Cruz supporters rack up 19 of Maine GOP’s 23 delegates
A volunteer hands out Ted Cruz signs during the Maine State GOP Convention at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor on Saturday.
BANGOR, Maine — In a blow to Gov. Paul LePage from the activists who propelled his rise, supporters of Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz took at least 19 of Maine’s 23 delegates to the party’s national convention on Saturday.
They outmaneuvered front-runner Donald Trump — who is endorsed by the governor
— on the floor of Maine’s state convention with an eye toward a potential contested national convention in July between Trump, Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
The Texas senator won 12 of 23 national convention delegates
at Maine’s March caucuses, with Trump winning nine and Kasich two. But they’re only bound to their candidates on a first ballot at the convention in Cleveland. On subsequent ballots, they can vote for anyone.
Trump is in front, but he isn’t on track to have enough delegates
to win the nomination outright before the convention. If he falls short, it would likely go to a second ballot for the first time since 1948, leaving an opening for Cruz and Kasich.
Cruz’s campaign used majority support at the Maine convention to install 19 supporters — some of whom would vote for other candidates, then switch to Cruz on a second ballot — as delegates.
It was a big loss for Trump and LePage, even though the governor was elected as a delegate from Maine on Saturday, overcoming an effort from Cruz supporters to reject his bid
.
LePage blasted Cruz’s team in a Friday interview with talk radio host Howie Carr
, saying they reneged on a deal for a “unity ticket” that would proportion delegates according to the March caucus results.
Top Cruz supporters denied there was a deal, but his campaign circulated a slate of Cruz-approved delegate candidates
. During voting, activists paced the convention floor with posters showing it, with Trump and Kasich supporters aligning behind LePage’s ticket.
But the divisive presidential race showed itself in another way: Three high-profile surrogates — Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson and John E. Sununu — spoke respectively for Cruz, Trump and Kasich, but LePage was the highest-ranking Maine Republican to inject himself into the election.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who isn’t endorsing a candidate
, ignored the presidential race in her speech. Rep. Bruce Poliquin of the 2nd District — who also isn’t endorsing
and is in a nationally targeted re-election race
against Democrat Emily Cain — joked that he’d write in World War II veteran Norman Rossignol of Bangor.
But LePage is still well-liked in the grass-roots: Kympton Lovley, a Cruz supporter and delegate from Hampden, said that while he doesn’t trust Trump’s conservative bonafides, he supports “99 percent” of LePage’s policies.
“I’m just disappointed that he supported Donald Trump in this election,” Lovley said, “because I consider Paul LePage to be a true conservative.”
Watch bangordailynews.com
for updates.
Sent from my iPhone


Hi Laura, here you go.
How does the Democratic party platform writing process work? When do the drafting committees start getting appointed and meeting?
*         The Platform Drafting Committee is a subcommittee of the Convention's Platform committee. It is made up of 15 people, appointed by the DNC Chair in consultation with the Co-Chairs of the Platform Committee. We don't have any announcement to make on timing as of yet, however, they'll be appointed sometime in the coming weeks.
*         Because the Party's platform is a statement of our values, the DNC is committed to an open, inclusive and representative process. Both of our campaigns will be represented on the Drafting Committee, and just as we did in 2008 and 2012, the public will have opportunities to participate.
Also, can you send me a list of who is on the party platform committee?
*         Below you'll see our release on the Chair's appointments to the Platform committee  (and other committees). In addition to the Chair's appointments (25 for each committee for a total of 75 plus the leadership) there are 162 members of each committee who are elected in every state and territory according to the results of the primaries and caucuses. Those elections are ongoing and must conclude by June 25th.
For Immediate Release
January 22, 2016
Contact: DNC Press - 202-863-8148
DNC Holds Executive Committee Conference Call
WASHINGTON - Due to today's inclement weather throughout the country, the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) Executive Committee held their Executive Committee meeting via conference call today, hearing from special guests such as Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chair Marcel Groen, and Democratic National Convention Committee CEO Leah Daughtry on preparations for the Democratic Convention to be held in the City of Brotherly and Sisterly Love in July. The previously-scheduled in-person meeting in Philadelphia, including a tour of the convention sites, was cancelled due to expected inclement weather.
Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz also delivered remarks during today's call. In addition, the DNC Executive Committee voted to ratify the Chair's 2016 Party Leader and Elected Official Member appointments to the Convention Standing Committees: Credentials, Platform, and Rules. The slate of the Chair's appointments is attached in PDF format.
DNC rules provide for the Chair to appoint 75 Party Leader and Elected Official Members to the three Convention Standing Committees.  These Party Leader Members serve in addition to and together with the over 160 members that are elected in each and every state to those same committees.
"I am extremely proud of the experienced group of individuals who are ready and dedicated to serving our Party on the Convention Committees," said DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. "This slate represents the great variety of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences that make up our Party. We wanted to make sure that the diversity of our party was reflected to the highest levels in terms of race, gender, age, and geography and feel confident that these individuals will do a tremendous job in this capacity."
The bulk of the Standing Committee members will be elected from the states and territories during the delegate selection process.
The Chair also appointed Committee Co-Chairs as follows:
*         Credentials Committee: Lorraine Miller and Jim Roosevelt
*         Rules Committee: Former State Senator Leticia Van de Putte and former U.S. Congressman Barney Frank
*         Platform Committee: Governor Dan Malloy and former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin
###


