Joining today's show are Eugene Robinson, Mark Halperin, Amy Holmes, Katty Kay, Fmr. Amb. Chris Hill, Pres. Jimmy Carter, Kristen Soltis Anderson, Chuck Todd, Jay Fielden, Mary McBride and more. Jerry Weintraub, Hollywood producer and showman, dies aged 77. The man behind Karate Kid and Ocean’s Eleven, who also promoted concerts for Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and Bob Dylan, dies of a heart attack in California.
Hollywood producer and manager Jerry Weintraub, the driving force behind such films as Karate Kid, Nashville and Ocean’s Eleven, has died in California aged 77.
Weintraub, the former chairman and CEO of United Artists, who also promoted concerts for Elvis Presley and John Denver, died on Monday in Santa Barbara of cardiac arrest, his publicist confirmed.
The Brooklyn-born son of a gem trader, Weintraub rose from the mailroom of the William Morris talent agency to become a top concert promoter before shifting into a second career as a Hollywood producer.
Building a show business empire on a Rolodex and chutzpah, Weintraub worked with the famous stars of every era — from Frank Sinatra and Bob Dylan to George Clooney and Brad Pitt.
“In the coming days there will be tributes about our friend Jerry Weintraub,” said Clooney, who starred in the Ocean’s movies, on Monday. “We’ll laugh at his great stories and applaud his accomplishments. And in the years to come, the stories and accomplishments will get better with age, just as Jerry would have wanted it.”
One of the Republican party’s most loyal supporters in Hollywood, Weintraub was aclose friend of President George Bush senior, for whom he threw a star-studded party at his Malibu home in 1981, and a golf buddy of President Ronald Reagan.
“Jerry was an American original who earned his success by the sheer force of his instinct, drive, and larger-than-life personality,” said Bush at news of Weintraub’s death. “He had a passion for life, and throughout the ups and downs of his prolific career, it was clear just how much he loved show-business.”
A self-made man, Weintraub fashioned himself in the mould of old Hollywood showman like Mike Todd, Cecil B DeMille and PT Barnum. He had his favourite LA lunch spots, a desert home in Palm Springs and moored his yacht off the French Riviera.
His career as a music promoter took a giant step in 1970 when, after a lengthy courtship, he persuaded Elvis Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, to let him promote Presley’s concerts after the singer has been focusing on film work.
Weintraub titled his 2011 memoir, When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead, and joked that he might write another with the title Dead, But Still Talking.
Weintraub’s most recent success was Behind The Candelabra, Steven Soderbergh’s 2013 drama about the life of flamboyant pianist, Liberace, played by Michael Douglas. After the big studios passed on the project, Weintraub took it to HBO, where it won 11 Emmys. Rob Lowe, who also starred in the film, called Weintraub “the ultimate producer” in a Twitter tribute.
Weintraub left numerous projects behind, including the recently debuted HBO series, The Brink, with Jack Black, and an upcoming big-budget remake of Tarzan.
“If asked my philosophy, it would be simply this: Savour life, don’t press too hard, don’t worry too much. Or as the old-timers say, ‘Enjoy,’” he wrote in his book.
“[But] I never could live by this philosophy and was, in fact, out working, hustling, trading, scheming, and making a buck as soon as I was old enough to leave my parents’ house.”
Iran demands end to U.N. missile sanctions, West refuses. A dispute over U.N. sanctions on Iran's ballistic missile program and a broader arms embargo were among issues holding up a nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers on Monday, the day before their latest self-imposed deadline.
"The Iranians want the ballistic missile sanctions lifted. They say there is no reason to connect it with the nuclear issue, a view that is difficult to accept," one Western official told Reuters. "There's no appetite for that on our part."
Iranian and other Western officials confirmed this view. The foreign ministers of the six powers - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States - met on Monday with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamed Javad Zarif - and were expected to meet again soon - to try to strike a deal by Tuesday night.
"The Western side insists that not only should it (Iran's ballistic missile program) remain under sanctions, but that Iran should suspend its program as well," an Iranian official said.
"But Iran is insisting on its rights and says all the sanctions, including on the ballistic missiles, should be lifted when the U.N. sanctions are lifted."
