MORNING MESSAGE
The
New York Times on Tuesday published a story by Nelson D. Schwartz and Quoctrung
Bui, “Where Jobs Are Squeezed by Chinese Trade, Voters Seek Extremes,” reporting
that, “research to be unveiled this week by four leading academic economists
suggests that the damage to manufacturing jobs from a sharp acceleration in
globalization since the turn of the century has contributed heavily to the
nation’s bitter political divide.” ... So Sanders, who basically advocates
returning to policies that are not even as “left” as those that were dominant in
the Eisenhower era, is now considered by these reporters to be “extreme” and
“the far left”? In some minds, apparently, the answer is yes.
SANDERS MOVES TO SHAPE PLATFORM
The
Hill explains “How Sanders is actually winning”: “…the Vermont senator has
surpassed all expectations in the presidential race, creating a movement of
impassioned supporters that is likely to shape politics for years to come … He
has inspired young and progressive voters. He has raised huge sums of money,
without the help of a super-PAC. And he has forced his key issues of income
inequality and campaign finance to the center of the race.”
Sanders
sets sights on party platform. Politico: “[He has] identified a carbon tax
and opposition to ‘disastrous trade policies,’ as well as support for a $15
minimum wage, universal health care, breaking up big banks, banning fracking and
implementing tuition-free college … as policies the party should adopt … He has
added complaints about closed primaries … Those changes — as well as a
conversation about the role of super delegates in the nominating process — could
come in a rules discussion in Philadelphia.”
Sanders
elaborates in W. Post interview: “We’re in this race to win. We understand
the arithmetic. We understand that our path toward victory is narrow … If we do
not win [we want] the most progressive platform in the history of this country …
open primaries in 50 states in this country … I’m not against the idea of
superdelegates [but] one-fourth of [Clinton’s] entire delegate count is
superdelegates. That’s too much…”
CRUZ BETS ON FIORINA
Cruz
taps Carly Fiorina to be his VP. NYT: “He cast her as a consummate outsider
who had ‘shattered glass ceilings’ in business and beyond in her ascent to chief
executive of Hewlett-Packard. And he positioned Mrs. Fiorina as the antidote to
Donald J. Trump … She echoed a Cruz campaign staple of late, tying Mr. Trump to
Hillary Clinton (‘they’re not going to challenge the system, they are the
system.’)”
Cruz-Kasich
deal may be backfiring in Indiana. Bloomberg: “‘People who were supporting
Kasich have been coming into the office to pick up Trump signs,’ said Laura
Campbell, Republican chairwoman of Hamilton County … ‘People are not happy here
with that alliance.'”
John
Boehner rips Cruz in Stanford U. appearance. Stanford Daily quotes: “Lucifer
in the flesh. I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with
almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in
my life.”
Trump
foreign policy speech fails to impress. Politico: “…across the ideological
spectrum, and even among natural allies, Trump’s speech received a failing grade
for coherence and drew snickering and scorn from foreign policy insiders who
remain unconvinced that Trump is up to the job.”
BREAKFAST SIDES
Big
gap between top 20% and bottom 80%, says NYT’s Tom Edsall: “…the percentage
of families with children living in very affluent neighborhoods more than
doubled between 1970 and 2012, from 6.6 percent to 15.7 percent … The top
quintile is, in effect, disengaging from everyone with lower incomes … it
represents about 30 percent of the electorate, in part because of high turnout
levels … This has changed the economic makeup of the Democratic Party and is
certain to intensify [internal] tensions…”
Well-paying
public sector jobs disappearing. NYT: “The public sector’s slow decimation
is one of the unheralded reasons that the middle class has shrunk as the ranks
of the poor and the rich have swollen in the post-recession years … when
public-sector workers lose their jobs, the burden disproportionately falls on
black workers, and particularly women…”
Latino
voter registration up significantly. The Hill: “Arturo Vargas, executive
director of the National Association of Elected and Appointed Officials,
projects 13.1 million Hispanics will vote nationwide in 2016, compared to 11.2
million in 2012 and 9.7 million in 2008 … Many of the newly registered Hispanic
voters are in California and Texas, relatively safe states for Democrats and
Republicans … Still, rising registration rates among Hispanics in Colorado,
Florida and Nevada could make it easier for the Democratic candidate to retain
those swing states. Even Arizona could be in play, say some poll watchers.”
WH
pursues student debt relief. WSJ: “The Obama administration announced plans
to ramp up efforts to reach Americans who have defaulted on their student loans
and enroll them in debt-relief programs … Education Secretary John B. King Jr.
says the agency hopes to enroll at least two million more borrowers into the
plans, which set a borrower’s monthly payment as a share of income. Payments
typically fall by hundreds of dollars under the plans…”
Progressive
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