Summary
We’re going to wrap up our live blog coverage for the day. Here’s a summary of where things stand:
- Hillary Clinton made her first 2016 campaign stop Tuesday, sitting in on a roundtable on education at a community college in Iowa.
- Clinton laid out a four-plank campaign platform, calling for more economic opportunities for working families and for protecting the country from “threats.”
- Clinton said she would support a constitutional amendment to get “unaccountable money” out of politics.
- Clinton bemoaned the plight of Common Core educational standards, a good idea she said had been taken hostage by the political debate.
- Other 2016 candidates, potential and declared, fanned out across the country on Tuesday. Chris Christie was in New Hampshire, Jeb Bush was in Ohio, and Scott Walker was in Germany.
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Every manner of take on the Marco Rubio campaign was there for the reading.
The ABCs of Marco Rubio
The announcement Monday by Marco Rubio, the Florida senator, that he would run for president may have been upstaged a bit by Clinton’s three-day presidential rollout, but you wouldn’t know it from picking up the papers.
The headlines Tuesday have Rubio from every angle: Rubio as young candidate; Rubio as untested foreign policy “expert”; Rubio as hip-hop fan; Rubio as comeback kid.
Here they are in one place. Rubio as...
ascendant (NY Mag):
A conservative revolt forced him to repudiate the immigration reform plan he had carefully built. He desperately glommed on to the anti-Obamacare shutdown, alienating party elites without winning over the activists. But now Rubio has rebuilt his campaign and is showing signs of life, by repositioning himself to the right and eliminating his vulnerabilities.
runner-up (Slate):
Instead, he’s everyone’s second choice, with clear advantages—strong speaking skills, a fantastic biography, an ambitious agenda, and a flair for retail politics—and real weaknesses, namely, a modest record in the Senate.
grassroots darling (Fox):
Marco Rubio is the original Tea Party candidate. His candidacy united the grassroots against the leadership and he won. The Washington crowd convinced themselves he could not win, but the grassroots proved they could pick a winner. Rubio was the first.
Golden boy (Buzzfeed):
But inside the tight circle of advisers and confidantes plotting Rubio’s 2016 campaign, the senator’s age is being treated as one of his deadliest electoral weapons — and one they won’t wield against Clinton alone.
hip-hop fan (Washington Post):
Marco Rubio’s not your typical Republican presidential candidate; he’s a cool Republican presidential candidate. A noted hip-hop fan, Rubio has weighed in on the great rap rivalries and biggest musicians of our time.
foreign policy know-it-all (Guardian):
Rubio has adopted the “Obama-Clinton foreign policy” line used by Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz and raised them an Ayatollah. Anything less than the “Rubio doctrine”, he says, would be “chaos”.
immigration flip-flopper (fusion):
His shifts on immigration have contributed to an overall negative impression of him in crucial swing states, according to Latino Decisions. His favorability ratings are underwater in Nevada, North Carolina, Arizona, Colorado, and even his home state of Florida.
Nice day in eastern Iowa, looks like.
Another pic of Hillary Clinton greeting and grinning in Mount Vernon, Iowa pic.twitter.com/sVdTX7rH7m
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) April 14, 2015
The Clinton campaign has a plan for a campaign finance reform plan, Clinton tells the Washington Post. Is this a commitment on the part of the campaign to hold itself to matching funds?
Hillary Clinton just told WaPo she has a campaign finance reform plan. "We do have a plan. We have a plan for my plan... Stay tuned."
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) April 14, 2015
Iowa Democrat Sean Bagniewski, a Clinton supporter from way back, was happily surprised to find himself featured in the video Clinton used to launch her campaign, he tells the Des Moines register.
When Bagniewski shot the video, in which he and his wife talk about home renovations and trying to keep his dog from eating the trash, he did not know what the footage might be used for. Surprise!
“They said they were personally Hillary supporters, but there’s no campaign yet, and they just wanted to talk to Iowans who may be supportive of her,” Bagniewski told The Des Moines Register on Sunday.
Where on Earth are they?
Clinton and Bush aren’t the only declared and potential 2016 presidential candidates on the road today. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie visited New Hampshire to unveil a plan to rein in social security spending, calling for income caps and a higher eligibility age. “I will not pander. I will not flip flop. I am not afraid to tell you the truth as I see it,” Christie said. “Whether you like it or not.”
Vice President Joe Biden tweeted a two-year-old picture of himself with the University of Delaware women’s basketball team to make a point about equal pay, on the occasion of Equal Pay Day. Not that college basketball players are paid. Although in this case they are women.
