Presumptuous Politics

Thursday, March 17, 2016

What happens to delegates won by Rubio, other ex-candidates?

With Marco Rubio dropping out of the Republican presidential race Tuesday, the Florida senator leaves a large cache of delegates behind. So what happens to them, and the delegates of other former candidates, at the convention in Cleveland?
The short answer is: It varies from state to state, but the Republican Party leaves enough wiggle room that the delegates of former candidates could end up being a factor in July.
"An inbound delegate is worth their weight in gold," Rick Wilson, a GOP strategist, told FoxNews.com. "It's hard to speculate and there's a lot going on right now."
Rubio, in suspending his campaign after his home-state Florida loss, leaves 169 delegates behind. Ben Carson accrued eight delegates before he dropped out of the race, while Jeb Bush picked up four. Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee and Rand Paul each picked up one in Iowa.
And if either Ted Cruz or John Kasich drop out in the weeks ahead -- and Donald Trump still has not clinched the nomination with the necessary 1,237 delegates -- additional zombie delegates could be in play in Cleveland.
And they could hold sway.
That's because in most states, delegates become "unbound" and are free to support other contenders as soon as their candidate withdraws.

Delegates Awarded to Republican Candidates | InsideGov

They don't necessarily have to gravitate toward the front-runner at a contested convention, or, in the case of Rubio's delegates, the candidate the Florida senator may ultimately choose to endorse.
They would become essentially free agents, prizes to be wooed by the candidates duking it out in Cleveland.
However some states bind their delegates to the first ballot no matter what.
In Tennessee, delegates are bound for two rounds of voting, while in Iowa, Texas, Virginia, Montana, Nevada, Puerto Rico and Washington, candidates are bound for at least one round of voting whether or not the candidate has withdrawn.
In South Carolina, delegates are bound to the candidate for the first ballot. However, if the winner is not nominated, they are bound to the candidate who finished second or third in the state.
The various state laws mean that while some of the delegates can already peel off to other candidates, many would have to wait until after a first ballot in order to be able to vote for another candidate still in the race.
It remains unclear whether front-runner Trump might be able to reach 1,237 delegates before the convention and avoid this drama. He currently has 661; Ted Cruz has 406; and John Kasich has 142.
Those, such as Kasich, who are banking on the prospect of a contested convention, where the delegates of ex-candidates and other factors could be in play, see a blueprint in past races dating back decades.
Since 1880, there have been eight contested GOP conventions and in five of those, the eventual winner did not go into the convention with a plurality of delegates.
In the 1976 Republican convention, it was the unbound delegates moving toward President Gerald Ford instead of Ronald Reagan that handed Ford the nomination that year. Ford held a slight lead going into the convention, but was shy of an outright majority.
In part by using the power of the White House, with promises of visits and patronage to woo over delegates, Ford won the nomination on the first ballot, by a slim 60 votes.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Obama Loser Cartoon

It's down to Trump and Cruz. Kasich is not part of the equation

Trump wins Florida! Trump wins 99 delegates -- the most this year! Trump wins Illinois! Trump wins North Carolina. Trump wins Missouri. Trump wins the Northern Mariana Islands (wherever the hell they are).
But John Kasich narrowly wins his home state and the media treats it like we have a real race.
Trump had a giant night on Tuesday. The Ted Cruz who won the second highest number of delegates is barely mentioned.
The establishment now wants Kasich to be the challenger and Trump the stopper!
I like John and have known him for over 35 years. I am glad he won his home state of Ohio because he has been a good governor. But he's not going to be the 2016 Republican nominee.
He claimed Tuesday night that he is going to win Pennsylvania. He may not even qualify for the ballot in the Keystone State having failed to get the 2,000 signatures he needed. He has won nothing else this year and badly trails in delegates behind Trump and Cruz and even Rubio who correctly dropped out Tuesday night after losing his home state.
This contest is now down to Trump and Cruz. And I must warn John that Rubio, just four weeks ago, was the establishment favorite and has dropped like a rock ever since.
This is not the year to be the establishment favorite and by announcing that your convention team is composed of lobbyists and Washington campaign hacks (many of whom are my friends) it will add nothing to your efforts to win delegates.
John, your departure from this race is inevitable and the longer you delude yourself, the more painful it will be.
Trump is on his way to the Republican nomination. He didn't set the rules. The party did. And he played by them and won.
If Cruz can't stop him, the fantasy of a brokered convention is foolishness and isn't going to happen.
Equally important is this fact: the states Trump won Tuesday night are critical to a Republican win in November. Illinois is a Democratic state, but the others are swing states. Losing any of them: Ohio, Florida, Missouri or North Carolina makes it nearly impossible to get to the 270 electoral votes needed to beat Mrs.Clinton.
The two serious candidates left -- Cruz and Trump -- are totally different in their approaches.
Cruz has a great campaign team who can win close elections.
Trump has a great marketing team and the product is Donald Trump -- which so far is selling wide and far!
The common denominator for the two men is that the establishment wants neither of them. But if they want to beat Hillary in 237 days they must choose one of them and join all those people who are not the establishment but who are winning the contests fair and square.

