Subject: Correct the Record Saturday October 25, 2014 Roundup
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 13:13:13 -0400
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

*​**Correct the Record Saturday October 25, 2014 Roundup:*

*Tweets:*

*Hillary Clinton @HillaryClinton: *New @oppnation
<https://twitter.com/oppnation> data shows encouraging news on youth
employment, but so much more to do. Read more about #JobOne
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/JobOne?src=hash> here: http://bit.ly/1wa28XO
<http://t.co/8LSjh9ik3d>[10/25/14, 7:59 a.m. EDT
<https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/525994975788797952>]

*Correct the Record @CorrectRecord:* HRC worked with @UN
<https://twitter.com/UN> to build lasting partnerships focused on fostering
democracy & universal values #UNDay
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/UNDay?src=hash> #HRC365
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/HRC365?src=hash>
http://www.state.gov/secretary/20092013clinton/rm/2012/09/198094.htm …
<http://t.co/i1lenVrqfd> [10/24/14, 3:35 p.m. EDT
<https://twitter.com/CorrectRecord/status/525747350938329088>]

*Chelsea Clinton @ChelseaClinton: *Pls join me in wishing my mother
@HillaryClinton <https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton> a happy birthday this
Sunday! Pick out a special birthday card here
https://www.clintonfoundation.org/happy-birthday-hillary …
<https://t.co/QRTizOC5Y2> [10/24/14, 1:12 p.m. EDT
<https://twitter.com/ChelseaClinton/status/525711496483852288>]

*Headlines:*

*AP: Hillary Clinton rallies women in New England
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2ea2f89cd65148dca254bb25f9530f86/hillary-clinton-rallies-women-new-england>
     *

Clinton on Friday rallied Democrats on behalf of Massachusetts Attorney
General Martha Coakley, who is running for governor, and helped
gubernatorial candidates in Rhode Island and Maine as part of a swing
through New England aimed at boosting support among women.

*New York Times: With Praise, Hillary Keeps Adversary Close
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/25/us/politics/with-praise-hillary-clinton-keeps-an-adversary-close.html?_r=0>*

And so on Friday, Mrs. Clinton officially broke the ice, embracing Ms.
Warren verbally, if not physically, and hailing her for the populist
approach that Mrs. Clinton is said to lack.

*Boston Globe: Hillary Clinton campaigns for Martha Coakley in Boston
<http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/10/24/hillary-clinton-campaigns-for-martha-coakley-boston/pRhhPKuZTbC39B2MRUqhvK/story.html?rss_id=Top-GNP>*

Clinton and Coakley were joined by Governor Deval Patrick, US Senators
Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey, and Coakley's running mate, Steve
Kerrigan. Just before the rally began, Clinton held a fund-raiser with
Coakley at the Park Plaza that raised $500,000.

*Portland Press Herald: Hillary Clinton tells Michaud supporters at rally
in Scarborough that ‘Maine needs a fresh start’
<http://www.pressherald.com/2014/10/24/hillary-clinton-takes-the-stage-at-michaud-campaign-rally/>*

Striking a populist theme, Clinton touted Democratic ideals, especially
those issues important to women, such as raising the minimum wage, paid
family leave and access to health care.

*The Hill: Hillary Clinton stumps in Rhode Island
<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/governor-races/221845-hillary-clinton-stumps-in-rhode-island>
 *

Hillary Clinton visited Rhode Island on Friday to campaign for Gina
Raimondo, the state’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

*Bloomberg: Hillary Clinton No Longer Believes That Companies Create Jobs
<http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-10-24/hillary-clinton-no-longer-believes-that-companies-create-jobs>*

Hillary Clinton has flip-flopped on whether companies create jobs—and she's
done it since her book came out in June.

*Washington Free Beacon: Hillary Clinton: Corporations and Businesses
<http://freebeacon.com/politics/hillary-clinton-corporations-and-businesses-dont-create-jobs/>**Don’t
Create Jobs
<http://freebeacon.com/politics/hillary-clinton-corporations-and-businesses-dont-create-jobs/>*

Clinton’s comment will likely be used frequently to attack her as another
big-government Democrat. She is seen by many as already running for
president in 2016.

*Wall Street Journal: Liberals Seek Alternative to Hillary Clinton*
<http://online.wsj.com/articles/liberals-seek-alternative-to-hillary-clinton-1414193312>

As formidable as Mrs. Clinton looks even before declaring herself a
candidate, liberals are casting about for a committed populist to run
against her in 2016. They see the former secretary of state and senator as
too closely aligned with large corporations and question whether she can be
counted on to narrow the income gap in America.

*Chicago Tribune Opinion: Why Democrats should want a challenger to Clinton
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/sns-wp-blm-news-bc-clinton-comment24-20141024-story.html>*

Still, even Democrats who strongly support Clinton should hope someone
challenges her, but not because of ancient and probably irrelevant baggage
such as Whitewater and Travelgate, and not even because of her vote for the
Iraq War. An unchallenged candidate is an independent politician, and party
actors should want party politicians.

*New York Times: Toxic Partnership? Bill Clinton Says He Had It Worse, Yet
Got Things Done
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/25/us/politics/toxic-partisanship-bill-clinton-says-he-had-it-worse-than-obama.html>*

The tumult of the Clinton years — including conspiracy theories about the
death of Vincent W. Foster Jr., a deputy White House counsel and friend of
the Clintons’ from Arkansas who committed suicide in 1993, the
investigation into Whitewater, the Monica Lewinsky scandal and
impeachment — has come back as Hillary Rodham Clinton inches toward a run
for president in 2016.

