podesta_email_21559.txt

podesta-emails 5,416 words email

P19 D6 P18 V11 V16

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*​**Correct The Record Wednesday October 8, 2014 Afternoon Roundup:* *Tweets:* *Correct The Record* @CorrectRecord: .@HillaryClinton <https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton> used economic tools to address global security challenges #HRC365 <https://twitter.com/hashtag/HRC365?src=hash> http://correctrecord.org/engagement-abroad-prosperity-at-home/ … <http://t.co/lQ3z4pHBTq> [10/8/14, 12:31 p.m. EDT <https://twitter.com/CorrectRecord/status/519887755359182849>] *Correct The Record* @CorrectRecord: .@HillaryClinton <https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton> worked to address mental health needs of aging Americans #MIAW <https://twitter.com/hashtag/MIAW?src=hash> #HRC365 <https://twitter.com/hashtag/HRC365?src=hash> #TimetoTalk <https://twitter.com/hashtag/TimetoTalk?src=hash>http://1.usa.gov/1CP20xv <http://t.co/rl8yrbJKTq>[10/7/14, 6:01 p.m. EDT <https://twitter.com/CorrectRecord/status/519608364104310784>] *Headlines:* *NBC News: “Bill Clinton Careful to Remain Mum on Hillary in 2016” <http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/bill-clinton-careful-remain-mum-hillary-2016-n221241>* “Former President Bill Clinton acknowledged Wednesday that his wife's possible presidential run has somewhat censored the normally candid politician.” *Mediaite: “Bill Clinton: I Can’t Fully Speak My Mind, in Case Hillary Runs for Something” <http://www.mediaite.com/online/bill-clinton-i-cant-fully-speak-my-mind-in-case-hillary-runs-for-something/>* “Clinton said, ‘The great thing about not being president anymore is you can say whatever you want, unless your wife might run for something.’” *MSNBC: “Bill Clinton: Prison sentences to take center stage in 2016” <http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/bill-clinton-prison-sentences-take-center-stage-2016>* “America is reaching a broad consensus that too many people are spending too many years in prison, former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday, and he predicted the issue will play prominently in the 2016 presidential election as politicians from both parties push to make changes.” *Bloomberg: “Obama Should Take Lessons From Bill Clinton, Scalise Says” <http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-10-08/obama-should-take-lessons-from-bill-clinton-scalise-says>* “It’s an ironic choice because House Republicans impeached Clinton, and Hillary Clinton could well be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016.” *Reuters: “Mitt Romney for president in 2016? Not entirely out of the question” <http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/08/us-usa-politics-romney-idUSKCN0HX0C020141008>* “‘I’m sure there are people who invested a lot in him last time who are urging him to consider it,’ said Republican Senator John McCain from Arizona, the party's 2008 nominee.” *CNN: “The hardest-working man in Democratic politics” <http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/08/politics/martin-omalley-2016/index.html?hpt=po_c1>* “Clinton's status as the top choice of Democratic money-men and the party establishment means she can enter the race and immediately unlock a treasure chest of guaranteed support. O'Malley does not have that luxury.” *CNN: “White House: Obama to campaign with candidates for midterms” <http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/08/politics/obama-campaign-2014-midterms/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_allpolitics+(RSS%3A+Politics)>* “A key Democratic Party operative, who asked to speak on condition of anonymity, said inserting Obama into crucial campaign contests carries some risk… The first lady, Vice President Joe Biden, and Bill and Hillary Clinton are seen as better alternatives.” *Articles:* *NBC News: “Bill Clinton Careful to Remain Mum on Hillary in 2016” <http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/bill-clinton-careful-remain-mum-hillary-2016-n221241>* By Andrew Rafferty October 8, 2014, 12:23 p.m. EDT Former President Bill Clinton acknowledged Wednesday that his wife's possible presidential run has somewhat censored the normally candid politician. “The great thing about not being president anymore is you can say whatever you want, unless your wife might run for something,” Clinton said during an address to the U.S. Conference of Mayors at the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas. The former president has remained relatively mum on the prospects of his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, running for president in 2016. Clinton did get into hot water during the 2008 campaign for comments about then-candidate Barack Obama. Their relationship has improved since improved and Clinton became a top surrogate for Obama in his 2012 re-election campaign. Clinton has spent the week in his home state campaigning for Democratic candidates, including