Subject: ​Correct The Record Monday January 26, 2015 Afternoon Roundup
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 14:22:05 -0500
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

*​**Correct The Record Monday January 26, 2015 Afternoon Roundup:*

*Tweets:*

*Pres. Bill Clinton* @billclinton: Congratulations Bill Haas. What an
exciting finish! [1/25/15, 9:00 p.m. EST
<https://twitter.com/billclinton/status/559531197093519360>]

*Pres. Bill Clinton* @billclinton: Meeting future champions in Bob Hope
Square! Kids Day at @HumanaChallenge in partnership w/@ClintonFdn
[1/25/15, 8:08
p.m. EST <https://twitter.com/billclinton/status/559518116942594048>]

*Correct The Record* @CorrectRecord: .@HillaryClinton
<https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton> strove to address and relieve student
debt #HRC365 <https://twitter.com/hashtag/HRC365?src=hash>
https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/senate-bill/3593/cosponsors …
<https://t.co/0PKpfSRGwn> [1/25/15, 8:02 p.m. EST
<https://twitter.com/CorrectRecord/status/559516602530398213>]

*Headlines:*

*ABC News: “Hillary Clinton Has Been M.I.A. Lately -- and Here’s Why”
<http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hillary-clinton-mia-heres/story?id=28472663>*

“Unlike lesser known candidates, Clinton doesn’t have to make a name for
herself. Plus, Clinton has outside groups –like Ready for Hillary and
Correct the Record— doing some of the early organizing work for her.”

*USA Today: “Poll: For 2016, many Republicans but just one Democrat”
<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/01/26/usa-today-suffolk-poll-2016/22344379/>*

“Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton commands the broadest support in memory
of any prospective nominee at this point in the race when no incumbent
president is running. Even among those who describe themselves as liberal
or very liberal — the group most likely to back Warren — 57% name Clinton
as their preference.”

*Rasmussen Reports: “Clinton vs. Warren, and the Winner Among Democrats
Is…”
<http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/january_2015/clinton_vs_warren_and_the_winner_among_democrats_is>*

“Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is increasingly the favorite of
left-leaning Democrats, but Hillary Clinton trounces her in a head-to-head
matchup for their party’s 2016 presidential nomination.”

*MSNBC: “In Iowa, GOP women take aim at Hillary”
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/iowa-gop-women-carly-fiorina-sarah-palin-take-aim-hillary>*

“At Saturday’s Iowa Freedom Summit, the men in the ever-widening pool of
potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates used their speeches to call for
the best ways to crush Obamacare and immigration reform. But the women
focused on one target: the likely 2016 Democratic standard bearer, Hillary
Clinton.”

*Huffington Post: “Joe Scarborough: Hillary Clinton Leads The 'Most Elite,'
'Gatsby-Like Existence' Of Any Politician”
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/26/hillary-clinton-gatsby-joe-scarborough_n_6546710.html>*

“Hillary Clinton leads the ‘most Gatsby-like existence’ of any politician
today, MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ host Joe Scarborough said during his show
Monday.”

*Articles:*

*ABC News: “Hillary Clinton Has Been M.I.A. Lately -- and Here’s Why”
<http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hillary-clinton-mia-heres/story?id=28472663>*

By Liz Kreutz

January 26, 2015, 10:27 a.m. EST

At a time when many potential 2016 presidential contenders appear to be
starting the ignition of their campaigns, Hillary Clinton has pressed the
brake pedal.

Or so it seems.

Clinton’s calendar, which was jam-packed throughout most of last year with
paid speeches, award ceremonies, fundraisers, book tour stops, campaign
appearances and official Clinton Foundation business, is now virtually
empty.

Over the past six weeks, the likely Democratic presidential candidate has
made just two public appearances – both on the same day, and both in
Canada. She doesn’t have another event scheduled until late next month.

Although Clinton still insists she hasn’t decided whether she’ll run, it is
widely believed that she will, and an announcement is expected this spring.

Until then, Clinton appears to be lying low and staying out of the public
eye. Meanwhile, much of the focus has turned toward potential Republican
candidates like Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush and Rand Paul. A dozen others tested
out their possible stump speeches at a summit in Iowa last weekend.

