Subject: Coverage From DWS Press Call Today
From: "Price, Jenna" <[email-masked]>
To: Comm_D <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 11 May 2016 14:53:17 -0700

Wasserman Schultz 'cautioned' Clinton, Sanders on intraparty attacks<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/dem-primaries/279580-wasserman-schultz-cautioned-clinton-sanders-on-intraparty>
THE HILL // LISA HAGEN
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) on Wednesday expressed confidence the party will be able to "reunify," despite a protracted Democratic primary.

During a conference call with reporters about the state of the presidential race, Wasserman Schultz noted that it's common for rivals to use sharper language as the primaries wind down and said she's advised both of the Democratic candidates to be careful about their tone.

She also pointed to the bitterly fought primary between Hillary Clinton and then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008 and said the party was able to "easily" come together and coalesce behind Obama.

"Towards the end of any campaign, there's more pointed language used and candidates make sharper distinctions with one another," she said. "I've cautioned both to be mindful of the tone they use especially at this point. We're going to need to be able to reunify."

"I'm confident they'll be able to come together and set the tone for their own supporters," she continued.

The call comes one day after Sanders's double-digit victory in West Virginia over the Democratic front-runner.

The tougher rhetoric in the Democratic race became amplified after Sanders said Clinton was not qualified to be president last month. He later pulled away from that comment and Democrats warned about the escalated tone, fearing it would harm their chances in the fall.

Sanders has said in interviews that Clinton shouldn't expect his supporters to automatically fall in line behind her if she's the nominee. The former secretary of State fired back and chided him for setting conditions on his support and called for the party to unify.

But the DNC chairwoman said that exit polls from recent primaries are evidence that Democratic voters are "energized" by the primary and willing to support either Clinton or Sanders.

"The last few primaries we've had exit polls have shown our voters really overwhelming believe this primary has actually energized them and as motivated to support either candidate," she said.

DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ 'NOT AT ALL CONCERNED' ABOUT POTENTIAL DIVISIVENESS AT DNC IN PHILLY THIS JULY<http://floridapolitics.com/archives/209469-debbie-wasserman-schultz-not-concerned-potential-divisiveness-dnc-philly-july>
FLORIDA POLITICS // MITCH PERRY
Citing polls conducted by Quinnipiac University which show Hillary Clinton in trouble in the swing states of Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio against Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders' campaign came out swinging on Wednesday, declaring in a fundraising e-mail that the Vermont senator is the best bet to ensure a Trump loss in the fall.

"We cannot have Donald Trump as president," writes Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver. "Poll after poll after poll since last year shows that Bernie Sanders is the candidate who does best against Donald Trump. That's why every vote, every delegate, and every state we win matters - like last night's victory in West Virginia - until we reach the Democratic convention."

However, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz maintained that while the intense primary contest between Clinton and Sanders has become contentious recently, she has no worries about the party unifying at the Democratic National Convention this July in Philadelphia.

"At our convention we are headed towards unity," said Schultz on a conference call Wednesday. "Both of our candidates have stated that they will support the other one if they were to win the nomination, and I suspect that we will will go through a platform-drafting process that will result in a platform that the entire party rallies around."

Another issue of contention coming from the Sanders camp in the past week regards the committees overseeing the Democratic National Convention. In a letter sent to Wasserman Schultz last Friday, Sanders said he was disappointed she had selected only three of the more than 40 names he submitted for the standing committees in rules, credentials and the platform committee.

But the DNC chair pushed back Wednesday, saying there had been a "fundamental misunderstanding" on the part of the Sanders campaign about the way the committees of the convention are appointed. She says that she and the DNC executive committee appointed 25 members to those committees, but the remaining 162 members are divided proportionately among the two candidates, based on the statewide vote each of them has earned.

"So the overwhelming majority of the remaining members of standing committees are made up of the candidates' choices to serve on those committees," she responded. "Both Sanders and Clinton will have the lion's share of the representation and membership of each of the standing committees at the convention. That's what our rules require."

Wasserman Schultz' main reason for holding the call was to mock Thursday's meeting between Donald Trump and GOP congressional leaders Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan. "With his lock on the Republican nomination, Donald Trump has ensured that his party's problems won't be limited to convention chaos," she uttered. "He's going to force GOP races to own his ugly divisive rhetoric."
DNC chair: Primary fight between Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders energizing voters<http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/05/dnc_chair_says_extended_primar.html>
MASS LIVE // SHANNON YOUNG
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Wednesday pushed back against claims that a lengthy primary between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders could damage the party's chances in the general election.
Wasserman Schultz, during an afternoon conference call with reporters, said while the Democratic rivals have begun to use more pointed language against each other, exit polls suggest that the primary battle is energizing voters.

The DNC chair added that although a Democratic nominee has yet to have been selected, she's confident the party will not fall into what she characterized as the "chaos" seen on the Republican side of the race.

Pointing to exit poll results, Wasserman Schultz contended that Democratic voters have reported being enthusiastic for both of the party's candidates, adding that in Indiana, for example, about three-quarters of Democratic voters said they had been energized by the nomination contest.

"The last few primaries that we've had, the exit polls have shown that our voters really overwhelmingly believe that this primary has actually energized them and made them motivated for either one of of candidates," she told reporters.

While the DNC chair said she's "not at all concerned" about the party having a lot of divisiveness at it's upcoming national convention in Philadelphia -- where Sanders' campaign has pledged to force a contested nomination fight -- she acknowledged the rising tension between the two candidates.

"Toward the end of any campaign, primary or general, you're going to have more pointed language and the candidates are going to make starker distinctions with one another. I've cautioned both candidates and their campaigns and their supporters to be more mindful of the tone that they use, especially at this point," she said. "Because in short order we're going to need to be able to reunify."

Wasserman Schultz, however, said she's confident Clinton and Sanders will come together and set the tone for their supporters ahead of the general election.

"We have a lot of passionate people on both sides who support our party's candidates and we want to make sure we're not making it harder for them to unify either," she said, contrasting the tone between the Democratic candidates to that seen on the other side of the race.

Pointing to pushback presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump has received from party leaders, Wasserman Schultz argued that "the Republicans are in an unprecedented division and chaos."

"There has never been a situation in which the sitting speaker of the House of Representatives simply doesn't want to support his party's nominee," she said, pointing to U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan's recent remarks that he's "not ready" to support Trump.

Wasserman Schultz's comments came one day before Trump was set to sit down with Ryan and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Jenna Price
Democratic National Committee
[email-masked]
215-578-9696
[SigDems]<http://www.democrats.org/>