​Correct The Record Monday February 9, 2015 Afternoon Roundup

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*​**Correct The Record Monday February 9, 2015 Afternoon Roundup:* *Tweets:* *Correct The Record *@CorrectRecord: .@HillaryClinton <https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton> proposed a $1B/yr fund to encourage states to develop family leave &#paidleave <https://twitter.com/hashtag/paidleave?src=hash> policies http://www.correctrecord.org/hillary-clinton-fighting-for-americas-workers … <http://t.co/vTnqMZq9DS> [2/9/15, 11:43 a.m. EST <https://twitter.com/CorrectRecord/status/564826911780904960>] *Correct The Record *@CorrectRecord: .@Liz_Kreutz <https://twitter.com/Liz_Kreutz> covers our new record analysis "Hillary Clinton: Fighting for America’s Workers" http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2015/02/your-2016-weekend-speed-read-the-note/ … <http://t.co/Nc44VPCpNr> via @ABC <https://twitter.com/ABC> [2/9/15, 9:44 a.m. EST <https://twitter.com/CorrectRecord/status/564796978543230977>] *Correct The Record *@CorrectRecord: NEW RECORD ANALYSIS: @HillaryClinton <https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton> Fighting for America's Workers http://www.correctrecord.org/hillary-clinton-fighting-for-americas-workers … <http://t.co/vTnqMZ8yfi> [2/9/15, 9:23 a.m. EST <https://twitter.com/CorrectRecord/status/564791621087014914>] *Headlines:* *ABC News Radio: “Group of Dems Release Analysis Detailing Hillary Clinton's Record on Middle Class Jobs” <http://abcnewsradioonline.com/politics-news/group-of-dems-release-analysis-detailing-hillary-clintons-re.html>* “Correct the Record, a subsidiary of the Democratic super PAC, American Bridge, is releasing a one-page analysis document Monday, titled ‘Fighting for America's Workers.’” *Associated Press: “Democrats Seek To Hit Jeb Bush With Comparisons to Romney” <http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DEM_2016_DEFINING_JEB?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT>* “‘The Clintons' finances are the stuff opposition researchers' dreams are made of,’ said Dan Ronayne, a GOP strategist, in an email. The Democrats' early attacks on Bush, he said, are an effort ‘to try and muddy the waters.’” *USA Today: “Axelrod: Hillary has to 'run like an insurgent'” <http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/02/09/capital-download-david-axelrod-memoir/23031529/>* Axelrod: "I think she has to approach this campaign like a challenger, not like a front-runner — like an insurgent." *Business Insider: “A top political analyst doesn't think the GOP's new 2016 strategy will work against Hillary” <http://www.businessinsider.com/valliere-new-gop-strategy-wont-work-against-hillary-2015-2>* “Valliere indicated he's skeptical the GOP can come up with policies to address this issue and, as a result, predicted the message won't work against Clinton.” *National Journal: “How Bernie Sanders Would Run Against Hillary Clinton” <http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/how-bernie-sanders-would-run-against-hillary-clinton-20150209>* “Sanders sees running against Clinton as an opportunity not to tear her apart politically, but to distinguish himself and force the party to have a serious policy discussion on issues as diverse as income inequality and foreign policy.” *The Hill blog: Ballot Box: “Sanders: I would 'run to win' in 2016” <http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/232161-sanders-i-would-run-to-win-in-2016>* “Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) says he will be running to win in 2016 if he decides to challenge Hillary Clinton in a Democratic primary.” *Washington Times: “Bernard Sanders claims far-left lane in Democratic presidential race” <http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/9/bernard-sanders-claims-far-left-lane-dnc-race/>* “Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders, who is eyeing a 2016 run as a Democrat for president, staked out an economic agenda Monday that is far to the left of his most liberal colleagues, including advocating a government-run Medicare-for-all health care system.” *Huffington Post: “'Morning Joe' Co-Hosts Think Hillary Clinton Is Too Scared To Come On The Show” <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/09/morning-joe-hillary-clinton-msnbc-interview_n_6644514.html>* “MSNBC's ‘Morning Joe’ co-hosts said Monday that while most potential 2016 presidential candidates are eager to come on the morning show, Hillary Clinton seems to have no desire.” *Articles:* *ABC News Radio: “Group of Dems Release Analysis Detailing Hillary Clinton's Record on Middle Class Jobs” <http://abcnewsradioonline.com/politics-news/group-of-dems-release-analysis-detailing-hillary-clintons-re.html>* By Carmen Cox February 9, 2015, 12:09 p.m. Correct the Record, a subsidiary of the Democratic super PAC, American Bridge, is releasing a one-page analysis document Monday, titled "Fighting for America's Workers." The document details Hillary Clinton's achievements when it comes to creating and sustaining jobs, supporting labor rights and strengthening the country's manufacturing base. [See the document here.] <http://correctrecord.org/hillary-clinton-fighting-for-americas-workers/> The analysis, shared first with ABC News, is the most recent in a series of documents the group has disseminated about Clinton's work on topics such as