*Articles:*

*AP: Hillary Clinton rallies women in New England*
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2ea2f89cd65148dca254bb25f9530f86/hillary-clinton-rallies-women-new-england>

By Ken Thomas and Philip Marcello

Oct. 24, 2014 6:47 PM EDT

BOSTON (AP) — Facing an anxious electorate, Democrats are turning to
Hillary Rodham Clinton to drum up support among female voters as polls
suggest her party could be losing ground among women heading into next
month's elections.

Clinton on Friday rallied Democrats on behalf of Massachusetts Attorney
General Martha Coakley, who is running for governor, and helped
gubernatorial candidates in Rhode Island and Maine as part of a swing
through New England aimed at boosting support among women.

"From my perspective, it shouldn't even really be a race. It should not
even be close, but we're living during an election season where it's close
everywhere," Clinton said as public polls show Coakley trailing Republican
Charlie Baker. "And that's why Martha needs you."

Democrats need female voters to cast ballots in large numbers on Nov. 4, a
midterm election in which the party is defending its Senate majority. And
they see some signs that their traditional edge among women may be
narrowing.

President Barack Obama won among female voters by 11 percentage points in
2012, an edge that helped him carry several battleground states. But in the
last midterm elections, Democrats struggled among women, who split their
votes with 49 percent going to the GOP and 48 percent to the Democrats.

A recent Associated Press-GfK poll showed that women likely to turn out to
vote were about evenly divided on which party they wanted to see in control
of Congress, with 44 percent favoring the GOP and 42 percent backing the
Democrats. That's a shift in the Republicans' favor since a September
survey found female likely voters preferred a Democratic-controlled
Congress by a margin of 47 percent to 40 percent. Men's preferences held
about even across the two polls.

With just over a week before Election Day, Democrats were focused on
boosting turnout among women voters, and Clinton is a key figure in that
effort.

Preceding Clinton onstage: Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a liberal
favorite who this week did rule out challenging Clinton for the Democratic
presidential nomination if Clinton decides to run. Clinton praised Warren
as a "passionate champion" for workers and families, adding, "I love
watching Elizabeth give it to those who deserve to get it." Clinton ended
her speech by noting that she swapped grandchildren stories back stage with
Warren and Gov. Deval Patrick, joking that she was "trying to keep up"
after becoming a grandmother last month.

As she considers a potential 2016 presidential campaign, Clinton has
barnstormed the country on behalf of female candidates and for campaigns
where women could play a pivotal role — states like Colorado, Iowa and
Michigan. Clinton, who would become the nation's first female president, if
elected, is assisting several House and Senate campaigns and plans to
campaign in New Hampshire with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Gov. Maggie Hassan
the final weekend before the election.

Both parties are making a major push to win support among women. Celinda
Lake, a Democratic pollster, said a series of security-related issues, from
the role of the Islamic State group in the Middle East to unrest in
Ferguson, Missouri, and the emergence of Ebola infections in the U.S., has
created uncertainty among many female voters. In many states, Lake said the
pool of undecided voters are disproportionately female but turnout remains
the crucial factor.

"If married white women turn out, then Democrats are going to lose the
womens' vote. If unmarried women and women of color turn out, then
Democrats are going to win the womens' vote ... it really matters who shows
up."

Nicole McCleskey, a New Mexico-based Republican pollster, said Republicans
may not win a majority of women in the elections but combining a bigger
share of the male vote with a narrowing of support for Democrats among
women could lead to victories.

"I don't think we're going to see 2010. We're going to see something
different, but it's still going to be big for Republicans," she said.

In Boston, Clinton praised Coakley's commitment to women and children and
efforts to provide pay equity and early childhood education. Coakley is
trying to erase the memory of her surprise 2010 defeat to Republican Scott
Brown in a special election to succeed the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.
Polls have shown her struggling against Baker, a former CEO of Harvard
Pilgrim Healthcare.

Later, in Providence, Rhode Island, the former secretary of state heaped
praise on Democrat Gina Raimondo, calling her "one of the best choices in
the entire country." Raimondo faces Republican Allen Fung in an open
gubernatorial race.

Clinton was ending the day in Maine on behalf of Democratic Rep. Mike
Michaud, who is challenging Republican Gov. Paul LePage in a campaign where
independents could play a major role.

Thomas reported from Washington. AP Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta
and Associated Press writer Erika Niedowski in Providence, Rhode Island,
contributed to this report.

*New York Times: With Praise, Hillary Keeps Adversary Close
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/25/us/politics/with-praise-hillary-clinton-keeps-an-adversary-close.html?_r=0>*

By Katharine Q. Seelye and Amy Chozick

October 25, 2014

BOSTON — The two most prominent women in the Democratic Party, whom
liberals have cast as potential future rivals, stood backstage and swapped
stories about being grandmothers.

But Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Elizabeth Warren, here Friday to
rally voters for Martha Coakley, the Democratic nominee for governor of
Massachusetts, never appeared on stage together.

In fact, relations between the two have been frosty since Ms. Warren began
criticizing Mrs. Clinton for being too cozy with Wall Street. Neither Bill
nor Hillary Clinton stumped for Ms. Warren during her Senate campaign in
2012.

But Mrs. Clinton, who is presumed to be the front-runner for the Democratic
presidential nomination, has been looking over her shoulder for the past
several months and seen a groundswell of support develop on the left for a
Warren candidacy — partly out of frustration that Mrs. Clinton appears too
centrist.

