Subject: DNC Clips 4.21.2016
From: "Price, Jenna" <[email-masked]>
To: "Price, Jenna" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2016 04:40:06 -0700

WEATHER: 72F, Partly Cloudy

POTUS and the Administration

Change for a $20: Tubman Ousts Jackson<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/us/women-currency-treasury-harriet-tubman.html?ref=politics>

NEW YORK TIMES // JACKIE CALMES

Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew on Wednesday announced the most sweeping and historically symbolic makeover of American currency in a century, proposing to replace the slaveholding Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman, the former slave and abolitionist, and to add women and civil rights leaders to the $5 and $10 notes. Mr. Lew may have reneged on a commitment he made last year to make a woman the face of the $10 bill, opting instead to keep Alexander Hamilton, to the delight of a fan base swollen with enthusiasm over a Broadway rap musical named after and based on the life of the first Treasury secretary. But the broader remaking of the nation’s paper currency, which President Obama welcomed on Wednesday, may well have captured a historical moment for a multicultural, multiethnic and multiracial nation moving contentiously through the early years of a new century.

Library of Congress Nominee Gets Senate Hearing<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/us/politics/library-of-congress-nominee-gets-senate-hearing.html?ref=politics>

NEW YORK TIMES // NICHOLAS FANDOS

A prominent Obama administration nominee was extended a courtesy Wednesday that has become increasingly rare this election year: a Senate hearing. Carla D. Hayden, the head of Baltimore’s public library, whom President Obama nominated in February to lead the Library of Congress, testified before the Senate Rules Committee, and after a little more than an hour of questioning, all signs pointed to a nomination process proceeding as, well, normal. “I think this nomination is on a separate track,” Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, the committee’s chairman, said after the hearing, acknowledging that Dr. Hayden was receiving different treatment than another prominent nominee, Judge Merrick B. Garland. “Today will be no day to reach conclusions except, I think, that her background makes her well-suited for coming up with a vision for the library,” Mr. Blunt said. If confirmed, Dr. Hayden, 63, would be the first woman and the first African-American to hold the position. The committee is expected to vote on the nomination in the coming weeks. Should the committee recommend Dr. Hayden’s nomination to the full Senate, the body would likely vote before its summer recess.

Supreme Court hears arguments in drunken-driving cases<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-hears-arguments-in-drunken-driving-cases/2016/04/20/4f296af4-0720-11e6-b283-e79d81c63c1b_story.html>

WASHINGTON POST // ROBERT BARNES

All states to some extent say that motorists suspected of drunken driving can lose their licenses by refusing to submit to an alcohol test. But North Dakota, Minnesota and a handful of other states go further and make it a crime to refuse to submit to the test. The Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared first to be on one side of the question, then on the other, about whether the Constitution allows that. Washington lawyer Charles Rothfeld, representing the objecting drivers, said states cannot force people to give up their Fourth Amendment protection against warrantless searches. “The fundamental problem with the statutes at issue in these three cases is that they make it a criminal offense to assert a constitutional right,” Rothfeld told the justices. “Under the laws of North Dakota and Minnesota, a person who is stopped on suspicion of impaired driving is obligated to take a warrantless chemical test to determine the alcohol content of their blood.”

On Saudi Arabia Trip Obama Seeks to Quell Tensions<http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/saudi-arabia-trip-obama-seeks-quell-tensions-n558611>

NBC // HALIMAH ABDULLAH

When President Obama arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday he stepped from Air Force One onto a red carpet and greeted the governor of Riyadh and other lower level officials. It was a different reception than the one President George W. Bush received in 2008 when he was met warmly at the airport by the late King Abdullah and invited to the regent's farm just outside the city. And while the White House pushed back Wednesday against the notion that the greeting was a snub — King Salman and Obama walked side by side into the ruler's palace — speculation about the reception is fueled by the chilly relationship between the two nations. Inside the palace meeting room the two leaders sat next to each other in an ornately decorated setting and exchanged pleasantries through a translator.

Obama heads to London on mission to persuade UK voters to stay in EU<http://www.reuters.com/article/britain-eu-obama-idUSL5N17N3LV>

REUTERS // ROBERTA RAMPTON, KYLIE MACLELLAN, AND GUY FAULCONBRIDGE

U.S. President Barack Obama flies to London on Thursday with a mission: to persuade wavering British voters not to ditch membership of the European Union in a June 23 referendum that Washington fears could weaken the West. His visit is a welcome one for Prime Minister David Cameron, leading the "In" campaign, but has drawn scorn from those arguing Britain should leave the EU. Obama is likely to suggest Britons should vote to stay in the bloc to preserve Britain's wealth, its "special relationship" with the United States and the cohesion of the West. "As the president has said, we support a strong United Kingdom in the European Union," Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, told reporters in Washington ahead of the trip. After a visit to Saudi Arabia, including talks with King Salman, Obama flies to London on Thursday evening. The U.S. government - and many U.S. banks and companies - fear a "Brexit" would unleash market turmoil, torpedo British clout, undermine London's status as a global financial capital, cripple the EU and undermine Western security.

Obama to Reassure Gulf Partners<http://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-to-reassure-gulf-partners-1461225258>

WALL STREET JOURNAL // COLLEEN MCCAIN NELSON AND MARGHERITA STANCATI

President Barack Obama will meet leaders from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council on Thursday in an effort to repair relations and bridge differences over issues ranging from Iran to the fight against terror. At a summit in the Saudi capital, Mr. Obama was expected to reassure the Gulf Arab leaders that the U.S. remains committed to supporting the security and sovereignty of its Gulf partners. But with deep divisions between Washington and Gulf governments over how to calm sectarian tensions and respond to Iranian aggression, the president was also expected to face frustration toward the U.S. and its evolving approach to the region. Mr. Obama and leaders from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman are expected to spend about four hours working their way through an ambitious agenda that includes Iran, ongoing regional conflicts and the fight against Islamic State and al Qaeda.

Why Obama’s support for the E.U. is driving some Brits mad<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/04/21/why-obamas-support-for-the-e-u-is-driving-some-brits-mad/>

WASHINGTON POST // ADAM TAYLOR

President Obama arrives Thursday in London, where he may find himself at the center of a very British controversy. The U.S. president has become an unlikely player in Britain's passionate "Brexit" debate — with his views even earning him the title "most anti-British American president there has ever been," coined by a well-known politician. For the uninitiated, "Brexit" is the catchy portmanteau used to refer to Britain's potential exit from the European Union. After years of growing public dissent over the country's E.U. membership, Britain is set to have a referendum this summer on whether to remain part of the E.U. If a majority of Brits vote to "leave" the E.U., Britain will exit the bloc. Exactly what happens after that isn't clear, but Obama evidently doesn't want to see it happen. Last year, he told the BBC that he supports Prime Minister David Cameron's campaign for Britain to remain in the E.U., adding that the membership gave Washington greater confidence in the transatlantic alliance and helped make the world “safer and more prosperous." During this week's visit, Obama is widely expected to repeat his calls to vote against a Brexit.

In an Age of Terror, an Early Start on the Presidential Transition<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/us/politics/in-an-age-of-terror-smoothing-the-transition-to-the-next-presidency.html?_r=0>

NEW YORK TIMES // JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS

At a luxurious hilltop estate with sweeping vistas of the Hudson River, an adviser to President Obama began meeting on Wednesday with aides to the candidates vying to replace him to make the first, early preparations for the day when Mr. Obama leaves office. During a two-day gathering on the grounds of Kykuit, the manor built by John D. Rockefeller, they will attend breakout sessions, working lunches and dinners, and white-board-assisted discussions on how to execute a seamless transfer of power in an age when the threat of a terrorist attack like the one on Sept. 11, 2001, requires a fully functioning White House at all times. That need was brought home forcefully to President George W. Bush after 9/11, and his concern that his successor lose no time in taking the reins of power led to what is regarded as a model transition when it was time for him to leave office. Now, in an acknowledgment that its time is running out, the Obama White House has begun planning for the next transition, a task akin to a giant corporate merger, but one that involves the federal government’s 4,000 senior executives and a $4 trillion budget. And it will all be compressed into the 72 days between the election on Nov. 8 and the Jan. 20, 2017, inauguration.

Obama in Saudi Arabia, Exporter of Oil and Bigotry<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/opinion/obama-in-saudi-arabia-exporter-of-oil-and-bigotry.html>

NEW YORK TIMES // NICHOLAS KRISTOF

A college senior boarded a flight and excitedly called his family to recount a United Nations event he had attended, but, unfortunately, he was speaking Arabic. Southwest Airlines kicked him off the plane, in the sixth case reported in the United States this year in which a Muslim was ejected from a flight. Such Islamophobia also finds expression in the political system, with Donald Trump calling for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country (“Welcome to the U.S.A.! Now, what’s your religion?”) and Ted Cruz suggesting special patrols of Muslim neighborhoods (in New York City, by the nearly 1,000 police officers who are Muslim?). Some 50 percent of Americans support a ban and special patrols. Such attitudes contradict our values and make us look like a bastion of intolerance. But for those of us who denounce these prejudices, it’s also important to acknowledge that there truly are dangerous strains of intolerance and extremism within the Islamic world — and for many of these, Saudi Arabia is the source.

Supreme Court Contraception Case Shows No Signs of Compromise<http://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-contraception-case-shows-no-signs-of-compromise-1461190254>

WALL STREET JOURNAL // LOUISE RADNOFSKY
The Obama administration and religiously affiliated employers in a final round of legal briefs Wednesday moved no closer to a compromise for covering contraception in workers’ insurance plans, likely leaving it to the eight-member Supreme Court to settle the dispute. The justices in an unusual step had requested supplemental briefs from both sides on a potential solution as they sought a way to avoid a potential 4-4 split following the February death of the court’s ninth justice, Antonin Scalia. The high court is reviewing a dispute over the 2010 health-care law requirement that employers provide birth-control coverage for workers. Christian institutions whose teachings oppose some or all forms of contraception have challenged the requirement, and an alternative offered by the federal government they say is inadequate. On Wednesday, the federal government sent a strongly worded brief to the court that described the religious challengers’ proposal to the court last week as “unworkable” and “profoundly flawed.”

