Subject: Cruz throws a Hail Mary; Sanders confronts reality
From: CNN Politics Nightcap <[email-masked]>
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Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2016 23:34:02 +0000
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CNN Politics: Nightcap
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April 27, 2016
by Eric Bradner
Welcome to the CNN Politics Nightcap and good Wednesday evening from Indianapolis. Ted Cruz threw a Hail Mary, playing the biggest card available to a presidential hopeful -- the vice presidency -- by tapping Carly Fiorina in a bid to save his chances in Indiana and California. At the same time Bernie Sanders was vowing to press forward at Purdue University, his campaign was laying off hundreds of staffers. And back in Washington, Donald Trump laid out an "America first" foreign policy vision. Your bartender is Eric Bradner (http://www.cnn.com/profiles/eric-bradner?cid=nl_pol_071915_profile?sr=nl_pol_072215_bradner) . The tip jar: [email-masked] (mailto:[email-masked]) .

** Cruz's big gamble for Indiana and California: Fiorina as VP
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Ted Cruz was drubbed in Tuesday night's East Coast primaries, locked out of any mathematical chance of winning the GOP nomination outright, and stuck spending his time on a procedural argument for a contested convention. So he made a bold -- and desperate -- move: announcing in Indianapolis that Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO-turned-Hillary Clinton designated hitter, would be his vice presidential nominee.

The play could help in Indiana, where Fiorina could attract suburban women, and helps more than any local option in the primary set for next Tuesday. (Current Gov. Mike Pence is too unpopular; former Gov. Mitch Daniels is too unwilling.) But it's even more important in California, where Fiorina began her political career.

How the union came together, as described by Fiorina to CNN's Sunlen Serfaty: "It’s been an ongoing conversation, to be very honest with you -- an ongoing conversation. As you can imagine, vetting takes some time and getting to know each other takes some time. But the real formal, final conversation happened yesterday so we could prepare to make this announcement today." Much more on the Fiorina choice (http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/27/politics/ted-cruz-carly-fiorina-vice-president/index.html) .

Donald Trump's brutal response to the Fiorina move: "The people of Indiana are very smart -- they will see through this just like they saw through the already failed Kasich alliance. Cruz has no path to victory -- he is only trying to stay relevant."

And here's California Sen. Barbara Boxer, who beat Fiorina in California in 2010, comparing (https://twitter.com/BarbaraBoxer/status/725437808115077121) Cruz's move to the much-maligned Compaq merger: "I predict that the latest @CarlyFiorina merger will be as successful as her last one."

** Sanders confronts reality, plots for influence in Philadelphia
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Yes, he pledged to fight on through California -- and yes, he took his swipes at Hillary Clinton over her paid Wall Street speeches. But there was no mistaking the change in tone as Bernie Sanders held his first campaign event after being shellacked by Clinton in four out of five East Coast contests: He's a candidate now planning for ways to maintain his influence after his campaign ends.

His goal: the "strongest progressive agenda." Here's the key section of Sanders' speech at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana: "We are in this campaign to win, but if we do not win, we intend to win every delegate that we can, so that when we go to Philadelphia in July, we're going to have the votes to put together the strongest progressive agenda that any political party has ever seen," Sanders said. "And our job, whether we win or whether we do not win, is to transform not only our country, but the Democratic Party -- to open the doors of the Democratic Party to working people and young people and senior citizens in a way that does not exist today." My story (http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/27/politics/bernie-sanders-delegate-math/index.html) .

Sanders is laying off field staff. His campaign cast it as a natural evolution (http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/27/politics/bernie-sanders-staff-downsizing/index.html) , and Sanders addressed the layoffs of hundreds in an interview with The New York Times' Yamiche Alcindor (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/28/us/politics/bernie-sanders-campaign.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1&mtrref=undefined&gwh=81AE7E81235F4E0D44FD7713912AFB72&gwt=pay) . He said: "We don’t need people right now in Connecticut. That election is over. We don’t need them in Maryland. So what we are going to do is allocate our resources to the 14 contests that remain, and that means that we are going to be cutting back on staff."

Hillary Clinton's fundraising email about the Sanders layoffs included this line (https://twitter.com/danmericaCNN/status/725440460152524801/photo/1) from communications director Jennifer Palmieri: "Hillary Clinton is going to win this nomination."
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Buzzing

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is supporting Ted Cruz's presidential campaign, wasn't impressed (https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/725368153988055042?lang=en) by Donald Trump's big foreign policy speech Wednesday.