And so on Friday, Mrs. Clinton officially broke the ice, embracing Ms.
Warren verbally, if not physically, and hailing her for the populist
approach that Mrs. Clinton is said to lack.

“I am so pleased to be here with your senior senator, the passionate
champion for working people and middle-class families, Elizabeth Warren!”
Mrs. Clinton said upon taking the stage after being introduced by Ms.
Coakley.

“I love watching Elizabeth give it to those who deserve to get it,” Mrs.
Clinton added, speaking slowly and deliberately. “Standing up not only for
you but people with the same needs and the same wants across our country.”

In her 25-minute speech, Mrs. Clinton went on to adopt some of Ms. Warren’s
populist phrases and ideas, if not her tone.

She praised Ms. Coakley for holding “financial institutions accountable for
the damage they have done to our economy and to individual lives.” She
spoke of women and families scraping by on the minimum wage, trying to make
it into the middle class and stay in the middle class.

“Don’t let anybody tell you that, you know, it’s corporations and
businesses that create jobs,” Mrs. Clinton said, a variation on a popular
Warren theme.

Tim Miller, executive director of America Rising, a conservative “super
PAC,” called Mrs. Clinton’s remark “a ham-handed attempt to pander to
liberal voters” that showed “just how little she knows about job creation.”

Mrs. Clinton has been striking similar notes on recent campaign forays
around the country, but this was on Ms. Warren’s turf, with Ms. Warren
listening in the wings.

For her part, Ms. Warren did not have a lot to say about Mrs. Clinton, only
that she was “happy” to welcome her back to Massachusetts. But she heaped
praise on Ms. Coakley, with classic Warren observations like: “Over and
over, she stood up to the big national banks that tried to trick and trap
and cheat our families here in Massachusetts.”

Despite being in the same line of work, and being asked about each other
all the time*, *Mrs. Clinton and Ms. Warren have never formally made an
appearance together, at least in recent years. They last overlapped in
public, aides said, in early 2013, at the confirmation hearings for John
Kerry, the former Massachusetts senator, to succeed Mrs. Clinton as
secretary of state.

There has been no love lost between the two since the publication of Ms.
Warren’s 2004 book, “The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents Are
Going Broke,” written with her daughter, Amelia Warren Tyagi.

Ms. Warren writes about Mrs. Clinton’s close ties to Wall Street as a
senator from New York and her support for bankruptcy legislation that Ms.
Warren opposed. “As New York’s newest senator, however, it seems that
Hillary Clinton could not afford such a principled position,” Ms. Warren
writes. “Campaigns cost money, and that money wasn’t coming from families
in financial trouble.”

Asked what he made of Mrs. Clinton’s overtures here to Ms. Warren, Jeffrey
Berry, a political scientist at Tufts University, offered this:

“Hold your friends close, hold your enemies closer. Certainly, Elizabeth
Warren is one of the few people in the Democratic Party she has to fear,
and she wants to give every signal that she respects Warren and wants to
communicate that Warren will have her ear if she reaches the White House.”

Ms. Warren has said she has no interest in being president, but that has
not doused the enthusiasm of progressives who want her to challenge Mrs.
Clinton. Supporters at rallies are wearing “Ready For Warren” T-shirts, a
take on the Ready for Hillary super PAC that aims to drum up early support
for Mrs. Clinton’s likely candidacy.

During the 2008 presidential Democratic primary race, Mrs. Clinton
emphasized the economic prosperity of the 1990s, but that approach may not
work in 2016. Ms. Warren’s supporters blame some of Mr. Clinton’s policies,
namely legislation that allowed the commingling of commercial and
investment banks, and trade pacts like the North American Free Trade
Agreement, for contributing to widening income inequality. These same
supporters have decried the Clintons’ $200,000 fees for speeches, and
excoriated Mrs. Clinton for saying that she and Mr. Clinton left the White
House “dead broke.”

Along with her newly populist message, Mrs. Clinton has been making her
speeches more personal. She concluded here by noting that she, Ms. Warren
and Gov. Deval Patrick had been chatting backstage, trading stories about
their grandchildren.

“I only had a month’s worth, but I was, you know, trying to keep up with
their grandchildren getting ready for Halloween with costumes,” Mrs.
Clinton said.

“But as I was standing there and looking at the smile on Elizabeth’s face
as she was describing her grandchildren, and looking at the excitement on
Deval’s face as he was talking about his 16-month old,” Mrs. Clinton
recalled, “I thought, when it all is said and done, that’s what this is
supposed to be about.”

*Boston Globe: Hillary Clinton campaigns for Martha Coakley in Boston
<http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/10/24/hillary-clinton-campaigns-for-martha-coakley-boston/pRhhPKuZTbC39B2MRUqhvK/story.html?rss_id=Top-GNP>*

By Akilah Johnson

October 25, 2014

[image:
http://mpc.mxptint.net/11S2SE257CD2S1868S81A0S12CSFASB3SB1B4_61D54BAA_C526AFS%3fhttp://noredir.mxptint.net"/]Former
secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton stood with Martha Coakley Friday
afternoon, urging voters to spend the next 11 days telling everyone they
know to vote for Coakley for Massachusetts governor.

Hillary Rodham Clinton's visit was one in a series of campaign stops for
the region's Democrats.

Former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton stood with Martha Coakley
on Friday, urging supporters to spend the next 11 days telling everyone
they can to vote for Coakley for governor.