vulnerable incumbent Sen. Mark Pryor. *Mediaite: “Bill Clinton: I Can’t Fully Speak My Mind, in Case Hillary Runs for Something” <http://www.mediaite.com/online/bill-clinton-i-cant-fully-speak-my-mind-in-case-hillary-runs-for-something/>* By Josh Feldman October 8, 2014, 12:52 p.m. EDT Bill Clinton is a guy who likes to speak his mind (though not nearly as much as Joe Biden). But as he spoke today at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in the Clinton Presidential Library, the former president admitted there’s one thing that is keeping him from saying everything that’s on his mind, and it involves 2016. Clinton said, “The great thing about not being president anymore is you can say whatever you want, unless your wife might run for something.” And so once again, the Clintons play it incredibly coyly (while once again, all of us just get tired of it and want a straight answer already). Watch the video below, via NBC News: [VIDEO] *MSNBC: “Bill Clinton: Prison sentences to take center stage in 2016” <http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/bill-clinton-prison-sentences-take-center-stage-2016>* By Kasie Hunt October 8, 2014, 1:05 p.m. EDT America is reaching a broad consensus that too many people are spending too many years in prison, former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday, and he predicted the issue will play prominently in the 2016 presidential election as politicians from both parties push to make changes. “We basically took a shotgun to a problem that needed a .22 – a very significant percentage of serious crimes in this country are committed by a very small number” of criminals, Clinton told the 70 or so mayors and law enforcement officials who were gathered at his presidential library here in part to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the community policing program he founded as part of the 1994 crime bill. “We took a shotgun to it and just sent everybody to jail for too long,” Clinton said, referencing the fight to reduce violent crime over the past several decades. “I think in this next step where we’re going to be apparently debating all this and as the presidential election approaches, we’ll start to have a discussion of all of this,” he continued, pointing to Republican support for reducing prison time, particularly among the religious wing of the party. It wasn’t Clinton’s only reference to presidential politics: As he took the podium, he drew laughs from the crowd when he said, “the great thing about not being president is you can say whatever you want – unless your wife [Hillary Clinton] might want to run for something.” The meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors here came after a summer of violence and unrest in Ferguson, Missouri following the death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown at the hands of a white police officer – and amid a widening spotlight on incidents of police using force against citizens. This week, an Indiana man sued police after what he claims was excessive force used during a traffic stop. The mayors and police chiefs were set to meet privately Wednesday to discuss the events in Ferguson and how to move forward; that session was closed to the press. Clinton touched on the events in Ferguson during a lengthy speech, though he largely praised the speed with which the community returned to normal after the protests broke out. “We know that if we have a situation where the law enforcement community and the government generally is inclusive and represents all elements of the community and connect – we’re more likely to make good, decent decisions and less likely to make big, bad mistakes,” Clinton said. As president, Clinton started Community Oriented Policing Services – the COPS program – as part of the 1994 crime bill. The COPS program put more police officers on America’s streets and emphasized policing strategies aimed at integrating officers into the local community. The lesson of Ferguson, Clinton said, is that “we cannot afford not to know our neighbors. It doesn’t matter if they don’t vote the way we do. It doesn’t matter if they don’t worship the way we do – it doesn’t matter if we don’t look the way they do. We cannot afford to not listen to and know our neighbors.” Attorney General Eric Holder also touched on events in Ferguson, though he didn’t mention Michael Brown by name. The events in Ferguson “focused the national spotlight on the rifts that can develop between police officials and the citizens they are supposed to protect,” Holder said, saying that he had traveled to the St. Louis suburb and pledged that “our nation’s department of justice would remain focused on the challenges we faced.” “We’re taking robust and sweeping action to make good on the pledge that we made,” Holder said. The event also served as a farewell of sorts for Holder, who is leaving his post as attorney general. St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay thanked Holder for visiting Ferguson. “You brought with you a high level of credibility, certainly a high level of hope as well to the community that this government cares, that the White House cares, that the Department of Justice cares, and that was a big, big deal,” Slay said. *Bloomberg: “Obama Should Take Lessons From Bill Clinton, Scalise Says” <http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-10-08/obama-should-take-lessons-from-bill-clinton-scalise-says>* By Derek Wallbank October 8, 2014 House Majority Whip Steve Scalise criticized President Barack Obama, saying he hasn’t outlined a clear plan for a U.S.