According to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll, a majority of registered Democratic voters felt former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won Tuesday night’s Democratic debate.
A 55 percent majority of registered Democratic voters who watched the debate said Clinton won. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who saw a surge in online interest and fundraising, was a distant second, with only 22 percent saying he was the best of the night.
Clinton also saw an uptick in the proportion of Democrats who say they want her to be the party’s presidential nominee. Before the debate, 44 percent of registered Democrats said they wanted Clinton to be the nominee. After the debate, the figure had risen to 52 percent.
This ran during the Democratic debate in several markets, paid for by the anti-Clinton Stop Hillary PAC.
Truly a new low in campaign tactics as the group puts words in the mouths of the four Americans killed in Benghazi.
And the questions allude to serious distortions of the truth. There have already eight Congressional investigations into the attack in Benghazi and every single GOP-led investigation concluded former Secretary of State Clinton did nothing wrong in the matter.
• It’s notable that Hillary Clinton was the only candidate to bring up LGBT issues at all last night (partly because the topic wasn’t introduced by the moderator) and she did so in the first few minutes of the event in her opening statement.
“This is about bringing our country together again. And I will do everything I can to heal the divides — the divides economically, because there’s too much inequality; the racial divides; the continuing discrimination against the LGBT community…”
• Hillary knew when to not interject and possibly become a target of the discussion, and when to use body language to nod her head in agreement when others were talking – it kept her visually present in the moment.
• Hillary was ready with a strong answer when asked about her vote for the Iraq war: “Well, I recall very well being on a debate stage, I think, about 25 times with then-Sen. Obama debating this very issue. After the election he asked me to become Secretary of State. He valued my judgment and I spent a lot of time with him in the Situation Room going over some very difficult issues.”
• Anderson Cooper was a highlight worth mentioning, also. Strong, prepared, not afraid of clear follow-up questions, he held the candidates to the questions and when needed would circle back after a non-answer: “Senator, you didn’t answer the question,” he said more than once.
• One quibble I had was the tone set at the beginning as he chose to start with questions that, basically, called each candidate out on their weak spots. No problem with those questions, but I thought it began the event with everyone on defense. As a viewer I’d have preferred that line of questions had come later.
• CNN made little use of the secondary moderators leaving little input from the female (Dana Bash), the African-American (Don Lemon) and the Latino (Juan Carlos Lopez) and there didn’t seem to be a good reason. Cooper delivered a strong performance, but perhaps he forgot his colleagues sitting on stage?
• While I realize neither former Sen. Jim Webb nor Gov. Lincoln Chaffee will not be the next Democratic nominee for president, the amount of time afforded them (which Webb openly groused about the entire evening) was unfair. I understand everyone can’t have EXACTLY the same time, but the difference in talk time and questions was vast. Check the table below.
• Sanders can lay claim to the most memorable moment of the evening when he chimed in on the subject of Clinton’s email server woes. “Let me say something that may not be politically smart, but the secretary is right: the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails,” Sanders stated. “Thank you, Bernie, thank you,” Clinton said.
CNN can be happy about the audience last night’s Democratic Debate drew as preliminary estimates show 15.3 million viewers tuned in to watch Hillary, Bernie and company.
That marks the largest TV crowd for a Democratic debate ever. Before last night, the top number was the 2008 Philadelphia debate on ABC with 10.7 viewers.
The RNC will surely point out that the Dems didn’t come close to this years record setting GOP debate that drew over 25 million viewers.
But then, there were no “reality stars” on the stage last night in Las Vegas. Only substantive discussions about what’s best for the country.
Perhaps an indication of the Democratic party representing younger audiences, CNN did point out that the number of viewers who watched via streaming devices (phones, laptops, tablets) reached over 980,000 at it’s peak. That number surpasses the best of any Republican debate which has only topped out at 921,000.
At a bipartisan convention called the No Labels Problem Solver Convention yesterday, Donald Trump got a very direct question about his views on women from college student Lauren Batchelder.
“So, maybe I’m wrong, maybe you can prove me wrong,” said Lauren Batchelder, a student at St. Anselm College in Manchester. “But I don’t think you’re a friend to women.”
Trump launched into his defense, one that he has given a lot lately as he faces accusations that he doesn’t treat women with respect. Trump said he gave women positions of power at his construction sites “many years ago… before anyone would have even thought” to put women in such jobs. Trump complimented his wife, eldest daughter and mother, who he said “was one of the great people of the world.” He promised to “take care of women” and stated: “I love women, I respect women, I cherish women.”
Batchelder listened with her arms folded, face in a scowl. She then finished asking her question: “If you become president, will a woman make the same as a man, and do I get to choose what I do with my body?”