Separately, a senior Iranian official told reporters in Vienna on condition of anonymity that Tehran wanted a United Nations arms embargo terminated as well. A senior Western diplomat said a removal was "out of the question".
The deal under discussion is aimed at curbing Tehran's most sensitive nuclear work for a decade or more, in exchange for relief from sanctions that have slashed Iran's oil exports and crippled its economy.
The United States and its allies fear Iran is using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop a nuclear weapons capability. Iran says its program is peaceful.
An agreement would be the most important milestone in decades towards easing hostility between the United States and Iran, enemies since Iranian revolutionaries captured 52 hostages in the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979.
An Iranian official told the semi-official Tasnim news agency that the talks could continue until July 9, echoing some Western diplomats. A White House spokesman in Washington said it was "certainly possible" the deadline could slip.
A deal could reduce the chance of any military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, something Washington has refused to rule out, and the possibility of a wider war in the Middle East, where conflicts already rage in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
"FAKE STATE"Iranian leaders have warned that Iran would respond to any attack by targeting U.S. interests and Israel.
"Israel is a fake temporary state. It's a foreign object in the body of a nation and it will be erased soon," the state news agency IRNA quoted former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as saying.
Iran refuses to recognize Israel, which is widely believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear power and has repeatedly described Iran's nuclear program as a threat to its existence.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal would "pave Iran's path to a nuclear arsenal".
"It will give them a jackpot of hundreds of billions of dollars with which to continue to fund their aggression and terror - aggression in the region, terror throughout the world," he told reporters in Jerusalem.
If there is a nuclear deal, it will include a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that, once adopted, would terminate all U.N. nuclear-related sanctions while simultaneously re-imposing other existing restrictions on Iran.
The six powers argue that removing those measures could further destabilize the region.
"Intense work is going on to try and conclude by the deadline," a senior Western diplomat said, referring to Tuesday.
A German diplomat, however, said "failure is not ruled out." Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted an Iranian official saying that "serious differences" remained after the ministerial meeting.
U.S. President Barack Obama must submit the deal to Congress by July 9 in order to get an accelerated 30-day review. If it is submitted later, the Republican-led Congress would have 60 days to review it, providing more time for the deal to unravel.
In parallel with the powers' talks, delegates from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were due to hold talks with Iranian officials in Tehran on Monday, following a visit from IAEA chief Yukiya Amano last week.
The powers want Iran to grant more access to IAEA inspectors and to answer its questions about previous nuclear work that may have had military purposes. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi, Louis Charbonneau and Arshad Mohammed; Additional reporting by John Irish, Arshad Mohammed and Shadia Nasralla in Vienna and by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Giles Elgood).
Greek financial crisis: How the country moves forward after the No vote. First priority is dealing with threat of collapse of country`s banking system. The jubilance expressed by the supporters of the No side in Greece's historic referendum may be short-lived, as the country faces the sobering realities of its precarious financial situation.
On Sunday, more than 61 per cent of Greeks voted against budget cuts that European creditors had proposed in return for rescue loans the country needs.
Now, Greece still must deal with a financial crisis that includes a debt to Europe of over €320 billion, and the need, according to the IMF, of at least another €60 billion more for relief.
A sign of compromise?
Despite the strong mandate the results gave Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who had urged his citizens to vote No, the Greek leader signalled he may be willing to compromise with the Europeans with the resignation of former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. Varoufakis, an inflammatory figure, had suggested the European leaders were financial terrorists because of their demands.
But first things first. The banks.
But the most immediate threat facing Greece is the insolvency of its banking system, which is near collapse. Basically, it's almost out of cash. This has meant closed branches, long lineups at ATMs and a daily rationing of €60 per person.
"The first thing they need to decide is whether they keep propping up the Greek banks while the European leaders negotiate Greece's debt," said Evan Dudley, an assistant professor at Queen's University School of Business.
"It's a tough decision because the European leaders and the European Central Bank have taken a tough stance up to the referendum. If they cave here and say they will support the banking system so we can promote further re-negotiations, then it kind of undermines that tough stand."