-backed coalition to defeat Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Obama also hasn’t engaged with Congress on how to raise the U.S. debt limit, Scalise said today in an interview with Bloomberg News editors and reporters in New York. Lawmakers will need to vote on an increase in the debt limit next year. Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, said Obama should take lessons from former President Bill Clinton. “I don’t know if Barack Obama’s got that in him,” he said. “Bill Clinton worked with a Republican House, they got spending under control, they got the economy moving again,” Scalise, the third-ranking U.S. House Republican, said. “Clinton got most of the credit, but they actually solved real problems.” It’s an ironic choice because House Republicans impeached Clinton, and Hillary Clinton could well be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016. One of the first areas Obama should work on more with Congress is in the fight against Islamic State. “In our conference, there’s a real interest in having the president laying out a broader plan,” he said, “and if he lays out a clear plan, then we’ll support it.” *Iraq War* Lawmakers have been reluctant to vote to authorize force more than a decade after the U.S. invaded Iraq. Three-quarters of Americans thought the Iraq war was worth it in early 2003, according to a Gallup survey; in the latest Gallup survey in June, 57 percent said it was a mistake. Scalise said Republicans plan as part of the federal-funding process to insist on policy changes limiting government regulations that he argued are impeding the economic recovery. Current government funding runs through Dec. 11. Scalise said he’d like to have an omnibus bill that would set new spending levels for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2015, rather than continuing current levels. No decision has been made yet, he said. After that, the next major fight could be on the debt limit. The debt ceiling suspension lasts until March 15, though the Treasury Department could use extraordinary measures to extend it. *‘Spending Problem’* The U.S. borrowing limit is reached because of spending disagreements in Washington, and “to increase the debt ceiling, it ought to be tied to reforms that finally solve the spending problem,” he said. Democrats have said the debt limit should be raised without conditions to avoid spooking financial markets and because rising levels of U.S. debt come from spending that Congress has already approved. A debt ceiling increase with conditions is a measure Republicans may put on Obama’s desk in his last two years -- especially if they take control of the Senate in the Nov. 4 election -- that could force the president to sign or veto legislation he’s threatened to block before, Scalise said. Others include legislation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline and expand energy production on federal lands. “It sets up a contrast, but it also gives the president the opportunity to work with us to get the economy moving again,” he said. *Ronald Reagan* That contrast will be drawn as Republicans turn their attention to the 2016 presidential election, and what Scalise said would be a wide-open field looking to run. His ideal candidate: The next Ronald Reagan, someone who can communicate conservative principles with ease. Scalise said Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee, has that ability. “He’s proven that he can come up with really smart ideas, but also convey them to regular people,” Scalise said. Others who could be good Republican presidential candidates, he said, include his state’s governor, Bobby Jindal, and Indiana Governor Mike Pence. Scalise was elected whip in June after then-Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his primary to a Tea Party-affiliated political novice, Dave Brat. Scalise, as whip, is responsible for ensuring Republicans have the votes to pass their bills. *Reuters: “Mitt Romney for president in 2016? Not entirely out of the question” <http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/08/us-usa-politics-romney-idUSKCN0HX0C020141008>* By Steve Holland October 8, 2014, 1:10 a.m. EDT Mitt Romney, day in and day out, hears it wherever he goes, whether at campaign events for Republican congressional candidates, restaurants, or private dinners, the message is the same - run for president in 