely turn on whether he can adopt that posture readily and repeatedly.
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Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was the most traveled potential candidate to early presidential primary states in 2013, racking up eight visits over the last year.
Paul ventured twice to Iowa, once to New Hampshire and four times to South Carolina — in addition to touching down in Nevada, which is expected to host the second caucus of 2016.
Paul’s been the least coy about his intentions, acknowledging he’s mulling a presidential bid but noting that a significant hurdle will be getting his wife on board. He was the only 2016 contender to hit each of the early four states.
The only other aspirant to come close to Paul’s travel schedule was Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has claimed he’s completely focused on the Senate, while making three visits to Iowa, two to South Carolina and one to New Hampshire.
Two other top-tier GOP candidates: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio mostly stayed away from the early state parade. Christie, who had his own re-election to tend to, made one trip to Nevada in August to raise money; Rubio swore off early state travel altogether.
Here are your 2013 totals of early state visits:
Rand Paul: 8 – Iowa (2), New Hampshire (1), South Carolina (4), Nevada (1)
Ted Cruz: 6 – Iowa (3), New Hampshire (1), South Carolina (2), Nevada (-)
Rick Santorum: 4 — Iowa (2), New Hampshire (0), South Carolina (2), Nevada (-)
Bobby Jindal: 3 — Iowa (1), New Hampshire (1), South Carolina (1), Nevada (-)
Rick Perry: 3 — Iowa (1), New Hampshire (0), South Carolina (2), Nevada (-)
Scott Walker: 3 – Iowa (1), New Hampshire (-), South Carolina (1), Nevada (1)
Paul Ryan: 2 — Iowa (1), New Hampshire (1), South Carolina (-), Nevada (-)
Jeb Bush: 1 — Iowa (-), New Hampshire (-), South Carolina (1), Nevada (-)
Chris Christie: 1 — Iowa (-), New Hampshire (-), South Carolina (-), Nevada (1)
South Carolina was by far the most frequently visited early state for Republicans this year. It registered 13 visits.
For Democrats, early state travel was considerably slower, due to the shadow of Hillary Clinton.
While Clinton did not step foot in an early primary state, Vice President Joe Biden made two visits to South Carolina (one official and one political) and one to Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley made an initial foray into South Carolina in March and headlined a Democratic dinner in New Hampshire last month. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean touched down in Iowa and New Hampshire and both Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer made one visit to Iowa.
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What a difference a year makes — especially when you spend the first portion of it working on a policy at odds with your base.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio lost 12 percentage points in 12 months, according to an analysis of national Republican primary polling in 2013.
That’s the most significant change in support over a year of all the potential 2016 contenders.
The RUN looked at national polling in 2013 — compiled by HUFFPOST Pollster — to compare where the top Republican candidates stood during the first three months of the year compared to the final three months of the year.
Whereas Rubio was averaging about 20 percentage points in national GOP primary polls between January and March, that number plummeted to only about eight percentage points between October and December.
FIRST THREE MONTHS 2013:
Rubio: 19.6
Christie: 12.5
Paul: 7.6
Cruz: Not polled
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was polling at about 12 points, whereas Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul averaged eight percentage points to start the year. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz wasn’t included in a national GOP primary poll until May — when Public Policy Polling pegged him at seven percent.
During the last three months of the year, Christie had increased his share to 17 points and Paul sat at an 11 point average. Cruz shot all the way from not being included in surveys to 12 points.
LAST THREE MONTHS OF 2013:
Christie: 17.2
Cruz: 12.4
Paul: 11
Rubio: 7.6
While Christie ends the year as the solidified polling front-runner, it’s Cruz who gained the most over the last twelve months. And as the data demonstrates, it’s Rubio who lost the most.
Numbers from the first three months were based on averages of eight national polls; numbers from the final three months included nine.
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Mike Huckabee on Sunday put the odds of him running for president in 2016 at a coin flip.
“At this point it is 50-50,” the former Arkansas governor told Fox News Sunday.
He indicated he’ll make a decision after the 2014 midterm elections.
“It would be a decision of the heart,” he said.
Recent polls have shown that Huckabee would be a force to be reckoned with in GOP primaries in Iowa and South Carolina.
But giving up the more cushy and luxurious lifestyle of a media personality could be the ultimate barrier to another Huckabee campaign.
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A Kentucky lawmaker has drafted legislation that would permit Sen. Rand Paul to run for re-election to his senate seat at the same time he pursues a bid for president.
Paul, who is clearly eyeing a 2016 presidential run, also faces a campaign for a second term in the U.S. Senate the same year.
Kentucky law currently disallows a candidate to appear on the same ballot twice.
But the Herald-Leader reports that the GOP Senate Majority Floor Leader in the state has already crafted legislation that would allow Paul to wage two simultaneous campaigns.
Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, has drawn up legislation — “a one-sentence clarifier” — that would ensure that Paul has no problems.
Thayer, who said he has discussed the matter with Paul only in passing, is unsure whether to introduce the legislation in the coming year or wait until 2015, when Republicans hope to have majority control of the state House for the first time since 1921.
“I would think that Democrats would want to clarify the law,” Thayer said. “They may have a situation like this. And also, why wouldn’t they want someone from Kentucky to be able to run for president, whether he or she is a Republican or a Democrat?”
Sen. Marco Rubio faces a similar potential conundrum in 2016, but Florida’s filing date is later than Kentucky, providing him a bit more wiggle room to maneuver back into the Senate race if a presidential campaign were to flame out.
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The fact that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker lacks a college degree is gaining more scrutiny given his splash on the national scene.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s PolitiFact arm does a deep dive into the reasons surrounding Walker’s abrupt departure from Marquette University and truth-squads two central claims.