Some suggest that July 20 will be the day of reckoning, as that's the day Greece owes the ECB a €3.5 billion payment. It's at this point the ECB could cut off the flow of money, forcing Greece out of the eurozone.
On Monday, the ECB said it was keeping the level of emergency credit to Greek banks unchanged. But Ian Lee, an assistant professor at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business, said he believes the ECB will continue to give some money to Greece, while keeping it "on a very, very short leash."
"I think what they will probably do is keep the money trickling in just to keep the banks alive while the [European leaders] decide what the larger overall package is going to be."
Goodbye eurozone, hello drachma?
With the very real chance that Greece may abandon (or be pushed out of) the eurozone altogether, this would mean the return of its own currency. The No vote has put pressure on Greece to take control of its own money supply and going back to the drachma could solve some of those problems, Dudley said.
"They'd say, 'OK, we don't need the ECB, we'll meet all deposit requests, We can pay everything out in drachmas instead of euros, All the currency transactions in Greece could be rewritten in drachmas. At the end of the day, Greece would be in full control, monetarily, of what's going on in its country." he said.
But that would come with its own set of complications. Greek businesses reliant on imports would now deal with suppliers who wouldn't want to be paid in drachmas. Goods coming into the county would face huge inflationary price increases. And contracts between Greek businesses, based on euros, would have to be renegotiated.
"It would be very difficult and chaotic in the short run. In the long run it would probably be best," Dudley said.
Market impact
While the markets fell following the referendum vote, it wasn't nearly as dramatic as some had feared.
"The stock exchange will hurt for the next few days. It always goes down when there's bad news, uncertainty and right now there's a lot of uncertainty and bad news in Greece," Lee said. "Then they'll come back up when the world is not coming to an end. "
Europe prepared?
Europe is much better prepared than it was in 2012 when Greece was going to default, before a last-minute bailout package was agreed upon. In part, the country has been ring fenced, meaning that measures have been put in place to protect other countries from the possibility of financial contagion.
For example, Dudley said, the ECB has said it will not let the euro currency fall, at any cost, eliminating fears the currency could collapse
Little effect on Canada
The Canadian economy is pretty much isolated from the Greek economy, with neither country engaging in a lot of trade with the other.
However, Canadian importers of olive oil, sea salt, preserved vegetables and other delicacies from Greece say they've been stockpiling goods in their warehouses in anticipation that the economic turmoil overseas will get worse. With files from The Associated Press and The Canadian Press.
APNewsBreak: Cosby said he got drugs to give women for sex. Bill Cosby testified in 2005 that he got Quaaludes with the intent of giving them to young women he wanted to have sex with, and he admitted giving the sedative to at least one woman and "other people," according to documents obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
The AP had gone to court to compel the release of the documents; Cosby's lawyers had objected on the grounds that it would embarrass their client.
The 77-year-old comedian was testifying under oath in a lawsuit filed by a former Temple University employee. He testified he gave her three half-pills of Benadryl.
Cosby settled that sexual-abuse lawsuit for undisclosed terms in 2006. His lawyers in the Philadelphia case did not immediately return phone calls Monday.
Cosby has been accused by more than two dozen women of sexual misconduct, including allegations by many that he drugged and raped them in incidents dating back more than four decades. Cosby, 77, has never been criminally charged, and most of the accusations are barred by statutes of limitations.
Cosby resigned in December from the board of trustees at Temple, where he was the popular face of the Philadelphia school in advertisements, fundraising campaigns and commencement speeches.
De'Andre Johnson Dismissed by FSU: Latest Details, Comments and Reaction. The Florida State Seminoles dismissed freshman quarterback De'Andre Johnson on Monday following a charge of misdemeanor battery stemming from a June 24 incident in which he struck a woman in a bar.
Sports Illustrated's Andy Staples obtained an official release from the Seminoles athletic department indicating Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher announced the decision to dismiss Johnson:
ESPN's Mark Schlabach reported June 30 that Johnson faced the battery charge, and the Tallahassee Democrat subsequently released video footage of the incident. Johnson, 19, was suspended indefinitely just one day after the altercation occurred.
