Hillary Clinton is going all out to convince Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to concede defeat and endorse her. On Wednesday, she adopted his plan for free tuition at state colleges, with some footnotes. He said her idea was a very profound proposal.
Yesterday, she re-adopted something close to his health insurance plan, letting people 55 and older opt into Medicare. It is not his first choice, but he will surely see this as a major step in his direction. Actually, this is not a new development. Back in May she said the same thing, but saying it again now reminds his supporters that she is taking over major pieces of Sanders' platform. She is not playing to Sanders, who already knows what her positions are, but to his supporters, who may not. It also reassures them that he is having a huge impact on her campaign.
According to multiple reports, Sanders is planning to endorse Clinton Tuesday in New Hampshire and say that he is going to spend every day from then until Nov. 8 trying to defeat Donald Trump. If he really does this, and doesn't simply say: "I hereby endorse Hillary Clinton" and then vanish for 4 months, it could make a big difference with his supporters. If both Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) are out there campaigning their hearts out either for Clinton or against Trump or both, it is hard to imagine many Sanders supporters staying home on Election Day or voting for Green Party candidate Jill Stein. The combined support of Sanders and Warren carries a lot of weight with the progressive movement. (V)
In another sop to Bernie Sanders' supporters, the Democrats' platform committee made a somewhat unexpected move on Saturday afternoon. By a very close vote, 81-80, they decided to add a plank calling for the federal government to, "remove marijuana from its list as a Class 1 Federal Controlled Substance, providing a reasoned pathway for future legalization."
It's a fairly blunt statement, but also a shrewd move by the Party. Pot is already legal or semi-legal in more than a dozen states, and a dozen more will be voting on the issue in November. So, the Democrats might as well roll with the issue while there's still time. Further, taking a position that Bernie Sanders and his followers embrace will make it seem like more of a joint Clinton-Sanders platform, rather than just an "establishment" platform. Perhaps most importantly, getting young people out to the polls is a chronic problem, and if any plank is going to motivate them, this is it. (Z)
Despite his saying earlier that he wants someone with governing experience as his running mate, Donald Trump is seriously considering Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn (ret.) as his running mate, according to several sources familiar with what Trump is doing. The turn toward a military leader is something Trump himself is interested in, rather than something his advisers are interested in. He thinks it projects "tough and steady" to a broad audience.
The problem with Flynn, however, is that he would have a difficult time convincing many people that he is able to take over the White House at a moment's notice, if the need arose. He has been a career military officer his whole life. His only real executive experience was as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency for two years. He has never held any elected office. If Trump picks him and Clinton picks Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), the contrast will be striking, since Kaine has been mayor of Richmond, governor of Virginia, senator from Virginia, and head of the DNC. He clearly understands how government works. With a pick of Flynn, Trump would be betting that foreign affairs in general and defeating ISIS in particular will so dominate the election that people will overlook the fact that he doesn't have any experience in civilian life in either an executive position or a legislative one.
Another problem with Flynn is that he is a lifelong registered Democrat. While Trump will try to spin this as a "bipartisan approach" to governing, conservative Republicans are more likely to interpret it as more evidence that Trump isn't a Republican at all. (V)
As noted below, there may be all sorts of shenanigans at the GOP convention. And on Saturday came news of yet another possible rebellion. The anti-Trump delegates are angling for a rule change that would allow the convention to choose the Party's VP candidate, instead of allowing The Donald to do so.
If this maneuver is successful, it would upend a custom that has held sway for at least 70 years. The last time the RNC selected the VP was 1944, when it chose both of the candidates on the ticket—Thomas E. Dewey for president, and John Bricker for Veep. It would also be a huge slap in the face to Trump, who could react in a variety of ways, most of them not very presidential. It is hard to ascertain what the purpose of this scheme might be; perhaps the anti-Trump delegates hope that insulting him will cause him to throw a temper tantrum and quit, or perhaps they really think he might resign before being inaugurated. In any case, the fireworks begin in just one week. (Z)
Donald Trump has taken many different positions on abortion, often within the same day. At the moment, he is embracing a fairly standard moderate-Republican point of view, namely that abortion should be illegal except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother's life is in danger. That is the plank he wants in the Republican platform, but it may not be the one he gets.