A Clinton spokesman declined to comment on reasons for her light public
schedule. But, according to Democratic strategists and Clinton insiders,
this is exactly how it should be.

Here’s why:

*Playing It Safe*

After a rocky book rollout last summer and a few flubs on the midterm
campaign trail, some see Clinton as politically rusty. Keeping out of the
spotlight now lowers the chances of making mistakes that could come back to
haunt her later.

“Why take the risk?” said one prominent Democrat with ties to Clinton, who
requested anonymity in order to speak candidly about Clinton’s
vulnerabilities. “The more you’re out there -- I don’t care how prepared
you are or how experienced you are -- she’s going to slip up.”

But, the source added, it’s about the optics, too. And her high-dollar
speaking fees aren’t a good look for a potential presidential candidate.
The closer Clinton gets to an announcement, “the more she really needs to
pay attention to the arguments that she’s going to make about the economy,
and other issues. And doing speeches for $250,000 a pop will detract from
that,” the source said.

*Above the Fray*

By lowering her profile, Clinton has avoided what Democratic strategist and
ABC News contributor Donna Brazile described as “day-to-day, flash and burn
politics.”

"There’s no reason Hillary Clinton should be involved in what I call
partisan, insular, inside-the-beltway politics,” Brazile explained. “She
doesn’t need to be a part of what happens in Obama’s White House and the
Republican Congress. Her campaign is not predicated on what budget decision
they make now, or what compromise they forge.”

This also gives Clinton the ability to cherry pick when she wants to weigh
in. Recently, for instance, Clinton sent out unsolicited tweets criticizing
Republicans attempts to roll back financial reform laws in Congress and
supporting President Obama following the State of the Union.

Clinton can swing this because she is technically still a private citizen.

*Party Timing*

At this point in 2007, Clinton had already announced her candidacy, but the
playing field was different: There was a Republican president and Democrats
were the opposition.

There is no upside, some strategists say, to coming out early when your own
party occupies the White House.

“If Clinton were out there right now, they’d say, ‘What is she doing?’”
Brazile said. “What advantage does she have in this battle?”

This time around, Republicans have more of a reason to be out there early.

*Gearing Up, Getting Ready*

Another likely reason Hillary Clinton is limiting her public events: To
focus on her behind-the-scenes operation.

In recent weeks, Clinton has begun staffing up, hiring longtime strategists
and former Obama advisers to be part of her senior leadership team. She’s
been digging into her 2007 polling numbers. And, as the Washington Post
reported, she has been holding daily strategy meetings in her Chappaqua,
New York home.

“She’s hunkered down, preparing, and making a decision,” said one Clinton
insider with knowledge of the situation, “The idea that she’s off the
radar, laying low, precludes the fact that she’s working really hard and
being very much the Hillary Clinton that everyone knows.”

*Because She Can*

A break from the public, strategists say, is a luxury Clinton can afford at
the moment.

Unlike lesser known candidates, Clinton doesn’t have to make a name for
herself. Plus, Clinton has outside groups –like Ready for Hillary and
Correct the Record— doing some of the early organizing work for her. This
allows her to focus on other things like spending time with her family and
preparing for what’s to come.

Because, as one top Clinton donor noted, “The day she announces, she’ll be
ready to go” -- and squarely in the spotlight.

*USA Today: “Poll: For 2016, many Republicans but just one Democrat”
<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/01/26/usa-today-suffolk-poll-2016/22344379/>*

By Susan Page

January 26, 2015, 12:23 p.m. EST

WASHINGTON — No wonder so many Republicans are considering a bid for
president in 2016: It may be the most wide-open field ever.

A new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds Republican and
Republican-leaning voters scattered among 18 prospective nominees when
asked an open-ended question about whom they want the GOP to nominate for
president next year. "Undecided" finishes first, at 45%, trailed by 2012
nominee Mitt Romney at 16% and former Florida governor Jeb Bush at 13%.

No one else gets close to double digits, though potential contenders
including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, New Jersey Gov.
Chris Christie and others make the list of those mentioned.

The contrast couldn't be sharper with the other side. A 51% majority of
Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters name former secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton as their preferred nominee; 31% are undecided. Just
5% name Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a favorite of progressive
activists, and 4% Vice President Biden.