Obama swipes at GOP race over 'vicious atmosphere'

President Barack Obama decried what he called the "vicious atmosphere" of national politics and the presidential campaign in a speech Tuesday that included several swipes at Republican front-runner Donald Trump.
Without mentioning the GOP candidate by name, Obama used a luncheon at the Capitol to express his concern about the nation's political discourse and the protests that have escalated to violence at several of Trump's rallies.
"We have heard vulgar and divisive rhetoric aimed at women and minorities, and Americans that don't look like us or pray like us or vote like we do," said Obama, who added that political leaders could either condone "this race to the bottom" or reject it.
Obama also emphasized that efforts to shut down free speech were "misguided." Protesters forced Trump to cancel a rally in Chicago on Friday. The president said he rejected "any effort to spread fear or encourage violence or shut people down while they are trying to speak."
"We live in a country where free speech is one of the most important rights that we hold. In response to those events we've seen actual violence, and we've heard silence from too many of our leaders," Obama said.
Trump's political rivals and others blame him for sowing division, rather than unity, across the country. Trump says he's done no such thing and calls himself a "uniter."
Obama said that while some may bear more of the blame for the ugly political climate, everyone bears responsibility for reversing it.
"It is a cycle that is not an accurate reflection of America. It has to stop," Obama said. "And I say that not as a matter of political correctness, it's about the way that corrosive behavior can undermine our democracy and our society and even our economy."
The president reminded the audience of Republicans and Democrats, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., that the world is watching the U.S. candidates and what they say.
"In America there aren't laws that say we have to be nice to each other ... But there are norms, there are customs, there are values that our parents taught us and that we try to teach to our children," the president said.
Ryan said earlier Tuesday that all candidates have an obligation to do what they can to provide an atmosphere of harmony at campaign events and not incite violence.
Obama said he appreciated Ryan's comments. And he said that even though the two men disagree on politics, he would not insult the House speaker "as a man."
"The point is we can have political debates without turning on one another," Obama said. "We can disagree without assuming it is motivated by malice."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. said he spoke to Trump on Tuesday and asked him to condemn violence, no matter who is responsible. It was the first time the two men have spoken since December.
"I appreciate his call, and I took the opportunity to recommend to him that no matter who may be triggering these violent expressions or conflicts that we have been seeing at some of these rallies, it might be a good idea to condemn that and discourage it no matter what the source of it is," McConnell said.
Obama received a standing ovation at the conclusion of his remarks.

Rubio suspends campaign, warns of 'politics of resentment'

