Subject: RE: FTN 4-24-16
From: "Brinster, Jeremy" <[email-masked]>
To: Comm_D <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2016 08:18:46 -0700

*         Salam: Trump has done as well as he had because of attitude, not policy. he's taken a dozen different policy positions, don't think Manafort will be able to discipline him

*         can Trump do anything to drive down his negatives?

o   Klein: he can become a very different person, but it's very hard

o   it's funny that Trump would become very moderate or politically correct right now. he doesn't have the discipline to not say everything he's thinking

o   O'Keefe: no reason to believe that Trump can grow his base of supporters by becoming "more presidential"

*         Salam: you had people after SC like Bob Dole saying Trump could be more sensible than Cruz, but that's gone away

*         Salam: Trump hasn't been raising money-he's promised that he's a self-funder, he's alienated a lot of major donors, there's a large apparatus that hasn't coalesced around him.

*         how is he going to get the money for general election, but he's said he's not bought and paid for

o   he's going to have a hard time raising money, Koch Bros implied they'd support Clinton over Trump

*         ultimate Trump argument about the convention is about fairness, how do you think Trump is doing making that case?

o   Klein: it's hard to figure out how that plays until right before the convention

o   what people are used to doing is give it to the guy in the lead, to give it to someone else is going to feel like a tremendous move. Trump has an easy argument here, question is if Trump will do something so offensive to the delegates that he gives them permission to vote for someone else

o   it's looking less and less likely this will even play out-he could win 1237 outright

*         Salam: you can't win a fear-based campaign against Trump in the primary, but you can in general

o   look at Palin-the one time where a running mate mattered

o   Trump's erraticism will be a huge issue in general but opponents can't seem to make that case in general

From: Brinster, Jeremy
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2016 11:09 AM
To: Comm_D
Subject: RE: FTN 4-24-16

*         Dickerson compares possible convention issues to Stop Goldwater '64 movement

*         Rockefeller spoke out against Goldwater's racism in 64, Goldwater said extremism in the defense of liberty is no bias (I wrote '68 below in Kasich interview but meant '64)

Panel

*         Tonal shift in Sanders campaign? A bit but not enough for HFA's liking, doesn't say she lacks judgment, is unqualified. Don't like wall St speech claim

*         Klein: I don't think this has been a negative campaign at all, Jerry Brown attacked HRC for legal fees/corruption in 1992

*         Great quote for us: "This has been most gentle, substantive campaign in recent memory, which does credit to them both"

*         Salam: movement he has built is something separate from the Dem party. Sanders also has some very wealthy supporters. He's speaking to a lot of marginalized white voters by rising place of identity voters in party

*         Klein: Sanders movement is generational split. a future candidate can't be HRC, she has such deep connections. rising class of young voters in Dem party (who align with Sanders) will have to power in the future

*         Salam: young voters of color have not been voting much, will probably be more likely to support HRC later on, as she talks more about issues of concern to communities of color

*         is HRC really in danger of losing Sanders supporters in general, go to Trump? there's some concern, Trump eases that a little. sensitivity to who running mate will be. depends on Sanders and what he does, if he gets forcefully behind HRC.

*         in 1980, Kennedy fought Carter and got a lot of his issues on the platform (not really)

o   Klein: platform could be a good venue for Sanders to promote his positions, but it's kind of lost his potency. HRC as President wouldn't be bound to doing everything on platform

o   Klein: we'll see if Sanders uses his support to fuel down-ballot movement, or if this was really just about him.

o   Salam: this is looking to be decades-long effort to reform Dem party

o   what Sanders does with fundraising depends on how he feels he is being treated by Dem party

From: Brinster, Jeremy
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2016 10:51 AM
To: Comm_D
Subject: RE: FTN 4-24-16

Tribute to Prince

From: Brinster, Jeremy
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2016 10:49 AM
To: Comm_D
Subject: RE: FTN 4-24-16

