News from the Votemaster

Scott Walker Drops Out Again

Scott Walker enrolled in Marquette University in 1986, but dropped out in 1990 without receiving a degree. He was the only candidate without a college degree. Yesterday he dropped out again, this time from the race for the Republican nomination. His performance in both debates so far was lackluster and this caused his poll numbers to drop. In the most recent CNN/ORC poll, he came in under 1%, a huge drop from the Spring. At his high point, he was the leading candidate in the Iowa caucuses. In the most recent poll, he was 10th in Iowa. He dropped out for the same reason all candidates drop out—he ran out of money. A scramble is now on for his donors and consultants. Walker is the second of the 17 Republican candidates to drop out. Former Texas governor Rick Perry said adios on Sept. 11, a fitting day since his campaign was a huge disaster.

Walker's demise points out three things. First, it's still very early and a lot can happen. No one saw this coming even 2 months ago. For a while, it looked like he could unite all the wings of the Republican Party and be a strong general election candidate. All the pundits were wrong.

Second, the candidate matters. When someone announces a run, he or she is an actual human being with a whole set of characteristics. It's not just a resume. On paper, Walker was perfect, but on stage he was less than impressive and that ultimately did him in. The same thing happened in 2012. On paper, Rick Perry, the longest serving governor in the history of Texas, looked unbeatable. But the actual candidate wasn't that strong and hung himself when he couldn't name the three federal departments he wanted to abolish.

Third, one can legitimately ask whether the current debate format is any good. Walker is not a great debater but the U.S. is not the U.K. The President doesn't have to show up in Congress regularly and debate his opponents. In fact, debates play no role whatsoever in governing. So why do we have a system where a lackluster debater like Walker is forced to drop out, whereas a someone like Ted Cruz, who was a champion debater in college, does just fine? When the President meets Vladimir Putin, shooting out clever one-liners won't be of much use since Putin barely speaks any English and the translators are never going to be able to turn bon mots in English into equally clever remarks in Russian in real time.

An alternative format might be to have each candidate, in random order, sit down at a table with the moderators for 20 minutes to be grilled on policy questions a President has control over. For example "Would you send ground troops to fight ISIS?" or "If Congress passed a bill providing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, would you sign it?") During the interviews the other candidates would be kept backstage under surveillance. They could study their printed notes or read a newspaper but would be forbidden from using their smartphones so they couldn't watch the other candidates.

With Walker, who was once a serious candidate, gone, surely George Pataki, Lindsey Graham, Jim Gilmore, Bobby Jindal, and Rick Santorum, none of whom ever had a chance, won't last long.

Did Fiorina Violate U.S. Law When CEO of Hewlett-Packard?

It is possible that when Carly Fiorina was CEO of Hewlett-Packard, she violated U.S. law by selling printers to Iran. Selling technology products to Iran is forbidden by the sanctions regime. The sale was not directly to Iran, but to a three-man company in Dubai, which then resold them in Iran, thus indirectly violating the sanctions. Fiorina claims she was unaware of the sales, although this came up during her 2010 Senate run. If she genuinely didn't know, it raises questions about her competence. After all, the CEO is responsible for putting into place procedures and people to ensure that no U.S. laws are broken.

As Fiorina gains more attention, she is going to come under more scrutiny. She likes to say that she rose from secretary to CEO, but summer jobs in college don't count. She is the daughter of Joseph Tyree Sneed, III, who was dean of the highly respected Duke Law School until President Nixon hired him as Deputy Attorney General and later appointed him as a federal judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, where he served for 35 years. Fiorina attended college at Stanford, and unlike Walker, graduated. Then she got M.B.A. degrees from the University of Maryland and the Sloan School of Management at M.I.T. People who have graduate degrees from M.I.T. often do well in life. There is no poverty-stricken little girl to CEO story here. Or as Richard Cohen so deliciously put it "she always knew the fork goes on the left."

Cohen also points out that the only President with extensive business experience was Herbert Hoover. He started out as a mining engineer and ended up running several hugely successful mining and metals companies, with offices in New York, San Francisco, London, Paris, and elsewhere. His companies were among the largest producers of zinc and other important metals in the world. He was an extremely successful CEO but historians consistently rate him as one of the worst Presidents ever. The skills you need in business, such as setting a direction for the company, hiring people to carry out your orders, and firing them if they disobey you, don't work with Congress or the courts.

The Pope Has Become a Political Football

Never in 2000 years has a pope addressed Congress. This week one will. Democrats are hoping he will talk about the need for addressing climate change. Republicans are praying he will spend his time condemning abortion. Clearly he will be up to his beanie in politics.

The political importance of his visit is underscored by President Obama's decision to meet Pope Francis' plane at Andrews Field in Maryland. Obama almost never meets visiting dignitaries at the airport but he is keenly aware that about half of Republicans think he is a Muslim, so graciously meeting the pontiff, with lots of news coverage is probably worth something. Also, Obama well knows that when a President is polling above 50%, his party has a much better chance of keeping the White House, so some good publicity is valuable to the Democrats. Finally, he might want to encourage the pope to emphasize the need for addressing poverty when talking with Speaker John Boehner, a Catholic.

New Poll Shows Clinton Leading with or without Biden

While Vice President Joe Biden is still polishing up his Shakespeare ("To run or not to run, that is the question") the polling continues. A CNN/ORC national poll released yesterday puts Clinton in the lead again. Here are the results with Biden in the mix:

Rank	Candidate	Pct
1	Hillary Clinton	42%
2	Bernie Sanders	24%
3	Joe Biden	22%
4	Martin O'Malley	1%
	Jim Webb	<1%
	Lincoln Chafee	<1%

As Biden well knows, these numbers don't mean much. So far he has stayed above the fray and remained popular. If he becomes a candidate, he will suddenly be subject to criticism. Also, Clinton will also emphasize her historic role as the first potential woman President running against two old white men, which is not so historic. Sanders will emphasize policy differences, showing he is further to the left than either of the others.

While a Biden candidacy will make Clinton work harder, it may improve her campaigning and debating skills if she makes it to the general election. Also, it will probably end the continuous torrent of news stories about her email server because political reporters will have something else to write about.

Republicans May Set Priorities This Month

The federal government will run out of money on Oct. 1. This deadline could force the Republicans in Congress to make a choice many would rather not make: what does the party stand for? Conservatives see this deadline as an opportunity to send President Obama a bill to fund the government—but without any funding for Planned Parenthood. Obama has said he would veto such a bill, shutting down the government. Republican leaders remember that when this happened in 2013, they were blamed. Fiscally minded Republicans see the focus on social issues misplaced and want to pass a budget that reigns in the federal deficit. Planned Parenthood is small potatoes to them.

One possible strategy is to use the budget reconciliation process to get a bill through Congress without a Democratic filibuster. Reconciliation bills need to get only 51 votes to pass. On the other hand, using the reconciliation process as a cover to fight abortion disturbs some tradtional Republicans, since the process was never meant for that. The consequence of all this is by Oct. 1, we may have a better idea of who runs the congressional Republican Party. This could have major implications for the presidential and especially the Senate races next year.

Congressional Campaign Committees Announce Their August Hauls

The two committees that raise money for Senate candidates have announced their results for August. The DSCC raised $3.3 million to the NRSC's $2.6 million. However, the NRSC has $8 million in the bank and is debt free while the DSCC has $8.8 million in the bank but has a debt of $8 million left over from last year.

Over at the House, the results are similar. The DCCC raised $4.2 million, more than the NRCC's $2.9 million. But the NRCC has more in the bank than the DCCC: $18.7 million to $17.7 million. Neither have any debt.

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---The Votemaster