Democrats

Virginia legislature approves plan to buy execution drugs from secret pharmacies<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/plan-to-buy-execution-drugs-from-secret-pharmacies-fails-in-virginia-house/2016/04/20/ecdb9be8-0665-11e6-b283-e79d81c63c1b_story.html>

WASHINGTON POST // LAURA VOZZELLA
Virginia’s House and Senate on Wednesday accepted Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s plan to hire pharmacies to secretly supply the state with execution drugs, acting one day after the state’s attorney general signed off on the idea. Virginia joins Arkansas, Missouri and Ohio as states that have placed similar shields over the pharmacies that produce lethal drugs and have faced lengthy legal challenges in state and federal courts. In Arkansas, which hoped to resume executions after a decade-long break, the legal challenge has delayed several lethal injections scheduled to take place last fall and winter. The night before the General Assembly’s one-day veto session, Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) issued a legal opinion saying that the plan would not violate state or federal laws governing controlled substances or the practice of medicine and pharmacy.

New York Attorney General Opens Inquiry Into Primary Day Complaints<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/nyregion/new-york-attorney-general-opens-inquiry-into-primary-day-complaints.html?ref=politics>

NEW YORK TIMES // VIVIAN YEE
The New York State attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, announced on Wednesday that his office was opening an investigation into potential voting irregularities during the presidential primary on Tuesday, when New York City’s Board of Elections found itself besieged by complaints that it had dropped thousands of Democratic voters from the rolls in Brooklyn, among other issues. Mr. Schneiderman’s office said it had received more than 1,000 complaints from voters across the state, dwarfing the roughly 150 reports it received for the 2012 general election. Many people said they had tried to vote, only to be told that they were not registered — the most common complaint, according to Mr. Schneiderman’s office. Among complaints from New York City, the largest chunk sprang from Brooklyn, where there were reports that the voter-information books in some polling places were missing multiple pages. “By most accounts, voters cast their ballots smoothly and successfully,” Mr. Schneiderman said in a statement. “However, I am deeply troubled by the volume and consistency of voting irregularities.”

Dem lawmaker: ‘We are all tainted’ by campaign finance system<http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/277058-dem-lawmaker-we-are-all-tainted-by-campaign-finance-system>

THE HILL // CRISTINA MARCOS

A House Democrat said the rise of presidential candidates Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders railing against the influence of money in politics suggests that Congress should take up campaign finance reform legislation to improve its public image. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), whose state will cast votes in both parties’ primaries next Tuesday, said widespread public frustration with the rising costs of campaigns reflects poorly on members of Congress.  “It occurred to me in watching the coverage last night that there’s something the majority of Americans, and probably a majority of both those who are supporting Donald Trump and those who are supporting Bernie Sanders, agree on. And that is that they believe that Washington, D.C., is bought and paid for,” Boyle said in a House floor speech on Wednesday, the day after primaries in New York. That perception, Boyle said, is making it harder for the public to trust the motives of lawmakers like himself.

Edwards confronts black lawmakers over refusal to back her<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/donna-edwards-congressional-black-caucus-chris-van-hollen-222169>

POLITICO // RACHEL BADE

On the verge of a possible upset of the Democratic Party’s longtime golden boy, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, in Tuesday’s Maryland Senate primary, Rep. Donna Edwards has a question for her fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus: Why aren’t more of you endorsing me? POLITICO has learned that Edwards met privately last week with several CBC members to voice her frustration that so few African-American lawmakers had offered her their support, according to five sources familiar with the meetings. Only four of the 46 CBC members — Reps. Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, Lacy Clay of Missouri, Robin Kelly of Illinois and Hank Johnson of Georgia — are backing Edwards over Van Hollen, an unusually small number for a group known for standing by fellow African-American lawmakers. Meanwhile, Van Hollen has been making hay over his growing number of endorsements from black political leaders in Maryland, including some in Edwards’ district, though he has yet to be endorsed by a CBC member.

Like a Rolling Stone<http://www.rollcall.com/news/policy/like-rolling-stone>

ROLL CALL // JASON DICK

Very few leaders, from professional sports coaches to Fortune 500 CEOs, keep their jobs after three straight losing seasons. Nancy Pelosi has led House Democrats since 2003, bringing them out of the wilderness in 2006, taking them all the way to 256 seats after the 2008 elections only to oversee the drop to the current nadir of 188 members, the result of three straight elections of missing the majority mark. The California Democrat, though, is not going anywhere. Her strong personal connections and fundraising prowess have secured her spot atop a caucus guided by seniority. The truth is, no one can quite imagine who would replace her. And therein lies a problem. “The Democratic side has not given fresh blood a real opportunity since I’ve been here,” said Rep. Michael E. Capuano, a Massachusetts Democrat elected to Congress in 1998. “I want some people in their 70s and 80s at the table. I don’t want only 70s and 80s at the table.” The sentiments expressed in February by Capuano, who represents the district of the legendary Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, are not uncommon among House Democrats and outside observers. “If everything is frozen, you’re postponing the future regeneration of the Democratic Party,” says Sarah A. Binder, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. The 2016 election shows how dynamic, unpredictable and fast-moving the political process is.

DNC Convention Chair: We Won’t Have “Chaos” Like The Republicans<https://www.buzzfeed.com/darrensands/dnc-convention-chair-we-wont-have-chaos-like-the-republicans#.mdg43v1yx>

BUZZFEED // DARREN SANDS

The chair of this summer’s DNC convention is already laying out her case against Republicans — and their convention in Cleveland. “We do not subscribe to the divisiveness that we’ve seen on the other side,” the Rev. Leah Daughtry said in a phone interview with BuzzFeed News. “They’ve talked about Mexicans being criminals, they [discriminate against] Muslims, and have said women’s health care choices that are legal ought to be punished. That does not reflect who we are as a nation and a people, but certainly not who we are as a party.” “What the convention will do, I believe is contrast for the American people the chaos in Cleveland,” she said. “Then what they will see in Philadelphia is a party of diversity and diverse opinion standing together united behind a vision for America that moves us forward as opposed to taking us backward.” Women make up more than 60% of the DNCC’s staff, and almost 1 in every 5 staff members is a black woman, according to an aide for the convention. “I’m very pleased that when I walk through the halls of the convention offices I see every segment of the Democratic Party represented,” she said.

Republicans

Senators Consider Funding Plan to Address Zika Threat<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/us/politics/senators-consider-funding-plan-to-address-zika-threat.html?ref=politics&_r=0>

NEW YORK TIMES // EMMARIE HUETTEMAN

The Senate may be nearing an agreement on emergency funding to respond to the growing threat from the Zika virus, marking a potential reversal by Republicans who had been reluctant to approve more aid. The financing, which is being considered by some members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, would supplement the $510 million the Obama administration recently redirected from fighting Ebola toward Zika, as congressional Republicans had urged. So far, congressional Republicans have said they wanted to address the problem of combating Zika through appropriations and needed more information from administration officials. Some Republicans insisted that the money left over from the Ebola fight would be sufficient. Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Health and Human Services appropriations subcommittee who has been involved in the discussions, said lawmakers were working to reach an agreement that would address Zika, which has been linked to serious birth defects.

Graham heaps praise on Garland, won't budge on hearings<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/indsey-graham-merrick-garland-222229>

POLITICO // SEUNG MIN KIM

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) heaped praise for Merrick Garland after meeting privately with the Supreme Court nominee on Wednesday, but said he won’t change his mind on not moving his nomination this year. Graham, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said he told Garland that despite his credentials, the Senate won’t act on replacing deceased Justice Antonin Scalia until a new president is elected in November.  “He’s a very nice man. He’s, I think, an honest, very capable judge,” Graham told reporters after his sit-down with Garland. He noted that Garland “worked well” with current Chief Justice John Roberts when both men were on the D.C. Circuit Court, “so there’s no beef with him. Well-qualified man.” Graham is the latest of several Republican senators who've held courtesy meetings with the Supreme Court nominee, only to reiterate the party line that no one will be confirmed during this election year.

Time running out for major criminal justice bill<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/senate-justice-crime-bill-222225>

POLITICO // SEUNG MIN KIM AND BURGESS EVERETT

Time is running out to reboot efforts to reform the nation’s criminal justice laws, and supporters of reform are making a last-ditch attempt to enlist vulnerable Senate Republicans in an effort that’s probably the only chance to enact major bipartisan legislation during the election year. The chief Republican backers, led by Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, have quietly courted key GOP senators for weeks to show Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) they could produce sweeping support for the bill, which would relax some mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenders. They also want to show they can move the bill relatively quickly on the Senate floor. Though the bill has languished since it passed the Judiciary Committee in October, its authors have made revisions to satisfy criticisms from some tough-on-crime conservatives that the legislation would prematurely

Lobbyists capitalize on election scramble<http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/business-a-lobbying/277071-lobbyists-capitalize-on-election-year-scramble>

THE HILL // MEGAN R. WILSON

Washington’s lobbying industry is buzzing with activity as clients scramble to deal with the compressed election-year calendar. Time is running out for legislative action on Capitol Hill, with lawmakers set to leave town early this summer to campaign and attend the presidential nominating conventions.  “We're at the tip of the spear trying to get things done,” said Gordon Taylor, a principal at Ogilvy Government Relations. “There is an appetite to legislate, and thank goodness for that.” Ogilvy saw a 9 percent increase in its first quarter lobbying revenues over the same period last year. The firm has been lobbying on toxic chemical reform, pipeline safety, and the 21st Century Cures bill pushed by the House Energy & Commerce Committee. Other firms reported working on budget issues, the reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, and large corporate mergers.