2016. Romney associates say he is flattered by the attention and believes he would have done a better job if he had defeated the Democratic incumbent President Barack Obama in 2012 when he was the Republican nominee. But Romney typically insists in public that he is not going to run for a third time after losses in 2008 and 2012. "I'm not running and I'm not planning on running. I've got nothing to add to that story," he told supporters during a stop this week at Atlanta's Varsity restaurant, where he had a hot dog and onion rings, according to the Marietta Daily Journal. Still, friends and former aides say, he could seek the nomination if a series of events plays out in his favor, chiefly that no single powerhouse emerges from what is expected to be a crowded field of Republicans vying for the party's nod. Some Republicans who know Romney well are advising him to tread carefully. "I’m sure there are people who invested a lot in him last time who are urging him to consider it," said Republican Senator John McCain from Arizona, the party's 2008 nominee. "I think it's fine if he considers it. But at the same time I think Mitt would have to feel that he has a real strong shot at winning because it is such a very, very tough ordeal not only on the candidate but also on the family," McCain told Reuterson Monday. "One thing that he's got going for him is everybody in the Republican Party likes Mitt Romney. They may not think he ran the best campaign, but he’s such a very decent human being, he certainly checks the box for likeability amongst the Republican Party," McCain added. Karl Rove, the Republican strategist who was the architect of George W. Bush's 2000 and 2004 campaigns, was similarly cautious. "If he were to do this again, it would be the equivalent of running three back-to-back-to-back marathons," Rove told Reuterson Monday. "It would require basically a year's commitment to the primary and another year commitment to the general election. That's a hard thing to ask of anybody in politics." Romney has stoked some of the 2016 speculation himself. He has gone from absolutely ruling it out in the months after he lost the 2012 election to equivocating in more recent public comments. "We'll see what happens," he told the New York Times Magazine. He has clearly been energized by the attention he has drawn in campaigning for congressional candidates ahead of theNov. 4 elections, most recently on a swing through Virginia, Georgia, Oklahoma, Michigan, Kentucky and Louisiana. Polls are sounding an encouraging note. A USA Today/Suffolk University poll in August said 35 percent of Republican voters in Iowa, which Romney narrowly lost in the 2012 Republican caucuses, would go for him in 2016, far better than any other potential candidate. A Romney run would depend on whether any of the current crop of potential candidates caught fire. Announcements are expected to begin shortly after the Nov. 4 elections and continue well into 2015. Possible contenders range from former Florida Governor Jeb Bush to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to a trio of senators: Marco Rubio of Florida, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas. All appeal to various Republican constituencies, but all could encounter difficulties in winning. Under the "draft Mitt" scenario, Romney could put off deciding for months, well into 2015. The problem with this, party strategists say, is that Republican donors attracted to Romney could go to other candidates. "Mitt's a smart enough guy to see that there are potential opportunities that are created by whatever happens to other people in the race," said a former Romney aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "I think the best way to characterize where Mitt is in the race is observing." *CNN: “The hardest-working man in Democratic politics” <http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/08/politics/martin-omalley-2016/index.html?hpt=po_c1>* By Peter Hamby October 8, 2014, 8:29 a.m. EDT A Democrat with White House ambitions is furiously criss-crossing the country to help the party's candidates -- and it's not Hillary Clinton. Martin O'Malley, the two-term governor of Maryland, has headlined more than 80 Democratic fundraisers since last year. He's rallied the party faithful at over 40 campaign events and Jefferson-Jackson Dinners in Democratic strongholds like Massachusetts and in reliably-red states like Mississippi and Kansas. All told, he's steered money and staff to 134 Democratic campaigns in more than 25 states, aiding high-profile Senate hopefuls and little-known county commissioner candidates alike. O'Malley is outpacing Clinton in his work on behalf of Democratic candidates running for election this year. Though Clinton is her party's biggest star, her operation for the midterms is only now gearing up with less than a month to go before Election Day. Her aides revealed a campaign schedule last week that will take Clinton to a half dozen states this month, including