#Campaign2016, as it happened
From a presidential anti-announcement from one of America’s richest men to lingering fallout from last night’s Democratic presidential debate, here’s a summary of some of today’s more dramatic political news:
- Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and billionaire founder of financial information titan Bloomberg LP, has declared that he will not mount a third-party run for the White House in 2016, writing in an editorial in Bloomberg View that “when I look at the data, it’s clear to me that if I entered the race, I could not win.”
- Bernie Sanders’ top strategist revealed in a Politico podcast interview that the revolution-loving Vermont senator would consider being Hillary Clinton’s vice-president. “I don’t know... maybe they’re going to put him on the ticket then.”
- A new poll shows Clinton and Donald Trump leading the race for Michigan’s primaries tomorrow. The Monmouth University Poll, released this morning, has Clinton ahead by 13 points in the Democratic race with Trump holding an an identical 13-point lead amongst Republicans.
- In other polling news, Florida senator Marco Rubio is set to lose his home state, according to a new poll released this afternoon that shows Trump likely to win 38% of Florida’s Republican primary vote, with Rubio nabbing 30%. Rubio has not won a single poll in Florida in the past six months.
- Florida voters might not be so keen on Trump after former Anti-Defamation League director Abe Foxman told the Times of Israel that Trump’s new “loyalty pledge” reminds him of the “heil Hitler” salute.
We’ll be back tomorrow with coverage of the Michigan primaries!
It was less than a month ago that the comedy establishment was still figuring out how to take on Donald Trump. The New York Times called him “almost comedy-proof” and noted that he seems happy with comedic impressions of himself. But after a string of primary wins and a high-profile endorsement from Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, Trump has found himself firmly in the bullseye of comedy’s heavy hitters.
Will it matter at all?
Update to the story about Ted Cruz announcing endorsements from his colleagues in the US Senate:
So @elianayjohnson is a fine reporter, but seriously, I have no idea what's going on here: pic.twitter.com/dQvjLLLlSD
— Jeff B/DDHQ (@EsotericCD) March 8, 2016
In his run for the Republican presidential nomination, Donald Trump has been relentlessly negative about Chinese people: They have cost America jobs, he tells supporters; they have displaced American investment and driven ingenuity overseas; they ought to be issued fewer skilled-worker visas.
But when it comes to investment in his own projects, the Las Vegas hotelier-cum-Republican frontrunner has taken a softer line.
Trump is building a new tower, Trump Bay Street, in Jersey City. To do so, he has turned to an increasingly popular source of financing: wealthy Chinese people who need green cards.
Updated
Political commentator, conservative activist and convicted felon Dinesh D’Souza’s 2016: Obama’s America grossed more than $33.4 million by declaring that Barack Obama’s worldview was shaped by his Kenyan father’s anti-colonialist political convictions.
Now, he’s back with a sequel.
The trailer for D’Souza’s Hillary’s America premiered over the weekend, during his presentation at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C.
Featuring assassinations, prison sexuality, whipped enslaved women and members of the Ku Klux Klan on horseback, the trailer has to be seen to be believed.
Updated
Ted Cruz, on My Little Pony:
What’s your favorite My Little Pony? I have two daughters, and they love Twilight. My favorite, though, is Applejack. I just think she’s funny.
“You really got it going here,” John Kasich told a room of Michigan Republicans Monday night.
All candidates woo voters in different ways and John Kasich’s approach is to treat them like a daughter’s prom date whom he really hopes will go steady with her.
While speaking at the annual Lincoln Day dinner of the Oakland County Republican Party on Monday night, Kasich gave his final pitch to a room full of activists munching on house salad with pale lettuce and even paler rubber chicken.
The Ohio governor, who repeatedly made jokes about his attending and supporting the hated Ohio State University, once again outlined his blue collar biography. Within three minutes, any attendee would had been living under a rock discovered that Kasich’s father was a mailman in McKee’s Rocks, Pennsylvania.
He went on to take some mild jabs at Hillary Clinton, wagging his finger at her condemnation of Michigan governor Rick Snyder in Sunday’s night. “Of all people to call on to resign,” he said, making a clear reference to her tenure as secretary of state during the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate at Benghazi. Kasich also took a shot at Bill Clinton. The Ohio governor said of the ex-president “He’s a guy if a riot’s coming up at him, he jumps in front of it and calls it a parade.”
However most of speech of an earnest recitation of his biography as the Ohio governor south to persuade these loyal partyline Republicans to back him intomorrow’s crucial primary. Although Kasich trails Trump in recent polls of the state, a strong second place finish could put him on track to win his home state of Ohio and supplant Marco Rubio as the establishment favorite in the race.