*         Facile horse-race BS from CBS chief elections officer

*         HRC could still clinch nomination with pledged delegates

From: Brinster, Jeremy
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2016 10:46 AM
To: Comm_D
Subject: RE: FTN 4-24-16

Kasich talks a little about VP selection

PA - Trump leading 49/26/22 over Cruz, Kasich
IN - Trump leading 40/25/20 over Cruz, Kashic

Kasich interview

*         Club for growth calls a vote for you a vote for Trump

o   They're working aggressively against me because they're for somebody else

o   A vote for Cruz/Trump is a vote for HRC

o   HRC is 50-31 in NH over Trump, but losing to me 36-50

o   Voters in NH GOP primary support me over Trump.

o   Only I am leading Hillary, delegates at convention want to know who can beat her, because if we don't we lose SCOTUS, Senate, state and local raises

*         Same argument made in 1968 by Goldwater opponents, delegates didn't listen, so why listen now?

o   Goldwater got smoked, we lost everything in 68

o   I'm getting more and more support, message of growth/opportunity needs to be heard, not gloom and doom

o   WaPo says I don't do well because I'm not an apocalyptic candidate

*         Paul Manafort said Trump has been playing a part, image will change

o   I was the most unpopular governor in the country, and I turned that around by creating jobs, etc

o   You can't talk your way out of high negatives

*         Reports you've been vetting running mates,might announce in June

o   We have old names doing that, these things come quickly and you don't want to pull a name out of a hat

o   It's just starting

*         Delegates might be more attracted to a ticket, is that what you're doing

o   Maybe. These are things we're talking about as a group, at preliminary stage

o   Reagan tried to do it in 1976, he didn't win, but it worked out later. He influenced the country and there's something to be said about that

*         Adding more security in Ohio?

o   I shouldn't get into security details, but Secret Service, highway patrol, Cleveland police are all involved and prepared

o   We have good security people, will be ready

*         Trump had difficulty with your name, pronouncing it

o   I find these things amusing. When they're talking about you, that's a good thing. It makes me laugh, god bless him.

HRC up on Bernie 51-43 in PA, 49-44 in IN

Sanders interview

*         HRC has more votes and delegates, do you think rigged system is keeping Dems from voting for you?

o   No, we started 60 points behind HRC, now we're tied in national polls

o   Running against most powerful political organization in US

o   We've won 16 states, we win younger people in almost all contests, ideas we're talking about are future of Dem party

o   We look forward to fighting this out through CA

*         You talk about income inequality, but HRC is winning in those places where income inequality is high. You said poor people don't vote, but they have voted for HRC

o   Well, for a start, one of the challenges we have as a nation is very low turnout in general, worse for younger and low-income people

o   We're trying, with some success, to bring people into political process, we've got to do better

o   I would hope if I'm the nominee we'll see a very large voter turnout, change the dynamics of politics

*         Do you stand by idea you're not winning because poor people are not voting

o   The fact of the matter is we have low voter turnout, 3 m independents were ineligible to vote in NY

o   No doubt that among low-income Americans, very low turnout

*         Are you going to use your leverage to demand changes to Dem platform that HRC is not supporting

o   Not a question over if we're going to continue, can't say CA won't get to vote on who the nominee is.

o   We don't want to continue to have a rigged economy, continue to not deal with climate change

o   We are going to fight to end corrupt campaign finance system

o   Those issues are mobilizing American people

*         If HRC is the nominee, will you add min wage, fracking, etc positions to platform?

o   That was a very good start

o   Through in the fact we don't guarantee healthcare as a right

o   Tuition-free college

*         Tad Devine said you may re-evaluate tone after next week

o   I have not the slightest idea, you'll have to ask Tad

o   We're going to debate in a respectful manner, point out differences [min wage, free college, carbon tax]

o   My policy views are very different from Sec Clinton

From: Brinster, Jeremy
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2016 10:30 AM
To: Comm_D
Subject: FTN 4-24-16