Republican lawmakers vie for convention power<http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/277082-lawmakers-vie-for-convention-power>

ROLL CALL // ALEXANDER BOLTON

Republican lawmakers say they will play a significant role at what is shaping up to be a raucous GOP convention in Cleveland this summer. In an early show of influence, the GOP senators who spoke to The Hill are backing Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus’s handling of the delegate selection process. But they say there will be a backlash if voters think their will is being circumvented. If GOP front-runner Donald Trump secures the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the nomination before the Republican National Convention, many lawmakers aren’t eager to be part of the process. Should the convention be contested, however, they want to have a say in the floor debate. Some Republicans say Trump won’t get the nomination if he doesn’t secure it on the first ballot. If it goes to a second ballot, Ted Cruz will likely be the favorite to become the party’s standard-bearer. “If it’s a Trump coronation, I’m not going,” said Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who had endorsed Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in his failed presidential bid. “If it’s a fight, it may be fun to watch.” “I want to be part of the Nebraska delegation, to be on the floor and be able to participate in discussions and conversations,” said Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), who also backed Rubio.

Republicans finish discrediting their Planned Parenthood investigation<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/republicans-complete-the-discrediting-of-their-planned-parenthood-investigation/2016/04/20/8af4e920-0732-11e6-a12f-ea5aed7958dc_story.html>

WASHINGTON POST // DANA MILBANK

Marsha Blackburn isn’t one to worry about appearances. The Tennessee Republican didn’t make any pretense this week of being impartial with the committee she chairs, the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives, commonly known as the Planned Parenthood committee. On the eve of her panel’s Wednesday’s hearing, Blackburn went over to Georgetown University to participate in a protest against Planned Parenthood, the very entity she is supposed to be investigating. According to the Right to Life organization, she gave a speech at a gathering called “Life-Affirming Alternatives to Planned Parenthood,” part of a series of events in opposition to Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards’s speech at Georgetown on Wednesday. Then Blackburn showed up at her committee hearing the next morning and proclaimed, “My hope is that both parties can work together.” That was probably never going to happen — and it certainly isn’t now that the secret videos that justified the panel’s creation have been discredited as doctored.

2016 Democrats

Pro-Clinton PAC rakes in high-dollar donations, eyes general election<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/hillary-clinton-super-pac-222234>

POLITICO // KYLE CHENEY

The pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC Priorities USA raised nearly $12 million in March, the bulk from a dozen six- and seven-figure contributions. The top donor during the month, hedge fund billionaire James Simons, contributed $3.5 million, and four other donors topped the $1 million mark. Two $900,000 donations from the Pritzker family were also listed as part of the haul. The PAC spent almost as much as it raised, with the vast majority — $10 million — marked for a digital ad reservation through Precision Network. Another $541,000 to Civis Analytics was labeled as “General Election Analytics."

Clinton finances stayed steady in March<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/hillary-clinton-fundraising-222236>

POLITICO // ISAAC ARNSDORF

The Clinton campaign dug in for its protracted primary slog in March, keeping its spending steady and finishing the month about as well-stocked as it started. The campaign spent just under $29 million in March, down from $31.6 million in February, and ended with almost $29 million cash on hand. Almost a quarter of her $26.8 million in proceeds came in amounts less than $200, a slight improvement from preceding months but still far behind Bernie Sanders' online fundraising juggernaut. Sanders has boasted raising $44 million in March, with an average contribution of about $27. The Clinton campaign received about $9 million from the Hillary Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee set up with the Democratic National Committee and state parties that has come under scrutiny from the Sanders camp. His campaign has accused the arrangement of violating election law — an assertion Clinton's aides and the DNC have vigorously denied.

Can Clinton and Trump ride to big victories in next week’s ‘Acela primary’?<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/can-clinton-and-trump-ride-to-big-victories-in-next-weeks-acela-primary/2016/04/20/ea6454fc-064e-11e6-bdcb-0133da18418d_story.html>

WASHINGTON POST // SEAN SULLIVAN AND ANNE GEARAN

Emboldened by dominant victories in New York, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump plunged swiftly Wednesday into the next batch of primaries in five states along the Northeast Corridor, where they hope to bury or break their challengers for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations. Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island will vote Tuesday in what many are dubbing the “Acela primary,” putting Clinton and Trump on terrain well tailored to their campaigns. For Clinton, it’s a chance to effectively end the long-shot hopes of Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) in the Democratic race. For Trump, the contests are an opportunity to pad his delegate lead over Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and send him tumbling into the final six weeks of the campaign.

Hillary Clinton talks race: 'We all have implicit biases'<http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/20/politics/hillary-clinton-race-implicit-biases/>

CNN // DAN MERICA

Hillary Clinton bluntly assessed the state of race relations in the United States on Wednesday, telling a mostly African-American audience that racial bias is something that has been part of our "DNA going back probably millennia." Clinton, as part of her effort to reach out to African-Americans voters, headlined a roundtable on gun violence in Philadelphia, an event that featured graphic descriptions of shootings at the hands of the police and direct questions about how she will deal with race issues as president. "We all have implicit biases," Clinton said at St. Paul's Baptist Church. "What we need to do is be more honest about that and surface them. Because today, most people believe that they don't have those biases." Clinton, a candidate running to be the first person to succeed the first black president of the United States, has talked about race throughout her campaign, acknowledging what she regularly calls "deep seeded racism" that plagues the United States.

Salma Hayek: Only Clinton’s ready for ISIS<http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/277061-salma-hayek-only-clintons-ready-for-isis>

THE HILL // MARK HENSCH

Actress Salma Hayek says Hillary Clinton is the only White House hopeful capable of vanquishing the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). “Maybe it’s not as exciting, but it’s very dangerous right now to put the American army in the hands of the wrong people — either one extreme or the other,” she told The Daily Beast in an interview published Wednesday. "I live in Europe and I tell you it is very, very dangerous. These are not times to be messing around.  “When they ask all of these people, ‘How would you deal with ISIS?' I listen to them respond, and I tremble — except when [Clinton] talks. The only person that is truly respected by all the other countries is her.” Hayek on Tuesday said the global community is ready to deal with an America under its first female president. “Because [Clinton’s] a woman she’s always been in the shadows, operating under the rules of men, and she’s navigated beautifully in it,” she said of the Democratic presidential front-runner. "We have not seen her full potential yet. “Men are too passionate and their egos are too stubborn,” added Hayek, who has previously endorsed Clinton.

Sanders outraises Clinton for third month in a row<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-fundraising-222240>

POLITICO // ISAAC ARNSDORF

Bernie Sanders’ campaign raised more money than Hillary Clinton’s for the third month running, bringing in almost $46 million in March. The haul came from 1.7 million contributions from more than 900,000 individual donors, the campaign announced Wednesday night. The average contribution was $26.20, and more than 96 percent came from donors who have not reached their legal limit and can give again. The campaign said it finished the month with more than $17 million cash on hand, about the same as it started with, meaning it spent about $46 million, too — also much more than Clinton. While Sanders may have raked in more funds, Clinton ended up in a better cash position, with almost $29 million on hand.

Bernie Sanders spent $46 million — in one month<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/04/20/bernie-sanders-spent-46-million-in-one-month/>

WASHINGTON POST // MATEA GOLD AND ANU NARAYANSWAMY

It's not just Bernie Sanders's fundraising that is staggering. The senator from Vermont managed to spend roughly $46 million in March alone, the same amount he raised, based on figures released by his campaign Wednesday night. That means Sanders's spending in one month was equal to more than one-third of the $122.6 million his campaign had spent in its entirety through February. Details of the campaign's spending, which were due to be reported to the Federal Election Commission by midnight, were not yet available. But the huge outlays came as Sanders was challenging Clinton on various fronts, scoring victories in Colorado, Minnesota and Oklahoma. For her part, Clinton spent $32.3 million in March while raising $29.3 million. She still ended the month with more money in the bank than her rival: $29 million to his $17 million, according to figures released by the campaigns. Sanders's online fundraising machine beat Clinton for the third month in a row, and he is close to outraising her for the entire election cycle: he brought in $185.5 million through the end of March from 2.2 million donors, while she collected $191 million from more than 1.1 million contributors.

Bernie faces a choice: Ease up or attack Hillary more<http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/277081-bernie-faces-a-choice-ease-up-or-attack-hillary-more>

THE HILL // NIALL STANAGE

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders faces a stark choice after suffering a defeat to rival Hillary Clinton in the New York primary. The Vermont senator could maintain, or even escalate, his criticism of Clinton on issues such as her speeches to Wall Street. Or he could seek to dial down the tensions in the race, which could help unify the party heading into the Democratic National Convention this summer. If he chooses to attack, Sanders risks creating a vicious circle, some Democratic insiders say.  “He has … been in this situation where in order to break out, he gets more negative. But the more negative or strident he gets, the worse he does,” said strategist Joe Trippi, who ran Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential bid. “In a classic campaign, you can’t get there unless you break some eggs. But the more eggs he breaks, the messier it gets and the worse it is for him.” The loss in New York Tuesday came after Sanders suggested Clinton’s ties to big business made her “unqualified” to be president. He also mocked her refusal to make public the transcripts of her speeches to Goldman Sachs.

What does Bernie Sanders want?<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/paloma/the-daily-trail/2016/04/20/the-daily-trail-what-does-bernie-sanders-want/5717b2ac981b92a22d0ca3b8/>

WASHINGTON POST // REBECCA SINDERBRAND

Last night, Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said the campaign wanted to go on a superdelegate hunt deep into the summer. On the other hand, senior adviser Tad Devine was saying they wanted to see how the Acela primary results shook out, then "assess where we are." And the candidate himself just wanted to go home, making a late journey back to Vermont that caught his traveling press corps by surprise. The long-term answer to the question of what Bernie Sanders wants "will have a direct bearing on how united Democrats will be heading into the fall campaign — and whether Sanders will be able to leverage his success this year into lasting power and influence," note Dan Balz and John Wagner. "His campaign for the Democratic nomination has been more successful than almost anyone had predicted. ... But as Clinton extends her lead in pledged delegates, Sanders must now confront the reality that he has almost no chance of becoming the Democratic nominee.