As he told attendees “the whole country .. . and the whole world” is watching Michigan tomorrow.
Marco Rubio’s campaign is officially raising money off of a CNN report that spokesperson Alex Conant called “utter nonsense”.
“I’m typing this email from my iPhone on the way back to HQ from CNN and, frankly, I’m angry,” e-mails Conant to Rubio supporters about a CN story quoting anonymous sources within the campaign saying that the Florida senator might drop out of the race for the Republican nomination before the winner-take-all primary in his home state next week.
“Here’s the truth: Marco just won all 23 delegates in Puerto Rico and a new poll today shows that Marco has a big lead in the critical early vote in Florida.”
When CNN ran the story without speaking with the campaign on the record, Conant said, it committed “complete malpractice.”
“It’s the latest example of the media’s attempt to stop you from voting for Marco. Why? Because they know he will unite our party and stop Hillary Clinton.”
The e-mail is concluded with a link to a donation page.
A preview of tomorrow’s primary in Michigan from the Guardian’s Dan Roberts and Ben Jacobs:
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets employees at Atomic Object in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Photograph: Al Goldis/AP
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will face significant tests of strength on Tuesday in Michigan, the blue-collar industrial state that has emerged as an important milestone on the path to the White House.
Despite taking commanding leads in their nomination races after Super Tuesday, both candidates face an unpredictable electorate with the potential to surprise – particularly in the Republican contest where a backlash against Trump is growing.
Clinton’s dominance among Democrats appears much more secure, thanks to her overwhelming support among southern voters. But Bernie Sanders took three out of four states and a majority of delegates over the weekend, and the former secretary of state is still looking for a first convincing win in the north.
Marco Rubio’s campaign has lambasted a CNN report suggesting the senator was being encouraged to drop out of the race before his home state of Florida holds its March 15 primary.
Alex Conant, a spokesman for Rubio’s campaign, appeared on CNN shortly after the network posted a story on its website suggesting the candidate’s advisors believed he was poised to lose Florida and should bow out to prevent damage to his future political ambitions. The report cited only anonymous sources to assess Rubio’s uphill battle against Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who is leading him by close to double digits in Florida polls.
The report “was utter nonsense,” a visibly angry Conant said, adding that the reporters behind the story did not contact with the campaign prior to publishing it.
“It’s absolutely, 100% false. CNN is doing a disservice to voters by airing that sort of reporting without even checking with the campaign.”
CNN host Wolf Blitzer attempted to push back, noting the report was based on sources close to the campaign. Conant grew frustrated once more and said any “good sources” would have been able to dispel the story as false.
“I have a lot of respect for you, but I’m going ask you to stop reading that sort of fiction on air,” the spokesman told Blitzer. “Because it’s not true at all … That’s fiction and CNN should stop reporting it.”
The dust-up underscores the pressure facing Rubio as he looks for a come-from-behind victory in Florida, a must-win contest if he is to salvage his presidential campaign. Although Rubio has scored just two wins in the Republican primary race thus far, Conant insisted during his appearance on CNN that they were confident the senator would win Florida and press ahead in the nominating contest.
Hillary Clinton, on Bernie Sanders as a potential vice president:
Oh, let’s not talk about that now! [laughs] I don’t want to think any further than tomorrow and the Michigan primary!
Bret Baier asks Hillary Clinton about her difficult track record among millennial voters this primary cycle.
“It’s great that both of us are bringing a lot of people into the process, and I applaud senator Sanders for really getting a very big turnout among young people - I love to see that,” Clinton says. “You may not be for me now, but I am for you regardless, and I am going to continue to try to help young people.”
“A lot of young people... are saying, what is going on?” Clinton says. “They get out of the great recession and into the job market, and there are no jobs! I don’t blame them for being really disturbed by what’s going on in our country - that’s why I’m not overpromising.”
On her support for her husband’s 1994 crime bill that is seen as having exacerbated incarceration rates in the US, Hillary Clinton says that the “school-to-prison pipeline” needs to be replaced.
“There was a very serious crime challenge, even an epidemic, in a lot of communities in our country at that time,” Clitnon says, citing the “positive things” in the bill as part of her support. “But as my husband said last summer at the NAACP, there were problems that were solved, but there were mistakes made in that bill.”
“It set off a chain reaction where more and more people ended up being cincarcerated who, in my opinion, should not have been,” Clinton says. “We have got to remove the school to prison pipeline and replace it with a cradle-to-college pipeline.”
Hillary Clinton, on her favorite Republican:
I have good relations with a lot of Republicans - I hesitate to mention any more names, because it will hurt them...