The true freshman enrolled early in January to get a jump on Florida State's complex pro-style offense. Although it would have been a long shot to push Everett Golson and Sean Maguire for the starting job, Johnson could have been the face of the Seminoles program in a couple of years.
That potentially bright future in Tallahassee has been wiped away in a flash. Johnson was bound to be dismissed once the disturbing video of his confrontation surfaced, especially with the off-field issues that plagued former FSU star quarterback Jameis Winston.
Johnson is enrolled in educational programs on domestic violence and has been apologetic about the incident, according to TMZ.com. It still may not be feasible, though, for the former 3-star recruit to expect a second chance to play NCAA football at the highest level.
Hillary Clinton’s Team Is Wary as Bernie Sanders Finds Footing in Iowa. The ample crowds and unexpectedly strong showing garnered by Senator Bernie Sanders are setting off worry among advisers and allies of Hillary Rodham Clinton, who believe the Vermont senator could overtake her in Iowa polls by the fall and even defeat her in the nation’s first nominating contest there.
The enthusiasm that Mr. Sanders has generated — including a rally attended by 2,500 people in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Friday — has called into question Mrs. Clinton’s early strategy of focusing on a listening tour of small groups and wooing big donors in private settings. In May, Mrs. Clinton led with 60 percent support to Mr. Sanders’s 15 percent in a Quinnipiac poll. Last week the same poll showed Mrs. Clinton at 52 percent to Mr. Sanders’s 33 percent.
Hillary Rodham Clinton in March in New York City.What Hillary Clinton Would Need to Do to WinAPRIL 12, 2015
“We are worried about him, sure. He will be a serious force for the campaign, and I don’t think that will diminish,” Jennifer Palmieri, the Clinton campaign’s communications director, said Monday in an interview on the show.
Senator Bernie Sanders introduced himself in Creston, Iowa, last weekend. Credit Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
Some of Mrs. Clinton’s advisers acknowledged that they were surprised by Mr. Sanders’s momentum and said there were enough liberal voters in Iowa, including many who supported Barack Obama or John Edwards in 2008, to create problems for her there.
“I think we underestimated that Sanders would quickly attract so many Democrats in Iowa who weren’t likely to support Hillary,” said one Clinton adviser, who like several others spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly share views about the race. “It’s too early to change strategy because no one knows if Sanders will be able to hold on to these voters in the months ahead. We’re working hard to win them over, but, yeah, it’s a real competition there.”
Asked on Friday about the crowds Mr. Sanders was drawing, Mrs. Clinton seemed to walk a careful line with her answer. “Well, we each run our own campaigns, and I always knew this was going to be competitive,” she told reporters at an ice cream stand in Lebanon, N.H.
Those who see Mrs. Clinton as being at risk in Iowa say she is still far better positioned to win the nomination than Mr. Sanders, who lags by double digits in Iowa polling. Mr. Sanders is an untested national candidate who has far less money than she does, and his self-announced “democratic socialist” leanings are anathema to many Americans. Mrs. Clinton’s advisers, meanwhile, have deep experience pulling off upsets and comeback political victories, and Mrs. Clinton often performs best when she is under pressure from rivals.
But a loss in an early state like Iowa would signal a vulnerability for Mrs. Clinton at a time when she has sought to unite the Democratic Party behind her candidacy, and especially to demonstrate to its restless liberal wing that she can represent their interests. A Sanders victory could also further energize his fund-raising base.
“Certainly she could lose Iowa,” said Joe Trippi, a veteran Democratic strategist who managed Howard Dean’s 2004 campaign. If that happened, Mr. Trippi said, “mostly they’d just have to ride out the punditry and people with their hair on fire” and go on to capture the nomination. Mr. Sanders’s rising fortunes pose a bind for the Clinton team. Directly challenging the senator on his policies and record could elevate his candidacy, alienate some liberal Democrats and make Mrs. Clinton look anxious. Yet continuing the current strategy — vigorously courting voters while hoping they conclude that Mr. Sanders is unelectable — requires Mrs. Clinton to put faith in an Iowa electorate that snubbed her seven years ago, choosing Mr. Obama and Mr. Edwards over her.