Sanders aide: We can win nomination before convention<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/governor-races/277087-sanders-aide-we-can-win-nomination-before-dem-convention>

THE HILL // MARK HENSCH

A top aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) says that he can win the Democratic presidential nomination before the party’s convention. “I think we can win the nomination before the convention,” senior adviser Tad Devine said on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show.” “It’s going to be a difficult task; I think we can get there,” he said. "We think we can win more states. We think we can win more delegates. We think we can prove to Democratic leadership that he is the best possible candidate for a general election.” Devine said that Sanders plans on winning as many possible remaining voting contests and delegates before the Democratic National Convention in July. “We’re going to have to win most of the events between now and then and most of the delegates,” he told Maddow. "I think we can do that. We want to see where we are when the process ends. Bernie has made a commitment to go through to the end. “All of those people who have been such a big part of this campaign, he wants to give them an opportunity to vote for him.” Devine added that superdelegates – party leaders not bound to the popular vote in their states – should watch how voters act in the remaining presidential primary.

Bernie Sanders Has Trickier, Narrower Road in Democratic Race<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/us/politics/bernie-sanders-campaign.html?ref=politics>

NEW YORK TIMES // PATRICK HEALY AND YAMICHE ALCINDOR

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont grappled with tough and narrowing choices about campaign strategy and fund-raising on Wednesday after his crushing loss in the New York primary and a series of difficult contests ahead. While Hillary Clinton’s campaign carefully avoided any suggestion that he quit the Democratic presidential race, many of her prominent supporters argued that the moment had come for Mr. Sanders to ease off attacks for the good of Democrats in the November election. Mr. Sanders, who took the day off to rest and regroup with his advisers, is under intense pressure to win the Pennsylvania primary on Tuesday or fall even further behind Mrs. Clinton’s sizable lead in pledged delegates needed to capture the nomination. A new Pennsylvania poll put Mr. Sanders 13 percentage points behind Mrs. Clinton, despite heavy spending by the Sanders campaign on television advertisements. Another loss could hamper his formidable fund-raising, which Sanders advisers described as steady but not as strong as it could have been with a New York victory.

Sanders' rough road ahead<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/bernies-rough-road-ahead-222230>

POLITICO // DANIEL STRAUSS

Sanders, it doesn't get any easier after New York. The collection of states scheduled to vote next week is a gauntlet of closed primaries and Hillary Clinton strongholds that figure to make for a tough night across the Northeast for the Vermont senator. Sanders trails by double-digits in polls in Connecticut, Maryland and Pennsylvania, the three biggest of the five Acela Corridor states that will go to the polls on April 26. In Delaware and Rhode Island, Clinton has the support of the state Democratic establishments. None of the states offer the open primary format where Sanders has thrived. Equally problematic, all of them feature the kind of diverse electorate where Sanders has struggled. "They're running out of places to kind of plant the flag," T.J. Rooney, an unaligned former Pennsylvania Democratic Party chairman, said of the Sanders campaign. "They've had relatively little success in states that are constructed like Pennsylvania [with] a closed primary. It tends to be a much harder hill for them to climb but they've got to try somewhere."

Sanders' campaign says he'll stay a Democrat after election<http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/04/bernie-sanders-democrat-independent-222228>

POLITICO // NOLAN D. MCCASKILL

Bernie Sanders will remain a member of the Democratic Party after his primary election against Hillary Clinton, his campaign manager said Wednesday. The independent Vermont senator’s congressional website currently notes that Sanders is the “the longest serving independent member of Congress in American history,” though he caucuses with Democrats. “If Sen. Sanders is not the nominee, will he stay in the Democratic Party forever now,” Bloomberg Politics’ Mark Halperin asked. “Well, he is a Democrat. He’s said he’s a Democrat, and he’s gonna be [supporting] the Democratic nominee, whoever that is,” Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver told Bloomberg Politics’ “With All Due Respect.” “But he’s a member of the Democratic Party now for life?” Halperin pressed. “Yes, he is,” Weaver said. “Yes, he is.

A Sanders People's PAC to elect liberal Democrats<http://thehill.com/opinion/brent-budowsky/277069-brent-budowsky-a-sanders-peoples-pac-to-elect-liberal-democrats>

ROLL CALL // BRENT BUDOWSKY

Bernie Sanders can change the course of American history and make the central point of his political revolution the law of the land by creating a People’s Political Action Committee to elect a wave of progressives to Congress, create a liberal Supreme Court majority, reverse the heinous decisions in the Citizens United case and against voting rights, and ignite a surge of small-donor grassroots democracy for America. While Donald Trump may lead Republicans to a landslide loss based on his cult of personality employing a politics of insults, Sanders can expand the small-donor miracle of his presidential campaign into a powerful and triumphant movement for sweeping progressive change. Regarding the central tenet of the revolution Sanders seeks — reversing Citizens United and an oligarchic system of big-donor super-PACs and voter suppression and replacing it with small-donor democracy, full voting rights and massive voter participation — there is not a dime’s worth of difference between what a President Sanders or President Clinton would do. Sanders and his small donors deserve a standing ovation from all Democrats and all Americans who are in rebellion against a corrupt system that pollutes our politics and destroys our democracy.

How Hillary Clinton Became a Hawk<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/magazine/how-hillary-clinton-became-a-hawk.html>

NEW YORK TIMES // MARK LANDLER

Hillary Clinton sat in the hideaway study off her ceremonial office in the State Department, sipping tea and taking stock of her first year on the job. The study was more like a den — cozy and wood-paneled, lined with bookshelves that displayed mementos from Clinton’s three decades in the public eye: a statue of her heroine, Eleanor Roosevelt; a baseball signed by the Chicago Cubs star Ernie Banks; a carved wooden figure of a pregnant African woman. The intimate setting lent itself to a less-formal interview than the usual locale, her imposing outer office, with its marble fireplace, heavy drapes, crystal chandelier and ornate wall sconces. On the morning of Feb. 26, 2010, however, Clinton was talking about something more sensitive than mere foreign affairs: her relationship with Barack Obama. To say she chose her words carefully doesn’t do justice to the delicacy of the exercise. She was like a bomb-squad technician, deciding which color wire to snip without blowing up her relationship with the White House.

What Bernie Sanders Should Learn From Eugene McCarthy<http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/04/bernie-sanders-eugene-mccarthy-1968-213828>

POLITICO // JULIAN E. ZELIZER

Senator Bernie Sanders has a decision to make. Hillary Clinton’s big New York win on Tuesday narrowed Sanders’ chances at becoming the Democratic nominee considerably. As we near the point that Clinton’s nomination becomes inevitable, the Vermont senator will be left with two options: Will he actively support her candidacy? Or will draw out what has become a highly contentious primary race—perhaps even choosing to sit out the general election altogether? As he ponders what to do, Sanders might want to consider what happened in 1968, when Eugene McCarthy—the democratic insurgent of his time—failed to rally behind establishment figure Vice President Hubert Humphrey. The parallels are significant: McCarthy had the support of a young, progressive, angry base, while Humphrey appealed to the party elites and older voters who preferred the status quo—and the two did not get along. When McCarthy failed to win the nomination, he was conspicuously absent from the campaign trail. He did finally endorse Humphrey just days before Election Day, but his statement was tepid.

Where does Sanders go from here?<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/where-does-sanders-go-here>

MSNBC // ALEX SEITZ-WALD

Bernie Sanders is at a crossroads. The Vermont senator took Wednesday off the campaign trail at home alone with his wife, leaving his top aides behind in Washington to cool their heels. “He wanted an opportunity to think,” said Sanders senior strategist Tad Devine. “It’s affording him an opportunity to think about where we are in the campaign, what he wants to say in the weeks ahead. He hasn’t had a real chance to do that” in weeks. Sanders was spotted leaving his home for lunch with his brother Larry, a politician in the U.K. who introduced the younger Sanders to politics. But he told reporters the night before that he just wanted to “recharge” before getting back in the saddle Thursday in Pennsylvania, which will vote next week. The Sanders campaign poured itself into New York, throwing a hail mary pass to try to change the delegate math while they could. They spent $5.6 million (twice what Hillary Clinton did), made 3 million phone calls in the final weekend alone, and organized the biggest rallies of a campaign defined by big rallies. But in the end Sanders came up short – not just of winning, but of the delegate target allies had aimed to hit, which might set them up for a path through California, the campaign’s final hope.

Bernie Sanders’s Legacy<http://www.wsj.com/articles/bernie-sanderss-legacy-1461194181>

WALL STREET JOURNAL // DANIEL HENNINGER

With Hillary Clinton and the party machinery back on track to a now-tarnished coronation, it’s worth assessing what Bernie Sanders’s campaign accomplished. I still can’t take the Vermont Socialist himself seriously, not with Larry David as his doppelgänger. But the Sanders phenomenon—embraced by a strong majority of liberals between the ages of 17 and 50 deserves attention. Reporters have exhaustively plumbed the habitats and mental states of “the Trump voter.” Sen. Sanders’s supporters, by contrast, have floated through the primaries in a mist of keywords—millennials, college students, young professionals, actresses, “white people.” One has to ask: Are they all actually socialists? I doubt it. It’s no surprise Donald Trump in his New York victory speech about the “corrupt” Republican Party called Sen. Sanders a fellow “outsider.” The two great disrupters are remarkably similar, a kind of Tweedledon and Tweedleburn on trade and a “system” that’s “broken” and “failing” their supporters. If one word attaches to the Sanders camp, it is “change.” But change what?