First question from Douglas, a vice president of donor relations for the United Way: “How do you anticipate getting anything done in Washington when ‘compromise’ is a dirty word?”
After citing her service as first lady and assistance in passing health care for low-income children and foster system reform, Clinton says “I’m not saying this is easy... but you have to work at it every single day.”
“When I’m not running for something, the Republicans say really nice things about me,” Clinton jokes. “Our founders created a system where they made clear no human being has all the answers - you have to work together.”
“Compromise is not a dirty word - it’s how democracy has to work.”
Bret Baier asks Hillary Clinton if she thinks “a child should have any legal rights or protections before it’s born?”
“It’s not much of a ‘right’ if it’s totally limited and constrained,” Clinton says of the right to abortion. “I have been on record in favor of a late-pregnancy regulation that would have exceptions for the life and health of the mother. I object to the recent effort in Congress to pass a law saying after 20 weeks, no suck exceptions, because although these are rare, Bret, they sometimes arise in the most complex situations.”
“It is appropriate to say” that abortion can be restricted in these circumstances, Clinton says, “so long as there’s an exception for the life and health of the mother.”
Updated
Hillary Clinton takes the stage at Fox News' candidate forum in Detroit
Joining host Bret Baier, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton responds to former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg’s decision not to run for the White House.
“I have the greatest respect for Mike Bloomberg, we worked together during the eight years I was in the senate,” Clinton says. “I look forward to continuing to work with him and finding ways that he can show leadership, which he has done so well over the years.”
Updated
Bernie Sanders, on potentially serving as Hillary Clinton’s vice president:
We are running this campaign to win, to become president of the United States.
“In the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we should not be having a Flint, Michigan. That is beyond disgraceful,” Bernie Sanders says, of decaying infrastructure and the water crisis in the city.
“What I have proposed is to spend a trillion dollars over a five-year period to make sure that states and cities throughout this country have the resources they need to repair our failing infrastructure.”
“We’re gonna create 13 million jobs over a five-year period,” Sanders says of his plan.
Bernie Sanders, on change:
Change in this country - whether it is the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, the gay movement, the labor movement - always comes from the bottom up.
Updated
“Are you solely relying on executive actions to push your legislative agenda?” asks eyebrow-pierced college student Daniel.
“Absolutely not,” Sanders says.
“I have worked with Republicans where there has been common ground for many many years,” Sanders says, citing his experience chairing the veterans affairs committee in the US senate. “At the end of the day, you’ve got a Congress today where too many members are worried about securing large campaign contributions from very, very wealthy people.”
“What we need are millions of people - many of whom have given up on the political process in disgust,” Sanders continues. “We need them to come together to demand that we have a government in this country that represents all of us.”
Bret Baier asks Bernie Sanders if there is “a single circumstance in which you would be okay” with abortion being illegal.
“It’s not a question of me being ‘okay,’” Sanders says. “I happen to believe that it is wrong for the gvt to be telling a woman what to do with her own body.”
“There are a whole lot of people out there who tell me that government is terrible,” Sanders says, “but somehow on this issue they want to tell every woman in America what to do with their body.”
Updated
The first question from the audience addressed to Bernie Sanders comes from Detroit resident Clark, who asks the Vermont senator how he will address the crisis in the Middle East wrought by the rise of the Islamic State.
“How do we do it most effectively? One of the differences between secretary Clinton and myself is that I voted against the war in Iraq, she voted for the war in Iraq,” Sanders says, saying that many of the issues currently facing the region is the result of Clinton’s “disastrous decision.”
“The lesson that I have learned from the war in Iraq is that the United States cannot and should not do it alone,” Sanders says. “They are the ones on the ground that are gonna have to destroy ISIS.”
“What’s happening to Christians in the Middle East in that area is horrific - what’s happening to Muslims in the Middle East in that area is horrific,” Sanders says, when asked if ISIS’s actions against Christians counts as “genocide.”
On the potential for a “debt crisis,” Bernie Sanders says that his plan for the expansion of social services will be paid for in total by his planned expansion of tax revenue. After declaring that every American is entitled to healthcare coverage, host Bret Baier interrupts Sanders.
“Where did that right come from, in your mind? Baier asks.
“Being a human being,” Sanders says.
It’s “bad idea for American democracy” that the only the very wealthy can run for president, Bernie Sanders says of billionaire New York mayor Michael Bloomberg’s decision not to run for the White House.
Updated
Fox News Democratic forum begins
Broadcasting live from downtown Detroit, Fox News is hosting a forum for both Democratic candidates for their party’s presidential nomination on the eve of the Michigan primary, after initially announcing that Vermont senator Bernie Sanders would be attending alone.