all-important Iowa and New Hampshire, to boost Democrats in tough races. "I am doing everything in my power to strengthen the party in every state and to elect as many Democrats as I can," O'Malley said in an interview with CNN. "Call me old-fashioned, but it's been my experience that we can only govern effectively when we make our party stronger." O'Malley might be the hardest-working man in Democratic politics but that's obscured by his low standing in national polls. Early surveys about the 2016 presidential race show Clinton with a runaway lead over her potential rivals, both nationally and in places like Iowa, a product of her global fame and an impressive resume written over decades in public life. Clinton routinely registers in the 60% territory, with favorable ratings that soar even higher. Other potential Democratic presidential contenders, including Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren follow distantly, barely crack double digits. Then there's O'Malley, perpetually hovering just above 1%. Each new poll induces a new round of Twitter snark about O'Malley's low standing, but it could be said that those one-percenters might be the people who matter the most. Academic studies and past campaigns have shown that the opinions of party elites and local activists in key states matter far more than any horse race poll at this stage in the nominating game. Clinton's status as the top choice of Democratic money-men and the party establishment means she can enter the race and immediately unlock a treasure chest of guaranteed support. O'Malley does not have that luxury. But he also doesn't have to worry about the giant entourage and weighty expectations that follow Clinton wherever she goes. His relative obscurity gives him the freedom to move — and he has embarked on a national tour to build a network from the ground up, befriending rank-and-file Democrats in locales far from the Amtrak corridor. Some of them already know O'Malley from the 2012 presidential race, when he was one of President Barack Obama's most loyal surrogates. And as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) from 2011 to 2013, he traveled extensively, assisting gubernatorial candidates and getting valuable face-time with big-ticket donors in the process. O'Malley might go unrecognized at the mall, but among people who spend Saturday nights eating rubber chicken at Democratic fundraisers, he's becoming a familiar face. "There is a level of recognition that I have been surprised to find wherever I go," O'Malley said. "People want to learn more. There is a curiosity about what we've done in Maryland. Some people that recognize me had seen me before during the presidential re-elect, or on MSNBC — a lot of these people watch MSNBC — as an advocate for the president's reelection. And then people have seen me on television squaring off with the RGA chair, whoever that was at the time." Clinton's midterm schedule is taking her to familiar 2014 turf — marquee battlegrounds like Kentucky, Iowa and New Hampshire — mostly to help Democrats in the key Senate races that will decide control of Congress. Biden, too, has appeared on the campaign trail and at fundraisers with an eye toward 2016, while Warren drew lively, standing-room-only crowds during a campaign swing to Kentucky and West Virginia this summer. But O'Malley's itinerary looks like something out of the Democratic National Committee travel office. He appeared at a Hispanic voter event in Chicago for Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, walked in a gay pride festival in South Carolina with gubernatorial nominee Vincent Sheheen, delivered the headline address at the California Democratic Party in Los Angeles and made nice with key Obama organizers in Des Moines. He has pumped money into scores of campaigns across the country, including the top tier Senate and governor's contests. Charlie Crist, Bruce Braley, Michelle Nunn, Mary Landrieu, Jason Carter: All have received help from O'Malley personally or from his political action committee, O'Say Can You See PAC, according to a spreadsheet of his fundraising activity obtained by CNN. Then there are the small-time county party committees and obscure candidates further down the ballot. He's come to the aid of a county commissioner candidate in Nebraska, Nevada's rising-star nominee for lieutenant governor and state legislators near and far — though many of them are near Iowa and New Hampshire. Mayors have received special attention. A former mayor of Baltimore, O'Malley has raised money and campaigned for the mayors in Kentucky, Florida, South Carolina and elsewhere. He's also hired and dispatched field staffers to help in a passel of races, most recently sending aides to help the state Democratic Party in Kansas, where the Senate and governor's races are surprisingly competitive. O'Malley has PAC aides working on the ground in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, giving him an early foothold in the