Randy Black, left, and Dean Genth, supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton, with a cutout of the candidate at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines last month. Credit Scott Morgan for The New York Times
Whatever the outcome in Iowa, the Clinton campaign, which raised $45 million in its first three months, already is building a national infrastructure, with one or more organizers, at least temporarily, in each state.
Carter Eskew, a Democratic political consultant, said the strength of the Sanders candidacy should stop further talk of a “coronation” of Mrs. Clinton as the Democratic nominee. “From the Clinton perspective, Sanders has gone from an annoyance to a threat,” he said. “One consolation, Sanders won’t creep up on anybody anymore. The Clinton camp has time to adjust expectations, if not strategy.”
Mrs. Clinton has also spent so much time at fund-raisers, most of which bring in more than $27,000, according to campaign reports, that she has not made as many stops in Iowa as her opponent. On Tuesday, she will hold events in Iowa City (where Mr. Sanders drew a crowd of several hundred in late May) and Ottumwa. In the coming weeks, she is expected to make more frequent visits to the state and hold larger events, delivering her message of lifting the middle class.
Hours after her loss there in 2008, Mrs. Clinton’s aides played down Iowa’s importance, with one aide comparing the caucuses to “a mayor’s race in a medium-sized city.”
Her current team has been careful not to diminish the state’s importance and has been pouring in money and staffing. She has dozens of paid staff members there compared with about 20 for Mr. Sanders. “The caucus is about working hard, with humility, to engage Iowans” said Matt Paul, Mrs. Clinton’s state director for Iowa. To that end, the campaign has recruited volunteers to caucus for Mrs. Clinton in each of the state’s 1,682 precincts.
“We take nothing for granted in Iowa because the caucuses are always such a tough proving ground,” said Robby Mook, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign manager. “But Hillary Clinton’s regular travel to the state and the organization we have established on the ground show how committed we are to prevailing there.” (A Vermont native, Mr. Mook has known Mr. Sanders and his organizing playbook since the 1990s and has been warning the campaign about his potential rise.)
Advisers to Mr. Sanders said voters flocked to his events because he offers ambitious proposals to major problems, such as his plans to eliminate tuition at public colleges, to reduce student debt and to spend $1 trillion on public works programs to create more jobs, though he proposed paying for them with huge tax increases. His advisers also argued that voters viewed him as willing to go further in championing significant tax increases for wealthy Americans to support programs to benefit low- and middle-income Americans.
“I’ve been struck by the large numbers of people who are saying they want to sign on the dotted line and support his campaign, organize their community, help in any way they can,” said Pete D’Alessandro, a veteran Iowa operative who is overseeing the Sanders campaign there.
His advisers dismissed any notion from Mrs. Clinton’s allies that she was anything but the clear front-runner in Iowa.
“That’s just political chatter and the usual tactics,” said Jeff Weaver, the senator’s campaign manager. “What’s important is what we saw at Bernie’s recent event in Wisconsin — a candidate speaking to the issues facing Americans, and 10,000 people coming out for it.”
While Mr. Sanders’s crowds make for powerful images, Mrs. Clinton’s allies pointed out that his largest rallies had been in handpicked locations like Madison, Wis., and Iowa City, where there are many college-educated white liberals, a demographic that represents his base. Mrs. Clinton draws stronger support from African-Americans, Latino voters and moderate voters.
Regardless, big crowds mean more cash for Mr. Sanders, who said his campaign had raised $15 million since April 30. And Mrs. Clinton’s Internet fund-raising has room to grow as the campaign seeks to build its database of small-dollar donors, a tough proposition without big rallies. Of the roughly two million supporters from 2008, the campaign said, it has only about 100,000 active email accounts.
Jan Bauer, the Democratic chairwoman of Story County, compared Mr. Sanders to Mr. Dean, also of Vermont, whose antiwar liberalism took Iowa by storm in 2004 before John Kerry rallied in the final days before the caucuses and later captured the nomination.
“You don’t know what’s going to happen until you get to those last two weeks,” Ms. Bauer said.