Equal pay for equal work. It's common sense. It's also overdue. Let's close the gap & let's do it now. #EqualPayDay pic.twitter.com/BEsIsVV3eB
— Vice President Biden (@VP) April 14, 2015
Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, meanwhile, was farthest afield, attending the Hannover Messe trade show in Germany, the world’s largest industrial fair. Walker supports a free trade agreement between the US and EU.
Washington Post political reporter Ed O’Keefe is tracking Jeb Bush in Ohio. O’Keefe tweets:
Bush asked about his bicultural marriage “A lot of people fear diversity or feel it’s different and they get a little uncomfortable with it”
He adds: “If you’re living in Miami, you’d better be comfortable with it, because it’s a very diverse place.”
Bush re: his marriage: "I don’t wake up and think, boy, we’re a multi-whatever. I think, I’m blessed to be married to Columba."
— Ed O'Keefe (@edatpost) April 14, 2015
Meanwhile, back east in Ohio, Jeb Bush, the prospective Republican presidential candidate, has published an op-ed in the Cleveland Plain Dealer praising fracking and arguing that if Obama “and other liberals” had their way it would end:
You would think leaders in Washington would want to take every advantage of this newfound economic boon. But instead, the Obama administration is blocking pipelines, export opportunities and access to drilling on federal lands. If the Obama administration and other liberals had their way, Ohio workers, landowners and taxpayers wouldn’t benefit from fracking at all.
Read the full piece here.
Summary
The Clinton event has wrapped. Here’s a summary:
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Clinton appeared in a machine shop at a community college in Iowa with a small group of teachers and students to talk about education and getting ahead in the new economy.
- The event had a low-key, if not quite informal feel, with Clinton asking students what they were working on and inviting their questions about the government’s role in helping students achieve their goals.
- Clinton laid out four campaign planks: 1) revitalizing economy 2) supporting families 3) getting dirty $$ out of politics 4) defending against threats seen and unseen
- Clinton said she would support a constitutional amendment to eliminate dark money from US politics.
- Clinton said it was a shame to see Common Core education standards become the slashed-up center of a vicious partisan debate.
- Clinton exited having marked a clean, if rather humdrum, start to her 2016 presidential campaign.
Updated
“I have this new granddaughter, and I want her to have every opportunity, and I want every child in this country to have every opportunity,” Clinton says, in her second mention so far of her granddaughter, Charlotte.
She says she knows the campaign will have difficult moments.
I’m here. I’m looking forward to traveling around the state... and finding ideas that can not only work in Iowa, but anywhere.
Now it’s picture time. Clinton takes one question, apparently from the media, about her takeaway from the event.
“I’m stealing the idea of “opportunity society, opportunity system” because education is at the core of that,” she says.
And then a third granddaughter mention:
“You know my granddaughter. I don’t know how many babies were born on September 26 of last year. But I want every one of them to have the opportunity...”
Clinton is going person-by-person around the table asking people for their final questions and points. The consummate listener.
Clinton defends Common Core educational standards, referring to the “really unfortunate argument that’s been going on around Common Core.”
“It’s really painful,” she says. “Common Core started off as a bipartisan effort – it was nonpartisan.
“I think part of the reason why Iowa may be more understanding of this is that you’ve had the Iowa core for years, plus the Iowa assessment tests. I think I’m right when I say that I took those, in elementary school.”
Clinton says the education conversation needs to be broadened with an eye toward solutions, toward educating every child. She says she voted as a senator for ‘leave no child behind,’ because I thought every child should matter.”
Pretty on-point answer on education there from candidate Clinton.
Updated
Clinton calls for a new paradigm for education that will “get people excited again.”
“There’s really good data for what works, and I think we should be focused on that,” she says. “There is a role for federal government, but the real work has to be done at the local level.”
Her role is half-listener, half-moderator. She’s delivering now a sort of summary of what’s been discussed.
Clinton says community college is “a uniquely American invention” – rather eliding, we would suggest, the international experience with trade schools. Anyway: “That’s why I’m starting here... Community college is something that nobody else in the world did,” Clinton claims.
Clinton says that she supports President Obama’s plan to make two years of community college free. She’s speaking with a student who came back to school on a Pell Grant after a career “in homeland security.”
“Getting those skills, getting that education, and in many cases getting that credential is really important in today’s global economy,” Clinton says. “We just have to get back to making it affordable... for everyone.”
This event feels responsible, wonky, a bit boring, a bit forced, substantive, intimate ... Well, don’t let us tell you – what do you think? Did Clinton find the right venue for a soft launch of her 2016 effort?
Updated
The Clinton event has swerved into a detailed discussion of one student’s credits – how many she has, how many she needs, and how they count.
“What’s next to you, with all these credits?” Clinton asks.
More college, says the student.