Sanders is the first candidate onstage - we’ll be following his remarks live.
A document obtained by the New York Times illustrates the data that helped contribute to former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg’s decision not to mount a self-funded independent campaign for the White House, painting a picture of an inhospitable electoral college landscape for Bloomberg:
Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, writing in an editorial in which he declares that he will not mount a third-party run for the White House, has singled out the Republican field of presidential candidates as unsuitable for the Oval Office.
“As the race stands now, with Republicans in charge of both houses [of Congress], there is a good chance that my candidacy could lead to the election of Donald Trump or senator Ted Cruz,” Bloomberg writes. “That is not a risk I can take in good conscience.”
After admitting that he has “known Mr. Trump casually for many years,” Bloomberg writes that he fellow New York billionaire “has run the most divisive and demagogic presidential campaign I can remember, preying on people’s prejudices and fears” and appealing “to our worst impulses.”
Citing Trump’s proposed ban on allowing foreign Muslims to enter the United States, his signature issue of deporting more than 11 million undocumented immigrants and his waffling on disavowing the endorsement of a grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, Bloomberg declares in the editorial that “these moves would divide us at home and compromise our moral leadership around the world. The end result would be to embolden our enemies, threaten the security of our allies, and put our own men and women in uniform at greater risk.”
Cruz, too, is an unacceptable choice for Republicans, Bloomberg writes.
“His refusal to oppose banning foreigners based on their religion may be less bombastic than Trump’s position, but it is no less divisive.”
Admitting that his candidacy would functionally serve as a spoiler in favor of the Republican candidate, Bloomberg writes that “I love our country too much to play a role in electing a candidate who would weaken our unity and darken our future - and so I will not enter the race for president of the United States.”
Updated
Michael Bloomberg: "If I entered the race, I could not win"
Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and billionaire founder of financial information titan Bloomberg LP, has declared that he will not mount a third-party run for the White House in 2016, writing in an editorial in Bloomberg View that “when I look at the data, it’s clear to me that if I entered the race, I could not win.”
“I believe I could win a number of diverse states,” Bloomberg writes in the editorial, titled The Risk I Will Not Take, “but not enough to win the 270 electoral college votes necessary to win the presidency.”
Bloomberg cites the 12th amendment of the US constitution as an insurmountable hurdle to his candidacy:
In a three-way race, it’s unlikely any candidate would win a majority of electoral votes, and then the power to choose the president would be taken out of the hands of the American people and thrown to Congress. The fact is, even if I were to receive the most popular votes and the most electoral votes, victory would be highly unlikely, because most members of Congress would vote for their party’s nominee. Party loyalists in Congress - not the American people or the electoral college - would determine the next president.
Bloomberg, the billionaire three-term mayor of America’s largest city, reportedly began weighing the prospects of a presidential run earlier this year, as the primary contests in both the Republican and Democratic parties presented a possible opening for a third-party candidate to successfully run for the highest office in the land.
Bloomberg had reportedly directed advisers to draw up plans for an independent campaign, and privately indicated that he is willing to spend at least $1bn of his $37bn personal fortune on a campaign.
Key to those plans: The success of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders in pursuing their respective party’s nominations, two political outsiders from opposite ends of the political spectrum who would open up a hypothetical third lane for Bloomberg, a moderate Republican with liberal stances on social issues like same-sex marriage and gun control.
As former secretary of state Hillary Clinton consolidated support among Democratic voters following an early falter in New Hampshire, however, Bloomberg’s already hazy path to the White House became even less clear. Strong ties to Wall Street in tandem with his single-handed funding of gun-control advocacy groups made Bloomberg a difficult pill to swallow for partisans on either side.
But demographic and electoral issues for a billionaire mayor who is relatively unknown west of the Hudson River aside, Bloomberg cites his personal opposition to the current crop of Republican presidential candidates as the biggest reason not to run, saying that he would not want to serve as a spoiler who, in effect, hands the election to Trump.
“As the race stands now, with Republicans in charge of both Houses, there is a good chance that my candidacy could lead to the election of Donald Trump or Senator Ted Cruz,” Bloomberg writes. “That is not a risk I can take in good conscience.”
Updated
The Guardian’s Sam Thielman points out that in Donald Trump’s latest advertisement, calling out fellow Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio for his poor attendance in the US senate, in fact shows a picture of the house floor.
Which would explain why Rubio wasn’t there, we guess?
In a striking sign of a race in flux, Texas senator Ted Cruz is reportedly preparing to announce his first endorsements from colleagues in the US senate, according to National Review.