The telephone survey of 395 Democrats and 319 Republicans, taken Wednesday
 through Sunday, has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points
for the Democratic question and 6 for the Republican one.

The Republican contest unofficially was launched in Des Moines over the
weekend, when a procession of presidential prospects delivered speeches to
the Iowa Freedom Summit, a gathering of conservatives. The opening Iowa
presidential caucuses are now about a year away.

To be sure, a survey this far from the election can be largely a test of
name identification. "The fact is that people are recalling the names
they're most familiar with," says David Paleologos, director of Suffolk's
Political Research Center, in Boston. "So it has its limitations."

But the survey does spotlight the lack of a front-runner to define the
early contest among Republicans. Before the last election, an open-ended
question asked in an ABC News/Washington Post Poll in April 2011 also
showed Romney at 16% — but that was double the standing of anyone else.

Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton commands the broadest support in memory of
any prospective nominee at this point in the race when no incumbent
president is running. Even among those who describe themselves as liberal
or very liberal — the group most likely to back Warren — 57% name Clinton
as their preference.

That's not to say Democrats are necessarily happy with their choices. In
all, 58% of Democrats say the two parties don't do a good job of
representing Americans' political views and say a third party or multiple
parties are necessary. That's also the view of 45% of Republicans and 65%
of independents.

*Rasmussen Reports: “Clinton vs. Warren, and the Winner Among Democrats
Is…”
<http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/january_2015/clinton_vs_warren_and_the_winner_among_democrats_is>*

[No Writer Mentioned]

January 26, 2015

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is increasingly the favorite of
left-leaning Democrats, but Hillary Clinton trounces her in a head-to-head
matchup for their party’s 2016 presidential nomination. One-in-five
Democratic voters, however, say they’ve never heard of Warren at this early
stage of the game.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that Clinton beats
Warren 62% to 22% among Likely Democratic Voters asked whom they would vote
for if their state’s primary was held today. But 16% are undecided given
those two choices only. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

While just one percent (1%) of these voters say they’ve never heard of
Clinton, Warren is an unknown to 18%.

Tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. Eastern, we’ll give you a better picture of how the
2016 Democratic field looks at this early stage when we open up the ballot
to some of the other prominent hopefuls.

In our last look at the Democratic race in mid-November, Clinton led a pack
of potential candidates with 62% of the vote. Warren was a distant second
with 17% support among her fellow Democrats.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls).
Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 648 Likely Democratic Voters was conducted on January 18-19,
2015 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage
points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports
surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Generally, with an election this far in the future, it’s mostly about name
recognition, and Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012,
is the leader in the race to be his party’s standard-bearer in 2016. Most
voters, however, think the GOP should find a fresh face to be its
presidential nominee.

Among Democrats, men and those 40 and over prefer Warren more than women
and younger voters do. Clinton is noticeably less popular with married
Democrats compared to those who are not married.

Clinton leads, though, in every demographic group, including liberal
Democrats. Warren is still an unknown commodity to many of these voters.

It’s important to remember that Clinton dominated the race for the 2008
Democratic presidential nomination three years before the election,  but
when Illinois Senator Barack Obama formally entered the race in January
2007, it suddenly was a tie contest.

Only 28% of all voters think Clinton and Obama like each other, but 75%
think the president is likely to endorse Clinton over other Democratic
contenders if she runs for the party’s presidential nomination in 2016.

*MSNBC: “In Iowa, GOP women take aim at Hillary”
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/iowa-gop-women-carly-fiorina-sarah-palin-take-aim-hillary>*

By Anna Brand

January 26, 2015, 12:10 p.m. EST

At Saturday’s Iowa Freedom Summit, the men in the ever-widening pool of
potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates used their speeches to call for
the best ways to crush Obamacare and immigration reform. But the women
focused on one target: the likely 2016 Democratic standard bearer, Hillary
Clinton.

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, though relatively unknown in a
field of thunderous voices, is actively exploring a 2016 run – and in Iowa
she made it clear she’d be running as the anti-Hillary.

“Like Hillary Clinton, I too, have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles
around the globe,” Fiorina said of the former secretary of state, drawing
cheers. “But unlike her, I have actually accomplished something. Mrs.
Clinton, flying is an activity not an accomplishment.”