"We cannot possibly rest between now and Nov. 4," Clinton told the crowd.
"You don't want to wake up the day after this election and say, 'I wish I
could have done more.' "

More than 1,500 stalwart Coakley supporters, some of whom had traveled from
Worcester and Lynn, packed into the Imperial Ballroom at the Park Plaza
hotel, where they heard Clinton encourage them to "knock on doors. Send
those e-mails. Make those phone calls. Talk to every voter you can find."

Clinton's appearance was one of many she has made for Democrats around the
country this election season. Her Friday schedule also included an
appearance for US Representative Mike Michaud, the Democratic candidate for
governor in Maine. Next weekend, she plans to appear at a rally for US
Senator Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire.

Clinton and Coakley were joined by Governor Deval Patrick, US Senators
Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey, and Coakley's running mate, Steve
Kerrigan. Just before the rally began, Clinton held a fund-raiser with
Coakley at the Park Plaza that raised $500,000.

Each speaker ticked off the issues — from early education to earned sick
time to improving infrastructure to women's reproductive rights — that they
said distinguish Coakley from her Republican rival, Charlie Baker.

"Republicans today care about the folks who are already comfortable,"
Patrick said. "Democrats are about helping people find the path to get
comfortable. That is the difference."

And while Friday's rally was about helping Coakley beat Baker, who,
according to the most recent Globe poll, leads her by 9 percentage points,
there were moments when Clinton widened the aperture of the lens.

"This is one of those election years that will really set the stage for
what comes here and in Massachusetts and around the country," she said.

Clinton praised Patrick, the Democratic ticket, and the state's
congressional delegation. She was effusive in her praise of Warren, whom
she called a "passionate champion for working people and middle-class
families."

"I love watching Elizabeth giving it to those who deserve to get it," she
said.

There has been much speculation about Warren making a run for the White
House in 2016, which raises the prospect of squaring off against Clinton,
who is widely seen as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination,
should she decide to run. Warren, though, has repeatedly dismissed the
notion of a presidential bid in 2016.

But Friday was about Coakley, and those standing with her seemed undeterred
by Baker's recent surge in public polls. The campaign said its internal
polling shows the race within 2 points.

"We are in a dead heat," Coakley told the raucous group of supporters. "And
I promise you, we are going to win this race."

Coakley said she would be victorious because of the energy and enthusiasm
of her supporters, while outlining what she saw as grave consequences if
Baker is elected.

"We will see budgets cuts, services cut, crucial jobs cut, or maybe even
outsourced," she said. "Charlie Baker has spent a lot of a lot of time in
this race talking about his record creating jobs. He just forgot to tell
you they're in India."

When the nearly two-hour rally was over, those present said they were fired
up.

"This is the first time I came to this type of event, and I am ready to
knock on doors right now," said Doris Cristobal, who lives in Lynn. Nov. 4
will be the first time the Peruvian native will vote as an American citizen.

"As a worker, I am cleaning offices, and she supports me," said Cristobal,
who was holding an oversized campaign sign. "Minimum wage. Earned sick
time. She supports me."

Eileen Kenner of Dorchester said seeing so many powerful women on stage was
long overdue. It's time the state had its first elected female governor and
female president, she said.

"Women have to collaborate; we have to unite," said Kenner, who was wearing
a head wrap and matching skirt adorned with American flags.

Coakley, she said, is the candidate to ensure economic development comes to
urban communities. "Those who have selective amnesia can look at the record
and see," she said of those people considering Baker.

Baker, a former health care executive, hasn't leaned on high-wattage
Republicans for public events as Coakley has with Democrats, though he did
enlist former presidential candidate Mitt Romney for a recent private
fund-raiser.

On the Democratic side, in addition to the state's leading Democrats —
Warren and Patrick are campaign trail regulars — top national figures have
come out to support Coakley's campaign.

Former president Bill Clinton rallied for her in Worcester. Michelle Obama
sang her praises at the Strand Theatre in Dorchester. And Vice President
Joe Biden will host a fund-raiser for Coakley Wednesday at the Banshee, a
Dorchester Irish pub.

Still, Baker and groups supporting him have been airing more broadcast
television ads, spending more money on those ads, and, specialists say,
reaching more viewers than Coakley and her allies — something that came up
repeatedly during Friday's rally.

"They think they can buy this race," Warren said. "Well, I want to be clear
about one thing: Martha Coakley is not giving up. Martha Coakley is
fighting back."

[image:
http://mpc.mxptint.net/11S2SE257CD2S1868S81A0S12CSFASB3SB1B4_61D54BAA_C526AFS%3fhttp://noredir.mxptint.net"/]*Portland
Press Herald: Hillary Clinton tells Michaud supporters at rally in
Scarborough that ‘Maine needs a fresh start’
<http://www.pressherald.com/2014/10/24/hillary-clinton-takes-the-stage-at-michaud-campaign-rally/>*

By Randy Billings

October 24, 2014

[Subtitle:] The prospective 2016 presidential candidate is the latest
nationally prominent figure to campaign for Maine’s Democratic candidate
for governor.

SCARBOROUGH — Hillary Clinton rallied roughly 1,400 members of the
Democratic Party faithful on behalf of U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud at
Scarborough High School on Friday night, telling them he is running for
governor because “Maine needs a fresh start.”

Clinton took the stage shortly before 7 p.m. to loud applause, declaring,
“I like Mike.”

“I wanted to come lend my support to his campaign because I believe he
would be the kind of governor the people of the state of Maine deserve to
have,” Clinton said.

The former first lady and secretary of state urged attendees to “double and
triple” their efforts to convince people to vote for Michaud, especially
those considering supporting independent candidate Eliot Cutler, whom she
didn’t mention by name.

