podesta_email_01371.txt

podesta-emails 70,192 words email

P21 P18 P19 V16 P22

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News Clips* *June 21, 201* *TODAY’S KEY STORIES..................................................................................... **5* *Hillary Clinton Calls America’s Struggle With Racism Far From Over* // NYT // Nicholas Fandos – June 20, 2015...................................................................................................................................... 5 *In San Francisco, Hillary Clinton challenges nation on racism: ‘Race remains a deep fault line in America’* // WaPo // David Nakamura – June 20, 2015.............................................................................. 7 *Clinton seizes the center on race and guns in wake of GOP's silence* // VOX // Jonathan Allen – June 20, 2015............................................................................................................................................. 8 *SOCIAL MEDIA................................................................................................ **10* *Chris Bollwage (6/20/15, 12:52 pm)* - Secretary Clinton is delivering a very powerful speech on racism in America and the need for common sense gun control laws in our country............................... 10 *Peter Nicholas (6/20/15, 12:53 pm)* - Hillary Clinton quotes FDR's "bold and persistent experimentation" line. HRC has been channeling FDR in her presidential campaign................................................. 10 *Niels Lesniewski (6/20/15, 12:55 pm)* - Sobering speech from @HillaryClinton as the Conference of Mayors "It's not just the kooks and Klansmen" but the assumptions.......................................................... 10 *Daniel Hernandez Jr. (6/20/15, 5:27 pm)* - As a survivor of gun violence I was happy to see @HillaryClinton address the US Conference of Mayors on guns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5Xv80YydnI … 10 *Faiz (6/20/15, 1:01 pm)* - That was one of the more compelling Hillary Clinton speeches I've seen in a while............................................................................................................................................. 10 *Lynn Sweet (6/20/15, 1:08 pm)* - The speech @HillaryClinton just made at the #USCM2015 about race is the most important so far in her campaign. #CharlestonShooting.................................................. 11 *Jen Covino (6/20/15, 1:09 pm)* - Well, @HillaryClinton just left us all emotional, speechless, teary-eyed, contemplative, determined, hopeful for the future #USCM2015.............................................. 11 *Mitt Romney (6/20/15, 11:09 am)* - Take down the #ConfederateFlag at the SC Capitol. To many, it is a symbol of racial hatred. Remove it now to honor #Charleston victims.................................................. 11 *Marc Caputo (6/20/15, 6:09 pm)* - Rubio won't say if SC rebel flag should be moved because it's a state issue, will " do the right thing," backs Jeb removing from FL Capitol................................................. 11 *Craig Gilbert (6/20/15, 8:47 pm)* - in gaggle after DC speech Walker repeatedly defers on Confed flag issue in SC, saying debate should wait 'til after dead are buried/mourned........................................... 11 *Dan Merica (6/20/15, 10:47 pm)* - Team Sanders says 4,500 ppl attended their CO rally tonight. And Sanders came out to "Rockin' In The Free World" w Neil Young's approval............................................ 11 *HRC NATIONAL COVERAGE............................................................................ **11* *Bush and Clinton are true policy wonks. Can they make a virtue of that?* // WaPo // Dan Balz – June 20, 2015............................................................................................................................................ 11 *Hillary Clinton Calls for Tighter Gun Control After Charleston Church Shooting* // WSJ // Peter Nicholas – June 20, 2015............................................................................................................................... 14 *Hillary Clinton decries 'institutional racism' after Charleston shooting* // AP – June 20, 2015... 15 *Clinton calls for ‘common-sense’ gun control: ‘We can’t give up’* // AP // Lisa Lerer – June 20, 2015 15 *Hillary Clinton calls for ‘common sense’ gun reforms in wake of Charleston shooting* // Politico // Annie Karni – June 20, 2015.................................................................................................................... 16 *In Charleston's wake, Clinton speaks forcefully on guns, race* // CNN // Dan Merica – June 20, 2015 18 *Clinton calls for new gun control laws, outflanking Sanders* // MSNBC // Alex Seitz-Wald – June 20, 2015............................................................................................................................................ 19 *Hillary Rodham Clinton makes strong plea for gun control* // USA Today // Jon Swartz – June 20, 2015 21 *First on CNN: Hillary Clinton calls Lindsey Graham in wake of Charleston shooting* // CNN // Dana Bash – June 20, 2015....................................................................................................................... 22 *Hillary Clinton Calls For 'Common Sense' Gun Reforms In Wake Of Charleston Shooting* // HuffPo // Igor Bobic – June 20, 2015.................................................................................................................... 23 *Hillary Clinton Calls for 'Common Sense' Gun Control After Charleston Shooting* // ABC News // Erin Dooley – June 20, 2015....................................................................................................................... 24 *Hillary Clinton Calls for Gun Reforms in Speech to U.S. Mayors* // Bloomberg News // Alison Vekshin – June 20, 2015............................................................................................................................... 25 *Hillary Clinton Talks About Racism And Gun Reform Following Charleston Mass Shooting* // International Business Times // Michelle FlorCruz – June 20, 2015............................................................. 27 *Hillary Clinton: 'America's long struggle with race is far from finished'* // LA Times // Cathleen Decker – June 20, 2015............................................................................................................................... 28 *Hillary Clinton After Charleston Shooting: Race Remains 'Deep Fault Line'* // NBC News – June 20, 2015 30 *Hillary Clinton calls for “common-sense gun reforms” after Charleston* // CBS News // Reena Flores – June 20, 2015.................................................................................................................................... 30 *Hillary Clinton Calls for “Common Sense” Gun Control, Decries “Institutional Racism”* // Slate Daniel Politi – June 20, 2015....................................................................................................................... 32 *Watch Hillary Clinton address Charleston shooting and ‘America’s long struggle with race’* // Fusion // John Walker – June 20, 2015......................................................................................................... 32 *Flashback: As Governor, Bill Clinton Honored Confederacy On Arkansas Flag* // Daily Caller // Derek Hunter – June 20, 2015....................................................................................................................... 33 *Hillary Clinton: 'America's Long Struggle With Race Is Far From Finished'* // Crooks and Liars // Karoli – June 20, 2015............................................................................................................................... 34 *Hillary Clinton on Charleston: ‘We Can’t Hide’ From Truth of White Privilege* // Mediaite // Andrew Husband – June 20, 2015.................................................................................................................... 36 *In One Quote, Hillary Clinton Just Took a Bold Stance on Race in America* // Mic // Tom McKay – June 20, 2015..................................................................................................................................... 37 *Clinton calls for gun reforms in wake of Charleston shooting* // The Hill // Kevin Cirilli – June 20, 2015 38 *Hillary Clinton vows to keep fighting for common sense gun control* // The Financial Times // Megan Murphy – June 20, 2015.................................................................................................................... 39 *Here's why one of Hillary Clinton's big ideas is a smart move for 2016* // Business Insider // Maxwell Tani – June 20, 2015....................................................................................................................... 40 *Election 2016: Beating Hillary Clinton Top Conservative Voter Priority* // IB Times // Ginger Gibson – June 20, 2015..................................................................................................................................... 41 *CNN Panel Discusses Troubling Polling Numbers for Clinton 'This wasn't her best week'* // Free Beacon // Washington Free Beacon Staff - June 21, 2015........................................................................ 43 *Clinton confidant cuts ties with the formidable family* // NYPost // Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein - June 21, 2015..................................................................................................................................... 44 *Democrats veer left then blast everyone else for being ‘right wing’* // NYPost // By Kyle Smith - June 21, 2015........................................................................................................................................... 48 *Will Obama’s coalition readily accept Clinton?* // Las Vegas Sun // Clarence Page – June 20, 2015 50 *Hillary Clinton’s shameful charge to a children’s charity* // NY Post – June 20, 2015................ 51 *John Bolton: No Hillary Clinton or Rand Paul for President* // The Blaze // Fred Lucas – June 20, 2015 52 *OTHER DEMOCRATS NATIONAL COVERAGE................................................. **53* *DECLARED................................................................................................. **53* *SANDERS................................................................................................. **53* *Sanders banters on HBO with Bill Maher, praises pope and seeks support of younger voters* // WaPo // John Wagner – June 20, 2015........................................................................................................ 53 *Defying conventions, Bernie Sanders emerges as a challenger for Hillary Clinton* // AP // Ken Thomas – June 20, 2015............................................................................................................................... 54 *Bernie Sanders' battle to get on the New Hampshire ballot* // Politico // Jonathan Topaz – June 20, 2015............................................................................................................................................ 56 *Maher tells Bernie Sanders: Your campaign must be working ‘You’ve got Hillary talking like Elizabeth Warren’* // Raw Story // Tom Boggioni – June 20, 2015....................................................................... 58 *Leaving Brooklyn, Bernie Sanders Found Home In Vermont* // NPR // Tamara Keith – June 20, 2015 58 *Bernie Sanders Wows Hollywood Progressives at Two L.A. Fundraisers* // The Hollywood Reporter // Tina Daunt – June 20, 2015.......................................................................................................... 61 *OTHER.................................................................................................... **63* *Obama, Clinton mining state's gold, not voters* // LA Times // Cathleen Decker - June 21, 2015 64 *GOP................................................................................................................. **66* *DECLARED................................................................................................. **66* *BUSH....................................................................................................... **66* *Can Jeb Bush Win the Christian Right?* // WSJ // Dante Chinni – June 20, 2015..................... 66 *Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio’s backyard battle royal* // Politico // Marco Caputo – June 20, 2015 67 *Jeb Bush's Standing Improves Among Republicans* // NBC News // Mark Murray – June 21, 2015 71 *Jeb Bush faces key test on immigration* // Albequerque Journal // Andres Oppenheimer – June 20, 2015............................................................................................................................................ 72 *Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush Say Confederate Flag Should be Removed* // Slate // Daniel Politi – June 20, 2015............................................................................................................................................ 74 *Confederate flag fell in Florida under Gov. Jeb Bush* // Tampa Bay Times // Alex Leary – June 20, 2015 74 *RUBIO...................................................................................................... **75* *In Miami, Rubio downplays competition with Bush: ‘It’s politics. It’s not personal.’* // WaPo // Sean Sullivan – June 20, 2015....................................................................................................................... 75 *Jeb Bush vs. Marco Rubio: Can the friendly tone last?* // CS Monitor // Linda Feldman – June 20, 2015 77 *At Miami-Dade GOP, a homecoming for Marco Rubio* // The Miami Herald // Patricia Mazzei – June 20, 2015............................................................................................................................................ 79 *Marco Rubio: 'No problem' with Catholic Church on climate change but economy more important* // The Miami Herald // Patricia Mezzai – June 20, 2015................................................................... 81 *Marco Rubio to name Adam Hasner, Tom Rooney Florida campaign chairs* // The Miami Herald // Patricia Mezzai – June 20, 2015......................................................................................................... 81 *Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush focus on home-state Republicans* // Sun Sentinel // Anthony Man – June 20, 2015........................................................................................................................................... 82 *Senator Rubio falls silent on immigration, his signature subject* // The Boston Globe // Matt Viser – June 20, 2015.................................................................................................................................... 84 *As Marco Rubio speaks to the Miami-Dade GOP tonight, a look at his Truth-O-Meter record* // The Miami Herald // Amy Sherman – June 20, 2015............................................................................... 90 *PAUL........................................................................................................ **91* *Hedge fund manager Mark Spitznagel to advise Rand Paul* // CNBC // Lawrence Delvinge – June 20, 2015............................................................................................................................................ 91 *CRUZ........................................................................................................ **92* *Ted Cruz: It’s up to South Carolina to decide on Confederate flag* // WaPo // Katie Zezima – June 20, 2015............................................................................................................................................ 92 *Ted Cruz Cracks Jokes On Gun Control Days After Charleston Shooting* // HuffPo // Samantha-Jo Roth – June 20, 2015............................................................................................................................... 93 *U.S. should come together after Charleston, Cruz says* // The Des Moines Register // Matthew Patane – June 20, 2015............................................................................................................................... 95 *For Ted Cruz, The Hard Part Comes Next* // NPR // Jessica Taylor – June 20, 2015.................. 96 *Cruz: 'Liberal fascism' took away Gortz Haus livelihood* // The Des Moines Register // Matthew Patane – June 20, 2015............................................................................................................................... 99 *Ted Cruz Introduces Bill to Drain Amnesty Slush Fund Subsidized by Legal Immigrants* // Breitbart News // Katie McHugh – June 20, 2015............................................................................................ 100 *PERRY.................................................................................................... **101* *Perry condemns Charleston church shooting after 'accident' flub* // CNN // Danielle Diaz – June 20, 2015.......................................................................................................................................... 101 *Rick Perry warns Jeb Bush ‘ Has to be Careful’ about criticizing Texas* // Breitbart News // Sarah Rumpf – June 20, 2015..................................................................................................................... 102 *Rick Perry calls South Carolina church shooting an 'accident'* // AOL News – June 20, 2015.... 107 *Rick Perry: Dylann Roof ‘Gunned Down 9 Children of God’* // Mediaite // Andrew Husband – June 20, 2015.......................................................................................................................................... 108 *GRAHAM............................................................................................... **108* *Sen. Lindsey Graham: there’s ‘No doubt’ that Charleston church massacre was racially motivated* // McClatchy // William Douglas – June 20, 2015..................................................................................... 108 *Lindsey Graham gets to the heart of it* // The Baltimore Sun // John McIntrye – June 20, 2015 109 *SANTORUM............................................................................................ **110* *Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindal Talk Faith and Freedom* // KMBZ – June 20, 2015.............. 110 *HUCKABEE............................................................................................ **112* *Fox host and Huckabee attack Obama over gun control comments — then call for more civility and less rhetoric* // Raw Story // Tom Boggioni – June 20, 2015.......................................................... 112 *CARSON.................................................................................................. **112* *Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks in Birmingham* // Alabama News // Adam Ganucheau – June 20, 2015................................................................................................................... 112 *TRUMP................................................................................................... **113* *Donoald Trump’s resume backs his run for president* // NY Post // Jonathan Trugman – June 20, 2015 113 *Cher trashes Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign* // MSNBC // Adam Howard – June 20, 2015 115 *UNDECLARED........................................................................................... **116* *WALKER................................................................................................ **116* *Leading in polls, Scott Walker waits* // The Hill // Niall Stanage – June 20, 2015................... 116 *Walker wows social conservatives with attacks on Obama, puts GOP rivals on notice* // The Washington Times // Madison Gesiotto – June 20, 2015.................................................................................... 120 *Scott Walker denounces Charleston slayings, sidesteps flag debate* // Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel // Craig Gilbert – June 20, 2015........................................................................................................ 121 *CHRISTIE.............................................................................................. **122* *Jeb Bush And Chris Christie Spout Anti-Women Rhetoric At Conservative Conference* // Think Progress // Kira Lerner – June 20, 2015........................................................................................................ 122 *Christie to attend memorial for Charleston murder victims at St. Matthew A.M.E. church in Orange* // NJ News – June 20, 2015.......................................................................................................... 123 *KASICH.................................................................................................. **124* *Obamacare looms over Kasich's presidential bid* // Politico // Rachana Pradhan And Kyle Cheney – June 20, 2015................................................................................................................................... 124 *OTHER................................................................................................... **127* *Mitt Romney Calls for Removal of Confederate Flag at South Carolina Capitol* // NYT // Michael Barbaro – June 20, 2015..................................................................................................................... 127 *2016 GOP contenders face major political dilemma in Obamacare ruling* // WaPo // Katie Zezima & Lena Sun – June 20, 2015..................................................................................................................... 127 *How Mitt Romney’s opposition to Confederate flag just put the GOP’s current presidential candidates on the spot* // WaPo // Ed O’Keefe – June 20, 2015......................................................................... 131 *Why Republicans were quick to cite religion — but not racism — on Charleston* // WaPo // Jannell Ross – June 20, 2015.............................................................................................................................. 133 *Confederate flag sets off debate in GOP 2016 class* // AP // Steve Peoples – June 20, 2015...... 135 *Romney: Take down the Confederate flag; 2016 GOP field: Leave it to South Carolina* // Politico // Marc Caputo and Ali Breland – June 20, 2015.......................................................................................... 137 *GOP Presidential Candidates: The More the Scarier* // Real Clear Politics // Jonathan Riehl & David B. Frisk – June 20, 2015..................................................................................................................... 139 *Why Can’t Republicans Admit Dylann Roof Was Racist?* // NY Mag // Jonathan Chait – June 20, 2015 142 *Religion and politics: GOP hopefuls' new insight on faith* // AP // Steve Peoples – June 20, 2015 143 *OTHER 2016 NEWS........................................................................................ **145* *TOP NEWS..................................................................................................... **145* *DOMESTIC................................................................................................. **145* *Wait Lists Grow as Many More Veterans Seek Care and Funding Falls Far Short* // NYT // Richard Oppel – June 20, 2015..................................................................................................................... 145 *Dylann Roof Photos and a Manifesto Are Posted on Website* // NYT // Frances Robles – June 20, 2015 147 *Anthem Raises Offer for Cigna to $47.5 Billion* // WSJ // Jonathan D. Rockoff, Dana Cimilluca, Dana Mattioli And Liz Hoffman – June 20, 2015....................................................................................... 150 *INTERNATIONAL...................................................................................... **152* *Attack Gave Chinese Hackers Privileged Access to U.S. Systems* // NYT // David E. Sanger, Nicole Perlroth And Michael D. Shear – June 20, 2015.................................................................... 152 *Greece Considers Last-Ditch Proposals to Avoid Collision With Bailout Creditors* // WSJ // Marcus Walker & Nektaria Stamouli – June 20, 2015....................................................................................... 155 *OPINIONS/EDITORIALS/BLOGS................................................................... **158* *Trade Winds Blow Ill for Hillary* // NYT // Maureen Dowd - June 20, 2015............................ 158 *Jeb Bush Has Hit a New Low* // HuffPo // Lev Raphael – June 20, 2015................................ 160 *Clinton calls Graham to offer condolences after Charleston shooting* // The Hill // Kyle Balluck – June 21, 2015.......................................................................................................................................... 160 *TODAY’S KEY STORIES* *Hillary Clinton Calls America’s Struggle With Racism Far From Over <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/us/politics/hillary-clinton-calls-americas-struggle-with-racism-far-from-over.html?ref=politics> // NYT // Nicholas Fandos – June 20, 2015 * Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered on Saturday her boldest remarks yet on race and gun violence, topics that have quickly become some of the most prominent and divisive in the presidential campaign, particularly after Wednesday’s mass shooting in Charleston, S.C. “It’s tempting to dismiss a tragedy like this as an isolated incident, to believe that in today’s America bigotry is largely behind us, that institutionalized racism no longer exists,” Mrs. Clinton said in a speech in San Francisco. “But despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, America’s long struggle with race is far from finished.” Invoking President Obama at times, Mrs. Clinton called for a “common sense” approach to gun laws, pledging to take swift action if elected. She did not, however, make clear how she would navigate the divide in Congress that has undercut Mr. Obama’s own efforts to pass gun laws. Mrs. Clinton’s strongly worded stance on the issue could help her make a contrast with Senator Bernie Sanders, who has been drawing large crowds in early voting states, where recent polls show him narrowing the gap with Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Sanders, a socialist from Vermont also seeking the Democratic nomination, has a decidedly mixed record on gun control, which may pose problems for his campaign as it seeks to bill itself as a more liberal alternative to Mrs. Clinton. Saturday was not the first time that Mrs. Clinton’s Democratic campaign, still in its infancy, had found itself having to address race and racism in the wake of violence. Her first major campaign speech, at Columbia University in April, coincided with widespread unrest in Baltimore after the death of a black man, Freddie Gray, who had been injured in police custody. Mrs. Clinton used that occasion to advocate an overhaul of the criminal justice system, saying it was “time for honesty about race and justice in America.” She echoed that sentiment on Saturday at the annual meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors, pressing for a candid national conversation on what she called a “difficult topic.” Race, Mrs. Clinton said, remains “a deep fault line in America,” despite the election of Mr. Obama, the country’s first black president. She also cited several statistics that suggest widespread inequality between black and white Americans. “Our problem is not all kooks and Klansmen. It’s also the cruel joke that goes unchallenged. It’s the offhand comment about not wanting those people in the neighborhood,” Mrs. Clinton said. “Let’s be honest, for a lot of well meaning, open-minded white people, the sight of a young black man in a hoodie still evokes a twinge of fear.” Mrs. Clinton, who attended a fund-raiser Wednesday in Charleston just blocks from where the shooting took place later that night, also called Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on Saturday to offer her support to him and his constituents, Mr. Graham said. Race and gun violence quickly reasserted themselves as topics of conversation on the campaign trail after Wednesday’s deadly shooting, which took the lives of nine people gathered for Bible study at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston. Both Republicans and Democrats have scrambled to pay respects to the victims, but also to take a stance that may attract voters. Mitt Romney, the Republican Party’s 2012 presidential nominee, took to Twitter on Saturday to press South Carolina to remove the Confederate flag flying near its state capitol. On the Democratic side, Martin O’Malley spoke out for gun control on Friday, sending a strongly worded email to supporters calling for a federal assault weapons ban, stricter background checks and measures to tamp down straw-buying. In 2013, when he was governor of Maryland, Mr. O’Malley signed similar measures into law, making his state one of the most tightly controlled in the country. Mrs. Clinton and her Democratic challengers will need to persuade minority voters, an important Democratic constituency that put its vote behind Mr. Obama in 2008, to support them in large numbers to win in 2016. *In San Francisco, Hillary Clinton challenges nation on racism: ‘Race remains a deep fault line in America’ <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/06/20/in-san-francisco-hillary-clinton-challenges-nation-on-racism-race-remains-a-deep-fault-line-in-america/?postshare=141434821388589> // WaPo // David Nakamura – June 20, 2015 * Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday forcefully challenged the nation to confront persistent racism in the wake of the mass shooting in Charleston, S.C., declaring that "race remains a deep fault line in America." "Despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, America’s long struggle with race is far from finished," Clinton told the U.S. Conference of Mayors at its annual convention here. "I know this is a difficult topic to talk about. I know that so many of us hoped by electing our first black president, we had turned the page on this chapter in our history. I know there are truths we do not like to say out loud or discus with our children. But we have to." Clinton's appearance here came three days after nine people were shot to death at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Dylann Roof, 21, has been charged with murder in the case. Although Clinton had called for stronger gun curbs during an appearance in Las Vegas on Thursday, her remarks in San Francisco marked a far more forceful foray into race relations, which have been strained in several cities amid a series of racially charged protests over the deaths of African Americans at the hands of police officers. Obama addressed the mayors on Friday, and he also spoke about the Charleston shootings, while calling for stricter gun laws. The president has anguished over Congress's failure to approve his 2013 for tighter controls, including more background checks and limits to ammunition magazines, in the wake of the massacre of more than two dozen students in Newton, Conn., in Dec. 2012. Clinton vowed to complete what Obama was unable to in Congress. "The president is right: The politics of this issue have been poisoned, but we can’t give up," she said. "The stakes are too high; the costs are too dear. I will not be afraid to keep fighting for common sense reform and with you achieve that for all who have been lost because of senseless gun violence." Obama has spoken more pointedly about race in his second term. Clinton's foray into the nation's legacy of racism came as she has sought to inspire early enthusiasm among the liberal base of the Democratic Party, staking out progressive positions on immigration, gay marriage and trade. Clinton advisers are hoping to recreate much of Obama's coalition of black, Hispanic and female voters to help push her candidacy in a 2016 battle against a Republican nominee. The issue of gun control could become an issue in the 2016 campaign, and so could race relations, and Clinton made clear she would not shy away from talking about it. She said the problem of racism was not limited to "kooks and Klansmen," but also was perpetrated by the off-hand joke, by whites not wanting to live near blacks and by those affluent whites who are fearful of young black men. "Let's be honest," she said. Clinton also praised the families of the Charleston victims, including those who told Roof that they would forgive him, when he appeared in his first court proceedings. "Their act of mercy is more stunning than his act of cruelty," she said. Wrapping up, she added that "what we need more of in this country is love and kindness." Clinton's visit to this city was the last stop on a week-long national tour after her official campaign launch last weekend in New York. She raised money Friday at a pair of fundraisers in Los Angeles, including one at the home of actor Tobey Maguire. Obama also raised money for fellow Democrats in the 2016 election cycle during his California trip, attending two events in Los Angeles and two more in San Francisco. The president was scheduled to travel to Palm Springs on Saturday to play golf before returning to Washington on Sunday. *Clinton seizes the center on race and guns in wake of GOP's silence <http://www.vox.com/2015/6/20/8818611/clinton-Charleston-race-guns> // VOX // Jonathan Allen – June 20, 2015 * Hillary Clinton's not seen as honest and trustworthy by most voters. But on Saturday the Democratic presidential front-runner spoke truths about race and gun violence in America that her Republican rivals have refused to utter after a shooter killed nine worshipers at the historic Emanuel AME church in Charleston, S.C., this week. If Clinton is to win the presidency, part of the reason will be Republicans' unwillingness to seriously confront realities that threaten the stability and strength of American society, from race and gun violence to income inequality and climate change. It's hard to come up with solutions if you refuse to identify the problems. Clinton didn't advance the ball much on the former Saturday, but she delivered on the latter — putting tremendous distance between herself and field full of Republican gun-and-race deniers. One would think the GOP would have learned this lesson from the 1990s: If you give a Clinton the obvious middle ground, she'll take it. Here's part of what she said on race. "Bodies are once again being carried out of a black church. Once again racist rhetoric has metastasized into racist violence. Now its tempting, it is tempting, to dismiss a tragedy like this as an isolated incident. To believe that in today’s America bigotry is largely behind us, that institutionalized racism no longer exists. But despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, America’s long struggle with race is far from finished." And this is part of what she said on guns, a line that drew a long round of applause from those in attendance at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in San Francisco. "I know that gun ownership is part of the fabric of a lot of law-abiding communities, but I also know that we can have common-sense gun reforms that keep weapons out of the hands of criminals and the violently unstable while respecting the rights of responsible gun owners. Clinton called the failure to implement universal background checks and restrictions on gun sales to domestic abusers, the mentally ill and people on terrorist watch lists "a rebuke to this nation we love and care about." And she called racial tension the "deeper challenge we face." Clinton's data points The former Secretary of State cited a litany of statistics documenting important racial disparities in American life: Black applicants are nearly three times as likely to be turned down for a mortgage as whites Black children are 500 percent more likely than their white counterparts to die from asthma Black men are more likely to be stopped and searched, prosecuted for crimes and sentenced to longer prison stints than white men Schools are more segregated now than they were in the 1960s And, of course, the median wealth for white families is over $140,000, while the median wealth for black families is about $11,000. "More than half a century after Dr. King marched and Rosa Parks sat and John Lewis bled," she said, "how can any of these things be true?" Compare what Clinton is saying in the wake of the Charleston massacre to what Republican candidates for the presidency have said when asked about racism and the availability of guns as factors in the horrific murders Dylann Roof is accused of committing. "I don't know what was on the mind or the heart of the man who committed these atrocious crimes" His spokesman, Tim Miller, later said that "of course" Bush thinks racism was a factor in the killings. Incongruously, Rand Paul made it an issue of failure to understand religious teachings and the size and scope of government. "What kind of person goes into church and shoots nine people? There’s a sickness in our country, there’s something terribly wrong, but it isn’t going to be fixed by your government. It’s people straying away, it’s people not understanding where salvation comes from. And I think that if we understand that, we’ll understand and have better expectations of what we get from our government." And Chris Christie, who hasn't yet declared a run for the presidency but is still considered a possible contender, said "laws can't change this." So, in the wake of Charleston, who is honest and trustworthy? It can't be these guys. In her remarks Saturday, Clinton said it's not just "kooks and Klansmen" who are responsible for racial division in America. The person who lets the racist joke go unchallenged or feels a twinge of fear at the "sight of a young black man in a hoodie" is also responsible for perpetuating racial tensions, she said. Maybe, just maybe, the presidential candidates who dare not speak of racism for fear of alienating voters who harbor deep bigotry bear some responsibility, too. *SOCIAL MEDIA* *Chris Bollwage (6/20/15, 12:52 pm)* <https://twitter.com/MayorBollwage/status/612301953880604672>* - Secretary Clinton is delivering a very powerful speech on racism in America and the need for common sense gun control laws in our country* *Peter Nicholas (6/20/15, 12:53 pm)* <https://twitter.com/PeterNicholas3/status/612302252691161088>* - Hillary Clinton quotes FDR's "bold and persistent experimentation" line. HRC has been channeling FDR in her presidential campaign.* *Niels Lesniewski (6/20/15, 12:55 pm)* <https://twitter.com/nielslesniewski/status/612302651007627264>* - Sobering speech from @HillaryClinton as the Conference of Mayors "It's not just the kooks and Klansmen" but the assumptions.* *Daniel Hernandez Jr. (6/20/15, 5:27 pm)* <https://twitter.com/djblp/status/612371209670397952>* - As a survivor of gun violence I was happy to see @HillaryClinton address the US Conference of Mayors on guns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5Xv80YydnI <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5Xv80YydnI> …* *Faiz (6/20/15, 1:01 pm)* <https://twitter.com/fshakir/status/612304164534628352>* - That was one of the more compelling Hillary Clinton speeches I've seen in a while.* *Lynn Sweet (6/20/15, 1:08 pm)* <https://twitter.com/lynnsweet/status/612305965514391552>* - The speech @HillaryClinton just made at the #USCM2015 about race is the most important so far in her campaign. #CharlestonShooting* *Jen Covino (6/20/15, 1:09 pm)* <https://twitter.com/jencovino/status/612306169651003392>* - Well, @HillaryClinton just left us all emotional, speechless, teary-eyed, contemplative, determined, hopeful for the future #USCM2015* *Mitt Romney (6/20/15, 11:09 am)* <https://twitter.com/MittRomney/status/612276050182049792>* - Take down the #ConfederateFlag at the SC Capitol. To many, it is a symbol of racial hatred. Remove it now to honor #Charleston victims.* *Marc Caputo (6/20/15, 6:09 pm)* <https://twitter.com/marcacaputo/status/612381724845166592?refsrc=email&s=11>* - Rubio won't say if SC rebel flag should be moved because it's a state issue, will " do the right thing," backs Jeb removing from FL Capitol* *Craig Gilbert (6/20/15, 8:47 pm)* <https://twitter.com/WisVoter/status/612421447127011328>* - in gaggle after DC speech Walker repeatedly defers on Confed flag issue in SC, saying debate should wait 'til after dead are buried/mourned* *Dan Merica (6/20/15, 10:47 pm)* <https://twitter.com/danmericaCNN/status/612451673831809024>* - Team Sanders says 4,500 ppl attended their CO rally tonight. And Sanders came out to "Rockin' In The Free World" w Neil Young's approval.* *HRC** NATIONAL COVERAGE* *Bush and Clinton are true policy wonks. Can they make a virtue of that? <http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bush-and-clinton-are-true-policy-wonks-can-they-make-a-virtue-of-that/2015/06/20/8d60779a-16c1-11e5-89f3-61410da94eb1_story.html> // WaPo // Dan Balz – June 20, 2015* Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jeb Bush laid out ambitious agendas in their announcement speeches over the past eight days. If they are as good as their word, the coming months of the presidential campaign could be remembered for something unusual: a summer of substance. Though of different parties and different philosophies, Clinton and Bush certainly share one thing in common: They are unabashed policy wonks. At Clinton headquarters, policy meetings with the candidate are blocked out in hours, not minutes. Bush, asked the other day to explain how he would achieve one of his big goals, responded, “How much time you got?” The two candidates obviously have specific vulnerabilities unrelated to questions about their policy agendas. For Clinton it is the questions about honesty, trustworthiness and personal accessibility. For Bush, it is the resistance to his candidacy that comes with his family name and with perceptions that his conservatism is too squishy for some in his party. But both candidates say they are determined to make their campaigns about ideas and the policies to back them up. Their mutual interest in the details of policy comes from their long experience in the public realm. Clinton has been grappling with domestic policy problems ever since she joined the Children’s Defense Fund as a young lawyer. Bush long has been known as the more policy-oriented brother in the family business of elective politics, a reputation he earned before, during and after his time as governor of Florida. But if the two are steeped in policy, they have left themselves sizable challenges as presidential candidates. Clinton’s is to flesh out her pledge to make income inequality — the gap between the wealthiest and the rest of society — the central issue of her candidacy. Bush’s is to demonstrate that he has something fresh to back up his goal of returning the U.S. economy to sustainable 4 percent annual growth rates. The speech Clinton delivered at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park on New York’s Roosevelt Island on June 13 offered sweeping rhetoric about the state of an economy that she said should work for all and not just the most privileged. In tone, it was at least mildly populist. That was evidence of her conclusion that the Democratic Party’s most important constituencies are looking for something closer to the European Social Democrat views of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) than the New Democrat ideas that helped elect her husband, Bill Clinton, to the presidency a quarter-century ago. As she drilled down, however, the speech became a more familiar Clintonesque approach to domestic and economic policy: a long string of policy programs or ambitions, many of them proposed before. They represent a general continuation of the approach followed by President Obama rather than any dramatic break with mainstream, conventional orthodoxy of her party. The list of ideas included raising the minimum wage; offering paid family leave for new parents and more flexible work schedules; giving small businesses and others tax breaks to encourage long-term investment rather than short-term profit; encouraging development of alternative energy sources and discouraging the use of fossil fuels; creating an infrastructure bank for matters including highways and broadband; providing universal preschool and more access to high-quality child care; making college more affordable; giving adults incentives for lifelong learning; offering illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. By this reckoning, Clinton is not a believer in a big-bang approach to the problems she outlined. Instead, she favors smaller steps and an array of programs, reminiscent of the State of the Union addresses during her husband’s administration. She said in her launch speech that growth and fairness were two goals of her economic policy, though she neither established targets for growth nor signaled the degree to which a third Clinton administration would pursue policies of redistribution. Her speech did not broach raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, a notable omission from a Democratic candidate trying to strike a populist tone. Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said in a message that she will deliver a fuller speech later this year calling for revising the tax code and “ensuring the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share.” In contrast, Bush established an ambitious and difficult-to-achieve growth target in his speech. “There is not a reason in the world why we cannot grow at a rate of 4 percent a year,” he said. Not a reason, except that no recent president has managed to hit that target other than for occasional quarters. Not Ronald Reagan during his Morning in America years. Not Bill Clinton during a time when the economy created more jobs than the 19 million that Bush said his policies would deliver. Not his father, George H.W. Bush, nor his brother George W. Bush, nor President Obama — each of whom governed during times of economic downturns. Bush’s “how much time you got” came in response to a question about whether he has new policies to reach sustainable 4 percent growth. He cited actions, including paring away regulations that he said began building up before Obama took office, reforming a tax code that has not been reformed since 1986, pushing for more development of traditional energy resources, tackling “fiscal structural problems” and reforming immigration “to rebuild the demographic pyramid” in the country. He also mentioned education and training to produce a more skilled workforce. That is an agenda for perhaps two terms. Bush was asked how quickly he could get all this done. “All this stuff?” he responded. “I’m thinking about how I’m going to do in the Iowa caucuses right now.” He added: “But politics should be as much about aspirational goals and about backing it up with substance and then explaining how you have the leadership skills to make it so than just about how bad things are and how bad the other guy is. And that’s what this is.” That leaves Bush with much left to do. He has to flesh out his aspirational goals with credible and achievable initiatives. He also needs to explain how he would square his advocacy for taking care of those most in need in the context of the Republican congressional budget blueprint of House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) that would squeeze domestic spending. But Clinton’s task isn’t much easier. She must try to satisfy the progressive wing of her party that is hungering for harder-edged policies to match the rhetoric of populist anger, which if the subject of trade is any evidence, she is reluctant to do. She also must balance advocacy of an agenda that calls for considerable government activism with public skepticism about government’s ability to deliver. Past campaigns have seen other candidates with an unabashed interest in and knowledge of public policy, but rarely have there been two so obviously steeped in the details as Bush and Clinton. That presages what could be a compelling debate, even at long distance for the time being. But only if both step up to the challenge they’ve set out for themselves. *Hillary Clinton Calls for Tighter Gun Control After Charleston Church Shooting <http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/06/20/hillary-clinton-calls-for-tighter-gun-control-after-charleston-church-shooting/> // WSJ // Peter Nicholas – June 20, 2015 * Hillary Clinton called for “common-sense” gun control measures and said the fatal shooting of nine people at an African-American church was not an “isolated” tragedy, but a chilling reminder of enduring racism and “bigotry” in the U.S. In a speech Saturday at a conference of U.S. mayors, Mrs. Clinton, spoke extensively about the murders and praised the victims’ families, who in court proceedings said they forgave the white suspect, 21-year-old Dylann Roof. “In its way, their act of mercy was as stunning as his act of cruelty,” she said. The frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, Mrs. Clinton used the speech to highlight discrimination faced by black Americans. “Race remains a deep fault line in America,” she said. Mrs. Clinton said schools remains segregated, black Americans receive longer prison terms than whites for the same crimes, and black children are five times more likely to die from asthma than white children. “It is tempting to dismiss a tragedy like this as an isolated incident,” Mrs. Clinton said, referring to the shootings Wednesday night. People are mistaken to conclude that “bigotry is largely behind us, that institutionalized racism no longer exists.” she added. Authorities have charged Mr. Roof with nine counts of murder. They say he shot and killed the victims during a Bible study class at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. During the shooting spree, he said, “you are raping our women and taking over the country,” according to witness accounts. Many of the presidential candidates have spoken out on the shootings but have been less willing to cast it as an example of broader racial injustice. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, one of the leading Republican presidential candidates, spoke to a conference sponsored by the Faith and Freedom Coalition on Friday and did not initially address race. “I don’t know what was on the mind or the heart of the man who committed these atrocious crimes,” Mr. Bush said. Later in the day, at a fundraising event, he framed the issue in different terms. “It just breaks my heart that someone, a racist, would do what he did,” Mr. Bush said. In her speech, Mrs. Clinton aligned herself with President Barack Obama, who at a fundraising event Friday said the country must make it tougher for people to buy guns and then “act on this hatred.” Mrs. Clinton laid out several steps toward offering the public greater protections while safeguarding the constitutional right to own firearms. She called for universal background checks for gun buyers and voiced disbelief that the nation can’t keep guns “out of the hands of domestic abusers or people suffering from mental illnesses …” “The president is right,” Mrs. Clinton said. “The politics on this issue have been poisoned. But we can’t give up. The stakes are too high, the costs are too dear.” *Hillary Clinton decries 'institutional racism' after Charleston shooting <http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/20/hillary-clinton-gun-control-institutional-racism> // AP – June 20, 2015* Hillary Clinton on Saturday called for “commonsense” gun control legislation and decried “institutional racism”, days after a shooting in a historic South Carolina church killed nine of its black members. Clinton, who was speaking at the US Conference of Mayors in San Francisco after a west coast fundraising swing, said Congress should pass legislation keeping guns from criminals and mentally ill people while “respecting responsible gun owners”. She said: “The politics on this issue have been poisoned but we can’t give up.” In 2013, in the aftermath of a shooting in which 20 children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut, Congress rejected legislation that would have expanded background checks on firearm sales. Clinton also addressed what she called a “long struggle with race”, saying the US “can’t hide from any of these hard truths about race and justice in America”. *Clinton calls for ‘common-sense’ gun control: ‘We can’t give up’ <http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/20/clinton-calls-for-common-sense-gun-control-decries/#ixzz3df2fcX4p> // AP // Lisa Lerer – June 20, 2015 * Issuing an emotional plea following the South Carolina church shooting, Hillary Rodham Clinton called for “common-sense” gun reforms and a national reckoning with the persistent problem of “institutional racism.” Three days after nine black church members were gunned down in Charleston, Clinton said the country must take steps to keep guns from criminals and the mentally ill. Regulations, she said, can be passed while still respecting the Second Amendment and “respecting responsible gun owners.” “The politics on this issue have been poisoned, but we can’t give up,” she told the U.S. Conference of Mayors in San Francisco on Saturday. “The stakes are too high. The costs are too dear.” In 2013 Congress rejected legislation that would have expanded background checks on firearm sales and banned some semi-automatic weapons. President Obama has blamed the continued national political inaction on the issue on the influence of the National Rifle Association. While Clinton did not propose any specific legislation in her address, she’s previously supported limits on gun sales and extending the assault weapons ban. On Friday, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, who’s challenging Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination, called for an assault weapons ban, stricter background checks and tougher requirements to buy a gun. “I’m pissed,” he wrote in an email to supporters. “It’s time we called this what it is: a national crisis.” Clinton’s remarks also marked a forceful entry into the heated topic of race relations, an issue that’s become a major theme of her campaign. Clinton called race a “deep fault line” in America, noting that “millions of people of color still experience racism in their everyday lives.” The problem of racism was not limited to “kooks and klansman,” she said, but included the off-hand, off-color joke; whites scared of young black men and not speaking up against poverty and discrimination. In previous appearances, Clinton has taken up a number of issues that are important to African-Americans, calling for changes to the criminal justice system, voting laws and assistance for minority small business owners. Her campaign is trying to motivate the coalition of minority, young and liberal voters that twice elected Obama to the White House. “We can’t hide from any of these hard truths about race and justice in America,” she said. “We have to name them and then own them and then change them.” Clinton’s address to the country’s mayors was her last stop on a cross-country tour, largely of early voting states, after formally launching her campaign a week ago in New York City. She spent Friday raising money at three fundraisers in Los Angeles, including one hosted by actor Tobey Maguire. *Hillary Clinton calls for ‘common sense’ gun reforms in wake of Charleston shooting <http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/hillary-clinton-calls-for-common-sense-gun-reforms-in-wake-of-charleston-shooting-119253.html#ixzz3dd9YxBHL> // Politico // Annie Karni – June 20, 2015* With tears welling in her eyes, Hillary Clinton on Saturday delivered an emotional call to action after the Charleston church shooting, first vowing to fight for “common sense” gun reforms, then shifting to an assessment of racism in America. “Race remains a deep fault line in America,” Clinton said, speaking in front of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in San Fransisco. “Millions of people of color still experience racism in their everyday lives.” The massacre in Charleston, South Carolina, forced Clinton off of her stump speech as she sought to confront some of the country’s most intractable problems a week after her first big campaign speech on Roosevelt Island. Clinton’s voice swelled with emotion as she described the testimony of the families of the nine shooting victims, who offered forgiveness to the alleged gunman Dylann Roof on Friday at a bond hearing. “On Friday, one by one, grieving parents and siblings stood up in court and looked at that young man who had taken so much from them, and said, ‘I forgive you,’” Clinton said. “Their act of mercy was more stunning than his act of cruelty.” She said one of her first reactions was to ask, “how it could be possible that we, as a nation, still allow guns to fall into the hands of people whose hearts are filled with hate.” Acknowledging that gun ownership is part of the fabric of many law-abiding communities in the country, Clinton said firmly that the country “can have common sense gun reforms that keep weapons out of the hands of criminals and the violently unstable, while respecting responsible gun owners.” She said she agreed with President Barack Obama that the issue of gun ownership has been politically poisoned. “It makes no sense that we couldn’t come together to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, or people suffering from mental illnesses, even people on the terrorist watch list,” she said. “That doesn’t make sense and it is a rebuke to this nation we love and care about.” But Clinton said the deeper challenge the country faces is racism. “Despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, America’s long struggle with race is far from finished,” she said. “So many of us hoped that by electing our first black president, we had turned the page on this chapter in our history,” she said, adding that millions of Americans are held back by racism every day. Black people are three times as likely to be denied a mortgage, she said, and the median wealth of a black family in 2013 was $11,000, compared to $134,000 for whites. She said black children were 500 percent more likely to die of asthma than white kids. “More than half a century after Dr. King marched, and Rosa Parks sat and John Lewis bled, after the civil rights act and the voting rights act and so much else, how can any of these things be true?” she asked. “But they are.” She said racism was pervasive in our society beyond the “kooks and clansmen,” noting that well-meaning, open-minded white people still feel a “twinge of fear” at the sight of a young black man in a hoodie. “We can’t hide from any of these hard truths about race and justice in America,” she said. “I known it’s not usual for someone running for president to say what we need more of in this country is love and kindness,” she said, “but that’s exactly what we need more of.” *In Charleston's wake, Clinton speaks forcefully on guns, race <http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/20/politics/hillary-clinton-race-guns/index.html> // CNN // Dan Merica – June 20, 2015 * An emotional Hillary Clinton on Saturday called for more gun control in the wake of the deadly Charleston, South Carolina church shooting that left nine dead earlier this week. "This generation will not be shackled by fear and hate," she said to applause at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in San Francisco. "We can have common sense gun reforms that keep weapons out of the hands of criminals and the violently unstable while respecting owners," said Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner for the 2016 presidential nomination. "The stakes are too high, the costs are too dear, and I am not and will not be afraid to keep fighting for common sense reforms and along with you, achieve those on behalf of all who have been lost because of this senseless gun violence in this country." Clinton also said race remains "a deep fault line in America." "Bodies are once again being carried out of black churches. Once again, racist rhetoric has metastasized into racist violence," Clinton said. "Now it is tempting, it is tempting, to dismiss a tragedy like this as an isolated incident. To believe that in today's America, bigotry is largely behind us, that institutionalized racism no longer exists. But despite out best efforts and our highest hopes, America's long struggle with race is far from finished." Clinton has made addressing race issues a staple of her campaign since she announced her candidacy in April. Weeks after she formally announced her campaign, Clinton called for mandatory body cameras on police and the end of the "era of mass incarceration." Clinton told an audience in New York that it was time for the United States to come to terms with "unmistakable and undeniable" racial patterns in policing. "As a citizen, a human being, my heart breaks for these young men and their families," Clinton said, listing a number of incidents in the last year that have seen black men killed at the hands of law enforcement. "We have to come to terms with some hard truths about race and justice in America." When the former first lady traveled to South Carolina -- an early voting state -- for the first time, she focused her trip on minority women small business owners. And earlier this week in an interview in Las Vegas, Clinton called for "a candid national conversation about race and about discrimination, prejudice, hatred" in the wake of the Charleston shooting. Clinton's aides argue that her outspokenness on race and crime follow her history as someone who stands up for the oppressed. But the policy positions also have political benefits and help the Democratic frontrunner keep together the diverse coalition of voters that helped President Barack Obama win the White House. African-American voters flocked to Obama during the 2008 nomination fight. The 2008 fight for South Carolina took a racial turn, too, and damaged Clinton with some in the community. But 2016 is not 2008. Obama won't be on the ballot and some of the President's most vocal African-American supporters from 2008, like South Carolina's Edith Childs, have already joined Clinton's nascent campaign. "There is a time and a season for everything. That was his time," Childs said during Clinton's first trip to South Carolina. Childs became famous for coining the chant "fired up, ready to go," a phrase that followed Obama from South Carolina in 2007 all the way to the White House. Childs appeared next to Obama -- and against Clinton -- a number of times during the 2008 primary fight. Now, though, she is ready for Hillary. "She is a woman and she can handle the job," Childs said. "And she knows what we need especially as a woman because a lot of times men forget what we need. With her being a woman, she knows exactly what we need." *Clinton calls for new gun control laws, outflanking Sanders <http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/clinton-calls-new-gun-control-laws-outflanking-sanders> // MSNBC // Alex Seitz-Wald – June 20, 2015 * In the wake of the Charleston, South Carolina massacre at a historically black church this week, Hillary Clinton vowed Saturday to fight for new gun control laws despite the overwhelming opposition. She also said America must address lingering racism exposed by the shooting. By leaning into gun control, Clinton found a place where is squarely to left of Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has energized liberal crowds across the country and gained steam in recent polls as her top rival for the Democratic presidential nomination. In a speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors in San Francisco, Clinton said it “make no sense” that Congress has failed to pass simple gun control laws, like universal background checks. She vowed to keep fighting and promised to achieve reform if elected president. “The politics of this issue have been poisoned,” she acknowledged. “But we can’t give up. The stakes are too high.” Sanders hails from Vermont, a rural state that lacks virtually any gun regulations and he seems uncomfortable discussing the issue. At an event in Las Vegas, Nevada Friday, he was asked twice about guns, but declined to promise specific new gun control laws and said he didn’t want to get into the issue at the moment. An attendee at a town hall meeting asked about his stance on gun control. He explained that people in rural and urban areas view guns differently. “This is an issue that must be dealt with,” he said, without getting into details. Reporters followed up by asking Sanders about the issue afterwards. “I think we need to have as serious conversation about that,” he said. Pressed again, he added: “I will talk about guns at some length, but not right now.” Sanders voted against the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act in 1993, arguing that waiting period for handguns could be better dealt with on the state level. And he was boosted in his 1988 run for Congress when the NRA attacked his opponent. In 2005, he voted for a controversial bill pushed by the firearms industry. Slate recently labeled Sanders a “gun nut” in a headline. His defenders note that Sanders voted for the Assault Weapon Ban and has an “F” rating from the NRA. And they argue that he is doing his job by representing the interest of Vermonters, where gun laws are lax, hunting is common, and violent crime is very low. Nonetheless, Saunders’ record leaves enough room for Clinton – who has a long history of supporting gun control – to outflank her liberal challenger on his left. And with her visibility, Clinton can single-handedly ensure that guns become a major issue of the Democratic presidential primary, if she so chooses. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who is also running for the nomination, sought to do the same Friday. He blasted out a strongly worded letter to supporters calling for strict new gun control laws. “I’m pissed that after working hard in the state of Maryland to pass real gun control – laws that banned high-magazine weapons, increased licensing standards, and required fingerprinting for handgun purchasers – Congress continues to drop the ball,” he wrote. Meanwhile on Saturday in San Francisco, Clinton spoke passionately about the need to address racial inequities that persist to this day. “It is tempting to dismiss a tragedy like this as an isolated incident,” she said Saturday of the Charleston shooting. But she dismissed that notion, saying the crimes of confessed shooter Dylann Roof must be placed in the larger context of racism in America. “Once against racist rhetoric has metastasized into racist violence,” she said. But while Roof and his compatriots get the most attention, “our problem is not all kooks and Klansman,” she continued, saying racism persists deep and often unnoticed into otherwise upstanding communities. “We can’t hide from any of these hard truths of race,” she continued. “We have name them, then own them, then change them.” But she said she had hope that “this generation will not be shackled by fear and hate.” *Hillary Rodham Clinton makes strong plea for gun control <http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/06/20/hillary-rodham-clinton-san-francisco-speech/28981453/> // USA Today // Jon Swartz – June 20, 2015 * Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton made a stirring plea for "common sense" gun control Saturday. "The passing of days has not dulled the pain or shock of this crime," Clinton said, in her most extensive comments yet on the tragedy Wednesday that left nine dead in Charleston, S.C. "As a mother, grandmother and fellow human being, my heart is bursting for the victims, a wounded community and a wounded church," she said in a passionate 30-minute address to American mayors gathered here. "It makes no sense that bipartisan legislation fails in Congress despite overwhelming public support," Clinton said. "The politics on this position have been poisoned. I will not be afraid to fight for common-sense reforms … because of this senseless gun violence." "How is it possible that we as a nation allow guns to fall into the hands of people whose hearts are filled with hate?" she said, voice rising. "We can have common sense gun reforms that keep them out of the hands of criminals and the mentally unstable while not penalizing responsible gun owners," Clinton said to sustained applause. (Half of the audience of about 1,000 stood.) The shooting spree at the predominately black church in Charleston, the latest in a string of disturbing incidents in America over the past few years, underscores an intolerant nation deeply in need of healing and understanding, she said. "Race remains a deep fault line in America," Clinton said, pointing to ongoing discrimination, disparity in pay, illegal housing and other social chasms. Citing former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young in the audience, Clinton said America needs to emulate that city's slogan when he was mayor — a city too busy to hate. "What we need more of in this country is love and kindness," a resolute Clinton said. She spoke to civic leaders gathered for the U.S. Conference of Mayors here this weekend. Tech is a hot topic at the conference, which kicked off Friday with pointed remarks from President Obama on the shooting rampage in Charleston. If Congress passed what Obama called "common sense" gun safety, the assembled mayors might have had to attend fewer funerals, Obama said. It was Obama's 20th visit to San Francisco, where tech is the dominant industry in the region and a major source for fundraising. The president successfully tapped into it twice as a presidential candidate, and Clinton is expected to do the same in her 2016 bid. A key piece of her presidential bid is to help "build an economy for tomorrow," Clinton said Saturday. Ride-hailing service Uber is sponsoring the conference, where Cities 3.0 is a major theme. A tour of Uber's downtown San Francisco headquarters is scheduled Monday. Executives from Airbnb and Salesforce.com are also scheduled to appear at the four-day summit. *First on CNN: Hillary Clinton calls Lindsey Graham in wake of Charleston shooting <http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/20/politics/lindsey-graham-hillary-clinton-call-charleston-shooting/> // CNN // Dana Bash – June 20, 2015 * South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham picked up the phone Saturday afternoon to hear a familiar voice on the other end: that of Hillary Clinton. The Democratic presidential candidate told the Republican presidential candidate that she was reaching out to extend her condolences on the tragedy in his home state. "She said she was calling to see how I was doing, and wanted to let me know that she was thinking about me and about everyone in South Carolina," Graham told CNN, recounting the telephone conversation. He said he was "pleasantly surprised" to get the call -- mostly because he knows how busy she is. "I know firsthand how hard it is to run for president," Graham said. Although Graham, like other GOP presidential candidates, regularly blasts Clinton on the campaign trail, the two actually had a good relationship while serving with one another in the Senate. They traveled together as members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and even co-authored legislation to give military reservists health benefits. "She is a nice person," Graham said. "I told her that the call meant a lot to me, and would mean a lot to the people of South Carolina. It is a tough weekend for all of us," he added. *Hillary Clinton Calls For 'Common Sense' Gun Reforms In Wake Of Charleston Shooting <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/20/hillary-clinton-charleston-shooting-guns_n_7627930.html> // HuffPo // Igor Bobic – June 20, 2015* Hillary Clinton pledged to fight for "common sense" reforms to the nation's gun laws in the wake of a tragic shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, and urged Americans to engage in a broader conversation about race in order to build a more inclusive society. Addressing the 83rd annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in San Francisco on Saturday, Clinton promised to do what President Barack Obama has so far been unable to do -- pass legislation to curb gun violence. "We can have common sense gun reforms that keep weapons out of the hands of criminals and the violently unstable while respecting responsible gun owners," she said. "The stakes are too high, the costs are too dear, and I am not and will not be afraid to keep fighting for common sense reforms, and along with you, achieve those on behalf of all who have been lost because of this senseless gun violence in this country." Noting the nation's struggle with race was "far from finished," Clinton issued an impassioned plea for all Americans to come together in order to create a more tolerant and empathetic society. "I know that so many of us hoped by electing our first black president we had turned the page on this chapter in our history. I know there are truths we don't like to say out loud or discuss with our children. But we have to. That's the only way we can possibly move forward together. Race remains a deep fault line in America. Millions of people of color still experience racism in their everyday lives," she said. Clinton cited statistics showing vast disparities between white and black families in the U.S., including differences in arrests and sentencing guidelines -- reforms for which she has called for in the past. "Our problem is not all kooks and Klansmen, it's also the cruel joke that goes unchallenged," she added. "It's the offhand comment about not wanting 'those' people in the neighborhood. Let's be honest, for a lot of well-meaning, open-minded white people, the sign of a young black man in a hoodie still evokes a twinge of fear." The former secretary of state pointed to the woman credited with helping authorities apprehend the suspected shooter in North Carolina as an example of how all Americans must do their part in helping build a more inclusive society. "I know it's not usual for someone running for president to say what we need more of in this country is love and kindness," she said. "But that's exactly what we need more of. We need to be not only too busy to hate, but too caring, too loving to ignore, to walk way, to give up." She also praised the relatives of the victims of the shooting, calling "their act of mercy ... more stunning than his act of cruelty." A racist manifesto that appears to be from the alleged shooter, entitled "The Last Rhodesian," emerged earlier Saturday, detailing why the writer, identified as Dylann Roof, chose to open fire in Charleston. It contains a passage in which the writer cites the death of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager in Florida who was killed by George Zimmerman, as a turning point in his life that led him to research "black on White crime." It also includes several photographs that appear to be of Roof, including one in which he waves a Confederate flag. Roof is charged with nine counts of homicide and possession of a firearm during commission of a violent crime. *Hillary Clinton Calls for 'Common Sense' Gun Control After Charleston Shooting <http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hillary-clinton-calls-common-sense-gun-control-charleston/story?id=31910937> // ABC News // Erin Dooley – June 20, 2015 * n the wake of the massacre in Charleston, South Carolina, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton today vowed to keep fighting for common sense gun control and delivered a blistering indictment of racism in America. Speaking at the Conference of Mayors in San Francisco, Clinton said “bodies are once again being carried out of a black church,” referring to the nine people killed inside Emanuel AME Church on Wednesday. The suspect in the shooting, Dylann Roof, has been charged with nine counts of murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. “How it could be possible that we as a nation still allow guns to fall into the hands of people whose hearts are filled with hate?” Clinton said, noting that “massacre after massacre” makes the urgency of passing gun control legislation clear. As a former resident of Arkansas, Clinton explained, she understands that gun ownership is a cultural mainstay. But she said America needs to find a way to keep guns out of the hands of those that would do their neighbors harm. “It makes no sense that bipartisan legislation to require universal background checks would fail in Congress despite overwhelming bipartisan support,” she said. “It makes no sense that we couldn’t come together to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, or people suffering from mental illnesses, even people on the terrorist watch list. That doesn’t make sense, and it is a rebuke to this nation we love and care about.” Earlier this week, President Obama said the politics of Washington "foreclose" some gun control legislation. But at the mayor’s conference Friday, he said he was “not resigned” on the issue. “The president is right -- the politics on this issue have been poison,” Clinton said. “But we can’t give up. The stakes are too high, the costs are too dear, and I am not and will not be afraid to keep fighting.” But firearms aren't the most pressing problem, said Clinton. A friend of Roof, 21, had said he wanted to start a race war and that he supported segregation. “It is tempting to dismiss a tragedy like this as an isolated incident, to believe that in today’s America, bigotry is largely behind us, that institutionalized racism no longer exists,” Clinton said. But electing a black president didn't eliminate racial disparities in the criminal justice system, education and the economy, Clinton said. “More than half a century after Dr. King marched and Rosa Parks sat and John Lewis bled, after the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, how can any of these things be true?” she asked. “America’s long struggle with race is far from finished,” she said. “Our problem is not all kooks and Klansman. It’s the joke that goes unchallenged; it’s the offhand comment about not wanting 'those people' in the neighborhood.” The former secretary of state lauded the families of the Charleston victims, who Friday offered Roof their forgiveness. “In its way, their act of mercy was more stunning than his act of cruelty,” Clinton said. She also recognized Debbie Dills, who spotted Roof and called police, vowing, “she didn’t remain silent -- well neither can we.” *Hillary Clinton Calls for Gun Reforms in Speech to U.S. Mayors <http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-06-20/hillary-clinton-calls-for-end-to-gun-violence-after-charleston> // Bloomberg News // Alison Vekshin – June 20, 2015 * Hillary Clinton called for an end to gun violence and said the country’s long struggle with race is far from finished after a mass shooting at a South Carolina church this week left nine people dead. Clinton, 67, didn’t offer specific solutions beyond pledging to fight “for common-sense reforms” and bemoaning gridlock in Congress over legislation to require universal background checks for people buying guns. “It makes no sense that we couldn’t come together to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers or people suffering from mental illnesses, even people on the terrorist watchlist,” Clinton, a Democratic presidential candidate, said Saturday at a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in San Francisco. “That doesn’t make sense and it is a rebuke to this nation that we love and care about.” “America’s long struggle with race is far from finished.” Clinton’s speech was one of her first major addresses after the national tragedy and as she makes her case for the White House. The former senator, secretary of state and first lady echoed President Barack Obama’s remarks at the mayors’ event on Friday in which he said mass shootings were becoming too commonplace and called for curtailing easy access to firearms. “We can have common-sense gun reforms that keep weapons out of the hands of criminals and the violently unstable while respecting responsible gun owners,” Clinton said to a standing ovation. Wednesday night’s rampage by a lone gunman at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church is the latest in a string of such tragedies, including the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, and the movie-theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado, in 2012. Racism Pervasive Clinton told the mayors the incident illustrates that racism is still pervasive in the U.S., noting that blacks are more likely than whites to be denied a mortgage and black men are more likely to be stopped and searched by police. “It’s tempting to dismiss a tragedy like this as an isolated incident, to believe that in today’s America bigotry is largely behind us,” Clinton said. “But despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, America’s long struggle with race is far from finished.” Clinton, who in April announced her bid to become the nation’s first female president, is running on a message of championing everday Americans, including tackling income inequality, supporting gay rights and helping immigrants become citizens. She gave her first stump speech June 13 on New York’s Roosevelt Island, outlining a populist agenda aimed at girding the middle class. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti were among the 277 U.S. mayors registered to attend the four-day annual conference where Martin O’Malley, a Democratic presidential candidate and former Maryland governor, is scheduled to speak Sunday. “Mayors around the country are pretty tired of dealing with the inability of Congress and state legislatures to be more aggressive and constrain gun possession in a country where gun access is ubiquitous,” Sam Liccardo, mayor of San Jose, California, said after Clinton’s speech. Clinton didn’t offer details on gun-control legislation she’d push for if elected, Liccardo said. “We recognize this wasn’t a policy speech,” Liccardo said. “I don’t think any of us were waiting for specifics. On the other hand, I’m hopeful there will be some leadership on the federal level for real change because it hasn’t been there.” *Hillary Clinton Talks About Racism And Gun Reform Following Charleston Mass Shooting <http://www.ibtimes.com/hillary-clinton-talks-about-racism-gun-reform-following-charleston-mass-shooting-1976223> // International Business Times // Michelle FlorCruz – June 20, 2015* An impassioned Hillary Clinton spoke at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in San Francisco, making a call for stricter gun control and challenging racism following the mass shooting at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, earlier this week. Nine people were shot and killed in a racially motivated attack at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. "Despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, America’s long struggle with race is far from finished," the presidential candidate told the U.S. Conference of Mayors at its annual convention. "Bodies are once again being carried out of a black church. Once again, racist rhetoric has metastasized into racist violence.” Clinton continued on to say that racism is an enduring pattern in America and that the events that took place in Charleston should not be accepted as an isolated incident. “Despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, America’s long struggle with race is far from finished.” Clinton also called race issues “a deep fault line in America.” She also discussed gun control reform, saying that gun violence -- much like racial injustice -- is not an isolated event. Clinton urged for politicians to find a way to introduce gun reforms that could prevent future violence. “I know that gun ownership is part of the fabric of a lot of law-abiding communities, but I also know that we can have common-sense gun reforms that keep weapons out of the hands of criminals and the violently unstable while respecting the rights of responsible gun owners.” The issue of gun control has become polarizing among politicians, making it difficult for new legislation -- such as universal background checks -- to be adopted, despite being supported by most gun owners. “It makes no sense that we wouldn’t come together to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers or people suffering from mental illnesses, even people on the terrorist watch list,” Clinton said. “That doesn’t make sense, and it is a rebuke to this nation we love and care about.” Clinton's words on gun control were met with a long applause. *Hillary Clinton: 'America's long struggle with race is far from finished' <http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-hillary-clinton-race-guns-20150620-story.html> // LA Times // Cathleen Decker – June 20, 2015 * an evocative and emotional address, Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday urged the nation to come to grips with the "deep fault line" of race in the U.S., blaming it and easy access to guns for the slayings of nine worshipers at an historic black church in Charleston, S.C., days ago. "It’s tempting to dismiss a tragedy like this as an isolated incident, to believe that in today’s America, bigotry is largely behind us, that institutional racism no longer exists. But despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, America’s long struggle with race is far from finished," Clinton told hundreds of the nation’s mayors gathered in San Francisco for their annual meeting. Tackling an issue that has split the 2016 presidential candidates in the wake of the horrific violence at Emanuel AME Church, Clinton ticked off a litany of circumstances in which black children and families are hobbled by lack of money, illness and thwarted opportunity. "A half-century after Dr. King marched and Rosa Parks sat and John Lewis bled and the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act and so much else," she said, "… how can any of these things be true? But they are." She called on everyday Americans to play their role, beginning in conversations with family members, to help the nation move past what she called "a history we desperately want to leave behind." "Our problem is not all kooks and Klansmen," Clinton said. "It’s also the cold joke that goes unchallenged; it’s the offhand comment about not wanting 'those people' in the neighborhood. Let’s be honest -- for a lot of well-meaning, open-minded white people, the sight of a young black man in a hoodie still evokes a twinge of fear." The Charleston shootings, coming in a season of candidate announcements, has thrust the issue of race and violence against African Americans into the presidential campaign and exposed a rift between the political parties. Let's be honest -- for a lot of well-meaning, open-minded white people, the sight of a young black man in a hoodie still evokes a twinge of fear - Hillary Rodham Clinton Republican candidates have largely cast the shootings as an assault against faithful churchgoers, rather than delving into its racial implications. They have also brushed aside new calls for gun controls and any discussion of South Carolina’s practice of flying the Confederate flag on the Capitol grounds. The flag has spawned controversy in numerous campaigns, with Republican politicians generally defending it as a historic relic important to many of the area’s residents. (An exception was 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who tweeted Saturday that "to many, it is a symbol of racial hatred. Remove it now to honor Charleston victims.") Clinton and other Democrats, including President Obama, have cited the Charleston killings as evidence that stricter gun laws are needed. She reiterated that plea on Saturday, to a standing ovation from the assembled -- and bipartisan -- group of mayors. "I know that gun ownership is part of the fabric of a lot of law-abiding communities," she said. "But I also know that we can have common-sense gun reforms that keep weapons out of the hands of criminals and the violently unstable, while respecting responsible gun owners." It makes no sense, Clinton said, that a measure to require background checks failed in Congress despite support from a vast majority of Americans. "It makes no sense that we wouldn't come together to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, or people suffering from mental illnesses, even people on the terrorist watch list," she added. "That doesn't make sense, and it is a rebuke to this nation we love and care about." Clinton said she would work to "make this debate less polarized" — a hope that belies the vitriolic nature of the nation’s past feuds over gun measures. She asked the mayors to work with her to win passage of background checks and other unspecified gun measures "on behalf of all who have been lost because of this senseless gun violence in our country." Clinton’s discussion of the lasting impact of race in American life rested, she said, on growing up during the civil rights movement and living in one of its flash points, Arkansas, during her husband’s governorship. In 1957, black students attempting to integrate Little Rock’s Central High School were blocked by white residents and National Guard troops ordered in by the state’s governor, Orville Faubus. President Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the guardsmen, who were then ordered to protect the students, and, as in other areas of the South, race relations remained fraught. In broaching an unusual conversation for a national politician even in the era of Obama, Clinton insisted that sympathy for victims of crime or discrimination was not enough. Too rarely, she said, do incidents like the Charleston shootings "spur us to action or prompt us to question our own assumptions and privilege." "We can't hide from any of these hard truths about race and justice in America," she added. "We have to name them and own them and then change them." *Hillary Clinton After Charleston Shooting: Race Remains 'Deep Fault Line' <http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/charleston-church-shooting/clinton-touts-gun-control-advocates-love-kindness-wake-church-shooting-n379061> // NBC News – June 20, 2015 * Hillary Clinton on Saturday echoed President Barack Obama's call for "common sense" gun reform to help prevent another mass shooting after the deadly rampage on a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina. "It makes no sense that bipartisan legislation for universal background checks would fail despite overwhelming public support," Clinton, a Democratic presidential candidate, said at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in San Francisco. She said that as a former resident of Arkansas and representative of New York she understands that "gun ownership is part of the fabric of a lot of communities." "But I also know that we can have common sense gun reforms," she said. But in America, Clinton added, the challenge is that "race remains a deep fault line." Police say the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on Wednesday that left nine dead was a hate crime and a white supremacist website appears to belong to the 21-year-old arrested gunman, Dylann Roof. "It's tempting to dismiss a tragedy like this into an isolated incident," but "our problem is not all kooks and Klansmen," Clinton said. "It's the jokes that go unchallenged. It's the off-hand comment about not wanting 'that kind of person' in the neighborhood." Clinton, who was campaigning in South Carolina a day before the church massacre, said the country can learn plenty from the way those affected by the shooting responded with mercy. "On Friday, one by one, grieving parents and siblings stood up in court and looked at the young man who had taken so much from them and said 'I forgive you'," Clinton said. "Their act of mercy was more stunning than his act of cruelty." In a departure from politics to advocate for something that cannot be voted on or approved, Clinton also commended those who were at the Bible study and hosted the accused shooter in their church. "During their last hours, nine people of faith welcomed a stranger in prayer and fellowship," Clinton said. "That's humanity at its best, that's also America at its best." *Hillary Clinton calls for “common-sense gun reforms” after Charleston <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinton-common-sense-gun-reforms-charleston-shooting/> // CBS News // Reena Flores – June 20, 2015* After a tragic church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina left nine people dead on Wednesday, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is promising to fight for what she calls "common-sense gun reforms." "You can't watch massacre after massacre and not come to the conclusion that, as President Obama said, we must tackle this challenge with urgency and conviction," Clinton told a crowd at the U.S. Conference of Mayors on Saturday. "But I also know that we can have common-sense gun reforms that keep weapons out of the hands of criminals and the violently unstable while respecting responsible gun owners." The former New York senator also expressed disbelief at the legislative push for universal background checks for gun and high-ammunition magazine sales -- a 2013 measure that failed in Congress despite its national momentum after the shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school. "It makes no sense that bipartisan legislation to require universal background checks would fail in Congress despite overwhelming public support," Clinton said. "It makes no sense that we couldn't come together to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers or people suffering from mental illnesses, even people on the terrorist watch list." Addressing the same mayors' conference a day earlier, President Obama said he would refuse "to act as if this is the new normal, or to pretend that it's simply sufficient to grieve and that any mention of us doing something to stop it is somehow politicizing the problem." In a nod to the president's strong response, Clinton added that the politics on the issue have indeed "been poisoned," but that the "stakes are too high, the costs are too dear" to give up on tougher gun legislation. The presidential hopeful, who made campaign stops in South Carolina on the day of the shooting, had previously called on the country to face "hard truths about race, violence, guns, and division." While her stance on stricter gun regulation now aligns closely with that of President Obama's in the wake of the Charleston shooting, during the 2008 Democratic primary race against the then-Illinois senator, Clinton positioned herself to the right. In a televised primary debate that year, the Democratic candidate backpedaled from a proposal for a national gun registry she had made in 2000. And in what may have been the strongest comments yet from Clinton on the issue of race in America, the presidential contender called on the country to confront systemic racism as the "deeper challenge we face." "It is tempting to dismiss a tragedy like this as an isolated incident," she said. "To believe that in today's America, bigotry is largely behind us. that institutionalized racism no longer exists. But despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, America's long struggle with race is far from finished." *Hillary Clinton Calls for “Common Sense” Gun Control, Decries “Institutional Racism” <http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/06/20/hillary_clinton_calls_for_common_sense_gun_control_decries_institutional.html> // Slate Daniel Politi – June 20, 2015 * Hillary Clinton spoke forcefully about race and violence on Saturday in a speech in which the presidential contender tried to address some of the most difficult issues facing the country after the mass shooting in Charleston, S.C. Clinton called for “common sense” gun reform to help prevent another mass shooting. "It makes no sense that bipartisan legislation for universal background checks would fail despite overwhelming public support," Clinton said at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in San Francisco. "I lived in Arkansas and I represented upstate New York. I know that gun ownership is part of the fabric of a lot of law abiding communities," Clinton said, according to CNN. "I also know that we can have common sense gun reforms that keep weapons out of the hands of criminals and the violently unstable while respecting responsible gun owners." The presidential hopeful spoke extensively about the mass shooting and praised the families who allegedly said they forgave the 21-year-old suspect, Dylann Roof. “In its way, their act of mercy was as stunning as his act of cruelty,” she said. The mass shooting in South Carolina though is not just about availability of guns, Clinton said as she called on the country to confront the racism that persists across society. “It’s tempting to dismiss a tragedy like this as an isolated incident, to believe that in today’s America bigotry is largely behind us, that institutionalized racism no longer exists,” she said. "Despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, America’s long struggle with race is far from finished," Clinton said, according to the Washington Post. "I know this is a difficult topic to talk about. I know that so many of us hoped by electing our first black president, we had turned the page on this chapter in our history. I know there are truths we do not like to say out loud or discus with our children. But we have to." Although several presidential contenders have spoken out on the mass shooting they “have been less willing to cast it as an example of broader racial injustice,” notes the Wall Street Journal. Clinton’s words do not just help her differentiate herself from the Republican candidates but can also help her gain an upper hand on Bernie Sanders. “Mr. Sanders, a socialist from Vermont also seeking the Democratic nomination, has a decidedly mixed record on gun control, which may pose problems for his campaign as it seeks to bill itself as a more liberal alternative to Mrs. Clinton,” notes the New York Times. *Watch Hillary Clinton address Charleston shooting and ‘America’s long struggle with race’ <http://fusion.net/story/154301/hillary-clinton-charleston-shooting-racism-gun-violence-video/> // Fusion // John Walker – June 20, 2015 * Hillary Clinton used her speaking engagement at a mayoral conference in San Francisco on Saturday to address the recent shooting at an historic black church in Charleston, S.C. “Once again, racist rhetoric has metastasized into racist violence,” the presidential candidate said at the Hilton-hosted 83rd Annual U.S. Conference of Mayors. “America’s long struggle with race is far from over.” Clinton discussed various forms of institutionalized racism in the U.S., from housing discrimination to the disparity in median wealth between black and white Americans. She went on to address less overt types of bias that goes beyond “kooks and Klansmen,” like “cruel jokes,” “off-hand comments,” and similar microaggressions. The Democratic hopeful also tied the massacre—which took the lives of nine congregants of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, including state Sen. Clementa C. Pinckney, on Jun. 17—to another systemic issue facing the nation: gun violence. “You can’t watch massacre after massacre and not come to the conclusion that, as President Obama said, we must tackle this challenge with urgency and conviction,” she told the nearly 300 American mayors in attendance. “I am not and will not be afraid to keep fighting for commonsense reforms.” Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old white supremacist who confessed to the shooting, was apprehended by law enforcement on Thursday. His trial began with a bail hearing on Friday. *Flashback: As Governor, Bill Clinton Honored Confederacy On Arkansas Flag <http://dailycaller.com/2015/06/20/flashback-as-governor-bill-clinton-honored-confederacy-on-arkansas-flag/> // Daily Caller // Derek Hunter – June 20, 2015* As the fight to remove the Confederate flag from the state House grounds in South Carolina heats up, politicians are weighing in on the debate. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham defended displaying the flag, while former presidential candidate Mitt Romney called for its removal. Carly Fiorina called it a “symbol of racial hatred,” but stopped short of saying it should be removed. Sen. Ted Cruz said South Carolinians should decide what their state does. President Barack Obama’s spokesman said the flag belongs in a museum. But while former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has weighed in on the gun control aspect of the national discussion, the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination has remained silent on the flag controversy. In 1987, when her husband was governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton signed Act 116 that stated “The blue star above the word “ARKANSAS” is to commemorate the Confederate States of America.” When the Confederate flag issue arose in the 2000 election, Matt Drudge reported that then-President Bill Clinton’s spokesman Joe Lockhart was asked about the issue. Lockhart told reporters, “I’ve just never heard any discussion or any objections that the president has raised. In 2000, Drudge reported Vice President and Democratic nominee Al Gore as accusing then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush of refusing to take a stand on the Confederate flag issue, which then was flying over the capital dome in South Carolina. Drudge wrote: The Gore campaign over the weekend repeatedly refused to comment on the vice president’s silence when it comes to the flag flying over the Arkansas State House! “The vice president will not be commenting on the Arkansas flag,” a campaign rep told the DRUDGE REPORT. The debate of the Confederate flag resurfaced after the terrorist attack on the Emanuel AME Church that saw nine people slaughtered because of the color of their skin. *Hillary Clinton: 'America's Long Struggle With Race Is Far From Finished' <http://crooksandliars.com/2015/06/hillary-clinton-americas-long-struggle> // Crooks and Liars // Karoli – June 20, 2015 * Today Hillary Clinton delivered a powerful call for Americans to stand up and really work at the race issues that bedevil this country. Speaking to the US Conference of Mayors, Clinton was blunt, and her remarks were not limited to evil acts of white supremacists. But today, I stand before you because I know and you know there is a deeper challenge we face. I had the great privilege of representing America around the world. I was so proud to share our example, our diversity, our openness, our devotion to human rights and freedom. These qualities have drawn generations of immigrants to our shores, and they inspire people still. I have seen it with my own eyes. And yet, bodies are once again being carried out of a black church. Once again, racist rhetoric has metastasized into racist violence. Now, it's tempting, it is tempting to dismiss a tragedy like this as an isolated incident, to believe that in today's America, bigotry is largely behind us, that institutionalized racism no longer exists. But despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, America's long struggle with race is far from finished. I know this is a difficult topic to talk about. I know that so many of us hoped by electing our first black president, we had turned the page on this chapter in our history. I know there are truths we don't like to say out loud or discuss with our children. But we have to. That's the only way we can possibly move forward together. Race remains a deep fault line in America. Millions of people of color still experience racism in their everyday lives. Here are some facts. In America today, blacks are nearly three times as likely as whites to be denied a mortgage. In 2013, the median -- the median wealth of black families was around $11,000. For white families, it was more than $134,000. Nearly half of all black families have lived in poor neighborhoods for at least two generations, compared to just 7 percent of white families. African American men are far more likely to be stopped and searched by police, charged with crimes, and sentenced to longer prison terms than white men, 10 percent longer for the same crimes in the federal system. In America today, our schools are more segregated than they were in the 1960s. How can any of that be true? How can it be true that black children are 500 percent more likely to die from asthma than white kids? Five hundred percent! More than a half century after Dr. King marched and Rosa Parks sat and John Lewis bled, after the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act and so much else, how can any of these things be true? But they are. And our problem is not all kooks and Klansman. It's also in the cruel joke that goes unchallenged. It's in the off-hand comments about not wanting "those people" in the neighborhood. Let's be honest: For a lot of well-meaning, open-minded white people, the sight of a young black man in a hoodie still evokes a twinge of fear. And news reports about poverty and crime and discrimination evoke sympathy, even empathy, but too rarely do they spur us to action or prompt us to question our own assumptions and privilege. We can't hide from any of these hard truths about race and justice in America. We have to name them and own them and then change them. You may have heard about a woman in North Carolina named Debbie Dills. She's the one who spotted Dylann Roof's car on the highway. She could have gone on about her business. She could have looked to her own safety. But that's not what she did. She called the police and then she followed that car for more than 30 miles. As Congressman Jim Clyburn said the other day, "There may be a lot of Dylann Roofs in the world, but there are a lot of Debbie Dills too. She didn't remain silent." (Applause.) Well, neither can we. We all have a role to play in building a more tolerant, inclusive society, what I once called "a village," where there is a place for everyone. You know, we Americans may differ and bicker and stumble and fall, but we are at our best when we pick each other up, when we have each other's back. Like any family, our American family is strongest when we cherish what we have in common, and fight back against those who would drive us apart. I'm certain that we'll hear the usual flurry of clucking from the right wing media complex about how she's politicizing what happened in Charleston, and how we don't dare politicize these terrible tragedies because good Lord, people, those bodies aren't even buried in the ground yet! That's just the right wing's way of encouraging collective attention deficits on the cancer rapidly multiplying in today's day and age. Ignore it. Whether you support Hillary Clinton or not, she has a long record of believing what she said right here, reaching all the way back to her days as Arkansas' First Lady. For that reason alone, 2016 or not, what she says should carry some weight. *Hillary Clinton on Charleston: ‘We Can’t Hide’ From Truth of White Privilege <http://www.mediaite.com/tv/hillary-clinton-on-charleston-we-cant-hide-from-truth-of-white-privilege/> // Mediaite // Andrew Husband – June 20, 2015 * Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton addressed the 83rd annual U.S. Conference of Mayors in San Francisco on Saturday morning. Among other things, she addressed Wednesday night’s shooting at the historic Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and the renewed discussion of gun control and the second amendment. Reflecting on her time in Arkansas, Clinton noted: “I know that gun ownership is part of the fabric of a lot of law abiding communities, but I also know that we can have common sense gun reforms that keep weapons out of the hands of criminals and the violently unstable, while respecting responsible gun owners.” She expresses her hope that those participating in the debates past, present and future can “make this debate less polarized, less inflamed by ideology and more informed by evidence.” However, it’s later in the address that Clinton explicitly discusses the racial nature of the Charleston shooting and the larger context it invokes: “For a lot of well-meaning, open-minded white people, the sight of a young black man in a hoodie still evokes a twinge of fear. And news reports about poverty and crime and discrimination evoke sympathy, even empathy, but too rarely do they spur us to action or prompt us to question our own assumptions and privilege. We can’t hide from any of these hard truths about race and justice in America. We have to name them, and own them, and then change them.” *In One Quote, Hillary Clinton Just Took a Bold Stance on Race in America <http://mic.com/articles/121068/in-one-quote-hillary-clinton-just-took-a-bold-stance-on-race-in-america> // Mic // Tom McKay – June 20, 2015 * Over the past few days, the nation has been shocked, bereaved and outraged by the terrorist attack on Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, during which alleged white supremacist Dylann Storm Roof killed nine African-American congregants. While prominent politicians were obviously quick to condemn the murder, not all of them have been so quick to acknowledge the role racism played in the massacre. But on Saturday, while speaking to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Hillary Clinton challenged the United States to go beyond condemning individuals like Roof and stand up against racism in all the pernicious ways it goes unchallenged across the country. "After the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act and so much else, how can any of these things be true? But they are. And our problem is not all kooks and Klansmen, it's also the cruel joke that goes unchallenged," Clinton said, according to NBC News. "It's the offhand comment about not wanting 'that kind of person' in the neighborhood." Clinton criticized the mentality of other national leaders who have sought to downplay the vicious racism that fueled the terrorist