Cruz, whose Senior Superlative in the upper chamber of Congress would be “Most Likely to Make Lindsey Graham Joke About Poison,” has heretofore failed to receive even a single endorsement from one of his senate colleagues. But with Marco Rubio’s 3-5-2-2-3-3-3-3-3-1-3-3-3-3-2-3-3-3-4-1 track record in the Republican nominating contests putting his viability in question, some members of Congress are apparently hoping to bury the hatchet with the Texas senator.
Donald Trump unloaded on rival Marco Rubio in a new ad, dubbing the senator as “corrupt” ahead of Florida’s critical March 15 primary.
The spot, which begins airing this week in Rubio’s must-win home state, draws on the Florida senator’s messy finances while he served as the speaker of the Florida house of representatives. Rubio used a Republican party credit card “to pave his driveway and to live it up in Las Vegas,” a narrator says, as an image of a showgirl is flashed on the screen.
The ad also blasts Rubio over his spotty attendance record as a US senator, and ultimately concludes he is a “corrupt, all-talk, no-action politician.”
It is unclear how much money has been put behind the commercial, although Trump’s decision to attack Rubio on the airwaves reflects a potentially close battle in Florida where 99 delegates are at stake.
Rubio, having managed victories in just two of 20 Republican primary contests thus far, is pinning all of his hopes on Florida to salvage his struggling campaign. Recent polling has shown the senator narrowing the gap with Trump to single digits after initially trailing the frontrunner by wide margins ranging from 15 to 20%.
Rubio’s use of a party credit card for personal expenditures as a state legislator in Florida is well-documented and has often been raised by his opponents to question his ethics. Last fall, Rubio’s campaign made public his credit card statements from a 22-month period as an elected Florida official and insisted he had reimbursed the party for any personal charges.
But Trump suggested today that Rubio was “dishonest” in a statement accompanying his attack ad, in which he also reiterated his claim that the senator was a “lightweight.”
“He has cheated with credit cards, and does favors for lobbyists,” Trump said of Rubio. “In my opinion, he is a total crook and I am doing the people of Florida a great favor by further exposing him.”
In response to the ad, Rubio spokesman Joe Pounder noted that Trump had donated “big bucks” to Charlie Crist - the former governor of Florida whom Rubio defeated in his 2010 Senate race. He also pointed out that Trump, in a 2012 tweet, suggested Mitt Romney should select Rubio as his running mate even as Democrats sought to make an issue of his financial past.
“Now he’s recycling the same false and negative attacks about Marco,” Pounder said. “Charlie Crist’s and Donald Trump’s con didn’t fool Floridians in 2010 and it won’t fool them now.”
Updated
Cue the poll klaxon:
Public Policy Polling’s newest numbers out of Ohio show a tightening Republican race in the Buckeye State, with billionaire frontrunner Donald Trump’s lead shrinking as the state’s governor, John Kasich, surges.
Trump is the choice of 38% of Ohio’s likely Republican voters, only three points ahead of Kasich, who wins the support of 35% of his home state’s Republican voters. Texas senator Ted Cruz is at third place with 15% while Florida senator Marco Rubio wins just 5%.
Those numbers are, however, more than a little flexible - more than three in ten Republican voters say that they might change their minds between now and the state’s winner-take-all primary next Tuesday. If those numbers are as soft as PPP says they are, Kasich is the candidate most likely to benefit: The state’s more moderate governor leads Trump 55% to 40% in a head to head race, and holds the highest favorability rating among the four remaining Republican candidates in the state, 70 to 22. Trump, by comparison, is only viewed favorably by 48% of the state’s likely Republican voters, with 44 viewing him unfavorably.
On the Democratic side, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s lead in Ohio remains in the double digits, winning the support of 56% of likely Democratic voters to Bernie Sanders’ 35%, with 81% of Clinton’s voters firmly committed to her, compared to 67% of Sanders’.
He really doesn’t care about the bad optics huh?
After Donald Trump asked supporters to raise their hand and “pledge” to vote for him on Saturday - a move which drew outcry due to its similarity to Adolf Hitler’s Heil Hitler salute - he repeated the move again today.
“Should we do the pledge? Should we do the pledge?” asked Trump at a rally in North Carolina today (there’s a video on that page if you click through). “Raise your hand: ‘I swear I’m going to vote for Donald Trump next week, I swear.’ Oh, wow. Just with the people here, I think, we win.”
The pictures of the pledge from Saturday were widely shared on social media, so it’s unlikely Trump didn’t know what he was doing today.