Only six of 24 speakers at the Iowa Freedom Summit were women – and none of
them have made waves as big as their male counterparts like Texas Sen. Ted
Cruz and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. (Missing from the event were
notable 2016ers former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former presidential
candidate Mitt Romney.)

Fiorina lost the only political campaign she’s run so far when she
challenged Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California in 2010. But she
made headlines last summer when she launched a Super PAC, Unlocking
Potential Project, aimed at teaching her male Republican counterparts how
best to speak to women.

But in her speech at Iowa’s crowded Hoyt Sherman Place, it wasn’t about
raising women, it was about tearing one woman down.

Sneaking Benghazi into her address (another topic glazed over by the male
candidates who took the stage) Fiorina said: “Unlike Hillary Clinton, I
know what difference it makes that our ambassador to Libya and three other
brave Americans were killed in a deliberate terrorist attack on the
anniversary of 9/11.”

Sarah Palin joined Fiorina in the Hillary-hating. The 2008 Republican vice
presidential candidate, who recently said that she’s “seriously interested”
in running for president in 2016, delivered a bizarre and often incoherent
speech, but one aspect was clear: she’s got her sights on Hillary.

“I’m ready for Hillary, are you? Are you coming?” Palin said, raising a
Time magazine from last year with a headline “Can Anyone Stop Hillary.”

Palin said she doesn’t feel there’s a rush to make a decision about 2016.
Fiorina might have an opinion about whether Palin runs too, whether they
compete for the party’s 2016 nomination or not. Back in 2008 as one of John
McCain’s economic advisers, Fiorina said that Palin, McCain’s VP pick,
would not be qualified to be CEO of a corporation like Hewlett-Packard. She
tried to salvage her comments on msnbc.

Longtime Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway also dug into Hillary Clinton
at the Freedom Summit. “Don’t worry about being called mean. Let’s talk
about Hillary Clinton,” she said. “Hillary Clinton is the second most
influential person in her own household. I would say Hillary Clinton has
the wrong vision for America, but I don’t know what it is.”

Tennessee GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn also jumped on the bandwagon, mocking
several TV networks for their coverage of Clinton. “ABC: All About Clinton
network; NBC: Nothing But Clinton; CNN: Clinton News Network; CBS - - just
think about it!” Translation: Clinton b.s.,” she said.

*Huffington Post: “Joe Scarborough: Hillary Clinton Leads The 'Most Elite,'
'Gatsby-Like Existence' Of Any Politician”
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/26/hillary-clinton-gatsby-joe-scarborough_n_6546710.html>*

By Dominique Mosbergen

January 26, 2015, 10:40 a.m. EST

Hillary Clinton leads the “most Gatsby-like existence” of any politician
today, MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough said during his show
Monday.

Discussing Mitt Romney’s recent attempts to paint himself as a populist
leader, Scarborough said that the former Massachusetts governor may not
have to worry about looking too elite next to Clinton, if the pair are
indeed pitted against each other during next year’s presidential election.

“Hillary Clinton has just as many billionaire friends, and has led over the
past 25 years the most elite, the most insular, the most Gatsby-like
existence of any person in the political world today,” Scarborough said.
“Her friends are at Davos, her friends are at Goldman Sachs. I mean,
Hillary Clinton, when she said we’re not really that rich -- do you know
why she said that? Because everybody she hangs out with are billionaires.”

During a speech at the Republican National Committee's winter meeting
earlier this month, Romney, who appears to be eyeing a third run for
president, said he plans to make poverty and income inequality the
cornerstones of his campaign.

“Under President [Barack] Obama, the rich have gotten richer, income
inequality has gotten worse and there are more people in poverty than ever
before,” Romney said. “Under this president, his policies have not worked.
Their liberal policies are good every four years for a campaign, but they
don’t get the job done.”

Romney may have a difficult time convincing the general public that this
latest reinvention is genuine, however.

“The problem for Romney is that he is regarded by many, at least today, as
a wealthy plutocrat primarily concerned with feathering the nests of his
affluent friends," The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza noted earlier this
month. "Romney might have the right message -- frustration and anxiety over
income inequality is everywhere in the country -- but he seems like a
uniquely poor messenger to carry it."