Donald Trump Has Another White Power-Loving Delegate
Mother Jones - Josh Harkinson
Donald Trump has another delegate with controversial views on matters of race. Meet Chicago mortgage banker Lori Gayne:
"With all the racism going on today, I'm very proud to be white. Just like black people are proud to be black and now, as white people, whenever we say something critical we're punished as if we're racists. I'm tired of it. I'm very proud," Gayne said.
"I'm so angry I don't even feel like I live in America. You can call me a racist. Black Lives Matter? Those people are out of control," she said.
Gayne's Twitter account, which is only accessible to her followers, is called "whitepride":
Gayne isn't the first Trump delegate to embrace white power. William Johnson, a Trump delegate in California, resigned last week after Mother Jones revealed that he was the leader of the white nationalist American Freedom Party. And the anti-Muslim pastor Guy St-Onge resigned as a Trump delegate after being questioned about his views by the Guardian. The AFP now claims that it has other members who are Trump delegates but has declined to release their names.


We're expecting about 40 guests.
From: Miranda, Luis
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2016 2:03 PM
To: Brad Marshall; Alan Reed; Tracie Pough; Lindsey Reynolds; Dacey, Amy
Cc: Kaplan, Jordan; Comer, Scott; Vet_D
Subject: RE: Vet Committee: Kruel
How big is the event?
[SigDems]
Luis Miranda, Communications Director
Democratic National Committee
202-863-8148 - MirandaL@dnc.org
- @MiraLuisDC
From: Brad Marshall
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2016 1:51 PM
To: Alan Reed; Tracie Pough; Lindsey Reynolds; Dacey, Amy
Cc: Kaplan, Jordan; Comer, Scott; Vet_D; Miranda, Luis
Subject: RE: Vet Committee: Kruel
Let's loop in Luis too.   My first reaction is no, but on further thought,  Kruel could turn this back on us and say she was denied attendance by the big bad establishment.
From: Alan Reed
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2016 1:39 PM
To: Tracie Pough; Brad Marshall; Lindsey Reynolds; Dacey, Amy
Cc: Kaplan, Jordan; Comer, Scott; Vet_D
Subject: Vet Committee: Kruel
All,
Finance asked us to vet this DWS event attendee for her trip to TN.  I lean no...Tracie, others?  Below is a sampling of her social media posts.  She also donated $50.00 to the event which I can refund if she is denied.
CR
Amanda Kruel - (1) multiple tweets throwing shade on DWS; (2) staunch Bernie supporter and campaign staffer; was elected delegate for TN-2 at the DNCC
1117 Laurel Ave
Knoxville, TN 37916
DOB: 11/1985
EMPLOYER/OCCUPATION: Bernie 2016 / East Tennessee Field Organizer
NGP NOTES: None
NGP VET HISTORY: None
EVENTS: None
CONTRIBUTIONS: None
LOBBYIST/DOJ FARA: None
EARMARKS/TARP/ARRA: None
LIENS: None
JUDGMENTS: None
BANKRUPTCIES: None
CRIMINAL RECORDS: None
LEXIS-NEXIS/INTERNET SEARCH: Yes
Facebook
Twitter
Alan Reed
Compliance Director
DNC
W:  202-479-5132
C:  202-316-5007