Bernie Sanders Faces a Daunting Task: Win Black Votes<http://www.wsj.com/articles/bernie-sanders-faces-a-daunting-task-win-black-votes-1461195249>

WALL STREET JOURNAL // PETER NICHOLAS

Coming off a lopsided loss in New York, Sen. Bernie Sanders’s campaign team pointed to an enduring problem that could sink his struggling presidential bid if it isn’t fixed: his failure to win over more African-American voters. Black voters in New York on Tuesday were nearly a quarter of the Democratic electorate and favored Hillary Clinton by a 50-point margin, exit polls showed, locking in a victory that gives her a nearly insurmountable lead in delegates. “I am hopeful going forward we will do better,” said Tad Devine, a senior campaign adviser to Mr. Sanders. “And we know we must. We’re not going to win New Jersey unless we improve our numbers with African-American voters.” Meanwhile, some Democrats worry the increasingly harsh tone of the campaign could make it tougher to unify the party for the general election, but it isn’t clear the feuding will end anytime soon. During the course of his campaign, Mr. Sanders has tried to make inroads with African-Americans, showcasing endorsements from black celebrities, intellectuals and civil-rights activists. But the outreach isn’t paying dividends at the polls.

Bernie Sanders’ Superdelegate Plan Puts His Progressive Base In A Bind<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-superdelegates_us_5717eb61e4b024dae4f0ec60>

HUFFINGTON POST // AMANDA TERKEL AND SAM STEIN

A day after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) lost the New York primary election that he desperately needed to win, there were no signs that he would dial back his campaign against Hillary Clinton before the Democratic convention in July. Mark Longabaugh, a top aide to the senator, told The Huffington Post that Sanders is prepared to stay in the race even if it becomes clear that Clinton has a majority of the pledged delegates and an insurmountable lead after the final primary on June 7. The strategy outlined by Longabaugh echoed the case made the night before by Sanders’ campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, who told MSNBC that the campaign will try to flip superdelegates away from Clinton before the convention. Neither candidate, Longabaugh argued, will have enough pledged delegates to secure the presidential nomination without the help of superdelegates. The latter officials will then have to decide which candidate gives the party the best shot to win in November. Sanders and his aides believe they have the better case. “We intend to go to the convention and make the superdelegates vote,” Longabaugh said.

Hillary Clinton Says Evidence For Stop-and-Frisk ‘Doesn’t Hold Up’<http://time.com/4302806/hillary-clinton-philadelphia-stop-frisk/>

TIME // SAM FRIZELL
Hillary Clinton met in Philadelphia with black mothers whose children have died at the hands of police Wednesday, promising to reform the criminal justice system and telling them that the evidence for “stop-and-frisk” police tactics “doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.” But the former Secretary of State, who has made reforming the criminal justice system a central part of her platform, did not reject stop-and-frisk outright, as some of her liberal supporters have done. “I do think the evidence people use to justify stop-and-frisk doesn’t hold up under scrutiny,” Clinton told a room of mostly black listeners at St. Paul’s Baptist Church in Philadelphia, part of her most extended public comments on the controversial practice to date. Police “should be looking for probable cause.” “Some people will be stopped,” she continued, “but it will not be the kind of wholesale stopping you have seen in too many places.” Stop-and-frisk has been touted by police forces in cities like New York and Philadelphia, where proponents say stopping suspicious people and patting them for weapons has reduced crime. But the practice has come under heavy fire from civil rights activists, and stop-and-frisk has been shown to disproportionately affect blacks and Latinos and result in higher incarceration rates for minorities.

What Is Sanders’s Endgame?<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/opinion/campaign-stops/what-is-sanderss-endgame.html>

NEW YORK TIMES // CHARLES M. BLOW

Hillary Clinton’s commanding victory in New York on Tuesday put yet another nail in the coffin of Bernie Sanders’s candidacy. As The Upshot’s Nate Cohn put it: “New York, like every contest at this stage, was a state he needed to win. The result confirms that he is on track to lose the pledged delegate race and therefore the nomination.” At this pace, Clinton will finish this nomination cycle having won more votes, more states and more pledged delegates than Sanders. Furthermore, Clinton has also won six of the nine general election swing states that The New York Times listed in 2012. And yet Sanders soldiers on, as is his right. But Tuesday, Sanders’s campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, told MSNBC that if Clinton doesn’t clinch the nomination by pledged delegates alone, even if she has won the most popular votes, pledged delegates and states, Sanders will still take his fight to the convention. Sanders will “absolutely” try to turn superdelegates, who overwhelmingly support Clinton, and win the nomination that way. First, barring something unforeseen and unimaginable, there is no way I can see that this strategy stands a gnat’s chance in hell of coming to fruition. It’s a fairy tale written in pixie dust.

2016 Republicans

Firestorm brewing over GOP convention rules<http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/277073-firestorm-brewing-over-gop-convention-rules>

THE HILL // BEN KAMISAR

The Republican National Committee (RNC) Rules Committee meets here on Thursday amid calls for changes to convention rules that could make it easier for a new Republican presidential candidate to emerge to take on Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Discussion of the rules has created a political firestorm, with Trump, the GOP front-runner, accusing the RNC for rigging the nomination process against him. Members of the obscure committee itself have been pulled into the fray, bickering in public over whether the rules should be altered. Solomon Yue, an Oregon national committeeman and senior Rules Committee member, has clashed with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus over the chairman’s unwillingness to consider new rules. In an interview ahead of Thursday’s meeting, Yue told The Hill he’s heard that allies of Priebus, namely RNC chief counsel John Ryder, are organizing a resistance to Yue’s proposed rules change that could restrict the possibility of nominating a candidate who has not been in the race, known as a “white knight.”

RNC head: 'No one should feel sorry for me’<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/277042-rnc-head-no-one-should-feel-sorry-for-me>

THE HILL // MARK HENSCH

The chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) says no one should pity him for his role overseeing the GOP presidential primary. “No one should feel sorry for me,” Reince Priebus said in an interview with CNN that aired Wednesday. "I signed up for this.  “People assume, ‘You must be miserable, you have a horrible job,’” he told host Jamie Gangel. "I don’t see it that way. “I’m not pouring Bailey’s on my cereal [or] sitting here trying to find the Johnny Walker. This is fun. Being in the middle, you have to accept the fact that there are a thousand opinions. I’m so used to it that I don’t even care.” Priebus said the RNC is not conspiring against Donald Trump becoming the GOP presidential nominee. “Of course not — that’s insanity,” he said when asked if there’s plot against the Republican presidential front-runner. “There’s nothing to steal. Either you have the votes or you don’t. I’m going to be at peace with whoever the nominee is because I know that they’re going to beat [Democratic presidential front-runner] Hillary Clinton.”

Can Donald Trump really hit 1,237 before Cleveland?<http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/20/politics/donald-trump-ted-cruz-1237-delegates/>

CNN // MJ LEE AND GREGORY KRIEG

Donald Trump is now the only Republican presidential candidate with a realistic chance of winning the 1,237 votes to clinch the nomination before the national convention this summer. But getting there will be a tough undertaking, and one that leaves little room for error. Trump's commanding victory in New York, where he won more than 60% of the vote and the vast majority of the 95 delegates up for grabs, marked a turning point in the delegate race. The Manhattan real estate mogul now has improved his chances of winning the nomination outright, while his chief rival, Ted Cruz, would need a minor miracle to win on the first ballot. "We don't have much of a race anymore," Trump said in his victory speech at Trump Tower on Tuesday. "We're going to go into the convention I think as the winner." There are 15 contests remaining, with 674 bound delegates still up for grabs. Trump has 846, and if he were to continue on at his current rate -- 47% -- he would still finish about 75 short of the magic number, according to according to CNN estimates.

RNC head: 'We don’t want to put our hands on the scale’<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/277076-rnc-head-we-dont-want-to-put-our-hand-on-the-scale>

THE HILL // MARK HENSCH

The chairman of the Republican National Committee on Wednesday said that his organization does not want to manipulate the GOP presidential primary. “We don’t want to put our hands on the scale,” Reince Priebus told host Greta Van Susteren on Fox News’s “On the Record.”  “We want to take the rules out of the equation,” he added. "Do you have the votes or don’t you have the votes? People are going to see we want an open and transparent convention.” But Priebus said that securing the Republican presidential nomination requires a majority of pledged delegates. “You have to get a majority,” he said. “If people don’t understand that you need a majority to become the nominee of our party, I don’t know how else to explain it. I don’t think it’s that complicated. There’s nothing really to explain.” Priebus added that any concerns with the delegate allocation process should be addressed on a state-by-state basis.

Trump brings complaints of ‘rigged,’ ‘phony’ nominating process to Indiana debut<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/04/20/trump-brings-complaints-of-rigged-phony-nominating-process-to-indiana-debut/>

WASHINGTON POST // SEAN SULLIVAN

"Rigged." "Crooked." "Phony." Those were some of the words Donald Trump used to describe the Republican Party's delegate selection and distribution process here Wednesday afternoon during his first rally in Indiana. The message the front-runner brought to thousands of supporters who gathered at the state fairgrounds was the same one he has been trumpeting in recent weeks: The system is against him. "It's a rigged, crooked system that's designed so that the bosses can pick whoever they want and that people like me can't run and can't defend you against foreign nonsense," said the business mogul. Later, he complained about "so much phony stuff" -- including "The Republican Party voting and the Democrats." Trump campaigned here fresh off a dominating victory in his home state of New York on Tuesday. Indiana's May 3 primary is shaping up as a critical battleground in the rivalry between Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Day After Triumph, Donald Trump Struggles to Stick to a More Refined Message<http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/04/20/day-after-triumph-donald-trump-struggles-to-stick-to-a-more-refined-message/>

NEW YORK TIMES // ASHLEY PARKER

Basking in the glow of an overwhelming victory in his home state, Donald J. Trump on Tuesday night seemed — dare we say it — almost presidential, or at least a bit more refined. He referred to his chief rival, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, as “senator” rather than the crude nickname he has favored, and offered a brief, even restrained, primary night toast from the lobby of Trump Towers. By Wednesday, however, Mr. Trump was back to his more familiar self. He opened an afternoon speech in Indianapolis by dinging Mr. Cruz as “Lyin’ Ted” (and re-upped his efforts to brand Hillary Clinton as “Crooked Hillary”), shouting to remove protesters from the rally and repeatedly returned to one of his favorite topics — trashing the news media. “I love running against Crooked Hillary, I love that — it’s so much fun,” Mr. Trump said, adding, “I call her Crooked Hillary.” Mr. Trump, who was interrupted several times by protesters, ordered them out with his trademark élan. “Get him out of here, get him out,” Mr. Trump said, as a man was removed. “Get! Him! Out! Of! Here!” (Though, in a nod to decorum, or perhaps his general election calculations, the New York real estate magnate was careful to warn his supporters not to hurt the protesters).

