Subject: Stitch — Newsmaker of the Week: Jill Zuckman; Republicans Keep Looking for a Non-Trump Candidate; Democrats Position for Platform Fight
From: Jonathan Allen <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 15 May 2016 16:46:42 +0000
List-Id: dff5dea186e38c29c57ca6f8fmc list <dff5dea186e38c29c57ca6f8f.326717.list-id.mcsv.net>

** WHAT'S THE STITCH?
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The Stitch is a morning news speed-read highlighting the work and insights of Newsmakers that is followed by a daily chat on hot political topics. On this particular Sunday, it's a morning speed-read on the West Coast and a brunch speed-read on the East Coast.

** NEWSMAKER OF THE WEEK: JILL ZUCKMAN
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Jill's a rare triple threat inside the Beltway: an award-winning journalist, a former assistant secretary at the Transportation Department and now an award-winning public relations executive at the high-end firm SKDKnickerbocker.

Stitch chalks it all up to her education in Montgomery County, Md., public schools.

HERE'S HOW JILL CAUGHT THE POLITICAL BUG
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" I would say that I got my love of politics from my dad, a law professor at Catholic U. We had great discussions around the dinner table. ... He was also responsible for setting me on the journalism path, but only because he thought it would be a good way to get me into a good law school and to become a good lawyer...oh well, the best laid plans!"

—Jill Zuckman / Sidewire, part 1 (https://sidewire.com/politics/articles/ca39aa21077829db27efa2082de2f133/commentary/130e6097-fcc8-4c9c-9ad3-c3d7426c2521) , part 2 (https://sidewire.com/politics/articles/ca39aa21077829db27efa2082de2f133/commentary/b4fcd1df-91e8-4495-b499-ade15dd12473)

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"I should also give a shout-out to my AP American history teacher at Wootton high school, Mr. Roemer. He sent us all out on a treasure hunt on Capitol Hill and we rode the Senate subway back and forth, ate lunch at the Supreme Court cafeteria...and just generally explored the Capitol from one end to the other. It was a great introduction to government.

—Zuckman / Sidewire, part 1 (https://sidewire.com/politics/articles/ca39aa21077829db27efa2082de2f133/commentary/e43f83d5-63e2-4af0-8189-e4634136d7f4) , part 2 (https://sidewire.com/politics/articles/ca39aa21077829db27efa2082de2f133/commentary/a7066456-d9be-4466-939c-fe5d77032edd)

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That's the kids, listen to your parents and teachers portion of the Sunday Stitch.

ON THE PR STRATEGY SHE RAN TO HELP FREE AMERICAN ALAN GROSS FROM A CUBAN PRISON
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"Our goal was to keep a steady drumbeat going about Alan's situation so that officials in both governments would feel like they had no choice but to deal with it. We focused on Alan's health; we focused on his mother's terminal illness and his pleas to be able to see her one last time; and we continued to ask publicly for President Obama to get personally involved because we knew that this was not something that a junior foreign service staffer was going to be able to fix alone. Eventually, Alan's return after five years in prison was part of a much broader deal that changed the course of history between our two countries. Pretty amazing."

—Zuckman / Sidewire, part 1 (https://sidewire.com/politics/articles/ca39aa21077829db27efa2082de2f133/commentary/1f2ffdcc-646f-43c6-99a8-1c732c41c54a) , part 2 (https://sidewire.com/politics/articles/ca39aa21077829db27efa2082de2f133/commentary/5c8f733f-e7a2-45b3-8084-958a635bcd41) , part 3 (https://sidewire.com/politics/articles/ca39aa21077829db27efa2082de2f133/commentary/175f21d9-0580-4641-b97f-c2a76ee2c0f1)

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ON WHY NEWT GINGRICH WAS SUCH A GREAT INTERVIEW WHEN HE WAS SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
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"He used to have these pen and pad sessions with reporters in the morning. By the time he was done talking, I would have a front page story nailed for the next day. He was colorful, quotable and fun."

—Zuckman / Sidewire (https://sidewire.com/politics/articles/ca39aa21077829db27efa2082de2f133/commentary/aa16b1ec-c472-4d69-853a-71c4b3952549)

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CLICK HERE (https://sidewire.com/politics/articles/ca39aa21077829db27efa2082de2f133)  for the full NEWSMAKER OF THE WEEK interview, and find out who else Jill liked to interview, what she learned as a journalist that's applicable to public relations and what she would drink — if forced to — out of her chalice-shaped Dirksen Award for congressional reporting.

** WINDOW STILL OPEN ON THIRD WAY TO TAKE DOWN TRUMP
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PHIL RUCKER & BOB COSTA of the Washington Post write that reports of the demise of an effort to find a Republican to run for president outside the party are premature.

The main problems are still money and the fact that it's hard to find someone who is willing to run a campaign for the presidency that is designed primarily to destroy his own party's nominee for president and put Hillary Clinton in the White House, as Romney 2012 finance chief Spencer Zwick tells Phil and Bob (or at least one of them).
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"If this was just a ‘Never Trump’ option and there’s no hope of actually winning — in other words, a kamikaze mission — I’m not sure there’s enough money. If there were a real alternative, it changes the dynamic. But who’s going to do that?"

—Spencer Zwick / WaPo (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-gop-effort-to-draft-an-independent-candidate-to-derail-trump/2016/05/14/1b04682e-1877-11e6-924d-838753295f9a_story.html)

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But Republican insiders from BILL KRISTOL to MIKE MURPHY are still trying to find the right strategy and candidate.
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"Running an anti-Trump protest candidate in a handful of swing states really appeals to me. ... You could deny Trump the presidency and perhaps help important Senate and other down-ballot races by giving another choice to Republican voters who abhor Hillary Clinton and can’t cross the moral line to vote for Trump.”

