Governor Terry Branstad is crediting Ted Cruz for running an “old-fashioned”, 99-county campaign that yielded victory in Monday night’s Iowa Caucuses, but Branstad is joining the chorus criticizing Cruz for “questionable” campaign tactics.
“This thing that they distributed on Caucus night saying that Dr. Carson was likely to drop out and his supporters should support Cruz, that is, I think, unethical and unfair,” Branstad said this morning. “I think there’ll be repercussions to that.”
Cruz has apologized to Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who finished fourth in the Caucuses on Monday night. Iowa Congressman Steve King, a Cruz backer, helped spread the drop out rumor and Branstad said King owes Carson an apology.
“You know, we have a strong sense of fairness in Iowa,” Branstad said during an interview with Radio Iowa. “Distributing information that was not true about a candidate right at the time people are voting in the Caucuses is an inappropriate thing.”
King tweeted: “Carson looks like he’s out” on Caucus night. King has told reporters in Washington, D.C. he had an “obligation” to tell Iowans about a report he’d seen indicating Carson was flying home to Florida Monday night rather than going to New Hampshire. Branstad is not out personally recruiting a Republican to challenge King in a primary this June.
“Yet I think there are a number of people in the renewable fuels industry that are not happy with (King),” Branstad says. “I guess time will tell what happens.”
Branstad is a critic of Cruz’s opposition to the federal ethanol production mandate. Two weeks before the Caucuses Branstad said he hoped Cruz would be defeated — a move Congressman King blasted as a “de facto endorsement” of Donald Trump.
“Well, I did,” Branstad said today of his wish for Cruz’s defeat. “Actually, I think Trump, by skipping the debate, hurt himself.”
Branstad’s 2010 and 2014 campaign managers migrated to New Jersey Chris Christie’s presidential campaign. Christie finished 10th, with fewer than 3300 votes. Branstad said Christie didn’t spend enough time campaigning in Iowa.
“None of the governors did well,” Branstad said. “…Rubio came on strong at the end because people were looking for somebody new.”
The Caucus winner was someone Branstad opposed and Christie finished next to last, but Branstad rejects the notion Monday’s Caucus results are in any way a rebuke of him.
“First of all I’m not running for president. I’ve never had an interest in running for president or national office,” Branstad said. “My focus is on my state and jobs in my state and farm income.”
AUDIO of Radio Iowa’s interview with Governor Terry Branstad
Branstad attended his precinct caucus Monday night, but he is not revealing who he voted for. Branstad said the record turn-out for Monday’s Republican Caucuses was “an encouraging sign” for the fall election, since Iowa is likely to be a toss-up state in the presidential race.
Wednesday’s cover ofLa Opinión, the nation’s largest daily Spanish-language newspaper, prominently portrays donor-class favoriteSen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) with the infamous “hope and change” imagery that defined Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
The cover of the Spanish-language paper writes: “The Republican Obama? The surge of the Latino Senator in the presidential campaign has made him a target of criticism on the subject of immigration.”
Marco Rubio and Barack Obama share many of the same policy goals, such as Obamatrade and military intervention in Libya, but their most striking similarities are on the subject of immigration. Both men support citizenship for illegal aliens, expanded refugee resettlement, more green cards, more H-1B visas, and large permanent expansions to the rate of immigration and foreign worker importation.
Marco Rubio was the co-author of the 2013 Obama-backed immigration bill. Rubio’s immigration bill was endorsed by La Raza, the AFL-CIO, SEIU, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Mark Zuckerberg, and George Soros. Rubio has not renounced his support for a single policy item outlined in the Gang of Eight bill—including his desire to triple green card issuances, double foreign worker visas, and grant citizenship to illegal immigrants.
Rubio has even borrowed much of the language of the Obama’s campaign—prompting Joe Scarborough to mock the young Senator. Following the Iowa caucus, “Morning Joe” replayed Obama’s 2008 acceptance speech celebrating his victory at the Iowa caucus and juxtaposed that with Rubio’s strikingly similar Iowa speech celebrating his campaign’s ability to inch up to third place.
“You know, I have said for a year that he is the Republican Obama,” Scarborough said. “He is the Republican Obama and he just stole the speech… In my opinion having somebody with little experience before they become president has not actually been great.”
However, there is one important distinction between Rubio and Obama. Obama represented the core views of his most ardent base, and presented a vehicle for turning his base’s dreams into reality. By contrast, the Republican base is overwhelmingly opposed to large-scale immigration, amnesty and refugee resettlement—the pillars of Rubio’s campaign. It is the GOP’s donor base, not its voter base, that supports these policies.