Trump gets Kasich attack ad amnesia<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/donald-trump-john-kasich-222238>

POLITICO // BEN SCHRECKINGER

There’s one problem with Donald Trump’s Wednesday night claim that John Kasich has never had a negative attack ad run against him. And it’s the attack ad Donald Trump ran against John Kasich. At a rally here, Trump used some faulty evidence to go after the central rationale for the Ohio governor’s candidacy: Kasich’s electability.  “He will get slaughtered by Hillary. He’s never had one negative ad against him. I’ve had 55,000,” Trump said. “As soon as he’s had the first 10 ads against him, he’ll drop like a rock.” But Trump, who often personally writes the scripts for his ads, must’ve forgotten the one he aired in Ohio last month attacking Kasich over his work for Lehman Brothers and for being an “absentee governor.” Some Ohio stations pulled the ads — part of a nearly $1 million buy Trump made in the state — following complaints that it did not contain a proper disclaimer.

Trump, bullish after New York, homes in on Clinton<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/04/20/trump-bullish-after-new-york-homes-in-on-clinton/>

WASHINGTON POST // JOSE A. DELREAL

Fresh from a commanding victory in the New York Republican primary, Donald Trump on Wednesday homed in on Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, saying he looks forward to facing the former secretary of state and knocking her for unspecified wrongdoings. “You know, we are going to beat crooked Hillary," he said smiling. "Crooked Hillary Clinton does not have a chance. She's not bringing jobs back. She doesn't know about the economy. She makes bad decisions. You know what Bernie Sanders said about her twice, you know that. Number one, he said, she wasn’t qualified ... but he said bad judgment, she's got bad judgment." “It is going to be something that you're going to watch and really enjoy watching,” Trump said in another instance, which drew cheers from the crowd of 1,500 at the rally. Trump has regularly attacked Clinton for using a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state, which he says compromised national security. He said Wednesday that he believes she is being “protected,” though he did not specify by whom, and added that he would consider investigating her “a second time” if elected president.

Judge sets May hearing in Trump University lawsuit<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/donald-trump-university-lawsuit-222227>

POLITICO // MAGGIE SEVERNS
The Washington Post’s bid to unseal documents filed in a class-action case against Trump University will get a hearing in May. Earlier this month the newspaper asked a San Diego District Court to unseal hundreds of pages of documents in the case against GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump. The Post argued the lawsuit filed by former Trump University students has become a campaign issue and the documents should thus be available to the public. Former students allege Trump University pitched them expensive real estate coursework, sometimes amounting to tens of thousands of dollars, for real estate seminars where students learned little. Trump has denied the claims and said students overwhelmingly approved of the school.

Donald Trump's jet isn't registered with the FAA<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/04/20/trump-jet-unregistered/83268530/>

USA TODAY // WILLIAM CUMMINGS

There are a lot of perks to owning a fleet of private aircraft. The downside: all that pesky paperwork. The registration for one of the private jets Donald Trump has been using to travel the country during his presidential campaign expired at the end of January. Federal Aviation Administration inspectors have contacted Trump's chief pilot about the registration and Trump agreed to ground the plane until the matter is sorted out, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown told USA TODAY in an email. The penalties for flying an unregistered plane can include a civil penalty of up to $27,500, a criminal fine of up to $250,000 and three years in prison, although it is unlikely the FAA would impose the maximum punishment, according to The New York Times. The plane in question is not the large Boeing 757 emblazoned with the Trump name on its side — which Marco Rubio mockingly called "Hair Force One" — but a smaller Cessna Citation X.

Trump: I would look at Clinton indictment as president<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/277084-trump-i-would-look-at-clinton-indictment-as-president>

THE HILL // MARK HENSCH

Donald Trump on Wednesday said that as president he would examine indicting Hillary Clinton over her private email server. “Certainly that is something you would look at,” he told host Bill O’Reilly on Fox News’s “The O’Reilly Factor." "I would only do something 100 percent fair. You’d certainly have to look at it very fairly.” But Trump said that an indictment against Clinton for using a personal email server as secretary of State is ultimately unlikely. “I don’t think she will be indicted,” the GOP presidential front-runner said of his Democratic counterpart. “I think the Democratic Party will protect her. I think what she’s done is very, very serious. I think they’re a big part of her life story right now.” Trump said that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) must regret not using Clinton’s email controversy against her during their battle for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Trump Capitol Hill surrogate says Cruz should drop out<http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/277054-trump-capitol-hill-surrogate-says-cruz-should-drop-out>

THE HILL // SCOTT WONG

A Donald Trump surrogate on Capitol Hill called on Ted Cruz to quit the presidential race, saying it’s time for GOP elites to accept the billionaire businessman as the party’s likely nominee. “The only strategy for these other guys is [a contested convention in] Cleveland and that is a really poor strategy," Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), one of nine lawmakers to have endorsed Trump, told The Hill on Wednesday. "When I say it’s time to start referring to Trump as the presumptive nominee and start talking about him as the likely nominee, that goes for Ted Cruz and John Kasich as well.  “If Ted Cruz cares more for the party and the country than his own political ambitions, he too will refer to Trump as the presumptive nominee, step down and give us a one-month, six-week head start to unity," Cramer continued. The comments from Cramer, the at-large congressman from North Dakota, came on the same day former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who ran for president in 2012, said Trump’s primary victory in his home state of New York on Tuesday made him the presumptive nominee.

Report: Marla Maples wants Secret Service detail<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/277053-report-trumps-ex-wife-daughter-want-secret-service-detail>

THE HILL // MARK HENSCH

Donald Trump’s former wife and their daughter are hoping for Secret Service protection, a new report says. Marla Maples and Tiffany Trump are looking for agency safeguarding after relative Eric Trump received a threatening letter last month, according to People.  “[My father has] a lot of Secret Service,” said Tiffany Trump, 22. "He needs it. You can be scared, but I have faith in the security. “I think it puts things in perspective, but you have to rely on the amazing security we do have in this country and the police and Homeland Security and the FBI. Everyone really wants to protect those who are running for office and the families.” Reports emerged last month that Eric Trump, Donald Trump’s 32-year-old son, had received a message containing a suspicious white powder. A preliminary field test of the substance indicated it did not appear hazardous and no injuries were reported. The menacing letter said that Donald Trump must end his GOP presidential campaign or his children would suffer.

Anti-Trump PAC raised $8.4 million in March<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/donald-trump-super-pac-222232>

POLITICO // POLITICO STAFF

The leading anti-Trump super PAC had its best fundraising run in March but finished the month with less than half a million dollars in the tank. Our Principles PAC raised $8.4 million last month, almost twice its February haul, according to its latest FEC report. But it also supersized its spending, unleashing a $11.2 million barrage against the Republican front-runner that left it just $423,922 by the end of the month. The group, led by Mitt Romney alumna Katie Packer and joined by former Jeb Bush spokesman Tim Miller, raised $2 million from Wisconsin shipper Richard Uihlein, $1.7 million from investor Michael Vlock (who's married to Hyatt heiress Karen Pritzker), and $1 million apiece from asset manager Cliff Asness and Arkansas investment banker Warren Stephens.

Trump sends aides to court the GOP elite<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/donald-trump-republican-delegates-222237>

POLITICO // ALEX ISENSTADT AND SHANE GOLDMACHER

Fresh off a dominating performance in New York, Donald Trump is pivoting to winning over a far less friendly crowd: The chiefs of a Republican Party, whose nominating process he’s bashed almost daily as “rigged” and undemocratic. The billionaire is dispatching his senior-most aides, including newly-ascendant political strategists Paul Manafort and Rick Wiley, to woo the delegates here at the beachfront hotel and resort where the Republican National Committee’s spring meeting is being held. The gathering brings together the party’s 168 committee members, all of whom will be delegates this summer in Cleveland — and who could prove crucial in a deadlocked convention. But Trump has stiff competition, as Ted Cruz and John Kasich arrived in person for the ego-stroking, schmoozing and selling of GOP insiders. And Trump was not only battling his opponents but his own his heated and repeated attacks on the RNC, which he has accused of orchestrating a nomination process that’s stacked against him.

Cruz can't seal the deal with GOP colleagues<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/nevertrump-maybecruz-222160>

POLITICO // BURGESS EVERETT AND KATIE GLUECK

Senate Republicans are all for stopping Donald Trump. But they are twisting themselves like pretzels to avoid officially endorsing their colleague Ted Cruz. Increasingly, Cruz’s colleagues are grudgingly saying nice things about the Texas senator who has given them headaches for years with his strident stands and scorched-earth tactics. But when it comes down to it, they just can’t bring themselves to make it official, even as Cruz’s campaign could use a shot in the arm after a crushing loss in New York ahead of a string of Northeastern primaries next week that favor Trump. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida says he wants a conservative nominee and that Cruz is the only conservative left. But no, no, he says, that’s not an endorsement. Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska voted for Cruz and tweeted about it: But you’re getting ahead of yourself if you call that an official blessing, aides say.