The enthusiasm that Mr. Sanders has generated — including a rally attended by 2,500 people in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Friday — has called into question Mrs. Clinton’s early strategy of focusing on a listening tour of small groups and wooing big donors in private settings. In May, Mrs. Clinton led with 60 percent support to Mr. Sanders’s 15 percent in a Quinnipiac poll. Last week the same poll showed Mrs. Clinton at 52 percent to Mr. Sanders’s 33 percent.
Hillary Rodham Clinton in March in New York City.What Hillary Clinton Would Need to Do to WinAPRIL 12, 2015
“We are worried about him, sure. He will be a serious force for the campaign, and I don’t think that will diminish,” Jennifer Palmieri, the Clinton campaign’s communications director, said Monday in an interview on the show.
Senator Bernie Sanders introduced himself in Creston, Iowa, last weekend. Credit Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
Some of Mrs. Clinton’s advisers acknowledged that they were surprised by Mr. Sanders’s momentum and said there were enough liberal voters in Iowa, including many who supported Barack Obama or John Edwards in 2008, to create problems for her there.
“I think we underestimated that Sanders would quickly attract so many Democrats in Iowa who weren’t likely to support Hillary,” said one Clinton adviser, who like several others spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly share views about the race. “It’s too early to change strategy because no one knows if Sanders will be able to hold on to these voters in the months ahead. We’re working hard to win them over, but, yeah, it’s a real competition there.”
Asked on Friday about the crowds Mr. Sanders was drawing, Mrs. Clinton seemed to walk a careful line with her answer. “Well, we each run our own campaigns, and I always knew this was going to be competitive,” she told reporters at an ice cream stand in Lebanon, N.H.
Those who see Mrs. Clinton as being at risk in Iowa say she is still far better positioned to win the nomination than Mr. Sanders, who lags by double digits in Iowa polling. Mr. Sanders is an untested national candidate who has far less money than she does, and his self-announced “democratic socialist” leanings are anathema to many Americans. Mrs. Clinton’s advisers, meanwhile, have deep experience pulling off upsets and comeback political victories, and Mrs. Clinton often performs best when she is under pressure from rivals.
But a loss in an early state like Iowa would signal a vulnerability for Mrs. Clinton at a time when she has sought to unite the Democratic Party behind her candidacy, and especially to demonstrate to its restless liberal wing that she can represent their interests. A Sanders victory could also further energize his fund-raising base.
“Certainly she could lose Iowa,” said Joe Trippi, a veteran Democratic strategist who managed Howard Dean’s 2004 campaign. If that happened, Mr. Trippi said, “mostly they’d just have to ride out the punditry and people with their hair on fire” and go on to capture the nomination. Mr. Sanders’s rising fortunes pose a bind for the Clinton team. Directly challenging the senator on his policies and record could elevate his candidacy, alienate some liberal Democrats and make Mrs. Clinton look anxious. Yet continuing the current strategy — vigorously courting voters while hoping they conclude that Mr. Sanders is unelectable — requires Mrs. Clinton to put faith in an Iowa electorate that snubbed her seven years ago, choosing Mr. Obama and Mr. Edwards over her.
Randy Black, left, and Dean Genth, supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton, with a cutout of the candidate at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines last month. Credit Scott Morgan for The New York Times
Whatever the outcome in Iowa, the Clinton campaign, which raised $45 million in its first three months, already is building a national infrastructure, with one or more organizers, at least temporarily, in each state.
Carter Eskew, a Democratic political consultant, said the strength of the Sanders candidacy should stop further talk of a “coronation” of Mrs. Clinton as the Democratic nominee. “From the Clinton perspective, Sanders has gone from an annoyance to a threat,” he said. “One consolation, Sanders won’t creep up on anybody anymore. The Clinton camp has time to adjust expectations, if not strategy.”
Mrs. Clinton has also spent so much time at fund-raisers, most of which bring in more than $27,000, according to campaign reports, that she has not made as many stops in Iowa as her opponent. On Tuesday, she will hold events in Iowa City (where Mr. Sanders drew a crowd of several hundred in late May) and Ottumwa. In the coming weeks, she is expected to make more frequent visits to the state and hold larger events, delivering her message of lifting the middle class.