In that sense, Rubio is the “Obama” for Republican donors, but not the Republican Party’s actual voters. Indeed, whereas Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) lacked the Obama-esque tools to pass mass immigration for the donors in 2007, Rubio was able to bypass conservatism opposition and pass a bill with far more foreign workers through the Senate in 2013—using the affection of conservatives to neutralize opposition to a top donor class priority.
That may explain Rush Limbaugh’s prediction that, with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)as Speaker and Marco Rubio as president, in the “first 12-to-18 months, the donor-class agenda [will be] implemented, including amnesty and whatever else they want.” Ironically, underscoring just how potent a tool Rubio can be for the donors, Rush—usually a voice of donor opposition—seemingly forgot his own warning and warmly embraced Rubio on his show. Rush’s earlier embrace of Rubio in 2013 may have helped give the Gang of Eight the boost of momentum it needed to pass the Senate.
A graphic from a Microsoft video about its caucus vote counting app.(Photo: Microsoft)
As Republican and Democratic caucus voters used new Microsoft tallying apps during the Iowa caucuses, some took to Twitter to say the sites were crashing, while others complemented them on how swiftly they worked.
Add “Iowa Caucus vote tracking” to Microsoft’s long list of unsuccessful promotional efforts…pic.twitter.com/RqZmx7Q11x
— Michael DeGusta (@degusta)
Microsoft Recount APP was not working properly at 1 location-Iowa Caucus Stream-A-Thon! Continued...https://t.co/0QQ92oFsUI via@YouTube
— CelesteHolmes (@Dallas4Bernie)
Some users noted the system might simply be temporarily overwhelmed and suggested users wait a moment and then try again.
@michellemalkin@Microsoft Just try a few seconds later. The server is probably getting more requests than it can handle. Bashing is easy.
— Boris Pulatov (@BorisPulatov)
In an emailed statement, Microsoft said that the mobile apps for both parties worked without issue.
However national interest in the Iowa Caucuses overwhelmed the Democratic and Republican Party Iowa Caucus websites, which Microsoft was working to resolve, the company said.
Some online charged that Microsoft founder Bill Gates had donated “millions” to the Clinton Foundation, making the company's creation of the apps suspect. However Microsoft created apps for both the Republican and Democratic parties, so others said that seemed unlikely.
Columnist Matt Drudge tweeted, “Watching the Iowa folks put their votes into Microsoft app is terrifying...”
Microsoft provided the free app in hopes of cutting down on errors and increasing speed in the reporting process, in response to issues at previous Iowa caucuses.
In a blog post in June, Microsoft's vice president for technology and civic engagement Dan'l Lewin, said the software company was "honored to support the 2016 Iowa caucus via a new, mobile-enabled, cloud-based platform that will facilitate accuracy and efficiency of the reporting process."
The secure system was meant to enable precincts "to report their results directly by party and will ensure that only authorized Iowans are reporting results. This announcement represents the first-of-its-kind major technology component to caucus reporting," he wrote.
Microsoft built apps for each political party in Iowa for all mobile and PC platforms, with the results to be securely stored and managed in Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform, he said.
DES MOINES, Iowa — One of the most bizarre details to emerge from Monday’s Iowa caucuses was that in six Democratic counties, the ownership of six delegates was decided by a coin flip.
A single delegate remained unassigned at the end of caucusing in two precincts in Des Moines, one precinct in Ames, one in Newton, one in West Branch and one in Davenport, The Des Moines Register reported.
In all six instances, the coin toss was won by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
There may have been more coin tosses, but those are the ones we know about for now.
Now, get ready to do some math.
In a single coin toss, the probability of calling the toss correctly is 50 percent, or one in two. Heads or tails.
But the probably of winning every flip out of six flips is one in 64, or 1.56 percent.
The online study tool “Coin Toss Probability Calculator” has a really intense formula that explains why, but the bottom line is, the probabilities stack on each other.
You’re 50 percent likely to win one coin flip. But you’re only 25 percent likely to win two consecutive coin flips, because there are now twice as many possible outcomes. So bump that up to six coin flips, and your chances of winning them all are slim:
TutorVista.com
And the bottom line is, Clinton won the Iowa caucuses on a coin flip.
Here’s why: Each coin flip decided a delegate.
Clinton’s final delegate count was 699.57, according to the Iowa Democratic Party. Sanders’ was 695.49.