the environment and foreign policy. It also specifically mentions what Clinton has done to help provide workers with paid family and sick leave, expand job training opportunities for workers, and curb the outsourcing of jobs. The latest release from Correct the Record comes a day after New York's Working Families Party formally called on Sen. Elizabeth Warren to run for president in 2016. According to a New York Times report over the weekend, Clinton has been consulting with more than 200 policy experts to develop an economic platform designed to appeal to both middle class workers and Wall Street bankers. According to Correct the Record's communications director Adrienne Elrod, "Hillary Clinton's economic vision remains clear, concise and consistent -- that our country must do more to help the middle class so that all Americans feel and experience the impact of an improving economy. This can be no better summed up than in Hillary's own words, where she recently said, 'No matter who you are or where you come from, if you work hard and play by the rules, you'll have the opportunity to build a good life for yourself and your family.'" *Associated Press: “Democrats Seek To Hit Jeb Bush With Comparisons to Romney” <http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DEM_2016_DEFINING_JEB?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT>* By Ken Thomas and Thomas Beaumont February 9, 2015, 3:29 a.m. EST Mitt Romney opposed the government's rescue of U.S. automakers. So did Jeb Bush. Both worked in finance and backed the Wall Street bailout. Both are advocates of tax cuts that Democrats contend only benefit the wealthy and big business. While the first actual votes of the next presidential campaign may be a year away, Democrats already are drawing such comparisons between the former Florida governor and the GOP's 2012 White House nominee - and they don't consider them flattering. Democrats are unwilling to let Bush define himself as a reformer who aims to close the gap between the rich and poor, so they are trying to paint him as this campaign's Romney. The ex-Massachusetts governor struggled in 2012 against criticism related to his work in private equity and his portrayal by President Barack Obama's allies as a cold-hearted plutocrat. "We don't need to try to show that Jeb is like Romney. He pretty much is Romney," said Eddie Vale, vice president of American Bridge 21st Century, a liberal group set up to conduct opposition research on Republicans. "When it comes to any ideas or policies, he's the same as Romney." That line of criticism was noticeable this past week after Bush gave his first major policy speech as a potential presidential candidate. His remarks to the Detroit Economic Club emphasized an upbeat economic message and touched on overhauling the nation's immigration system and trying to improve the lives of children underserved by public schools. Democrats countered by circulating the transcript of a 2012 interview in which Bush cited his opposition to the auto bailout. In the interview, Bush said the auto rescue, a key issue in Michigan, was "driven by politics" and he noted the Obama administration's role in shuttering car dealerships and providing the United Auto Workers union with an equity stake in Chrysler. Obama's team successfully used that bailout as a wedge against Romney in Michigan and Ohio, repeatedly referring to a 2008 Romney op-ed with the headline, "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt." Although Romney did not write the headline and advocated a managed bankruptcy for the industry, it created the impression that he was willing to forgo thousands of U.S. auto jobs. Bush's early approach to his potential campaign signals a desire to avoid such pitfalls, as well as Romney's most notable gaffe - his behind-closed-door dismissal of the "47 percent" of Americans who, he said, don't pay income taxes. Lisa Wagner, Romney's 2012 Midwest fundraising director, said that once voters meet Bush, "they see his head and his heart are connected" and they are "very, very taken" with his "sincerity." During a question-and-answer session after the Detroit speech, Bush said losing his first bid for Florida governor in 1994 taught him that winning campaigns requires building an emotional attachment with voters. When he won the job four years later, he said, he campaigned in places - from black churches to public schools in poor communities - where few expected a Republican to go for votes. That, Bush said, allowed him to "to connect on a human level with people, and offer ideas that are important to people, so that when they think of me they think I'm on their side and that I care about them. ... You've got to care for people before you get their vote. "That experience on a national scale has got to be part of a strategy," he said. Democrats say that's a hollow argument and they point to Bush's record as governor, which included the eventual elimination of the state's tax on financial assets. Democrats argue that primarily helped the wealthy. They also are eager to note how Bush, after leaving office, served on an advisory board for Lehman Brothers, a financial firm that collapsed in 2008 during the recession. They compare Bush's work in private equity to Romney's role at Bain Capital, which was criticized during the 2012 campaign for its leveraged buyouts of companies that in some cases led to job losses. "Bush may claim a monopoly on the `right to rise' now, but his history is full of elevating only the select few while leaving everyone else behind," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Ian Sams, citing the name of Bush's campaign-in-waiting. The tenor of the campaign so far, however, suggests that in Bush and several of the other potential GOP nominees, Democrats will not have a target as easy to strike on economic policy as Romney. Many in the crowded GOP field are focused on the perils of stagnant wages and trying to demonstrate their middle-class bona fides. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, for example, talks about his affinity for shopping at Kohl's, a Milwaukee-based department store chain. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul recently allowed a reporter to interview him while he flew coach on American Airlines, saying, "We go to Target, Wal-Mart, TJ Maxx like other people. We look for bargains. We drive our own cars." In fact, Republicans see the potential to flip the argument in their favor. Paul's comment was a not-so-subtle jab at Hillary Rodham Clinton, the leading Democratic White House prospect, who told auto dealers in a 2014 speech that she had not driven a car in several years. GOP operatives, whenever they get the chance, talk about Clinton's use of private jets and her six-figure speaking fees. "The Clintons' finances are the stuff opposition researchers' dreams are made of," said Dan Ronayne, a GOP strategist, in an email. The Democrats' early attacks on Bush, he said, are an effort "to try and muddy the waters." *USA Today: “Axelrod: Hillary has to 'run like an insurgent'” <http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/02/09/capital-download-david-axelrod-memoir/23031529/>* By Susan Page February 9, 2015, 9:23 a.m. EST [Subtitle:] USA TODAY's Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page interviews former campaign strategist for President Obama, David Axelrod. He shares that Hillary Clinton should run with the mindset of a challenger, rather than a frontrunner. CHICAGO — She's the prohibitive Democratic front-runner, David Axelrod says, but if Hillary Rodham Clinton is going to win the White House in 2016 she needs to campaign like an insurgent. Axelrod has credentials to make the critique: He was the strategist for challenger Barack Obama when he wrested the Democratic nomination from her the last time she was the front-runner, in 2008. In his memoir, Believer: My Forty Years in Politics, published Tuesday by Penguin Press, Axelrod recalls both how Clinton's caution and missteps cost her the nomination — and how she then countered and threatened to win it back. "What she can't rely on, and I don't think she will, is the Clinton name, although the Clinton name trades very high in American politics," Axelrod told Capital Download in an interview at his office at the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics. "Americans are always about the future. Bill Clinton was famously the one who said that, and he was right. So she needs a very well-conceived message about where she wants to lead the country. If she doesn't have that, then it does become a problem. .... "I think she has to approach this campaign like a challenger, not like a front-runner — like an insurgent." That means not only delivering speeches but also connecting viscerally with voters, making herself vulnerable and approachable the way she did in New Hampshire after losing the Iowa caucuses, and not shying from primary debates even against a distant field. While she's one of the most familiar faces in American politics, she has to project a fresh and forward-looking message that tells people where she wants to take the country. That said, some of the characteristics that hurt Clinton's campaign last time should help her now, he says. After eight years of President Obama — and amid disappointment over what Axelrod calls his "great, unfulfilled promise" to change the capital's politics — voters may well be looking for a Washington insider who knows how to make a gridlocked system operate. "Her status as someone who had worked within Washington and who was familiar with Washington was actually a liability" then, Axelrod says. Now, "people are going to be looking, as they always do, not for the replica but for the remedy. They're going to want someone who knows how to manage the system, navigate the system, and I think her skill set and her background are probably better for this campaign than they were for the last." While Democrats retain advantages in presidential politics, especially among an increasingly diverse electorate, he says former Florida governor Jeb Bush would be a formidable Republican opponent, especially if he can resist being pulled to the right during the GOP's primary battles. "Jeb Bush, obviously, is someone who's supported immigration reform, who supported education reform. If he can stick to his guns and hold those positions, I don't think we Democrats can take our tactical advantages for granted. I don't think having demographic advantages and the kind of advantages that we've counted on in the past few elections are enough." He dismisses Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, another GOP hopeful, as "the flavor of the month" who "gave a great speech at a little meeting in Iowa" but is untested on the national stage. TURKEY LEG