This revelation comes from platform committee co-chair Gov. Mary Fallin (R-OK) who finds herself in a very tricky position. On one hand, the GOP platform does not generally include the so-called "three exceptions," and to add them would anger the social conservatives and Christians. On the other hand, Fallin is potentially interested in being Trump's running mate, and may want to try to make nice with The Donald. On yet another hand, Fallin just vetoed a bill that would make providing abortions a felony, and she may need to shore up her anti-abortion credentials. A public fight with Trump over the abortion plank would probably help.
Whatever happens on this particular issue, it is becoming clear that the usual custom of deferring to the nominee on platform issues will not be closely observed this year. And so, Donald Trump may end up running on a platform that he essentially ignores. That would not be good for party unity. (Z)
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus is heading off to Cleveland with his fingers crossed. Next week, the Rules and Platform committees meet there, and protesters and activists are starting to show up as well. There will be conflict a-plenty both inside and outside the convention hall and Priebus has little control over it. A small, but loud, group of delegates is planning to try to derail Trump's nomination. They probably won't succeed, but if Trump narrowly wins a floor fight, there goes party unity. Nearly all Republicans are hoping and praying that Trump turns down the volume and stops making incendiary remarks, but so far there is little sign that he plans to do so. It's not only Priebus who is worried. For example, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) said that Trump "risked losing Arizona because his insults and incendiary rhetoric would chase away independent and Hispanic voters." Many other Republicans feel the same way.
Outside the convention hall, there could be clashes between anti-Trump protesters, pro-Trump supporters, and police. With the country on edge due to the killings of multiple black men by police officers in recent months and well as the killings of five police officers in Dallas, trouble could easily erupt and get more attention than what is going on inside the hall. (V)
After Gretchen Carlson's bombshell that Fox News head Roger Ailes had sexually harassed her, now six more women have made similar allegations. Ailes has denied all of them. In fact, over a dozen women have now contacted Carlson's attorney, Nancy Erika Smith, but not all the names have been made public. Some of the women were as young as 16 at the time of the alleged incidents.
Fox is being run by Rupert Murdoch's sons, who have long been trying to force Ailes out, but so far with little success. This alleged misconduct could easily be the excuse they can use to dump him. Given the political importance of Fox News, any change in top management could have enormous consequences. Since Fox is a private company, Murdoch's sons don't have to wait for an admission of guilt and don't have to give him his day in court. They can just call him up and do a Donald Trump: "You're fired." That's all it would take.
Ailes is trying to have the case be removed from a public courtroom and be adjudicated in a secret arbitration proceeding. Having a dozen or more women testify in open court that he has harassed them won't look good on TV, not even on Fox News. So better to keep the whole thing secret, pay Carlson a bit of money, and be over with it. Carlson's contract calls for arbitration on matters concerning contract disputes, but her beef isn't with Fox News as an organization, it is with Ailes personally, so it is not clear if the arbitration clause applies. There will be a lot of preliminary fighting about where the case will be heard, in court or in arbitration, before it even starts. (V)
The Missouri state legislature passed a bill requiring voters to have a valid ID in order to vote, but it may not become law because Gov. Jay Nixon (D-MO) has vetoed it, calling it "an affront to Missourians' fundamental right to vote." Nixon explained his veto further by saying it would disproportionately disenfranchise senior citizens, people with disabilities, and others who don't have an ID that meets the requirements of the law. Nixon also said the bill solves a non-problem, since voter impersonation is exceedingly rare. The state legislature could possibly override the veto, however, since it passed with very large majorities in both chambers. (V)