attack, announcing that Americans "can't hide from any of these hard truths about race and justice in America." During the rest of the speech, Clinton thoroughly highlighted the challenges facing people of color across the country, from mortgage discrimination to systematic racism among police forces. Though she endorsed tougher gun laws, the focus was on race. Why it's important: Clinton wants the American people to understand that it's not enough to pretend that racism doesn't exist in the United States, a notion as ridiculous as some Russian politicians' insistence that there are no gays in Russia. Instead, she made the case that the struggle is far from over by pointing to an immediate event in our recent collective memory as an example of the damage racism still causes. But she didn't stop there. By tying racism to the everyday conversations and attitudes many Americans have, Clinton attacked the kind of implicit racism that runs rampant in polite society and asked well-meaning individuals to challenge it wherever it props up. She also made it clear that solving racism will require people across America to actually change their attitudes towards race — particularly white people, who despite boldly proclaiming themselves non-racist in increasing numbers, continue to hold screwed up opinions about people of color. She called out what racism is: Roof didn't emerge from a vacuum. He grew up in a culture that tolerated racism instead of fighting to root it out. Clinton has broken the tepid moratorium on calling out America's stagnation on civil rights, which has troubled the country in many, more mundane ways than singular and disturbing terrorist attacks. Racism is when black people get herded out of their own communities. Racism is when black men in poor communities experience permanent economic recession. Racism is when powerful politicians say explicitly racist things and then just shrug it off like they never opened their mouths. Racism is when white folks insist that merely saying "I'm not racist" is a "get out of jail free" card. Racism is the separation of the lived experience of people of color from the political discourse that determines how they will be treated by the rest of society. If Americans don't want to be racist, then they can take Clinton's challenge and step forward to defend the principle that all people deserve to be treated with respect and dignity regardless of the color of their skin. Or they can shrug and hesitate, and say "this was a terrible tragedy, but..." and let whatever privileged position of their own choosing fill in the rest of the blank. *Clinton calls for gun reforms in wake of Charleston shooting <http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/245640-clinton-calls-for-gun-reforms-in-wake-of-charleston-shooting> // The Hill // Kevin Cirilli – June 20, 2015 * Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton called for new restrictions on firearms in wake of the shooting in the shooting at a predominantly black church in Charleston, S.C., earlier this week. Clinton also called for a national conversation about race relations, saying institutionalized racism still exists in prepared remarks in San Francisco at a national mayoral conference. "How is it that we as a nation still allow guns to fall into the hands of people whose hearts are filled with hate?" she asked. "You can't watch massacre after massacre and not come to the conclusion that as President Obama said, we must tackle this challenge with urgency and conviction." "I am not and will not be afraid to keep fighting for common-sense reforms and, along with you, achieve those on behalf of all who have been lost because of this senseless gun violence in our country," she said. She said that "once again, bodies are being carried out of a black church," adding that while "it is tempting to dismiss [this tragedy] as an isolated incident ... America's long struggle with race is far from finished." Earlier this week, authorities arrested Dylann Roof, 21, in connection with the killing of nine members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a predominantly black church. "Faith has always seen this community through and I know it will again. Just as earlier generations threw off the chains of slavery and then segregation and Jim Crow — this generation will not be shackled by fear and hate," Clinton said. Clinton alluded to a gun-reform proposal put forth by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) that failed to become law after an elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn. "It makes no sense that bipartisan legislation to require universal background checks would fail in Congress despite overwhelming public support," she said. "It makes no sense that we couldn't come together to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers or people suffering from mental illness, even people on the terror watch list." "That doesn't make sense and it is a rebuke to this nation we love and care about," she said. On the topic of race, she said Americans need to ask themselves uncomfortable questions, saying that "the sight of young black man in a hoodie still evokes a twinge of fear" for many white people. Racism, she said, still exists subtly in "the cruel joke that goes unchallenged. It's the offhand comment about not wanting 'those' people in the neighborhood." "We can't hide from any of these hard truths about race and justice in America," she said. "We have to name them and own them and then change them." *Hillary Clinton vows to keep fighting for common sense gun control <http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/82e24388-1776-11e5-8201-cbdb03d71480.html#axzz3dd4gJ5dX> // The Financial Times // Megan Murphy – June 20, 2015 * Hillary Clinton vowed to keep fighting for “common sense” gun control reforms if elected president, denouncing the persistent stain of racism in America days after a 21-year-old white gunman killed nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina. Mrs Clinton, speaking at a US conference of mayors in San Francisco, referred to race as a “deep faultline” that continued to divide America. And she refused to shy away from America’s decades-old battle over gun control, where efforts to pass legislation restricting ownership and certain types of deadly weapons have repeatedly stalled even after the kind of tragedies seen in Charleston. “The politics of this issue have been poisoned, but we can’t give up,” Mrs Clinton said. “The stakes are too high, the costs are too dear, and I am not and will not be afraid to keep fighting for common sense reforms and along with you, achieve those on behalf of all who have been lost because of this senseless gun violence in this country.” The comments, Mrs Clinton’s most expansive yet on race and gun control, will probably move both issues toward the heart of the 2016 presidential campaign. While the former secretary of state has repeatedly talked about race during the early months of her campaign, including the disparate incarceration rates between black and white men and the need for reforms to the criminal justice system, resistance to gun control has long been a sacred cow among the Republican party. Speaking at a “Faith and Freedom” coalition event in Washington this week, several leading GOP candidates affirmed their support for the right to bear arms under the second amendment hours after the South Carolina shootings. “If I am president of the United States, we will appoint justices and we will have an attorney-general who will protect our second amendment rights,” said Marco Rubio, the Florida senator who is one of the early frontrunners for the nomination. Dylann Roof, 21, has been arrested and charged with nine counts of murder after being caught in North Carolina a day after the killings, in what US authorities are investigating as a hate crime. Mrs Clinton on Saturday acknowledged that discussing race openly remained difficult in the US. Even for Barack Obama, the nation’s first black president, it has been difficult to move forward on an issue that continues to divide Americans amid deep mistrust, particularly between the black community and law enforcement in urban centres. “I know this is a difficult topic to talk about. I know that so many of us hoped by electing our first black president, we had turned the page on this chapter in our history, “ Mrs Clinton said. I know there are truths we do not like to say out loud or discus with our children. But we have to.” *Here's why one of Hillary Clinton's big ideas is a smart move for 2016 <http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-voting-plans-automatic-registration-2015-6#ixzz3df8479oS> // Business Insider // Maxwell Tani – June 20, 2015 * Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton is making a big deal about an issue of rising importance within her party: voting rights. And new poll released by Public Policy Polling on Friday shows that her focus on the issue may prove politically popular in 2016 among more than just Democrats. Automatic voter registration, something Clinton proposed earlier this month, enjoys relatively strong support, with 48% approving and 38% disapproving, according to the PPP poll. In one of the first major speeches of her campaign earlier this month in Texas, Clinton railed against voter suppression and laid out a broad set of initiatives that would expand access to voting. The former Secretary of State called for allowing early voting weeks before an election, automatic voter registration for 18-year-olds, and a strengthened Voting Rights Act, which was gutted by a Supreme Court decision two years ago. Automatic enrollment is also popular among moderate voters, 57% of whom said they back the initiative. And it's a favorable concept among voters that Clinton is hoping to court in the primary and general elections. Black (73%) and young voters (58%) overwhelming support it. And according to PPP, women opposed restrictions on voting at much lower rates than men — only 35% of women oppose, compared to 42% of men. It's unlikely that the concept will prove to be one that drives voters to the polls like economic or foreign policy initiatives, but the PPP poll suggests it's a smart issue for Clinton to latch onto for support from her base and from certain broader portions of the electorate. But any progress made on the issue would likely come when the next president inhabits the White House. Congressional Republicans have declined to take up voting reform issues, including the fix to the Voting Rights Act that Clinton is pushing. Clinton's advocacy may not be helping, at least right now. Automatic voter registration is also becoming increasingly partisan. As The Huffington Post notes, since March, the percentage of Republicans who support automatic voter registration has dropped from 53% to around 38%. *Election 2016: Beating Hillary Clinton Top Conservative Voter Priority <http://www.ibtimes.com/election-2016-beating-hillary-clinton-top-conservative-voter-priority-1976156> // IB Times // Ginger Gibson – June 20, 2015* Conservative voters, regularly chided by the establishment for putting ideology above electability, are starting to come around to the importance of picking primary candidates who are best equipped to win a general election. But that doesn't mean they're jumping on board with Jeb Bush yet, even though he is considered in many establishment circles to be the most formidable candidate to topple Hillary Clinton. This weekend, many of the nation's conservative voters convened at the sprawling Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington to watch as a parade of Republican candidates took turns making their pitch as to why they should be the next president and brandishing their religious credentials. It was the Faith & Freedom Coalition's "Road to Majority" conference, and 14 confirmed or likely Republican candidates showed up to make their appeal. The only ones missing were Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee. "Electability is very important, absolutely," said Jerry Jenkins, 72, of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Jenkins is leaning toward Ben Carson, but he realizes that the neurosurgeon is going to face struggles and may not have enough political experience to win. When it came to electability, Jenkins pointed to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie who he called “a guy who is the most impressive.” It’s counter to the conventional wisdom that Bush is being painted as the most electable. “Jeb, I was disappointed,” Jenkins said. “Can he get the nomination? He might be able to pull off the nomination, but I think Hillary [Clinton] can beat him.” The question of electability versus ideology has become pervasive through the GOP. Washington insiders have taken to procrastinating just what the electorate is going to be inclined to favor. The arguments tend to go one of of two ways. Some Republican voters see Clinton as so easily defeatable that any of the more than 15 likely candidates could topple her. They believe the best course of action is to nominate the most conservative candidate and ensure the White House doesn't get too moderate. This camp points to the defeats of John McCain and Mitt Romney -- two candidates closer to the center -- as evidence that a moderate can't win. The opposing side believes that Clinton could easily defeat several of the Republican candidates. They believe that nominating a very conservative candidate -- particularly on social issues and immigration -- would give Democrats a bevy of possible attacks and weaken their chances. They point to tea party darlings like Christine O'Donnell and Sharron Angle as evidence that someone that far right -- even in favorable conditions -- can't get elected. Many of the voters who convened for the Faith & Freedom event did seem to think that any candidate in their field could beat Clinton. But they’re still growing cautious about how Republicans should be approaching the election. The warning signs are starting to go up. Katie Packer Gage, who was deputy campaign manager for Romney in 2012, penned a piece this week warning candidates against repeating the former nominees' mistake of trying to move to the right during the primary on immigration. “What we found is that GOP nominees chasing the relatively small group of anti-immigration primary voters — and giving opponents ammunition to portray them as anti-immigration — risk alienating 24 percent more voters in a general election than they attract,” she wrote. Kathy Dwan, of Saginaw, Michigan, wants her party to stop talking about social issues. The self-described “far right” and “extreme” conservative said she sees among her friends those who don’t vote for Republicans because of social issues but would vote for the GOP if they dropped them. “I really wish they would all stop talking about the social issues,” Dwan said. “To be honest, I think they should stay out of politics. I know I’m here at Faith & Freedom, and everybody is pro-life -- which I am -- but I think the government should stay out of the social issues...we should just talk about the health of our country fiscally and rule of law. We have to get back to some basics.” Dwan -- who is leaning toward Rand Paul because she likes his message of personal liberty -- thinks the whole field can beat Clinton. But she isn’t sure who is in the best position to take on Clinton. “The jury is out on who might be the best because we’re just starting,” Dwan said. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz appeared to receive the warmest reception from crowds at the event, at least in the first couple of days before Scott Walker had a chance to woo the crowd. And Cruz is trying to court the evangelical vote, a path that candidates have previously taken to victory in the early primary state of Iowa. But political observers warn that Iowa -- and evangelical voters around the country -- are beginning to worry more about picking winners instead of picking those who are like-minded. Some evidence that conservatives are looking beyond a strict set of ideological parameters could be the reception received from candidates who most dismiss as too moderate to ever win the far-right voters. Brian Frey, 34, also of Saginaw, Michigan, walked away from the event impressed with a couple of candidates he had never seen speak before, including Ohio Gov. John Kasich -- who has yet to announce his campaign -- and former New York Gov. George Pataki. “I was kind of blown away by Pataki,” Frey said. “He is very electable.” Kasich, Washington insiders will tell you, will never make inroads with conservatives because he expanded Medicaid in his state as part of the Affordable Care Act. Pataki, who was a three-term governor of New York, came under fire for naming a moderate Republican to challenge Chuck Schumer in the 2004 Senate race. And in the last 11 years, the political ecosystem has only made it harder for Republicans to overcome such criticism. But most surprising was the warm reception New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie received. Conservatives began scoffing at the brash-talking governor after his much-derided embrace of President Barack Obama on a tarmac in New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy. While the criticism lacked much substance -- Christie has been a consistent critic of the president -- the imagery created headaches for the governor. But Linda Cleaver of Chester County, Pennsylvania, said after hearing Christie speak Friday at the conference, he moved up her favorites list. Cleaver, who said she’s “one step to the left of radical” conservative and is a tea party member, said she was pleased to hear Christie talk about taking on entitlement programs. “He would never have been my choice,” Cleaver said. “[But] I like somebody who just speaks and doesn’t pull any punches. They tell you the truth whether they think you can handle it or not.” And what about Bush? “I will never vote for him,” Cleaver said. “Unlike other people, I did like George [W.] Bush, but he has the party message. Religiously, he’s good, apparently. But he has some positions that may change in time, but I think he’s just the party and that needs to change.” *CNN Panel Discusses Troubling Polling Numbers for Clinton 'This wasn't her best week' <http://freebeacon.com/politics/cnn-panel-discusses-troubling-polling-numbers-for-clinton/> // Free Beacon // Washington Free Beacon Staff - June 21, 2015 * CNN’s Inside Politics panel discussed polling showing Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton underwater on honesty and trustworthiness in key battleground states Sunday. A Quinnipiac poll revealed majorities of voters in Florida (51 percent), Ohio (53 percent) and Pennsylvania (54 percent) do not find she has those qualities. “This wasn’t her best week,” host John King said. Self-described socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) also finished just 10 points behind Clinton, 41-31, in a poll of likely New Hampshire voters, something else that could alarm her campaign. Associated Press reporter Lisa Lerer said Clinton had played it “extremely safe” on issues important to the left flank of the Democratic Party, and she’s “stayed silent” on controversial intra-party topics like trade and NSA surveillance. *Clinton confidant cuts ties with the formidable family <http://nypost.com/2015/06/21/clinton-confidant-cuts-ties-with-the-formidable-family/> // NYPost // Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein - June 21, 2015 * Just weeks before Hillary Clinton kicked off her campaign for president on Roosevelt Island, a Clinton family loyalist quietly parted ways with the powerful clan. Doug Band, a man once so close to President Bill Clinton that he was considered a surrogate son, left the Clinton Foundation, where he had various board appointments, The Post has learned. Band declined to comment, except to confirm he resigned his position last month. The departure marks the end of a complicated relationship between Band’s controversial consultant corporation, Teneo, and the Clintons. And while the Clinton Foundation has been under fire for allegedly trading millions of dollars in donations for access to Bill and Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state, Teneo’s role is less well-known. But Teneo played a part in what author Daniel Halper in his 2014 book “Clinton Inc.,” described as a vast money-making machine. “I think Teneo is not just emblematic of how Clinton Inc. works, it shows the political and financial mess that this whole thing has created,” Halper told The Post. In a preview of the Clinton Foundation scandals that have dogged Hillary Clinton this year, The New Republic noted the suspicious nature of Band’s work in a 2013 article. “There’s an undertow of transactionalism in the glittering annual dinners, the fixation on celebrity and a certain contingent of donors whose charitable contributions and business interests occupy an uncomfortable proximity. More than anyone else except [Bill] Clinton himself, Band is responsible for creating this culture. And not only did he create it, he has thrived in it.” Get Rich Quick Now headquartered on the 45th floor of the Citigroup Center in Manhattan, and with offices around the world, Teneo — Latin for “to guide” — started more modestly in 2009 by business consultant Paul Keary. Band and Declan Kelly, who had been US economic envoy to Northern Ireland in Hillary Clinton’s State Department, joined the firm in 2011, turning it into a global powerhouse. Modal TriggerBand is a 42-year-old Florida native who started his career at 22 as an intern in the Clinton White House. He earned a law degree, worked his way up at the White House, eventually becoming indispensable to the president as his aide or “body man.” Band was constantly by the president’s side, carrying bags and keeping Clinton on schedule. When Clinton left office in 2001, Band reportedly turned down a job at Goldman Sachs and stuck with the former president as his personal assistant. Band became the gatekeeper for those wanting access to Clinton. The two were so close that Band was at Clinton’s bedside when he had heart bypass surgery in 2004. It was Band who, in 2005, came up with the idea for the Clinton Global Initiative, a yearly meeting of business bigwigs and heads of state in Manhattan. Band was paid by Clinton and, once the Global Initiative was up and running, he drew a salary of $110,000 to head the group. But he was also paid an undisclosed extra amount of money by Clinton benefactor Ron Burkle, who sent checks to SGRD, Band’s Florida-based LLC, The Wall Street Journal reported. It was an attempt to keep Band on board with Clinton and not flee to a more lucrative position, the newspaper reported. Band got rich quickly. By 2003, he bought a $2.1 million condo at the Metropolitan Tower on West 57th Street. He sold it in 2008 for $4.1 million and moved to the tony Essex House on Central Park South, where he still lives in a sprawling apartment. Band married investment banker Lily Rafii in 2007. Clinton attended the wedding in a Paris chateau even though Band had asked him not to come. “Not only did he come, he made this incredible speech,” Band told a Florida newspaper in 2009. Band traveled the world with Clinton, even accompanying him to North Korea in 2009 to secure the release of two journalists. Band, in his bio on the Teneo website, says he was “part of the negotiation team that handled all aspects of Hillary Clinton’s becoming secretary of state.” Clinton told The Washington Post in 2008, “I’m amazed he still works for me because he could make a lot more money somewhere else.” ‘Promise of Access’ In 2011, Band did branch out on his own, joining the fledgling Teneo and recruiting Bill Clinton to be a member of the advisory board. Clients paid staggering monthly retainers — up to $250,000 — to Band’s company. They were reportedly encouraged to give to the Clinton Foundation and, in turn, foundation donors were encouraged to use the services of Teneo. “The idea for Teneo was to have Fortune 400 companies pay large monthly stipends in exchange for access to Band, Clinton and their massive international network. The group would ‘consult’ with the companies, offer strategic advice and help them overcome issues in various countries across the globe,” Halper wrote in “Clinton Inc.” But a former Teneo employee told Halper that what the clients really got was nothing, other than an “implicit promise of access to Clinton.” In addition to Clinton, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former US Sen. George Mitchell and Ed Rollins, Ronald Reagan’s campaign manager, all came on board at Teneo. Clinton was the key to Teneo’s success. “The two needed the president,” a source told Halper. “It was he who they were selling to their corporate clients. Or, more precisely, it was their proximity to power — President Clinton, and his wife, who was then secretary of state — and their own Rolodexes, which were a natural extension of the work they had done over the years for the Clintons.” Clients included Bank of America, Dow Chemical, UBS Wealth Management and Coca-Cola. In exchange, Bill Clinton was given a contract with Teneo worth $3.5 million, Halper said. It is unclear, however, how much Clinton was actually paid. The Chelsea Problem Chelsea Clinton and her husband, Marc Mezvinsky, also wanted to muscle in on the action and asked for an equity stake in the company, Halper reported. But Band refused, seeing too much of a potential conflict in doing business with the daughter of the secretary of state. There may have been some “sibling” rivalry between Band and Chelsea Clinton. In 2008, Band told restaurant owner Nino Selimaj to take down Chelsea’s photo from the wall of Osso Buco saying the former first daughter was not a public figure, according to New York magazine. In the end, Bill Clinton’s tenure at Teneo was short-lived. The Post reported in December 2011 that Teneo had been advising MF Global, the doomed international brokerage firm headed by former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine. The firm paid Teneo an eye-popping $125,000 a month as it was imploding and losing millions for its investors. Although Clinton’s office insisted the former president was not profiting from the MF Global arrangement, Hillary Clinton was said to be furious over the controversy. By February 2012, Clinton stepped down from Teneo. Shortly before he severed ties with the company, Clinton reportedly started to resent how Band and his partner Declan Kelly threw his name around to inflate Teneo’s importance. In one reported instance, Kelly seemed to take public credit for getting Clinton invited to speak at an economic forum in Dublin. But the former president had actually been invited by the Irish prime minister and was said to explode in anger at the suggestion that Teneo had somehow brokered his participation at the event. But the connection to the Clintons continued. In June 2012, Hillary Clinton’s senior aide Huma Abedin began working as a part-time consultant to Teneo during her final months at the State Department. Abedin, the wife of disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner, was designated a “special government employee,” which allowed her to both work for the State Department and to hold outside gigs. She also consulted for the Clinton Foundation and for Hillary Clinton. Once the arrangement became known, there was criticism that there was overlap between a private firm and the inner workings of the State Department. A source close to the negotiations told The Post that the deal came about as a way to help Abedin financially after her husband resigned in the wake of a sexting scandal in June 2011. “The truth is people felt sorry for Huma,” the source said. Asked if Abedin provided any inside intelligence about the State Department for Teneo, the source denied it. “People watch too much ‘House of Cards.’ ” After Huma’s arrangement with Teneo came to light, Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, asked the Government Accountability Office to conduct a review of the special government employee exception. New Business While it’s not clear whether Band or Teneo will play a part in Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, the company has continued to wield influence on a global scale without Bill Clinton on the board. Its website says its executives are involved in everything from sorting out issues around the Greek financial meltdown to working to leverage economic opportunities in Africa. It recently opened offices in the Far East and Brazil. Tax filings show that Band was last paid by the Clinton Foundation in 2012, when he got $53,000. He remained linked to a European arm of the Clinton Foundation until stepping down last month. A source told The Post that it became increasingly difficult for Clinton loyalists like Band to work with the Foundation after Chelsea Clinton was brought on board. “She wanted to be famous and rich and have a place to go,” said the source, adding that Chelsea was too inexperienced for the job. “It just didn’t make any sense.” *Democrats veer left then blast everyone else for being ‘right wing’ <http://nypost.com/2015/06/21/democrats-march-further-left-then-claim-the-rest-of-nation-is-right-wing/> // NYPost // By Kyle Smith - June 21, 2015 * Hillary Clinton knows she has more baggage than Newark Airport. She doesn’t care, because she is counting on two strong forces to carry her to victory: Demographics and the leftward turn in American culture. She and the other Democrats suffer from cultural hubris, though. Their social justice wings always threaten to take them a little too close to the sun. Even if all enemies are vanquished, the progressive wars can never be won. The Democrats will always find new hostile territory to invade, always creating a New Frontier. Two weeks ago I wrote about a massive, silent cultural revolution in American attitudes: Since just the middle of the last decade, there has been a huge increase in support for gay marriage, legalized marijuana and single parenthood. These changes favor Democrats, as does increasing ethnic diversity. Mitt Romney won the same percentage of white Americans on election day of 2012 as Ronald Reagan did in 1980. Reagan became president in a landslide. Romney was seen pumping his own gas the following week. Yet as the parade veers left, the Democrats must always race out to be in front of it. This week’s Gallup poll says that a record high 47% of Democratic voters identify as both socially liberal and economically liberal or moderate. That’s up 8 points since the 2008 election of President Obama and 17 points since 2001. Just as yesterday’s luxuries become today’s necessities, Democrats are continuously redefining what it means to be Democrats. They celebrate their many gay-marriage victories, with a final, 50-state resolution due soon, perhaps any day now. But that won’t be the end of the issue. As recently as early 2012, even Obama opposed gay marriage. Within 15 minutes after he publicly reversed course, liberals were routinely comparing gay-marriage opponents to racists, and 30 seconds after that liberal judges started forcing evangelical bakeries out of business for declining to participate in gay weddings. Just this spring, Obama’s own solicitor general let slip that “it is certainly going to be an issue” whether universities that decline to back gay marriage will be able to retain their tax exemptions. If such exemptions are henceforth made conditional on offering hearty support for same-sex unions, by what logic would churches that oppose homosexuality be able to retain their tax-exempt status? We’ve already seen that the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom couldn’t save a Christian bakery. Could Catholic priests be forced to marry Adam and Steve? “Not a chance,” declared Slate’s Emily Bazelon in a sneering column that said this was a mere “scare tactic.” Political sci-fi. You might as well fear an invasion of zombies. That was 2¹/₂ years ago. Two months ago, gay New York Times columnist Frank Bruni pushed the goalposts down the field. He wrote approvingly of Mitchell Gold, a gay philanthropist and founder of the activist group Faith in America, which is dedicated to stamping out what it calls “religion-based bigotry.” Gold says churches must “take homosexuality off the sin list.” Last year an essay by The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates touting reparations payments for black Americans was warmly received by the left-wing intelligentsia. Yet in a YouGov poll, only 6% of white voters agreed that blacks deserve cash payments, while 59% of black voters think so. How much longer will Democrats be able to forestall talking about an issue that receives strong support from their base? It’s not hard to picture Bernie Sanders clobbering Clinton with the idea in a debate. And, by the way, Sanders’s self-identification as a “socialist” no longer marks him as extreme, at least to Democrats. Forty-three percent of Democrats say they approve of socialism, the same percentage who like capitalism. The public, to say the least, does not agree: By a margin of two to one, they preferred capitalism to socialism in a May YouGov poll. Obama supports a federal minimum wage of $10.10 an hour. Hillary Clinton has moved far to the left of that, seemingly endorsing a $15-an-hour wage floor in a call to fast-food workers this month. On free trade, which is backed by Obama, was a core policy of her husband’s administration and which she herself has supported many times in the past, Clinton is suddenly silent. In order to lock down Latino support, Clinton has staked out a position to the left of Obama’s extreme position on immigration, and less than 48 hours after arsonists in Baltimore burned down an innocent CVS store, she said “it is time to end the era of mass incarceration,” marking herself as perhaps the first president ever to run overtly as a friend of the criminal class. The media often remind us that Democrats and Republicans used to forge bipartisan policy solutions, scolding Republicans for supposedly moving right. But if the center is becoming a lonely place in American politics, Democrats are walking away from it much more rapidly than Republicans are. *Will Obama’s coalition readily accept Clinton? <http://lasvegassun.com/news/2015/jun/20/will-obamas-coalition-readily-accept-clinton/> // Las Vegas Sun // Clarence Page – June 20, 2015* His campaign is a long shot, but I’m happy to see Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders putting forth a good impersonation of a serious challenge to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Like a near-sighted javelin thrower, the self-described democratic socialist may not score many points, but he’ll keep the crowd alert. The former first lady, senator and secretary of state needs someone to keep her alert. Her avoidance of reporters and any other unscripted public moments sometimes makes her appear to be asleep at the wheel. Her slow reaction to widespread suspicions about her private, unsecured email server, for example, seemed odd compared with her husband’s rapid-response campaign team in 1992. And why encourage an image of aloofness and entitlement at a time when voters are expecting candor and transparency? One wonders: Is she relying on her potential Republican opponents, whose numbers seem to grow by the day, to trip over themselves so much that she can quietly waltz her way to her party’s nomination? That’s not a totally bad bet, considering how the mere mention of Clinton’s name was driving right-wingers bananas years before anyone had reason to mention “Obama derangement disorder.” At least no one has demanded to see her birth certificate, but just wait. Yet, as much as her campaign seems to be leaning on celebrity style more than substance, her initial speeches offer hints of a long-term goal: She aims to rally the same coalition of voters who twice elected President Barack Obama. You can hear it, for example, in her pronouncements on voting rights, immigration, the incarceration explosion and equal pay for women. At Texas Southern University in Houston, she issued a major appeal for every American to be automatically registered to vote when they turn 18 unless they choose not to be. She called for a nationwide standard of at least 20 days of early voting. She called on Congress to strengthen the Voting Rights Act, which a 2013 Supreme Court ruling weakened. She also attacked restrictive voter-identification card laws imposed by Republican lawmakers in some states for discouraging lawful voters from voting. Republican governors from two of those states, New Jersey’s Chris Christie and Texas’ Rick Perry, sharply denied her accusation, even though Perry did sign a controversial requirement that Texans show photo identification before voting. But those responses were politely restrained compared with those of conservative critics who accused Clinton of “race-baiting” and “playing the race card.” “She needs black voter turnout in 2016 in order to win,” townhall.com editor Katie Pavlich said on anchor Gregg Jarrett’s Fox News program. “And the way that she’s going to do that is by perpetuating this bogus, race-baiting narrative that somehow voter-ID laws disenfranchise minority voters.” Actually, that narrative is not so bogus. A report released last fall by the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ investigative arm, on voter-ID laws in Kansas and Tennessee found a dip in 2012 election turnout of about 2 percent points in Kansas and between 2.2 and 3.2 percent in Tennessee. As the Demoratic lawmakers who called for the probe suspected, the GAO found the declines to be greater among younger and black voters. That’s not a huge percentage, but it’s certainly big enough to have a significant impact in close elections. Yet, the perception of minority voter suppression is believed to have contributed to a surge in the nationwide black turnout rate in 2012 that, for the first time, exceeded the white turnout rate. A big looming question: How much have black voters gotten over hard feelings left over from Clinton’s long-running primary battle against Obama in 2008? A lot of people have long memories, especially in politics. Another question: Are Obama’s core supporters so disenchanted over what he was unable to accomplish against his strong Republican opposition that they won’t bother to vote this time? That’s always possible. But here, too, Clinton has hope. She undoubtedly hopes her political adversaries overreact harshly enough to remind her base that things always could be worse. A lot worse. *Hillary Clinton’s shameful charge to a children’s charity <http://nypost.com/2015/06/20/hillary-clintons-shameful-charge-to-a-childrens-charity/> // NY Post – June 20, 2015 * Hillary Clinton says, “Success isn’t measured by how much the wealthiest Americans have, but by how many children climb out of poverty.” So why did she charge an exorbitant speaking fee to a charity that helps poor kids? Fine, she sent the cash to another “nonprofit” — the family’s $2 billion foundation. But Condi Rice, another ex-secretary of state, gave her own (much lower) fee from the same outfit — the Boys and Girls Club of Long Beach, Calif. — back to the charity. Politico reports that Clinton charged $200,000 to speak at the club’s annual fund-raiser last year, the most the group ever paid a speaker. As a result, the club — which provides after-school programs to underprivileged children — netted only $106,000 from the event, its lowest take in 25 years. Rice spoke at its 2009 fund-raiser, charged $60,000 and immediately donated it back. That event yielded nearly $258,000. The difference — $150,000 — is a big deal for a charity with a budget of under $3 million a year. Hillary’s better half charged the charity $150,000 for a 2007 speech. And, Politico notes, that “was reported as personal income — not a donation to the Clinton Foundation.” Oh, and the woman who says she “has spent my life fighting for children, families and our country” gave her speech and left “without visiting any of the club’s facilities to meet the children who benefit from its services,” Politico reports. Yep, the Clintons just love the little people. *John Bolton: No Hillary Clinton or Rand Paul for President <http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/06/20/john-bolton-no-hillary-clinton-or-rand-paul-for-president/> // The Blaze // Fred Lucas – June 20, 2015 * Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton has not decided who he will support for president, but he knows who he won’t. Bolton, who served in the position under President George W. Bush, said he will work to ensure that neither former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton nor Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul come to occupy the Oval Office. “National security needs to be at the center of debate,” Bolton told TheBlaze. “For the last six-and-a-half years there has been inadequate debate on the threats we face.” He will be pushing his super PAC <http://boltonsuperpac.com/>and a separate organization, Foundation for American Security and Freedom, to make national security a more paramount issue. “Hillary Clinton does not have sound judgment,” Bolton told TheBlaze. “She is an ideological twin to President Obama. The majority of Republican candidates for presidential candidates are in the right direction. I want to see them elaborate on their good judgment.” As for Paul, Bolton said he understands the Republican senator’s appeal to conservatives on domestic issues, but argued his opposition to the Patriot Act and unwillingness to take action abroad could put the United States in a precarious situation. “His views are contrary to the conservative and tea party movement,” Bolton said. “There is a lot of support for him on domestic issue, but would lead us down the wrong path on national security.” Bolton considered a presidential run in 2016 <http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/05/14/john-bolton-is-not-running-for-president/> himself but opted against it. His political action committee contributed to 87 House and Senate candidates in the 2014 election cycle. He said he hasn’t decided if his organizations would endorse a candidate in the Republican primary or wait until the general election. *OTHER DEMOCRATS NATIONAL COVERAGE* *DECLARED* *SANDERS* *Sanders banters on HBO with Bill Maher, praises pope and seeks support of younger voters <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/06/19/sanders-banters-on-hbo-with-bill-maher-praises-pope-and-seeks-support-of-younger-voters/> // WaPo // John Wagner – June 20, 2015 * ernie Sanders, the surging 73-year-old contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, talked up his appeal to younger voters and his appreciation of Pope Francis during an appearance Friday night on HBO’s edgy “Real Time with Bill Maher.” Maher welcomed Sanders to the live broadcast by informing him “you’re a rock star now,” a reference to Sanders’s swelling crowds on the campaign trail and his rising poll numbers. Maher noted that Hillary Rodham Clinton remains well ahead with women voters, telling Sanders that “some women you will just never get.” “I don’t mean personally -- although that too,” Maher told a beaming Sanders. “Because there’s a lot of enthusiasm for the first woman candidate.” But Maher said Sanders is doing well with men, particularly older men, and said that he sees a lot of potential for Sanders to do well with younger voters -- a point on which Sanders agreed. “We are being very aggressive in reaching out to young people,” the senator said, noting his large following on Facebook. “What we want to do is have the idealism of the kids.” Sanders cited climate change as an example -- kids want to lead the world in fighting it, he said -- and praised the leader of the Catholic faith for issuing his encyclical this week on the subject. “This pope, dare I say, has been a miracle for humanity,” said Sanders, who was born to Jewish parents and describes himself as a democratic socialist. “He makes me very conservative on economic issues, and that he spoke out on climate change in as forceful a manner as he did is just extraordinary.” Sanders predicted that the pope’s input would have “a profound impact all over this world.” The show was broadcast from Los Angeles. On Saturday, Sanders is scheduled to hold an event in Denver, where campaign officials said they already have received about 7,000 RSVPs. If they all show up, it would be perhaps the largest rally any candidate in either party has staged thus far in the 2016 campaign cycle. *Defying conventions, Bernie Sanders emerges as a challenger for Hillary Clinton <http://www.kshb.com/news/political/defying-conventions-bernie-sanders-emerges-as-a-challenger-for-hillary-clinton> // AP // Ken Thomas – June 20, 2015 * Bernie Sanders likes to call it "practicing democracy." He doesn't take the stage to a blaring soundtrack. He doesn't have a teleprompter or a phalanx of Secret Service agents surrounding him. But when his Brooklyn accent booms out at a campaign stop in rural Iowa, heads nod along in approval. "What I'm doing in this campaign is trying to tell the people the truth — but a truth which is not heard a whole lot in Washington or discussed a lot in the media," Sanders said recently at a picnic in Iowa's Warren County, south of Des Moines. "So let me lay it out on the table for you," he said. "You're living in a country today which has more wealth and income inequality than any major industrialized nation on earth." In a race for the Democratic presidential nomination with Hillary Rodham Clinton, the blunt talk about the economy and the gap between the rich and poor is working for Sanders. The independent senator from Vermont is an unconventional messenger at a time when many politicians test-drive what they want to say in polls and with focus groups. Sanders is drawing sizable crowds in the early voting states. He's also gaining against Clinton in very early polls, particularly in New Hampshire, a factor that impresses the political class even though opinion surveys at this point are limited in predicting who will win. Clinton remains the race's overwhelming favorite, but there's no question that the 73-year-old self-described democratic socialist, whose disheveled white hair might remind some of Doc Brown from "Back to the Future," isn't just a novelty. "This is a unique individual," said Iowa Democratic state Rep. Scott Ourth, who introduced Sanders last weekend at the picnic in Indianola. "This guy has only one standard. If it's right for people, he's going to fight for it. If it's bad for people, he's going to take a stand against it." Drawing unexpectedly large crowds, the campaign has moved a town meeting planned in Las Vegas on Friday into a more spacious venue. About 5,000 people are expected at a rally Saturday at the University of Denver. "The challenge for us, really, is that at this point the crowds are way ahead of us," said Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver. Sanders is running with a relentless focus on policy. He rarely talks about his family, other than mentioning his four children and 7 grandchildren when explaining the importance of confronting climate change. In Minneapolis he was joined on stage by his wife, Jane, and noted they had just celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary. He's promoting a massive government-led jobs program to fix roads and bridges. He wants a $15-an-hour minimum wage, and higher taxes on the wealthy and Wall Street. He advocates for a single-payer health care system, an expansion of Social Security benefits and debt-free college. He's combative, too. Sanders often points to some European and Scandinavian countries that provide subsidized or free education, universal health care and generous family leave policies as models for the U.S. While speaking to graduate students recently, Sanders asked a student from Finland whether his country is "crazy" to pay for his education. Then he grilled the students about U.S. policy on paid sick leave for new parents. "C'mon guys, you're in graduate school!" he barked. "What are you teaching these guys? Do you know anything?" One woman yelled, "None," meaning no national policy on such leave. Nodding, Sanders instructed the students that people in Finland get paid leave after they have children. "Ahhh. Now I want to get everybody very nervous," Sanders said sarcastically. "This is called European socialism! Terrible, horrible, right? Because none of you want to be able to go to college and graduate school tuition-free. "None of you, when you have kids, want the opportunity to bond with your kids. Terrible! European socialism!" His speeches often reflect such a black-and-white view of the world. He rarely mentions that tax rates in such countries are far higher than in the U.S. It's a style that couldn't be more different than Clinton's. Hours before the first major rally of her campaign, Clinton released a Spotify playlist of songs, featuring music by Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson and Sara Bareilles. One of her campaign Twitter feeds showed a green silhouette of her head wearing trendy headphones. Clinton has been traveling with Secret Service agents since her husband's presidency in the 1990s. Sanders shows up at rallies and events with a small contingent of aides. In Indianola, he carried a folded piece of paper scrawled with notes while he spoke. Other presidential candidates in Iowa and New Hampshire will linger long after their speeches, trying to shake every hand and make a personal connection with a potential voter. Sanders doesn't make a lot of small talk. After receiving a standing ovation in Indianola, he was stopped repeatedly for photos and handshakes — which he obliged — but he kept moving. "Very quickly, very quickly," he said to one man requesting a photograph. For all of that, the woman he's challenging is perhaps the most dominant front-runner within the party in a generation. "Clinton is going to be a safer bet," said John MacBride, a 24-year-old Sanders supporter who drove from Kansas City to see him speak. "A lot of my peers think she's a safer bet. But they like what he says better." *Bernie Sanders' battle to get on the New Hampshire ballot <http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/bernie-sanders-battle-to-get-on-the-new-hampshire-ballot-119251.html> // Politico // Jonathan Topaz – June 20, 2015 * Bernie Sanders has vowed to win the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary. As of right now, though, the Vermont independent isn’t entirely assured that he’ll qualify for the ballot. Unlike early nominating states such as Iowa and South Carolina — where the process for getting on the ballot will be very simple for the Vermont independent — it has the potential to get a bit dicey in the Granite State (see below for the process). At a town hall Friday in Nevada, a supporter said some of her friends were still concerned Sanders would be running as a third-party candidate in the mold of Ralph Nader — whom his campaign has explicitly cited as a model they wanted to avoid. “I am running for the Democratic nomination!” Sanders said loudly into the mic, drawing raucous cheers from the crowd. It’s a complication for Sanders, who for a long time mulled a third-party presidential bid as an independent. Unlike former Gov. Howard Dean, who was the last Vermonter to run for president in 2004, Sanders has never called himself a Democrat, has declined the Democratic Senate nomination in Vermont and remains an independent in Congress, where he has served as an independent since 1990. (He’s the longest-serving independent in congressional history.) Sanders does have many factors in his favor, and remains a virtual lock to get on the New Hampshire ballot: The Democratic National Committee has welcomed him into the Democratic race without qualification. Sanders has caucused with the Democrats for the past 25 years and has held top committee positions within the party — he’s now Senate Budget Committee ranking member and served as Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman when the Democrats were in the majority. In Vermont, he’s voted in Democratic presidential primaries. He also has the unqualified support of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, which would be allowed to make its case to a bipartisan commission in the event of a challenge. “The New Hampshire Democratic Party considers Bernie Sanders a Democratic candidate for President and we will work to satisfy any requirements to make sure he’s on the ballot in February,” said state party chairman Ray Buckley. People in New Hampshire also note that it would be a political nightmare for the state to ban Sanders — who is receiving more than 30 percent support from New Hampshire Democratic voters according to two polls this week — from the ballot. “It would cause all sorts of negative feedback if Sanders was banned for the ballot, no matter if there technically was a legal case or not,” said University of New Hampshire political science professor Dante Scala. Sanders has said several times that he will win in New Hampshire, and his campaign doesn’t seem unduly concerned about getting on the ballot. Said spokesman Michael Briggs: “We don’t think it’s going to be an issue.” The process: The Sanders campaign will file a declaration of candidacy — which will declare his registration with the Democratic Party in the state — to the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s office, which is tasked with certifying his candidacy. New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner has not committed to putting Sanders on the ballot, previously citing that Sanders isn’t yet a registered Democrat. Vermont doesn’t have voter registration by party, meaning that Sanders can’t be a registered Democrat in the state even if he wanted to. Even if Gardner certifies his candidacy, which is not a foregone conclusion, Sanders can face another challenge. If an individual with standing contests his candidacy, the bipartisan New Hampshire Ballot Law Commission will hear an official challenge. “Usually we’ve been pretty liberal about letting people challenge,” said Brad Cook, the commission chairman, when asked how the committee determines what New Hampshire residents have standing. “Frankly, with the number of people running and the contentiousness of the primary, I wouldn’t be surprised if we couldn’t find a Democrat to challenge it,” said Cook, who added that many Republicans in the state would also likely have standing to challenge his candidacy. If the commission took up a challenge, Cook, a Republican appointed to his position by Democrats, would assess Sanders’ candidacy with two Democrats and two Republicans. *Maher tells Bernie Sanders: Your campaign must be working ‘You’ve got Hillary talking like Elizabeth Warren’ <http://www.rawstory.com/2015/06/maher-tells-bernie-sanders-your-campaign-must-be-working-youve-got-hillary-talking-like-elizabeth-warren/> // Raw Story // Tom Boggioni – June 20, 2015 * Friday night Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) got the rock star treatment from Real Time host Bill Maher who praised the darkhorse candidate’s campaign for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, telling the fiercely liberal senator that his run from the left has forced consensus favorite Hillary Clinton to start “talking like Elizabeth Warren.” Walking onto the stage to chants of “Ber-nie, Ber-nie” the Vermont independent sat down and explained that his campaign was about something other than normal politics, stating, “It’s a very radical idea: we’re going to tell the truth.” “The truth is that, for forty years, the middle class of this country has been disappearing. And there has been a huge transfer of billions of dollars of working families to the top one-tenth of one percent.” Sanders said. “And what the people of this country are saying is, ‘Enough is enough, our government, our country, belongs to all of us, not just a few billionaires.'” “So let’s dig down a little deeper into the campaign,” Maher replied. “I mean you are closing the gap on Hillary, but obviously she’s still way ahead with women. You do very well with men and the older — older men, especially. Now some women you will just never get…I don’t mean you personally.” Maher went on to advise the candidate that “You could do well with younger voters. They liked Ron Paul. He was not a young-un, but he had that same authenticity thing going,” before jokingly asking Sanders “Are you on Tinder?” Sander explained that his campaign has “A very active social media effort.” “In the Senate, we have more people on our Facebook page, than any other member of the United States Senate,” he said, before adding, “Look, what we want to do is tap the idealism of the kids. And what the kids are saying, for example, is that this country should lead the world in transferring our energy system and dealing with climate change. And that solution we’re going to talk about a whole lot.” *Leaving Brooklyn, Bernie Sanders Found Home In Vermont <http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/06/20/415747576/leaving-brooklyn-bernie-sanders-found-home-in-vermont> // NPR // Tamara Keith – June 20, 2015 * How did a city kid, who grew up in a 3 1/2-room apartment in Brooklyn, N.Y., end up the mayor of Burlington, Vt., and later one of the state's two senators? For Bernie Sanders, it began with a subway ride into Manhattan with his brother. "We stopped near the Radio City Music Hall and at that point the state of Vermont had a storefront there, advertising Vermont land," says Sanders. "It was for tourists." Sanders, 73, the independent senator turned Democratic presidential candidate, has called Vermont home for almost all of his entire adult life. It started when he was around 13 years old, a fascination with the Green Mountain State born in glossy real estate guides. "We picked up the brochures," Sanders says. "We read them and we saw farms were for sale." And then after college, in the mid-1960s, Sanders, his then-wife and his brother pooled some inheritance money and bought a small piece of the dream. "We had never been to Vermont in our lives; we just drove up," Sanders says. "We bought 85 acres for $2,500. How's that? But it was woodland." From Gadfly To Mayor Before long, Sanders had moved to Vermont full time. He did a series of odd jobs, and got active in politics as a member of the Liberty Union Party, which defines itself as a nonviolent socialist party. That's when he met his very good friend Huck Gutman, a poetry professor at the University of Vermont. "A couple of my students said, you know, there's a guy you should meet. He sounds like you. And I don't think they meant that we both sounded like we came from New York," says Gutman — who does in fact sound like a New Yorker, though less so than Sanders. "It meant that we both sounded progressive. So I remember meeting with Bernie and talking about politics, and we've been friends ever since." Sanders ran for senator twice and governor once, but, Gutman says, "It was a third party of the sort that doesn't gain much traction in the United States — anti-big business, anti-war." Sanders never garnered more than 5 percent of the vote as a member of the Liberty Union Party. He never changed his politics, but he did switch his party registration to independent and set his sights a little lower. His 10-vote victory over a Democratic incumbent in the 1981 race to be mayor of Burlington is now part of the legend of Bernie Sanders. With that win, he went from gadfly to elected official — with all that entailed. Another part of the legend: the snowplows. His wife, Jane Sanders, remembers many a snowy night when Mayor Sanders obsessively monitored the progress of the city's snowplows. "Before the end of the night he would be out on the trucks, on the snowplows with them, to make sure things were going well," she says. "He takes his responsibilities extremely seriously." A Little League Through Force Of Will In the Senate recently, that meant teaming up with Arizona Republican John McCain to pass significant changes to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Or, back when he was mayor and Jane was the head of the city's youth agency, insisting that the economically depressed Old North End neighborhood get its own children's baseball league. "He told me, 'We're going to start an Old North End Little League,' and everybody said, 'Oh, it can't be done, they just can't sustain it — we've tried,' " says Jane. "And he said, 'No, we're going to do it, just — here, do a poster, and put it out, and we'll have everybody meet.' " That first Saturday, she said, 90 kids showed up, along with Bernie and two city attorneys, who served as coaches. "We got them uniforms. And we still run into people who say, 'I was on your team.' " Now, there weren't actually enough children for age-appropriate teams, but that didn't stop them: Kids ages 6 to 16 were all on the same team. Jane says the teenagers were simply told to take it easy on the little guys. "So it became the most compassionate and supportive place to be," she says. The league still exists today. Supportive and compassionate: That pretty much sums up Burlington — a city of 40,000 that Bernie Sanders led for eight years. Just Don't Call It The 'People's Republic Of Burlington' The weekly Burlington farmers market is a central meeting point that started shortly before Sanders became mayor. There are people doing yoga on the grass and parents pushing their kids in strollers. Walking around, you could get the impression that this is an ideal place to pick up overpriced organic arugula, at the heart of the 'People's Republic of Burlington' — but the people at the market say that stereotype is not quite right. "So much of it is seeing people bump into their friends and chitchat all day long," says David Zuckerman. "And that's part of what Burlington is: You go anywhere in Burlington — or frankly anywhere in Vermont — and you're going to bump into somebody that either you know or knows someone you know." Zuckerman is an organic vegetable farmer, pig farmer and chicken farmer, and a state senator. Yes, he sells arugula, but this farmers market — and Burlington — is really about people. About community, he says. 