Hours after her loss there in 2008, Mrs. Clinton’s aides played down Iowa’s importance, with one aide comparing the caucuses to “a mayor’s race in a medium-sized city.”
Her current team has been careful not to diminish the state’s importance and has been pouring in money and staffing. She has dozens of paid staff members there compared with about 20 for Mr. Sanders. “The caucus is about working hard, with humility, to engage Iowans” said Matt Paul, Mrs. Clinton’s state director for Iowa. To that end, the campaign has recruited volunteers to caucus for Mrs. Clinton in each of the state’s 1,682 precincts.
“We take nothing for granted in Iowa because the caucuses are always such a tough proving ground,” said Robby Mook, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign manager. “But Hillary Clinton’s regular travel to the state and the organization we have established on the ground show how committed we are to prevailing there.” (A Vermont native, Mr. Mook has known Mr. Sanders and his organizing playbook since the 1990s and has been warning the campaign about his potential rise.)
Advisers to Mr. Sanders said voters flocked to his events because he offers ambitious proposals to major problems, such as his plans to eliminate tuition at public colleges, to reduce student debt and to spend $1 trillion on public works programs to create more jobs, though he proposed paying for them with huge tax increases. His advisers also argued that voters viewed him as willing to go further in championing significant tax increases for wealthy Americans to support programs to benefit low- and middle-income Americans.
“I’ve been struck by the large numbers of people who are saying they want to sign on the dotted line and support his campaign, organize their community, help in any way they can,” said Pete D’Alessandro, a veteran Iowa operative who is overseeing the Sanders campaign there.
His advisers dismissed any notion from Mrs. Clinton’s allies that she was anything but the clear front-runner in Iowa.
“That’s just political chatter and the usual tactics,” said Jeff Weaver, the senator’s campaign manager. “What’s important is what we saw at Bernie’s recent event in Wisconsin — a candidate speaking to the issues facing Americans, and 10,000 people coming out for it.”
While Mr. Sanders’s crowds make for powerful images, Mrs. Clinton’s allies pointed out that his largest rallies had been in handpicked locations like Madison, Wis., and Iowa City, where there are many college-educated white liberals, a demographic that represents his base. Mrs. Clinton draws stronger support from African-Americans, Latino voters and moderate voters.
Regardless, big crowds mean more cash for Mr. Sanders, who said his campaign had raised $15 million since April 30. And Mrs. Clinton’s Internet fund-raising has room to grow as the campaign seeks to build its database of small-dollar donors, a tough proposition without big rallies. Of the roughly two million supporters from 2008, the campaign said, it has only about 100,000 active email accounts.
Jan Bauer, the Democratic chairwoman of Story County, compared Mr. Sanders to Mr. Dean, also of Vermont, whose antiwar liberalism took Iowa by storm in 2004 before John Kerry rallied in the final days before the caucuses and later captured the nomination.
“You don’t know what’s going to happen until you get to those last two weeks,” Ms. Bauer said.
Obama on ISIS Threat: "Ideologies Are Not Defeated With Guns, They Are Defeated By Better Ideas". After consulting with military leaders at the Pentagon this afternoon President Obama held a press conference on the growing threat of ISIS. President Obama declared the United States "will never be at war with Islam." Obama also said, "ideologies are not defeated with guns but better ideas."
"We'll constantly reaffirm through words and deeds that we will never be at war with Islam," President Obama said Monday afternoon. "We are fighting terrorists who distort islam and its victims are mostly Muslims."
"This challenge of countering violent extremism is not simply a military effort," the president said. "Ideologies are not defeated with guns but better ideas and more attracting and more compelling vision."
PRESIDENT OBAMA: This broader challenge of countering violent extremism is not simply a military effort. Ideologies are not defeated with guns, they are defeated by better ideas and more attractive and more compelling vision. So the United States will continue to do our part by continuing to counter ISIL's hateful propaganda, especially online. We'll constantly reaffirm through words and deeds that we will never be at war with Islam. We are fighting terrorists who distort islam and its victims are mostly Muslims.