—Mike Murphy / WaPo (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-gop-effort-to-draft-an-independent-candidate-to-derail-trump/2016/05/14/1b04682e-1877-11e6-924d-838753295f9a_story.html)

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One of the many candidates who was pursued but is not interested is Dallas Mavericks owner and TV star Mark Cuban, whose mention in the Post got picked up by The Sporting News (http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/news/mark-cuban-donald-trump-2016-election-gop-nomination/16wt2w2hwzwcz1s1wuqv89ok9a) . Congrats to Phil & Bob on their crossover to sports journalism.

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**
TRIVIAL PURSUITS
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ABOUT TODAY
Alabama Gov. George Wallace was shot while campaigning for president in Maryland 44 years ago.

ONE THING TO KNOW ABOUT SPORTS TODAY
The Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors meet in Game 7 of their playoff series at 3:30 p.m. today. The winner faces LeBron James and the "Believeland (http://espn.go.com/blog/cleveland-browns/post/_/id/19008/earnest-byners-emotional-apology-brings-believeland-to-life) " Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals. We know who Drake is rooting for (http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/tt2IX1pkDLpyJu3ctSWrEQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3NfbGVnbztxPTg1O3c9NjMw/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/sptusnbaexperts/TRDR93013.jpg) .

ONE THING TO KNOW ABOUT ENTERTAINMENT TODAY
A Fox remake of the Rocky Horror Picture Show (http://www.ew.com/article/2016/05/12/rocky-horror-picture-show-laverne-cox)  airs this fall and stars Laverne Cox from Orange is the New Black in the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter.

YESTERDAY'S TRIVIA
The president whose home state had the fewest electoral college votes when he was elected was Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire. The Granite State had just 5 electoral votes.

TODAY'S TRIVIA
Who was president the last time Michigan did not have a U.S. representative with the last name Dingell?

Send answers to [email-masked]. The first person to respond correctly wins the right to pose Monday's trivia question.

WHAT TO DO WITH NEWS TIPS, SUGGESTIONS AND CORRECTIONS
Please send them to [email-masked].

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**
SANDERS AIDE: 'IT'S NOT ABOUT UNIFYING THE PARTY'
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LAURA MECKLER of the Wall Street Journal reports on the tension (http://www.wsj.com/news/politics)  between Hillary Clinton's desire to avoid chaos at the Democratic convention and Bernie Sanders' desire to fundamentally change the party's platform and its rules.

Laura captures the mood of the Sanders camp with a telling quote from his top policy adviser, Warren Gunnels.
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"It’s not about unifying the party. ... It’s about making sure we have big, bold change that will fundamentally transform the U.S. economy….There are still fundamental disagreements.”

—Warren Gunnels / WSJ (http://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-clinton-looks-to-avoid-convention-fight-as-sanders-presses-agenda-1463178735)

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At the same time, Clinton allies are signaling that she'll yield on some platform items in the interest of a contretemps tamp-down. Former Rep. Barney Frank, a Clinton supporter who is co-chairman of the rules committee, said he thinks it's "very likely" the platform will include Sanders' call for a $15 minimum wage and could include a major expansion of Medicare.
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"There aren’t major issue divisions between [Mr. Sanders] and Hillary Clinton."

Barney Frank / WSJ (http://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-clinton-looks-to-avoid-convention-fight-as-sanders-presses-agenda-1463178735)

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JOHN NICHOLS of The Nation wrote this week (http://www.thenation.com/article/clinton-and-sanders-should-fight-together-for-a-democratic-platform-that-backs-dc-statehood/)  that Clinton and Sanders should highlight their shared support for making Washington, D.C., a state one of the planks in the party's platform.
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"DC statehood is a voting-rights issue and a democracy issue. And the Democratic platform should make that absolutely clear."

—John Nichols / The Nation (http://www.thenation.com/article/clinton-and-sanders-should-fight-together-for-a-democratic-platform-that-backs-dc-statehood/)

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** PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY COULD BOOST SANCHEZ INTO RUNOFF WITH HARRIS IN CALIFORNIA
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ROB STUTZMAN tells ALEJANDRO LAZO of the Wall Street Journal that the upcoming Democratic presidential primary in California could boost turnout in the Senate race there, "increasing the odds significantly" that Rep. Loretta Sanchez will finish ahead of all of the Republicans in the race and earn a spot in the runoff against poll-leading Attorney General Kamala Harris, a fellow Democrat.

In California's primary system, candidates of all parties run against each other in the primary, with the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advancing to the general election. Rob and DEB SAUNDERS talked about the possibility of two Democrats ending up in the general election in Debs "Talk Me Off the Ledge" Sidewire Chat earlier this week.

Deb agreed with the idea that Republicans would vote for Sanchez in a general-election run-off against Harris because she's more moderate and because it would block the upward career trajectory of Harris, a rising Democratic star. Here's what Rob said on Sidewire:
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"I think that's very plausible. Would take some $$, but adhering GOP voters to Sanchez over Harris can be done IMO. We've done this in D vs D runoffs in statehouse races where one D is more moderate than the other."

—Rob Stutzman / Sidewire Chat "Talk Me Off the Ledge" (https://sidewire.com/politics/articles/55d0cf754c48f7dad0b6602d676baf8a/commentary/411ec614-4c46-4ae6-a3b2-e9407d9f9f1e)

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So, even if Republicans can't win the California Senate race, they could be instrumental in picking between two Democrats.

THE BIG QUESTION

Will the Democratic platform matter more or less than usual this year as the party tries to contrast against Donald Trump?

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