After the crowd cheered, Trump answered quickly and curtly: “You’re going to make the same if you do as good of a job, and I happen to be pro-life, okay?” Batchelder listened, her hands now on her hips.
As Trump supporters googled Batchelder’s name, they found a resume listing “intern at Jeb Bush for President 2016” and a Twitter feed containing pro-Bush tweets. Daniel Scavino Jr., a senior adviser to Trump, accused Bush of having “planted” an intern at the event.
The Tea People are, of course, out of their minds. And Trump took to the Twitterverse to tweak his rival, Jeb Bush:
The arrogant young woman who questioned me in such a nasty fashion at No Labels yesterday was a Jeb staffer! HOW CAN HE BEAT RUSSIA & CHINA?
Note how if you ask a tough question of Trump, you become “arrogant.”
A spokeswoman for Bush’s campaign, Allie Brandenburger, said Batchelder is not a paid staff member and made the decision to attend the convention on her own.
“While this question was not sanctioned by the campaign,” Brandenburger said via e-mail Tuesday morning, “we can’t help but notice Mr. Trump does seem to be very sensitive about being challenged by women.”
Bush’s main spokesman, Tim Miller, took to Twitter to flatly deny the Bush campaign had anything to do with the encounter:
For what its worth, Lauren is not a Jeb staffer but the Jeb staff is amused by how sensitive Donald is to being challenged by women.
Played by actor Frank Ridley, Fulbright is a mock-candidate who skewers typical politicians for Represent.us, a nonpartisan group that is pushing for campaign finance reform. He’s not even on the ballot anywhere.
But after he gave a stump speech cracking jokes about Republican candidates at the libertarian Republican Liberty Caucus’s national convention in Nashua, Fulbright beat some of them in the straw poll.
“Face it, I am a puppet for special interests and lobbyists,” Fulbright said. “And I will break any campaign promises that rub my donors the wrong way.”
Fulbright picked up a dozen votes, putting him way behind Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who won with 445 votes, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader. But that was still ahead of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former New York Gov. George Pataki.
Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump has received a lot of scrutiny for donating to Democratic politicians in the past. But Republican primary voters may be curious to know why one of his chief rivals, Dr. Ben Carson, officially joined the Republican Party less than one year ago.
The American Mirror has obtained several public records that show Dr. Ben Carson, one of Trump’s chief rivals, did not affiliate with the Republican Party until he changed his voter registration on October 31, 2014.
Carson filed this “record update/change” on that date to change his party affiliation to “Republican Party of Florida” — less than six months before declaring his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president.
Additionally, although the good doctor was a registered voter in Maryland for many years, it seems he never voted in a primary.
While most folks following the Democratic nomination contest are keeping their eyes on Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two voting opportunities in the 2016 presidential race, new CNN/ORC polls for Nevada and South Carolina show a strong, steady hand for Hillary Clinton in those two diverse states.
Clinton has the support of 50% of those who say they are likely to attend the Democratic caucus scheduled for February 20 in Nevada — which plays host to the first debate among the declared Democratic candidates on Tuesday and is the first state to elect delegates after Iowa and New Hampshire.
Sanders follows at 34%, then Vice President Joe Biden at 12%, with the rest of the field garnering less than 1% support.
Among those who say they are likely to vote in South Carolina’s primary, set for one week after Nevada’s caucuses, Clinton holds a larger edge, 49% to Biden’s 24%, with Sanders at 18% and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley at 3%.
If Biden doesn’t run, the spread gets even wider for Hillary: 70% to Sanders’ 20% in South Carolina; Hillary clicks up 9 to 58% in Nevada without Biden while Sanders only edges up 2 points to 36%
Hillary is currently leading in Iowa, the first in the nation contest, but trailing Sanders in New Hampshire. Heading into Super Tuesday, should she win Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina could put a significant wind at her back.
GOP front-runner Donald Trump brought this lovely lady up from the audience at his rally here in Las Vegas yesterday.
He apparently tried to get across the idea that they had never met, but she couldn’t be contained:
“I’m Hispanic and I vote for Mr. Trump! Yes, Mr. Trump! We love you! We love you all the way to the White House!”
Isn’t it a bit creepy that he grabs her arms, etc…?
Bless her little heart, you have to wonder how much he paid her to do this.
UPDATE: CNN interviewed the woman, Myriam Witcher about the experience where she says no one from Trump’s campaign ever contacted her about coming on stage or speaking on his behalf.
She also says she agrees with Trump 100% on everything and that he’s “an angel sent from Heaven.”