DAY AT MANNY'S Axelrod, who turns 60 this month, is one of the most successful strategists in modern American politics. He has helped elect not only a president but also senators, governors and a string of mayors. But he still projects the air of the rumpled political reporter he once was for The Chicago Tribune, and his favorite place to eat is still Manny's, the legendary deli that is a favored hang-out of pols and press. "I haven't been to Manny's in a while," he says eagerly on the drive over through snowy Chicago streets. "Well, not since last week." Fortuitously, it is turkey leg day at Manny's. The counterman in the cafeteria line doesn't even wait for Axelrod to order before he puts a comically large turkey leg on his plate and covers it with gravy that will eventually make a spotted pattern across the front of Axelrod's blue dress shirt. (Fortuitously, he isn't wearing a tie.) Axelrod's 509-page memoir already has caused a bit of a stir, especially over his depiction of the concession call Republican Mitt Romney made on election night in 2012. "Obama said the appropriate things," he recalls, but "was unsmiling during the call, and slightly irritated when it was over." Obama then told those around him that Romney had congratulated him on doing "a great job in getting the vote out in places like Cleveland and Milwaukee." "In other words, black people," Obama said after hanging up. "That's what he thinks this was all about." That account heatedly was denied by Garrett Jackson, Romney's body man in 2012, who was in the room with the Republican and told Politico's Playbook that Axelrod "concocted" the exchange. "There was nothing about voter turnout," he said. Romney aides have lined up behind Jackson's account; Obama aides behind Axelrod's account. "I appreciate his loyalty to his guy," Axelrod told USA TODAY's video newsmaker series in his first public response. "And the truth is, I don't think Romney, and I didn't imply that Romney, was being ungracious. I think Romney was trying to pay a compliment. It was a reflection of how two guys viewed things from a different lens." The lens of race, that is. During the 2008 campaign and in the White House, Axelrod and other top Obama aides routinely turned aside questions about the role of race in Obama's political support and his opposition. In his book and the interview, however, Axelrod describes it as an unavoidable factor that has helped shape and complicate Obama's rise and his presidency. "I've always sort of resisted answering that question in the past because I never wanted to imply that somehow he was being treated unfairly or that whatever our political problems were, were a consequence only of race," he says. "But I do think that there are some people who have a hard time accepting that America's becoming more diverse and we have an African American president; I don't think there's any question about that. And has it infused some of the debate? I think it has." He recalls the outburst in 2009 from South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson during Obama's address to a Joint Session of Congress. "I don't think any other president has had someone stand up in the chambers of Congress during his speech and yell, 'You lie,' " Axelrod says. "I don't think any other president has had people persistently challenge his very citizenship. I think those are consequences of his background and his race." Axelrod's portrait of Obama is overwhelmingly positive and admiring. But he expresses frustration about Obama's inclination to separate campaigning from governing, an attitude that hampered his ability to connect with Americans and get things through Congress once in office. For an undeniably successful politician, he often didn't seem to like politics. "I think he likes people, (but) I don't know that he likes the politics of Washington very much," Axelrod admits, and his disdain can infect his relationships with other powerful figures in town. "He doesn't always deal well with people who don't share his view that winning elections isn't the most important thing, that getting big things done is the most important thing." In his re-election bid in 2012, Obama rejected his aides' appeals for more rehearsals and their critique that he wasn't ready for the first debate against Romney. The night before the debate, when they sat down to review a tape of the final rehearsal, Axelrod began by saying there was "some stuff we need to clean up." That prompted the president to hurl an unprintable expletive at him and stalk from the room. Obama's performance at the debate the next night was disastrous, though he would recover and win a second term. 