MORNING MESSAGE
What’s
Hillary Clinton’s economic message? According to her acceptance speech, “My
primary mission as President will be to create more opportunity and more good
jobs with rising wages right here in the United States.” In normal times that
message might be enough. But these are not normal times ... Clinton and Kaine’s
expressed opposition to the TPP could leave many voters unpersuaded. They could
address that by promising to whip against it on Capitol Hill ... It’s not enough
to say, “Wall Street can never, ever be allowed to wreck Main Street again.” ...
Clinton could give that pledge some teeth by promising not to appoint anyone
from Wall Street to a senior position in the Treasury or Justice
Departments.
CAMPAIGNS TARGET RUST BELT WHITES
Clinton
campaign hopes to narrow margins with white working-class. NYT: “….across
regions where blue-collar jobs in manufacturing and other sectors have
evaporated, Mrs. Clinton is attempting a delicate balancing act: insisting she
is not satisfied with the economy even as she defends Mr. Obama’s work,
positioning Democrats as the party of optimists.”
Clinton
needs to sound more populist, argues HuffPost’s Robert Kuttner: ” If Clinton
can start sounding as emphatic on the pocketbook issues as she did on all the
other issues, then Democrats can begin savoring a victory over Trump, maybe even
a crushing one … Clinton needs to show up Trump by being both very specific and
a lot bolder bolder than her recent predecessors.”
Poll
shows support for debt-free college. Bloomberg: “Sixty-two percent say they
support debt-free university tuition, according to a July survey of 1,000
American adults … But when it comes to putting their money where their mouth is,
Americans are more reluctant. Among those surveyed, 48 percent they would not be
willing to pay more in federal taxes to fund free college … While 79 percent of
millennials support free college, only 64 percent of Gen Xers and 49 percent of
boomers feel similarly.”
Austerity
is out. NYT: “… among economists, the outlook is changing. And with interest
rates near historical lows and growth stuck in a rut … even some veterans of
Washington’s budget wars are challenging the reigning fiscal orthodoxy that
perceives the perennial budget gap as something inherently sinful … regardless
of who wins in November, it now appears that the next president is more likely
than not to end up backing, if not embracing, more deficit spending … ‘It’s
called priming the pump,’ Mr. Trump said. ‘Sometimes you have to do that a
little bit to get things going. We have no choice — otherwise, we are going to
die on the vine.'”
TPP SUPPORTERS STEP UP LOBBYING
Pro-TPP
forces plan “counterattack.” Politico: “Trade Benefits America, a leading
business coalition, is coordinating a grassroots advertising campaign that’s
currently sending members of Congress between 60 and 70 pro-TPP letters every
day … They point to opinion polls that show a majority of Americans support free
trade and say back-to-back party conventions have merely magnified a few loud
anti-TPP voices that don’t understand all of the facts. And they say that in the
end, lawmakers will vote the interests of their districts…”
Politico
asks, “Can Sanders and Warren work together” in the Senate?: “…while
Warren’s clout within the party structure has steadily increased in recent
months — to the point that Clinton allies now privately concede the nominee has
had to pay special attention to her wishes, potentially even when it comes to
political appointments — Sanders’ future with the Democrats is far murkier, even
as he commands an army of grass-roots supporters.”
CLIMATE BECOMES CAMPAIGN FLASHPOINT
Campaigns
engage climate debate more than ever. NYT: “…President Obama and his
Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, almost never spoke about it … [But] Mrs.
Clinton regularly highlights her plan to combat global warming [and] Donald J.
Trump, has gone further than any other Republican presidential nominee in
opposing climate change policy … Democratic strategists once sidestepped the
issue, seeing any proposal that might raise energy prices as politically risky.
But they are now pushing it to the forefront.”
Clinton
aides don’t dismiss carbon tax. The Hill: “At a League of Conservation
Voters event in Philadelphia, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta told
Politico that ‘if Congress wants to come forward with [a carbon tax proposal],
we’ll take a look at it.’ Trevor Houser, Clinton’s top energy adviser, had a
similar take at a separate event … Both men were careful to add caveats to their
answers, making it clear that Clinton is not proposing a carbon tax … The
statements, though, nonetheless move Clinton past her previous refusal to even
talk about the issue.”
BREAKFAST SIDES
GOP
hopeful on keeping Senate. The Hill: “In the critical states of Ohio, New
Hampshire and Pennsylvania, GOP candidates are running as strongly as they were
before Trump became the party’s presidential nominee … Democrats are favored to
win back Republican-held seats in Illinois and Wisconsin, and both sides’
surveys show Democrats ahead in Indiana. Polls show the three critical states at
the fulcrum of Senate control — Ohio, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania —
effectively tied. If a backlash against Trump does hurt Republican candidates,
Democrats are closely watching GOP incumbents in Missouri, Arizona and North
Carolina, too … Neither party’s internal surveys show evidence of a developing
wave…”
Green
Party may tap Nina Turner for VP this week. W. Post: “Nina Turner, a former
Ohio state senator who became one of Bernie Sanders’s most passionate
surrogates, confirmed Sunday night that she has been offered a spot on the Green
Party’s 2016 ticket. She hasn’t decided whether to accept it … ‘Talking with my
family. There’s nothing to tell at this point.’ …”
Subtle
assault on voting rights. NYT: “Most conspicuous have been state efforts
like voter ID laws or cutbacks in early voting periods … Less apparent [are
the] numerous voting changes enacted in counties and towns across the South and
elsewhere … Alabama moved last year to close 31 driver’s license offices, almost
all in rural areas with large African-American populations … In Hernando County,
Fla.; Cleveland and Watauga Counties in North Carolina; Baldwin County, Ala.;
and elsewhere, elections officials eliminated or moved polling places in largely
minority districts … The Republican majority in North Carolina’s General
Assembly redrew the political districts last year in Wake County … concentrating
black voters in the city center into a single voting district….”
Progressive
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