Last Call

** Donald Trump lays out an 'America first' foreign policy vision
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From CNN's Jeremy Diamond (http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/27/politics/donald-trump-foreign-policy-speech/index.html) : Donald Trump on Wednesday delivered a major foreign policy speech in Washington, laying out his vision for a foreign policy that will put "America first." Trump opened his speech vowing to "shake the rust off America's foreign policy" and said he would outline a vision for a U.S. foreign policy "that replaces randomness with purpose, ideology with strategy and chaos with peace." He added, "My foreign policy will always put the interests of the American people and American security first."

Trump stirred comparisons to the pre-World War II isolationist movement with his "America first" pitch. The phrase also refers to the America First movement in the early 1940s, in which some elements were associated with anti-Semitism and U.S. nationalism in the lead-up to World War II. "It doesn't seem to matter to Trump that America Firsters didn't want to beat the Nazis," tweeted (https://twitter.com/JeffreyGoldberg/status/725363335466770433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) Jeffrey Goldberg, an Atlantic columnist. More from CNN's Tal Kopan (http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/27/politics/donald-trump-america-first-nationalist-history/index.html) .

** The Oregon trail: Kasich gets started in his 1-on-1 with Trump
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From CNN's Cassie Spodak (http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/27/politics/john-kasich-oregon/index.html) : John Kasich made a deal to go one-on-one with Donald Trump in Oregon, and he's wasting no time. Wednesday morning saw the release of a new TV ad in Oregon, touting that rival "Ted Cruz pulled out of Oregon" and that Kasich "is the only one that can stop Trump and defeat Hillary Clinton in the fall." The ad doesn't describe the agreement reached by the Cruz and Kasich campaigns that had Kasich pulling his resources out of Indiana, with Cruz doing the same in Oregon and New Mexico. The plan allows for each candidate to have a "clear path" to compete against Trump in those states.

Kasich is scheduled for two town halls in Oregon, in Medford and Portland on Thursday. Wednesday morning also saw a plea emailed to Kasich supporters to donate to the "Oregon Ballot Fund," saying that Oregon voters will begin casting mail-in ballots the next week. County clerks began mailing ballots to voters Wednesday, the Oregon secretary of state's office said.

** Ex-Speaker Dennis Hastert sentenced to 15 months in prison
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From Tal Kopan and Tami Luhby (http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/27/politics/dennis-hastert-sentencing/index.html) : Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was sentenced to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay $250,000 to a victims' fund in a hush money case that revealed he was being accused of sexually abusing young boys as a teacher in Illinois. He was also sentenced to two years of supervised release once he finishes his prison term.

For the first time, Hastert, 74, admitted to Judge Thomas M. Durkin in open court that he abused an unspecified number of boys. Durkin, of the Northern District of Illinois, told Hastert that he should participate in a sex offender treatment program. The judge, who spent 30 minutes criticizing the former speaker for his actions, also cautioned Hastert to refrain from communicating with his alleged victims.

"I'm deeply ashamed to be standing before you here today," Hastert said in court during his sentencing. "I know I'm here because I mistreated some of my athletes as a coach." Hastert apologized "to my constituents and my supporters and also my colleagues I served with." He also apologized to his family and friends.
Straight Up

** "It’s typical of Donald Trump’s clear difficulty with strong women -- clear difficulty."
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**
-- Carly Fiorina to CNN's Sunlen Serfaty, about Donald Trump's accusation that Hillary Clinton is playing the "woman card." CNN's Stephen Collinson has more (http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/26/politics/election-2016-clinton-trump-women/index.html) on the Trump-Clinton beef.
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Tipsy
A new vice presidential candidate means a new sign.
Closing Time

Donald Trump is on course (http://www.politico.com/blogs/twelve-thirty-seven/2016/04/donald-trump-popular-vote-record-222510#ixzz470kv1udt) to win more Republican primary votes than anyone else in history. ... The victories of Chris Van Hollen in Maryland and Katie McGinty in Pennsylvania show that the Democratic establishment still has muscle (http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/van-hollen-and-mcginty-prove-democratic-establishment-still-has-muscle) . ... An Alabama town adopted an ordinance that punishes (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/04/27/an-alabama-city-now-says-people-who-violate-its-bathroom-ordinance-could-face-jail-time/?postshare=6901461791480948&tid=ss_tw) transgender people who use a public bathroom different from the gender listed on their birth certificates with jail time.
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