Cruz’s high spending rate intensifies his need to find new donors<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/04/20/cruzs-high-spending-rate-intensifies-his-need-to-find-new-donors/>

WASHINGTON POST // MATEA GOLD AND ANU NARAYANSWAMY

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is burning through money nearly as fast as he is raising it, intensifying the pressure on his campaign to expand its donor base. As he makes a final, urgent push to close the gap with GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump, Cruz has kept up a frenetic spending pace. In March, he raced through $11.8 million out of the $12.5 million that his campaign collected -- a burn rate of 94 percent, new Federal Election Commission filings show. He headed into April and the expensive New York primary with $8.8 million in the bank. More than half the money Cruz spent last month -- $6.6 million -- went to ads. But his campaign also plowed resources into trying to cultivate new donors, shelling out more than $376,000 on list rentals and fundraising phone calls. That's because the senator from Texas has struggled to consolidate the Republican donor base, even as he has emerged as the last main rival to Trump. In March, when Sen. Marco Rubio ceded the fight and dropped out, Cruz raised just $700,000 more than he did in February, when the field was still crowded.

GOP megadonors rallied to Cruz in March<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/ted-cruz-donors-222231>

POLITICO // ISAAC ARNSDORF

Ted Cruz consolidated his support with major Republican Party donors last month as their last best hope to stop Donald Trump. Trusted Leadership PAC, the super PAC that has emerged as the main vehicle for seeking unlimited donations to support the Texas senator, received $1 million from Herzog Contracting, the Missouri road paver whose boss, Stan Herzog, previously backed Scott Walker. Another million came from Richard Uihlein, the Wisconsin shipper who had also backed the Wisconsin governor. Thomas Rastin and Karen Buchwald Wright of Ohio compressor company Ariel Corp., who previously gave to John Kasich's super PAC, chipped in a combined $300,000, according to the PAC's filing with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday. Florida electronics heir Lawrence F. DeGeorge contributed $150,000, and private equity investor John W. Childs gave $100,000.

Kasich finished March with $1.2 million on hand<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/john-kasich-fundraising-222235>

POLITICO // ISAAC ARNSDORF

John Kasich had his best fundraising month in March after the governor won his home state in Ohio. But a spending spree left his long-shot campaign with little more than $1 million by the end of the month. The campaign raised $4.5 million, up from $3.6 million in February but still far behind rival Ted Cruz's $12.5 million. After spending $4.6 million, Kasich finished March with just $1.2 million cash on hand, according to the campaign's FEC filing Wednesday. Chris Christie's campaign was similarly cash-strapped right before the New Jersey governor dropped out. Still, the Kasich campaign has managed to survive despite its weak fundraising and insurmountable delegate gap.

Kasich camp: Cruz has more delegates, but no chance to win in November<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/277080-kasich-camp-cruz-has-more-delegates-but-no-chance-to-win-in-november>

THE HILL // BEN KAMISAR

John Kasich bristled at the notion that Ted Cruz has been outperforming him in winning the allegiances of delegates at state conventions ahead of a likely contested convention.  "I don't know that that's true, I think you don't know the full story," he told reporters Wednesday after a presentation at the Republican National Committee's spring meetings when asked by The Hill whether Cruz had a stronger operation at the local level.  "I don't want to enlighten you, I have people that enlighten. They do the process stuff, check with them about Indiana, Michigan and other places,” Kasich said. Kasich's campaign has claimed the loyalty of the majority of Indiana's delegation, telling supporters in a fundraising email on Tuesday that he won more delegates than both Cruz and Donald Trump in the state. That same email touts "multiple delegate commitments in Georgia and South Carolina." But Cruz has blown out Kasich in local efforts in a number of recent state contests, including Wyoming, North Dakota and Colorado. He has also made gains in other states on the local level including Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina.

Cruz: Kasich may be 'auditioning' for Trump's VP role<http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/04/cruz-kasich-trump-veep-222224>

POLITICO // BRIANNA EHLEY

Sen. Ted Cruz, irritated that John Kasich is still in the race, suggested the Ohio governor may be "auditioning" to be Donald Trump's vice president--suggesting that there is no other reason for him to still be running. Cruz told reporters Wednesday that Kasich should drop out because he’s “mathematically eliminated,” and that by staying in the race, he is helping Trump. “It may be that John is auditioning for trump’s Vice President," he said. "But a Trump- Kasich ticket loses to Hillary Clinton.” Cruz’s latest calls for Kasich to drop come just a day after the New York primary, where Trump collected 89 delegates, Kasich nabbed four and Cruz got zero.

Kasich: ‘My Republican Party doesn’t like ideas’<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/kasich-my-republican-party-doesnt-like-ideas/2016/04/20/b02c6f4c-0741-11e6-a12f-ea5aed7958dc_story.html>

WASHINGTON POST // DAVID WEIGEL

Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) criticized his party for a lack of ideas Wednesday in a wide-ranging and occasionally combative interview with The Washington Post’s editorial board. Kasich, who sees the April 26 primary in Maryland as a way to increase his delegate total, argued that neither of his rivals could win the presidency because of their negativity. “If you don’t have ideas, you got nothing, and frankly my Republican Party doesn’t like ideas,” Kasich said. “They want to be negative against things. We had Reagan, okay? Saint Ron. We had Kemp, he was an idea guy. I’d say Paul Ryan is driven mostly by ideas. He likes ideas. But you talk about most of ’em, the party is knee-jerk ‘against.’ Maybe that’s how they were created.” After Tuesday’s New York primary, where weeks of campaigning landed Kasich a half-dozen delegates, the governor repeatedly emphasized his conservative credentials while taking care to define what “conservative” was.

Trump: Kasich would get slaughtered by Hillary<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/277083-trump-kasich-would-get-slaughtered-by-hillary>

THE HILL // HARPER NEIDIG

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump blasted his opponent John Kasich on Wednesday, saying the Ohio governor is unprepared to run against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.  “As far as Kasich is concerned, he will get slaughtered by Hillary,” he said during a rally in Ocean City, Maryland, his first in the state. “He’s never had one negative ad against him. I’ve had 55,000 negative ads. Kasich hasn’t had one negative ad. “As soon as he has the first 10 ads against him he will drop like a rock, believe me," Trump continued. "And how do you vote for somebody who’s won one for 38?”

Ted Cruz, John Kasich woo Republicans in Florida meeting<http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/article72948662.html>

MIAMI HERALD // PATRICIA MAZZEI

For three days, the center of the Republican political universe will be in Hollywood, Florida, where the national GOP began a three-day meeting Wednesday ahead of July’s presidential nominating convention. To voters, it might have looked like the campaign was elsewhere. Donald Trump held a big rally in Indiana, celebrating his rout in Tuesday’s New York primary. Ted Cruz took a sweet trip to a chocolate factory in Hershey, Pennsylvania. But the behind-the-scenes action took place inside Hollywood’s beachside Diplomat Resort & Spa, where longtime activists who form the Republican National Committee kicked off their spring meeting. Usually, the meeting attracts the attention only of political junkies interested in the inner workings of the party. But this is no usual year. And so the RNC gathering drew not only party stalwarts but also two presidential candidates — John Kasich and Cruz, who flew down from Pennsylvania — and Trump’s campaign brass. Cruz and Kasich met privately with party members Wednesday afternoon; Trump’s team, including former opponent Ben Carson, is scheduled to sit down with members Thursday.

Donald Trump cracks open his wallet<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/expensive-presidential-primary-homestretch-on-tap-222244>

POLITICO // KENNETH P. VOGEL AND ISAAC ARNSDORF

Donald Trump opened his wallet wide for his presidential campaign in March, loaning it $11.5 million, nearly twice as much as he’s shelled out in any previous month, according to a report filed Wednesday night with the Federal Election Commission. Trump’s campaign also increased its spending, shelling out nearly $13.8 million, marking the first month in which he outspent his main rival for the GOP nomination, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who spent $11.8 million last month. The leading campaigns and super PACs on both sides of the aisle appear set for a big-spending dash through the final primaries on June 7. Trump, whose campaign has been notoriously tightfisted, is pledging to spend $20 million in the coming weeks. And, while he has touted his rejection of super PACs, one devoted to him showed some signs that it might have big-money supporters. Great America, led by former Ron Paul aide Jesse Benton, spent $1.2 million supporting the billionaire in March but raised only $475,500, ending the month $684,599 in the hole — either suggesting it has donors lined up, or that it’s a sinking ship. Cruz finished March with $8.8 million in the bank and has boasted of continued strong fundraising, while the super PACs supporting him in March raised $10.4 million, spent $9.5 million and finished with $20.6 million in the bank.

Donald Trump and Our Messy Nominating System<http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/donald-trump-and-our-messy-nominating-system>

THE NEW YORKER // RYAN LIZZA

October 1, 2015, the Republican National Committee released the rules that would govern the Party’s process for selecting its Presidential nominee. At the time, the headline was that the Party had tweaked its rules to try, in the words of Reince Priebus, the G.O.P. chairman, to “avoid a drawn-out primary process.” As the former Texas governor Rick Perry once said, in his own pursuit of the nomination, “Oops.” Unintended consequences aside, Priebus’s blueprint for the primary and caucus season was not a secret document. The R.N.C. briefed the Presidential campaigns and held a press conference attended by dozens of reporters to explain the calendar and rules. Specialized political sites such as The Green Papers and FrontloadingHQ obsessively covered and explained the intricacies of the rules in every state and territory. Maybe Donald Trump missed the news. He was on Fox and Friends that morning celebrating Vladimir Putin’s intervention in Syria. But, more recently, he has become America’s leading commentator on the delegate-selection process, which he routinely complains is “rigged,” “corrupt,” “crooked,” and generally undemocratic.

The problem with John Kasich? He’s not apocalyptic.<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-problem-with-john-kasich-hes-not-apocalyptic/2016/04/20/d5ca5348-0716-11e6-bdcb-0133da18418d_story.html>

WASHINGTON POST // CHARLES LANE

Of all the mysteries of this very mystifying political season, none is more baffling than the Republican Party’s determined refusal to nominate Ohio Gov. John Kasich for president. On paper, he makes sense. He’s a tax-cutting, budget-balancing conservative with 18 years in Congress under his belt, plus a term-and-a-half leading the nation’s seventh-largest state. Kasich’s state has 18 electoral votes, which Republicans need in November; he is popular there, with a 62 percent approval rating. What’s more, in 15 head-to-head polls during 2016, he beat Hillary Clinton every time, by the margin of error or greater, according to RealClearPolitics. Both Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) consistently trail the Democrat. Familiar, conservative, electable: What’s not to like? Yes, yes — he’s a rambling orator, at best, and notoriously peevish. But having met Kasich and listened to him talk about the issues with The Post’s editorial board for more than an hour Wednesday, I’ve got a hypothesis about why he’s failed — and it has nothing to do with his quirks, which were mostly under control during our session.

