MORNING MESSAGE
Ten
million people watched the Democratic debate on Sunday despite Democratic
National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s best efforts to bury it ...
Clinton, the favorite, made a calculated decision to wrap herself tightly to
Barack Obama ... While Sanders praised President Obama, whom he supported in
2008 and 2012, he made it clear he had differences with him – and that this
country needed transformative change ... Clinton’s great challenge is to
establish clearly what she would do differently than the president to make the
country work for working people. If the economy falters – as seems increasingly
likely – running as Obama’s third term may have more costs than
benefits.
Dem Primary May Not End Quickly
Clinton
campaign needs to retool for extended campaign season. NYT: “Even though the
Clinton team has sought to convey that it has built a national operation, the
campaign has invested much of its resources in the Feb. 1 caucuses in Iowa,
hoping that a victory there could marginalize Mr. Sanders … Mr. Sanders has
campaign workers installed in all 11 of the states that vote on Super Tuesday.
Mrs. Clinton does not, and is relying on union volunteers and members of
supportive organizations such as Planned Parenthood to help her.”
7000
turn out for Bernie in Alabama. AL.com: “Sanders appealed to the crowd for
their support and expressed confidence that he could overtake Clinton here. …
‘We have got to go out to our white working class friends … and we have got to
go out to our brothers and sisters there and say, “Stop voting against your own
best interest,”‘ he said.”
Sen.
Dick Durbin raises expectations for Bernie win in Iowa. Politico: “‘I think
that Bernie is going to have his troops show up there. And Hillary is going to
do her best to beat him,’ Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told David Axelrod [in a
podcast interview.] ‘But it could be close and he could end up winning that and
maybe even his neighboring state of New Hampshire.'”
HRC
snags HRC endorsement. Politico: “Hillary Clinton scored the endorsement of
the Human Rights Campaign on Tuesday, with the LGBT rights group hailing the
Democratic candidate as the best choice to advance their message in November …
The group endorsed Obama over Clinton in 2008…”
Cruz v. Trump
Sen.
Ted Cruz elevates attack on Donald Trump. NYT: “‘I would suggest as voters,’
Mr. Cruz said, ‘you have reason to doubt the credibility of the promises of a
political candidate who discovers the [immigration] issue after he announces for
president.’ The comments began in the middle of an extended answer about the
national debt. The questioner had not mentioned Mr. Trump.”
Sen.
Marco Rubio clueless about Flint water crisis. Time quotes: “That’s not an
issue that right now we’ve been focused on and for me to give you a deeply
detailed answer on what the right approach should be on it, other than to tell
you in general I believe that the federal government’s role in some of these
things is largely limited unless it involves a federal jurisdictional
issue.”
Anger
at Wall Street transcending party. W. Post: “On the left, Democratic
front-runner Hillary Clinton is fending off the surprisingly potent populism of
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and the accusation that she is Wall Street’s
candidate. On the right, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and New York developer Donald
Trump have come to dominate the Republican field, and both have ties to Wall
Street. Both are running as fast as their legs can carry them from the Wall
Street brand.”
Breakfast Sides
WH
planning “audacious” executive actions, reports The Hill: “A White House
official was non-committal when asked about which specific executive actions the
president might be considering … Business groups say they fear the worst … The
president has indicated he is focused on equal pay, campaign finance reform, gun
control and closing the prison at Guantánamo Bay, among other things. But where
he decides to take unilateral action is anyone’s guess.”
Ryan,
McConnell divide over GOP agenda. The Hill: “House Republicans feel
emboldened by last year’s election of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as Speaker to
pursue ambitious goals, with none bigger than presenting a conservative
alternative to [Obamacare] … Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.),
however, wants 2016 to be a referendum on Obama’s record. He prefers sticking to
the basic blocking and tackling of government: passing the annual appropriations
bills.”
Annual
Oxfam report shows global inequality rising. NYT: “Just 62 people own as
much wealth as the 3.5 billion people in the bottom half of the world’s income
scale, the charity Oxfam reported on Monday in its annual study of inequality,
which found that the gap between rich and poor has continued to widen at an
alarming rate. As recently as five years ago, the fortunes of 388 billionaires
were needed to reach that halfway mark.”
Progressive
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