“That’s terrific,” Clinton says. “So then you’ll only have to pay for two years of a four-year coverage. That’s a big help.”
John Podesta, the former Bill Clinton chief of staff, is chairman of the Hillary Clinton campaign.
His list of the key Clinton campaign planks mentions “tackling climate change” – not a point Clinton herself has yet made. Unless it falls with a nice rhetorical twist under No.4, and the part about “threats on the horizon”:
Helping working families succeed, building small businesses, tackling climate change & clean energy. Top of the agenda. #Hillary2016
— John Podesta (@johnpodesta) April 12, 2015
Clinton announces four campaign planks
Clinton says nobody can best America in a fair competition.
Then she lays out four planks of her 2016 presidential campaign.
“I want to be the champion that goes to bat for Americans in four big areas. Four big fights that we have to take on”:
- build the economy of tomorrow not yesterday
- strengthen families and communities
- fix our dysfunctional political system and get unaccountable money out of politics once and for all, even if that requires a constitutional amendment
- protect our country from the threats that we see and from ones that are on the horizon
Updated
Clinton frames her presidential run as an effort to boost “Americans and their families” economically.
“I’m running for president because I think that Americans and their families need a champion, and I want to be that champion,” Clinton says.
She says she wants to “fight for people not just to get by, but to get ahead, and to stay ahead.”
“I just want to tell you a little bit about why I’m here today,” Clinton says.
Yes please.
“It’s fair to say that if you look across the country, the deck is still stacked in favor of those already at the top,” Clinton says. “There’s something wrong with that.”
“There’s something wrong when hedge fund managers pay lower tax rates than nurses or the truckers I saw on I-80 as I drove here the past few days.”
Clinton said she just toured the advance manufacturing lab. “I am really pleased to be at a community college that is so visionary and effective in trying to serve as a bridge for people who are nontraditional and trying to add to their skills, all the way back to high school students.”
“This is a real model” to prepare people “for the economy that is awaiting us,” Clinton says.
Also broadcasting live from the room – Paul Lewis, on periscope:
LIVE on #Periscope: Hillary Clinton in Iowa - see it here first! https://t.co/YLG3FeB9CE
— Paul Lewis (@PaulLewis) April 14, 2015
Clinton event begins
Clinton arrives. Press play on that live video feed up top if you haven’t.
“Pleased to meet you. Nice to see you,” she says. The roundtable participants begin to introduce themselves.
The Guardian’s Paul Lewis takes in the room. This is the Clinton campaign launch. Optics a bit different from Liberty University or the Galt House in Louisville:
Waiting for Hillary at the "low-key" event.. https://t.co/DPgCJZjhm6
— Paul Lewis (@PaulLewis) April 14, 2015
The students and teachers are in place at Kirkwood community college. Yet to appear: Hillary Clinton.
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee ...
The press running after Hillary: pic.twitter.com/tfBvD2OchV
— Daniel Knowles (@dlknowles) April 14, 2015
update: wheeeeeee
update: Eeeeeeee
This Vine is also pretty good. https://t.co/8PZaMncRnf
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) April 14, 2015
Updated
Everybody say hi to Matt Paul, Iowa State Director of Hillary for America:
State director Matt Paul sends out email to Iowa supporters of Hillary Clinton pic.twitter.com/HMBh7LwJ24
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) April 14, 2015
While we wait for Clinton, check this out, are the only words we can find to preface this:
Someone just sent me excerpts from a Rand Paul comic book featuring a Benghazi scene. pic.twitter.com/TldxRZXxTh
— Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) April 14, 2015
The quotes from Paul in the comic - entitled Political Power: Rand Paul - are verbatim, by the way, going back and checking them against our live blog coverage. He also said, “One of the thing that disappointed me most about the original 9/11 is that no one was fired.” That and the 3,000-some deaths and the debut of the American GWOT / global war on terror, presumably.
Updated
Paul captures the scene. Clinton is due to speak in 25 minutes. Will she take a moment to play with the floor jack? Stay tuned – we’ll embed a live stream shortly.
Updated
Students prepare to meet 'laid back' Clinton
The Guardian’s Paul Lewis (@paullewis) is in Monticello, Iowa (map), for Hillary Clinton’s first appearance before the media as a 2016 presidential candidate. Television coverage was limited to local stations, and only a few print and online media – the Guardian included – were being allowed inside the building to watch events unfold.
“With an hour to go before Clinton’s arrival, there are hundreds of journalists and satellite trucks at Kirkwood Community College,” Paul writes:
I’ve had a peek inside at the car mechanics workshop where Clinton will meet students, and it has been set up like a film-set: a thin yellow rope separates media cameras from a backdrop of oily car parts and hydraulic lifts. The five students and faculty who will spend an hour talking to Clinton also appear to have been well-selected (and/or briefed). I found them waiting in a classroom at the back of the college.