'AN UNWORTHY NITWIT' Axelrod's portrait of other political candidates he has encountered over the past four decades is considerably less glowing that his picture of Obama. • Andrew Stein, one of his first clients, won election to the New York State Assembly in 1968. "I couldn't shake this nagging feeling that, for a few bucks, we had just helped install an unworthy nitwit in public office." Stein later served as Manhattan Borough president and president of the New York City Council. • Rod Blagojevich summoned him to discuss his 2002 bid for governor of Illinois. "Why do you want to be governor?" Axelrod asked. Blagojevich replied, "You can help me figure that out." Axelrod declined to work for the campaign. Blagojevich was elected but was later convicted of corruption. • John Edwards hired Axelrod for his 2004 presidential campaign, to the consultant's quick regret. "The most difficult personality in this caustic stew was Elizabeth," he writes. "If her attitude toward John was right out of My Fair Lady" – she saw him as a hick whom she had educated – "her approach to the campaign bore a greater resemblance to The Manchurian Candidate. John Edwards became the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004; in 2011 he was indicted but not convicted of charges of violating campaign finance laws in his 2008 presidential bid to cover up an affair. Elizabeth Edwards died of cancer in 2010. Axelrod portrays himself as figure with flaws as well, particularly in his willingness to sacrifice his family life for his career, particularly after his daughter, Lauren, began to struggle with epilepsy. "One of the hard things in writing the book was to confront the choices I made," he says. "As you draw your last breath, you're not going to say, 'I wish I had taken this race or that race.' " He attributes some of those choices to an unhealthy need to seek approval and affirmation that may have stemmed from a difficult early family life, growing up in New York City's Stuyvesant Town. His mother, a groundbreaking journalist, was driven and distant. His father was warm but sometimes adrift, and he committed suicide when his son was 19 years old and a a student at the University of Chicago. The notification of his death, Axelrod says, signaled the end of his childhood. "Dad left me seventeen thousand dollars, an old Plymouth Fury, and a broken heart," he writes. "For years after his death, the anniversary announced itself to me through bouts of depression and self-doubt." Nowadays, though, he seems happy as an academic, a commentator on MSNBC and an adviser on some foreign campaigns in Great Britain and elsewhere. As he heads out of the grand old house that has been converted to the Institute of Politics offices, Don Rose, a legendary leftist Chicago political consultant, is holding forth to students in the living room. At Manny's, David Bonoma, a local lawyer, comes by his table to greet him. "Say hello to your mom," Axelrod tells him; she had been the Mayor Richard M. Daley's longtime assistant. There's a plaque on the wall that says, "David Axelrod's Table," the only designated table in the joint. One other table used to have a plaque, dedicating it to the neighborhood's longtime beat cop, owner Ken Raskin recalls, but when he retired from the force, he took it home with him. *Business Insider: “A top political analyst doesn't think the GOP's new 2016 strategy will work against Hillary” <http://www.businessinsider.com/valliere-new-gop-strategy-wont-work-against-hillary-2015-2>* By Hunter Walker February 9, 2015 According to Greg Valliere, the chief political strategist of the Potomac Research Group, Hillary Clinton "has to be considered the favorite to win the presidency." Valliere made the proclamation in his daily "Morning Bullets" newsletter on Monday. He attributed Clinton's frontrunner status in 2016 to the strengthening economy. "What an amazing turnaround -- the economy won't be an albatross for Hillary; it probably will be an asset," Valliere wrote. In recent weeks, many top Republicans including several of the leading 2016 contenders have focused on income inequality, which was traditionally a Democratic talking point. Valliere indicated he's skeptical the GOP can come up with policies to address this issue and, as a result, predicted the message won't work against Clinton. "Republicans are now scrambling to come up with a narrative on the economy — yes, it could be better, but it might look even stronger a year from now," Valliere explained. "Yes, there's income inequality, but what specific policies would the GOP embrace on that front?" *National Journal: “How Bernie Sanders Would Run Against Hillary Clinton” <http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/how-bernie-sanders-would-run-against-hillary-clinton-20150209>* By Lauren Summer February 9, 2015 [Subtitle:] The progressive independent is more realistic about his prospects for the White House than you might expect. Sen. Bernie Sanders has a clear view of what he will be up against if he runs for president in 2016; billionaires, Wall Street, Hillary Clinton, and a less-than-stellar name ID. But while the Vermont senator once received single digit-support for statewide elections in Vermont, he has shown himself to be a pragmatic campaigner with keen insight into what it takes to spark a grassroots movement. But whether he can mobilize enough people in 2016 to make the race worth his while is still a question even he has not answered. "I don't want to run a futile campaign," Sanders said during an appearance at the Brookings Institution on Monday. In recent months, Sanders has traveled around the country, hitting early-primary states such as New Hampshire and Iowa. He's confident, in talking with voters, that there is an appetite for a straight-talking candidate in the Democratic primary who can articulate a clear vision to reduce income inequality and isn't afraid to call out Wall Street as a business model built on "fraud and deception." If he does run, Sanders said, he's not looking to be a "spoiler" in the mode of Ralph Nader. He's instead considering shedding his "independent" label and jumping into