states that raise the curtain on the 2016 presidential nominating process. "People are grateful for the help," he said. O'Malley's party-building spadework began last year. He cut early checks to embattled red state Democrats like Mark Begich of Alaska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas. He campaigned in hot off-year races, including Terry McAuliffe's successful bid to become Virginia's governor. He also helped Cory Booker, a former mayor like O'Malley, in last summer's special Senate election in New Jersey. And while national Democrats were keeping their distance from Barbara Buono, the underdog challenger to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, O'Malley showed up in Trenton at her side. "Sometimes the uphill fights are the most important," he said during the New Jersey swing. Buono took note. "Hillary Clinton wrote me a nice letter — after I lost," she told The New York Times earlier this year. O'Malley dodges questions about the 2016 race and is careful to avoid criticism of Clinton, whom he endorsed during her ill-fated 2008 presidential bid even though he had backed the passionately anti-war Howard Dean four years earlier. It's still not clear that he will run if she does. But the story O'Malley tells about himself as he campaigns for Democrats is often framed around his progressive accomplishments and generational differences in leadership — two flanks where Clinton might be vulnerable in a Democratic primary. O'Malley, 51, said he sometimes feels closer in spirit to his 20-something daughters than to the baby boom generation. "I am noticing a generational shift," he said. "While baby boomers were led to believe that sometimes our prosperity comes from separating from other, people under 40 believe that it will come from being closer to others." Befitting his roots in city politics, O'Malley gushes about the re-birth of American cities, a renaissance he said is driven by young people who "have an awareness of our interdependence" and chafe at hierarchies and top-down leadership. He praises the power of technology to streamline government, slips terms like "innovation cluster" into his commentary, and name-drops the urban theorist Richard Florida. "Baby boomers and older were often told that if we specialize in terms of our skills, we will be more secure and prosperous, that the definition of 'making it" was living out in the suburbs as far way as possible with the biggest lawn possible," he said. "Young people have flipped that on its head. Younger people are choosing to live in cities. They realize that connections to each other are making us better. That WiFi is a human right. That proximity is important to entrepreneurship, access to capital and talent and diversity. There is an opportunity there for us as a nation to embrace that new perspective." There are glimmers of a campaign message as he reflects on his 2014 travels. O'Malley is quick to talk up his record in Annapolis, which, coming out of his mouth, sounds custom-built for Democratic primary voters — top-rated schools, in-state college tuition breaks for young illegal immigrants, legalizing same-sex marriage, repealing the death penalty, enacting strict gun control laws. "People are interested in hearing how we have done and what we have done in Maryland," he said. "When you lay out the accumulation of achievements, it's pretty impressive." The twin themes he encounters most, he said in the interview, are frustration with Washington and a palpable sense of economic anxiety. "Every place I have traveled, after every talk, the constant theme that I hear from people coming up afterwards just to shake my hand or do a cell phone picture, the phrase I hear again and again is the phrase 'getting things done,'" O'Malley said. '"We need leaders who can get things done, or people who can bring us together to get things done. There is a sense that the economy is not working for us. The majority of us are not making any more in real dollar terms that we were making in 1994. That is the primary concern out there. People are less optimistic about being able to give their kids a future with more economy opportunity even now than they were even four years ago," he said. Even with those notes of pessimism, O'Malley said his visits with Democrats have "made me feel pretty good about where our country is headed and the direction that we will eventually end up going. I have seen that people still believe in the greatness of who we are a county." "I am sensing a deep, deep hunger to get things done again as a country and as Americans," he said. "People have a greater appetite for the unvarnished truth about the choices and costs and tradeoffs we have to make." *CNN: “White House: Obama to campaign with candidates for midterms” <http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/08/politics/obama-campaign-2014-midterms/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_allpolitics+(RSS%3A+Politics)>* By Jim Acosta October 8, 2014, 