If Sanders had won half of the coin tosses and split the six delegates three and three with Clinton, he would have finished at 698.49 delegates to Clinton’s 696.57.
1.Trump IOWA REP. TRUMP V CRUZ – RUBIO DEMS. SANDERS V CLINTON
-Katrina
Pierson (National Spokesperson) 15yrs ago Ted was Canadian Citizen. (1A)
-Rush On
Trump (1B)
-TRUMP
WILL NOT DO Thursday DEBATE.
a.Fox’s role via its founder Rupert Murdoch in
pus
hing an open borders agenda. The Trump campaign is a direct threat to
Murdoch’s efforts to open America’s borders. Well-concealed from virtually all
reporting on Fox’s treatment of Trump is the fact that Murdoch is the co-chair
of what is arguably one of the most powerful immigration lobbying firms in
country, the Partnership for a New American Economy (PNAE). JULIA HAHN Breitbart.
b.Megan Kelly and Moore (1C)then Bill Oreilly begs Trump (1D)
c.Fox News
and Google have invited three YouTube personalities to ask questions at the
Jan. 28 GOP debate — including a Muslim advocate who describes Donald Trump as
a bigot and who visually portrayed him as being in agreement with national
socialist Adolf Hitler.
d.Anchor
Baby Dulce Candy, the invited Latino questioner, said she was brought
from central Mexico to
the United States while a young girl. She later joined the U.S. military
and served in Iraq.
e.Pride Goeth Before the Fall: Ailes Calls Trump’s
Wife and Daughter
f.Scarborough: ‘I’d Rather Set Myself on Fire’
Than Participate in Debate With Megyn Kelly
g.Poll: More than 83 Percent Won’t Watch Fox News
Debate Sans Donald… However it turned out to be the second highest rating for
Fox prior to the debate on Fox Business.
-Iowa –
GOP Chairman Kaufmann, who wasn’t officially endorsing Trump for president
but is appearing with him on stage and introducing him, said that if Iowans
select Trump on Feb. 1, the party is fully committed to electing him president
of the United States.
-Laura
Ingram went off on National Review for trying to excommunicate Trump A
return to traditional GOP law and order practices when it comes to illegal
immigration.
a.A return to a more traditional GOP foreign
policy that would put the national interest ahead of globalism.
b.A return to a more traditional GOP trade policy
that would analyze trade deals from the perspective of the country as a whole
and not blindly support any deal — even one negotiated by President Obama.
-Shock
Poll: Ted Cruz Plummets with White Evangelicals ; Trails Donald Trump by 17
Points
-JOHN
NOLTE Breitbart National Review Goes Full-Snob: Attacks Donald Trump Voters as
Ignorant Bigots
a.After the massive belly-flop that was the
poorly thought out, very-poorly executed and way-late “Against Trump” diatribe
last week, “National Review” is apparently still so bitter that on Monday
morning another fatal decision was made — to attack everyday Americans as
stupid homophobes.
-Glenn Beck
– Tells Iowa small crowd he’d prefer Sanders of Trump
a.CEO resigns from the Blaze as it burns down.
b.Flashback John McCain worst for the country than
Obama.
-Conservative?
a.’99 pro-choice – ’15 Pro Life with reservations
on rape and incest
b.Immigration – Trump wants a wall, shutting down
remittances garnered from illegal wages, and foreign aid cuts. He wants strong
deportation policies and an end to birthright citizenship. Said we should take
some refugees but then stopped after seeing what Europe is going through and
that this maybe a Trojan horse.
c.Same-Sex Marriage. Trump says he’s
anti-same sex marriage
d.Entitlements. Unlike virtually all
the other Republican candidates, Trump has said he wouldn’t touch entitlements.
e.Religious Freedom. Trump pledges to
uphold religious freedom
f.Campaign Finance Reform. Trump is for
it, and he routinely attacks super PACs
g.Government Involvement In The Economy.
Trump himself supported Obama’s 2009 stimulus, TARP, and the 2008 auto bailout.