First, there’s zero tangible evidence Walker was booted from the school, a claim that’s been promoted and recycled by the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
We asked Walker if he was “forced out” of Marquette for any reason.
“I can say unequivocally that isn’t true,” Walker said.
“Gov. Scott Walker was a student at Marquette from fall of 1986 until spring 1990 and was a senior in good standing when he voluntarily withdrew from Marquette,” the university said in a statement.
That means that no conduct issues, academic or otherwise, blocked Walker from continuing in school at the time of his departure, MU spokesman Brian Dorrington told us in early December 2013.
When we asked Dorrington whether any conduct issues were on Walker’s earlier school record, he said Walker would have to permit release of that information. Walker did so in response to our request.
“Governor Walker was in good standing each term while he was enrolled at Marquette University and when he left Marquette University,” Associate Vice Provost Anne Deahl said in a letter.“Governor Walker was not expelled or suspended from the university at any time.”
Statements on-the-record from the university seem to put that bogus claim to bed for good.
On the other hand, it seems Walker has taken some liberty in saying how much more schooling he needs to complete to secure that degree. The Sentinel estimates it is as least a year.
Walker actually has about a year left in school, maybe more, based on Marquette records and available evidence — considerably more than the 15 to 17 credits he mentions to interviewers.
He earned 94 credits and had senior status, accumulating a 2.59 grade point average, Marquette confirmed during the 2010 campaign with Walker’s permission.
His credit total is 34 short of the 128 minimum needed to graduate in one major, a total that requires an average of 16 per semester. Walker told the 1990 yearbook interviewer he was triple majoring in political science, philosophy and economics; that likely would have meant an even heavier load.
Asked now about the apparent discrepancy, Walker told us he wasn’t sure exactly how many credits he needed because he hasn’t looked it up.
Given his eye on the presidency, Walker has told reporters that he has given thought to returning to school to finish his degree “maybe in the next few years” — convenient timing for a graduation ceremony on the eve of a 2016 presidential run.
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If Republicans are to take back the White House in 2016, they’ll need to vastly improve their performance in the Midwest.
That’s why some GOP operatives are pitching the idea of a Midwestern regional primary.
The proposal was first publicly floated by consultant Mike Murphy, who raised it in his TIME column:
Some GOP operatives are pitching the idea of a Midwestern regional primary, and it’s a good one. The concept is a bunch of key Midwestern swing states — Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and a few others — would all have their primaries on a single day, not long after the Florida primary. Those states are critical to winning a general election: let’s make their voice in the primary system louder.
In an e-mail, Murphy acknowledged he isn’t sure how much momentum the idea has. ”I’m hoping it will catch on and gave it a plug,” he said.
But those familiar with the discussions inside the Republican National Committee told The RUN they haven’t observed a groundswell of support for a mega-Midwestern election day.
While the regional primary has been mentioned in conversations among RNC members, the foremost initial goal is carving out slots in February 2016 for the four earliest states — Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Another likelihood: Any state electing to hold a contest during the first two weeks of March will be required to allocate their delegates proportionally to make sure the process is spread out enough that a front runner can’t win all the contests on one day.
That rule would seem to take the air out of a Midwestern regional primary altogether.
RNC spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski would only say, “It’s too early to tell what the primary process is going to look like but the discussions are happening.”
Given the controversies and penalties that boiled up around the calendar schedule last cycle, it’s difficult to get state party officials to even comment on proposals.
Some party officials contacted were completely unaware of the Midwestern regional primary idea, but most states won’t set their 2016 date until 2015. And many won’t move without getting the ok from the RNC, which seems determined to streamline its 2016 process to eliminate as much drama as possible.
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The Mike Huckabee for president movement is picking up steam.
Conservative activists trying to convince him to take another shot at the White House in 2016 have commissioned polls showing the former Arkansas governor leading Republican primary races in the two key early primary states of Iowa and South Carolina.
In Iowa, the caucus state he won in 2008, Huckabee leads his nearest competitor, Gov. Chris Christie, by seven points. In South Carolina, his advantage is even bigger, at nine points. Both polls, shared first with The RUN, were conducted by GOP strategist Bob Wickers, a former Huckabee political adviser.
“Should Mike Huckabee become a candidate for president in 2016 he is well-positioned to win two of the most important early contests,” Wickers writes in a memo accompanying the results. ”As a former governor of Arkansas for over a decade, Mike Huckabee embodies the type of candidate Iowa and South Carolina voters are looking for in 2016.”
The full IOWA results: 402 likely GOP voters, live telephone interviews, Dec. 4-7:
Mike Huckabee 21%
Chris Christie 14%
Ted Cruz 14%
Rand Paul 11%
Marco Rubio 9%
Rick Santorum 9%
Rick Perry 5%
Not Sure/Refused 17%
The full SOUTH CAROLINA results: 400 likely GOP voters, live telephone interviews, Dec. 4-7:
Mike Huckabee 24%
Chris Christie 15%
Ted Cruz 12%
Marco Rubio 12%
Rand Paul 11%
Rick Santorum 6%
Rick Perry 5%
Not Sure/Refused 15%
Huckabee’s support grows when the Wickers polls narrow in on base voters — those described as having a “high interest” in the election and consider themselves as “very conservative and pro-life.” But his biggest competition among that important subgroup appears to be from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
For instance, in Iowa, Cruz ties Huckabee at 24 percent a piece among base voters. In South Carolina, Huckabee jumps to 30 percent among the base; Cruz increases his share to 16 percent. Not surprisingly, Christie plummets into single digits among the base, registering just three percent in Iowa and six percent in South Carolina.