Ellen Schlarmann, a 16-year-old, said it was “awesome” that Clinton was visiting the campus. “She just seems really laid back,” she told me.
Drew Mollenhauer, 17, was even more effusive. “I think she’s really down-to-earth. She’s trying to connect with the middle class in a small-town like Iowa."
One of the teachers, Diane Temple, 43, went even further, telling me the former secretary of state was “a trailblazer for both the Democratic party and women”.
The only attendee who gave a hint she might press Clinton a little was Bethany Moore, a mature student, who said she had “an open mind” about the former first lady. Moore said she wanted to know how Clinton would “take control” of the immigration situation, and pay for the free college education Democrats are promising voters.
But she stressed that they had all been told that Clinton would be directing the conversation.
Updated
Clinton campaigns
Here she is: candidate Hillary Clinton. These would be your first official pictures of Clinton on the 2016 campaign trail. Not counting that Chipotle surveillance footage. (Very canny to use surveillance footage in the campaign rollout, no? Edgy. Blomkamp. )
Updated
In a preview of the Republican strategy for reducing the Hillary Clinton campaign to rubble, an attack group released a two-minute video Tuesday challenging Clinton’s record as secretary of state and springing some of the traps that have snagged her in the past.
The group America Rising, a full-time Republican-backed opposition research outfit, unveiled the video, called “Trustworthy?”, as Clinton prepared to make her very first stump appearance of 2016, at a community college event in Iowa.
The video doesn’t get into Clinton’s education platform, dwelling instead on things that burn: a US diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, a public square in Ukraine, Clinton’s own temper at a Senate hearing.
Anything on fire seems to have made it in, really: among the tragic turning points in US foreign policy under Clinton that the video captures is the unforgettable conflagration at the municipal cultural center in Donetsk, Ukraine, in August 2014. (Clinton left office in January 2013.) Fire bad:
The video opens by hitting Clinton for erasing the contents of a private email server she set up, critics say, to hide her correspondence as secretary of state. This kind of attack does not televise particularly well, stock-footage-wise, but it’s an effective setup for the video’s final line, drawn from remarks Clinton made as a presidential candidate in 2008: “I think I’m probably the most transparent person in public life.”
The attack ad relives the 2008 campaign controversy around Clinton’s false claim to have landed “under sniper fire” on a trip to Bosnia in 1996. It then skitters to an interview she gave on book tour in which she claimed to have left the White House as first lady “not only dead broke but in debt.” In fact, as the video makes clear, Clinton had piles and piles of $100 bills wrapped in yellow currency bands.
Perhaps the best footage Clinton has bequeathed her opposition was created when she appeared before a Senate committee on 23 January 2013, directly after leaving the state department, to talk about Benghazi. Senator Ron Johnson had been pressing her on whether there had been anti-American protests before the attack on the US consulate there.
“Was it terrorists, or was it because of a guy out for a walk one night?” Clinton said. “What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.” Here’s how that moment looked:
As it draws to a conclusion, the attack ad feints at what is sure to be a thorough return to the scandals of Clintons past. Here’s one from back in the era of stapled magazines:
America Rising, the group that produced the video, is not affiliated with any one Republican candidate. But the group may need to raise its voice to be heard above the attacks on Clinton launched by the candidates themselves.
All three Republicans to have declared a presidential run so far – Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz – have essayed to take Clinton down a notch. Cruz said she made the world less safe, Paul called her corrupt and Rubio announced that “yesterday is over.”
Yesterday is over. Luckily, they taped some of it.
Updated
Who’s in the mood for careless whimsy? Campaigning is fun
PHOTO: Hillary Clinton's 'Scooby' van from @tamarakeithNPR. Not quite as colorful as the original... pic.twitter.com/2Rj6Rafn6z
— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) April 14, 2015
Good morning and welcome to the day in politics, and our first glimpse at Hillary Clinton as a 2016 presidential candidate. The Guardian’s Paul Lewis will be inside Clinton’s very first campaign stop, a roundtable meeting with educators and students this afternoon in Monticello, Iowa.
Clinton drove all the way from New York to take the meeting. Measuring from her house in Chappaqua, that’s 1,046 miles, according to Google. Only 955,687 more to break her record as secretary of state.
Jeb Bush is out there today, too, scheduled to address the Ohio chamber of commerce in Columbus. He hasn’t declared a presidential bid yet. But he can’t be making videos like this only for fun:
If you missed it yesterday - here is my response to Hillary Clinton's announcement https://t.co/Ndj3AShfnt https://t.co/eXUs1KP4mL
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) April 13, 2015
