Campaign Ad? Paul Ryan Video Raises Questions

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by CHARLIE SPIERING7 Apr 20164,757

A new video released by House Speaker 

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

56%

 has reporters chattering about whether or not it serves as a subtle campaign ad, as his supporters continue to whisper his name as a potential Republican presidential nominee in a brokered convention.

The video features footage from Paul Ryan’s speech calling for a better brand of politics. That talk implicitly criticized Donald Trump’s brand of campaigning.

The video is the latest of a series of web videos produced by his digital communications director Caleb Smith to highlight the Ryan brand of politics.

Smith’s video includes multiple camera angles, a soundtrack, and shots of the audience reaction to the speech, which quickly drew praise from the digital community for its slick production. The video is also raising questions among journalists.

“The first ad of the Ryan 2016 campaign?” asked ABC’s Jonathan Karl on Twitter, sharing the video.

“Sweet campaign ad from the Ryan team,” noted Jacqueline Alemany from CBS News on Twitter after she saw the ad.

“Hmmmm campaign ad?” wondered Paula Faris from ABC News on Twitter.

“Speaker Ryan still not running for president but is making ads 10x stronger than the current candidates,” tweeted ABC News journalist Alex Mallin in response to the ad.

Mallin’s tweet was highlighted by Ryan’s communications advisor Michael Shapiroand retweeted by Ryan’s Communications Director Mike Ricci.

According to a source in Ryan’s office, the video was the latest of a series of “re-purposed content” from Ryan’s March 23 speech for the purpose of sharing online.

“Ryan has sunk a lot of taxpayer resources into his communications team, hiring eight communications staffers when he took office with plans to hire up to a dozen more staffers, according to Politico’s Jake Sherman. In response to a query from Breitbart News, Ryan spokesperson AshLee Strong said the video was just another example of Ryan’s larger communications effort.

“Upon taking this job, Speaker Ryan was clear he would need to do things differently,” Strong said in a statement. “Speaker Ryan is a communications speaker, as he promised. Ryan introduced the ‘#confidentamerica’ theme in a speech at the start of his speakership. The ‘State of American’ politics speech was a natural follow up.”

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Begala: TRUMP 'Has a Higher Negative Among Democrats Than Various Forms of Syphilis’

by JEFF POOR12 Jan 2016254

Tuesday following President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address to Congress, a panel on CNN that included former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) (R-MI) and Democratic strategist Paul Begala discussed what appeared to be Obama reacting to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s rhetoric during his address.

According to Rogers, Trump resonates with Democrats because he espouses sentiments about the economy and about the state of the federal government and warned Trump’s critics not to dismiss that.

“I think we’re missing one important point here,” Rogers said. “Donald Trump is appealing as much to Democrats as he is to Republicans. And anybody who misses this point by missing the folks on the street who are drawn to his campaign – he’s got this whole group of Democrats for Trump. It’s an economic issue. There will be a Republican candidate who can speak to these economic issues in a way that doesn’t offend average Americans. I think Nikki Haley proved that point tonight. That’s where you’re going to see the strength of this Republican Party. But the notion that this is the Republican Party imploding on itself — this is a Republican Party attracting Democrats, independents, Reagan Democrats to a message that says this town is broken. The institutions of government are broken. The economy is broken.”

Later in the segment, Begala responded to Rogers’ remarks and dismissed the notion there were Democrats coming over to the Republican side to support Trump.

“The notion that Trump is appealing to Democrats is myth, not math, tested the better part of today going through polls” Begala said. “Trump – he has a higher negative among Democrats than various forms of syphilis. I hate the guy. That’s why I want him to be the Republican nominee.”

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor

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Clinton rips into Sanders as her Iowa lead vanishes

A Marist/Wall Street Journal/NBC poll out this week, however, showed a very different snapshot, with Clinton leading Sanders among voters who are Democrats by 18 points.

Among independents and new voters likely to take part in the primary, the Monmouth poll shows Sanders with a 58 percent - 34 percent advantage, similar to his 59 percent - 35 percent lead in November.

Fifty-two percent of these voters say they've settled on their choices, up from 35 percent two months ago. Sanders' supporters (55 percent) are a little more decisive than Clinton's (49 percent).