The Wickers polling also demonstrates Huckabee boasting the best favorability rating among Republicans in both states. Somewhat surprisingly, though Christie is the runner-up in both states, he holds the worst favorability among the contenders.
IOWA favorability:
Mike Huckabee 75%
Rand Paul 65%
Rick Santorum 59%
Marco Rubio 58%
Ted Cruz 55%
Chris Christie 49%
SOUTH CAROLINA favorability:
Mike Huckabee 72%
Rand Paul 60%
Marco Rubio 58%
Ted Cruz 55%
Rick Santorum 53%
Chris Christie 46%
GOP voters in both states overwhelmingly prefer a candidate who has served as a governor over a member of Congress, Wickers also found.
While skeptics will surely pour cold water on polling run by a Huckabee confidante, the mere release of the results is an indication that Huckabee — and those close to him — are weighing the race seriously. In addition, Wickers’ findings closely mirrors a recent Gravis Marketing survey of South Carolina, also showing Huckabee atop the pack.
Huckabee just announced he’s giving up his radio show and will be touring a series of Pastors & Pews events around the country in early 2014 — appearances that will serve as a sort of testing ground.
A decision on a potential run is probably still a year away, but the Huckabee factor is a new one that adds another wrinkle to the ever-evolving GOP primary field.
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Mike Huckabee was on the precipice of giving up his cushy media enterprise and entering the 2012 presidential campaign until he decided he couldn’t trust his top political hand, Ed Rollins, according to Double Down.
There isn’t any hard evidence Huckabee has designs on a run in 2016. But a South Carolina primary poll testifies to the former Arkansas governor’s enduring popularity with the base of the Republican Party.
Huckabee hasn’t been included in much 2016 polling, but Gravis Marketing placed him among the heap of contenders in the Palmetto State and found him coming out on top.
Among GOP presidential primary voters in South Carolina:
Mike Huckabee 18%
Jeb Bush 17%
Chris Christie 14%
Ted Cruz 13%
Rand Paul 8%
Marco Rubio 8%
Rick Santorum 3%
Scott Walker 2%
Undecided 16%
Name identification, of course, is key in this very early stage of the race. Huckabee’s weekly television presence on the Fox News channel, his radio show, books and email list have kept him front and center in the public eye.
But it’s perhaps more interesting that Gravis chose to include Huckabee in the field — and leave out Texas Gov. Rick Perry – who has already made two trips to South Carolina – and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who is also eyeing a White House run.
Harper Polling surveyed the state in October and surprisingly found Gov. Chris Christie leading the pack. But Jeb Bush was left out as was Perry.
The most important takeaway from the batches of data taken together is Christie’s solid performance — snagging double digits in a state usually hostile to politicians from outside the south.
The other reminder almost more important than the topline results is understanding who the pollster decides to include in the field.
Huckabee’s assumed to be a longshot to run in 2016 — so without him, where does his 18 percent go?
Gravis doesn’t ask.
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Sen. Rand Paul previewed a plan Thursday that would drastically lower taxes in economically devastated pockets of the country, as he attempts to make political inroads in the nation’s historically Democratic cities.
On the eve of a trip to Detroit — where he’ll deliver a speech before the city’s Economic Club and open a local metro GOP office — Paul said he would soon introduce legislation that would completely eliminate or cut taxes in targeted areas suffering from high unemployment in order to return money to local businesses and customers.
The idea, Paul said on a conference call with reporters, is to “create taxes so low that you are essentially able to bail yourselves out,” rather than depending on the federal government to allocate funding based on political patronage.
“It adds up, it becomes a significant amount of money over time. It’s going into the hands of people who earned it,” he said.
Paul framed it as a conservative alternative to traditional grant allotment because it simply and directly returns money to a specific impoverished locality.
“It’s not government deciding,” he said. ”This will create jobs because the money is not going to go to anyone selected by government. It’s going back to businesses.”
The plan, which Paul will outline in greater detail in his speech Friday, will obviously be applicable to Detroit, which suffers from 18 percent unemployment, as well as other struggling enclaves.
While the freshman senator said the legislation would also to apply to certain rural areas across the country, the focus is undoubtedly on blighted urban centers with large African-American populations.
Paul has been the most vocal potential Republican presidential candidate about the need for the party to make inroads with minorities.
In April, he visited Washington’s historically black Howard University in that same cause.
“There will be an outreach here. The goal is to say, we have ideas for people who live in cities,” he said.
But Paul didn’t indicate he had rounded up wide-ranging support for his plan, mentioning that he had only spoken about it in passing to Michigan Democratic Sen. Carl Levin.
Democrats have customarily argued that the rich should shoulder higher taxes in order to pay for services and aid for the poor.
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The Sioux City Journal is priming to post a story Sunday looking at the potential alternatives to Hillary Clinton if she decides against a 2016 presidential run.
But Bret Hayworth has published a preview that includes an eye-popping on-the-record quote from an Iowa Democratic party official.
Call Woodbury County Democratic Party chairman Greg Guelcher the dissenter — he acknowledges his opinion on Clinton is the minority in Democratic circles:
“The Democratic field as far as I am concerned is wide open,” Guelcher said. “I really am in the minority on this. I do not foresee Hillary Clinton running. By the time the next campaign season is underway, she will be too old. I would say that about a male candidate as well.”
Clinton would be 69 when the 2016 election is held.
Finding a Democrat critical of the Clinton candidacy-in-waiting these days is like searching for a black cat in a coal cellar.
The only comparable comment has come from Jackie Norris, Obama’s 2008 Iowa director, who went on to become Michelle Obama’s chief of staff.
Guelcher’s comment shows that the age — or more finessed — the “generational” — question will weigh on the minds of a portion of voters.