“This is no time to be throwing your vote away,” Clinton said.

Striking a populist theme, Clinton touted Democratic ideals, especially
those issues important to women, such as raising the minimum wage, paid
family leave and access to health care.

Clinton’s stop in Maine is part of a larger effort to help Democrats
throughout the country, including Colorado, Florida and New Hampshire,
while laying the groundwork for a widely anticipated 2016 presidential run.

Rick Bennett, chairman of the Maine Republican Party, criticized Clinton’s
visit in a written statement.

“With just 11 days until the election, Democrats are still desperately
trying to consolidate liberal support for Congressman Michaud after a
disastrous series of debate performances made clear that he is unable to
articulate policy positions or even answer the most basic questions about
his vision for Maine,” Bennett said. “Mrs. Clinton is on a campaign tour,
stumping for any Democrat with a pulse in an attempt to shore up her own
presidential aspirations.”

Republicans also sought to rekindle criticism of Clinton’s handling of the
terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, that led to the deaths of a U.S.
ambassador and three other Americans.

Before the event, about 20 protesters carrying homemade signs with messages
such as “Hillary Lied An Ambassador Died” and “Silly Hilly Benghazi Does
Matter.” They first stood near the main entrance, but were moved back by
police.

Clinton supporters also were on hand outside the school before the event.

Matt Johnson of Orlando, Florida, said he follows both Hillary and Bill
Clinton selling buttons, including Hillary for 2016. Maine was his 20th
state in the last seven days, he said.

Clinton spent much of her 20-minute address highlighting Michaud’s
biography as a former millworker who realized the American Dream by being
elected to Congress.

She said he has always been interested in cleaning up messes – whether it
was a polluted Penobscot River or problems in Veterans Affairs.

“Now Mike is running for governor because you’ve got another mess on your
hands,” she said, referring to Gov. Paul LePage. “I think Maine needs a
fresh start. Mike has the grit and the vision to deliver that.”

Clinton contrasted Michaud’s “quiet and strong” leadership, especially when
as president of an evenly divided state Senate he raised the minimum wage,
with LePage’s bombastic style.

“You don’t need a lot of yelling. You don’t need to be insulting people.
You need to bring them together and listen to each other,” she said.

Clinton’s visit reflects the Democratic Party’s strategy of stimulating
turnout among its base voters – particularly women – to counter the
historical trend of higher Republican turnouts in non-presidential
elections.

First lady Michelle Obama and former President Bill Clinton already have
campaigned here for Michaud, and President Obama is scheduled to headline a
Michaud rally Thursday in Portland.

Michaud is in a tight race against LePage, whose campaign has been
bolstered by two prospective Republican presidential contenders, New Jersey
Gov. Chris Christie and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. LePage was
recently endorsed by former President George H.W. Bush and former first
lady Barbara Bush, who have a home in Kennebunkport.

A poll conducted in mid-September for the Portland Press Herald/Maine
Sunday Telegram by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center gave
Michaud a 40 percent to 38 percent lead over LePage, which was within the
poll’s 4-point margin of error. Independent Cutler, who almost beat LePage
in 2010, lagged in a distant third place at 12 percent.

Speaking before Clinton, Michaud implored attendees to fight against
special interest attacks and to stand behind him, so the outcome of the
2010 election, which featured the spectacular decline of the Democratic
candidate, isn’t repeated.

He noted how Republican donors have contributed $50,000 to a political
action committee supporting Cutler, who almost beat LePage in 2010.

“They know that is the only way Gov. LePage gets reelected by dividing us,
and we can’t let that happen,” he said. “I need you to stand with me and I
need you to stay with me.”

Clinton is the latest in a series of high-profile Democrats campaigning for
Michaud. In addition to Bill Clinton and Michelle Obama, Michaud has
received support from Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who also is
considered a 2016 presidential contender. Other Democrats who campaigned on
Michaud’s behalf include Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie
Wasserman Schultz, former Clinton political strategist James Carville and
Planned Parenthood’s Cecile Richards.

LePage’s core issue of welfare reform appears to be resonating with many
Maine voters, but Democrats – both nationally and in Maine – have focused
on getting women excited about voting in November by highlighting issues
such as reproductive freedom, equal pay for equal work, raising the minimum
wage and funding education.

Joining Michaud as speakers at the rally were U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree,
U.S. Senate candidate Shenna Bellows, state senator and congressional
candidate Emily Cain, and state Senate candidate Jim Boyle.

*The Hill: Hillary Clinton stumps in Rhode Island
<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/governor-races/221845-hillary-clinton-stumps-in-rhode-island>
 *

By David McCabe

October 24, 2014

Hillary Clinton visited Rhode Island on Friday to campaign for Gina
Raimondo, the state’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

It was the second in a three-stop tour of the Northeast to back Democratic
candidates — and part of an increasingly busy campaign schedule for the
former secretary of State and possible 2016 presidential contender.

“I really think that Rhode Island would be so well-served by having this
extraordinary woman take responsibility for your state,” Clinton said of
Raimondo, the state Treasurer, at the event.

When the prospect of her own possible presidential run came up, however,
she was slightly less enthusiastic.

“She’s done it all – although not everything yet,” Raimondo said, praising
Clinton.

Clinton reportedly shrugged.

Clinton says she has yet to make a decision. But recent visits to Iowa and
a high-profile media tour after the publication of her memoir have many
believing she is preparing for another White House run.

*Bloomberg: Hillary Clinton No Longer Believes That Companies Create Jobs
<http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-10-24/hillary-clinton-no-longer-believes-that-companies-create-jobs>*

By Jonathan Allen

October 24, 2014 5:07 p.m. EDT

[Subtitle:] From capitalist to populist in just a few months.