Trump asked supporters to raise their right hand and pledge to support him https://t.co/h9c2NbLQMJ pic.twitter.com/X9y4KRiF81
— Tal Kopan (@TalKopan) March 5, 2016
Donald Trump makes members of his Orlando crowd raise their right hands and swear to vote in the primary. pic.twitter.com/EVenRilJrV
— Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) March 5, 2016
Former Anti-Defamation League director Abe Foxman spoke to the Times of Israel about Trump’s new pledge:
As a Jew who survived the Holocaust, to see an audience of thousands of people raising their hands in what looks like the ‘Heil Hitler’ salute is about as offensive, obnoxious and disgusting as anything I thought I would ever witness in the United States of America,” he told The Times of Israel.
We’ve seen this sort of thing at rallies of neo-Nazis. We’ve seen it at rallies of white supremacists. But to see it at a rally for a legitimate candidate for the presidency of the United States is outrageous.
Updated
This very charming video from the weekend’s Kansas Democrat’s caucus is a nice reminder that politics can be as respectful and friendly as a family picnic.
It’s not exactly campaign news, but it’s definitely presidential.
Details have just been released for the funeral of former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who passed away yesterday aged 94.
NEW: Nancy Reagan's funeral services to be held March 11 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library pic.twitter.com/v9Wf1Sg6eg
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) March 7, 2016
Wonder which (if any) candidates will appear to pay their respects?
Trump leads Rubio in Florida: new poll
Marco Rubio is set to lose his home state, according to a new poll released this afternoon that shows Donald Trump likely to win 38% of Florida’s Republican primary vote with Rubio nabbing 30%.
After only winning two states so far this race -- Minnesota and Puerto Rico -- Florida has become a make-or-break state for Rubio’s campaign.
As the latest Monmouth University Poll explains:
Rubio actually leads Trump by 48% to 23% among the nearly 1-in-5 voters who have already cast their ballots in this “early vote” state. Trump has a 42% to 26% lead among those who have yet to vote.
Rubio leads Trump 41% to 30% in the southern part of the state. Trump has a significant 44% to 22% advantage in Florida’s central region. The race is closer in the northern tier of the state, with Trump at 36% and Rubio at 32%. Nearly one-fifth of the likely electorate is non-white, mostly Cuban or other Hispanic. This group appears to prefer Rubio over Trump, but the sample size is too small to report exact percentages.
“Rubio is within shooting distance in his home state with a week to go in this volatile nomination contest,” said Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “It is telling, though, that Rubio is not even the clear victor in a direct face off with Trump. There goes the argument that Rubio would triumph if only it were a two person race.”
The Monmouth University Poll had 403 Republican Florida respondents.
Live right now from a John Kasich rally in Michigan... Currently his wife Karen Waldbillig Kasich is chatting about how she met her husband.
Michigan Congressman Justin Amash just announced he was backing Ted Cruz, after previously being a strong supporter of Rand Paul. As Amash writes on Medium:
It’s easy to withdraw from politics when the positions and priorities of the candidates do not precisely mirror our own. But we owe it to our beliefs to find constitutional conservative political allies who not only respect our philosophy but also fight for our views to be heard.
We have found such an ally in Senator Ted Cruz.
Ted is not a libertarian and doesn’t claim to be. But he is a principled defender of the Constitution, a brilliant strategist and debater who can defeat the Democratic nominee in the general election, and the only remaining candidate I trust to take on what he correctly calls the Washington Cartel.
Cruz just announced a rally tonight with his new backer Amash, at 7:30pm in Grand Rapids, Michigan. But first, the Texas Senator will appear at a rally in Florence, Mississippi at 2:30pm.
Ohio Governor John Kasich, who has his fingers crossed for a brokered Republican convention so that he’s still in with a chance to win, says he doesn’t need a delegate lead to win at the convention.
“In order to be the nominee, you have to have a certain number of votes,” Kasich said this morning. “Not like, a plurality. You’ve got to have a certain number. You know, it’s like anything else in life, there’s certain rules. You take a driving test, you don’t pass the driving test, you don’t get your license. It’s not like, well, that’s good enough for government. You’ve got to win. You don’t just say, ‘Well, I have more than anybody else, therefore I’m in.’”
Speaking of celeb endorsements, pop “star” Aaron Carter spoke to Newsweek about why he backs Donald Trump:
At this point in my life, I’m just becoming really involved in politics and understanding business. Growing up in the industry that I did, it’s very easy to lose sight of money and being able to have a livelihood for yourself. I filed for bankruptcy before.... So I understand Donald Trump has filed bankruptcy four times. We have a $200 trillion deficit. And I’m in a 40 percent tax bracket now with the money that I make. So I’m a moderate Republican, you know?