Sanders (50 percent) now leads Clinton (44 percent) among women voters, and he's holding his lead among men, 57 percent - 32 percent, similar to previous months. And voters under the age of 50 prefer Sanders, 58 percent - 30 percent. Older voters said in this survey they would support Sanders over Clinton by 50 percent to 44 percent. Two months ago, Clinton led this group 56 percent - 38 percent.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton challenged Bernie Sanders's 

(The tightened race between Mrs. Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is revealing a sharp generational divide within the Democratic Party, with primary voters under 45 favoring Mr. Sanders by a roughly 2-to-1 ratio.)

stance on gun control during a campaign event in Amers, Iowa on Jan. 12. (Reuters)AMES, Iowa – With her lead in the Democratic presidential race in Iowa effectively vanished, Hillary Clinton tore into insurgent rival Bernie Sanders here Tuesday over a litany of issues from health care to gun control.
[As Clinton says only she can win, Sanders points to the polls]
Clinton charged that Sanders’s policy proposals were unrealistic, that the Vermont senator would raise taxes on middle-class families and that he could not be trusted to fight special interests and protect President Obama’s achievements, including his signature health-care law.
On health care, she argued that Sanders’s “Medicare-for-all” plan would jeopardize the Affordable Care Act and effectively turn over health coverage programs to the states, many of them led by Republican governors.
[Clinton in Iowa attacks Sanders health-care plan as a ‘risky deal’]
“If that’s the kind of ‘revolution’ he’s talking about, I’m worried, folks,” Clinton said, a reference to Sanders's call for "a political revolution."
Stump speeches by GOP presidential candidates reveal that they're already planning for a race against Hillary Clinton in the general election. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)Clinton’s speech to a few hundred supporters on the campus of Iowa State University was striking in its sharp tone and the breadth of her attacks against Sanders. Her intensified assault came as a new Quinnipiac poll Tuesday showed Sanders overtaking her in Iowa, 49 percent to 44 percent.
Clinton accepted the endorsement here of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and used the occasion to tear into Sanders for his 2005 Senate vote that gave immunity to gun manufacturers. That bill was a major priority for the National Rifle Association.
Clinton mocked Sanders for claiming that he was voting in line with the interests of his rural state with a deep hunting tradition.
“He says, ‘Well, I’m from Vermont,’” Clinton said. “Pat Leahy, the other senator from Vermont, voted against immunity for the gun lobby. So, no, that’s not an explanation.”
[Clinton camp sees gun control issue as a way to get to Sanders’s left]
Sanders has vowed to break up the big banks, but Clinton asserted here that she has stood up to special interests throughout her career, including on Wall Street. She said she went after derivatives and corporate executive compensation, and that she helped influence the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, which passed after she left the Senate to become secretary of state.
“Don't talk to me about standing up to corporate interests and big powers," Clinton said. "I’ve got the scars to show for it, and I’m proud of every single one of them.”
[Bernie Sanders vows to fight the ‘fraud’ of Wall Street, provide relief to bank consumers]
Speaking more broadly about the challenges of the presidency, Clinton said she was the only candidate prepared to do all the duties of the office. She spoke movingly about her role in the White House Situation Room during the Osama bin Laden raid, calling it “one of the most tense days of my life.”
Without mentioning Sanders by name, Clinton implicitly suggested he was naïve to think he would be able to implement his ideas, especially with a Republican-controlled Congress.
During a speech on economic reform, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is running for the Democratic nomination for president, drew applause when he said his campaign is about a movement unifying people of many different backgrounds. (Reuters)“This is hard work,” she said. “I wish we could have a Democratic president who could wave a magic wand and say, ‘We shall do this, and we shall do that.’ That ain't the real world we're living in!"
Clinton appeared to relish laying into Sanders. “We’re getting into that period before the caucus that I kind of call the ‘Let’s get real period,’” she said. “Everybody’s been out there, lots of good energy, I love it. I love the spirited debate on our side.”
[Clinton, Sanders make competing cases for electability in Nevada]
In recent days, Clinton has been highlighting her perceived electability, something her campaign is trumpeting in a television advertisement airing here. Pointing to her longevity in the public eye, she suggested that she was the only Democratic candidate who could withstand the Republican attacks in a general election.
“You’ve got to know what you stand for, you’ve got to be able to defend it, and you have to withstand the barrage of attacks that will come against our Democratic nominee,” she said. “I am still standing.”

Chelsea Clinton Takes on Bernie Sanders

abcnews.go.com

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Chelsea Clinton made her way around New Hampshire today in attempt to convince voters that they should support her mother, Hillary Clinton, as the next president.

Bernie Sanders, Clinton's chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, is practically tied with Clinton in voter polls. He now leads Clinton by a slim margin in Iowa for the first time.

Until now, Chelsea Clinton has shied away from directly naming Sanders in her speeches. She took a shot at the Vermont senator when asked by a young voter how to best galvanize young Americans, who are excited about Sanders' candidacy.

The youngest Clinton was on the defensive. “I never thought that I would be arguing about the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare in the Democratic primary,” Clinton said at an event in Manchester. “Senator Sanders wants to dismantle Obamacare, dismantle the CHIP program, dismantle Medicare and private insurance.”

She then went on to say that she believes her mother has a “more robust" record on health care than anyone else in the race.