Hillary Clinton has flip-flopped on whether companies create jobs—and she's
done it since her book came out in June.

Here's what she said Friday, as she tried to bask in the populist sun of
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren at a Boston rally for Democratic
gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley:

“Don't let anybody tell you that it's corporations and businesses that
create jobs.”

That's an acrobatic pivot from what Clinton wrote in "Hard Choices." As she
wrote in one passage:

“There were still too many barriers and restrictions, but American
companies were slowly gaining access to Indian markets, creating jobs and
opportunities for people in both countries.”

Here's another:

“We had worked with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to organize the trip
because more trade between America and South Africa promised to create jobs
and opportunities in both countries.”

And then there's Chapter 22, "Jobs and Energy: A Level Playing Field,"
which details Clinton's work to help American companies compete abroad.

“When I became Secretary in 2009, I focused on two big questions about the
global economy: Could we sustain and create good jobs at home and help
speed our recovery by opening new markets and boosting exports? ... And
were we going to let China and other relatively closed markets continue to
rewrite the rules of the global economy in a way that would surely
disadvantage our workers and companies?”

A Clinton spokesman did not immediately reply to an emailed request for
comment.

*Washington Free Beacon: Hillary Clinton: Corporations and Businesses Don’t
Create Jobs
<http://freebeacon.com/politics/hillary-clinton-corporations-and-businesses-dont-create-jobs/>*

By Washington Free Beacon Staff
October 24, 2014 5:06 pm

[Subtitle:] “Don’t let anybody tell you that it’s corporations and
businesses that create jobs.”

At a Democratic rally in Massachusetts, Hillary Clinton’s attempt to attack
“trickle-down economics,” resulted in a spectacularly odd statement.

Clinton defended raising the minimum wage saying “Don’t let anybody tell
you that raising the minimum wage will kill jobs, they always say that.”

She went on to state that businesses and corporations are not the job
creators of America. “Don’t let anybody tell you that it’s corporations and
businesses that create jobs,” the former Secretary of State said.

Clinton’s comment will likely be used frequently to attack her as another
big-government Democrat. She is seen by many as already running for
president in 2016.

*Wall Street Journal: Liberals Seek Alternative to Hillary Clinton
<http://online.wsj.com/articles/liberals-seek-alternative-to-hillary-clinton-1414193312>*

By Peter Nicholas

October 24, 2014

[Subtitle:] Would-Be 2016 Challengers Test the Waters with Democratic
Activists, Donors

KEENE, N.H.—Searching for an alternative to Hillary Clinton for 2016, some
Democratic donors are meeting with potential challengers. Liberal activists
are trying to coax Sen. Elizabeth Warren into running. Politicians not
named Hillary Clinton are testing their appeal in New Hampshire and Iowa.

As formidable as Mrs. Clinton looks even before declaring herself a
candidate, liberals are casting about for a committed populist to run
against her in 2016. They see the former secretary of state and senator as
too closely aligned with large corporations and question whether she can be
counted on to narrow the income gap in America.

They hope to either recruit a candidate able to capture the nomination
outright or at least give Mrs. Clinton enough of a scare that she embraces
progressive policy goals. Their aim is to make the primary process a debate
over the Democratic Party’s direction, rather than an uncontested march by
Mrs. Clinton to the nomination.

Guy Saperstein, a Democratic donor and part-owner of the Oakland A’s
baseball team, met privately at his home near San Francisco last week with
Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who has long championed
liberal causes. Mr. Sanders says he is considering a presidential bid and
wants to gauge whether he can raise enough money.

In their conversation, Mr. Saperstein said, he told Mr. Sanders that he
couldn’t support him until he is assured Ms. Warren, of Massachusetts,
won’t run. But he said he isn’t inclined to give money to Mrs. Clinton in
any scenario, saying he is “extremely concerned” about what he called her
“closeness to Wall Street.”

Mrs. Clinton and her husband have raised about $1 billion from U.S.
companies and industry donors in support of various policy and political
goals over the past two decades, a Wall Street Journal analysis has shown.
As president, Bill Clinton signed into law a measure that deregulated parts
of Wall Street, which critics say contributed to the 2008 financial crisis.

Earlier this past week, Mr. Sanders visited Keene State College in New
Hampshire, the first presidential primary state, where he warned students
that wealthy conservative interests are bottling up policies that would
boost job growth and help struggling families.

Asked about Mrs. Clinton’s ties to Wall Street firms, Mr. Sanders, who
normally has stopped short of criticizing her, said: “That’s an issue that
Hillary Clinton is going to have to deal with. That is a very fair
observation, and I think the American people perceive that.”

After listening to Mr. Sanders’s hourlong speech, Keene resident
John-Michael Dumais said: “He could help steer the conversation in a more
populist direction. People need that voice.”

Mrs. Clinton’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

In recent appearances for Democratic candidates in midterm races, Mrs.
Clinton has sought to shore up her populist credentials. At a campaign
rally in Minnesota this past week, she made some of her most explicit
comments to date about the need to prevent the sort of financial practices
that led to the economic collapse in 2008.

“We’ve made progress, but there is a lot of unfinished business so we don’t
end up once again with big banks taking big risks and leaving taxpayers
holding the bag,” she said.

On Friday, Mrs. Clinton called Ms. Warren “a passionate champion for
working people and middle-class families.” At a rally for the Democratic
nominee for governor in Massachusetts, Mrs. Clinton also said: “I love
watching Elizabeth, you know, give it to those who deserve to get it.”