'He Needs His Fix Of Vermont' On a recent Saturday Bernie Sanders sat outside an ice cream stand that sells a maple soft-serve called a maple creemee. (I can report it is delicious.) The restaurant has ample outdoor seating and a pretty amazing view of Lake Champlain. At first, it seemed like the interview might not work, as people constantly tried to say hi to their senator or catch his eye. People walking by shot cellphone pictures. Sanders told a story about a trip he took back to New York 10 or 15 years ago. It just didn't feel like home, he says. "I was walking in Manhattan, and I saw people and I'd say hello, and people had this look like I was threatening them," said Sanders. "Here, when you walk down the street, you nod to people and say hello. In the rural areas it's not uncommon for two cars going in a different direction to stop. People chat." His friends say that, for Bernie Sanders, the hardest part of running for president may be spending so much time away from Burlington. Gutman says that until his friend started running for president, he came home to Vermont regularly. "I don't mean to suggest he's a junkie, but I think he needs his fix of Vermont," says Gutman. "I think he needs to get his feet on the ground in this state and in this city to feel at home with himself, and I think that is a great thing. He's grounded here." Jane says Sanders came back from a recent campaign swing in Iowa, where the landscape couldn't be more different, and he told her: "You're going to like the people there — they're very much like Vermonters." *Bernie Sanders Wows Hollywood Progressives at Two L.A. Fundraisers <http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bernie-sanders-wows-hollywood-progressives-804004> // The Hollywood Reporter // Tina Daunt – June 20, 2015 * With the dust still settling after Barack Obama’s and Hillary Clinton’s glitzy fundraising trips to Hollywood this week, Clinton’s first official Democratic rival — Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders — slipped quietly into town Saturday for a pair of low-key events that didn’t raise seven-figure sums, but did warm the hearts of two overflowing crowds of Hollywood progressives. Sanders’ supporters might be called the entertainment industry’s irreconcilables — the left flank of the Hollywood Dems’ most progressive faction, with activists deeply disappointed in Obama, who they supported, and unwilling to sign on to a Clinton presidential campaign. In the former Secretary of State, they see another moderate waiting to happen. Early Saturday morning, they filled the already blazing frontyard of actress Mimi Kennedy’s Van Nuys home and — at midday — the living room of long-time activists Betty and Stanley Sheinbaum’s sprawling Brentwood Park mansion to hear the program of a candidate they see as everything Hillary is not. “I’m here with my wife and my friends because we believe Bernie is providing us with the opportunity to have a voice and a role in the Democratic process at a time when progressives are on the rise,” said former California state Senator Tom Hayden, who introduced Sanders at the Van Nuys event. “Bernie has launched a very critical campaign in several states,” Haden said. “He’s actually doing well in the early polls. He has an opportunity to change the conversation in the country. He has an opportunity to be an effective debater (against Clinton) in the primaries. He has an opportunity to attract Libertarians and Republicans, as well as Democrats and Socialists. It always was a motley crew — the progressive coalition.” With Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren definitely out of the race, Sanders — a self-described Democratic socialist — is the candidate who checks all the progressive boxes, earning him a devoted Los Angeles following. About 300 people turned out for Sanders’ two events on Saturday. Attendees included Days of Our Lives actress Deidre Hall, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas producer Richard Foos, Sister Act producer Cindy Gilmore Asner, filmmaker James H. Stern and actress/producer Sheila Emery. In Van Nuys, Sanders told that crowd that the best part of running for president is being able to talk about the issues the other candidates are avoiding. “Our campaign is catching fire,” he said. “It’s for one simple reason: We are telling the truth. And I think that’s what the American people want to hear. The truth may not be necessarily pleasant, but we can’t go forward unless we have the courage to take a hard look at where we are today. And where we are today is not in a good place.” Income inequality and working conditions are one of his major concerns, and he recently put his views to one interviewer like this: “What we have seen is that while the average person is working longer hours for lower wages, we have seen a huge increase in income and wealth inequality, which is now reaching obscene levels. This is a rigged economy, which works for the rich and the powerful, and is not working for ordinary Americans. You know, this country just does not belong to a handful of billionaires.” Since declaring his candidacy last month, Sanders has pointedly rejected the usual stump speech ambiguities. His style seems to declare that when you’re clearly on the attack, you don’t need room to maneuver. He has declared himself against free-trade agreements and the Keystone XL pipeline. He wants higher taxes on corporations and investors’ capital gains to finance universal healthcare and free college educations for all qualifying students. He has introduced legislation to require paid leave and vacation time for every American worker. He wants more regulation of Wall Street and the big banks and a rollback of the Citizens United decision that ushered in the era of Super PAC’s. “I don’t believe that the men and women who defended American democracy fought to create a situation where billionaires own the political process,” he said. Sanders, in fact refuses to accept Super PAC contributions and several millions his campaign has taken in so far came from donors whose average check was $43. “Look, we knew from day one that we don’t have any Super PACs, and I don’t have too many billionaires putting a lot of money into the campaign,” Sanders told supporters gathered in the Sheinbaums' living room. Promoting laughter, he added: “In fact, we have no billionaires.” But he said that he believes he’ll have enough money to run a strong campaign. In fact, Sanders has declared himself “stunned” by the crowds his campaign stops have drawn. On Saturday, the Kennedy and Sheinbaum events were no exception. Betty and Stanley Sheinbaum are as close as the progressive Westside comes to a first couple. (She’s Jack Warner’s daughter, and he’s a former economics professor turned anti-Vietnam War and civil liberties activist.) Their light-filled Brentwood Park living room has hosted generations of liberal Democratic politicians and progressive foreign leaders. Some of Bill Clinton's first introductions to Hollywood occurred there. Daniel Ellsberg’s defense in the Pentagon Papers case was planned there and the ACLU Foundation of Southern California founded around the fireplace before which Sanders spoke on Saturday. “In this country, when we stand together there are extraordinary things we can do,” Sanders told the overflowing crowd. “We can provide health care to all of our people. We can create decent paying jobs for all of our people. We can lead the world in terms of combating climate change. We can end racism and sexism and homophobia in the United States. We can end the disgrace of having the highest rate of childhood poverty. All of that is possible. This is not a poor country. This is a rich country. So work with me please in bringing about this political revolution." Amid rousing applause he added: "Let’s stand together and let’s do what needs to be done to make this country the greatest country in the world.” Following his Brentwood Park appearance, Sanders was off to Denver to address a huge gathering of supporters eager to drink from the cup of unadulterated progressive conviction. *OTHER* *Obama, Clinton mining state's gold, not voters <http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-california-politics-obama-20150621-story.html> // LA Times // Cathleen Decker - June 21, 2015* Last week proved anew just how convincingly California has become the place where politicians go to rich people's homes to talk about the lives of less-fortunate people they rarely meet. President Obama crossed into Southern California airspace on Thursday and promptly took part in two events with donors, one at the home of producer Chuck Lorre and the second hosted by entertainer Tyler Perry. Later he had dinner with Hollywood moguls Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg. "Just dinner with friends," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said. On Friday, after an interview for a comedian's podcast in Highland Park, Obama spoke in San Francisco at the annual meeting of the nation's mayors, then hitfundraisers on Nob Hill and at the Golden Gate Bridge-view home of Tom Steyer, the hedge-fund billionaire who spent $74 million to become the nation's most generous individual political donor in 2014. Then it was off to Palm Springs, where Obama had plenty of time for a couple of rounds of golf before Sunday's departure. Hillary Rodham Clinton surfaced in Southern California on Friday, holding three fundraisers in wealthy environs during which she "continued talking about her commitment to being a champion for everyday Americans," her campaign said. She spoke to the mayors in San Francisco on Saturday, then raised money elsewhere in the city. Clinton's speech to the mayors, an emotional discussion of the lasting stain of racism, was the first non-fundraising event in California of her two-month-old campaign. For Democrats, the absence of a connection with the non-wealthy in California prompts a certain unease, since it cuts against the party's desired image and policy priorities. But it also represents a giant political victory, one whose major participants include Clinton and her husband, President Clinton, and Obama. When a state is completely in the bag for either political party, there's no need — indeed, it arguably would be wasteful — to spend the resources it takes to mount an effort to persuade voters. And with more than a little help from Republicans, Democrats have commanded the state completely for two decades. As last week reminded, California now serves the single purpose of providing the financial heft to be used in the states that matter. "California's just different. It's a money machine now, more than anything else," said Tom Epstein, a former Clinton administration political hand and now a vice president at Blue Shield of California, based in San Francisco. Epstein's experience dates to the days it wasn't. Little more than a generation ago, California's urban centers, suburban sprawl and rural towns were regular battlegrounds for presidential candidates. In 1988, Republican nominee George H.W. Bush held two campaign events in Southern California the Sunday before election day, a time set aside for big targets. A few days earlier, Democratic nominee Michael S. Dukakis had chartered a train to choo-choo up the Central Valley, where he spoke in Hanford, Fresno and Stockton. Bush won — but when he ran for reelection four years later, Bill Clinton used California to paint himself as the candidate who best represented the future. Voters cranky about the recession-battered present sided with him. Clinton's 13-point victory here was striking, and easy. His last California visit came weeks before the election, with an exclamation-point foray into the then-Republican stronghold Orange County. Epstein became the administration's California point person, charged with keeping Clinton in good favor here as he looked to repeat his victory in 1996. California "was a very high priority," Epstein said. "Virtually every trip he did he had a little reception for his supporters and tried to keep them fired up and engaged.... The president really enjoyed California as we all know, enjoyed hanging out with the Hollywood types and engaged pretty well with Northern California. It was a top political priority in a way it just isn't any more." The attention dovetailed with Republican campaigns against illegal immigration that enraged the state's growing Latino population, whose retribution cinched Clinton's second victory and four subsequent Democratic presidential wins here. President Obama lost the 2008 primary to Hillary Clinton but won swamping victories here in the last two general elections. Nothing, at this early moment, appears to stand in the way of Hillary Clinton winning a resounding primary victory in June, followed by the seventh-straight general election win for a Democrat in the state. Every California poll shows her as the front-runner. Hillary Clinton could use the state's cutting-edge image as Bill Clinton did, embracing the tech wonders of Northern California — where the state's center of political gravity has shifted — to portray herself as completely in tune with the economic needs of the future. That is one of her main planks, but there will be a temptation to put forward that argument — and all others — in states that matter. For his part, Obama has lavished attention on California's fundraising salons — the Bay Area visit was the 20th of his presidency, most of them involving money. To the mayors on Friday, he noted the presence of Gov. Jerry Brown and Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, briefly praising Brown's moves on climate change and lauding the House Democratic leader despite their recent break over a trade treaty. Apart from that, there was no talk about the state in which he stood. The mayors, to be sure, came from all over, so parochialism might have had limited benefits. But it seemed symbolic nonetheless that Obama said almost nothing at all about California before he left to collect more of its money. *GOP* *DECLARED* *BUSH* *Can Jeb Bush Win the Christian Right? <http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/06/20/can-jeb-bush-win-the-christian-right/> // WSJ // Dante Chinni – June 20, 2015 * Here’s a challenge for Jeb Bush: Evangelical Christians like him – but they don’t seem eager to vote for him. That’s one reason Mr. Bush hasn’t met expectations that he’d break away from the GOP pack. Here’s a look at how he fares currently, in three charts. * * * 1. Jeb’s Evangelical Strength, Weakness Some 55% of white evangelicals hold a favorable view of Mr. Bush—a larger share than for any other GOP candidate tested by the Pew Research Center. For Mr. Bush, that’s the good news. * * * 2. Mike Huckabee Out Front But those same voters favor other GOP candidates over Mr. Bush. He trails Mike Huckabee significantly among evangelicals as their top choice for president. * * * 3. Evangelical Voters Early Influence One reason for this may be that while Mr. Bush is seen favorably by many evangelicals, he also leads his rivals in the share who hold a negative view of him. That suggests that many evangelical voters are off the table for Mr. Bush, at least for now. And that’s significant, because evangelical voters have a big presence in states that fall early on the nomination calendar. Mr. Bush doesn’t need to dominate among evangelicals, since he appeals to a wide set of GOP voters. But he does need a solid share of evangelical votes to build a winning coalition. *Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio’s backyard battle royal <http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/jeb-bush-and-marco-rubios-backyard-battle-royal-119247.html#ixzz3dcuoAp36> // Politico // Marco Caputo – June 20, 2015 * Jeb Bush built the Miami-Dade Republican Party. And now Marco Rubio wants to take possession. Just five days after Bush made his campaign for president official, Rubio will be the headliner Saturday at the local GOP’s Lincoln Day Dinner fundraiser. It’s indicative of the awkward predicament South Florida’s two White House hopefuls find themselves in, and one of the complications of having two Miami Republicans running simultaneously for the nation’s highest office. Known simply as “Jeb” and “Marco,” the men are longtime allies, friends and neighbors who live a five-minute drive from each other in bordering cities. Now the Miami-Dade GOP, built into a powerhouse by Bush in the 1980s, isn’t big enough for the two of them. The family feud between these two titans of the Republican Party has loomed for months, during which GOP insiders from Miami to Tallahassee have dealt with it like many a conflicted family: with denial. Then it became indisputable Monday when Bush officially announced his bid — and his surrogates threw a few not-so-subtle jabs at Rubio for his lack of accomplishments and executive experience. In one of the most politically dynamic counties in the most politically dynamic state, many Republicans say it will only get worse. “There’s a lot of passion, and this could almost literally come to blows,” said David Custin, an independent and longtime Miami-Dade political consultant who’s often hired to work on some of the roughest campaigns. “If someone says the wrong thing in Nevada or something, there could be a brawl at the Ball & Chain bar in Little Havana. If someone starts shoving somebody in Illinois, fists could fly at The Pub in Coral Gables,” Custin said. “A lot of us, a lot of my Republican clients, don’t know what to do. They don’t want to pick a side. But they might have to.” The contest between the two is particularly vexing to many here because Bush and Rubio are party icons in Miami-Dade and across the state. Most Republicans who run for office — especially in a primary — covet the endorsement of both. They’re featured in candidate mailers, ads, robocalls, fundraisers and rallies. Their respective endorsements are believed to move poll numbers. Perhaps the most-conflicted Republican of all is Nelson Diaz, the county party chairman who secured Rubio’s commitment to appear at the fundraiser a year ago — before it was clear that the first-term senator would run for president. Diaz used to work as Rubio’s legislative aide. But he’s also a lobbyist for Southern Strategy Group, established by Paul Bradshaw – the husband of Bush’s top adviser, Sally Bradshaw. “The Republican Party of Miami is and will remain neutral until we have a nominee, at which point we will go all out to ensure there is a Republican in the White House in 2016,” Diaz said, acknowledging a measure of frustration that he has to bat down false rumors that he’s trying to give Rubio an edge. There are benefits, though, to being home to two serious candidates for the presidency: Diaz on Friday triumphantly announced that the Lincoln Day Dinner was sold out, and that the local GOP hasn’t had this many attendees in more than 25 years. The tensions and rumblings surrounding the question of who backs whom have ratcheted up as the polling margin between the two men has shrunk. The two are virtually deadlocked in Florida – a state that Republicans likely must win in order to carry the White House. Bush nominally leads Rubio among Florida Republicans, 20 percent to 18 percent — an inside-the-error margin — according to Quinnipiac University’s latest survey. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker comes in a distant third (out of 16 potential candidates) with 9 percent support. The trend has been in Rubio’s favor. The two percentage point margin between the two represents a net shift of 10 points toward Rubio and away from Bush since March, when the former governor led the U.S. senator 24-12 percent in a Quinnipiac poll. Nationally, it’s a similar story. According to Real Clear Politics’ national polling average of the race, Bush is essentially tied with Rubio. The margin between the two is less than a percentage point, with Walker in between. At its height at the beginning of the year, Bush’s lead over Rubio was 17 percent to 5 percent. Bush’s advantage started to dissipate about the same time Rubio announced for president in April. The venue for Rubio’s campaign announcement – the Freedom Tower, nicknamed “The Ellis Island of the South” — was a testament to the history of Miami, particularly for Cuban exiles and immigrants. Many had their immigration status processed at the iconic Mediterranean-style building after they fled to the United States in the wake of Fidel Castro’s 1959 coup. Bush’s Monday announcement also took place within the county borders, but at a gymnasium lacking that symbolism. His team held a larger, more traditional and well-organized campaign announcement that showcased more surrogates and videos explaining his biography – a tacit admission that Bush, who last ran for office in 2002, knows he needs to start from scratch in introducing himself to voters. Where Rubio spoke only a line of Spanish in his address, Bush spoke more Spanish and emphasized Latino culture. It’s a practice he learned here in Miami-Dade, where campaigning in Spanish — with a salsa-attuned-ear to Latin culture — is a must. Unlike any other county in the United States, registered Republicans in Miami-Dade are overwhelmingly Hispanic – almost 73 percent – and nearly all Cuban-American. There are more Republicans here (it’s the most-populous county in the state, with 1.3 million voters) than anywhere else in Florida. And they vote at some of the highest rates in the state. The nearly 360,000 registered Republicans are outnumbered 42 percent to 28 percent by registered Democrats but GOP politicians control the county’s power structure, holding more seats on the county commission and the state’s legislative and congressional delegations. As a result, GOP politics, and therefore countywide politics, are often covered more in Spanish TV and radio than in English here. A majority of the county’s top elected officials – the three Cuban-American members of Congress, top Republican state legislators – are with Bush, an established figure since 1980. The race, though, could be far closer among rank-and-file voters, said Armando Ibarra, who’s not siding with anyone and is the director of club growth for Miami-Dade’s young Republicans. “People are conflicted. Jeb has ties that stretch back 30 years in this community, and that’s tough to match. But Marco is in a good spot. What I hear from some people is that they were jittery about Jeb for a while,” Ibarra said. “It’s going to be hard for a lot of Cuban-Americans in the end to resist the temptation to vote for Marco, a son of this community. There’s a saying with Cubans, ‘la juventud impone’ – it means something like, ‘the youth gets ahead,’ that what the older generation is doing is for the younger. A lot of older people like the idea that a kid who was riding bikes in the neighborhood could be president.” But Sasha Tirador, an independent political consultant who often handles Spanish-language Republican campaigns, said she has heard older Cuban-Americans grouse that Rubio didn’t wait his turn. “The sense among many of them is that Marco betrayed his mentor,” Tirador said. She said that Bush’s record of accomplishments might be more attractive to Republican voters here, even Cuban-Americans, who don’t necessarily view Bush as an Anglo. “Jeb Bush is more than an honorary Cuban. He’s an honorary Hispanic,” she said. More than any other single figure in the county, Bush is responsible for making the GOP what it is in Miami — and, perhaps, the state. And those efforts helped pave the way for Rubio’s rise. The bilingual Bush moved to Miami in 1980 when he was 27 years old (Rubio was 9) to work on his father’s campaign for president and then vice president on the ticket of Ronald Reagan, whose campaign team identified Cuban-Americans as ripe for plucking because of their cultural conservatism, vehement anti-communism and still-fresh memories of John F. Kennedy’s botched Bay of Pigs invasion. Ahead of Reagan’s 1984 re-election campaign, Jeb became chair of the county party. He became known as a relentless recruiter who reveled in his work — he described converting Democrats as “missionary work.” The results: 4,000 Democrats switched their party registration that year, with Bush hand-delivering half of that total to the elections office in a single day. On one notable occasion, immediately after a 1984 naturalization ceremony in the Orange Bowl, nearly 10,000 Hispanics registered Republican. In all, voter rolls grew 20 percent that year, an increase disproportionately due to Hispanics, 74 percent of whom registered Republican. Bush’s efforts helped reduced the Democrats’ 3-1 registration edge over Republicans to 2-1 by Election Day, The Miami Herald reported. A decade later, Bush ran for his first statewide elected office against incumbent Gov. Lawton Chiles and narrowly lost. He continued building the local GOP but also began to direct his efforts at the state level as well. He won in 1998, becoming the first Republican since Reconstruction to govern with a majority-Republican Legislature. In his 2002 re-election, Jeb throttled his opponent as Republicans seized the Governor’s mansion, Florida Legislature and Cabinet. In both of his wins, Bush carried Miami-Dade, which remained disproportionately loaded with Democratic voters. Along the way, Rubio entered Bush’s orbit. A child of the Reagan years, Rubio came of age during the Bush-led Republican ascendancy in Florida. He interned for Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and, in 1996, was recruited by Bush’s future state GOP chairman, Al Cardenas, to run Miami get-out-the-vote efforts for Bob Dole’s doomed presidential campaign. Two years later, he won a city commission seat in the middle-class suburb of West Miami, which borders the tonier Coral Gables where Bush lives today. In 1999, less than a year after Bush assumed office, Rubio won a tough special election for a state House seat. A loyal Bush-agenda voter, Rubio scaled the rungs of power in the state House and quickly began running for a future post as Florida House speaker. Bush’s machine helped, but Rubio did much of it on his own as well. Rubio started his two-year term as speaker in 2007, the same year Bush left office due to term limits, and became the standard bearer for his legacy. He hired Bush’s old staffers and policy wonks and resisted the agenda of then-GOP Gov. Charlie Crist, who was viewed by conservatives with suspicion. When the two clashed in the 2010 Senate race, Bush and his network helped keep Rubio alive until he picked up momentum and defeated Crist. Rubio showed his gratitude by lavishing praise on Bush in his “American Son” autobiography. A year after that, in 2013, Republicans started to turn on both of them for supporting a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Rubio tried to make amends with conservatives and backed away from the immigration bill he helped draft. But Bush didn’t change much and, unlike Rubio, stuck by his support for the Common Core educational standards. It caused a strain with the local party: the Republican Executive Committee voted in September 2013 to oppose Common Core, a slap at the self-styled “education governor.” “Is loyalty to its lead promoters – Jeb Bush and the rest of the Republican leadership — so cemented that we will be whipped into one mindset and put party over principal?” activist Pam Evans asked Republicans before the vote. Even as two favorite sons ascend to the national stage, the Republican brand in Miami-Dade is diminishing. Local voters have drifted leftward in the last two presidential elections: President Obama won the county in 2012 by a stunning margin of 208,459 votes, enabling him to squeak past Mitt Romney in Florida. Registered Democrats now outnumber Republicans by 188,119; for the first time last year, voters of no major party affiliation – typically called independents — now outnumber registered Republicans. As if those trends weren’t worrisome enough for Bush and Rubio, younger Cuban-Americans are less likely to register or vote Republican like their parents or grandparents — the GOP is the last choice for non-Cuban Hispanics lately when they register to vote. *Jeb Bush's Standing Improves Among Republicans <http://www.nbcnews.com/MEET-THE-PRESS/JEB-BUSHS-STANDING-IMPROVES-AMONG-REPUBLICANS-N379126> // NBC News // Mark Murray – June 21, 2015* Jeb Bush's standing among Republican primary voters continues to improve, Marco Rubio remains popular with the party and two-thirds of GOP voters say they couldn't support Donald Trump. Those are the findings from a brand-new NBC News/Wall Street Journal, which was conducted June 14-18 — during the build-up and coverage of Bush's and Trump's official presidential announcements. According to the poll, 75 percent of Republicans say they could see themselves supporting Bush, the former Florida governor, for president, versus 22 percent who couldn't (+53 points). That's up from his 70 percent-27 percent score in April (+43), and 49 percent-42 percent score in March (+7). Rubio, the Florida senator, has the highest margin of support among Republicans, with 74 percent who could see themselves backing him and 15 percent who couldn't (+59) - unchanged from April's poll. Meanwhile, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is expected to announce his presidential bid next month, has plenty of upside with GOP voters: 57 percent could see themselves supporting him, versus 19 percent who couldn't (+38), but there's another 21 percent who say they don't know his name. The most unpopular GOP presidential candidate in the poll? Donald Trump, who announced his White House bid last Tuesday (but who still has yet to file his "statement of candidacy" with the Federal Election Commission). Just 32 percent of Republican primary voters say they could see themselves supporting him, compared with a whopping 66 percent who couldn't (-34). Below are the scores on this question for the full GOP field: • Marco Rubio: 74 percent-15 percent (+59) • Jeb Bush: 75 percent-22 percent (+53) • Scott Walker: 57 percent-19 percent (+38) • Mike Huckabee: 65 percent-32 percent (+33) • Ben Carson: 50 percent-21 percent (+29) • Rick Perry: 53 percent-31 percent (+22) • Ted Cruz: 51 percent-31 percent (+20) • Rick Santorum: 49 percent-40 percent (+9) • Bobby Jindal: 36 percent-28 percent (+8) • Rand Paul: 49 percent-45 percent (+4) • Carly Fiorina: 31 percent-29 percent (+2) • John Kasich: 25 percent-30 percent (-5) • Chris Christie: 36 percent-55 percent (-19) • Lindsey Graham: 27 percent-49 percent (-22) • George Pataki: 13 percent-44 percent (-31) • Donald Trump 32 percent-66 percent (-34) The margin of error on this question in the NBC/WSJ poll is plus-minus 6.4 percentage points. The full poll - which will include the horserace numbers for the Democratic and Republican fields, as well as general-election numbers - will be released on Monday night at 6:30 pm ET. *Jeb Bush faces key test on immigration <http://www.abqjournal.com/601442/opinion/jeb-bush-faces-key-test-on-immigration.html> // Albequerque Journal // Andres Oppenheimer – June 20, 2015 * Jeb Bush, who speaks fluent Spanish and has a Mexican-born wife, is the Republican hopeful who would do best among Hispanic voters in the 2016 presidential elections. But his party – and he himself – have veered so far to the right on immigration and social issues that even he will have a big Latino problem. Most pollsters agree Republicans will need between 40 percent and 44 percent of the Hispanic vote to win in 2016, more than they received in recent elections. The most recent Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, lost the 2012 election to a large extent because he only got 27 percent of the Latino vote. There is little question that Jeb would be the best equipped to win Latino votes among the current Republican hopefuls. He is the only one who speaks Spanish at home, has lived in Mexico and Venezuela, majored in Latin American studies at the University of Texas, and has had close Cuban-American ties since he moved to Miami in 1980. It was no coincidence during his presidential announcement on Monday the crowd chanted “Viva Jeb!” Congresswoman Ileana Ross Lehtinen, R-Miami, said: “Jeb is Cuban. He’s Nicaraguan. He’s Venezuelan.” While fellow Republican hopefuls Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have Cuban parents and Rubio also speaks fluent Spanish, they don’t have a Mexican wife and Mexican-American children who can campaign with them in Spanish, nor Bush’s personal history of having lived in Latin America. Despite all of this, Bush would face an uphill battle to get more than 40 percent of the Latino vote and win the 2016 elections. Democrats and pro-immigration groups are already stressing that Bush is running for what they call “the deportation party” and say that he is already retrenching from his previous moderation on immigration issues. Among their main lines of attack: First, Bush is voicing strong opposition to Obama’s executive action on immigration, which would freeze the deportations of up to 5 million undocumented immigrants. That will put Bush at odds with millions of Hispanic voters who have relatives and friends who would benefit from Obama’s measure, critics say. Second, Bush has adopted the conservative Republicans’ mantra that “we have to secure the border” before implementing immigration reform. Critics say that new measures to “secure the border” would not only be a waste of money at a time when illegal immigration from Mexico is at a historic low, but also is a Republican excuse for not doing anything about undocumented immigrants now in the country. Third, Bush has stepped back from his previous support for eventual citizenship for undocumented immigrants who regularize their status, writing in a 2013 book that he supports a legal path to permanent status, but not to citizenship, critics say. In fact, Bush has gone back and forth on this, but remains the most pro-immigrant among the major Republican hopefuls. Fourth, Bush supports many conservative stands, such as opposition to Obamacare and raising the minimum wage, which most Hispanics support. Matt Barreto and Gary Segura, of Latino Decisions, a Hispanic market polling firm, wrote earlier this week that these and other stands are likely to cause Bush to lose the Latino vote. “Latino voters have proven more than willing to reject even actual Latinos as candidates when their policy positions are in contrast to the community preferences,” they wrote. My opinion: The key test for Bush’s presidential bid will be whether he can withstand the temptation to shift further to the right on immigration during the primaries, where he will need to court anti-immigration voters in northern states and where he will be attacked by his fellow Republican hopefuls for his support for comprehensive immigration reform. If Bush can win the nomination by keeping a pro-immigration profile and convincing fellow Republicans that – whether they like his immigration stance or not – he’s their best hope to win the White House, he’ll have a chance in 2016. If, as many of us suspect, he shifts to the right on immigration because he thinks that it will be the only way to win the primaries, as Romney did in 2012, he’s doomed to lose the Hispanic vote, and the 2016 election. *Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush Say Confederate Flag Should be Removed <http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/06/20/mitt_romney_jeb_bush_call_for_removing_confederate_flag_from_south_carolina.html> // Slate // Daniel Politi – June 20, 2015 * Those calling for the removal of the Confederate flag that is flying above the grounds of South Carolina’s state Capitol received support from two Republicans on Saturday. Mitt Romney was by far the most forceful. The 2012 Republican presidential nominee did not mince words, taking to Twitter to write: “Take down the #ConfederateFlag at the SC Capitol. To many, it is a symbol of racial hatred. Remove it now to honor #Charleston victims.” Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush wasn’t as direct but his words left little room for interpretation. In a post on Facebook, Bush said that his position “is clear” on what should be done with the flag. "In Florida, we acted, moving the flag from the state grounds to a museum where it belonged," Bush said. "This is obviously a very sensitive time in South Carolina and our prayers are with the families, the AME church community and the entire state. Following a period of mourning, there will rightly be a discussion among leaders in the state about how South Carolina should move forward and I'm confident they will do the right thing." Bush's words appeared to closely echo President Obama's views on the issue. “The president has said before he believes the Confederate flag belongs in a museum, and that is still his position,” spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday. Other Republican contenders got close to the line but fell short of saying the flag should be removed outright. Carly Fiorina, for example, said she agrees the flag is a “symbol of racial hatred” but her “personal opinion is not what’s relevant here,” according to the Associated Press. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, meanwhile, told the Washington Post that South Carolina is the one that has to decide what to do about the flag. “I think that’s a question for South Carolina, and the last thing they need is people from outside the state coming in and dictating how they should resolve that issue,” Cruz said. Although Romney’s strong statement was surprising considering how Republican leaders have appeared reluctant to discuss the role of race in the church shooting in South Carolina, the New York Times points out that the former governor has been speaking up against the flag for years. “That flag shouldn’t be flown,” Romney said in 2008. “That’s not a flag I recognize.” *Confederate flag fell in Florida under Gov. Jeb Bush <http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/confederate-flag-fell-in-floirda-under-gov-jeb-bush/2234457> // Tampa Bay Times // Alex Leary – June 20, 2015 * Take down the #ConfederateFlag at the SC Capitol. To many, it is a symbol of racial hatred. Remove it now to honor #Charleston victims. – Mitt Romney We've asked the Bush campaign if he agrees with Romney. It would seem so. Florida removed the flag under Bush. (Bush began yesterday not addressing the racial motivation behind the shooting in Charleston but then pointedly called the shooter a "racist." "My position on how to address the Confederate flag is clear," Bush said in a statement provided to the Tampa Bay Times. "In Florida we acted, moving the flag from the state grounds to a museum where it belonged. This is obviously a very sensitive time in South Carolina and our prayers are with the families, the AME church community and the entire state. Following a period of mourning there will rightly be a discussion among leaders in the state about how South Carolina should move forward, and I'm confident they will do the right thing." From the St. Petersburg Times, Feb. 10, 2001: The Confederate flag was removed this month from the Florida state Capitol, with little notice and none of the uproar that accompanied its departure in other Southern states. The "Stainless Banner," which features the Confederate battle flag design in the top left corner of a field of white, was retired Feb. 2. It had flown since 1978 outside the Capitol's west entrance. Gov. Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Katherine Harris -- Republicans who angered thousands of black Floridians during the controversial presidential election -- simply decided it was time for the flag to go. "Regardless of our views about the symbolism of the . . . flags -- and people of goodwill can disagree on the subject -- the governor believes that most Floridians would agree that the symbols of Florida's past should not be displayed in a manner that may divide Floridians today," Bush spokeswoman Katie Baur said in a written statement. Flags commemorating the French, Spanish and British governments that once ruled the state and flew beside the Confederate flag also were removed. All four will be housed at the Florida Museum of History a few blocks from the Capitol. "The governor is confident that a new historical display at the museum will better reflect the context and history of Florida's historical flags as we begin a new century," Baur's statement read. *RUBIO* *In Miami, Rubio downplays competition with Bush: ‘It’s politics. It’s not personal.’ <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/06/20/in-miami-rubio-downplays-competition-with-bush-its-politics-its-not-personal/> // WaPo // Sean Sullivan – June 20, 2015 * Jeb Bush launched his presidential campaign here in his hometown on Monday. On Saturday, his Republican rival and mentee Marco Rubio took a turn under the local spotlight. His message: Nothing personal. Hours before he was scheduled to address a major Republican Party fundraiser here in the city where both he and Bush have deep political roots, Rubio, a Republican senator, sought to downplay his emerging competition against the former governor. "It's politics. It's not personal," Rubio told reporters, later adding: "I'm not running against Jeb Bush. I'm running for president." And when he gave his speech, Rubio emphasized that he is not looking for nasty fight, complementing the field of GOP hopefuls. "I am not running against any of my fellow Republicans," he said. Bush mentored Rubio as he rose through the Florida political ranks. The competition between the two has put Republicans here in their stomping grounds in an awkward position. "A lot of Republicans are kind of torn," said Miami-Dade County GOP Chairman Nelson Diaz, a former Rubio aide who is staying neutral in the primary. He said the decision to invite Rubio to speak at the Lincoln Day Dinner was not a slight against Bush; Rubio was asked 14 months ago. Fielding questions from reporters on a variety of subjects ahead of his speech, Rubio said it is up to the people of South Carolina, not "outsiders," to decide whether to remove the Confederate flag from the state Capitol grounds, declining to echo Mitt Romney's call to remove it. "This is an issue that they should debate and work through and not have a bunch of outsiders going in and telling them what to do," he told reporters. Rubio said he supports the 2001 decision in Florida, by then-governor and now-rival Jeb Bush, to move the flag from the capitol to a museum. But as a state House member in 2001, Rubio was one of the sponsors of a measure to prohibit the "relocation, removal, disturbance, or alteration of a monument, memorial, plaque, marker, or historic flag commemorating or memorializing specified wars and military engagements," including the Civil War, "permanently displayed on public property of the state or any of its political subdivisions." Rubio spokesman Alex Conant told the Huffington Post that Rubio, "along with four other Cuban-Americans, two African-Americans, and a Jewish Democrat co-sponsored this legislation” to protect "war monuments." In his most expansive remarks on the deadly mass shooting at a black church in Charleston that has sparked a national debate over the flag, Rubio said the white man charged with the killings "carried out an act motivated by racial hatred." "It's an atrocity. It's a horrifying instance," said Rubio. He said the suspect "is full of hate in his heart." Asked about Pope Francis's encyclical on the environment, Rubio, a Roman Catholic who has questioned how much humans have contributed to climate change, sounded a respectful note, but he did not endorse the pontiff's blaming of human activity for climate change. "I have no problem with what the pope did," said Rubio. "He has a moral authority, and as a moral authority, is reminding us of our obligation to be good caretakers of the planet." Rubio continued: "I am a political leader. And my job as a policy maker is to act in the common good. And I do believe it's in the common good to protect our environment. But I also believe it's in the common good to protect our economy." Outside the dinner Rubio supporters tried to drown out a handful of immigration protesters critical of the senator: In his speech, Rubio also made light of report about his purchase of an $80,000 boat, saying it is "cleverly disguised as a family fishing boat." *Jeb Bush vs. Marco Rubio: Can the friendly tone last? <http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2015/0619/Jeb-Bush-vs.-Marco-Rubio-Can-the-friendly-tone-last-video> // CS Monitor // Linda Feldman – June 20, 2015 * Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, both top GOP prospects for president, often describe one another as “friend” or even “good friend.” And they seem to mean it. They are so close they’re practically family, like uncle and nephew, people who know them have said. It is a relationship born of their days in Florida politics, Mr. Bush as governor, Senator Rubio as a state representative. They still live just a few miles apart, Bush in Coral Gables and Rubio in West Miami. Now they are out to vanquish one another. For the moment, top-tier candidates like Bush and Rubio – and those with a shot at making the top tier – are working on channeling their inner Ronald Reagan or even their inner Barack Obama. Both presidents won election twice with positive, hopeful messages. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, political analysts say. Campaigns are all about making contrasts – in candidates’ styles, temperaments, records, skill sets, and ideas. Voters need information on which to make a decision. Sometimes, the information that emerges can be unflattering, but if it’s accurate, then it’s fair game. While unfair attacks or outright lies are another matter, a number of factors – from the sheer size of the presidential field to the rise of outside political groups – suggest that such attacks will remain a part of the campaign playbook this election. Indeed, Bush’s own father in many ways proved the power of the negative campaign, and so long as it remains effective, politicians will use it. “In politics, especially on this level, you have friendships, but just like in business, when it’s time for business, it’s time for business. When it’s time for politics, it’s time for politics,” says Matthew Corrigan, political scientist and author of the book “Conservative Hurricane: How Jeb Bush Remade Florida.” Bush and Rubio “are both going to run very tough campaigns, and they’re going to have to,” says Mr. Corrigan, who teaches at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. Clearly, Bush and Rubio have much at stake in the messages that come out of both their campaigns and the outside groups that support them – groups over which the candidates have no control, in theory, as they are barred from coordinating with the campaigns by law. Bush has pledged to campaign “joyfully” and with a message of optimism. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, has gone far – and fast – by campaigning as a happy warrior and a man of the future who embodies the American dream. Still, they are taking shots at each other, if ever-so-gently. Bush regularly touts his executive experience as a governor by comparing the senators in the 2016 race – no names mentioned – to a certain former senator now occupying the White House. “As our whole nation has learned since 2008, executive experience is another term for preparation and there is no substitute for that,” Bush said in his announcement speech Monday. When Rubio announced in April, he made a comment that was interpreted as a swipe at Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, who had announced the day before. But it could just as easily have been a jab at Bush, the son and brother of former presidents. “Yesterday is over, and we're never going back,” Rubio said. This is all pretty tame stuff. But it’s early, and history suggests that as the stakes mount, the tone becomes more combative. It was Bush’s father, the genteel George H.W. Bush, who brought in the aggressive operative Lee Atwater to run his 1988 presidential campaign. Mr. Atwater was most famous for using Willie Horton, a convicted murderer who had raped a woman while on furlough, against Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis. Atwater famously said he would make Mr. Horton “[Governor] Dukakis’s running mate,” after an outside group made an ad highlighting Horton. Jeb’s brother, George W. Bush, also benefited from the aggressive actions of an outside group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, during his successful reelection campaign for president in 2004. The Swift Boaters effectively attacked Democratic nominee John Kerry’s military service during the Vietnam War. John McCain, the Arizona senator and former prisoner of war, condemned the attacks, but the Bush campaign did not. In both cases, it was not the Bushes themselves who were making the negative assertions. It was operatives, or advertisements, or outside groups. That’s the lesson Jeb learned when he ran for governor of Florida the first time, unsuccessfully, in 1994. “Bush was the one making the tough statements, and of course he got hit for it and lost,” says Corrigan at the University of North Florida. “He learned from that model, it’s not the candidate that should be making the big haymakers, usually. You’ve got a whole operation to do that.” Indeed, part of the purpose of the political machinery around candidates is to allow the candidates themselves to remain positive while still attacking through back doors. Even as Bush and Rubio take the rhetorical high ground, their surrogates – people deputized to speak for the candidates – will not feel the need to be so high-minded. “Do I think you will see campaign surrogates attacking the other candidates? Yes,” says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. “Will they try to do it off the record? Yes. Will they be planting opposition research with the press? Yes. Because that’s how politics works these days. If they didn’t do that, they would not be a competitive campaign, unfortunately.” For other, lower-tier candidates, the size of the Republican field could spur desperate moves. Then there's billionaire Donald Trump, who plays a different kind of political game. He went after Rubio and Bush by name in his 40-minute stemwinder of a campaign announcement Tuesday, slamming both for their answers to questions on the Iraq War. Mr. Trump doesn’t mince words – and he wins some support for his brash style, possibly enough to qualify for the first debate on Aug. 6. Though he has virtually no chance of winning the GOP nomination, with three-quarters of Republican voters ruling him out, the tactic of attack will likely become an integral part of the campaign. “I don’t expect it from candidates who are ahead in the polls,” Ms. Jamieson says. “You expect it from those trying to get into the debates by attacking the front-runners. As they become more desperate for news coverage, to get their polling numbers up, their rhetoric becomes harsher and less factual.” “I don’t expect it from candidates who are ahead in the polls,” Ms. Jamieson says. “You expect it from those trying to get into the debates by attacking the front-runners. As they become more desperate for news coverage, to get their polling numbers up, their rhetoric becomes harsher and less factual.” *At Miami-Dade GOP, a homecoming for Marco Rubio <http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/elections-2016/marco-rubio/article25097653.html#storylink=cpy> // The Miami Herald // Patricia Mazzei – June 20, 2015* It was homecoming for Marco Rubio at the Miami-Dade Republican Party on Saturday night, and he relished the chance to kid around with the people who know him best. “Marco! Marco!” the sold-out crowd cheered as he took the stage. “My son was saying ‘Polo,’” Rubio joked. The Florida senator and 2016 presidential candidate headlined the local GOP’s annual Lincoln Day fund-raiser. They booked him a year ago, long before he launched his candidacy. The choice proved prescient: The party sold more tickets than it had since 1989, Chairman Nelson Diaz said. With the loyalties of Miami Republicans split between Rubio and that other local candidate, no one on stage uttered the words “Jeb Bush.” Bush, who kicked off his campaign Monday at Miami Dade College, was alluded to several times. But this night was Rubio’s. “I am not running against any of my fellow Republicans,” Rubio insisted, addressing the news media. “I know they want us to fight. I know they want us to argue. It makes for better articles.” He directly poked fun at a New York Times story that detailed Rubio’s finances — a story he then used as a campaign fund-raising pitch. “We’ve even been able to make enough to buy a luxury speedboat,” Rubio said, “though I admit it’s cleverly disguised as a family fishing boat.” The crowd roared. He declared himself “proud” to be from a state with four presidential candidates — also Ben Carson and Mike Huckabee — and “from a city with more presidential candidates per capita than any city in America.” Seated in the ballroom at the DoubleTree by Hilton Miami Airport & Convention Center were longtime Rubio friends he praised by name, including “political godmother” Rebeca Sosa, a county commissioner, and David Rivera, a former congressman. Rubio’s wife, Jeanette, and their four children were also in attendance — a rare occurrence, he pointed out, considering how much time he’s spent on the road since declaring his candidacy in April. He recounted his first campaign, for West Miami City Commission in 1998, as the time he “really met my community face to face.” He’d have 18 cups of Cuban coffee a day, he said, and get so jittery that “my hands were shaking.” Rubio didn’t deviate much from his stump speech, portions of which are familiar to many Miami-Dade Republicans who have been listening to him for years. As a result, his remarks weren’t especially rabble-rousing. He received much applause for opposing the Affordable Care Act — “We will repeal and replace Obamacare before it repeals and replaces American jobs” — and got in a few indirect jabs at Bush, including over educational standards — “We still improved our schools without Common Core,” he said of his time in the statehouse. And he concluded by tugging at the immigrant heartstrings of the heavily Cuban-American audience by mentioning his father, who worked as a bartender. “The journey from behind that bar to behind this microphone — journey is the essence of the American Dream,” he said. “In America, that’s not just my story. That’s our story. In Miami, that is our story.” The crowd ate it up. *Marco Rubio: 'No problem' with Catholic Church on climate change but economy more important <http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2015/06/marco-rubio-no-problem-with-catholic-church-on-climate-change-but-economy-more-important.html> // The Miami Herald // Patricia Mezzai – June 20, 2015 * Marco Rubio, a Roman Catholic, said Saturday he has "no problem" with Pope Francis' encyclical urging action on climate change -- but added he won't support policies that could help the environment but "hurt our economy." "I have no problem with what the pope did," Rubio told reporters in Miami before speaking to the Miami-Dade County Republican Party. "He is a moral authority and as a moral authority is reminding us of our obligation to be good caretakers to the planet. I'm a political leader. And my job as a policymaker is to act in the common good. And I do believe it's in the common good to protect our environment, but I also believe it's in the common good to protect our economy." Though scientists are in broad agreement that climate change is man-made, Rubio continued to question that premise. He said his focus is on tackling the consequences rather than what caused it. "I don' think there is a scientific consensus on what percent, how sensitive, climate is to human activity," he said. "But the broader question as a policy maker is not whether I believe humans have contributed 10 percent, 50 percent or 99 percent. The fundamental question I have as a policymaker must be what can we do about it and what impact will it have on the rest of our country and the rest of our lives. And what I am not going to support are measures that will hurt our economy and put people out of work and increase the cost of living." He began answering the question by poking at Democrats who have trumpeted the pope's position on the environment but not social issues. "I find it ironic that a lot of the same liberals who are touting the encyclical on climate change ignore multiple pronouncements of this pope on the definition of marriage and on the sanctity of life," Rubio said. *Marco Rubio to name Adam Hasner, Tom Rooney Florida campaign chairs <http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2015/06/patriciamazzei-marco-rubio-on-saturday-will-name-two-longtime-supporters-as-co-chairmen-of-his-2016-presidential-campaign.html> // The Miami Herald // Patricia Mezzai – June 20, 2015 * Marco Rubio on Saturday will name two longtime supporters as co-chairmen of his 2016 presidential campaign in Florida. U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney of Okeechobee and former Florida House Majority Leader Adam Hasner of Delray Beach will be in charge of building a grass-roots donor and activist network for Rubio. The Republican senator will announce the appointments at the Miami-Dade County GOP's Lincoln Day dinner Saturday night. Rooney briefly flirted with running for Rubio's U.S. Senate seat but decided against it in April. He is one of only a few members of Florida's Republican members of Congress who have endorsed Rubio for president. The majority have backed hometown rival Jeb Bush. Hasner was the GOP leader under Rubio's House speakership from 2007-08. Rubio's team has already named statewide chairs or co-chairs in the four key early primary and caucus states: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. *Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush focus on home-state Republicans <http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-marco-rubio-home-turf-20150621-story.html> // Sun Sentinel // Anthony Man – June 20, 2015 * Neither Marco Rubio nor Jeb Bush is willing to cede an inch of Florida territory to the other. Speaking just five days after Bush's presidential announcement, Rubio showed Saturday night with a speech to a hometown crowd why Florida's presidential primary may be a close contest — and critical in deciding who wins the Republican presidential nomination. Rubio told almost 750 party faithful at the Miami-Dade Republican Party's Lincoln Day dinner that he had "no intention of running for president with the desire of tearing anyone down," then took a couple of jabs at Bush. When he was speaker of the Florida House, Rubio said, "we still improved our schools without Common Core." Bush supports the Common Core educational standards, an attempt to improve the way schools teach and test critical subjects that is vehemently opposed by many in the conservative wing of the party. Before the dinner and during his speech, Rubio, 44, also repeated his pitch for the future, which serves as a contrast with Bush, 62. "This is an election about the future, not the past. And I think we need to be led by leaders in this country who understand the 21st Century and have an agenda for it." In his kickoff in Miami on Monday, a short drive from Rubio's speech Saturday night, Bush presented himself as a leader whose background as a governor shows he can produce results. "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd or filing an amendment and calling that success." On Saturday, Rubio promised to ensure America remains strong and powerful, suggesting a difference with President Barack Obama. "We're not just going to hold press conferences where we talk tough." Rubio punctuated his 36-minute speech with frequent humor, often aimed at himself. He noted Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera's frequent swigs of water during his speech. It was lunging for a bottle of water on nationwide TV early in his term that earned Rubio lots of negative attention. He observed that Miami has more presidential candidates per capita than any other. He reproached some of the shoppers at the Kmart where his mother worked. "Thanks for making a mess in the aisles. She had to clean it up." And he poked at a recent New York Times investigation into his finances, with the newspaper reporting he bought a speedboat, something his campaign has said isn't true. Rubio joked that his family was successful enough that "we've even been able to buy a luxury speedboat," he said. "It is cleverly disguised as a family fishing boat." Judging from the applause, the crowd liked what it heard, something Nelson Diaz, chairman of the Miami-Dade Republican Party, said is easy to understand. "Marco's a hometown boy. He's running for president. And he's a superstar," he said. But Rubio can't take the region for granted. West Miami is home to Rubio, the state's junior U.S. senator, and Coral Gables is home to Bush, the state's former governor. Miami-Dade County, home to the largest pool of Republican voters in Florida, likely will play a critical role in determining which man wins the state's March 15 primary, which could turn it into ground zero at a critical stage of the competition for the Republican presidential nomination. The Sunshine State primary comes after the pivotal early states — Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada — begin winnowing the field and two weeks after a flurry of other states' primaries on March 1. Florida is an early mega-state primary, and a rule change for next year makes it a winner-take-all contest instead of awarding nominating convention delegates based on each candidate's share of the vote. So a win or loss for one of the favorite sons could prove decisive — giving a jolt of momentum to the winner and major blow to the loser. With such high stakes, the contest for Florida is highly competitive between the two. "I think it's going to be very competitive," said Mike Rump, president of the Republican Business Network in northwest Broward, who attended the dinner. "Jeb might win Florida, but they've both won statewide elections. Marco might beat him." A Quinnipiac University Poll released Thursday showed the two men are effectively tied, with 20 percent for Bush and 18 percent for Rubio, with no other candidate coming close. When Republicans' first and second choices are combined, Rubio is 3 percentage points ahead of Bush. As the race has tightened in recent months — Bush was ahead by 17 percentage points in February and 12 points in April — opportunities to rally Republican activists are more important than routine stops on the rubber-chicken circuit. After his Monday kickoff that drew 3,000 people to Miami-Dade College's Kendall's campus, Bush was back in the state for a speech Friday at the Hillsborough County Republican Party's Lincoln Day dinner in Tampa. Bush announced that his Florida campaign would be headquartered in Tampa — not in his South Florida home base — signaling the importance of the Interstate 4 corridor that runs through the central part of the state. On Saturday, Rubio announced that his Florida campaign will be headed by former Florida House Majority Leader, R-Boca Raton, and U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Okeechobee. He declined to offer any expectations for Florida's primary. "That's a long way off. There are a lot of votes before that. And I can tell you if you don't do well in some of those early states, you won't be involved in the Florida primary." Senate race Also present was Rubio pal and Florida Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera. Lopez-Cantera is widely expected to enter the race for the Republican nomination to succeed Rubio, who isn't running for a second term because he's running for president. Lopez-Cantera teased the audience about his intentions. He said he wouldn't run if he couldn't still be a good husband and father — and revealed that his wife is urging him to run. He also took swipes at U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, who is seeking the Democratic Senate nomination, and U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, expected to run for Senate. He revealed that he'd announce his decision on July 15. *Senator Rubio falls silent on immigration, his signature subject <https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/06/20/senator-marco-rubio-led-boldly-bipartisan-immigration-bill-then-walked-away-his-political-calculation-shifted/4cr6gepBmphifsLqMPoUUK/story.html> // The Boston Globe // Matt Viser – June 20, 2015 * Over the first six months of 2013, freshman Senator Marco Rubio shot to national prominence as he took the lead on one of the nation’s most divisive issues, with all the political promise and peril that goes with such a move. He joined a bipartisan group of senators pushing a law to crack down on illegal immigration while blazing a path for some of the 11 million illegal immigrants already here to achieve legal status. In that cause, Rubio relentlessly pursued the spotlight. He granted at least 50 interviews on television and radio, many with conservative hosts who adamantly disagreed with his plan and considered him a traitor for working with Democrats. On one Sunday alone, he appeared on seven television shows. “In my heart and in my mind, I know we must solve this problem once and for all,” he said, just before the Senate bill passed. “Or it will only get worse and it will only get harder to solve.” But then, almost as soon as he and his allies finished pushing the bill through the Senate, Rubio walked away from the issue in what, even for Washington, represented a stunning about-face. Hopes for an immigration overhaul soon fizzled in the House, where the conservative critics vowed to block any bill offering what they consider “amnesty.’’ Now, as Rubio runs for president in the Republican primary, he has almost completely purged his signature issue of two years ago from his political vocabulary. During 2013, he mentioned “immigration” or “immigrant” 135 times on the Senate floor. But over the last two years, he’s only uttered those words two times, according to a Globe review of the Congressional Record. Over those first six months of 2013, his office sent out nearly 150 press releases on immigration. Since then, he has issued just three press releases on the subject. ‘Young Mr. Rubio is figuring out the hard facts of politics in America.’ The story of Rubio’s shift not only reveals an especially bald political calculation, but also reflects broader Republican ambivalence on an issue that continues to bedevil the party. His Cuban-American heritage, his family story, and his leadership on immigration made Rubio one of the GOP’s most promising political figures to appeal to a growing and influential Hispanic demographic that is increasingly key to the national electoral success. But now that he seeks the favor of conservative primary voters, Rubio has transformed his calling-card issue into something else — a question mark in his presidential resume. From Miami, a rising star Rubio was born 44 years ago in Miami, and his parents’ story is a key component of his own. His father was a bartender, his mother a maid — both immigrants from Cuba who fled political and economic hardships in 1956 and became naturalized US citizens nearly two decades later. A politician who rose to speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Rubio was elected to the Senate with Tea Party backing. He had a bilingual background. In many ways, he was the ideal political leader to help craft an ambitious immigration plan. And Republicans desperately needed one. Party leaders who dissected the carcass of Mitt Romney’s failed 2012 presidential bid determined that Romney bungled the issue of immigration, particularly when he declared in a debate that undocumented immigrants should engage in “self-deportation.” He won only 27 percent of the Hispanic vote in the general election campaign against President Obama. It was in this climate that Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the number-two leader in the Democratic majority, approached Rubio in the Senate gym in December 2012 and implored him to join an emerging bipartisan effort to craft a comprehensive immigration overhaul. “I went to him and said, ‘I think you should be part of this. But you have to understand that path to citizenship is part of the deal,’ ” Durbin recounted in an interview. Many conservatives oppose the idea of granting citizenship to those in the country illegally, considering it amnesty. Democrats have resisted the conservative demand that beefed-up border security take priority, but were willing to make a trade. According to Durbin, Rubio accepted the political risks: “He said, ‘I’m prepared to go forward.’ And he did.” With Rubio in, the lead backers of the bill became known as the “Gang of Eight” — four Democrats and four Republicans. Rubio, in a show of his seriousness, expanded his staff, bringing in an immigration expert to help craft legislation. He spoke before groups of white evangelical pastors, quoting Scripture as a justification for the bill, inspiring them with his life story. The way he spoke of his status as a son of immigrants resonated then, and still does. “He is connecting the immigrant experience with the American Dream and the larger American story. He does so personally, in a way that connects well,” said Russell Moore, head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. “When he talks about his Cuban immigrant father working as a bartender — it takes a lot of rhetorical skill to get Southern Baptists to tear up at a bartender. But he’s able to do it.” Senator Marco Rubio (left front) was among the lawmakers on hand in 2013 when Senator John McCain (center) outlined legislation proposed by the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” that would have given illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. In a dozen interviews with those involved in crafting the Senate plan — including most members of the Gang of Eight — there is universal agreement that Rubio’s intellect and charisma were crucial in both convincing skeptical Republicans and blunting the barrage of criticism. “I’ve often said he was more important than the rest of the Republicans combined,” said Senator Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican and one of the other members of the group. Representative Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat who has worked for years on immigration reform, recalled walking out of an hourlong meeting with Rubio and his staff, early in the push for the Senate plan, feeling as though they were about to accomplish something historic. “I couldn’t have walked away from that meeting happier,” Gutierrez said. “I said to him, ‘We’re going to get this done. We’re absolutely going to get this done.’ ” The Senate bill would have provided a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, and would also have enhanced border security, adding 20,000 Border Patrol agents and 700 miles of fencing along the southern US border. Under the terms of the bill, the security measures would be completed before any undocumented immigrants achieved legal status. “During that period, he was engaged in using political capital for the right purpose, from my perspective. And being bipartisan in that engagement. And being willing to argue his case in the most difficult circles,” said Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat. “But maybe there’s a reality to how far their party can go.” Rubio appeared to have moments of doubt that the bill struck the right balance. In public comments, he would express worry over whether border security measures were going far enough. Other negotiators detected a rift within Rubio’s staff. His policy team was eagerly trying to reach compromise, while his political team seemed to try to derail it. Rubio would sometimes seem to distance himself, but never for long. “He always came back,” said one Democratic staffer. “It was kind of like Lassie.” Rubio’s ambivalence was understandable given the beating he was taking on conservative talk radio. Glenn Beck called him a “piece of garbage.” Laura Ingraham panned his plan and said Rubio would “rue the day he became the Gang of Eight’s poodle.” Senator David Vitter, a Republican from Louisiana, called his colleague “just amazingly naive” and “nuts.” “The reaction was pretty harsh,” said Brent Bozell, a prominent conservative activist and founder of the Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog organization. “It was rather surprising. I was hearing it all over the country.” After the legislation passed, it was touted as a historic vote. The Gang of Eight had accomplished something few thought they would and, in a valedictory moment, walked off the Senate floor together and into one of the most ornate hallways in the Capitol, prepared to address reporters. But one of the eight was missing. Rubio, who did vote for the bill, didn’t show. “It’s hard to explain. He clearly had a change of heart on the issue,” Durbin said. “It’s an extremely controversial position for him. And as he started entertaining the thought of running [for president], I think his visibility on immigration reform diminished. And his interest in our compromise changed.” Rubio declined requests for an interview. His spokesman declined to comment for this story. Tempered expectations A month after it passed, when advocates were hoping to keep pressure on the House to consider the Senate compromise bill, Rubio told Fox News the legislation he helped author wasn’t perfect and he downplayed its importance. “Look, it’s not the most important issue facing America,” he said. For example, he said, repealing Obama’s health care plan was a higher priority. In October 2013, he sometimes spoke as as though he and other Republicans had never been part of the bipartisan push that won Senate passage of the bill. “The House [isn’t] just going to take up and pass whatever the Democrats in the Senate are demanding,” he said on CNN. Rubio has also directly contradicted some of his previous statements. In June 2013, responding to constituent concerns, Rubio said one of the reasons immigration is so challenging is that all of the issues — border security and pathway to citizenship — have to be handled together. “It is all interwoven. It’s all related to each other. It’s literally impossible to do one part without doing the other,” he said. Four months later, he stated virtually the opposite. “When you try to do something big in Washington, it ends up running into headwinds,” he said on CNN. “Now that’s the direction the Senate went … but I continue to believe that a series of sequential, individual bills is the best way, the ideal way, to reform our immigration system.” Immigration advocates trying to keep up the momentum for reform were deflated by Rubio’s change in tone. The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, was wowed by Rubio’s early leadership. The conviction with which he spoke about the issue could sway an entire room. Rodriguez misses that voice. “He was Joshua leading the people into the Promised Land of immigration,” he said. “Then, right when we were on the Jordan River, he pivoted. He looked back to the desert. All of the sudden he pivoted; he took his foot out of the water.” Now immigration is an uncomfortable conversation for Rubio, said Rodriguez, “a de facto don’t ask, don’t tell.” “The decibel level is lower. That passion is no longer there. … When you hear him speak now you see his eyes move down a bit, his voice fluctuates a tad,” he said. “It’s not the same convicted Marco Rubio that led the charge back in 2013. “I believe he hasn’t changed at all in terms of his convictions, but he has changed in his political calculations he believes necessary to win the Republican nomination,” Rodriguez said. “Are we sacrificing conviction and truth at the altar of political expediency? That’s the question that has to be asked.” A group of immigrants from Honduras and El Salvador who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally were stopped in Texas. A lesson learned Earlier this year, Rubio drove to suburban Washington and appeared before the Conservative Political Action Conference, the largest annual gathering of conservative activists. He told them he had been wrong to pursue comprehensive immigration before first securing the border. The lesson he’s learned from it all, he said, is that comprehensive immigration reform “just really has no realistic chance of passing.” Outside observers doubt Rubio will make immigration a major focus of his presidential campaign. Why fall on your sword for immigration when it can’t pass in the House, where conservatives hold even greater sway than in the Senate? “Young Mr. Rubio is figuring out the hard facts of politics in America,” said Javier Palomarez, president of the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “Could he have done more? Possibly. But the criticism that he’s changed tacks simply to run for president is overly simplistic. This change in tactic is due to congressional gridlock more than political ambition.” Palomarez believes Rubio’s shifts on the issue show political savvy. After all, the passionate conservative opposition to Rubio has dissipated as his rhetoric has shifted, giving him better standing in the GOP primary electorate. And immigration advocates like Palomarez still view Rubio as an ally, someone who could achieve greater gains on the issue from the White House. “I look at him and say he’s evolving on issues that are important and realizing the landscape he’s working with and the Congress we’ve got,’’ Palomarez said. “It illustrates a savvy businessman who says, ‘To get from point A to point B, I have to adapt.’” *As Marco Rubio speaks to the Miami-Dade GOP tonight, a look at his Truth-O-Meter record <http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2015/06/as-marco-rubio-speaks-to-the-miami-dade-gop-tonight-a-look-at-his-truth-o-meter-record.html> // The Miami Herald // Amy Sherman – June 20, 2015 * Sen. Marco Rubio, who speaks to the Miami-Dade Republican Party Saturday night, has kept PolitiFact Florida’s Truth-O-Meter busy since 2009 when he ran for U.S. Senate. One of our earliest fact-checks examined his claim that "Fifty-seven" of Rubio's 100 ideas “ultimately became law” in Florida related to his tenure as House Speaker. We rate that claim Half True. We have fact-checked Rubio 93 times on a variety of claims including about climate change, Common Core, Cuba, the federal health care law, foreign affairs, guns, poverty, space and technology. Out of Rubio’s 93 ratings, he has received 17 percent True, 24 percent Mostly True, 20 percent Half True, 23 percent Mostly False, 14 percent False and 2 percent Pants on Fire. We also gave him a Half Flip for his position on whether the Iraq war was a mistake. (And here is the Truth-O-Meter for his fellow Miami-Dade resident/presidential primary opponent Jeb Bush.) Here is a look at a few of our recent fact-checks related to Rubio: Bulk metadata collection: "There is not a single documented case of abuse of this program,” Rubio said. There are plenty of documented cases of misuse of the metadata collection program. It just depends whether that misuse is what you or Rubio have in mind when you think of abuse. We found no example of intentional misuse of the program. Keep reading here. Immigration: "We have a legal immigration system in America that accepts 1 million people a year, legally,” Rubio said. “No other country in the world even comes close to that." The United States accepted just under 1 million people in 2013, the most recent numbers available. As a percentage of population, though, the United States ranked 19th out of 24 countries in 2013. Still, Rubio is correct that the overall figure puts the United States ahead of other countries. Keep reading here. Restoring felons’ rights: A Facebook meme says Marco Rubio said that "felons should not have their voting rights restored" but that "convicted felons should be allowed to own guns after they have done their time." The meme was posted by a site that describes itself as satirical, and we found no evidence that Rubio actually said the words attributed to him. While Rubio has spoken critically in the past about felons regaining voting rights, he does not appear to have taken a stance on the restoration of felons’ gun rights. Keep reading here. *PAUL* *Hedge fund manager Mark Spitznagel to advise Rand Paul <http://www.cnbc.com/id/102774049> // CNBC // Lawrence Delvinge – June 20, 2015 * Mark Spitznagel, the libertarian hedge fund manager, has a new part-time job: senior economic advisor to Rand Paul's campaign for president. Spitznagel is the founder and chief investment officer of Universa Investments, a fund that specializes in protecting investors against sharp market drops, sometimes referred to as Black Swan events. The firm manages about $6 billion in assets, a sizable figure for the hedge fund industry. "I am very grateful to have Mark Spitznagel serve as senior economic advisor to my campaign," Paul, now a U.S. senator from Kentucky, said in a statement. "As I travel across the country, the top concern of the American people is our failing economy. I believe we can revitalize our economy by encouraging opportunity and entrepreneurship with lower taxes, a balanced budget, less Federal Reserve interventionism, and limited government spending," the candidate said. "I look forward to working alongside Mark to solve our nation's economic problem and to restore the American Dream," he added. Paul, one of the leading contenders for the Republican party nomination, was elected in the Tea Party wave of 2010. Much like his iconic father Ron Paul, Paul has become a libertarian standard-bearer. Read MorePresidential candidate Rand Paul plans to 'blow up' tax code Spitznagel is also the author of an investing book, "The Dao of Capital" and runs Idyll Farms, an organic goat farm in northern Michigan. Universa moved its headquarters from Santa Monica, California, to Coconut Grove, Florida last March because of what Spitznagel called a "more hospitable business and tax environment." "Rand Paul is the only candidate that really understands the destructive ramifications of current economic policy driven in large part by a reckless Federal Reserve. I lookforward to working with him on his ideas and message to change that policy," Spitznagel said in a statement about his new role. *CRUZ* *Ted Cruz: It’s up to South Carolina to decide on Confederate flag <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/06/20/ted-cruz-its-up-to-south-carolina-to-decide-on-confederate-flag/> // WaPo // Katie Zezima – June 20, 2015 * Sen. Ted Cruz says whether or not South Carolina removes the Confederate flag from a state house memorial is an issue for the state to decide and that he sees “both sides” of the debate. In an interview with The Washington Post on Saturday, Cruz (R-Tex.) said that he understands why people equate the flag with both racial oppression and historical traditions. “I understand the passions that this debate evokes on both sides,” the GOP presidential hopeful said. “Both those who see a history of racial oppression and a history of slavery, which is the original sin of our nation, and we fought a bloody civil war to expunge that sin.” He added: “But I also understand those who want to remember the sacrifices of their ancestors and the traditions of their states, not the racial oppression, but the historical traditions, and I think often this issue is used as a wedge to try to divide people.” Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, said Saturday that the flag should be taken down. Cruz noted that he is from Texas and the state is “fond of the Texas flag” because it was an independent nation for nine years, and people’s emotions run deep on the issue. He said it is up to South Carolina to decide what to do with the Confederate flag. “I think that’s a question for South Carolina, and the last thing they need is people from outside the state coming in and dictating how they should resolve that issue,” Cruz said. Cruz has repeatedly said he is “horrified” by the shooting deaths of nine people at a historic African-American church in Charleston, S.C., and has offered prayers for the families of the victims. “One of the incredible things yesterday was to see the families of those who were murdered calling for forgiveness of the murderer,” Cruz said Saturday. “I have to admit, if it were my family, I don’t know that I could demonstrate that degree of forgiveness.” Cruz said he agrees with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s assertion that the accused gunman should be subject to the death penalty. Dylann Roof, 21, has been charged with murder in the case. In an event at an indoor shooting range and firearms training facility here, Cruz again vociferously defended the Second Amendment and said Democrats are using the Charleston shootings to try to roll back gun rights. Cruz on Saturday said again that Democrats and Obama “cynically” used the 2012 school shootings in Newtown, Conn., to try to take away gun rights and that he fought to block that gun control legislation. Cruz said that the Obama administration only prosecuted a fraction of the people who tried to purchase a firearm after failing a background check, and that its prosecution rates of gun felons dropped. “In my view that’s totally unacceptable. If you have a violent felon, if you have a fugitive who is illegally trying to buy guns, we should come down on them like a ton of bricks,” he said. “If there are murders and rapists and they’re coming in trying to get guns, we ought to go and stop them.” Cruz again laid out a laundry list of ways that he has protected the Second Amendment, including writing a pro-Second Amendment amicus brief on behalf of 31 states that he submitted to the Supreme Court when he was Texas solicitor general. The Supreme Court overturned the District of Columbia's ban on handguns in the case, District of Columbia v. Heller. After taking questions and shaking hands, Cruz took to the shooting range, firing off rounds on a semiautomatic .223-caliber Smith and Wesson M&P15. *Ted Cruz Cracks Jokes On Gun Control Days After Charleston Shooting <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/20/ted-cruz-gun-control-charleston_n_7628960.html> // HuffPo // Samantha-Jo Roth – June 20, 2015 * Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) dropped a few gun control jokes during his latest swing through Iowa, days after the shooting deaths of nine people in a Charleston, South Carolina, church. "You know the great thing about the state of Iowa is, I'm pretty sure you all define gun control the same way we do in Texas -- hitting what you aim at," Cruz said at a town hall meeting Friday in Red Oak. Before a crowd of nearly 70 people, Cruz recalled a recent excursion to a gun range in New Hampshire that had fully automatic machine guns. "My wife, Heidi, who is a petite, 5'2 California blonde, she was standing at the tripod unloading the full machine gun with a pink baseball cap that said 'armed and fabulous,'" he said. This is the second ill-timed joke the Republican presidential hopeful has made this month. Cruz made a joke about Joe Biden just days after the vice president's son died from brain cancer. Cruz did not mention the mass shooting during the town hall meeting Friday, but when prompted by reporters later said Democrats were using the event as an excuse to take away Second Amendment rights. "It's sad to see the Democrats take a horrific crime and try to use it as an excuse, not to go after people with serious mental illness or people who are repeat felons or criminals, but instead try to use it as an excuse to take away Second Amendment rights of law abiding citizens," he told a group of reporters. "I'll tell you, it's reminiscent of Rahm Emanuel who said you can never let a good crisis go to waste," Cruz said, referring to the Chicago mayor and former White House Chief of Staff. Asked why it has been difficult for some Republicans to acknowledge the racial aspect of the incident, Cruz said he didn't accept the premise of the question. "It appears to be racially driven from what it was reported this strange man said, and a racial hate crime is horrific, any hate crime is horrific," he said. "I don't think we should be using this tragedy to try and divide people and to try and seek partisan advantage. I think we should be praying for those who lost loved ones in this horrific murder." At an event at an indoor shooting range in Johnston Saturday, Cruz again called for defending the Second Amendment. "There's a famous saying, praise the Lord and pass the ammunition," he said."There is a reason why the Second Amendment is right after the First." Following his remarks, Cruz headed to the shooting range, where he fired off rounds on a semiautomatic .223-caliber Smith and Wesson M&P15. *U.S. should come together after Charleston, Cruz says <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/06/20/cruz-second-amendment-event-johnston/29037901/> // The Des Moines Register // Matthew Patane – June 20, 2015 * The death penalty was made to punish crimes like the recent shooting that killed nine people in a historic black church in Charleston, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz said Saturday at a shooting range in Johnston. "Gov. Nikki Haley in South Carolina said this individual who committed the heinous murder in South Carolina should be subject to the death penalty. I got to say the death penalty was designed for people who commit horrid crimes like this," Cruz told reporters. At multiple Iowa stops this weekend, The Republican presidential candidate has said Obama and Democrats are trying to politicize the shooting instead of using them to bring people together. "It's a shame that there are some in politics that want to use this to divide us. I think that's wrong," he said. "Now is the time for mourning and for healing," Obama said. "But let's be clear: At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn't happen in other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it." When asked what restrictions he would place on gun ownership, Cruz said lawmakers should focus on stopping criminals, not law-abiding citizens, from buying guns. "If you have a violent felon, if you have a fugitive who is illegally trying to buy guns, we should come down on them like a ton of bricks," Cruz said. "I want to know if there are murderers and rapists trying to buy guns. We should stop them." Cruz also said the shooting does not open the door to crack down on the rights of law-abiding citizens. Upholding the Second Amendment, he said, is "altogether different and unconnected from a horrific murder committed by a sick and deranged individual." The Republican presidential candidate spoke before a "Celebrate the 2nd Amendment" event hosted by State Rep. Ralph Watts. Cruz's visit to the event was scheduled about a week before the South Carolina shooting. After speaking, Cruz took time to shoot a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 rifle. Cruz has focused his campaign around the idea of abiding by the Constitution. That includes maintaining religious liberty and the Second Amendment, he has said at multiple Iowa stops. "In Texas, there is a right answer on the Second Amendment: I support the Second Amendment. Unless you are clinically insane, that's the right answer. Heck, even Democrats say they support the Second Amendment in Texas," Cruz said during stops in Johnston and Denison this weekend. SETTING: A "Celebrate the 2nd Amendment" event held at CrossRoads Shooting Sports, an indoor shooting range in Johnston. State Rep. Ralph Watts, R-Adel, hosted the event. Donations were collected f*or the Iowa Firearms Coalition.* CROWD: Between 20 and 30 people filtered in to hear Cruz, Watts and Congressman David Young, speak. That's not counting customers who visit*ed CrossRoads Saturday morning.* REACTION: Cruz received some applause and garnered laughs for many of the same lines he's given during past town halls. Those include jokes about Hilary Clinton and the Obama administration, and calls to repeal Obamacare, Common Core and abolish the IRS. *For Ted Cruz, The Hard Part Comes Next <http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/06/20/415827279/for-ted-cruz-the-hard-part-comes-next> // NPR // Jessica Taylor – June 20, 2015 * Texas Sen. Ted Cruz blew away another gathering of religious conservative leaders this week, preaching about threats to religious freedom to a receptive and hungry crowd. "I will never, ever, ever shy away from standing up and defending the religious liberty of every American," the GOP White House hopeful thundered at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's "Road to Majority" conference in Washington. "Religious liberty has never been more threatened in America than right now today," Cruz added. Cruz hit all the right notes and could easily be declared the winner of the three-day conference, which wraps up Saturday. But despite the good receptions at events like these, Cruz's work on stage is not translating to the campaign trail. He not only lags behind in early state polls, but also in organization. And despite being the first major presidential candidate to declare this cycle, early state activists are baffled by how little they say they have seen Cruz. "I've always thought that Ted Cruz was kind of the perfect caucus candidate," said Craig Robinson, who runs "The Iowa Republican" website and is a former political director for the state party. "But what we haven't seen is a real commitment to the state." Speaking their language There's a reason Ted Cruz does well in front of these crowds. He roams the stage with the gusto of a televangelist. He does not work from a podium, and he strikes just the right tone. At the Road to Majority confab, he slammed other Republicans for backing down on Indiana's controversial religious freedom law, warned against a potential same-sex marriage decision from the Supreme Court and bashed the Obama administration for not standing up more forcefully to the threat of Islamic extremism. He boosted his own bona fides, too, telling the audience how he had successfully argued cases before the Supreme Court on "religious liberty," such as protecting a Ten Commandments display at the Texas Capitol. And with the cadence of a preacher, Cruz seamlessly and empathetically weaved in the tragic Charleston, S.C., shooting that had occurred the night before that left nine dead at a historically black church. Cruz led the audience of hundreds — they could have been congregants — in a moment of silence. "Christians across our nation, across our world — believers across the world are lifting up the congregants at Emanuel AME," Cruz said. Other GOP rivals touched on many of the same issues, but none with perhaps the same zeal or with the same visceral reaction from the audience. The faithful ate it up. "I like the fact that he fights even his own party for the right issue and the right cause," said John Redell, who was attending from Wilmington, Del. "That's the kind of strength we're going to need for a president: someone who can say no — even to his friends — to do what's right for the nation." Jessica Burnett, a student at Georgia State University: "Ted Cruz was full of energy. He spoke a lot about the issues. He really got the crowd riled up a lot, and you can tell how serious he is about this and how much he cares about America." The importance of retail politics It's perhaps no surprise Cruz is able to channel a preacher. His father is an ordained minister, and he went to high school in Houston on the campus of a megachurch. The former Ivy League debate champion has always loved performance art. He has moved between stages his whole life — from high-school musicals to the high-pressure collegiate debate circuit to the floor of the U.S. Senate. The challenge, though, for Cruz is coming down from the stage. A majority of Republican caucus-goers and primary voters in Iowa and South Carolina are white, evangelical or born-again Christians. In 2012, 57 percent of GOP voters in the Iowa caucuses described themselves that way, while 65 percent of the GOP primary electorate in South Carolina said so, according to entrance and exit polls. The candidate who can unify them has a time-tested path to victory in those states and, with it, a springboard to the front of the presidential pack. But winning over those voters requires hand-to-hand, grip-and-grin campaigning — retail politics. It's what former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum did in Iowa in 2008 and 2012, respectively. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who built a career on this kind of campaigning, has already hit hard key sections of the state with deep pockets of religious voters. The building blocks, the enthusiasm, are there for Cruz, but so far, observers in early states say, he has not shown the willingness to do the kind of required on-the-ground work — to the extent it's needed to win. Craig Robinson, the former Iowa GOP political operative, noted Cruz's thin staff in the first caucus state compared to other candidates. What's more, Cruz, who is in Iowa this weekend, has held just 23 events in the state over a total of 16 days, according to the Des Moines Register's candidate tracker. That ranks seventh among Republican candidates and isn't in the top 10 overall. By contrast, Santorum has already held 62 events over 29 days; Rick Perry 61 over 30 days; Rand Paul 41 over 16 days; and Mike Huckabee 37 events over 20 days. Even Carly Fiorina and Bobby Jindal, who is set to declare Wednesday, have done more events. "I still think Cruz has some work to do in terms of his retail campaigning in Iowa," Robinson said, "but I think he has it within himself to do it." The battle for the evangelical vote Some of those who have topped him in sojourns to the state are also competing for the same crucial evangelical voters, and were also well-received at the conference this week. Santorum reminded the audience of his long track record fighting for conservative issues, while others were just talk. "You know me, I'm probably best known for issues of faith and freedom. In some cases, I'm only known for that," he laughed. Jindal also spoke at length about the threats to religious liberty the day after Cruz, and was also well received by the crowd. Talking of his own conversion to the Christianity from Hinduism, he bemoaned how he felt it was no longer acceptable to stand up for unpopular opinions central to much of the evangelical faith, such as opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage. "I'm tired of the hypocrisy of the left," Jindal said. "They say they tolerate diversity, and they do, unless you disagree with them. ... The United States of America did not create religious liberty. Religious liberty created the United States of America," he added to applause. Ben Carson, another favorite of the crowd, Iowa conservatives and Tea Party supporters, spoke of how his faith helped him in his career as a world-renowned neurosurgeon. He said he saw the healing power of prayer and attributed his surgical skill to God after a child he didn't expect to recover went on to do so. "I thought I was doing everything," Carson said. "I realized after that, that it wasn't me, it was God. I just said, 'Lord, you be the neurosurgeon, and I'll be your hands.' " Carson, who rose to political fame in 2013 after giving a blistering broadside of Obamacare as the president sat feet away, had another critique for the president's administration. "I know that President Obama says we're not a Judeo-Christian nation," Carson said, "but he doesn't get to decide. We decide." While Cruz may have blown away many in the crowd the first day, others were left impressed by many others, underlining the difficult choice Iowa and South Carolina evangelical voters will have next year. "I'm hoping, because we have such a large field, that as the field narrows down, the candidates are seeing what the American people really are looking for," said Terri Wical of Atlanta. "You know, getting back to our roots, getting back to character and all that. They don't want someone moderate. They don't want something that's going to accommodate everybody ... They want somebody that's going to stand on a firm foundation." *Cruz: 'Liberal fascism' took away Gortz Haus livelihood <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/06/20/cruz-gortz-haus/29035749/> // The Des Moines Register // Matthew Patane – June 20, 2015 * Democrats' stance on gay marriage ruined the livelihood of the owners of Gortz Haus Gallery, Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz said Saturday. "Today, the modern Democratic party has decided their devotion to mandatory gay marriage in all 50 states is so unforgiving that there is no longer room for defending religious liberty," Cruz told a group in Johnston. Gortz Haus owners Dick and Betty Odgaard faced litigation after declining to host a same-sex marriage at the Grimes gift shop, which used to house a Lutheran church. The Mennonite couple said it would have gone against their religious beliefs. "It was inconsistent with their faith to host a gay wedding, so they declined," Cruz said. "They found themselves enmeshed in legal proceedings and persecution. Finally, they had to write a check for $5,000 and to promise to never again host another wedding." The Odgaards announced earlier this year that they will stop holding weddings at their Grimes' gift shop to end the litigation. "So, the Odgaards livelihood has been taken away by this liberal fascism, this extreme view that if you hold a biblical teaching of marriage that is the union of one man and one women that the modern Democratic Party will persecute you and try to drive you out of civilized society," Cruz said. Cruz said he will visit the Odgaards later Saturday. Cruz came back to Iowa Friday for two town halls in western Iowa and made a stop Saturday for a "Celebrate the 2nd Amendment" event. Speaking during an event in Johnston, Cruz reiterated his position that religious liberty in the U.S. is under fire. The Texas U.S. senator has made the issue a cornerstone of his campaign as he seeks his party's presidential nomination. *Ted Cruz Introduces Bill to Drain Amnesty Slush Fund Subsidized by Legal Immigrants <http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/06/20/ted-cruz-introduces-bill-to-drain-amnesty-slush-fund-subsidized-by-legal-immigrants/> // Breitbart News // Katie McHugh – June 20, 2015 * Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced legislation on Wednesday that would forbid the Obama administration from using fees paid by legal immigrants to fund Obama’s executive amnesty for illegal aliens. The Immigration Slush Fund Elimination Act would stop the executive branch from using fees collected from legal immigrants who obeyed U.S. immigration law to pay for the ongoing illegal alien naturalization surge. Thanks to the million or so legal aliens flocking to America every year, that’s a lot of cash. Cruz notes that USCIS Chief Financial Officer Joseph Moore can lay claim to nearly $1 billion in application fees. Cruz’s bill would return the pursestrings back into Congress’s hands — and perhaps most importantly, stop the White House from ramping up legal immigration and issuing more and more fees in order to grant more illegal aliens amnesty. Legal immigrants can wait up to ten years to become legalized and pay thousands of dollars in fees. Once Obama enacted his DACA executive amnesty order in 2012, wait times for legal immigrants tripled. “America has always been a land of refuge and opportunity for those seeking freedom, and we should champion legal immigration,” Cruz said in a statement. “Ronald Reagan referred to legal immigrants, immigrants like my father, as Americans by choice. The federal government should not be in the business of looting the wallets of those who followed the law and came here legally to fund the President’s illegal and unconstitutional amnesty. This bill will cut off DHS’s credit card and put Congress back in charge of funding the agencies responsible for immigration.” In typical Obama fashion, amnesty is funded by a wealth transfer from the law-abiding to the law-breaking. A Mexican man who applies for U.S. citizenship and goes through the normal process subsidizes his Mexican neighbor who darted across the border, maybe threw a few rocks at border patrol, and lives in a sanctuary city while waiting for amnesty. Both are legalized; Mexican man number one is poorer than his illegal cousin thanks to the fees he paid, and both of them work for lowered wages while voting for more government spending. It’s a win-win for Democrats and big business. *PERRY* *Perry condemns Charleston church shooting after 'accident' flub <http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/20/politics/rick-perry-charleston-south-carolina-massacre-shooting-accident/> // CNN // Danielle Diaz – June 20, 2015 * Rick Perry condemned the Charleston church shooting Saturday as "an absolute heinous hate crime," one day after a spokesman said the Republican presidential candidate misspoke when he called the massacre an "accident." "I think we all come here today with heavy hearts for those individuals in Charleston -- those Charleston Christians -- who were gunned down in an absolute heinous hate crime inside of their place of worship," the former Texas governor said at the Faith and Freedom Coalition "Road to Majority" Conference in Washington Saturday morning. "That deranged individual didn't just take lives of black Americans -- he gunned down nine children of God. "There is something more basic to our humanity than the color of our skin, our ethnic heritage, our nationality. It's that we're all made in the image of a loving God," Perry continued. "And we cannot let hatred and violence break the ties that bind us together." After his speech at the conference, Perry told reporters that a discussion on gun control is a good thing. "I think it is healthy for us as a nation to have conversations and defend our positions whatever they may be," he responded. "I do have an issue that the knee-jerk from the left is always, 'We're going to take people's guns away from them,' when in fact there may be a host of contributing factors here." Perry's comments on Saturday follow an interview he did with the conservative NewsmaxTV Friday, in which he referred to the massacre as an "accident." A spokesman for the former Texas governor quickly clarified by saying Perry meant to say "incident." In the interview, Perry, a staunch opponent of gun laws, was asked about whether President Barack Obama was too quick to blame guns after the Charleston shooting. "Any time there is an accident like this, the President is clear," Perry said in response. "He doesn't like for Americans to have guns, and so he uses every opportunity, this being another one, to basically go parrot that message." Despite addressing his comments and speaking openly about the shooting Saturday, many people were still outraged over his "accident" line and took to social media to criticize his comments. Perry, who served as governor of Texas for 15 years, has an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association and has his own concealed handgun license, even though he can't carry guns after he was indicted last August on counts alleging coercion of a public servant and abuse of his official capacity. When he was governor, he signed several bills to loosen gun control laws in the United States, including a bill that allows people to store guns in their cars and another that reduced the price to renew a concealed handgun license for veterans to $25. *Rick Perry warns Jeb Bush ‘ Has to be Careful’ about criticizing Texas <http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/06/20/exclusive-rick-perry-warns-jeb-bush-has-to-be-careful-about-criticizing-texas/> // Breitbart News // Sarah Rumpf – June 20, 2015 * Breitbart News caught up with former Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) as he took a swing through Texas in his second week back on the campaign trail since launching his presidential campaign in Addison, Texas on June 4th. In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, Perry shared his perspective on how this campaign differs from his 2012 attempt, why he believes that his record stacks up favorably against any of his competitors, what he believes will be a major challenge for former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL), his thoughts on the abuses at the VA, and a special memory he shared about time he spent with Breitbart News founder, the late Andrew Breitbart. We met Perry at a Starbucks in San Antonio, the latest stop in a busy campaign schedule that had him in at least six cities spread across Texas in half as many days. Perry, who just wrapped up fourteen years as Texas’ Governor this past January, is a well-recognized figure in his home state and was warmly greeted by many of the Starbucks patrons, including a little girl who shyly asked Perry to sign her autograph book. The Governor drew a little heart in the girl’s book and wrote “Study Hard!” before signing his name. His act was as sweet as the skinny mocha frappuccino (with whip cream!) that Perry had ordered. Perry cracked a joke about the sugary drink — “Isn’t that a beautiful thing? That’s calories, is what that is” — and pointed out that he likes to start the day with regular dark roast coffee. Perry smiled in recognition and pulled out his cell phone to show me the background image. It was a target sheet from a shooting range, from a day he had gone shooting with Andrew. “He had never shot a pistol before,” said Perry, “and as a matter of fact, he did pretty well, you can see,” pointing to the tight grouping. Perry’s autograph on the target sheet reads, “To Andrew — Shoot Straight! Vote Conservative… Rick Perry.” Andrew had taken the original back with him to the Breitbart offices in Los Angeles, and Perry had saved this photo. “He was a good man,” added Perry, smiling at the memory. The conversation turned to the campaign, just launched two weeks ago to the day as we talked that Thursday. Perry’s 2012 campaign was a roller coaster ride, shooting to the top of the polls when he first entered the race, but then plummeting back down after a series of debate missteps. To his credit, Perry has been very forthcoming in acknowledging what went wrong in 2012, saying very frankly that he had not had adequate time to prepare on the broader list of issues and his recovery from back surgery a few months before entering the race had been longer and tougher than anticipated. Not only is he completely healthy, Perry wants people to know, he has undertaken serious study over the past few years, and also no longer has to divide his attention between the campaign and being the Governor of Texas. “It’s a very different time,” said Perry, explaining that the “biggest difference” was that he was “healthy and prepared” this time. “Both of those were challenges in 2011.” “You have to take the time to go get the briefings, to go acquire the knowledge,” he explained. “That’s what I didn’t do in 2011 but what I have done for the last three and a half years,” describing trips he had taken to meet with policy experts at the Hoover Institute, Manhattan Institute, Heritage Foundation, Hay Initiative, and other conservative think tanks. “The preparation side of it is very important.” I was actually at both of Perry’s presidential launches, in August 2011 in Charleston, South Carolina, and in Addison, Texas on June 4th. Both featured Perry confidently touting his record in Texas as his best resume line to qualify him for the White House, but there are a number of key differences this time around. In 2012, Perry’s message was heavily focused on the Texas economic miracle, and rightfully so. During Perry’s tenure as Governor, the Lone Star State added more jobs than all the other states put together, one-third of all jobs created in the U.S. since 2000. These numbers are even more impressive considering that this happened during the Great Recession and its aftermath. Jeb Bush “has to be careful” about criticizing Texas This campaign has seen Perry move beyond just touting Texas’ impressive numbers, readily contrasting his record with any of his competitors, with former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL) in particular. Perry noted that Bush was bragging that he had created more jobs in Florida during his time as Governor than were created in Texas. While Perry said that he respected Bush’s record — “job creation is what a governor’s supposed to be about” — but added that it was important for Americans to remember that it was “blue skies and smooth sailing” for Bush, who benefited from the surging prices during housing bubble, which burst after he was out of office. “What happened in those states when the Great Recession occurred, the worst recession America’s had since the Great Depression?” asked Perry. “In fact, there’s only one state [that didn’t suffer]…we outperformed, nobody else is even close!” “Jeb has to be careful about his criticism of bypassing Texas,” added Perry, “because the bulk of that, his brother was the Governor, and his brother’s probably not going to take very kindly to him saying ‘we kicked Texas’ butt,’ but, you know, I’ll let him work that out with his brother.” Jim Tankersley at the Washington Post agreed with Perry’s assessment: A significant amount of Florida’s economic and job growth in the Bush era was driven by a massive run-up in housing prices — which peaked in Bush’s last year in office, then plunged the state into a worse recession than the nation as a whole. When you account for the role of housing, Bush’s economic record looks a lot more mixed. Almost all of the gains he talks up today, including three-fifths of the job creation, were wiped out in the four years after he left office, once the bubble burst. The housing bubble, of course, was not the fault of Bush or any one governor, but if Bush cannot be blamed for losses caused by the bubble, it is equally problematic to grant him credit for its gains, as blogger Ace of Spades pointed out. Matthew Yglesias at Vox — certainly no staunch conservative or Perry apologist — wrote an article recently with a compelling summary of Perry’s economic record, calling it “far and away the best and most coherent story of any candidate in the field about why his record in office should make you think he could deliver the kind of prosperity the voters crave.” Yglesias’ article included the chart shown below, comparing in-state job growth with the national average rate during the tenure of several governors. “You can see that Perry’s time in office largely corresponded with a not-so-hot spell of job creation for the United States of America,” writes Yglesias, “but that he nonetheless has the strongest record of in-state job creation of anyone in the sample.” With his new campaign, Perry is still happily bragging about all the new jobs in Texas — “we’re the most successful state in the nation” — but he is also making the effort to articulate the policies enacted during his tenure that encouraged economic development, as well as connecting that economic growth to improvements in the lives of ordinary Texans. “We went in and really did some things that created a great positive effect on our economy,” said Perry. “Passed the most sweeping tort reform in the world, we reduced spending by ten billion dollars rather than raising taxes…It was a very concerted effort to send a message that you can risk your capital and have a chance to have a return on your investment.” The results of this tort reform, according to Perry, were that over 35,000 more physicians were licensed to practice in Texas than had been a decade earlier. “That’s a huge number, and the access to health care exploded. I’m a big believer that the way you judge if you’re successful on the health care front is not how many people you force to buy insurance, but how many people have access to better health care, and we’ve done that in Texas.” Perry also rattled off several reforms to the public education system, to “make our schools more accountable,” including incentive pay for good teachers, expanding charter schools, implementing testing that made it easier to intervene earlier if they were struggling. These efforts paid off, taking Texas from “in the middle of the pack,” ranked 27th in the U.S. in 2003 for high school graduation rates, to second in 2013. “That is a powerful, powerful story.” Texas didn’t just improve overall graduation rates, but was ranked number one for both African-American and Hispanic graduation rates, statistics of which Perry is very proud. “You’ve got to remember, Texas is a very diverse state. We’re the largest majority-minority state that’s seen progress in their public schools…there’s not a more powerful message to a family that we care about you, and we’re taking care of your kids, than to graduate them from high school” and make sure they have a future,” said Perry. Failure to care for veterans “pisses me off,” says Perry Texas’ job creation is also sharing the spotlight in Perry’s campaign with national security and foreign policy issues, and caring for America’s veterans, an issue near and dear to Perry’s heart. Other than extreme longshot Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)47% , Perry is the only Republican candidate with military experience, having flown C-130 tactical aircraft as an Air Force Captain during the 1970s in Europe and the Middle East. “This veterans’ issue is one that we’ve been dealing with for five or six years, so it’s not new to us, but it became a national issue a year and a half ago,” he said. Taking care of veterans’ needs “is a really important public policy issue that needs to be addressed,” said Perry, who added that he had been working with these issues for a long time, “both in a personal way and in a professional way.” The “personal way” Perry mentioned included helping former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, who had appeared at his campaign launch along with his twin brother and fellow SEAL, Morgan. Luttrell, the author of the book Lone Survivor about his experiences surviving an ambush in Afghanistan, was befriended by Perry and his wife Anita after he returned to Texas after his combat service. Suffering from PTSD and physical injuries sustained in combat, plus challenges readjusting to civilian life, Luttrell showed up unannounced on the doorstep of the Governor’s Mansion one day in 2007. He had met Perry before and the Governor had told him to let him know if they could ever help him. The Perrys invited Luttrell to move into the Governor’s Mansion while they worked to help him find doctors to treat his injuries, including a spinal surgeon, as well as providing him with a safe, home-like environment where his heart and mind could recover. Perry described his frustrations dealing with “this very archaic and broken system” to get Luttrell the medical care and support he needed. “I had to literally intervene to the height of the Secretary of the Navy,” he said. “There’s ten thousand kids like Marcus who didn’t have a Governor, and that pisses me off,” said Perry, noting that it should not require the Governor of Texas to make that kind of phone call in order for a veteran to get help. “As the Governor, we were putting teams that were going into the VA here in Texas, to help alleviate the red tape. All these veterans will tell you that the VA was just slow, and bureaucratically archaic, it was a corrosive process for them. They can’t get the benefits they need, or have to wait months to get their benefits.” “That is just not acceptable.” Perry noted that the Obama administration had the opportunity to address these problems, but no real progress could be seen. “I’m still very unhappy with how this has been addressed, we’re a year plus [after] they changed Secretaries [of the VA], they got all this money from the federal government, and I’m not sure anything has changed.” “No one gives you a manual” to learn executive experience Perry has called this campaign the “show me, don’t tell me election,” and has sought to emphasize that his record shows that he is the best prepared among the ever-growing field of candidates for the job of President. “Executive experience is really important,” said Perry. “You can’t get executive experience but by one avenue, from my perspective…you can read all the books you want on how to deal with catastrophic events, but until you go through it and you live through it and you manage it, it’s just words on paper.” “No one gives you a manual on how to deal with the space shuttle disintegrating over your state,” he continued. “No one gives you a manual on how to deal with hurricanes — Katrina, Rita, Ike — and the list goes on. Nobody can tell you how to deal with a crisis on your border, where you have literally tens of thousands of people show up, trying to penetrate through your border and the federal government’s not assisting you. Or how to deal with Ebola.” “All of those things are executive experience that is invaluable.” However, Perry noted, “governors generally don’t deal in the arena of monetary policy, domestic policy, or foreign affairs,” or at least most governors don’t. The situation is a bit different when you’re Governor of Texas, “the twelfth largest economy in the world,” he explained, mentioning the 1200 mile border with Mexico, and trips he had been able to take, not just to visit important trading partners in Europe and Asia, but also combat zones like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Read Part I of Breitbart News’ exclusive interview with Gov. Perry, in which he discusses how his lack of trust in President Obama made him unable to support the “Obamatrade” bills, despite his belief in free trade. Stay tuned for Part III, in which Perry talks about why Texas is the model for criminal justice reform, the vital role his wife Anita will play in the campaign, why would veto the funding for the Public Integrity Unit under troubled Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg all over again, and the message he hopes voters hear as he makes a second attempt to earn their support to elect him President. *Rick Perry calls South Carolina church shooting an 'accident' <http://www.aol.com/article/2015/06/20/rick-perry-calls-south-carolina-church-shooting-an-accident/21198908/> // AOL News – June 20, 2015 * Former Texas governor Rick Perry went into damage control mode on Friday after calling the mass killing in South Carolina an "accident." "Any time there is an accident like this the president is clear." His comment came during a NewsmaxTV interview in which he was asked about President Obama's reaction to the shooting that killed nine people. After the interview, in which Perry also refers to the shooting as a hate crime, a representative classified it as a simple slip saying Perry meant to say "incident" rather than "accident." But, of course, the Internet didn't let it slide. On Twitter, @michaelianblack said, "Rick Perry describing the Charleston shooting as an 'accident' is about as plausible as Rick Perry becoming president." And @HaroldItz scolded the presidential candidate, saying, "No, Rick Perry, an accident is what your dog does on the rug. Or what you do when you speak." @kidrauhlangels added, "Someone please take Rick Perry home and put him to bed, he's clearly drunk." But Perry making a few flubs is nothing new. Back in 2011 during a Republican debate, he completely blanked trying to remember the third government agency that he would eliminate if elected president. "The third agency of government I would do away with. Education...uh...the uh... Commerce...And let's see. I can't. The third one I can't. Oops." *Rick Perry: Dylann Roof ‘Gunned Down 9 Children of God’ <http://www.mediaite.com/online/rick-perry-dylann-roof-gunned-down-9-children-of-god/> // Mediaite // Andrew Husband – June 20, 2015 * Less than a day after former Texas Gov. Rick Perry accidentally referred to the Charleston church shooting as, erm, an “accident,” the 2016 GOP presidential candidate addressed the terrible events on Saturday morning. Perry was speaking at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s “Road to Majority” conference in Washington, D.C., and much of what he said concerned his condolences to the victims’ families and his heartbreak at the loss of these “nine children of God”: “I think we all come here today with heavy hearts for those individuals in Charleston — those Charleston Christians — who were gunned down in an absolute heinous hate crime inside of their place of worship.” Much of Perry’s remarks focused less on the event’s racial implications, as he chose to highlight the anti-religious nature of the crime: “There is something more basic to our humanity than the color of our skin, our ethnic heritage, our nationality. It’s that we’re all made in the image of a loving God, and we cannot let hatred and violence break the ties that bind us together.” Rather tellingly, the 2016 GOP hopeful referred to shooting suspect Dylann Roof as a “deranged individual” who “didn’t just take lives of black Americans,” but specifically “gunned down nine children of God.” Perry later told reporters that he thought a renewed national discussion about gun control would be “healthy.” However, he cautioned against “the knee-jerk from the left” that demands all guns be banned and taken away from responsible gun owners. *GRAHAM* *Sen. Lindsey Graham: there’s ‘No doubt’ that Charleston church massacre was racially motivated <http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/06/20/270687/sen-lindsey-graham-theres-no-doubt.html> // McClatchy // William Douglas – June 20, 2015 * Days after several Republican presidential candidates downplayed or sidestepped the issue of race in the shooting deaths of nine people inside an historic African-American church in Charleston, S.C., Sen. Lindsey Graham acknowledged that race was the primary factor in the killings. "There can be no doubt that the shooting on Wednesday night was racially motivated and signals to all of us that the scars of our history are still with us today," Graham, R-S.C., said in a statement Saturday. "Throughout our country, we still have much to do in the name of equality. I want to talk about those issues on the campaign trail." He added: "I’m from South Carolina. My state, like our nation, has a difficult history of race relations. We have tried to address it through compromise and working together. There is no doubt we have made great progress, but Charleston reminds us there is still much to do." Graham’s remarks about the massacre at Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church came after several Republican White House hopefuls struggled to deal with race and the shootings during appearances Thursday and Friday at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s conference in Washington. The nine shooting victims were African-American. The alleged gunman, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, reportedly went on racist rants. Saturday, state and federal law enforcement officials were examining a recently-discovered hate-filled website to determine whether it belonged to Roof. Republican presidential hopefuls at the Washington conference expressed their outrage and condolences over the shootings but largely steered clear of what role race may have played in the attack. For example, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., didn’t mention the shootings during his speech. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told conference attendees that he didn’t know what was in the mind or heart "of the man who committed those atrocious crimes." "I do know what was in the heart of the victims," he added. "They were meeting in brotherhood and sisterhood in that church." However, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, the only African-American presidential candidate, spoke bluntly about the racial element in the shootings, telling the crowd that "If we don't pay close attention to the hatred and division going on in our nation, this is a harbinger of what we can expect." *Lindsey Graham gets to the heart of it <http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/language-blog/bal-lindsey-graham-gets-to-the-heart-of-it-20150620-story.html> // The Baltimore Sun // John McIntrye – June 20, 2015 * A difficulty in discussing the Confederate battle flag—whether it should be honored or discarded—is that not everyone can agree on basic facts. Yesterday, writing in the Washington Examiner, Philip Klein presented a cogent conservative argument against continuing to display the flag, in which he stated a fundamental fact: “The Confederacy was formed to preserve and expand the brutal institution of slavery, and then its proponents subsequently tried to disguise their motivations in lofty language about states' rights.” He quoted from the “cornerstone” speech of Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens and cited the formal secession documents of Texas, Georgia, South Carolina and Mississippi, all of which emphatically and explicitly said that the Confederate states were seceding to preserve white supremacy over blacks, whom they branded an inferior race. And, of course, it became in the 1950s and 1960s an emblem of resistance to the civil rights movement, the banner of segregation. Commenters, predictably, refused to address the historical facts and instead resorted to ad hominem abuse of Mr. Klein. But rather than tread that ground again, I prefer to look at an illuminating comment by Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina during an interview yesterday. Concerning public display of the Confederate battle flag, he said, “If at the end of the day, it is time for the people of South Carolina to reconsider that decision, it would be fine with me, but this is part of who we are.” [Emphasis added] Though he does not seem to be aware of it in the interview, Senator Graham has touched on a central question: Who are the we? In fact, it is the central question. Are African-Americans Southerners as much as white Southerners are? That was the question that some thought was decided by the events of 1861-1865 and by the ratification of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution. But laws establishing segregation, along with lynchings and other violence against blacks, insisted that African-Americans are not part of us. So Senator Graham might well consider this: Are black people, born and raised in the South, for whom the Confederate battle flag is a perpetual reminder that they were treated as an inferior class of human beings, as much Southerners as white people, born and raised in the South, who see that flag as a proud symbol of their identity while ignoring the ugliness that is inextricably attached to it? Short version: Do you want that flag to say who we are? *SANTORUM* *Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindal Talk Faith and Freedom <http://www.kmbz.com/pages/21659541.php?> // KMBZ – June 20, 2015 * At Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to the Majority event Saturday, ABC News asked two Republican presidential players to share their thoughts on some related hot-button political issues in the news. Here’s what former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum -- who is running for president in 2016 -- and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal -- who is considering running -- had to say about Democrats talking gun control in the wake of the tragic Charleston church shooting, flying the confederate flag, and the Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage. ABC News: What do you think when you hear Democrats talking about gun control right now? Santorum: "I think that's politicizing a very tragic event that has serious repercussions about who we are as a country I mean the idea that there would be this kind of racial crime in America purely hate-filled evil crime driven by race is is enough to focus on. To try to piggyback that onto something else I think is really disrespectful." ABC News: You are against gay marriage. Would you support a Supreme Court decision legalizing it? Santorum: “As I've said repeatedly I'll wait and see what the Supreme Court is going to decide, but I don't change my opinion . If the Supreme Court decides something is right or something is wrong -- that's the great thing about our Republic, is that civil institutions make decisions whether they're laws or whether they're executive orders or whether they're Supreme Court decisions and you, as a free person in this country, can go out and still advocate for what you believe in.” ABC News: What's your reaction when you see the politicians talking about gun control in the wake of a massacre like this? Jindal: "Look the President's remarks within the first 24 hours are still within the first 48 hours - I think it's shameful to score cheap political points. He's the commander-in-chief. He should be uniting us he needs to be bringing us together it's a time for healing if you want a great contrast look at Gov. Nikki Haley -- her tremendous leadership during this crisis this is a time to come together as one country in prayer and start the healing process." ABC News: Should the confederate flag still flying in South Carolina or anywhere else in the United States? Jindal: We'll let the states decide that, but again, just like the gun issue -- let's have that debate at the right time. And right now we should all be in mourning. I think flags should be at half-mast across our states across our country. Now's a time for mourning. Now's the time to tell our kids it really doesn’t matter, we're all brothers and sisters ... I happen to be a Christian, and those are brothers and sisters of mine in my faith. Whether you're Christian or not -- whatever you wish -- those were our brothers and sisters, it doesn’t matter if in South Carolina, it doesn’t matter [if you are] Black or White, young or old -- those were our brothers and sisters killed in that church.” *HUCKABEE* *Fox host and Huckabee attack Obama over gun control comments — then call for more civility and less rhetoric <http://www.rawstory.com/2015/06/fox-host-and-huckabee-attack-obama-over-gun-control-comments-then-call-for-more-civility-and-less-rhetoric/> // Raw Story // Tom Boggioni – June 20, 2015 * Repeating an often heard suggestion following every mass shooting in the United States, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee complained that President Barack Obama was “grandstanding” when he called for more gun control after the Charleston church shooting, saying instead more guns is the solution. With Fox News host Todd Starnes calling the president’s comments “despicable,” Huckabee joined in to attack the president before pointing out that it was a shame no one attending the prayer meeting was packing a gun. “Well it was disappointing to hear the president within virtually minutes of the news breaking, or certainly hours, for him to come to the podium and immediately say, ‘Alright, this is a great opportunity for me to grandstand and jump up on the stump and talk about gun control.'” Huckabee said. Saying that no gun control proposal could have stopped the shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston or at the Sandy Hook Elementary school, Huckabee lamented the fact that no one at the prayer meeting was carrying a gun. “The one thing that would have at least ameliorated the horrible situation in Charleston would have been that if somebody in that prayer meeting had a conceal carry or there had been either an off duty policeman or an on duty policemen, somebody with the legal authority to carry a firearm and could have stopped the shooter,” Huckabee said. ” Huckabee added, “I go back to was has often been said, and it sounds crass, but frankly the best way to stop a bad person with a gun is to have a good person with a weapon that is equal or superior to the one he’s using.” Fox’s Starnes, notorious for his false reporting of supposed persecution of Christians in American society, then called for civility instead of rhetoric by our nation’s leaders. *CARSON* *Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks in Birmingham <http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2015/06/republican_presidential_candid.html> // Alabama News // Adam Ganucheau – June 20, 2015 * More than 6,500 attendees of a men's Christian conference packed the Legacy Arena early Saturday morning to hear Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speak. Carson, who formally launched his campaign in May, was a keynote speaker at the Gridiron Men's Conference, a Christian conference held at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex. "Let me make it clear to you and the press," radio evangelist Phil Waldrep, the conference's sponsor, said before introducing Carson to the stage. "This is not a political rally. (Carson is) here because he wants to speak into your life and encourage every man in this place to leave this building to make a difference." While Carson did integrate his faith into the 49-minute address, the speech at times resembled a political speech rather than a Christian testimony, rousing applause from the audience after riffs about combatting some of America's problems. He touched on a few of his platforms and expressed his political ideas on subjects like the government's role in distributing welfare, the importance of positively influencing youth at an early age, protecting freedom of expression and the status of the education system in America. "Education is the great divide in our country," Carson said. "It doesn't matter what your ethnic or economic background is, if you get a good education you will succeed. That is something we must begin to emphasize again." Carson, who is a retired Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon, is one of many candidates vying for the Republican nomination for the 2016 presidential election. He has edged his Republican counterparts in multiple straw polls and has been a very popular candidate among those who affiliate with the tea party. Earlier this month, four of Carson's senior campaign officials quit, drawing speculation to the campaign's health. But in Birmingham Saturday, he focused on his ideas and his faith. He quoted multiple passages from the book of Proverbs during the speech and said multiple times that his success came from his faith in God. "I think that God gives everybody special gifts and talents," Carson said of knowing when he knew he wanted to become a surgeon. Carson was just one of the conference's six speakers, including New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who spoke Friday night. Attendees of the conference are in Birmingham from 15 different states. *TRUMP* *Donoald Trump’s resume backs his run for president <http://nypost.com/2015/06/20/donald-trumps-resume-backs-his-run-for-president/> // NY Post // Jonathan Trugman – June 20, 2015 * So Donald Trump — New York’s charismatic multibillionaire businessman — has thrown his hat into the 2016 presidential ring. While many question his presence in the race, 2016 may be the year in which America is in desperate need of a suave, successful businessperson like Trump — or former HP CEO Carly Fiorina — to solve what ails our economy. Unlike most politicians, these two have plenty of experience building things, hiring people — and sometimes firing people — and both have extensive résumés and are not just spouting rhetoric. There’s no doubt that most Americans are hurting right now. The economy is much weaker than advertised and not expected to get stronger anytime soon — the Federal Reserve on Wednesday downgraded its growth forecast for this year to 1.9 percent. If that forecast comes to fruition, it will mean seven years in a row of below-3 percent GDP growth. No president has ever had that distinction. So the next president could use a track record of building and developing growth, since the measures by the Fed of keeping rates at zero and making $4 trillion worth of QE bond buys have done nothing for growth. If a businessperson were to get the keys to the White House, here’s what he or she would need to do. The single most important issue is jobs, and Trump is well aware of it. Getting the job market back on its feet will not be easy, but Trump has built a global business that employs thousands of people — from contractors, plumbers and electricians to investment bankers, lawyers and accountants — whom he pays quite well. So he actually knows what it takes. The Donald could very well live up to his claim, which was vintage Trump: “I will be the greatest jobs president that God has ever created.” While the unemployment rate is misleadingly low — folks taking two or three part-time jobs at a time skew the stats — the more accurate and encompassing labor-force participation rate remains near the all-time low of 62 percent. That is because millions of Americans have left the labor force and have given up looking for a job. Unfortunately, the attitude and the algebra today is, if you can’t make more than the government assistance pays, then why bother going back to work? For those fortunate who have steady work, there have been no wage gains to speak of for the last decade. Nothing says “failing economy” like working for 10 years and not seeing your buying power increase. Both Trump and Fiorina are pragmatists, which doesn’t bode well for a political career, but that quality could be refreshing. Their opponents will have a hard time trying to fit them into a box on the political grid. By working to free up capital in corporations and motivating companies to bring work back to the US, they will back up their words. Also, look for Trump to forge large bipartisan infrastructure deals to rebuild America’s dilapidated highways, bridges and tunnels and to bring America into the 21st century technologically. After all, it can’t be denied that Trump knows plenty about construction. That the Beltway Brigade never addressed this issue is mind-boggling. You can’t drive two miles without dodging potholes, losing a filling or blowing a tire. This is a huge opportunity, and it will put people back to work, on projects that are actually necessary — unlike the “shovel-ready” infrastructure programs in the $850 billion stimulus plan President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid put together. Our candidates have become more and more like a bunch of mannequins and actors reading from TelePrompTers than CEOs of a $15 trillion economy. Only a few people in the race have legitimate bodies of work and accomplishments that enable us to see how they have actually performed when in charge. Trump and Fiorina are two that can be called all-business. *Cher trashes Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign <http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/cher-trashes-donald-trumps-2016-presidential-campaign> // MSNBC // Adam Howard – June 20, 2015 * Pop icon Cher definitely does not back Donald Trump’s run for the presidency. Although the real estate mogul’s 2016 campaign launch this week was widely ridiculed across the media landscape, the “Believe” singer’s social media reaction garnered some of the most attention. In addition to saying she would relocate to the planet Jupiter if Trump was ever elected, the 69-year-old called him a “loudmouthed bigot” and an “obnoxious a–hole,” in a series of tweets. “Donald Trump can’t come up with a hairstyle that looks human, how can he come up with a plan to defeat ISIS,” Cher said incredulously on Twitter. “Donald Trump’s ego is so inflated, he might as well be the Hindenburg,” she added in another tweet. The outspoken, Oscar-winning performer said choosing between GOP contender Sen. Ted Cruz and Trump was “like saying ‘would you rather have a Migraine or Throw Up.’” And ultimately that: “Donald Trump’s Punishment, Is being DONALD TRUMP.” Cher has been a longtime supporter of liberal causes and politicians. But in recent years, she has expressed dissatisfaction with President Obama, even calling into C-Span to voice her displeasure with his foreign policy. Trump has yet to respond to Cher’s remarks, but he has a long history of lashing out at his high-profile critics on social media and in various other forms. In the past he’s engaged in public feuds with Rosie O’Donnell, Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Maher and countless others. Most recently, he’s aimed his ire at conservative pundit George Will, calling him “boring,” “often wrong” and “a total dope!” *UNDECLARED* *WALKER* *Leading in polls, Scott Walker waits <http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/245617-leading-in-polls-scott-walker-waits> // The Hill // Niall Stanage – June 20, 2015 * Scott Walker edged closer to a White House bid this week, but his official entry into the race is still not expected until mid-July. The Wisconsin governor’s slow-moving campaign launch could cause him to lose altitude, some observers say, since other top-tier candidates such as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) are already in. “The biggest risk is that, with every week, donors start to make decisions about who they want to invest in,” said Julian Zelizer, a professor of public affairs at Princeton University. “The voters who are paying attention now are shaping their perceptions of who’s good and who’s bad, and they are not really thinking about him as much as the others,” Zelizer added. When it comes to donors, however, Walker’s Thursday announcement of a new “testing the waters” committee might help. The new committee has more leeway than an official campaign under election-finance regulations, and its formation crystallizes the sense that Walker is indeed moving toward a presidential run. He is widely expected to join the race on July 13 in his native Wisconsin, the state where he has been governor since 2011. He won a recall battle in 2012 and reelection in 2014. An appeal from his new committee to donors suggests that they should aim to raise $27,000 by July 12. The maximum individual contribution is $2,700, so the total would be equivalent to eliciting the biggest possible donation from 10 people. Some GOP strategists believe that Walker is being wily in holding off from a full declaration of candidacy for as long as he possibly can. Super-PACs are playing an increasingly important role in campaigns, they note, but coordination between an official candidate and a super-PAC is prohibited. Republican consultant Ed Rollins drew a comparison between Walker and Bush, who helped start a super-PAC that is headed by operative Mike Murphy. “You can’t talk to [the super-PAC] and you can’t coordinate, so now Jeb can’t talk to Mike Murphy again,” he said. “Walker has a super-PAC and once you declare, you have to play by those rules.” Walker’s super-PAC is called “Unintimidated,” after the title of a book the governor published in 2013. Two former top aides, Keith Gilkes and Stephan Thompson, founded it. More broadly, Walker supporters could issue a simple rebuttal to suggestions that he is putting an official declaration off for too long: It hasn’t harmed him so far. Walker is performing very well in opinion polls, especially in Iowa. In three of the four most recent polls among Republicans in the Hawkeye State, he led his nearest rival by either seven or eight percentage points. The other survey also showed him leading, but by a more modest margin of four points. In New Hampshire, where Walker’s socially conservative outlook is less of an asset, he is nonetheless running a close second to Bush in the RealClearPolitics polling average. The equivalent national polling average shows the two in a de facto dead-heat. Walker has made such strides while neither seeking nor attracting as much national media attention as Bush, Rubio or even candidates whose poll numbers are lower, such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Walker’s participation in Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-Iowa) barbecue-and-motorcycle-riding “roast and ride” event two weeks ago — he rode his own Harley-Davidson — was one of his relatively rare high-profile events of late. Some Republicans believe that Walker’s skills are being underestimated by a news media that don't recognize his blue-collar appeal. “What Walker brings … is the white working-class voter,” GOP strategist Ford O’Connell said. “He has the ability to speak to them in a way that they gravitate toward. When he talks about shopping at Kohl’s, a lot of people in the media roll their eyes. But that resonates so well with voters.” O’Connell also argued that more time away from the spotlight could assist Walker, in terms of letting him bone up on issues that he is less familiar with — notably foreign policy. He drew criticism earlier this year when he suggested that his fight against public unions in Wisconsin was relevant experience for the struggle against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Others note that, for all of Walker’s impressive poll ratings, the race is only in its earliest stage, and the Wisconsin governor has not yet had to face serious attacks from rivals. “My question is, how does Scott Walker hold up when the campaigning begins, once a [hostile] super-PAC tries to define him?” said Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Iowa Republican Party. “I’m curious to see how he withstands that.” Others note another drawback to the Wisconsin governor’s slow rollout: It could provide a window of opportunity for even more potential rivals to join a crowded field. “The more Scott Walker waits, the more that opens the door to other governors,” said Zelizer. “Somebody like [Ohio Gov.] John Kasich is getting more interested.” Kasich, he added, was exactly the kind of candidate who could “squeeze Walker’s chances.” *Scott Walker Pledges to Fight for Republican Ideals* <http://www.politicspa.com/scott-walker-pledges-to-fight-for-republican-ideals/67146/>* // Politics PA // Nick Field – June 20, 2015 * One of the leading Republican candidates for the presidency visited Philadelphia today. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker gave the keynote address at the National Republican Leadership Conference. Walker isn’t officially in the race yet, but he did lay out a fundraising goal nicknamed “The Road to 270” (270 is the number of electoral votes it takes to win the White House). Therefore, it’s safe to say he’s in. Supporters expect him to announce on July 13th. A new national PPP poll released Tuesday showed Walker as the GOP front-runner. On an anecdotal note, I heard two separate attendees state that they would support any candidate but Jeb Bush. In fact, the PA GOP conducted a straw poll through the three-day weekend of perspective 2016 GOP candidates. Walker won with 25.3% of the vote followed by Chris Christie (11.3%), Marco Rubio (11%), Rick Santorum (9.6%) and Jeb Bush (9.6%). The Governor was introduced by fellow conservative (and foe of organized labor) State Sen. Scott Wagner. His biggest applause line came when he praised Gov. Walker’s ability to pass voter ID and “right-to-work” laws. The guest of honor started off with a prayer for the victims in Charleston and a round of applause for military members. Despite the presence of a podium, the future candidate chose to take the microphone and roam the stage as he spoke. A smart move that made it easier to connect with a crowd that constitutes men and women he’ll need to be successful in his quest. He further endeared himself to the audience when he said that as a runner, he loved being able to replicate the famous Rocky run up the Art Museum steps. At another point, he mentioned that his Great-great grandfather emigrated to Philadelphia and worked as a blacksmith. He even finished with a story about visiting Independence Hall. Referring to the attempt to remove him in a June 2012 recall, he thanked all the GOP faithful who aided his retention effort. “I appreciate the help for when we faced that recall election,” Walker stated before transitioning to the future. “We’ve formed a testing the process committee, which is the next big step in deciding whether you’re going to run for President.” The passionate conservative then laid out his pitch as to why he is uniquely equipped to be victorious. “To win the center, you don’t always have to run to the center, you have to lead,” Walker asserted. The Wisconsin native believes this mantra can play anywhere but can be especially beneficial in the Rust Belt. “I believe the next President is going to come from the industrial part of this country and Pennsylvania will play a big part of that.” Walker also dipped into what will surely be the accomplishments section of his future stump-speech, contending (as all Governors that run for President do) that what worked in their state can work for the country. “If we could do that in a blue state. If those reforms can happen in a state as blue as Wisconsin, they can happen anywhere.” Gov. Walker went on to outline the core of his speech with three distinct points: “Growth, Reform and Safety”. Apparently, the Wisconsinan feels the nation’s leading Democrats are too focused on Washington. “They think you grow the economy by growing Washington,” Walker said of Democrats like President Obama and Secretary Clinton. Concerning reform, he said that Democrats measure the success of government by how many people depend on it, while Republicans measure it by how many people are no longer dependent on government. For a man with no international experience, Walker was very passionate on national security issues. He explained that he chose to identify national security as “safety” because overseas atrocities like beheadings had affected him so personally. Walker also unequivocally came out against any nuclear deal with Iran. “That is a country we should not be doing business with,” he asserted. The biggest standing ovation of the day, in fact, came when Walker criticized the President for identifying climate change as the largest national security threat instead of radical Islamist terrorists. “Our enemy is like a virus,” he said. “I’d rather take the fight to them rather than wait for them to take the fight to us.” He finished but pledging to reminding the audience that he had fought the good fights and won the good fights and that the American people “want someone who is not only going to fight but win.” It was an impressive performance that reached the crowd of Republican die-hards in the Sheraton ballroom and may be able to extend far beyond there. Still, the spectre of the biggest fight of Walker’s life hung over the event. Through some playlist oversight, the most unlikely tune emerged from the loudspeakers just minutes before Walker took the stage. *Walker wows social conservatives with attacks on Obama, puts GOP rivals on notice <http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/20/scott-walker-wows-social-conservatives-withering-a/> // The Washington Times // Madison Gesiotto – June 20, 2015 * ust weeks away from possibly joining the 2016 race, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker thrilled a crowd of social conservatives Saturday night with a withering attack on President Obama’s record while putting his potential GOP rivals on notice that he plans to run on his record as a get-it-done governor. Mr. Walker sought to convince the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s 2015 Road to the Majority Conference he may be the best choice for president, repeatedly citing his record of success in Wisconsin that includes a balanced budget, concessions from unions and pro-faith policies. Seeking to differentiate himself from some of his potential rivals who serve in Congress or have been out of office for some time, Mr. Walker said he was a unique combination of fighter and election and policy victor, “We fight the good fight and win those fights over and over and over again,” he said. Mr. Walker also mocked the president on national security, citing Mr. Obama’s recent speech in which he said climate change was the biggest threat facing America. “I’ve got a message for you, Mr. President. The number one threat to the military, the number one threat to America, the number one threat to the world is radical Islam. It’s time we do something about it,” he said to roaring cheers. Mr. Walker mixed in barbs with folksy Midwest humor, drawing laughter with a tale about his trips to his favorite department store and even poking fun at fellow Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan. Reminiscing about their earlier years of flipping burgers at McDonalds, Mr, Walker told the crowd, that “the only difference is, his manager actually told him he has to flip hamburgers in the back because he didn’t have the interpersonal skills to work the cash register.” Although Mr. Walker hasn’t officially declared his candidacy for 2016, he has been “testing the waters” and is expected to make an official announcement in mid-July. *Scott Walker denounces Charleston slayings, sidesteps flag debate <http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/scott-walker-denounces-charleston-slayings-sidesteps-flag-debate-b99523568z1-308740771.html> // Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel // Craig Gilbert – June 20, 2015 * Speaking to a gathering of religious conservatives here Saturday night, Gov. Scott Walker spoke for several minutes about the shooting in Charleston, S.C., calling it a "racist" and "evil" act and asking for a moment of prayer for the "nine brothers and sisters in Christ who were taken on Wednesday." But in talking to reporters afterward, Walker steered cleared of the debate over the Confederate flag in South Carolina that is playing out in the aftermath of the shootings. Walker said he didn't think it was appropriate to debate that issue until the family members of victims have had a chance to bury and mourn the dead. The GOP's 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney, said on Twitter Saturday that South Carolina should remove the Confederate flag flying above its state Capitol grounds, calling it a "symbol of racial hatred" to many. Several of Walker's potential GOP rivals have also commented on the issue in the wake of the shootings. "I think they're going to have a good healthy debate and should have that debate in South Carolina amongst officials at the state level," Walker told reporters after his dinner speech at the "Road to Majority" conference. "I just think before I or anyone else weighs in on anything to do with policy, whether it's this or any other policy decisions, we should honor the dead and the families by allowing them to bury their loved ones. And then you could perfectly ask me that question at some point in the next week or two when that's done." Walker also deferred when asked by a reporter if he viewed the Confederate flag as a symbol of racism. Walker was among numerous GOP presidential hopefuls who appeared at the four-day conference organized by the Faith and Freedom Coalition. An evangelical Christian, the son of a preacher and a leading figure in the party's 2016 field, Walker was introduced as a politician with a strong record opposing abortion and someone whose "faith informs his beliefs and his actions." A banquet crowd of several hundred gave him a very enthusiastic reception. Addressing the Charleston shooting at the outset of his speech, Walker said what happened there is not just about that city, but "it's really about all of us and trying to find a way to bring this country together instead of ways to pull us apart." The governor pointed to the expressions of forgiveness coming from family members of victims, saying, "They showed us, they showed their community, they showed their state, they showed their country, they showed the world what it means to be a Christian." Talking to reporters a short time later, Walker said the shootings were an act of "racism" and "pure evil" and "all of us regardless of party or background need to denounce not only the act itself but the beliefs" behind it. More broadly, he said, "I think there is a very real concern that needs to be addressed in America about race relations. And I think we need to do more, I think as Americans as a whole, we need to do more to talk about how to unite people in this country." *CHRISTIE* *Jeb Bush And Chris Christie Spout Anti-Women Rhetoric At Conservative Conference <http://thinkprogress.org/election/2015/06/20/3672153/faith-and-freedom-women/> // Think Progress // Kira Lerner – June 20, 2015* “It was right here in this room that we celebrated the burial of the Equal Rights Amendment,” conservative Phyllis Schlafly, who led the fight against the constitutional amendment in the 1970s, told a cheering crowd in Washington, D.C. on Friday. “We were able to celebrate a tremendous victory against all the powers that be, and of all the things we taught people by defeating the Equal Rights Amendment, it was that conservatives can win.” Since successfully defeating the ERA in 1982 — a constitutional amendment that she argued would hurt traditional gender roles — Schlafly has continued her anti-feminism, anti-women’s choice messaging. She has remained in the spotlight by making incendiary remarks, like that women should be paid less than men so they can find husbands. And at the conservative conference co-hosted by the Faith & Freedom Coalition and Concerned Women for America this week, her anti-choice rhetoric was echoed by many of the Republican candidates vying for the presidency in 2016. Many of the candidates who spoke discussed their faith and their traditional family values to justify their anti-choice, anti-equality platforms. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who declared his candidacy earlier this week, listed off his anti-choice credentials, including the fact that he signed into law a partial-birth abortion ban and pushed through a constitutional amendment requiring that parents be given notice when their minor daughters seek an abortion. “When I became governor, I was shocked by the total lack of regulation of abortion clinics,” he said. “Parents had no legal role in their minor daughter’s abortion decisions so we put regulations on abortion clinics. And we narrowed the number of them, but we made sure there was reasonable health and safety standards to protect women.” Studies have shown that abortions are actually extremely safe and that major complications rarely occur. Nonetheless, conservatives have fought for tighter restrictions on abortions by framing the issue around the safety of the procedure. Bush also lent his support as governor to “crisis pregnancy centers,” right-wing organizations often posing as women’s health clinics with an explicit anti-choice agenda that use misleading information and deceptive tactics to try to dissuade women from choosing an abortion. “At my urging, the state of Florida was the first to sustain funding, $2 million a year, to go to crisis pregnancy centers to provide counseling and therapy — state money going to crisis pregnancy centers to give moms other choices.” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is likely to announce his campaign within the month, also drew loud applause from the conservative audience when he discussed his cuts to Planned Parenthood funding. “When [the Democratic legislature] sends me Planned Parenthood funding year after year after year and I am the first governor to veto Planned Parenthood funding out of the budget, there is no room for compromise there,” he said. In 2010, Christie eliminated all family planning funding in New Jersey, cutting off $7.5 million that used to support 58 clinics. The action has had drastic effects on the state and its ability to meet the need for family planning services ever since — nine health centers have been forced to close and impoverished residents have suffered. Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D) has accused the governor, who was pro-choice until he said he heard his daughter’s heartbeat on an ultrasound, of trying to drag New Jersey back to the 1950s to pander to the social conservatives who might support a 2016 presidential run. *Christie to attend memorial for Charleston murder victims at St. Matthew A.M.E. church in Orange <http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/06/christie_to_attend_memorial_service_for_charleston.html> // NJ News – June 20, 2015 * Gov. Chris Christie will attend a memorial prayer service for the victims of the Charleston, S.C. mass shooting Sunday evening at St. Matthew African Methodist Episcopal Church in Orange. Nine African-American parishioners were shot to death and a tenth wounded Wednesday at the Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston. Dylann Roof, 21, has since been charged with their murders. On Saturday, media reports noted that Roof had apparently created a website, www.thelastrhodesian.com, filled with white supremacist codewords and rants along with photos of him posing with what appears to be a .45-caliber Glock handgun – the same make and model firearm used in the church killings and the same as the one found in his car when he was arrested Thursday, according to police reports. On Friday, President Obama called for a closer look at U.S. gun laws, noting that "every country has violent, hateful or mentally unstable people. What's different is that not every country is awash with easily accessible guns." The President added that he refused to act as if "any mention of doing something to stop it is somehow politicizing the problem." On Thursday evening, Christie, who had been attending a 2016 exploratory event in New Hampshire, side-stepped the question of whether the racially-motivated South Carolina church killings highlighted a need for reform of the nation's gun laws. "We don't even really know what the facts are here," Christie told CNN in an interview, calling the murders "a depraved act" and adding that only once "all the facts" are in could policy decisions be made. *KASICH* *Obamacare looms over Kasich's presidential bid <http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/obamacare-looms-over-kasichs-presidential-bid-119216.html> // Politico // Rachana Pradhan And Kyle Cheney – June 20, 2015 * The Republicans running for president have practically made careers out of skewering Obamacare — so when Ohio Gov. John Kasich makes his expected entry into the race, he’s likely to have a giant Obamacare target on his back. Kasich says he is no fan of the president’s health care law. But he fought his own party to implement one of its core components and is now gearing up to face GOP primary voters who want to rip the health law to shreds. His decision two years ago to embrace Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid to provide health coverage to low-income adults — a move that offered bipartisan cover to the White House during a tumultuous period — is likely to dog him in Iowa and New Hampshire. Kasich made both a moral and economic case for covering the poor with mostly federal dollars. Many in his party disagree. “We were deeply disappointed at Gov. Kasich’s actions on the Medicaid expansion battle in Ohio,” said Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative think tank supported by the Koch Brothers. “Obamacare is a core issue at this point for so many Americans who will most likely be participating in primaries and caucuses. The question of expanding Medicaid is arguably the most important state-level aspect of Obamacare that’s in play.” Strategists and political experts say the Medicaid issue alone isn’t fatal to a Kasich candidacy, but it certainly doesn’t help at a time when more than a dozen Republican candidates are groping to capture voters’ attention. “When you have so many candidates to choose from, you could be for a governor with a good record that didn’t do that,” said New Hampshire Republican strategist David Carney. “There are 12 or 15 flavors. If you love maple walnut ice cream but there’s just too much maple, you go for something else.” Other governors with 2016 aspirations have rejected Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, including Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal, and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. And the Republican senators running for president — Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham — have all voted for repeal of Obamacare. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who may still join the race, enacted Medicaid expansion in a state where he faced intense pressure to do so from a solidly Democratic Legislature. Kasich, on the other hand, undertook an extraordinary maneuver to bypass his Republican Legislature to expand Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of people. In the fall of 2013, he lobbied an obscure state board to unilaterally increase the state’s Medicaid spending levels to accommodate the Obamacare program. Republicans howled and conservatives briefly targeted Kasich in a 2014 primary, but the furor died down. His maneuver is unlikely to go unnoticed, however, in presidential politics. Kasich is fighting for the same center-right corner of the Republican base as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who in 2013 actively lobbied lawmakers in his home state to reject Medicaid expansion even though the state’s current Republican governor, Rick Scott, supported it at the time. He’d enter the race as a long shot — he barely registers in early polls outside of Ohio — but he’s hopeful that early stumbles by Bush will give him an opening to win support in early voting states likes New Hampshire. Critics of the expansion, which provides coverage to low-income individuals who make up to roughly $16,000 a year, say its costs will ultimately fall on the states, crowding out other priorities like education and public safety. Though Obamacare fully funds the cost of Medicaid expansion through 2016, states will gradually assume up to 10 percent of the cost. In many states, including Ohio, Medicaid enrollment has vastly exceeded original projections, setting off alarm bells among conservatives who say the states and the federal government won’t be able to afford it. Nearly 540,000 Ohioans have been covered through the expansion already. Kasich allies point out that the governor won a resounding reelection bid last year with 64 percent of the vote and scared off his one brief primary opponent, despite his association with the Affordable Care Act. They argue that his earnest commitment to the program is actually refreshing to voters, who crave his straight talk and willingness to take unpopular stances. “What they see is someone who is willing to do what he thinks is right from a policy perspective and put politics to the side,” said spokesman Chris Schrimpf, who noted that nearly a dozen Republican governors have embraced the Medicaid expansion since Kasich did. Kasich, however, was one of the few who supported a traditional Medicaid expansion, without the right-leaning policy elements that made the program more palatable to Republicans in other states, from Iowa to Arkansas to Indiana. His imminent candidacy comes as New Hampshire — where Kasich has been particularly aggressive — is in the midst of an intense partisan battle over the future of its own Medicaid expansion. Kasich argues that he’s only bringing back funding that Ohio sends to the federal government, and that the Medicaid expansion has led to savings elsewhere for the state. And one of Kasich’s favorite defenses is that expanding Medicaid puts him in good company with the last Republican to expand Medicaid — Ronald Reagan. He’s also irked Republicans by justifying his decision as a moral and religious imperative. “Now, when you die and get to the meeting with St. Peter, he’s probably not going to ask you much about what you did about keeping government small. But he is going to ask you what you did for the poor,” he told reporters in Ohio in 2013. That strategy works well in his home state and for independents, but it’s not likely to be a big winner among GOP primary voters, said Robert Blendon, a professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health. “You just have to move onto other issues,” he said. Kasich has long argued that the Medicaid expansion established by Obamacare is different than Obamacare itself. He has joined the chorus of calls for repealing the entire law while contending that it’s unconnected to Medicaid. But that unusual semantic argument elicits scoffs from conservatives, too. The right has special hatred for Obamacare, but it also has separate qualms about Medicaid, arguing that the entitlement program has outgrown its original purpose of caring for low-income parents and people with disabilities. Nearly all of the 21 states that haven’t expanded Medicaid since the Supreme Court made it an optional program in 2012 are led by Republican governors. Just this year, fights over expanding the program have roiled state politics in Alaska, Florida, Montana, Tennessee and Wyoming. Though experts say a single issue isn’t likely to sink Kasich, it could diminish his appeal among the conservatives who animate Republican presidential politics. “It’s not compassionate to take a failing program and expand it by dumping millions of Americans in it,” Phillips said. “For Gov. Kasich and others who have supported expanding this program, it’s going to be a difficult explanation.” *OTHER* *Mitt Romney Calls for Removal of Confederate Flag at South Carolina Capitol <http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/06/20/mitt-romney-calls-for-removal-of-confederate-flag-at-south-carolina-capitol/> // NYT // Michael Barbaro – June 20, 2015 * Mitt Romney, the Republican Party’s nominee for president in 2012, demanded that South Carolina remove the Confederate flag flying above the grounds of its state Capitol on Saturday, calling it a “symbol of racial hatred.” His unambiguous statement will immediately intensify pressure on Republicans seeking the White House in 2016 to confront the thorny issue, which has long divided the state and bedeviled national candidates campaigning in it. So far, none of the party’s 2016 presidential candidates has gone as far as Mr. Romney in demanding that the flag come down. Mr. Romney’s words are striking because many Republican leaders, including those now running for president, have seemed reluctant to discuss the role of race — and racism — in the killing of nine parishioners at a Charleston, S.C., church. And they stand out because Mr. Romney himself, as a candidate, struggled to connect with black voters in 2012, later blaming his loss in part on “gifts” that he said President Obama had given to minority voters. On Saturday, Mr. Romney took to Twitter to issue a firm message about the flag and race. With that, Mr. Romney became the most prominent Republican to make that demand since the Charleston shooting. The issue is not entirely new for Mr. Romney. He spoke out against flying the Confederate flag as far back as 2008, when he first ran for president. “That flag shouldn’t be flown,” he said at the time. “That’s not a flag I recognize.” *2016 GOP contenders face major political dilemma in Obamacare ruling <http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2016-gop-contenders-face-major-political-dilemma-in-obamacare-ruling/2015/06/20/76e934bc-1378-11e5-89f3-61410da94eb1_story.html> // WaPo // Katie Zezima & Lena Sun – June 20, 2015 * Around the corner from Sen. Marco Rubio’s house and a few miles from former Florida governor Jeb Bush’s, an insurance agency at a strip mall advertises the Affordable Care Act. Banners with a logo reminiscent of the one President Obama used during his campaign hang on the exterior of the Eli Insurance Agency. An ad above a window display touting trips to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic says in Spanish that Obamacare could be available for $0 a month. “Obamacare $0 mensual,” it reads. “Centro de aplicaciones aqui” — Application center here! Those signs may not last much longer. Depending on how the Supreme Court rules in King v. Burwell this month, they might disappear — replaced by a major political dilemma for Eli Insurance’s presidential-contender neighbors. The pressing problem for the 2016 Republican field falls into the “dog catches car” category: It’s one thing to call for the Affordable Care Act to be repealed or to promise an Oval Office signing ceremony for its repeal. It’s another to endorse pulling insurance subsidies used by more than 6 million people in 34 states, including at least 1.3 million Florida residents. A ruling that subsidies provided to consumers to help them purchase health insurance are not legal could spark chaos in the insurance marketplace and help shape the electoral landscape in several key swing states. Beyond those voters directly affected, many more could see their premiums increase if the law unravels, driving up the number of uninsured. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a Republican presidential candidate, speaks Thursday during the Road to Majority 2015 convention at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington. (Andrew Harnik/Associated Press) The administration has said it has no Plan B if the court rules against it. The sitting governors and senators in the GOP presidential field would be among those who need to implement an emergency fix that helps people remain insured. The rest of the candidates would be called upon to offer policy alternatives. All of them would need to balance demands that they support an emergency restoration of benefits with the demands of a conservative base that wants to seize any opportunity to gut Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement. “The politics of this for Republicans are extremely tricky and treacherous, and most Republicans privately would like to see the Supreme Court take a pass on this one,” said John Ullyot, a Republican strategist. As the decision date in the case edges closer, debate within the GOP has been split between those who see a political opportunity and those who see a looming disaster. Republicans have been furiously meeting on Capitol Hill this week to hammer out proposals as a court ruling looms. The 2016 contenders currently in Congress will be the ones “in the crucible,” he said — they will have to take votes or make proposals “that might not be as politically pure as needed during a Republican primary.” On the other side of the spectrum, the Democratic presidential contenders lie in wait. “Hillary Clinton can immediately pivot not to defending the ACA,” said Republican strategist Rich Galen, but “can immediately begin saying, ‘The Republicans won’t fix this; I will’ — and I think that’s a big, big bow that the Republicans shouldn’t hand to her.” Most of the major plans congressional Republicans and conservative think tanks have proposed to address a hypothetical loss of subsidies would offer some temporary relief — but only in exchange for a repeal of the requirement that most Americans have insurance, the linchpin of the law. “Republicans need to unify around a specific set of constructive, longer-term solutions and then turn the 2016 presidential election into a referendum on two competing visions of health care,” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), who proposed one of the plans, wrote in the Wall Street Journal in February. Although most states are considering their options, even talking about them publicly before the decision is risky. “The Republican governors have very little reason to put themselves at political risk if they don’t have to,” said Caroline Pearson, a vice president at Avalere Health, a consulting firm. Florida, home to Rubio and Bush, and Texas — home state of presidential candidates Rick Perry, the state’s former governor, and GOP Sen. Ted Cruz — have the largest numbers of people at risk. Gracita Beausejour, 62, of Miramar, Fla., said she receives more than $400 a month in subsidies and pays $30 monthly for her premium. She said she lost her job at a hospital four years ago and has not been able to find work since; she receives $590 a month in Social Security. If she loses her subsidy as a result of the court ruling, “I’m going back to having no insurance again,” she said. Referring to Republican lawmakers in Congress, she said: “People who are higher don’t care for lower people.” The ruling would land hard in a string of general election battlegrounds, leaving next year’s GOP nominee potentially facing hundreds of thousands of voters who lost subsidies in each of these states: North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana. If the subsidies do disappear, premiums in those states are projected to more than double, at a minimum. Cruz, who has said that his campaign is a “referendum on repealing Obamacare,” signed a brief from members of Congress supporting the challengers in the court case. “The goal is to provide an off-ramp for our people to escape this law without losing their insurance, and all conservatives in Congress should work together toward this goal,” Rubio wrote in a Fox News op-ed in March. He called for a refundable tax credit people could use to purchase health insurance, reforming insurance regulations and putting Medicare and Medicaid on “fiscally sustainable” paths. Cruz has a health care policy team that is gaming out possible outcomes at the Supreme Court, according to an adviser. “I don’t think the answer is to extend the Obamacare subsidies,” Cruz said after an event in Red Oak, Iowa. If the court rules against the government, Congress should step in and say, “This isn’t working, let’s repeal it and start over,” he said. “And at a minimum, in the wake of King v. Burwell, I believe Congress should allow states to opt out.” The Texas Republican has said that health care reform should include being able to purchase across state lines, expanding health savings accounts and unlinking insurance from employment. In Wisconsin, where 166,142 people are receiving subsidies, premiums could jump 252 percent, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis. Gov. Scott Walker (R) has said the solution needs to come from Congress, not the states. In Ohio, where 161,011 people would lose their subsidies, Gov. John Kasich (R) said the state would “have to figure something out” and has not ruled out creating a state exchange. Bush mentioned the Affordable Care Act during his announcement speech only in the context of a court case where an order of nuns challenged the law because of a mandate that requires employers to offer insurance plans that cover contraceptives; he did not mention repealing it. Nowhere would a ruling against the law affect more people than in his home state of Florida, where premiums could skyrocket by an average of 359 percent, according to the Kaiser analysis. An Avalere analysis found that Florida residents would have to pay on average $3,500 more a year for their premiums. Brian Ballard, a Republican lobbyist in Tallahassee, noted that Rubio and Bush have been steadfast in their opposition to the Affordable Care Act, something that will help them with the conservative base. “In a Republican primary I would argue that being anywhere around supportive of Obamacare would be toxic to a candidate,” Ballard said. But he acknowledged that there would be consequences. “We’re going to have whatever backlash there is from those people receiving the entitlement. There’s no doubt that’s going to be there,” he said. “That’s going to be built into the framework of the election.” “The solution is not to take away the Obamacare,” said Maylin Portell, who works at the insurance agency, where photos of Cuba and a wooden carving of the island hang on bright orange and yellow walls. Portell said the agency has helped more than 300 people of all ages sign up for coverage. There have been glitches, such as paperwork that needs to be reprocessed. But it would be financially devastating if consumers lost the subsidies, she said. *How Mitt Romney’s opposition to Confederate flag just put the GOP’s current presidential candidates on the spot <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/06/20/how-mitt-romneys-opposition-to-confederate-flag-just-put-the-current-gop-presidential-candidates-on-the-spot/> // WaPo // Ed O’Keefe – June 20, 2015 * Mitt Romney, the Republican Party's 2012 presidential nominee, strongly condemned the flying of the Confederate flag on the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol on Saturday, putting pressure on current GOP candidates to weigh in on a controversial subject in the "First in the South" primary state. Romney's comments repeating his longtime position came in the wake of a shooting that left nine people dead Wednesday night at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C. On Saturday, authorities were working to determine whether the man accused of killing the nine African Americans attending a church Bible study was the author of a racist manifesto targeting blacks, Jews and Hispanics that was found on a Web site as part of an ongoing investigation. In the wake of the shootings, critics have denounced South Carolina leaders for failing to lower to half staff a Confederate flag flying on State Capitol grounds -- and for its placement near the Capitol at all. The flag has flown atop or next to the Capitol in Columbia, S.C., since 1962. In a compromise worked out after national pressure in 2000 -- when it became an issue during presidential primary season in the key early-voting state -- the flag was removed from atop the Capitol dome in 2000 and now flies at a Civil War memorial next to the Capitol. On Saturday, Romney took to Twitter to call the flag "a symbol of racial hatred" and said it should be removed as a tribute to the victims of the shooting. Romney first weighed in on the flag as a Republican presidential candidate in 2007, when he said "That's not a flag I recognize." "That flag, frankly, is divisive, and it shouldn't be shown," he said during a debate sponsored by CNN. The comments sparked outrage among some South Carolina conservatives, a key voting bloc in the Palmetto State. In protest, a group called the Americans for the Preservation of American Culture ran several radio ads attacking Romney for not supporting the state's heritage. Ultimately, Romney placed fourth in the South Carolina primary. He restated his opposition to the flag in 2012, when he won the GOP nomination. While Romney took a pass on running for president yet again in 2016, he remains a widely influential figure in the Republican Party. He hosted a summit for some of his former top donors two weeks ago that was attended by several presidential candidates or their representatives. His comments Saturday came amid the struggle by several of those candidates in recent days to articulate whether or not the flag should remain in place -- and whether the motives of the church shooter were racist. On Saturday, former Florida governor Jeb Bush said in a statement, "My position on how to address the Confederate flag is clear. In Florida we acted, moving the flag from the state grounds to a museum where it belonged." In 2001, Bush ordered the removal of the Confederate flag from the Florida State Capitol, where it had flown since 1978. But Bush's statement didn't explicitly call on South Carolina to do the same: "This is obviously a very sensitive time in South Carolina and our prayers are with the families, the AME church community and the entire state. Following a period of mourning there will rightly be a discussion among leaders in the state about how South Carolina should move forward, and I'm confident they will do the right thing." Late Friday, Bush told a Tampa Republican fundraiser that "It breaks my heart that somebody, a racist, would do the things he did" in Charleston. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), in an interview with The Washington Post, said Saturday that decisions about the flag are for South Carolina to decide, but that he understands "both sides" of the debate. “Both those who see a history of racial oppression and a history of slavery, which is the original sin of our nation, and we fought a bloody civil war to expunge that sin," he said. But, he added: "I also understand those who want to remember the sacrifices of their ancestors and the traditions of their states, not the racial oppression, but the historical traditions and I think often this issue is used as a wedge to try to divide people." On Saturday, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is poised to launch a GOP presidential campaign, began a speech in Philadelphia by asking for a moment of silence in memory "of those nine lives" killed in Charleston. As he watched media coverage from South Carolina, he said he was stuck by how many "family and friends were already talking about forgiveness." But Walker left his speech at the Northeast Republican Leadership Conference without taking questions from reporters, and a spokeswoman wouldn't say whether the governor had a position on the Confederate flag. Carly Fiorina, the former corporate executive also running for president, didn't mention the shooting during a 20-minute speech Saturday at a Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Washington. Asked about Romney's comments after her speech, she told reporters "personally I agree with him but I believe it's up to the people of South Carolina." Spokespeople for Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) didn't return requests for comment on the subject on Saturday. On Friday, former Texas governor Rick Perry referred to the shooting as an "accident" -- with campaign aides quickly saying that he meant "incident." His slip of the tongue in an interview sparked a social media backlash and immediately invited comparisons to his so-called "oops" moment during a 2011 debate, when he couldn't remember the three federal agencies he wanted to eliminate as president. Perry said during the interview with Newsmax that he would be open to taking down the flag in South Carolina, saying "maybe there's a good conversation that needs to be had." But Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who is also a GOP presidential candidate, dismissed questions about removing the flag when asked on Friday, telling CNN that "We're not going to give this a guy an excuse about a book he might have read or a movie he watched or a song he listened to or a symbol out anywhere. It's him ... not the flag." *Why Republicans were quick to cite religion — but not racism — on Charleston <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/06/20/why-republicans-were-quick-to-cite-religion-but-not-racism-on-charleston/> // WaPo // Jannell Ross – June 20, 2015* In the days since America absorbed the fact that a man entered a historic African American church and shot and killed nine of those in attendance, politicians have lined up to express their sympathies and/or dismay. But one likely motivation was initially, conspicuously absent from some Republicans' comments. Racism. First, some facts: As reported by nearly every major paper and television news outfit Thursday, witnesses -- meaning people in the room in which the gunman sat with the bible-study group for almost an hour before opening fire -- say the suspect, Dylann Roof, 21, did not operate in silence. During an intermission in the carnage, Roof reportedly explained his actions in some almost boilerplate, American racist terms: “I have to do it," he reportedly said, according to an account the morning after the tragedy. "You rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go.” If, for some reason, you rank among those unfamiliar with the provenance of those ideas, consider finding an American history course to audit, immediately. Moving on. Also on Thursday, several outlets reported on a picture of Roof wearing a jacket with the flags of apartheid-era South Africa and Rhodesia -- another flag with clear and unmistakable racist connotations. By midnight, the Associated Press was reporting on a friend who said Roof was prone to racist rants. Friday morning, CNN had Roof's friend on video saying that Roof told him that he hoped to do something that would incite a "race war." And Saturday a manifesto, possibly written by Roof, was found posted at "The Last Rhodesian." It offered a mash-up of nearly every racist, anti-Semitic, white supremacist and "white-pride" idea available for mass consumption in the past century. Finally, the gunman on Wednesday walked into the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. He did not go to any of the city's many open-air public venues in which a young, white man might not have stood out from the crowd. He did not enter one of the many other churches in Charleston in which Southerners of all races find such comfort and kinship that asking, "And where do you worship?" is often preceded only by a solicitation of a new acquaintance’s name. With some of this information clear or widely reported, GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Thursday morning described the attack as a "crime of hate" and an assault on "religious liberty." By Friday, he added that he did think it was racist. Also Thursday morning, Fox News's Steve Doocy posited that perhaps the massacre wasn't racially motivated at all but was instead about killing Christians. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), like Santorum, emphasized the religious aspect of it all. On Thursday afternoon, he suggested it would be hard to know what the gunman was thinking. "Law enforcement will figure out what his so-called motivations were," Jindal said. "We shouldn’t try to pretend we’ll understand his mind. I’d love to tell you there's some predictable line between a and b." And on Friday, former Florida Jeb Bush seemed to struggle with just how to characterize it all. "I don't know what was on the mind or the heart of the man who committed these atrocious crimes," Bush said at a Faith & Freedom Coalition conference. Bush's spokesman clarified the governor's position a short time later on Twitter, saying that "of course" Bush believed the attack was racially motivated. But while all of the above were quick to talk about the massacre in terms of an assault on religion and/or perhaps-unknowable motivations, they did not so quickly allow for the most obvious and increasingly apparent reason: racism. Instead, they expressed doubt, stumbled or struggled their way awkwardly around the idea. At this point, some have clarified their position or publicly changed course to say that it was indeed racism. So, what's going on here? Why did it take as long as it did? A few theories: 1. They were operating out of an over-abundance of caution. We are talking about politicians, after all, and nobody wants to jump to conclusions that prove to be wrong -- especially on such a sensitive topic. Even President Obama didn't invoke the r-word -- at least directly -- in his remarks Thursday. Of course, Obama rarely uses that specific word. Instead, he referred to racism by citing "a dark part of our history" and said, "This is not the first time that black churches have been attacked, and we know the hatred across races and faiths pose a particular threat to our democracy and our ideals." 2. They know that their party is often pegged as the white party. And it is overwhelmingly white. Maybe they feared that any acknowledgement of racism -- no matter how explicit or slight -- would open some sort of invisible floodgate sending a lot of water the party's way. And since the party has aligned itself with policies such as Voter ID and bans on Affirmative Action in higher education admissions, there's a chance that whatever emerges from a more earnest discussion about racism would eventually be troublesome for their party. (And sure enough, we have now begun a full-scale discussion about how Republicans feel about the Confederate flag -- an issue that has regularly beguiled GOP candidates.) 3. Perhaps they saw the Charleston shooting as an opportunity to begin a debate about religious liberty -- an issue much more in their party's wheelhouse. If a mass shooting at an African American church is about ready access to guns, Republicans are on the defensive. If it's a moment in which talk turns to how Christians face ongoing danger -- something many Republicans believe and have persistently argued -- it's an opportunity to talk about something that appeals to many Republicans (Christianity). Jindal, in particular, has regularly talked about a "silent war" on religious liberty. 4. Maybe what we are hearing is an odd attempt to connect to the actual humanity and vulnerability of African Americans, even those murdered in a church while praying. Perhaps avoiding the r-word amounts to a kind of twisted mercy; if the black human beings who died were first and foremost Christians, perhaps this elevates them to a status beyond the race into which they were born and for which they were murdered. As we noted, some of these Republicans have now started clearly talking about this in the racial terms that cannot be avoided. But, in this case, the facts were pretty clear from the outset. That the gunman hates Christians has never been substantiated; that he hates black people became clear almost immediately. *Confederate flag sets off debate in GOP 2016 class <http://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article25066558.html> // AP // Steve Peoples – June 20, 2015 * Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney called for the immediate removal of the Confederate battle flag from outside the South Carolina Statehouse, scrambling the 2016 Republican presidential contenders into staking a position on a contentious cultural issue. Some still steered clear from the sensitive debate, even after the shooting deaths of nine people in a historic African-American church in Charleston further exposed the raw emotions about the flying the flag. Many see the Confederate flag as "a symbol of racial hatred," the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee tweeted on Saturday. "Remove it now to honor #Charleston victims." Romney joins President Barack Obama and civil rights leaders in calling for the flag to come down as the nation grapples with Wednesday's murders. The man charged with the crimes, Dylann Storm Roof, held the Confederate flag in a photograph on a website and displayed the flags of defeated white-supremacist governments in Africa on his Facebook page. So far, most of the Republican Party's leading 2016 presidential contenders have been silent on flying the Stars and Bars. South Carolina was the last state to fly the Confederate battle flag from its Capitol dome. A compromise in 2000 moved the flag to a 30-foot flagpole elsewhere on Statehouse grounds, where it has been flying at full staff. The debate holds political risks for Republicans eager to win over South Carolina conservatives who support the display of the battle flag on public grounds. The state will host the nation's third presidential primary contest in February, a critical step in the 2016 race. Former technology executive Carly Fiorina said Saturday she agrees the flag is a "symbol of racial hatred" yet declined to call for its removal, saying her "personal opinion is not what's relevant here." Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said the last thing the people of South Carolina need is "people from outside of the state coming in and dictating how they should resolve it," Cruz said in a statement provided to The Associated Press. He said he understands both sides of the debate — including those who see the flag as a symbol of "racial oppression and a history of slavery" and "those who want to remember the sacrifices of their ancestors and the traditions of their states — not the racial oppression, but the historical traditions." A spokesman for Jeb Bush had no immediate comment on Saturday, although Bush ordered the Confederate flag removed from over the Florida Statehouse in his first term as governor. Both Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Ohio Gov. John Kasich ignored questions about the flag posed by reporters over the last 24 hours. Spokesmen for most of the other Republican presidential contenders also either ignored such questions or formally declined to comment. They include Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, businessman Donald Trump and Sens. Rand Paul and Marco Rubio. Democrats have been more willing to offer their opinions. A White House spokesman said Friday that Obama continues to believe the flag belongs in a museum. Democratic presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton has yet to address the issue this week, but in 2007 called for the flag's removal, in part because the nation should unite under one banner while at war. *Romney: Take down the Confederate flag; 2016 GOP field: Leave it to South Carolina <http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/mitt-romney-take-down-confederate-flag-south-carolina-119250.html#ixzz3dhWftVkl> // Politico // Marc Caputo and Ali Breland – June 20, 2015* Mitt Romney showed his enduring influence on the Republican presidential field on Saturday when he weighed in on the national debate over the Confederate battle flag, calling bluntly for South Carolina to remove it from the state capitol in the wake of the shootings in Charleston. “Take down the #ConfederateFlag at the SC Capitol,” the 2012 Republican nominee tweeted. “To many, it is a symbol of racial hatred. Remove it now to honor #Charleston victims.” It was hours before the GOP’s 2016 contenders followed with statements of their own, illustrating their reluctance to wade into a conversation that could put them at odds with the base of a party with deep roots in the South and a complicated racial legacy. Jeb Bush was the first candidate to issue a statement, noting that as governor of Florida, “we acted, moving the flag from the state grounds to a museum where it belonged.” But even Bush declined to demand that South Carolina remove the controversial flag, which alleged Charleston shooter Dylann Roof was shown brandishing in photos that emerged Saturday on a website reportedly linked to him. “This is obviously a very sensitive time in South Carolina and our prayers are with the families, the AME church community and the entire state,” Bush wrote in a Facebook post. “Following a period of mourning, there will rightly be a discussion among leaders in the state about how South Carolina should move forward and I’m confident they will do the right thing.” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio approvingly pointed to Bush’s decision, in 2001, to quietly move Florida’s confederate flag from the state Capitol to a museum. Like Bush, Rubio said today’s decision is in South Carolina’s hands. “In Florida it’s not up to our — it was moved to a museum. I support that decision,” Rubio said. “And I think ultimately the people of South Carolina will make the right decision for South Carolina. And I believe in their capacity to make that decision.” Asked if moving the flag was an example of the “right decision,” Rubio wouldn’t say. However, Rubio didn’t mention that he signed on to what became a failed bill in the 2001 Florida Legislature that would have prevented the further removal of Confederate and other war memorabilia by executive action. The bill was drafted in opposition to Bush’s unilateral removal of the Confederate flag at Florida’s Capitol. Rubio’s comments to reporters, somewhat ironically, came during the Miami-Dade Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner, named after the president who crushed the South’s rebellion, which began when South Carolinians attacked Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. Other Republican contenders were likewise cautious, to varying degrees. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said in a statement, “The placement of a Confederate flag on the Capitol grounds is a state issue and I fully expect the leaders of South Carolina to debate this but the conversation should wait until after the families have had a chance to bury and mourn their loved ones.” Rand Paul declined to comment. Ohio Gov. John Kasich said, “This is up to the people of South Carolina to decide, but if I were a citizen of South Carolina I’d be for taking it down.” Carly Fiorina was the only other Republican to agree with Romney, but she, too the state should make the decision. Sen. Ted Cruz told the Washington Post that South Carolina should make the decision, though he understood both sides of the debate. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, also a GOP candidate for president, told CNN: “It works here. That’s what the statehouse agreed to do. You could probably visit other places in the country near some symbol that doesn’t quite strike you right …We’re not going to give this a guy an excuse about a book he might have read or a movie he watched or a song he listened to or a symbol out anywhere. It’s him … not the flag.” Democrat Hillary Clinton called for the flag’s removal from South Carolina’s statehouse grounds years ago, but critics have pointed out that she and her husband were silent about Confederate Flag Day and other rebel reminders in Arkansas when Bill Clinton was governor there. In an emotional speech Saturday, Clinton called for renewed efforts pass gun-control laws and decried America’s enduring racial divides. “So many of us hoped that by electing our first black president, we had turned the page on this chapter in our history,” she said. President Barack Obama later Saturday tweeted “Good point, Mitt,” linking to Romney’s 8 a.m. tweet. The debate over the Confederate flag came as Roof’s purported manifesto was uncovered Saturday. The nearly 2,500-word document lays out the alleged shooter’s motivation and leaves little question that he harbored deep racial resentment toward African Americans and saw himself as a defender of white supremacy. It was published, on a website called the Last Rhodesian, along with dozens of pictures of Roof appearing with various Confederate monuments and symbols, including the flag. For some conservatives, the issue of South Carolina’s rebel flag has become an unwelcome distraction. Writing in Hot Air, Ed Morrisey noted that the issue puts GOP candidates in a theoretically tough position of either pandering to fans of the flag or writing off South Carolina in the primaries. “It puts Republicans at a stark disadvantage, all over a flag which stood for rebellion and disunity, whose purpose ended 150 years ago — and the attachment to it should have ended at the same time.” Morrisey’s solution: Make South Carolina decide between keeping the rebel flag on state house grounds or keeping its early-state status in the primaries, where the flag issue becomes of outsized importance. “If South Carolina wants to keep flying this flag at its capitol, that’s their decision,” Morrisey wrote. “But if that’s their decision, then Republicans should push South Carolina to the end of the primary season and end this quadrennial embarrassment for Republicans in most other parts of the country. Enough is enough.” *GOP Presidential Candidates: The More the Scarier <http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/06/20/gop_presidential_candidates_the_more_the_scarier.html> // Real Clear Politics // Jonathan Riehl & David B. Frisk – June 20, 2015 * Hillary Clinton apparently doesn’t scare the Republican Party, since a candidate roster of unprecedented size is amassing in search of the party’s presidential nomination. But the very size of that overcrowded field is diminishing GOP chances of retaking the White House in 2016. For centrist voters, the chaotic array of candidates will reinforce an impression that except for criticizing the incumbent president, the GOP lacks focus. Meanwhile the Democrats will, perhaps fitfully, draw toward their center of gravity. The challenge Clinton faces in maximizing unity and enthusiasm before her coronation as nominee is not trivial, as Bernie Sanders’ unexpected strength in the recent Wisconsin Democratic convention straw poll reveals. But Clinton's intra-party difficulties look trivial compared with those a ridiculously crowded field presents to the GOP. This is all the truer because base Republican voters are juggling a complicated set of criteria that makes it hard for them to settle on what “best nominee” actually means. With no clear leader, the conservative ship of state is truly adrift – notwithstanding any half-hearted protestations about the embarrassment of riches. An important factor in lengthening the candidate roster and also making a quick winnowing unlikely is a long decline in political discipline among conservatives, who for many decades have dominated the Republican electorate. One notable result of this indiscipline is trouble judging who is most worth backing in a presidential race – the proliferation of fuzzy thinking about who is most likely to win a general election, remain true to conservative principles, and deliver for conservatives as president. This situation results from at least two causes. One is conservatives' and libertarians' ambivalent attitude toward power and therefore toward practical, as distinct from merely expressive, politics. The other is their long record of frustration with presidential power and federal authority. Despite their substantial success within the GOP, some of these voters have felt increasingly alienated from a political system that has produced such limited policy victories for them in the half century since conservatives flouted the party's moderate establishment to nominate the unabashedly ideological Barry Goldwater. In addition, the famous “Buckley Rule” from that era, accurately attributed to the founding editor of National Review — that the party should nominate the rightmost viable candidate — has been widely preached but little fulfilled. What William F. Buckley Jr. meant was that the party should focus on someone who would clearly advance the conservative cause even if he didn't win. Even by that modest standard, it would be hard to choose from among the current crop of contenders on the Republican right. How has Ted Cruz, for example, demonstrated any ability to nudge large swaths of voters in his direction, even in a losing cause? As for winning a national election while advancing conservatism’s broader agenda, Ronald Reagan may be the only nominee who ever pulled off that trick. In that sense Reagan succeeded where Goldwater did not. But in the 2016 field, the Republicans don’t appear to have a Reagan or a Goldwater. They do have a Bush, but that’s part of the problem, not the solution. To cite one result of the dysfunctional criteria many conservatives now apply to nomination contests: Organizers of the early debates will probably feel compelled to include Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson even if their poll numbers are statistically nonexistent — lest conservatives accuse them of favoring insiders. Symbolic politics are too much at work. Conservatism and its postwar legacy of intellectual seriousness are in real peril. The crowded debate stages will prevent any one or two candidates from making a strong enough impression to actually begin shaping the Republican field. Worse, the teeming cast will allow far too little time for viewers to learn much about candidates or issues — a problem not just for democratic citizenship, but for the GOP's morale and sense of identity as well. The overcrowding will also tend to dangerously delay the emergence of strong motivation for any particular candidate among volunteers and donors, even if they have early inclinations toward one or another. (Each candidate of any prominence will have some deeply, durably committed backers. But not, we think, a very significant number.) The existence and likely continuance of a plethora of campaigns will also multiply occasions for resentment among the supporters of various candidates, or types of candidates, as the looming battle is joined. And finally, all of this proceduralism will waste even more Republican money in the primary phase than would be the case anyway. Furthermore, even if conservatives did promptly zero in on the questions that actually matter most to their cause, this candidate field would be hard to judge. A thumbnail sketch of the higher-profile Republican hopefuls' key assets and liabilities suggests the trouble that primary voters will have in deciding who is most electable and politically trustworthy — and therefore ending, reasonably soon, what promises to be a dangerously long primary season for the GOP. Jeb Bush would insure the GOP against the risks of relative inexperience, can be expected to show strong command of many issues, and wouldn't offend centrist independents. But his name and the dynastic factor are backward-looking minuses — and he isn’t likely to win the hearts of social conservatives or immigration restrictionists, two constituencies that exert significant pressure on the nominating process, or the many Republicans who distrust the politics of compromise and incrementalism. Ben Carson breaks the party's supposedly damaging “white male” image — and does so as an outspoken conservative. His combination of geniality, superior achievement in a profession far more popular than the corporate world, and fearless denunciation of the left could be formidable, but he’s never held or run for office, and is given to the kind of impolitic gaffes that invariably bedevil political amateurs. Ted Cruz has a strong aura of self-promotion, and something rings hollow in his rhetoric, (and his thin Senate record) especially if he is standing next to someone like fellow freshman Sen. Rand Paul. But he can motivate conservatives, and with his public speaking skills might be able to get others to listen. Carly Fiorina is the Hillary Clinton antidote, at least as far as gender demographics are concerned, but her resume stands in stark contrast to the Democrats’ frontrunner. Clinton is a former first lady, U.S. senator, and secretary of state—though not without critics of her role as the nation’s top diplomat. Fiorina is a corporate CEO with a mixed record of success and a failed Senate candidate. Mike Huckabee has, like Jeb Bush, “run” a state. Uniquely among the candidates, he also has experience dealing with the Clinton machine back home in Arkansas. More than most in the field, he understands the economic plight of working and middle-class Americans. And his commitment to social conservatism is genuine and appreciated by the GOP base, but may have limited appeal. Those traits might make him a more formidable primary season candidate than his current poll numbers suggest, but his social conservatism could render him unelectable in November 2016. Rand Paul capitalizes credibly on the anti-Washington mood —giving the impression of an honest, committed, independent thinker who would rather be right than president. But his tendency toward isolationism — even if he pref ers it to be called non-interventionism — is simply not in sync with most Republicans’ foreign policy views. Marco Rubio, the third of the GOP’s troika of freshmen senators, is a fresh face, projects inclusiveness and optimism, and is especially quick and articulate. Like Cruz, he is Hispanic and speaks evocatively of the immigrant experience. But many conservatives also want a candidate who can speak convincingly of the great danger they believe the country is in — and who is comfortable “going negative.” He may not be able to. Scott Walker has an impressive gubernatorial and electoral record, beating back the twin bogeymen of public-employee unions and MSNBC (in the person of Ed Schultz) for good measure. But does he have the charisma the role demands? His network of think tank leaders, opinion leaders, and donors is impressive to insiders, but does he come across as presidential? Will his lack of gravitas give voters pause? *Why Can’t Republicans Admit Dylann Roof Was Racist? <http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/06/why-cant-republicans-admit-roof-was-racist.html> // NY Mag // Jonathan Chait – June 20, 2015 * The mysteriousness of Dylann Roof’s motivations for allegedly murdering a room full of African-Americans, rated on a scale of 1 through 10, is zero. Roof has been described by people who knew him as obsessed with racial hatred, has been photographed with racist symbolism, told his victims he planned to murder them because of their race, and even let one live specifically so that she could let the world know the reason for his crime. It is entirely possible that some form of mental illness or adverse life event caused Roof to embrace violent racism, but there is zero doubt that racism directly motivated his actions. Bizarrely, a number of conservative figures have treated Roof’s motives as unknowable. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley wrote, “we do know that we'll never understand what motivates anyone to enter one of our places of worship and take the life of another.” The Wall Street Journal editorializes today, “What causes young men such as Dylann Roof to erupt in homicidal rage, whatever their motivation, is a problem that defies explanation beyond the reality that evil still stalks humanity.” Jeb Bush, appearing at the Faith & Freedom Coalition Conference, said, “I don't know what was on the mind or the heart of the man who committed these atrocious crimes.” When pressed for a follow-up by the Huffington Post, Bush continued to equivocate: "It was a horrific act and I don't know what the background of it is, but it was an act of hatred," Bush said. Asked again whether the shooting was because of race, Bush added, "I don't know. Looks like to me it was, but we'll find out all the information. It's clear it was an act of raw hatred, for sure. Nine people lost their lives, and they were African-American. You can judge what it is." What’s genuinely mysterious is not just why conservatives believe such nonsense but why they feel obliged to say it. After all, the Republican Party may be in general denial about the persistence of racism as a continuing force in American life, and openly racist whites may be a part of their constituency (just as they have long been part of the Democratic Party’s constituency). In 2000, George W. Bush gave a speech at Bob Jones University, which banned interracial dating. But Bush was competing in a Republican primary in South Carolina and really needed the votes of whites who opposed interracial dating. Neither Jeb Bush nor other Republicans need the votes of racist murderers to win an election. It would be very easy to identify a confessed white-supremacist murderer without doing violence to the overall conservative worldview. It is not like admitting the persistence of racial discrimination by police or employers or school administrators or courts, all of which put pressure on conservative policies. Just say there are still a small number of racist murderers in America! Roof's actions are a completely sensible expression of his twisted worldview. It's the failure to admit it that's senseless. *Religion and politics: GOP hopefuls' new insight on faith <http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2bb393b2ac544af9b13853e9dd618c10/religion-and-politics-gop-hopefuls-open-about-faith> // AP // Steve Peoples – June 20, 2015 * Republican presidential contenders railed against abortion rights on Saturday as they courted religious conservatives, promising Christian values would guide their personal decisions and public policies should they win the presidency. "My faith has guided me for my entire life, and I don't suspect that's going to change," former Texas Gov. Rick Perry said after ticking off a list of abortion restrictions enacted while he led Texas. "No candidate's done more to protect unborn life." Perry was among nearly a dozen presidential hopefuls in Washington this week for one of the nation's premier gatherings of Christian activists. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called his Catholic faith "an organizing part of my architecture." Ohio Gov. John Kasich said religion gives him more empathy toward the poor. And Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas cited his Christian values in lashing out at the Supreme Court. The Faith and Freedom Coalition's annual conference began the day after nine African-Americans were shot to death inside a historic South Carolina church, offering a grim backdrop to the three-day meeting designed to give religious activists a closer look at the large class of GOP candidates and others considering bids. Beyond decrying the shootings in South Carolina, presidential prospects offered religious conservatives an intimate look at the role of faith in their public lives. Speaking on Friday, Bush noted that he converted to Catholicism after marrying his Mexican-born wife. The religion, he said, has been "an organizing part of my architecture, if you will, as a person and certainly as an elected official." He highlighted his work to institute new abortion restrictions during his administration, which included strict parental notification laws and a ban on "partial-birth" abortion. He also cited his fight for the life of Terry Schiavo, a Florida woman kept in a vegetative state for 15 years on life support. While her husband wanted her feeding tubes removed, Bush ordered the tubes reinserted only to be overruled by a federal court. "I insisted that we build a culture of life," Bush said of his eight years as Florida governor. Asserting that "people of sincere faith make better leaders," former technology executive Carly Fiorina criticized Democrats for being weak on social issues. "I do not think progressives share our belief in gifts and the dignity of each and every human life," she said. Kasich, who is expected to launch a presidential bid in the coming weeks, said his Catholic background pushed him to run for governor. "I got a calling, folks," he said Friday in a speech referring to Bible verses from memory more than once. "What my faith does for me, I hope, is gives me strength, it allows me to have patience, it helps me to love my enemies, it helps me to care more about other people," Kasich told reporters after leaving the stage. The Republican Party's evangelical wing wields great influence in the selection of the GOP's presidential nominee, particularly in Iowa and many of the southern states scheduled to host primary contests early in the voting calendar — South Carolina prominent among them. Exit polls taken during the 2014 midterm elections found that 4 in 10 Republican voters were white evangelical Christians, and nearly half attended religious services weekly. Among Democrats, a third attend services weekly, while 11 percent are white born-again Christians. While this week's conference drew almost the entire Republican presidential field, some contenders will do better with Christian conservatives than others. Both Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Perry have hosted daylong prayer events in their states. Cruz had a strong religious upbringing. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is a devoted social conservative. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is also a Baptist minister. Conference organizers were largely pleased with the Republicans' focus on faith, although some said talk is cheap. A real test, they suggested, would come after the Supreme Court weighs in on gay marriage. The court may strike down state laws that ban the practice. "We'll see who's offering political sound bites and who shows up when the going gets tough," said Timothy Head, executive director of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. *OTHER 2016 NEWS* *TOP NEWS* *DOMESTIC* *Wait Lists Grow as Many More Veterans Seek Care and Funding Falls Far Short <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/us/wait-lists-grow-as-many-more-veterans-seek-care-and-funding-falls-far-short.html> // NYT // Richard Oppel – June 20, 2015 * One year after outrage about long waiting lists for health care shook the Department of Veterans Affairs, the agency is facing a new crisis: The number of veterans on waiting lists of one month or more is now 50 percent higher than it was during the height of last year’s problems, department officials say. The department is also facing a nearly $3 billion budget shortfall, which could affect care for many veterans. The agency is considering furloughs, hiring freezes and other significant moves to reduce the gap. A proposal to address a shortage of funds for one drug — a new, more effective but more costly hepatitis C treatment — by possibly rationing new treatments among veterans and excluding certain patients who have advanced terminal diseases or suffer from a “persistent vegetative state or advanced dementia” is stirring bitter debate inside the department. The Veterans Affairs medical center in Phoenix, where 1,700 patients were not placed on the official waiting list for doctors’ appointments, a report by the agency’s inspector general found.Severe Report Finds V.A. Hid Waiting Lists at HospitalsMAY 28, 2014 Agency officials expect to petition Congress this week to allow them to shift money into programs running short of cash. But that may place them at odds with Republican lawmakers who object to removing funds from a new program intended to allow certain veterans on waiting lists and in rural areas to choose taxpayer-paid care from private doctors outside the department’s health system. “Something has to give,” the department’s deputy secretary, Sloan D. Gibson, said in an interview. “We can’t leave this as the status quo. We are not meeting the needs of veterans, and veterans are signaling that to us by coming in for additional care, and we can’t deliver it as timely as we want to.” Since the waiting-list scandal broke last year, the department has broadly expanded access to care. Its doctors and nurses have handled 2.7 million more appointments than in any previous year, while authorizing 900,000 additional patients to see outside physicians. In all, agency officials say, they have increased capacity by more than seven million patient visits per year — double what they originally thought they needed to fix shortcomings. But what was not foreseen, department leaders say, was just how much physician workloads and demand from veterans would continue to soar — by one-fifth, in fact, at some major veterans hospitals over just the past year. According to internal department budget documents obtained by The New York Times, physician workloads — as measured by an internal metric known as “relative value units” — grew by 21 percent at hospitals and clinics in the region that includes Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina; by 20 percent in the Southern California and southern Nevada regions; and by 18 percent in North Carolina and Virginia. And by the same measure, physician care purchased for patients treated outside the department grew by 50 percent in the region encompassing Pennsylvania and by 36 percent in the region that includes Michigan and Indiana. Those data include multiple appointments by individual patients and reflect the fact that patients typically now schedule more appointments than they did in the past. But even measured by the number of individuals being treated, the figures are soaring in many places: From 2012 to 2014, for example, the number of patients receiving treatment grew by 18 percent at the Las Vegas medical center; by 16 percent in Hampton, Va.; and by 13 percent in Fayetteville, N.C., and Portland, Ore. Mr. Gibson said in the interview that officials had been stunned by the number of new patients seeking treatment even as the V.A. had increased its capacity. He said he was frustrated that the agency was running short of funds. “We have been pushing to accelerate access to care for veterans, but where we now find ourselves is that if we don’t do something different we’re going to be $2.7 billion short,” he said. He said he planned to tell Congress this week that the agency needed to be able to shift funds around to avoid a crisis this fiscal year. That includes using funds from a new program that was a priority for congressional Republicans called the “Choice Card,” which allows certain veterans to obtain taxpayer-funded care from private doctors. That money would be used to pay for hepatitis C treatments and other care from outside doctors. In future years, Mr. Gibson said, more money will also be needed. He said he intended to tell lawmakers, “Veterans are going to respond with increased demand, so get your checkbooks out.” The largest driver of costs has been programs designed to send patients to outside doctors, either because of delays seeing V.A. clinicians or because patients need treatments outside the system. Other major factors include the demand for new prosthetic limbs and for the new hepatitis C treatment. The “daily obligation rate in medical services” inside the Veterans Health Administration — the part of the department that handles medical care — is $166 million, or 9.2 percent higher than last fiscal year, according to a presentation last week for senior department leaders. Costs for drugs and medications have risen by nearly 17 percent, with much of the increase because of the new hepatitis C treatment, according to the document. An agency memo from last month stated that the need for the new hepatitis C treatment “has greatly outpaced V.A.’s ability to internally provide all aspects of this care.” The crisis may come to a head when Mr. Gibson testifies on Thursday on Capitol Hill, where Republicans have already criticized what they see as foot-dragging by the department on starting the Choice Card program. One congressional official briefed on the budget problems also said the agency had been slow to recognize how much demand and costs would soar for hepatitis C treatments. The budding crisis may reopen a partisan debate about veterans’ health care that has paralleled a larger philosophical debate about the size of government. Last year’s waiting-list crisis led to complaints that the department was divided by an acrimonious and retaliatory culture, where whistle-blowers were punished and constructive criticism was stifled. But many experts say the principal problems were a shortage of doctors and nurses in the system, the nation’s largest integrated health care organization, and a lack of office space for patient care — while demand rose sharply from aging Vietnam War veterans and service members from Iraq and Afghanistan. The department’s inspector general eventually concluded that “the systemic underreporting of wait times resulted from many causes, to include the lack of available staff and appointments, increased patient demand for services, and an antiquated scheduling system.” *Dylann Roof Photos and a Manifesto Are Posted on Website <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/us/dylann-storm-roof-photos-website-charleston-church-shooting.html?_r=0> // NYT // Frances Robles – June 20, 2015 * Dylann Roof spat on and burned the American flag, but waved the Confederate. He posed for pictures wearing a No. 88 T-shirt, had 88 Facebook friends and wrote that number — white supremacist code for “Heil Hitler”— in the South Carolina sand. A website discovered Saturday appears to offer the first serious look at Mr. Roof’s thinking, including how the case of Trayvon Martin, the black Florida teenager shot to death in 2012 by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, triggered his racist rage. The site shows a stash of 60 photographs, many of them of Mr. Roof at Confederate heritage sites or slavery museums, and includes a nearly 2,500-word manifesto in which the author criticized blacks as being inferior while lamenting the cowardice of white flight. “I have no choice,” it reads. “I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.” The website was first registered on Feb. 9 in the name of Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old man charged with entering the historically black Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston on Wednesday night, attending a prayer meeting for an hour and then murdering nine parishioners. The day after the site was registered, the registration information was intentionally masked. It is not clear whether the manifesto was written by Mr. Roof or if he had control of it. Nor is it clear whether he took the pictures with a timer, or if someone else took them. In a joint statement Saturday night, the Charleston Police Department and the F.B.I. said they were aware of the website and were “taking steps to verify the authenticity of these postings.” If it is genuine, as his friends seem to think, the tourist sites he visited, the pictures that were posted and the hate-filled words on the site offered a chilling glimpse into the interests of an unemployed former landscaper said to have a fixation on race. The racial makeup of Charleston shifted drastically over the last three decades. In 1980, blacks made up nearly half of the city’s population. Today the city is two-thirds white. The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church is located in a predominantly white area of the city’s downtown peninsula. “This whole racist thing came into him within the past five years,” said Caleb Brown, a childhood friend of Mr. Roof’s who is half black. “He was never really popular; he accepted that. He wasn’t like: ‘When I grow up I am going to show all these kids.’ He accepted who he was, and who he was changed, obviously.” Mr. Roof has been charged with nine counts of murder in the killings. Victims included the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, who was both the church pastor and a state senator. Mr. Roof’s friends say that he only spoke of his murderous plans once — when he recently warned that he planned to do something crazy with the gun he had purchased with the money he got from his parents for his 21st birthday. But they say his sense of racial grievance began with the Trayvon Martin case. The website, the lastrhodesian.com, which was not working by Saturday afternoon, featured a photo of a bloodied dead white man on the floor. The picture appears to be an image from “Romper Stomper,” an Australian movie about neo-Nazis. The domain name is a reference to the white minority of what is now Zimbabwe, where whites fought blacks for 15 years and enlisted white supremacists as mercenaries. The site was first discovered by a blogger who goes by the pen name Emma Quangel, who paid $49 for a reverse domain search that turned up the site. According to web server logs, the manifesto was last modified at 4:44 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, the day of the Charleston shootings, and the essay notes, “at the time of writing I am in a great hurry.” In the manifesto, Mr. Roof writes: “The event that truly awakened me was the Trayvon Martin case. I kept hearing and seeing his name, and eventually I decided to look him up. I read the Wikipedia article and right away I was unable to understand what the big deal was. It was obvious that Zimmerman was in the right. But more importantly this prompted me to type in the words ‘black on White crime’ into Google, and I have never been the same since that day.” The manifesto also says he learned from the website of the far-right Council of Conservative Citizens. The council is an off-shoot of a 1950s era-organization that fought school desegregation. A message on its website says the group is “deeply saddened by the Charleston killing spree.” A friend of Mr. Roof’s, Jacob Meek, 15, said the references to the Trayvon Martin case made it clear that Mr. Roof had written the essay. “That’s his website,” he said. “He wrote it, and I just can tell.” Watchdog groups that track right-wing extremism say the manifesto reflects the language found in white supremacist forums online and dovetails with what has been said about Mr. Roof thus far — that he had self-radicalized, and that he did not belong to a particular hate group. “It’s clear that he was extremely receptive to those ideas,” said Mark Pitcavage, the director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. “At the same time, he does not have a sophisticated knowledge of white supremacy.” The icon for the browser tab on Mr. Roof’s website is an Othala rune, an ancient symbol appropriated by the Nazis that remains common among neo-Nazi groups. Mr. Roof was the latest in what watchdog groups say is a growing group of lone-wolf extremists. According to a study released in February by the Southern Poverty Law Center, about 70 percent of the 60 recent domestic terrorism attacks reviewed were conducted by people acting alone. The writings on Mr. Roof’s website show a fixation with black-on-white crime, which is common on white supremacy sites, said Heidi Beirich, the director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project. “They demonize blacks to position themselves as victims, and offer that as proof of why they need their own state,” she said. In one photograph posted on the website, Mr. Roof is shown posing with wax figures of slaves. In others, he posed with a handgun that appears to be a .45-caliber Glock. He had a .45-caliber Glock in his car when he was arrested Thursday, the police said. The website’s links contain several passages of long racist rants, in which he said Hispanics are enemies, and “Negroes” have lower I.Q.s and low impulse control. The manifesto praises segregation and says the author’s reading of “hundreds” of slave narratives indicates that almost all slaves gave positive accounts of their lives. The manifesto uses defamatory terms for blacks, whom he accused of being “stupid and violent” with “the capacity to be very slick.” It laments white flight, and suggested that the whites should instead stay behind in cities and fight. Criticisms are also levied at Jews, but Asians are praised for being racists and potential allies. Mr. Brown said his friend’s transformation appeared to have occurred after he left Columbia, S.C., for nearby Lexington. Records show he switched schools in 2007. “He wasn’t putting on Facebook ‘I hate black people. I am going to shoot up a church,’ ” Mr. Brown said. *Anthem Raises Offer for Cigna to $47.5 Billion <http://www.wsj.com/articles/anthem-bids-184-a-share-in-cash-and-stock-for-cigna-1434821349> // WSJ // Jonathan D. Rockoff, Dana Cimilluca, Dana Mattioli And Liz Hoffman – June 20, 2015 * Anthem Inc. boosted its takeover offer for Cigna Corp. and is going public with the bid after the two sides failed to reach agreement, the latest move in a frenzy of attempted mergers among health insurers. Anthem in a statement said it has offered $184 a share for Cigna. That equates to about $47.5 billion for all the company’s stock that was recently outstanding. Anthem is making the cash-and-stock offer public in an effort to put pressure on Cigna through its shareholders, according to a person familiar with the matter. Cigna had no comment Saturday afternoon. Anthem’s pursuit of Cigna comes as Cigna and others are eyeing Humana Inc., which has put itself up for sale. Aetna Inc. in the last few days made a takeover proposal to Humana. It isn’t clear how much Aetna indicated it would pay. UnitedHealth Group Inc., meanwhile, recently made a takeover approach to Aetna. It isn’t clear what, if any, Aetna’s response was. The five big managed-care companies are jockeying for deals that will enable them to get more efficient and better respond to changes in the health care landscape in the U.S. brought on by the Affordable Care Act and other developments. Analysts says it is likely regulators will only allow one or two such combinations. Anthem, which is based in Indianapolis and until last year was known as WellPoint, made a number of bids for Cigna privately in June, according to a letter Anthem Chief Executive Joseph Swedish sent to Cigna’s board Saturday. The letter was released by Anthem. Among other things, it details disagreement the two sides have over the role Cigna CEO David Cordani would play in a combined company. He wants to be CEO, if not immediately then after a period of time, which Anthem refuses to guarantee. Anthem’s bid consists of about 31% of its own shares and the rest in cash. About 76% of the combined company would be owned by Anthem shareholders, while Cigna investors would own the rest, according to the latest proposal. Cigna is seeking a nearly 50-50 split of directors on a combined company’s board, Anthem said. Cigna also pushed for an offer price split evenly between cash and stock, according to Anthem. Anthem, which said it has been in negotiations with Cigna since Aug. 2014, bemoaned what it called its rival’s refusal to “reasonably negotiate.” It said the governance demands Cigna is making are excessive, given the rich premium Anthem says it is offering. “We were stunned that the Cigna board continues to insist on a guaranteed CEO position for Mr. Cordani over choosing to allow its stockholders to realize the significant premium being offered,” the Anthem letter reads. Anthem said it submitted four bids in June, the most recent, of $184 a share, on Thursday. Shares of Cigna, which is based in Bloomfield, Conn., closed Friday at $155.30, giving the company a market value of $40 billion. A combination would create a big player in the commercial health-insurance business, with strong positions among individual, small-business and big-employer clients. It would vault Anthem, the nation’s second-largest health insurer, closer to UnitedHealth in size. Cigna’s revenue last year totaled $34.9 billion, while Anthem’s was $73.9 billion. UnitedHealth had revenue of $130.5 billion, including its health-services arm, Optum, while Aetna’s was $58 billion and Humana’s was $48.5 billion. Anthem is a huge player in the individual and small-group markets in the 14 states where it holds the rights to be the Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurer. It also has a strong role among national employers. Cigna, meantime, focuses closely on self-insured commercial business and has a significant and growing position overseas. A merged company would have a bigger presence in the fast-growing Medicare Advantage market, an area where both companies have lagged behind competitors. Together, Anthem and Cigna would have more than a million Medicare members. Anthem also has a major presence in Medicaid. An attempt to seal an Anthem-Cigna merger could be complicated by Anthem’s role as a Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurer, however. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans hold geographic rights to use the Blue brand only in a particular area, and they also agree to certain limits on their non-Blue business. It is unclear how Anthem would manage the legacy Cigna business in states where another insurer is the local Blue. In its letter, Anthem said it was “confident in its ability to obtain regulatory approvals” and this “includes matters related to the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.” Humana has held sale talks with companies including Cigna and Aetna, people familiar with the matter have said. Humana, based in Louisville, Ky., gets the bulk of its revenue from its business administering the private version of the federal Medicare program. The company is seen as a prize because of its powerful Medicare franchise, which is growing rapidly as baby boomers age into eligibility and opt for these plans, known as Medicare Advantage. Aetna has been viewed by some industry analysts as the most likely acquirer of Humana, and executives at Aetna have spoken publicly about their interest in acquisitions. *INTERNATIONAL* *Attack Gave Chinese Hackers Privileged Access to U.S. Systems <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/us/attack-gave-chinese-hackers-privileged-access-to-us-systems.html?ref=us> // NYT // David E. Sanger <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/david_e_sanger/index.html>* *, **Nicole Perlroth* <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/nicole_perlroth/index.html> * And **Michael D. Shear* <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/michael_d_shear/index.html>* – June 20, 2015* For more than five years, American intelligence agencies followed several groups of Chinese hackers who were systematically draining information from defense contractors, energy firms and electronics makers, their targets shifting to fit Beijing’s latest economic priorities. But last summer, officials lost the trail as some of the hackers changed focus again, burrowing deep into United States government computer systems that contain vast troves of personnel data, according to American officials briefed on a federal investigation into the attack and private security experts. Undetected for nearly a year, the Chinese intruders executed a sophisticated attack that gave them “administrator privileges” into the computer networks at the Office of Personnel Management, mimicking the credentials of people who run the agency’s systems, two senior administration officials said. The hackers began siphoning out a rush of data after constructing what amounted to an electronic pipeline that led back to China, investigators told Congress last week in classified briefings. Much of the personnel data had been stored in the lightly protected systems of the Department of the Interior, because it had cheap, available space for digital data storage. The hackers’ ultimate target: the one million or so federal employees and contractors who have filled out a form known as SF-86, which is stored in a different computer bank and details personal, financial and medical histories for anyone seeking a security clearance. “This was classic espionage, just on a scale we’ve never seen before from a traditional adversary,” one senior administration official said. “And it’s not a satisfactory answer to say, ‘We found it and stopped it,’ when we should have seen it coming years ago.” The administration is urgently working to determine what other agencies are storing similarly sensitive information with weak protections. Officials would not identify their top concerns, but an audit issued early last year, before the Chinese attacks, harshly criticized lax security at the Internal Revenue Service, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Energy Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission — and the Department of Homeland Security, which has responsibility for securing the nation’s critical networks. At the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which regulates nuclear facilities, information about crucial components was left on unsecured network drives, and the agency lost track of laptops with critical data. Computers at the I.R.S. allowed employees to use weak passwords like “password.” One report detailed 7,329 “potential vulnerabilities” because software patches had not been installed. Auditors at the Department of Education, which stores information from millions of student loan applicants, were able to connect “rogue” computers and hardware to the network without being noticed. And at the Securities and Exchange Commission, part of the network had no firewall or intrusion protection for months. “We are not where we need to be in terms of federal cybersecurity,” said Lisa Monaco, President Obama’s homeland security adviser. At an Aspen Institute conference in Washington on Tuesday, she blamed out-of-date “legacy systems” that have not been updated for a modern, networked world where remote access is routine. The systems are not continuously monitored to know who is online, and what kind of data they are shipping out. In congressional testimony and in interviews, officials investigating the breach at the personnel office have struggled to explain why the defenses were so poor for so long. Last week, the office’s director, Katherine Archuleta, stumbled through a two-hour congressional hearing. She was unable to say why the agency did not follow through on inspector general reports, dating back to 2010, that found severe security lapses and recommended shutting down systems with security clearance data. When she failed to explain why much of the information in the system was not encrypted — something that is standard today on iPhones, for example — Representative Stephen F. Lynch, a Massachusetts Democrat who usually supports Mr. Obama’s initiatives, snapped at her. “I wish that you were as strenuous and hardworking at keeping information out of the hands of hackers,” he said, “as you are keeping information out of the hands of Congress and federal employees.” Her performance in classified briefings also frustrated several lawmakers. “I don’t get the sense at all they understand the problem,” said Representative Jim Langevin, a Rhode Island Democrat, who called for Ms. Archuleta’s resignation. “They seem like deer in the headlights.” Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, said on Wednesday that Mr. Obama remained confident that Ms. Archuleta “is the right person for the job.” Ms. Archuleta, who took office in November 2013, did not respond to a request for an interview. But even some White House aides say a lack of focus by managers contributed to the security problems. It was not until early last year, as computer attacks began on United States Investigations Services, a private contractor that conducts security clearance interviews for the personnel office, that serious efforts to develop a strategic plan to seal up the agency’s many vulnerabilities started. The attacks on the contractor “should have been a huge red flag,” said one senior military official who has reviewed the evidence of China’s involvement. “But it didn’t set off the alarms it should have.” Federal and private investigators piecing together the attacks now say they believe the same groups responsible for the attacks on the personnel office and the contractor had previously intruded on computer networks at health insurance companies, notably Anthem Inc. and Premera Blue Cross. What those attacks had in common was the theft of millions of pieces of valuable personal data — including Social Security numbers — that have never shown up on black markets, where such information can fetch a high price. That could be an indicator of state sponsorship, according to James A. Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But federal investigators, who like other officials would not speak on the record about a continuing inquiry, said the exact affiliation between the hackers and the Chinese government was not fully understood. Their tools and techniques, though, were easily identifiable to intelligence analysts and the security researchers who have been analyzing the breaches at the insurers and the Office of Personnel Management. Federal officials believe several groups were involved, though some security experts only detected one. “Since mid-2014, we have observed a threat group target valuable ‘personally identifiable information’ from multiple organizations in the health care insurance and travel industries,” said Mike Oppenheim, the manager of threat intelligence at FireEye, a cybersecurity company. “We believe this group is behind the O.P.M. breach and have tracked this group’s activities since early 2013.” But he argued that “unlike other actors operating from China who conduct industrial espionage, take intellectual property or steal defense technology, this group has primarily targeted information that would enable it to build a database of Americans, with a likely focus on diplomats, intelligence operatives and those with business in China.” While Mr. Obama publicly named North Korea as the country that attacked Sony Pictures Entertainment last year, he and his aides have described the Chinese hackers in the government records case only to members of Congress in classified hearings. Blaming the Chinese in public could affect cooperation on limiting the Iranian nuclear program and tensions with China’s Asian neighbors. But the subject is bound to come up this week when senior Chinese officials meet in Washington for an annual strategic and economic dialogue. Though their targets have changed over time, the hackers’ digital fingerprints stayed much the same. That allowed analysts at the National Security Agency and the F.B.I. to periodically catch glimpses of their movements as they breached an ever more diverse array of computer networks. Yet there is no indication that the personnel office realized that it had become a Chinese target for almost a year. Donna K. Seymour, the chief information officer, said the agency put together last year “a very progressive, proactive plan that allowed us to see the adversarial activity,” and argued that “had we not been on that path, we may never have seen anything” this spring. She cautioned, “There is no one security tool that is a panacea.” A congressional report issued in February 2014 by the Republican staff of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, concluded that multiple federal agencies with responsibility for critical infrastructure and holding vast amounts of information “continue to leave themselves vulnerable, often by failing to take the most basic steps towards securing their systems and information.” The report reserves its harshest criticism for the repeated failures of agency officials to take steps — some of them very basic — that would help thwart cyberattacks. Computers at the Department of Homeland Security, which is charged with protecting the nation’s public infrastructure, contained hundreds of vulnerabilities as recently as 2010, according to authors of the report. They said computer security failures remained across agencies even though the government has spent “at least $65 billion” since 2006 on protective measures. At the personnel office, a set of new intrusion tools used on the system set off an alarm in March, Ms. Seymour said. The F.B.I. and the United States Computer Emergency Response Team, which works on network intrusions, found evidence that the hackers had obtained the credentials used by people who run the computer systems. Ms. Seymour would say only that the hackers got “privileged user access.” The administration is still trying to determine how many of the SF-86 national security forms — which include information that could be useful for anyone seeking to identify or recruit an American intelligence agent, nuclear weapons engineer or vulnerable diplomat — had been stolen. “They are casting a very wide net,” John Hultquist, a senior manager of cyberespionage threat intelligence at iSight Partners, said of the hackers targeting of Americans’ personal data. “We’re in a new space here and we don’t entirely know what they’re trying to do with it.” *Greece Considers Last-Ditch Proposals to Avoid Collision With Bailout Creditors <http://www.wsj.com/articles/greece-considers-last-ditch-proposals-to-avoid-collision-with-bailout-creditors-1434823193> // WSJ // Marcus Walker & Nektaria Stamouli – June 20, 2015 * Greece’s government is considering new fiscal proposals to avoid a collision with its creditors on Monday, in what could be a last-ditch effort to avert capital controls and a debt default, according to two Athens officials. Government members are putting together a plan they hope would achieve budget targets that bailout creditors want, while relying more on eliminating tax breaks and less on pension cuts than the lenders’ own proposal, the officials said. The Greek cabinet is due to discuss the proposal on Sunday morning. It isn’t clear whether the cabinet under Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will endorse the plan, which was being prepared on the weekend by Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragasakis and others who are considered among the more pragmatic members of the leftist Syriza-led government. Greece is under heavy pressure to convince its creditors it can hit ambitious fiscal targets ahead of scheduled meetings on Monday of eurozone finance ministers and, later in the day, of eurozone heads of government. European leaders have said Monday’s high-level meetings won’t reach any agreements unless Greece first presents convincing policy measures to inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union Commission and the European Central Bank, which oversee Greece’s bailout program. Finding measures to reach the fiscal targets creditors want has become crucial for unlocking fresh bailout financing for Greece, without which the country would have to default on its debts in coming weeks, including on loan repayments to the IMF on June 30 and on bonds held by the European Central Bank in July and August. Failure to agree on Monday could quickly lead to capital controls in Greece, European officials said. The officials said a majority of members on the ECB’s governing council is increasingly impatient with what it sees as Mr. Tsipras’s stonewalling and anti-creditor rhetoric at a time when deposits are fleeing from Greek banks at a rate of around €1 billion a day. Greece’s central bank, which is a member of the ECB, is having to cover that deposit flight. A summit failure on Monday could well prompt the ECB’s governing council to curb the provision of central-bank liquidity to Greek banks as early as this coming week, the officials said. Such a move would force Greece to impose capital controls that limit bank withdrawals, money transfers abroad and other financial transactions, likely plunging Greece’s economy deeper into recession. The new Greek proposals include elimination of many tax breaks, including scrapping exemptions on taxes on income from labor and capital, as well as levies on fuel, retail sales and other items. The extra revenues that this move could achieve, some officials hope, would allow shallower cuts in government pension spending, which could make the overall package less politically painful for the Athens. Under one version of the proposal, pension spending would be lowered by 0.5% of gross domestic product a year, compared with 1% of GDP under a proposed package of policy measures put forward by the IMF, the EU Commission and ECB in early June. That policy package was compiled after a summit of key European leaders in Berlin on June 2, where German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others decided to present Mr. Tsipras with the outlines of their final offer. The Greek premier was told he could only change measures in that proposed package if he offers alternative measures that achieve the same fiscal effect. Mr. Tsipras has repeatedly denounced measures demanded by the creditors. Meanwhile, his government’s proposed alternative measures up to now have been dismissed by lenders as falling a long way short of what is needed to put Greece’s public finances on a sustainable footing. In particular, the IMF, with German backing, has insisted that major cuts in pension spending are unavoidable. A cull of tax exemptions that Greece’s cabinet will consider on Sunday would not only allow for smaller pension cuts, supporters of the idea hope, but would also allow Greece to avoid imposing a hefty increase in value-added tax on electricity—another measure the IMF and EU have proposed but which is politically hard to sell for Syriza. It wasn’t clear late on Saturday whether Mr. Tsipras had thrown his support behind the proposal from the pragmatic members of his government. Mr. Tsipras, in recent weeks, has shown defiance toward Greece’s main creditors—other eurozone governments and the IMF,—rejecting their demands and insisting creditors, not Athens, produce more-acceptable proposals. Some members of Syriza and of the cabinet, including Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, have continued to press Mr. Tsipras to stand firm. The hard-line camp in Athens argues that creditors, led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, will offer Greece a more-lenient deal at the last minute rather than countenance a Greek debt default and exit from the eurozone. Eliminating all tax exemptions in Greece’s complicated tax code could raise around €3 billion a year in extra revenue, the Bank of Greece estimated in its recent annual report. Greek governments of all political persuasions have so far shied away from scrapping tax exemptions en masse for fear of angering various interest groups that benefit from the breaks, ranging from farmers to hoteliers on Greek islands. Mr. Tsipras’s left-wing Syriza party has also shunned this option so far. Nor was it clear late Saturday whether the latest Greek proposals, if endorsed by the cabinet, would convince officials from the IMF, EU Commission and ECB. Those three institutions have complained for weeks that Athens hasn’t put forward sufficiently concrete or comprehensive policy overhauls. In the past, those institutions have signaled to Greece that they were open to scrapping tax exemptions, but they have also warned that Greece’s economy is already heavily taxed and that spending cuts, including to pensions, are also unavoidable. *OPINIONS/EDITORIALS/BLOGS* *Trade Winds Blow Ill for Hillary <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/opinion/sunday/maureen-dowd-trade-winds-blow-ill-for-hillary.html?_r=0> // NYT // Maureen Dowd - June 20, 2015 * WASHINGTON — IT’S hard being Elizabeth Warren. Especially when you’re not Elizabeth Warren. Hillary Clinton had an awkward collision last week juggling her past role as President Obama’s secretary of state, her current role as Democratic front-runner and her coveted future role as president. As secretary of state, she helped Obama push the Trans-Pacific Partnership that is at the center of the current trade fight. In Australia in 2012, she was effusive, saying that the trade pact “sets the gold standard in trade agreements to open free, transparent, fair trade, the kind of environment that has the rule of law and a level playing field. And when negotiated, this agreement will cover 40 percent of the world’s total trade and build in strong protections for workers and the environment.” Now Hillary says she is unsure about the pact and would likely oppose giving President Obama the special authority to negotiate trade deals for an up-or-down vote in Congress. As a future president, of course, she would want the same authority to negotiate trade deals that Obama is seeking in the messy Capitol Hill donnybrook. But as a candidate pressured by progressives like Warren and Bernie Sanders and by labor unions, she turned to Jell-O, shimmying around an issue she had once owned and offering an unpleasant reminder of why “Clintonian” became a synonym for skirting the truth. It depends on what your definition of trade is — and trade-off. Hillary has vowed to be more straightforward this time about running as a woman, her position on immigration and her relations with the press (which are still imperious). The heartbreaking mass shooting in a black church in Charleston, S.C., Hillary said, should force the country to face up to “hard truths” about race, violence and guns. But even after all her seasoning as a senator and secretary of state, even after all her enthusiastic suasion on the president’s trade bill, she can’t face up to hard truths on trade. And we have to play this silly game with her, as she dances and ducks, undermining President Obama by siding with Nancy Pelosi after Pelosi filleted the trade deal on the House floor. “The president should listen to and work with his allies in Congress, starting with Nancy Pelosi,” Hillary said in Iowa last weekend, torpedoing White House efforts to lure Democrats back on board. In an interview with the Nevada journalist Jon Ralston on Thursday, Hillary slid around her previous support of the Pacific trade pact and said that if she were still in the Senate, she would “probably” vote no on the trade promotion authority bill. Obama loyalists were quick to note the irony that Hillary did not help Obama, even though he is working to combat the deep Democratic resistance spawned by the North American Free Trade Agreement that President Bill Clinton signed. The White House is certainly irritated with Hillary. Perhaps it will spur Obama to wonder why he pulled the rug out from under poor old Joe, his own vice president, to lay out the red carpet for his former rival. As David Axelrod told The Times’s Michael Shear and Amy Chozick: “The fact is, she was there when this thing was launched and she was extolling it when she left. She’s in an obvious vise, between the work that she endorsed and was part of and the exigencies of a campaign. Obviously, her comments plainly weren’t helpful to moving this forward.” CNN reported that Hillary had enthusiastically promoted the trade pact 45 times as secretary of state. Aside from the fact that Hillary should be able to take a deep breath and stick with something she’s already argued for, it plays into voters’ doubts about her trustworthiness. If you want to be president and you shape your principles to suit the shifting winds — as Hillary did when she voted to authorize W.’s Iraq invasion — then how can people on either side of an issue trust you? Since she hasn’t sparked much passion herself yet, she may be frightened by the passionate acolytes of Warren and Sanders — whose uncombed authenticity is buoying him in New Hampshire. And, given her own unseemly money grabs, she may not be willing to push back on primal forces swirling around the trade issue about unbridled corporatism in an era of stagnant wages. But the greater danger for her is in looking disingenuous. At the end of the day, leaders have to sometimes step up on some issues that are not 80 percent issues. Unfortunately for her, Hillary is not as artful a dodger as her husband. Trade is a sticky wicket for her. But the path to the presidency is full of sticky wickets. And being president is full of sticky wickets. So you have to try to say what’s true and what you actually believe, not just what’s tactical. Surprisingly, I received a fund-raising letter recently. Hillary Rodham Clinton was in large letters on the upper lefthand side of the envelope and above my address was the typed message: “Maureen, this is our moment . . . are you with me?” Not at the moment. *Jeb Bush Has Hit a New Low <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lev-raphael/jeb-bush-has-hit-a-new-lo_b_7628324.html> // HuffPo // Lev Raphael – June 20, 2015 * In case you missed it, the race-hatred massacre in Charleston has left Jeb Bush clueless. He's not sure if race is actually a factor in this horrific episode of domestic terrorism. Every major news outlet in the country -- well, maybe not Fox? -- reported that a survivor recounted the killer "had said that African-Americans have 'raped our [white] women, and you are taking over the country." Could it be any clearer that this is a hate crime directed at African-Americans in a historically important Black church? But when asked point blank if the crime was motivated by race, Jeb said, "I don't know." Despite the mountain of evidence that's already there, he doesn't know. There's a hell of a lot Bush doesn't know. Back in February at a Chicago Council on Global Affairs luncheon he was asked about NATO's stance in the Baltic region. He said, "I don't know what the effect has been, because, you know, it's really kind of hard to be out on the road, and I'm just a gladiator these days, so I don't follow every little detail." Asked about failed states in the Middle East, he came out with this gem: "I don't have a solution. I mean, I -- I -- I've read articles, you know, about whether the 1915 kind of breakout of the Middle East and how that no longer is a viable deal." He admitted he was no foreign policy expert, in a bizarre way: "Look, the more I get into this stuff, there are some things [where] you just go, you know, 'Holy schnikes.' " He's clearly not ready for prime time and is a lousy decision maker, too. Why did he show off his ignorance of foreign affairs at that foreign affairs luncheon? Unless he thought his Bush name absolved him of having to do research or prepare with consultants. Which means he's got as scary a sense of entitlement as his brother did. But he continues to display his ignorance (or vacillation or unpreparedness) pretty much everywhere he goes. And this Bush is supposed to be the smarter brother. Well, I guess the bar is pretty low in that family. *Clinton calls Graham to offer condolences after Charleston shooting <http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/245655-clinton-calls-graham-after-charleston-shooting> // The Hill // Kyle Balluck – June 21, 2015* Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), a GOP presidential candidate, on Saturday afternoon to offer condolences in the wake of the church massacre in his home state, CNN is reporting. "She said she was calling to see how I was doing, and wanted to let me know that she was thinking about me and about everyone in South Carolina," Graham told CNN. Graham said he was “pleasantly surprised” to get the call, according to the cable network. "She is a nice person," Graham told CNN. "I told her that the call meant a lot to me, and would mean a lot to the people of South Carolina," he added. Clinton on Saturday called for new restrictions on firearms after nine people were killed last week Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a predominantly black church in Charleston, S.C. "How is it that we as a nation still allow guns to fall into the hands of people whose hearts are filled with hate?" she asked in San Francisco. "You can't watch massacre after massacre and not come to the conclusion that as President Obama said, we must tackle this challenge with urgency and conviction."