the race for the Democratic ticket, where he fully recognizes he'd likely be going head-to-head on the debate stage with the Democratic Party's presumptive candidate, Hillary Clinton. Sanders sees running against Clinton as an opportunity not to tear her apart politically, but to distinguish himself and force the party to have a serious policy discussion on issues as diverse as income inequality and foreign policy. "This is a woman I respect, clearly a very intelligent person who I think is impressive on issues, by the way," Sanders said. "I think we have a debate about how you rebuild a crumbling middle class, a debate about how you reverse climate change, a debate about the foreign policy ... a debate about Wall Street, and that would be, I think, good for the American people, to be honest with you." On Monday, Sanders began by distinguishing himself on foreign policy. He reasserted his opposition to more troops in Iraq, a conflict on which Clinton initially voted in favor of authorizing military action during her time in the Senate. Sanders also said he feared the United States was entangling itself in an "endless war" in the Middle East. Instead of the U.S. spending its resources and developing the lead strategy, he said, countries like Saudi Arabia, for example, needed to step up. Sanders also announced he would not attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned address to Congress, an issue Clinton has yet to weigh in on. Sanders emphasized that, despite pointing out contrasts, he won't run negative ads against Clinton. He didn't during his mayoral races, Senate races, or House contests, he said. And he is not going to start now. "It is not my style to trash people," Sanders said. While Sanders said he doesn't expect fellow progressive Elizabeth Warren to jump into the presidential fray, he didn't miss an opportunity to highlight her vision and accomplishments before the audience at Brookings. "We brought Senator, well, Elizabeth Warren to the town meetings, and she blew me away with her ability to deal with complicated economic issues in a language that people could understand," Sanders said. "I'm a fan of Elizabeth Warren." Clinton many not be the only big obstacle for Sanders, however. Part of running a successful campaign is filling campaign coffers. And, in a cycle where the billionaire Koch brothers have already pledged to spend almost $900 million, Sanders will have to do better than merely relying on his engaged network to make small donations. That remains a stumbling block Sanders is not confident he can overcome. "If you had 2 million people putting in 100 bucks, that's $200 million, that is 20 percent of what the Koch brothers themselves are prepared to spend," Sanders said. "Can you take that on? I don't know the answer. Maybe the game is over. Maybe they have bought a United States government. Maybe there is no turning back. I don't know. I surely hope not, but we have to look at that reality." If he is going to run, Sanders says, he has to be sure he is going to make a serious impact on the race if he does. "I want to do it well, and it's important not just for my ego I do it well. It's important for millions of people who share the same set of beliefs that I hold," Sanders said. "To do it well, we would have to put together the strongest grassroots movement in the modern history of this country, with millions of people saying, 'You know what? Enough is enough. We are going to take on the billionaire class.' " *The Hill blog: Ballot Box: “Sanders: I would 'run to win' in 2016” <http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/232161-sanders-i-would-run-to-win-in-2016>* By Kevin Cirilli February 9, 2015, 11:55 a.m. EST Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) says he will be running to win in 2016 if he decides to challenge Hillary Clinton in a Democratic primary. "I am giving thought to running for president of the United States," Sanders said in a speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Monday. "But don't tell my wife... If I run I want to run to win and to run to win we need to have millions of people actively involved." Sanders said he'd need the help of a "vibrant grassroots movement all over this country that says to the billionaire class, 'Sorry — government is going to work for all of us and not just for the one percent.'" Sanders, who caucuses in with Democrats in the Senate, declined to say whether he would enter into the race if Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) decided to run, too. Warren has insisted she's not running for president, but progressive grassroots groups are trying to change her mind. Sanders called Warren "brilliant." "I will not be a spoiler," Sanders said, reiterating previous comments that he's made about how he would not run as an independent but as a Democrat. "If I run and if Secretary Clinton runs what I would hope would happen is that we have a debate about how you rebuild the middle class," Sanders said. "I also understand political realities and that is when you take on the billionaire class -- it ain't easy." Clinton maintains a dominant lead in 2016 Democratic polling against Sanders, Warren and Vice President Biden. None of the prospective Democratic candidates have officially declared they are running. Sanders criticized Wall Street extensively, saying it had become "an island unto itself where its goal is