But any Republican contemplating raising the issue should be cognizant of the blowblack that would inevitably occur in attempting to raise the age of the first plausible female president.
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Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is 72-years-old and an avowed socialist who doesn’t even formally identify as a Democrat.
But he’s signaled that he may just be willing to run for president in 2016 if the field lacks a progressive voice.
If Hillary Clinton decides to embrace the policy menu of liberals, Sanders would likely render his own candidacy unnecessary.
The important qualifier there, though, is “if.”
“I don’t wake up every morning saying, ‘Oh my goodness, I really want to be president,’ ” Sanders, who calls himself a democratic socialist, said in an interview. “But somebody’s got to be out there, and if nobody is, I’ll do it.”
If nothing else, Sanders would make for rich and vibrant copy and his forceful, cantankerous manner would command media attention.
But many of these early warnings from the left may be more about planting a flag than prepping for a real campaign.
And it will be difficult to measure the seriousness of such promises until Clinton addresses her positions on some their most treasured issues like Social Security, economic inequality and Wall Street regulation.
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The Post’s Ezra Klein passes along a nugget from last week’s Scott Walker media tour that grants one a glimpse into his theory against divided government:
Walker did something amazing at this breakfast. He did something I’ve never seen a presidential aspirant do. When asked about the gridlock and polarization in Washington, he refused to say he could bring the two parties together. Instead, he made the case for unified government. “For years, the conventional wisdom was that Americans want divided government,” he said. “I think they’ve seen in the last few years that that’s not necessarily a good thing. Instead of checks and balances you get a lot of gridlock.”
Walker’s position is fueled by his own 2012 recall experience, when he beat back a Democratic effort to dislodge him from office due to a bold, controversial policy agenda.
But the Wisconsin governor contends that big and bold requires getting everyone on the same team.
“What we learned in Wisconsin and what many of the other battleground states, particularly in the Midwest, learned during the 2010 election, was that if you want to get big, bold reform done in your state you need a team to help you do that. So in our case everything switched from Democratic control to Republican control in 2010 and that empowered us to go out and make reforms that would’ve been much more difficult without those changes.”
Members of the media, and especially debate moderators, love posing politicians with the question of how they’d work to bring both sides together. ”Name a Democrat you respect or could work with . . . How would YOU bridge the partisan divide?”
Klein’s right to flag that Walker is indicating he might not deliver the kumbaya answer.
Walker won’t run as “the candidate of polarization,” but he may try to say that nominating/electing him will bring a majority into the fold due to the power of his ideas, not because he’s willing to compromise — but because simply, he not only has superior policy models but also is savvier about winning the battle of public opinion over them.
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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has overtaken Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul in The CHASE for the 2016 Republican nomination.
Christie’s ascension to the top slot of TheRun2016.com’s rolling monthly rankings of the presidential nomination battles comes after his crushing re-election victory earlier this month and a band of new polling charting his upswing.
A national Quinnipiac University survey released Nov. 13 granted Christie his first head-to-head polling edge over Hillary Clinton. The 1-point advantage was well within the margin of error and likely ephemeral, but it marked the first time Clinton trailed in a 2016 poll this year.
While there hasn’t been new early state polling this month, numbers coming out of other states demonstrate the rise of Christie.
- A Nov. 20 Quinnipiac University general election poll of Colorado put Christie ahead of Clinton 46 percent to 38 percent. “Right now, Colorado voters say Gov. Christie is the only contender who would make a good president,” said Quinnipiac’s Tim Malloy.
- In Mississippi, one of the most conservative states in the country, Christie trails Ted Cruz only narrowly in the GOP primary, according to Public Policy Polling’s November survey. Cruz nets 19 percent to Christie’s 17 percent — an impressive number for a northeast governor in a state that wouldn’t seem naturally hospitable.
- And while Quinnipiac shows Jeb Bush being the the most competitive opponent against Clinton in Florida, Christie is also in the game there, trailing the former Secretary of State by just 4 points. That’s better than homestate Sen. Marco Rubio, who falls to Clinton by seven. Christie is third in a GOP primary match-up in Florida (to Jeb & Marco), but given that it’s likely both of them won’t run, he’s likely to be in the fight there.
In addition, previous early state primary polling has shown Christie as one of the top horses in New Hampshire and more surprisingly, South Carolina.
Christie becomes the third leader of The CHASE this year, with Rubio at the top in the spring and Sen. Rand Paul taking over in the summer.
The CHASE has also updated its calculations on who is most likely to run — bumping Christie now up to 80 percent, Cruz up to 55 percent and Rubio down to 80 percent (from 90 percent).
Ratings on the Democratic side stay the same.
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Scott Walker’s national tour promoting his new book recounting his vigorously contested 2012 recall win is essentially a belated victory lap designed to elevate his stature in anticipation of a White House run.
The 46-year-old Republican governor of Wisconsin has barely hidden the fact he’s testing the waters for a 2016 presidential bid, a prospect only enhanced by his success in beating back the historic attempt to remove him from office midway through his term following a knock-down, drag-out fight with the state’s public employee unions.
But standing between him and his unconcealed national ambition is yet another gubernatorial re-election campaign next year — one that looks surprisingly more competitive than expected, especially given how demoralized Democrats were after Walker ran rings around them 17 months ago.
In the aftermath of that loss, Democrats whispered ruefully about how the recall process had botched their opportunity at upending arguably the most polarizing governor in the country.
That doom-and-gloom assumption has now evaporated in the wake of polling demonstrating Walker’s consistent middling popularity and the emergence of a fresh-faced candidate who Democrats appear to be consolidating around.
Walker may already have one eye trained on a larger electoral prize, but operatives on both sides of the aisle are in agreement that his third gubernatorial race could shape up to be his toughest yet.