11:55 a.m. EDT Just months after President Obama was described by his own advisers as a "bear" on the loose, there are few midterm sightings of the man once dubbed the "campaigner in chief" by his Republican adversaries. The President has spent much of the 2014 cycle behind closed doors, either cloistered inside the White House cocoon dealing with a seemingly endless series of crises and scandals, or at private fundraisers, urging donors to write checks to top Democratic Party campaign and political action committees. That political calendar will evolve somewhat as Election Day draws near, a White House official told CNN. For starters, the President will appear at events with Democratic candidates in the coming weeks, the official said. Obama will make the argument for policies aimed at middle class voters, just as he did in last week's speech on the economy in Chicago. "The President has already succeeded in making a pretty aggressive case about why that's important for the country, and I would anticipate that in the context of the upcoming elections you'll hear the President make that case again," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. Even though the White House is not quite ready to announce Obama's upcoming campaign stops, there are a few states that can be crossed off the map. Races in Louisiana, Arkansas, Alaska, where incumbent Democratic senators face uphill battles to win reelection, remain at the top of the Obama no-go list. "There are definitely deeply red states in play this cycle where it won't make sense to send the President," a White House official said. So far, Obama is also avoiding crucial Senate races in states where he won decisive victories in the past. The White House has yet to signal any plans to send the President to Iowa, a critical battleground he captured twice: in 2008 and 2012. Instead, first lady Michelle Obama will travel to Iowa Friday to appear with Democratic congressman Bruce Braley, who remains locked in a close race with state Sen. Joni Ernst for the seat vacated by liberal stalwart Tom Harkin. "We defer to the campaigns who know their states best how to win," a White House official said. Another sign of Obama's drag on his party's midterm hopes can be found in North Carolina, a critical Obama victory in 2008 that he and his party failed to translate into a more lasting Democratic incursion into southern red states in the years that followed. Despite North Carolina's potentially strong base of Democratic support from African-Americans and countless college-aged voters, Obama has become a major obstacle for the state's endangered incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan. Her opponent, state House Speaker Tom Tillis, repeatedly tried to link Hagan to the President during a debate Tuesday in the state's prosperous Research Triangle area. "I think it's fair to make this election about his policies," Tillis said in the debate. That remark was a reminder of a comment made by Obama at a speech on the economy last week in Chicago: "These policies are on the ballot -- every single one of them," the President said. His long-time adviser, David Axelrod, called that part of the speech a "mistake." Michael Steel, a spokesman for U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and a midterm strategist for the North Carolina Republican Party, described the Obama factor as "huge" in Tuesday's debate. "Her worst moments in the debate were when she refused to distance herself from the President," Steel said of Hagan. A key Democratic Party operative, who asked to speak on condition of anonymity, said inserting Obama into crucial campaign contests carries some risk. Not only does the President's unpopularity drive up enthusiasm among conservatives, the strategist said. It may encourage some moderate Democrats to stay home. "Even Obama supporters, they're disappointed in him," the strategist said. "We can't find a way to motivate them." The first lady, Vice President Joe Biden, and Bill and Hillary Clinton are seen as better alternatives. Even though Biden has spent the last several days calling leaders in the Middle East to clarify his comments that appeared to suggest Arab nations were partly responsible for the rise of ISIS, the vice president appears to be in demand among Democrats. "So what if he f***ed up?" one Democratic strategist said, noting the party's base is attracted to the vice president's "Uncle Joe" shoot-from-the-lip style. Biden just wrapped up an event on Tuesday with Amanda Renteria, a congressional candidate in California. He is scheduled to appear with Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon on Wednesday. The one campaign setting where the president appears to thrive are fundraisers. A White House official provided a list of approximately 50 fundraisers where Obama has spoken to Democratic donors this year. His events this week in New York, Connecticut, Washington and Chicago generated between $2-3 million, Democratic sources said.