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination Tuesday night after he was projected to lose his home state primary to Donald Trump.
Rubio made the announcement to disappointed supporters at a rally in Miami, ending a campaign that began with great promise and had attracted support from several Republican lawmakers. But he badly trailed in the delegate count, having won just three contests so far.
“It is clear that while we are on the right side this year, we will not be on the winning side,” Rubio said in remarks that emphasized his personal faith.
Rubio declined to endorse another Republican candidate in his concession speech as he lamented what he described as the “politics of resentment", which he said would "not just leave us a fractured [Republican] party, they are going to leave us a fractured nation.
"They are going to leave us as a nation where people literally hate each other because they have different political opinions."
At one point, Rubio's speech was interrupted by a heckler. Rubio shrugged off the disruption, saying the man would "not get beat up" at his rally, a swipe at the recent disturbances at some of Trump's rallies.
"America’s in the middle of a real political storm, a real tsunami," Rubio said, "and we should have seen this coming.” He criticized the political establishment that he claimed "has looked down at conservatives as simple-minded people ... as simply bomb-throwers.
"The political establishment that for far too long has taken the votes of conservatives for granted and a political establishment that has grown to confuse cronyism for capitalism."
“While this may not have been the year for a hopeful and optimistic message about our future, I still remain hopeful and optimistic about America,” Rubio added.
Rubio, 44, gained attention in national political circles after he was elected to the Senate in 2010, defeating then-Florida Gov. Charlie Crist in the Republican primary thanks to a wave of Tea Party support. He was marked as a 2016 contender early in the campaign cycle, with Time magazine dubbing him the "Republican Savior" on its cover in 2013.
When he announced his campaign last March, Rubio's toughest challenge appeared to be his one-time political mentor, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. But the rise of Trump in the polls over the summer reduced the Floridians' personal rivalry to a sideshow. Bush dropped out of the race after last month's South Carolina primary.
Rubio's campaign appeared to be on track after a strong third place finish in the Iowa caucus. But issues with repetition during a debate in New Hampshire helped doom him to a fifth-place finish in the primary and his campaign never completely recovered.
Despite his intense rivalry with Trump, Rubio only indirectly criticized him during much of the campaign. He pivoted to an all-out assault on the businessman's character and ethics after a dismal March 1 Super Tuesday performance when he clinched only one of the 11 contests.
In recent weeks, the attacks deviated from policy to personal. At one point, Rubio equated Trump's small hands with his manhood. Trump began regularly referring to the senator as "little Marco." But the strategy backfired with voters and donors and Rubio later said he regretted the attacks.
In a debate last week, Rubio pledged to support the eventual Republican nominee, even if it was Trump. However, he has shown signs of reconsidering that pledge in recent days.

Trump rolls on, ending Rubio run

A string of Donald Trump primary victories Tuesday night, including a knockout win against Marco Rubio in Florida, as well as a first win by John Kasich in his home state of Ohio did little to change the direction of the Republican presidential race — except to add more uncertainty and speculation.
Trump kept his substantial delegate lead by winning at least three contests. In defeating Rubio in the senator’s home state of Florida and pushing him out of the race, Trump won the biggest prize on the map, including all 99 of its delegates. He also won primaries in Illinois and North Carolina.
“We’re going to go forward, and we’re going to win,” Trump told supporters in Palm Beach, Fla. “But more importantly, we’re going to win for the country.”
Yet Kasich vowed to stay in the race, buoyed by his Ohio victory, and Cruz showed no signs of slowing down -- as Kasich in particular banks on the prospect of a contested convention in July, leaving it unclear when the raucous GOP primary race might draw to a close.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton further cemented her lead on Tuesday. She defeated Bernie Sanders in the hard-fought Ohio primary, as well as in Illinois, North Carolina and Florida, the last two victories completing her sweep of the Southern state contests.
The Republican and Democratic primaries in Missouri remained too close to call as of Wednesday morning. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Trump and Clinton led Cruz and Sanders by 0.2 percent in their respective races.
“This was another Super Tuesday for our campaign,” Clinton said at a victory party in West Palm Beach, Fla., while claiming she is now “very close to winning the Democratic Party nomination.”
Sanders, though, predicted he’d win next week in Arizona, as he rallied supporters during an hour-long speech in Phoenix.
By the end of what was dubbed Super Tuesday II, both Clinton and Trump had further solidified their front-runner status following recent campaign trail hiccups.
But the underdogs saw silver linings all the same.
At a late-night rally in Houston, Cruz said he’d gain delegates out of the day’s contests and suggested Rubio’s exit only crystallizes the choice for voters – between him and Trump.
“Nobody else has any mathematical possibility whatsoever,” Cruz said. “Only one campaign has beaten Donald Trump over and over and over again.”
Yet Ohio Gov. Kasich is not necessarily looking to beat Trump -- not before the convention, anyway.
He had effectively staked his campaign's survival on a victory in his home state, and his win there will deliver him all of the Buckeye State's 66 delegates. Kasich made clear at his election night party in Berea, Ohio, that he will press on, heading next to Pennsylvania and vowing to keep running a positive campaign.
“I will not take the low road to the highest office in the land,” he said. "We are going to go all the way to Cleveland and secure the Republican nomination.”
Even with his Tuesday haul, Kasich remains in fourth place in the GOP delegate count and faces the toughest path to the nomination of the remaining candidates. He has openly said, however, that his hope is to deny Trump the requisite delegates to clinch the nomination before the July convention in Cleveland.
While Kasich presses on, Florida Sen. Rubio suspended his campaign Tuesday after losing his home state convincingly to Trump. He made the announcement to disappointed supporters at a rally in Miami, ending a campaign that began with great promise and recently had picked up support from a wide range of Republican lawmakers. But Rubio trailed in the delegate count, having won only three contests so far.
“It is clear that while we are on the right side this year, we will not be on the winning side,” Rubio told supporters in Miami, adding: “My campaign is suspended.”
Rubio declined to endorse anybody as he suspended his campaign, lamenting what he described as the “politics of resentment.”
“While this may not have been the year for a hopeful and optimistic message about our future, I still remain hopeful and optimistic about America,” Rubio said, in remarks heavy on his personal faith.
For both Kasich and Rubio, a win in their home states was considered critical Tuesday night, as Trump and Cruz have been pressuring both candidates to get out for weeks – hoping Tuesday’s primaries might be the final blow for their underdog bids.
But as Rubio leaves the trail, Kasich could continue to draw delegates and help prevent any candidate from clinching the nomination before the convention. Kasich also said earlier Tuesday that he'll be “forced, going forward, to talk about some of the deep concerns” he has about Trump's campaign.
Tuesday’s balloting constituted one of the most delegate-rich primary days on the calendar to date. There were 691 delegates at stake on the Democratic side, and 367 at stake on the GOP side.
Trump also scored a win Tuesday in the Northern Mariana Islands' GOP caucus, gaining all nine delegates from the U.S. territory.
As of Tuesday night, Trump had 621 total delegates; Cruz had 396; and Kasich had 138. Rubio left the race with 168.
It takes 1,237 delegates to win the GOP nomination.