“This will be a close race for sure. No blowouts will occur here,” said Democratic media strategist Jim Margolis, President Obama’s adman who is now tasked with helping to defeat Walker.
“I believe he has a fight coming,” said Brandon Scholz, a Madison-based consultant and former executive director of the Wisconsin Republican Party.
One woman who is certainly betting on Walker’s vulnerability is his only announced Democratic opponent, Mary Burke, a 54-year-old former state Secretary of Commerce and school board member who is widely unknown in Democratic activist circles.
A former executive at her family-owned Trek Bicycle, Burke was recruited by Wisconsin Democratic Party officials to run after they conducted dozens of focus-groups designed to identify the traits best suited to contrast with Walker.
Burke checks virtually every box: a woman with a sterling business background and deep roots in the state who isn’t a lifelong politician. It doesn’t hurt that she’s also a multimillionaire already plugging her own money into the endeavor.
“I spent time making sure if I got into it, I could win,” Burke said.
But the same novelty that party leaders found attractive in the centrist Burke is raising red flags among some of the most ardent progressive activists in a state known for a historic streak of liberalism. Since her formal entrance into the race in October, assorted liberals have complained about her unwillingness to pledge to roll back Walker’s collective bargaining reforms, her company’s outsourcing of jobs overseas and her considerable personal wealth.
Grumbling aside, Burke’s aides are cautiously optimistic she will avoid a divisive primary and slowly but surely win over skeptics who will swallow their ideological pride in the pursuit of defeating Walker and halting any presidential preparations squarely in their tracks.
In fact, Burke’s unwillingness to revisit the collective bargaining issue will presumably make her more marketable to the smidgen of remaining persuadable Badger State voters she’ll need to pull off the upset.
“Many moderates have no special interest in that issue, at least any more,” said Paul Fanlund, a left-leaning columnist for the Madison-based Capital Times who is urging liberals to back Burke. “Her estrangement from the far left might be helpful later.”
A Marquette University poll — which accurately tracked the outcome of the 2012 recall — provided additional heartening news for Democrats. Burke trailed Walker by only two points in the late October survey, even though a staggering 70 percent of respondents said they didn’t have enough information about Burke to form an opinion.
A $1 million pro-Walker television ad blitz in September funded by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce appeared to have little effect on boosting the governor’s popularity.
“I think Scott Walker has a ceiling and I think he’s in the neighborhood of that ceiling right now,” said Margolis, pointing to the governor’s 47 percent in the Marquette poll to Burke’s 45 percent. “It’s an immediate wake-up call that Wisconsin’s in play.”
Walker’s team appears not to be rattled about the prospect of a close race.
“A generic Dem will get 45 percent in this race,” said a Walker adviser not authorized to speak on the record. “It’s going to be close regardless.”
The governor’s playbook against Burke will be to label her as a throwback to Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle’s eight-year reign — a period of economic stagnation, high taxes and deficits.
“We’re confident that voters want to continue moving Wisconsin forward, and have no desire to return to the failed policies of the past,” said Walker campaign manager Stephan Thompson in a statement.
But even on the economy — Walker’s supposed sweet spot — there’s a gaping opening for an attack.
It’s unlikely his administration will hit its 2010 campaign pledge of creating 250,000 new jobs in the state by 2015 and Democrats are seizing upon a Moody’s report that says Wisconsin remains one of the worst states for projected job growth.
“He can’t blame anybody else. He’s called every shot. He’s gotten his way on everything. He has woefully performed on jobs compared to the other states around him,” said Pete Giangreco, a Burke adviser who will handle the direct mail campaign.
Then there’s the ongoing John Doe investigation, in which Milwaukee prosecutors continue to subpoena Walker allies in order to investigate the relationship between the governor’s campaign and the independent groups that backed him.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett made no headway raising the issue in 2012, but even the slight whiff of scandal is a detriment in a margin of error race.
“He should sue for harassment,” sniffed consultant Scholz, who views the entire ordeal as a partisan witch hunt.
If Burke can keep the race close heading into next fall, national interest in the race will explode given Walker’s White House dreams. Outside groups like EMILY’s List and Planned Parenthood are already expected to invest heavily to counter Walker’s fundraising juggernaut, which collected more than $30 million for the 2012 contest.
The cash-flush Republican Governors Association and the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity can be expected to come to Walker’s aid once again.
“I think he will spend ungodly sums,” acknowledged Margolis. “But the spotlight lights up everything for everybody.”
Assuming the GOP fundraising advantage isn’t gargantuan, Democrats say the race will come down to two overriding factors, which are neither wholly separate nor completely intertwined.
The one largely out of their control is the overall national environment and the strength of the headwind they will face during a midterm year. That assessment will shift another half dozen times before Election Day based on President Obama’s standing and the issue matrix driving the conversation.
The other factor well within their influence is reaching the Walker-Obama voters — those who supported the governor in a recall effort who then returned to cast a ballot for the president five months later. There are more than 200,000 of them and Burke’s team believes they are ripe for the picking, assuming their vote against the recall was largely protesting what they saw as an illegitimate process, not a full-fledged embrace of Walker.
As a result of the Obama team’s robust effort to secure the state’s 10 electoral votes last fall, invaluable campaign infrastructure like the state’s voter file have been vastly improved, a boon for Burke.
“We know more than ever about not just where, but who the drop-off voters are, based on the Obama campaign,” said a Democratic operative who has worked several Wisconsin campaigns.
Whether they can successfully reach them will not only determine Burke’s fate, but could very well reshape the presidential field before it has even fully formed.