The Clinton campaign has said that Chelsea Clinton will continue stumping for her mother on the campaign trail. She will join her father, former President Bill Clinton, in Iowa for a joint campaign event this weekend.

Ann Coulter: Only 'President Trump' Can Save Us From Turning Into 'Uganda'

SUBMITTED BY Miranda Blue on Friday, 12/18/2015 11:09 am

Ann Coulter was not impressed by Tuesday night’s Republican presidential debate on CNN, telling Florida talk radio host Joyce Kaufman yesterday that only Donald Trump isn’t “embarrassed about getting white votes” and recognizes that “the threat facing America right now is we’re about to become Uganda.”

Coulter told Kaufman that she’s fed up with Republicans comparing themselves to Ronald Reagan. “For Pete’s sake,” she said, “Reagan was elected 35 years ago. The world was a different place. The main problem facing America is no longer the threat of a nuke from the Soviet Union, it’s not encroaching communism, the threat facing America right now is we’re about to become Uganda.” She added they we may also soon be “living under Sharia law.”

Coulter then lit into RNC chairman Reince Priebus for attempting to strike an inclusive tone in remarks before the debate.

“‘We are the Republican party and that means we welcome Hispanics, Asians, women,’” she paraphrased Priebus saying.

“What on earth?” she demanded. “And, by the way, I noticed that white men weren’t included on the list of people that Republicans stand for. Why are Republicans embarrassed about getting white votes? What is that? Democrats can’t get them, I can see why Democrats are always going around dissing white people, but why does the Republican have to be embarrassed about getting white votes?”

This prompted Kaufman to lament that even Republicans are adopting the “bankrupt philosophy” that “inherent white privilege” exists. “It’s all like a bad movie, Ann,” she said, “and every day I wake up and I say, I don’t know how this story ends.”

“I know how it ends,” Coulter responded. “President Trump”

FILED UNDER

PEOPLE:

Ann Coulter, Donald Trump, Joyce Kaufman

TOPICS:

Immigration, Election 2016

- See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ann-coulter-only-president-trump-can-save-us-turning-uganda#sthash.FhAhts5e.dpuf

TRUMP 39% CNN POLL DOMINATION 2016

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Trump dominates GOP field heading into 2016

www.cnn.com

Washington (CNN)Donald Trump seems set to end 2015 as the dominant force in the race for next year's Republican nomination for president, with Texas Sen.Ted Cruz now a clear -- yet distant -- second after a strong debate performance, a new CNN/ORC poll released on Wednesday has found.

Trump tops the field with 39%, according to the poll of Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters. That's more than double the share backing Cruz, who, at 18%, has inched up 2 points since the last CNN/ORC poll, which was taken in late November.

Trump has been a constant atop the polls since his ascent to the lead in July, and this new poll marks the first time Cruz stands significantly apart from the other candidates vying for the nomination. Behind those two, Ben Carson and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio have each slipped a few points and now stand tied at 10%.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday found a tighter race between Trump and Cruz, a finding that clashes with most other recent polling on the national race. It is one of only two live interviewer national polls released since Thanksgiving that found Trump with a lead smaller than 10 points. Across the 10 polls released during that time, Trump's lead over Cruz averages 16 points.

The CNN/ORC poll was conducted after the Republican debate hosted by CNN and Facebook in Las Vegas on December 15. Among those Republicans who say they watched, 33% say Trump did the best job in the debate, 28% Cruz, 13% Rubio. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie follows with 6%. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, widely seen as needing a strong debate performance to boost his standing in the polls, was rated best by just 1% of debate watchers.

Six in 10 Republican voters in the poll now say there are one or two candidates they'd prefer to see win over the rest of the field, up from 48% who had identified favorites in July. That consolidation is reflected in voters' overall preferences. This marks the second CNN/ORC poll in a row in which more than three-quarters of Republicans now support one of the top four candidates (77% choose one of Trump, Cruz, Carson or Rubio), and 57% now support one of the top two candidates. That latter figure marks the highest share for any two candidates combined this cycle.

Trump's standing in the race for the nomination is bolstered by widely held trust that he can best handle the top issues facing the nation. Trump holds massive advantages over the rest of the field as the candidate best able to handle the economy (57% Trump, his next closest competitors are Cruz at 8%, Rubio at 7%, Carson at 6% and Bush at 5%), illegal immigration (55% trust Trump, followed by Cruz at 15%, Rubio at 10%), and ISIS (47% prefer Trump, 21% Cruz, 7% Bush and 6% Christie).

And Republicans are coming around to the idea that the Republican Party has its best shot at winning the presidency by nominating the New York real estate mogul. Overall, 46% of GOP voters say the Republicans have a better chance to win in 2016 with Trump as the party's nominee, while 50% say the GOP has a better shot with someone else at the top of the ticket. In August, just 38% said Trump brought the Republicans their best chances.