As some liberals see it, Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders are more trusted
advocates of their interests. Ms. Warren has skewered credit-card companies
and mortgage lenders, accusing them of exploiting people who aren’t
financially savvy.

Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and a longtime
Democratic donor, said he would like to see Mr. Sanders and Ms. Warren run.
“Having either Bernie or Elizabeth run would be a wonderful thing for the
country,” Mr. Cohen said. Both, he said, “are standing up for the rights of
the majority of the population.”

As for Mrs. Clinton, he said: “I see Hillary as part of the
middle-of-the-road mainstream government that is essentially in bed with
these corporations.”

A three-month-old super PAC called “Ready for Warren” is planning to ramp
up its efforts after the midterm elections, hiring staff in New Hampshire,
Iowa and South Carolina to help ignite a Warren-for-president movement,
people with the group say.

One problem: Ms. Warren isn’t going along. Her Senate term ends in 2019,
and she has pledged to serve throughout. Yet, there is a long history of
politicians promising not to run and then changing their minds.

One Ready for Warren official said she attended the steak-fry fundraiser in
Iowa last month in which Mrs. Clinton was the marquee speaker. “A lot of
people were coming up to us and asking for signs and stickers and saying
how excited they were about Warren and how they hoped she would run,” said
Erica Sagrans, the group’s campaign manager.

*Chicago Tribune Opinion: Why Democrats should want a challenger to Clinton
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/sns-wp-blm-news-bc-clinton-comment24-20141024-story.html>*

By Jonathan Bernstein, Bloomberg News

October 24, 2014

The reason Democrats should be clamoring for a strong candidate to take on
Hillary Clinton in the 2016 primaries isn't Whitewater. It has nothing to
do with the political baggage she has been carrying during her long public
life.

The issue has come up because of a fuss over a Harper's cover story (gated,
alas) saying Democrats should "Stop Hillary!" based on two things: the
Clinton scandals of the 1990s and earlier, and the objection that the only
case for her candidacy is that "she has experience, she's a woman, and it's
her turn."

Whether this argument holds up (and, as political scientist Scott Lemieux
argues, it doesn't), Democrats of all stripes should be clamoring for a
contested race.

The first reason to want a primary is that the more likely it is she can
secure an uncontested nomination, the less she will have to commit to the
Democratic platform. The nomination process cements candidate to party;
without it, the natural tendency of politicians is to maintain as much
independence as possible.

Now, it isn't as if even an uncontested Clinton could ignore the party
altogether. If she wasn't signaling her support for what Democratic
activists and Democratic-aligned interest groups want, they wouldn't be
lining up behind her. And she is a creature of her party to begin with. Her
campaign organization and, if elected, her administration will draw from
the same pool of party professionals that any Democratic presidential
contender would turn to. Still, the more a nominee can be pushed toward the
party, the better off the party is.

There's a different reason that those who find the current Democratic Party
and its likely nominee too conservative would want a competitive primary.
Parties are self-defining institutions, and the main way they go about
defining themselves is through nominations for office. Parties take the
positions they do because their leaders support those positions, either for
policy or electoral reasons or both. Still, it's always possible to change
a party. But it is far easier to achieve this change by forcing the
eventual candidate to adjust their positions during the presidential
nomination process, than it is to try to change the positions of an elected
president.

This process can work even if Clinton wins every primary and caucus, as
long as there is enough opposition to force her to compete seriously. The
positions of other candidates don't matter as much as what the Democratic
Party collectively believes -- and whether it can find the leverage to
force its nominee to firmly support those policies. No matter who opposed
her, and which issues the challenger raised, both Clinton and her opponent
would be competing for the support of the bulk of the party. What's
important for the process to function is to recruit a candidate who can
force a real campaign.

The difficult part is to entice a potentially formidable candidate to go up
against Clinton, even though her nomination would be perfectly pleasing to
the mainstream liberal bulk of the party.

Still, even Democrats who strongly support Clinton should hope someone
challenges her, but not because of ancient and probably irrelevant baggage
such as Whitewater and Travelgate, and not even because of her vote for the
Iraq War. An unchallenged candidate is an independent politician, and party
actors should want party politicians.

*New York Times: Toxic Partnership? Bill Clinton Says He Had It Worse, Yet
Got Things Done
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/25/us/politics/toxic-partisanship-bill-clinton-says-he-had-it-worse-than-obama.html>*

By Amy Chozick

October 24, 2014

President Obama heads into midterm elections in which he may face crushing
losses. He has been spurned by his own party, whose candidates do not even
want to be seen with him. The president’s supporters say the toxic
atmosphere in Washington has made it impossible for Mr. Obama to succeed.

But there is a counter view being offered by a former Democratic president
that as far as personal attacks go, he, Bill Clinton, had it worse.
“Nobody’s accused him of murder yet, as far as I know. I mean, it was
pretty rough back then,” Mr. Clinton said last month in an interview aired
by PBS, when asked about the partisan climate facing Mr. Obama.

Whatever Mr. Clinton’s motivations, his comments, which his former aides
frequently refer to when the topic comes up, do not permit Mr. Obama to
excuse his legislative setbacks by simply citing hyper-partisanship. As one
former White House aide to Mr. Clinton put it: “They impeached our guy.”

The tumult of the Clinton years — including conspiracy theories about the
death of Vincent W. Foster Jr., a deputy White House counsel and friend of
the Clintons’ from Arkansas who committed suicide in 1993, the
investigation into Whitewater, the Monica Lewinsky scandal and
impeachment — has come back as Hillary Rodham Clinton inches toward a run
for president in 2016.