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Texas Sen. Ted Cruz heaped effusive praise on South Carolina Tuesday night during a conference call with college Republicans, promising to return to the early presidential primary state soon.
Cruz spoke for just under 20 minutes and answered a final question about his future political aspirations by pointing to his experience in the Palmetto State during the 2000 presidential campaign.
Here’s how he fielded the query:
“You will not be surprised to know I’m a huge fan of South Carolina, and in fact, I think back to the 2000 Bush campaign, when I was working on the campaign, on the policy team. I spent the entire week of that South Carolina campaign on the road with George W. Bush traveling the state. And if you’ll remember, in that particular race, Bush had won Iowa and then John McCain had won New Hampshire and won it by 19 points, kicked the Bush team in and the campaign was shellshocked. And I’ll tell you, South Carolina was do or die. If George W. Bush would’ve lost South Carolina, he would not have been elected president. I was on the bus with him in South Carolina all week going from event to event to event and one of the things that struck me then and has struck me since then is how similar South Carolinians are to Texans. I think that our states are blessed to share very similar values. South Carolinians and Texans are both friendly, are good people, they’re God-fearing, we believe in the 2nd amendment, we believe in individual liberty and we’ve got a strong patriotic passion for America. And George W. Bush won South Carolina and went on to win the election. That was truly inspirational.”
“I’m a big believer in the old adage that good policy is good politics, that if you stand up and do the right thing, if you do the principled thing, then the political benefits flow from it. But if you don’t worry about the politics, you just focus on doing the right thing and empowering the people, then that’s how you actually turn this country around . . . I expect and hope to be back in South Carolina soon.”
Earlier in the call, in answering a question about how college Republicans could do more to convince other student to join the GOP cause, Cruz tipped his cap to the father of potential 2016 rival Sen. Rand Paul.
“The two Republican politicians in the last 50 years who most inspired young people, I think they were hands down, Ronald Reagan and Ron Paul. And what’s quite striking about that is both of them were septuagenarians, both of them were in their seventies when they did that, they were not young James Dean characters. But what did Ronald Reagan, what did Ron Paul do? They stood for principle and they fought passionately for those principles in a way that inspired.”
South Carolina College GOP chairman Taylor Mason, who organized the call, called Cruz “a vital part of the grassroots movement that is taking the fight to Washington.” His group dispatched 250 students to volunteer on political races in 2013.
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The most talked about Scott Walker interview Sunday was with ABC’s Jonathan Karl, where the union-busting Wisconsin governor said that Republicans should turn to chief executives for both positions on their ticket in 2016.
But in an interview with USA Today’s Susan Page, which also posted on Sunday, Walker took another glancing swipe at 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney.
Asked whether the results of the 2013 gubernatorial races demonstrate that the GOP needs to embrace a more moderate image going forward, Walker invoked a comparison with the 2012 nominee.
“Out of the 30 governors in America who are now Republican … all 30 of them are probably more conservative than Mitt Romney is. It’s not that we need to change our core principles….Republican governors are much more optimistic.”
By that measure, he believes that potential 2016 rival Chris Christie is even more conservative than Romney.
While Sens. Rand Paul and Marco Rubio seemed to downplay Christie’s electoral success in New Jersey, Walker took one for the team, defending the current crop of governors as a whole.
Walker was a critique of Romney’s campaign amid the summer of 2012, stirring up some bad blood with the nominee’s supporters that hasn’t yet dissolved.
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Paul Ryan admitted it took him a good six months to get over his loss to President Obama and Joe Biden.
And a year later, the wounds on the former GOP vice presidential nominee still seem raw.
At a fundraiser for Gov. Terry Branstad in Iowa Saturday night, the Wisconsin congressman bemoaned the 2012 defeat in a dull and, at times, awkward speech that failed to extract the rapturous reaction one would expect for a rising star or potential 2016 presidential candidate.
Perhaps the crowd caught a bit of the 2012 bug Ryan was still carrying.
“We were in a funk for a good six months because we made mistakes,” he acknowledged, adding that it was “obviously very frustrating.”
“I think one of the problems that Mitt and I had was we were arguing against big government in theory We had to campaign against big government in theory,” he argued, noting that most of the provisions of Obamacare and Dodd-Frank didn’t begin getting implemented until 2013. ”Here’s the difference now, we’ve got big government in practice. And what we are realizing is that the results are nothing close to what was used to sell it,” he argued.
Obama carried Iowa by 5 points.
“Next time you have a famous politician coming through Iowa, breezing through the towns, talking about big government, let’s be a little more skeptical,” Ryan said, as if the mostly Republican audience he was speaking to had voted to reelect the president.
The visit marked Ryan’s first stop to the Hawkeye State since 2012. For most of this year, Ryan has made few moves that would telegraph he’s plotting a White House campaign, instead focusing on governing. He’s been tasked by Republicans to try to hammer out a budget agreement by Dec. 13.
Ryan took several shots at the widespread problems plaguing the health care law and prodded GOP activists to defeat Rep. Bruce Braley in the 2014 Senate race as punishment for his vote on the legislation. Yet in a rare forward-looking snippet of the speech, he said Republicans must show Americans that they are “not just the opposition party, but the proposition party.”
In addition to Branstad, Ryan name-checked and thanked Rep. Tom Latham and Sen. Chuck Grassley but did not mention Rep. Steve King, the most vocally conservative member of the delegation.
“Maybe we should come back and do this more often. People are really friendly here,” Ryan said, in a hint that was clearly meant to signal he’s keeping the presidential door open.
He could’ve used a few more friendly folks in the room tonight.
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Ted Cruz’s 21-hour pseudo-filibuster handed him a moment that vaulted him to the top of the polling pack.
Now it’s Chris Christie’s turn at the top.