We're also going to partner with Muslim communities as they seek the prosperity and dignity they observe. And we're going to expect those communities to step up in terms of pushing back as hard as they can in conjunction with other people of good will against these hateful ideologies, particularly when it comes to what we're teaching young people.
"We'll constantly reaffirm through words and deeds that we will never be at war with Islam," President Obama said Monday afternoon. "We are fighting terrorists who distort islam and its victims are mostly Muslims."
"This challenge of countering violent extremism is not simply a military effort," the president said. "Ideologies are not defeated with guns but better ideas and more attracting and more compelling vision."
PRESIDENT OBAMA: This broader challenge of countering violent extremism is not simply a military effort. Ideologies are not defeated with guns, they are defeated by better ideas and more attractive and more compelling vision. So the United States will continue to do our part by continuing to counter ISIL's hateful propaganda, especially online. We'll constantly reaffirm through words and deeds that we will never be at war with Islam. We are fighting terrorists who distort islam and its victims are mostly Muslims.
We're also going to partner with Muslim communities as they seek the prosperity and dignity they observe. And we're going to expect those communities to step up in terms of pushing back as hard as they can in conjunction with other people of good will against these hateful ideologies, particularly when it comes to what we're teaching young people.
Jimmy Carter: America in 'Inevitable Decline,' Not Obama's Fault. From the man who brought you malaise, now an even more depressingly negative view of America . . . On today's Morning Joe, Jimmy Carter declared that America is in "inevitable decline." But no finger-pointing at President Obama, please: Carter declared that the decline is "not because of any defect or fault on the part of the President of the United States." Cue the Cole Porter: it's just one of those things. Carter was on to promote his latest book, looking back on his 90 years of life.
Carter's grim prognosis notwithstanding, decline is not inevitable. It is due to weak leaders like Carter and Obama who fail to stand up for America and defend the principles that made it great.
WILLIE GEIST: I know this is a big question with a long answer, but, drawing on your 90 years, how is the United States doing right now? Where are we?
JIMMY CARTER: Well, we're in an inevitable relative decline in world-wide influence. Not because of any fault of ours, but it's, as I said, inevitable. I think that the combination of China and India and Brazil and South Africa and others as they increase in economic and cultural influence will replace a lot of the power and pre-eminence that the United States has enjoyed in the past. So we're having, whether we like it or not, to accommodate that necessity of realizing other people are going to be as powerful and influencing as we are in some aspects of life. Not militarily, we'll stay preeminent there for a long time. But I think economically, China will soon, you know, succeed the United States as the #1 economic power in the world. I think influence in politics is also shifting inside the United Nations and in the ability of the United States to use its influence to change situations that we don't like around the world. That's commonly what it is. It's not because of any defect or fault on the part of the President of the United States. It's just happening as an historical, evolutionary, unavoidable circumstance.
Regardless of it all today, please stay in touch.
Carter's grim prognosis notwithstanding, decline is not inevitable. It is due to weak leaders like Carter and Obama who fail to stand up for America and defend the principles that made it great.
WILLIE GEIST: I know this is a big question with a long answer, but, drawing on your 90 years, how is the United States doing right now? Where are we?
JIMMY CARTER: Well, we're in an inevitable relative decline in world-wide influence. Not because of any fault of ours, but it's, as I said, inevitable. I think that the combination of China and India and Brazil and South Africa and others as they increase in economic and cultural influence will replace a lot of the power and pre-eminence that the United States has enjoyed in the past. So we're having, whether we like it or not, to accommodate that necessity of realizing other people are going to be as powerful and influencing as we are in some aspects of life. Not militarily, we'll stay preeminent there for a long time. But I think economically, China will soon, you know, succeed the United States as the #1 economic power in the world. I think influence in politics is also shifting inside the United Nations and in the ability of the United States to use its influence to change situations that we don't like around the world. That's commonly what it is. It's not because of any defect or fault on the part of the President of the United States. It's just happening as an historical, evolutionary, unavoidable circumstance.
Regardless of it all today, please stay in touch.