Hannity: 'I've been more than fair' to Cruz<http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/04/sean-hannity-ted-cruz-feud-222246>

POLITICO // NICK GASS

Sean Hannity said Wednesday night that he has been "more than fair" to Ted Cruz, a day after clashing with the Texas senator over his line of questioning over his delegate strategy. During a discussion with David Limbaugh, Hannity's attorney and a Cruz supporter, Hannity remarked that "this has happened in the last three interviews that I’ve had with Sen. Cruz." "I feel like I’ve been more than fair to him. If you have legitimate criticism, as a friend I’m willing to listen to it," Hannity said. "I think it’s a very important question, I don’t think people understand it. I listen to people that write me and people that text me and people on Twitter." Limbaugh said he did not think Cruz was actually mad at Hannity on his Tuesday radio show but rather at Donald Trump, blasting the "Alinskyite tactic" that the Republican front-runner "is using to get Cruz off message." Limbaugh's more famous older brother defended Hannity on his own radio program Wednesday. "I didn't hear rudeness. I heard a frustrated Hannity asking Cruz some questions," Rush Limbaugh said. "Look, my expectations on this are really raised up by all of this pre-hype that I heard about how rude Hannity was. But I frankly thought that Cruz could have done a better job answering the setup question when Hannity asked him about the delegates."

Trump campaign brings in lobbyists for key posts<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/trump-turns-over-his-campaign-to-lobbyists-222242>

POLITICO // KENNETH P. VOGEL AND ISAAC ARNSDORF

Donald Trump’s new chief campaign strategist, Paul Manafort, is bringing on some close associates for key spots on Trump's presidential campaign, including several whose lobbying histories seem to epitomize the special interest influence against which the candidate rails. Among the influence industry veterans who have been helping the campaign in recent weeks, according to sources close to the Trump campaign, are Laurance Gay, who had worked with Manafort on an effort to obtain a federal grant that one congressman called a “very smelly, sleazy business,” and Doug Davenport, whose firm’s lobbying for an oppressive Southeast Asian regime became a liability for John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. Donald Trump’s new chief campaign strategist, Paul Manafort, is bringing on some close associates for key spots on Trump's presidential campaign, including several whose lobbying histories seem to epitomize the special interest influence against which the candidate rails.

Trump’s fabricated new image<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-fabricated-new-image/2016/04/20/4251bf60-0730-11e6-a12f-ea5aed7958dc_story.html>

WASHINGTON POST // E.J. DIONNE JR.

If authenticity is your calling card, how do you become authentically inauthentic? Welcome to the New Donald Trump, a marvel of the Twitter-Cable-Facebook Non-Industrial Complex and the age of minuscule attention spans. It took Richard Nixon prodigious feats of hard work between 1962 and 1968 to create the New Nixon who got himself into the White House. But in an era when “brand” is both a noun and a verb and when “curating” is the thing to do, why should it surprise us that the New Trump took less than two weeks to fabricate? After the wild, undisciplined and offensive period leading up to his April 5 loss in the Wisconsin primary to Ted Cruz, Trump decided he needed to curate his brand big time. Shoved aside were key staffers, including his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who had reveled in the, shall we say, forceful approach to politics that was supposed to be part of Trump’s authenticity. Trump is trying to banish offensive talk about women, the gratuitous fights with television anchors, the uninformed comments about abortion.

Editorials/Op-Eds

Transgender Students Win on Restroom Rights<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/opinion/transgender-students-win-on-restroom-rights.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>

NEW YORK TIMES // EDITORIAL BOARD

A federal appellate ruling on Tuesday protecting the right of transgender students to use restrooms according to their gender identity is an important marker in a national debate that has prompted sparked battles in courtrooms and legislatures across the country. The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is the first federal court to affirm the Obama administration’s position on this question. The Department of Education and the Department of Justice have asserted in individual cases that barring transgender students from using restrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity violates Title IX, a federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in education. The current case was brought in 2015 by a male transgender student against the school board in Gloucester County, Va., after it passed a measure barring him from using the boys’ restroom. Writing for the majority in the 2-to-1 ruling, Judge Henry Franklin Floyd found that the lower court did not give due deference to the federal government’s interpretation of Title IX when it ruled against the student, Gavin Grimm.

We must zap Zika before it’s too late<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/zap-zika-before-its-too-late/2016/04/20/59eb63f0-066e-11e6-bdcb-0133da18418d_story.html>

WASHINGTON POST // EDITORIAL BOARD

CONGRESS AND President Obama are engaged in a needless spat over the president’s Feb. 8 request for about $1.9 billion to fight the growing danger of the Zika virus. For two months, the Republican-controlled House and Senate have not acted. Further delay will degrade preparedness for a virus that carries a greater punch than was first believed . The dispute is one that White House and legislative staff could easily resolve in an hour — and ought to get done tomorrow. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced April 13 that a careful study showed Zika is a cause of microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects. Tom Frieden, the CDC director, said the study was a “turning point.” This means that women who are pregnant and get infected by the mosquito-borne virus are at risk of giving birth to children with the brain disorder, although not every pregnant woman infected will do so. The virus, carried by Aedes mosquitoes, has been steadily expanding throughout the Americas in recent months. So far, the 358 cases in the United States have been among travelers, but local outbreaks could reach the shores of the southern United States this summer. In many cases, the virus causes mild symptoms, but the link with brain damage is now of genuine concern, especially in poor, urban areas.

The Dark Side of Immigration Discretion<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/20/opinion/the-dark-side-of-immigration-discretion.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>

NEW YORK TIMES // EDITORIAL BOARD

The Supreme Court heard arguments this week over the Obama administration’s use of prosecutorial discretion to protect some unauthorized immigrants from deportation. It is a momentous debate about presidential power, and the lives of millions hang in the balance. Lost in the hubbub is a parallel struggle, taking place far from Washington, in places like Georgia and North Carolina. It involves the administration’s efforts to crack down on recent migrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Though their numbers are relatively small, the way they are being treated poses a critical moral test for the administration — a test it is failing. Those three countries are among the most violent corners of our hemisphere. El Salvador is the world’s murder capital. Honduras and Guatemala are not far behind. All are plagued by an epidemic of killings of women and children — by gang and drug warfare and by political oppression. The United States remains a rich and stable neighbor, more than capable of helping to stabilize the region and of welcoming and protecting the desperate people who have fled by the thousands to the Texas border.

Gov. Kasich’s unusual positivity<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/gov-kasichs-positive-approach/2016/04/20/55694c52-0740-11e6-a12f-ea5aed7958dc_story.html>

WASHINGTON POST // EDITORIAL BOARD

OHIO GOV. John Kasich is as conservative as the next Republican. What sets him apart in the GOP presidential race is not ideology: It is his avowed commitment to governing in a way that used to be more common — open-minded, cooperative and constructive. In a wide-ranging interview with us Wednesday morning, Mr. Kasich attacked the politicians who encourage voters to wallow in grievance and tell them that “everything is horrible, all we are is a bunch of losers, we have nothing, everything’s going to hell, and, by the way, you have been ripped off.” Against the doomsaying of his party’s front-runners, Mr. Kasich argued that “We’ve over-dramatized our situation.” He added, “we’ve had worse times in this country — far worse times in this country. We’ll be fine.” There are legitimate reasons for people to feel anxious, he said, but “you can appeal to them in two different ways. You can appeal to them by driving them into the ditch or you can appeal to them by giving them a way out.”

An Energy Bill in Need of Fixes<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/opinion/mixed-signals-on-energy.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>

NEW YORK TIMES // EDITORIAL BOARD

The Senate voted Wednesday to approve an energy bill that contains provisions encouraging land conservation, renewable energy and improved efficiency. It also includes bad ideas that would harm the environment, particularly a provision that would encourage the burning of trees to generate electricity. Lawmakers in the Senate struck a deal last week to advance the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015, which was introduced by Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, and Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington. The bill is a modest attempt at bipartisanship in a Congress that has seen very little of it. Both sides of the aisle put aside their most ambitious energy proposals in an effort to achieve small gains. That is not necessarily a bad thing, given how deeply divided the two parties are on energy and environmental policy. The bill would permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund, an immensely valuable open-space program that uses oil and gas royalties to pay for projects that preserve undeveloped landscapes and historic and cultural sites. The program, which has protected millions of acres in its 51-year history, has never been fully funded and was even allowed to expire briefly in 2015. At least now its survival is assured.

The Hamilton I’d Put on the $10 Bill<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/20/opinion/the-hamilton-id-put-on-the-10-bill.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>

NEW YORK TIMES // COKIE ROBERTS

Is it really possible that Alexander Hamilton, of all people, is about to relegate a woman to the back of the $10 bill, just 10 months after the Treasury Department promised to feature a woman on the new version of the note? With Hamilton, a philandering liar who was the first secretary of the Treasury, having a star turn on Broadway, his successor Jacob J. Lew has apparently decided to keep him on the front of the bill. According to reports, Secretary Lew will place a woman (or perhaps several women) on the back. It’s yet another “wait your turn” moment for American women. When formerly enslaved men got the right to vote in 1870, women demanding their own suffrage were told to wait; their turn would come. It took a half-century, and a heroic struggle, before they achieved the vote in 1920. The updated $10 bill, scheduled to enter circulation in 2020, was supposed to celebrate the centennial of that achievement. Now it will be more like a footnote. That is more than a broken promise; it’s a blatant and insulting statement of women’s second-class status.