When asked last month what the single biggest misconception about his
presidency was, Mr. Clinton told Charlie Rose on PBS, “I think that most
people underappreciate the level of extreme partisanship that took hold in
’94.”

Twenty years later, Mr. Clinton has devoted much of his energy to
campaigning for Democrats who do not want to be associated with Mr. Obama.
At frequent campaign stops across the country, the former president does
not talk about who had it worse, but instead emphasizes that polarization
and an inability to work together are the cause of the country’s problems.

“Every place in the world people take the time to work together, good
things are happening,” Mr. Clinton said this week at a campaign stop in
Hazard, Ky., for the Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes.
“Every place in the world where people spend all their time fighting each
other and telling everybody how sorry they are, bad things happen.”

If Mr. Clinton does not explain on the campaign trail how bad things were
for him, his Democratic supporters do.

“Everyone looks at Clinton in this hazy glow of, ‘He’s so wonderful,’ ”
said Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic strategist. “But when he was president,
boy, were there a lot of people who went after him in a very personal, some
would say dirty, way.”

Even Mr. Clinton’s old rival, Newt Gingrich, a former Republican speaker of
the House, said people had a gauzy view of the Clinton years. “Everyone is
doing the, ‘Gee, Newt and Bill got things done, why can’t Obama get
anything done?’ routine,” Mr. Gingrich said. “Maybe it’s driving Bill nuts.”

The underlying implication is that Mr. Obama does not have it so rough.
Republicans who voted to impeach Mr. Clinton criticize the current
president for being less able or willing than his Democratic predecessor to
woo congressional Republicans.

Mr. Clinton talked to Charlie Rose of PBS about the level of partisanship
during his presidency compared with what President Obama is facing now.

Trent Lott, the Mississippi Republican who served as Senate majority leader
from 1996 to 2001, said Mr. Clinton was “affable” and “approachable,” even
toward his political opponents.

“You could talk to him,” Mr. Lott said. “He was also willing to make a deal
for the good of the country.” In contrast, he argued, Mr. Obama “has just
walked away” — so if Mr. Clinton even tried to give the current president a
pass, it “just won’t sell.”

Congressional Republicans, of course, have also refused to reach across the
aisle and work with Mr. Obama the way they did in Mr. Lott’s era. The
current Congress is on track to become one of the least legislatively
productive in recent history. That is partly because Mr. Obama faces a far
more polarized electorate than Mr. Clinton did.

Over the past 20 years, the number of Americans who hold extreme
conservative or liberal views has doubled from 10 percent in 1994 to 21
percent in 2014, according to the Pew Research Center. And the middle
ground has shrunk, with 39 percent of Americans taking a roughly equal
number of liberal and conservative positions, compared with 49 percent in
1994.

Mr. Clinton often talks about this polarization and says that while the
partisan gridlock is worse today, and the American electorate is less
willing to hear arguments it disagrees with, the attacks he faced were more
personal than those Mr. Obama has experienced.

In a 2012 interview with The New York Times, Mr. Clinton mentioned the
“murder” conspiracy theory in the 1990s, and said of Mr. Obama’s tenure:
“Nobody has tried to bankrupt him with bogus investigations, so it’s not
quite as bad. But the political impasse has gone on longer.”

“I will certainly not contradict the president I worked for when he argues
that it was even more personal then,” said William A. Galston, a former
policy adviser to Mr. Clinton. “But the polarization of our official
political institutions and our political parties has become even more acute
than in the Clinton days,” he added.

Mr. Clinton in 1996 with the House speaker, Newt Gingrich, left, and the
Senate majority leader, Trent Lott. CreditJoe Marquette/Associated Press

That argument absolves Mr. Clinton of his own part in the scandals of the
1990s, several historians said. “They’re different situations because there
were criminal allegations” against Mr. Clinton, said Ken Gormley, the
author of “The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr,” about the
investigation led by Kenneth W. Starr.

“President Obama has attracted a lot of attacks when it’s hard to point to
something exactly he has done that warranted them,” Mr. Gormley added.

Some of the venom directed at Mr. Obama has a racial component that Mr.
Clinton, a relatable white Southerner, never had to deal with, said Douglas
G. Brinkley, a presidential historian and professor at Rice University.
“The Clintons created huge problems of their own making,” Mr. Brinkley
added, while “Obama’s problem is that he bullheadedly pushed Obamacare, and
he happens to be African-American.”

“You can’t get more personal than questioning a person’s veracity for where
he was born,” said Mr. Galston, the former Clinton aide, referring to the
“birther” conspiracy theories about Mr. Obama’s birth certificate.

Mr. Clinton’s reminders about how bitter things were in Washington when he
was in the White House might not be the best message as Mrs. Clinton eyes
an attempt at getting back there, as president herself this time.

Senator Rand Paul, a potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate, has
already seized on the Lewinsky scandal as a way to remind voters that the
Clinton years were not just “peace and prosperity,” as Mrs. Clinton often
characterized her husband’s presidency during her 2008 presidential
campaign.

Mr. Clinton is not the only president who weathered harsh attacks. Harry
Reid, the Senate majority leader, called former President George W. Bush a
“liar” and a “loser,” and protesters depicted him as Hitler.

“Every president probably thinks he had it worse than all his
predecessors,” said Kenneth L. Khachigian, a Republican strategist who
served as a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. “But,” he
added, “those of us in the Nixon years would have gladly traded places
with Bill Clinton’s White House.”