Except that his reward is the first public general election poll of 2016 showing Hillary Clinton trailing.
Quinnipiac University, which dove into the field the day after Christie’s 22-point reelection victory, places the New Jersey governor ahead of the former Secretary of State by 1 point, 43 percent to 42 percent.
The best number contained in the poll for Christie is his support among independents. He wins them by 16 points. And even his gender gap against Clinton isn’t atrocious. He only trails Clinton by 9 among the fairer sex.
Christie carries middle and upper income folks and performs better with older voters than younger.
But this survey shows him garnering more crossover appeal than Clinton. For instance, whereas only 20 percent of Republicans believe Clinton would make a good president, 37 percent of Democrats say the same about Christie.
More than a third of African-Americans and 40 percent of Hispanics also think Christie would be a reputable commander in chief.
This is clearly Christie’s bump month.
Remember that it was just October when he trailed Clinton by 13 points nationally, so the first test of Christie’s staying power will come in the December Quinnipiac survey.
Other tidbits buried in the national Quinnipiac poll:
- In the midst of his plagiarism scandal, Rand Paul remains just as competitive against Hillary Clinton as Paul Ryan. They both lose by 9 points.
- Just 25 percent of respondents believe Joe Biden would make a good president. That’s just a point better than Ted Cruz. Even more troubling for Biden, only 51 percent of DEMOCRATS say yes to that question.
- On Cruz, 3 percent of Democrats think he’d do the job well.
- Twenty-one percent of Republicans have an unfavorable opinion of the tea party.
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CHARLESTON, S.C. — Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., outlined a humble foreign policy doctrine at The Citadel Tuesday, stressing the objective of peace through strength in an attempt to allay fears among some Republicans about his commitment to the military.
The libertarian-minded freshman’s goal before this decorated audience was twofold: To assert his support for the world’s greatest fighting force while making the case for a more prudent approach to global affairs that keeps soldiers out of conflicts that are not in the vital national interest.
“The first and primary function of our government is a strong national defense — bar none,” Paul said to sustained applause as he stood in the well of the military college’s fieldhouse populated with cadets. “But so much of what we do in Washington today is more like an irrational offense.”
Paul lamented sending billions in foreign aid to Middle Eastern countries that “riot and burn our flag,” and cautioned against intervening in violence-torn places — like Syria — where the lines between allies and enemies are blurred and an achievable goal is murky.
“America has never backed down from a fight — but we should never be a nation that is eager to get involved in nations’ conflicts that work against our own national security,” he said.
While Paul had made many of the speech’s points previously, the setting — one of the nation’s most renowned military academies which also happens to reside in an early presidential primary state — undoubtedly heightened their significance.
Paul is a probable Republican 2016 presidential candidate who is well-aware that one of his obstacles will be overcoming the perception he’s a replica of his father, former Rep. Ron Paul, who espoused isolationist foreign policy views that fell far outside the mainstream of the GOP.
The elder Paul barely competed in the 2012 primary here, whereas the son is appearing to make the Palmetto State a central part of his strategy. This was his fourth visit to South Carolina in 2013. A June address to party stalwarts in Columbia was similarly almost exclusively devoted to foreign affairs and the nation’s fight combating terrorism.
But these remarks — which ran just under 20 minutes — could be easily characterized as Paul’s first major foreign policy speech of his yet to be announced presidential campaign.
It did not go unnoticed that Paul briefly mentioned the unabashed loyalty of Israel – “one friend that never leaves our side” — which one attendee remarked was an important signal of his commitment to the enduring U.S. alliance.
In addition, Paul repackaged a previous blistering attack against the Democratic frontrunner for president — former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He laid the blame squarely at her feet for the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi last year, which took the lives of four Americans.
“When Hillary Clinton was asked for more security, she turned the ambassador down. Under cross-examination, she admitted that she never read the cables asking for more security,” Paul said. “I find it inexcusable that security requests were denied. I find it a clear dereliction of duty. Failure to provide our ambassador and his mission with adequate security should preclude her from ever holding office again.”
The cadets rewarded that pronouncement with thunderous applause.
Furthermore, the tragedy provided Paul with a rare instance where he’s advocated for a larger military footprint.
“I continue to think that that mission in Benghazi should have been supported by the military,” he told reporters afterward. “Libya was a war, for goodness sakes. [Our ambassador] was guarded by the militia of Libya. Do you think Hillary Clinton goes around the world and was guarded by militias? I think that’s inexcusable that we didn’t have an official guard for the ambassador.”
Yet the sweeping theme of Paul’s speech was a call to de-escalate obligations abroad to focus on more pressing and immediate priorities at home.
Invoking Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, he embraced a philosophy of war only as a last resort and reminded attendees that the 40th president called “peace . . . the highest aspiration of the American people.”
“Reagan’s been hijacked by all different spectrums of the Republican Party,” Paul told reporters afterwards. “But I think if you read Reagan carefully . . . I don’t think he was eager for war.”
Paul said a drawdown from entanglements overseas would allow the country to “do things to make us safer at home and abroad.”
To that end, he announced that in the coming weeks he would propose the formation of a task force to produce a plan to “modernize our military and strengthen our defenses.” Included in that plan will be a call for an audit of the Pentagon to eliminate waste and focus precious resources on “true defense needs.”
The military budget has always been a sacred cow, especially within the Republican Party. But Paul believes public opinion among conservatives is changing on that front, in the wake of two costly, prolonged wars and the country’s mounting debt crisis.
“Defense is the most important thing we do, it is a primary constitutional function of the government, but that doesn’t mean a blank check,” Paul said.
Paul’s libertarian-influenced worldview has already drawn the ire of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a potential 2016 rival, who dubbed the approach “dangerous.”
But Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, an outspoken second-term House member and Paul ally who has been a thorn in the side of the GOP establishment, said it’s Christie, in fact, who now holds the dangerous political position.
“The popular position within Republican districts is the Rand Paul position,” Amash said in an interview. “His position is a winning position in a Republican primary.”
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The Kentucky senator signaled Monday he’s unlikely to delve into the South Carolina Senate contest, which includes three challengers trying to unseat Graham.
“I’m going to try not to be involved,” Paul said in response to a reporter’s question. ”We’re unlikely to, we’re not going to say never.”
The answer underlines the difficulty of the question for Paul, whose inclination in many races has been to back the insurgent conservative challenger against the establishment figure. But as he lays the groundwork for a probable 2016 presidential run, he realizes the risk in getting in the crosshairs with the heavily favored Graham, who wields tremendous influence in the Palmetto State.
While Graham’s favorability numbers among Republicans are middling, a four-way primary that splits the opposition works to his advantage. He’s also flush with cash, with $6.9 million in the bank.
But Paul’s reasoning went even further, positing that his involvement in a primary here would hamstring his ability to make substantive progress in Washington.
“I think for the most part, I’m not against people having races and people may run against me some day, if I run again. But I think that it’s difficult for other people to get involved because you eat lunch with people every day. It’s just a difficult scenario and doesn’t make for any kind of cohesiveness as far as trying to get things done in Washington,” he said.
Paul and Graham are ions apart on their foreign policy views, but recently there’s been signs their chilly relationship has thawed.
Graham was complimentary of Paul’s “responsible” approach during the government shutdown.
Not exactly a bromance yet, but perhaps steps towards at least a lunch.
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CHARLESTON, S.C. — Sen. Rand Paul kept up his conservative critique of Gov. Chris Christie Monday, accusing him of displaying big spending tendencies in the wake of Hurricane Sandy last year.
“The main theme of his candidacy seems to be, I got you a lot of federal money. It doesn’t sound like a conservative message. It sounds like a moderate to big government message,” Paul said in response to a question asking him to elaborate on why he’s characterized the New Jersey governor as a “moderate.”
Paul addressed a mix of national and local reporters at the Harbour Club in downtown Charleston Monday afternoon in between a roundtable with area Republicans and a fundraiser for the state GOP.
Paul labeled Christie a “moderate” last week in a shot designed to deflate the governor’s appeal in a Republican presidential primary as he basked in the glow of a 22-point victory margin in the Garden State.
The Kentucky senator’s broadside against Christie on fiscal policy offers an early window into what a 2016 primary debate between the two would look like.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Christie upbraided Congress for failing to deliver timely and effective aid. Lawmakers finally agreed to a $60 billion package in late January — three months after Sandy struck the state. Paul registered a no vote against the relief money.
Paul said he supported Sandy funding that would be doled out annually and offset with spending cuts.
“But the clamor from Republicans, many who are from that region was, ‘Just give it all to us now, be done with it. You people are debating, I can’t believe you’re gonna talk about not giving us all of our money, all of it right now without any conditions, without any cuts, without any offsetting cuts.’ So I don’t consider that to be a conservative position,” he said, without directly mentioning Christie’s name.
Like many of the disagreements within the Republican Party right now, Paul’s argument is one, in part, based on the process of crafting legislation, rather than the ultimate end result.
While a future rival could easily attempt to paint Paul as heartless and irresponsible with his no vote against hurricane funds, he argued that his position is, in fact, the fiscally responsible one.
“I’m not arguing against aid. I’m just arguing that the fiscally responsible way to do that aid would’ve been one year at a time and offsetting it with spending cuts elsewhere,” he said.
Paul then bolstered his argument by broadening the scope to encompass the nation’s calamitous debt along with his crusade to rein in foreign aid.
“When you have a big storm like that we do have needs at home. So I took, it was $9 billion for the first year, I took it out of foreign aid spending and said don’t spend it. It’s not like we really have it anyway. It’s all borrowed. So even though we do need to rebuild after Sandy, there are repercussions. Conservatives will say, yeah there are repercussions to just borrowing it from China until you can rebuild things that should be rebuilt. That means you need to be more fiscally responsible with your money, which means you’ve got to be for cutting spending,” he explained.
A Christie adviser did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Paul is slated to address The Charleston Meeting — a group of Low Country Republicans — on Monday evening. On Tuesday, he will deliver a speech at The Citadel.
Paul and Christie currently top The RUN’s CHASE — a list of the contenders favored to win their party’s 2016 presidential nomination.
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Sen. Ted Cruz signaled Friday he’s content with allowing states to decide how to define marriage, a careful distinction that aligns him with Sen. Rand Paul but could unsettle conservatives who wish for a federal amendment to address the issue.
“I support marriage between one man and one woman. But I also think it’s a question for the states,” Cruz told Jay Leno on Friday’s broadcast of The Tonight Show. ”Some states have made decisions one way on gay marriage. Some states have made decisions the other way. And that’s the great thing about our Constitution, is different states can make different decisions depending on the values of their citizens.”
Paul has maintained a similar position. He personally believes marriage is between two people from the opposite sex, but thinks states should be the ultimate arbiters.
“If we say we believe in a federally mandated one man, one woman marriage, we’re going to lose that battle,” Paul said in April.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also supports traditional marriage but said he would be ok with voters in his state passing a referendum allowing same-sex weddings.
Conservative activists like Bob Vander Plaats have framed the fight over marriage as one that can only be resolved on the federal level and earlier this year critiqued Paul and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for a lack of clarity on their positions.
Cruz’s statement puts him squarely in the camp with the majority of his potential 2016 GOP rivals.
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