He said in 2009, “I think [Obama’s] doing very well. You do need stimulus and
you do have to keep the banks alive.” He’s admitted over and over to paying
elected officials to grease the skids on his deals – although, in fairness, he
says that’s just how you have to work to get business done.
h.Education. Trump opposes Common Core
i.Healthcare. In September he
told Hannity:As far as single-payer
and all — there’s so many different things you could have. Honestly, Sean, to
do, to have great health insurance. The one thing I do tell people, we’re going
to have something great. We’re going to repeal and replace Obamacare, which is
a total disaster.
j.Tax
Plan. Trump’s tax plan is
certainly conservative. He proposes lowering the top tax bracket to 25 percent,
drops the capital gains tax to 20 percent, dumps the death tax, and drops the
corporate rate to 15 percent
k.Trade. Trump
is for international tariffs, including an extraordinarily heavy tariff on
Chinese goods
l.Guns. Trump
has become progressively more pro-Second
Amendment over time. His website states: “The Second Amendment
to our Constitution is clear. The right of the people to keep and bear Arms
shall not be infringed upon. Period.”
2.Bernie Sanders – Hillary
-Bernie Sanders Attacks 1%ers and Billionaire
a.However Sanders’ panel of experts was stacked
with economists tied to Soros. One prominent member advocates a “new economic
order” no longer dominated by the U.S., while another is the leading
proponent of the “shock therapy” economic doctrine of radical
economic transformation deployed at times to detriment in Eastern Europe.
-Vanity Fair did a puff piece on Hillary “She Can
Not Be Stopped”
-NYT throws in for Hillary
-Young kid says to Hillary we think you’re
dishonest (2A)
a.Chris Matthews talks about Bernie and the kids
calling Hill dishonest pos (2B)
-Clintons weren’t so bad??
a.Billwas
president he allowed Hillary to assume authority over health care reform she
count even get a vote in the democrat controlled congress cost $13million
b.Bill gave Hillary authority over selecting a
female attorney general. Both forced to withdraw then she chose janet reno
which bill described as “my worst mistake”
c.Bill allowed Hillary to make recommendations for
the head of the Civil Rights Commission.Lani Guanier was her selection.When a little probing led to the discovery of Ms. Guanier’s radical
views, her name had to be withdrawn from consideration
d.Bill allowed Hillary to make some more
recommendations.She chose former law
partners Web Hubbel for the Justice Department, Vince Foster for the White
House staff, and William Kennedy for the Treasury Department.Her selections went well: Hubbel went to
prison, Foster (presumably) committed suicide, and Kennedy was forced to
resign.
e.Travelgate.” Hillary wanted to award unfettered
travel contracts to Clinton friend Harry Thompson – and the White House Travel
Office refused to comply.She managed to
have them reported to the FBI and fired.This ruined their reputations, cost them their jobs, and caused a
thirty-six month investigation
f.FileGate: Hillary was allowed to recommend a
close Clinton friend, Craig Livingstone, for the position of Director of White
House security.When Livingstone was
investigated for the improper access of about 900 FBI files of Clinton enemies
and the widespread use of drugs by White House staff, suddenly Hillary and the
president denied even knowing Livingstone, and of course, denied knowledge of
drug use in the White House.
g.“bimbo eruption” and scandal defense.Some of her more notable decisions in the
debacle were: She urged her husband not to settle the Paula Jones lawsuit.After the Starr investigation they settled
with Ms. Jones. She refused to release the Whitewater documents, which led to
the appointment of Ken Starr as Special Prosecutor.After $80 million dollars of taxpayer money
was spent, Starr's investigation led to Monica Lewinsky, which led to Bill
lying about and later admitting his affairs. Hillary’s devious game plan
resulted in Bill losing his license to practice law for 'lying under oath' to a
grand jury and then his subsequent impeachment by the House of Representatives.
Hillary avoided indictment for perjury and obstruction of justice during the
Starr investigation by repeating, “I do not recall,” “I have no recollection,”
and “I don’t know” a total of 56 times while under oath.
h.Hillary was forced to return an estimated
$200,000 in White House furniture, china, and artwork that she had stolen
i.Now we are exposed to the destruction of
possibly incriminating emails while Hillary was Secretary of State and the “pay
to play” schemes of the Clinton Foundation
3.Obam3.
-(CNSNews.com) - The debt of the federal
government increased by $8,314,529,850,339.07 in President Barack Obama’s first
seven years in office, according to official data published by the U.S.
Treasury.
a.That equals $70,612.91 in net federal borrowing
for each of the 117,480,000 households that the Census Bureau estimates were in
the United States as of September.
b.During President George W. Bush’s eight years in
office, the federal debt increased by $4,899,100,310,608.44, according to the
Treasury. That equaled $44,104.65 in net federal borrowing for each of the
111,079,000 households that, according to the Census Bureau, were in the
country as of Jan. 20, 2009, the day that Bush left office and Obama assumed
it.