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Mizzou Education Cartoon

Mizzou may pay price for campus protests as enrollment plunges

Safe spaces may become empty spaces at the University of Missouri, where officials acknowledged an expected sharp decline in enrollment next fall is due at least in part to protests that rocked the campus last fall.

The school is braced for a 25 percent drop in new students this coming fall, forcing the institution to enact painful budget cuts, as well as hiring and salary freezes.
“We do know that the events of last fall have had an effect on our application numbers; however, it’s difficult to provide a specific number as we do not have any hard data," University of Missouri spokesman Christian Basi said in a statement to Foxnews.com.

“We do know that the events of last fall have had an effect on our application numbers..."
- Mizzou spokesman

Basi said there are other factors contributing to the decline, including fewer high school graduates in the region since 2010 and increased competition since Mizzou entered the SEC a few years ago.
“We are continuing to work with prospective students and their parents, answering any questions they might have and giving them information about MU’s current campus climate,” he said. “We’re looking forward to welcoming our new class in the fall.”
The decline in enrollment is estimated to be as much as 1,500 students this fall. The school is cutting its budget by 5 percent in an effort to make up two-thirds of the $32 million shortfall, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune.
Further cuts may be possible if the state reduces monetary support. A budget approved last Thursday reduces funding for the University’s Columbia campus by $1 million and support for the systemwide administration by $7.6 million.

Experts say it may not be just Missouril paying the price for protests, as well as an increasingly ideological curriculum.
“College enrollment is declining overall – perhaps because high school graduates are realizing trivial courses that lecture on “white privilege” and “queer liberation” – just to name two – don’t help one much with employment and real-world problems,” Kyle Olson, founder and head of the Education Action group and news site EAGnews.org, told FoxNews.com.
He adds that the same can be true of the microcosm of Mizzou.
“Do most reasonable people want classmates who parade through the library finger-waving about the supposed evils of whiteness – or professors who threaten the safety of their students and undermining the very tenant that protects their profession for which she is training them: the First Amendment?” he asked.
Olson was referring to video of an incident at the protests that went viral at the time in which former communications professor Melissa Click threatened a reporter for filming in a public area, requesting “muscle” to forcibly remove Tim Tai, a student photographer on assignment for ESPN. Click was subsequently fired from her post as an adjunct professor.
Olson noted that other schools in Missouri, including Missouri State, are seeing an increase in enrollment, which would indicate local students are considering options other than Mizzou.