to make as much money as it can." "I don't want to be too dramatic here, but I happen to believe that the business model of Wall Street is fraud and deception," Sanders said. *Washington Times: “Bernard Sanders claims far-left lane in Democratic presidential race” <http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/9/bernard-sanders-claims-far-left-lane-dnc-race/>* By S.A. Miller February 9, 2015 Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders, who is eyeing a 2016 run as a Democrat for president, staked out an economic agenda Monday that is far to the left of his most liberal colleagues, including advocating a government-run Medicare-for-all health care system. He called for providing fee college and graduate school tuition, making it easier to unionize workplaces, strengthening overtime pay laws to include more workers, breaking up the big Wall Street banks and raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy. For health care, he demanded the full government takeover that Obamacare failed to achieve. “The United States must join the rest of the industrialized world and recognize that health care is a right of all, and not a privilege,” Mr. Sanders, an independent and self-described socialist who caucuses with Senate Democrats, said in a speech as the liberal Brookings Institution in Washington. “Despite the fact that more than 40 million Americans have no health insurance, we spend almost twice as much per capita on health care as any other nation. We need to establish a Medicare-for-all, single-payer system,” he said. If he gets in the presidential race, Mr. Sanders would be a liberal alternative to former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the undisputed front-runner for the Democratic nomination. He could also pose a threat to the more left-leaning potential contenders, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat whose anti-Wall Street crusade has made her a darling of the party’s left wing. Mrs. Warren insists she isn’t running, while Mr. Sanders acknowledges that he is interested. The proposals that Mr. Sanders rolled out included most of the staples of the Democratic Party’s economic agenda, such as raising the minimum wage — but he often pushes it further. In the case of the minimum wage, he called for a $15 per hour living wage. “No one in this country who works 40 hours a week should live in poverty,” he said. Echoing his Democratic colleagues, Mr. Sanders identified income inequality as one of the most sinister threats to America. He said that his policies would help close the income gap and prevent the country’s from becoming what he described as an oligarchy, pointing to the concentration of wealth in the top 1 percent of families while all others suffer falling wages. “The unprecedented struggle that we’re engaged in now against the Billionaire Class is not just about preserving Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, or whether we create the millions of jobs our economy desperately needs,” he said. “It’s not merely about whether we raise the minimum wage, make college affordable, protect women’s rights or take the bold initiatives we need to reverse climate change and save our planet. It’s not just about creating a health care system which guarantees health care to all as a right, or addressing the abysmally high rate of childhood poverty. “The real struggle is whether we can prevent this country from moving to an oligarchic form of society in which virtually all economic and political power rests with a handful of billionaires. And that’s a struggle we must win,” he said. *Huffington Post: “'Morning Joe' Co-Hosts Think Hillary Clinton Is Too Scared To Come On The Show” <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/09/morning-joe-hillary-clinton-msnbc-interview_n_6644514.html>* By Catherine Taibi February 9, 2015, 9:50 a.m. EST MSNBC's "Morning Joe" co-hosts said Monday that while most potential 2016 presidential candidates are eager to come on the morning show, Hillary Clinton seems to have no desire. Last month, co-host Joe Scarborough said that Clinton leads the “most Gatsby-like existence” than any other political figure in the world today. On Monday morning, Scarborough and co-host Mika Brzezinski had a new theory about Clinton. Brzezinski said that while other potential candidates have reached out to "Morning Joe" for interviews, Clinton seems to be avoiding that kind of press exposure entirely. Brzezinski acknowledged that the MSNBC morning show is probably "very low on the totem pole in terms of importance," for Clinton, but said she has made several attempts to reach out to the former Secretary of State over the last few months and has received nothing back. "It makes me wonder," she said. “But if you're Hillary Clinton you've got to ask the question, 'I’ve got an 89 percent approval rating among the Democrats, why do I want to talk to anybody?'” Scarborough broke in. “'Why do I want to go on a show like this one where you have to actually talk about the issues, where they’re not dimwits that read a teleprompter and then ask you three questions that they were told to ask you last night?'" “There are candidates intelligent enough to handle that and not say stupid things,” Scarborough continued. “But there are a lot of candidates, on the Republican side as well, that are just scared to be in this sort of setting. So, why would she come?”