@realDonaldTrump Does America want to have a president who FOLLOWS or someone who leads? I vote For @realdonaldtrump
— Aaron Carter (@aaroncarter) February 27, 2016
The hitmaker behind I Want Candy said he’s received violent threats since he tweeted his support of Trump,
That doesn’t scare me, though, because if anyone had a legitimate conversation with me, you’d find out that I’m actually intellectual and I’m very smart and I’m very educated. My heritage is very, very amazing. I’m actually a true descendant of America. My grandfather was a genealogist for 45 years and found out that I am traced back to the 1622 Plymouth, Massachusetts [colony]. I come from the Mayflower heritage. I’m a part of the Sons of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the American Revolution. I have been here since America started in my family. I feel like the Mayflower journey, the saying “Only the strong survive” comes from that journey. And you know what? I am a part of that bloodline, and my family and my bloodline has been here since the pilgrims and the Indians met up. So, that’s who I am.
Carter also hints that his brother Nick, of Backstreet Boys fame, also backs Trump.
“Pretty much anyone that is associated with me --- and I mean everyone -- is going to be voting for Donald Trump,” he said, refusing to clarify if he was referring to the 1990s pop star.
After Arnold Schwarzenegger’s backing yesterday, John Kasich nabbed another celebrity endorsement today.
Former Congresswoman Mary Bono -- who was married to Sonny Bono, of Sonny and Cher fame, when he passed away in 1998 -- announced she’s Team Kasich
“Governor Kasich is a true leader and a champion of commonsense, conservative and pro-growth solutions,” said Bono in a statement.
“He has proven to be the only candidate on the stage who both shares the frustration the American people are feeling yet also has solid ideas on how to solve the serious issues confronting our nation. His proven record as chairman of the Budget Committee and as the governor of Ohio shows he is the tested and dedicated leader we need in the White House to protect and enhance opportunities for every American.”
Or, in fewer words...
Clinton and Trump lead in Michigan: new poll
A new poll shows Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump leading the race for Michigan’s primaries tomorrow.
The Monmouth University Poll, released this morning, has Clinton ahead by 13 points in the Democratic race with Donald Trump holding an an identical 13 point lead amongst Republicans.
From the Monmouth University Poll:
“After this past weekend’s mixed bag of results, Trump appears positioned for a win in Michigan, but the race may be tightening in the final hours.” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute. “Trump’s support may be dropping, while Kasich’s star could be rising.”
In interviews conducted Thursday and Friday, Trump held a solid lead with 39% support compared to 22% for Cruz, 17% for Kasich, and 14% for Rubio. The race was much tighter in Saturday and Sunday interviews at 32% for Trump, 26% for Kasich, 25% for Cruz, and 12% for Rubio.
...
Hillary Clinton currently holds a 55% to 42% lead over Bernie Sanders in the Michigan Democratic primary...
“Clinton had Michigan all to herself eight years ago after her opponents pulled out when the state violated party rules in scheduling its primary too early. This time she appears to be holding on in the face of a tough challenge from Sanders,” said Murray. Note: nearly all the interviews for this poll were conducted before Sunday night’s debate.
The Monmouth University Poll surveyed 402 Michigan Republican voters and 302 Michigan Democrat voters.
The time-warp inducing idea that Mitt Romney, failed presidential candidate from 2008 and 2012, could still be picked as the Republican nominee at the convention got discussed and dismissed by Newt Gingrich this morning.
Romney wouldn’t get it because he was too harsh to Trump last week when he labelled him a “phony” and a “fraud,” said Gingrich.
“If Mitt had really wanted to maneuver for the nomination, he wouldn’t have given the speech he gave,” the fellow failed candidate told Fox and Friends this morning.
“It may have been courageous on his part -- it certainly [is] what I think he believes -- but it was such a vitriolic and nasty speech that it guaranteed that the guy who currently has the most votes and the most momentum would never accept Romney as sort of the draft at the convention,” Gingrich added.
Gun control is a point that Hillary Clinton loves to fight Bernie Sanders on, and an endorsement from the National Rifle Association of America is not something Sanders -- who previously bragged about getting a D- grade from the NRA -- is looking for...
Sen. Sanders was spot-on in his comments about gun manufacturer liability/PLCAA https://t.co/nDjEerjkgB #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/jEScbMDFt4
— NRA (@NRA) March 7, 2016
Some photos from the Bernie Sanders rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan this morning.