Benghazi victim's mom: Hillary needs to tell me the truth!

During an interview on the FOX Business Network’s Intelligence Report with Trish Regan, Patricia Smith, the mother of one of the Benghazi victims, responded to Hillary Clinton’s comments during the latest Democratic debate. Smith, whose son Sean was killed in the attack, believes Clinton lied to her when the former Secretary of State claimed a video was responsible for the attack.
“We were nose-to-nose at the coffin ceremony,” Smith said. “She lied to me. She told me it was the fault of the video. I said ‘are you sure?’ She says ‘yes, that’s what it was… it was the video.’ And she knew full well it wasn’t at that time. And then she says she was going to check and if it’s any different she would call me back, she would let me know, ”Smith continued, saying Clinton has yet to reply.
“She has never once spoken to me or [has] her office. The only thing I ever got out of them is that I am not a member of the immediate family and I don’t need to know… I know what she said. I don’t lie. She’s a proven liar and I call her out for that. I know what I heard.”
At Wednesday evening’s debate, Univision anchor Jorge Ramos presented Clinton with the question, which has been a contentious issue during her run for the White House. As part of her response, Clinton said Smith’s accusations are “wrong.”
“That doesn’t surprise me, not at all from the way she’s been talking,” Smith said. “She has never—and her department—will not speak to me. They still have not spoken to me. Not once has anybody ever contacted me other than to tell me I was not a member of the immediate family and they don’t have to tell me. I want Hillary to talk to me personally and tell me why there was no security there when they asked for it. I know this because I spoke to my son.”
Smith, who said she spoke to her son on the day of the attack noted that he said he was “really scared.”
“He was afraid—he said it didn’t look very good. And that he asked for security and he was turned down.”
Smith said she has pleaded with the U.S. government tell her the truth about what happened on the evening of September 11, 2012.
“All I want is for Hillary to tell me what happened…I think that as a mother I deserve to know, why my son is dead! What was the reasoning behind it? Can’t anybody there from my [own] government tell me what happened?”
She added: “I want them to tell me what happened. I want the government not to call me a liar because that’s incredible—I don’t lie like that. She’s a proven liar.”
Smith continued to state her case.
“I want to speak to her personally and I want to be able to ask her what happened. I want her to be able to tell me what happened. I don’t believe she has the guts to do that,” she said.
Smith concluded by combining some words from a recent controversial comment from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and a few words of her own: “There’s a special place in Hell for people like her [Clinton] and I hope she enjoys it there!”

Clinton commits Benghazi gaffe, saying US 'didn't lose a single person' in Libya

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton committed her second gaffe in as many days on the campaign trail Monday night, claiming that the U.S. "didn't lose a single person" in Libya during her time as secretary of state.
Clinton made the comment defending her push for regime change in the war-torn North African nation at an Illinois town hall hosted by MSNBC.
"Now, is Libya perfect? It isn't," Clinton said. After contrasting her approach toward Libya with the ongoing bloodshed in Syria's civil war, Clinton said "Libya was a different kind of calculation and we didn't lose a single person ... We didn’t have a problem in supporting our European and Arab allies in working with NATO."
Clinton made no mention of the Sept. 11, 2012 terror attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya that killed four Americans: U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, information officer Sean Smith, and former Navy SEALS Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
Questions about the attack and its aftermath have dogged Clinton throughout her second run for the White House, with emails released by the State Department contradicting several aspects of her testimony before the House Select Committee investigating the attack.
Earlier Monday, Clinton's campaign was forced to scramble to clarify comments she made about coal jobs at a CNN town hall Sunday night.
"I'm the only candidate which has a policy about how to bring economic opportunity using clean renewable energy as the key into coal country," Clinton said, "because we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business."
With many workers in crucial primary states like Ohio and Illinois relying on such jobs, Clinton's campaign put out a statement stressing that, “Coal will remain a part of the energy mix for years to come” and Clinton’s plan would also safeguard workers’ retirement and health benefits.
Spokesman Brian Fallon said “no candidate in this race is more devoted to supporting coal communities than Hillary Clinton” and “any suggestions otherwise are false."

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

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