Perhaps obviously, Trump's supporters are most likely to think the GOP has its best shot with Trump as its nominee (85% say so), but even among those who aren't current supporters, 21% think Trump would be better than the alternative.

Among those who say the party has a better shot with someone other than Trump, Cruz is the preferred candidate, 25% would like to see him win the nomination, 16% Rubio, 13% Carson, 9% are Trump backers, 8% Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, 7% Christie and 4% each Bush and Kasich.

There are signs in the poll that Cruz's debate performance may have helped improve his appeal. Though he remains well behind Trump, Cruz gained ground on the front-runner on handling illegal immigration and ISIS, both a central focus of the debate's questions, while Rubio and Carson faded on both issues. Cruz's favorability rating has jumped 22 points among Republican voters since September, and he now holds the highest favorability rating among Republican voters of any of the seven candidates tested. He's also posted the largest increase in favorability rating among all adults since September, climbing from 27% favorable in September to 45% now, an 18-point gain. Trump (+8) and Rubio (+14) posted smaller increases.

More Republican voters (62%) say Cruz has the right experience to be president than say so about Trump (57%) or Rubio (53%), and two-thirds say Cruz shares their values and is someone they would be proud to have as president (66% each). Slightly fewer say either sentiment applies to Trump (63% values, 60% proud) or Rubio (64% values, 62% proud).

Education remains a stark dividing line among Republicans, but since last month Trump has gained ground with the party's college graduates. In the new poll, 27% of GOP voters with degrees back Trump, up from 18% in the late-November poll. Among those without degrees, 46% back Trump, the same share as in November. Non-college voters could prove to be an Achilles heel for Rubio, who holds just 6% support among that group compared with 19% among those who hold degrees.

The CNN/ORC poll was conducted by telephone December 17-21 among a random national sample of 1,018 adults. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. For results among the 438 registered voters who are Republicans or independents who lean toward the Republican Party, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

COMMENTS

Cruz Opens Big Lead in Iowa, Trump Tops in New Hampshire, South Carolina

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Reuters

by MIKE FLYNN20 Dec 20154,325

A new CBS poll shows TexasSen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has opened a strong 9 point lead over Donald Trump in Iowa, the first state to vote in the 2016 nominating contest.

Cruz has the support of 40 percent of likely caucus goers, followed by Trump with 31 percent.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is a distant third, with 12 percent support. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson is fourth with just 6 percent support. All other Republican candidates are at 2 percent or less, including Jeb Bush, whose allied super PAC, Right to Rise, has spent millions on advertising in the caucus state.

Together, Trump and Cruz draw more than 70 percent support from likely caucus-goers in Iowa.

Trump, meanwhile, dominates the Republican race in New Hampshire, earning 32 percent support from likely primary voters. Trump’s vote, in fact, is double the support of Ted Cruz who, with 14 percent support, is in second place. Rubio is in third, with 13 percent, followed closely by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at 11 percent and Ohio Governor John Kasich at 8 percent.

Jeb Bush is sixth in New Hampshire, with just 6 percent support. Bush, Christie and Kasich have all spent considerable sums advertising in New Hampshire. All three campaigns, or super PACs affiliated with them, have spent several million dollars advertising in the first primary state. Christie and Kasich have clearly gained from the spending, while Bush has lost ground in the Granite State.

Trump also dominates the field in South Carolina, which votes on February 20th, soon after Iowa and New Hampshire. Trump leads with 38 percent, followed again by Cruz with 23 percent. Rubio is 3rd, with 12 percent, followed by Carson with 9 percent and Bush with 7 percent.

In all three states, one issue dominates the political discussion; national security and terrorism. In each state, at least 70 percent of all voters believe America is becoming “more dangerous and insecure.” More than 60 percent of Republicans in each state list national security as the most important issue in 2016.

While the first votes are still several weeks away, voters’ preferences in all three contests are solidifying. More than 60 percent for Republicans in all three states say their minds are made up and are unlikely to change their support. In Iowa, just 25 percent of Republicans say they might still change their minds. In South Carolina and New Hampshire, only about a third of Republicans say they may still change their minds.

After 5 debates and months of intense campaigning, the Republican field is nearing the final turn before voting begins in early February. Trump and Cruz are separating from the pack, with Rubio running a distant third. In New Hampshire, though, the middle of the pack is becoming more crowded.

The race in New Hampshire, in fact, is a reversal of recent political history. Traditionally, several conservative candidates have fought for a clear shot at the establishment frontrunner. This year, however, the establishment candidates are clawing at each other to take on anti-establishment frontrunners.

History may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme. This year, the rhythm is playing a conservative tune.

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