Line is wrapped around the Wings Event Center in Kzoo for Bernie Sanders rally. Doors open at 7:30AM pic.twitter.com/qc23LQNvHr
— Amanda Jarrett (@Amanda_WOODTV) March 7, 2016
Filling up in here! #BernieSanders #FeelTheBern #BernieRally pic.twitter.com/HXMX5n6o5n
— Ameythist Moreland (@AmeythistM) March 7, 2016
And while this photo of a Donald Trump hat at a Sanders rally might surprise some, the secret Trump supporters story from last week (shameless promotion of my own work) revealed a lot of Sanders-or-Trump voters.
Yup, that's a Trump hat at a Bernie Sanders rally. This voter says he's still undecided. @FOX17 pic.twitter.com/tFnOkFnGCk
— Nicole DiDonato (@NicoleDFOX17) March 7, 2016
Numbers USA, a conservative organization pushing for less immigration which ranks presidential candidates on how strongly anti-immigrations their policies are --downgraded its rating from Donald Trump from A- to a B+ after he softened his comments on reducing highly-skilled migrant workers.
These seasonal jobs are exactly the kind of jobs needed by younger Americans who haven’t been able to find a first-rung of the labor force ladder. Without the Band-Aid of foreign-worker programs, businesses would be forced to create effective recruitment channels into communities of extremely high non-workforce participation.
I’m not so much bothered that Trump’s businesses legally use the foreign visa programs for hospitality workers as I am that he isn’t pledging to curtail everybody’s use of the programs for the good of the country.
How do other candidates rank? Ted Cruz gets an A, Marco Rubio gets a D+, John Kasich has a D, Hillary Clinton a D- and Bernie Sanders a F-.
Bernie Sanders’ top strategist Tad Devine revealed in a Politico podcast interview that the revolution-loving Vermont Senator would consider being Hillary Clinton’s vice-president.
Reporter Glenn Thrush notes that Clinton’s youth strategy might be Sanders, who’s pulling in thousands of eager young people at his rallies.
“I don’t know... maybe they’re going to put him on the ticket then,” said Devine.
Would Sanders even consider it?
“I’m sure, of course, anyone would,” said Devine, noting that it wasn’t currently a plan being discussed.
“He wouldn’t ever think about a decision like that, unless you know, it was done in the right and proper way,” said Devine.
Welcome to our live-wire coverage of the 2016 race for the White House.
A big weekend of caucus and primary voting was partly overshadowed by the death of former first lady Nancy Reagan. On the Republican side, Ted Cruz won Kansas and Maine on Saturday, while Donald Trump nabbed Louisiana and Kentucky. On Sunday it was Marco Rubio’s turn, winning Puerto Rico. It’s not actually a state, so he’s still only won one of those: Minnesota.
For the Democrats, Hillary Clinton won Louisiana while Bernie Sanders took Nebraska and Kansas on Saturday, then Maine on Sunday. Turnout was so high across Maine that voters lined up for hours and ballot paper voting was allowed, to ensure no one missed out. Sanders took 64% of the vote.
On Sunday night, Clinton and Sanders battled it out in the “most aggressive” debate so far, in Flint, Michigan, and over bailouts, banks and guns. Both called for Michigan governor Rick Sydner to resign over the Flint water contamination scandal.
The pair go head-to-head to again tonight in a Fox News forum. Clinton had previously turned down the invitation – she hasn’t appeared on Fox for an interview for nearly two years – but changed her mind a few days ago. Lauren Gambino is in Michigan to watch the day unfold for us.
There’s a whole day of campaigning in advance of tomorrow’s Democratic primary – where polls have Clinton leading on 59%.
Sanders is attending a rally in Kalamazoo this morning, then moves on to Dearborn and Ann Arbor. Clinton has an event in Grand Rapids this morning and a Get Out the Vote rally in Detroit after the forum tonight. Bill Clinton is campaigning in North Carolina.
In advance of tomorrow’s Republican primary in Mississippi – where polls have Trump first at 39%, Cruz at 20%, John Kasich at 19% and Rubio trailing at 13% – the campaign trail is heating up.
Trump holds a rally in North Carolina at noon, then a rally in Madison, Mississippi, at 7pm. Cruz speaks in Ellisville at noon. Rubio is campaigning in Tampa and Sanford, Florida, this evening, as a part of a mad dash to win his home state on 15 March.
Kasich has not won any states yet. But he did win the first major endorsement on Snapchat, from the Terminator himself:
Gov @Schwarzenegger just did the first-ever @Snapchat endorsement announcement for his old friend @JohnKasich. pic.twitter.com/GcUWupt2cW
— Daniel Ketchell (@ketch) March 6, 2016
Updated