Watch here
From: Bennett, Eric
Sent: Saturday, April 30, 2016 4:28 PM
To: Comm_D
Subject: RE: Video Request: Cruz at CA GOP Convention
CA gave us Reagan and my wife Heidi.
Thanks former CA Gov. Pete Wilson for his endorsement.
Touts his announcement of Carly Fiorina as his running mate. Also talks up her background from rising from secretary to CEO. Carly is a leader you know well.
I can picture HRC tossing and turning thinking about Carly in her jail cell.
Republicans in CA are used to adversity. You have seen out of control liberalism. No need to look any further than out-of-control environmental regulations. Hits fresh water being dumped into the ocean for a bait fish.
Over 17,000 farm jobs have been lost. Hits endangered species lists. Jokes saying that we should put up a disco ball, play Barry White and let nature take its course.
Cruz: the endangered species act should not be used as a cudgel to hurt the economy.
The Republican Party is going to be the party of jobs.
California has seen the evil of the face of jihad, referencing the terrorist attack in San Bernardino
The CA primary will decide this Republican nomination.
Hits Hillary and Trump for being flip sides of the same coin. Also criticizes HRC and Trump for supporting Obamacare, Planned Parenthood, wanting to be neutral to be Israel and Palestine and the Iranian nuclear deal
Highlights Trump's support for prominent CA democrats like Kamala Harris
--
This election will come down to jobs, freedom and security.
Cruz: lift the boot of the necks of small business.
Cruz: If I am elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. We will pass health insurance that's personal, portable and affordable. We will pass a simple flat tax so that every American can fill out our taxes on a postcard. After we do that, we should abolish the IRS.
Cruz: we're going to rein in the EPA, federal agencies that have descended like locusts killing jobs all across the country.
We're going stop amnesty, secure the border. We're going to end sanctuary cities, welfare benefits for those here illegally. Goes on to say that will bring back manufacturing jobs from China and Mexico..
We're going to see manufacturing jobs coming back
Next important thing at stake is freedom. Says two branches hang in the balance in this election. Goes on to talk about different rights at stake if another liberal Supreme Court justice is appointed. Guns rights, religious liberty, sovereignty and school choice
Hits Trump for suggesting he would compromise religious liberty and second amendment rights to keep and bear arms. Adds that he's been supporting left wing Democratic politicians for 40 years.
Cruz: I give you my solemn commitment that every justice I appoint will be a principled constitutionalist that will protect the Bill of Rights. I will not compromise your religious liberty or right to keep and bear arms.
Cruz hits Trump for saying he would be neutral between Israel and the Palestinians. Adds that he will stand unapologetically with Israel.
Talks about how readiness and morale in the military has plummeted. Goes on to talk about how he will rebuild the military by repealing Obamacare, adopting a flat tax and stopping amnesty.
Cruz: no longer will our military be governed by political correctness. Criticizes President Obama for not saying radical Islamic terrorism.
Cruz: We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism. To the jihadist, your day of reckoning is coming. Speaks out against the rules of engagement that he says is tying the hands of our military men and women.
Cruz: If military force is needed we should use overwhelming force, kill the enemy and get the heck out.
We started with 17 candidates, young dynamic candidates. Democratic field consist of a wild-eyed socialist with views that are dangerous for America and the world and Bernie Sanders.
Cruz: We're seeing Republicans coming together and uniting behind this campaign. 60-75% of Republicans recognize that nominating Donald Trump would be a train wreck.
Touts the fact that 5 of 17 presidential candidates have endorsed his campaign.
Closes by asking for support
From: Bennett, Eric
Sent: Saturday, April 30, 2016 3:49 PM
To: Peterson, Kelsey; Research_D
Subject: RE: Video Request: Cruz at CA GOP Convention
Intro video playing now
From: Peterson, Kelsey
Sent: Saturday, April 30, 2016 2:52 PM
To: Bennett, Eric; Research_D
Subject: RE: Video Request: Cruz at CA GOP Convention

From: Bennett, Eric
Sent: Saturday, April 30, 2016 2:35 PM
To: Research_D
Subject: Video Request: Cruz at CA GOP Convention
TED CRUZ: 04/30/2016, 3:00 PM: Speech at California GOP State Convention Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport 1333 Old Bayshore Way, San Francisco, CA [@RonNehring]


Outgoing call to +1 (703) 672-2725 (Other)
+1 (703) 672-2725
Other:  +1 (703) 672-2725
Microsoft Lync


Mark/Luis, okay to blast?
From: Freundlich, Christina
Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2016 12:48 PM
To: Helmstetter, TJ; Paustenbach, Mark; Miranda, Luis
Subject: RE: Vox: trumps's trans position is incoherent
I like that idea. This is good.
From: Helmstetter, TJ
Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2016 12:32 PM
To: Paustenbach, Mark; Miranda, Luis; Freundlich, Christina
Subject: FW: Vox: trumps's trans position is incoherent
I'd like to blast this instead of us doing a round-up/statement. Great explainer, including how trump's language is dog whistling
From: Helmstetter, TJ
Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2016 12:29 PM
To: Comm_D
Subject: Vox: trumps's trans position is incoherent

Donald Trump's position on transgender rights is incoherent, not "nuanced"
The Washington Post picked an interesting word
to describe Donald Trump's new position on legal protections for transgender people: "nuanced."
A better word, however, might be "incoherent."
Trans people are "a very, very small portion of the population, but as I said, you have to protect everybody, including small portions of the population," Trump told the Post. But he added that it should be left to the states, most of which he said would "make the right decisions." So he would rescind the Obama administration's guidelines
telling federally funded schools to respect the rights of trans people, including their right to use a bathroom that aligns with their gender identity.
In other words, Trump thinks trans people should be protected by the law, but he wants to take away the only federal policy clearly doing just that in public schools. Pressed on this incoherent position, he invoked the old mantra of "states' rights."
As a concept, leaving something to the states makes sense if there's something local and state governments can do better than the federal government, or if it would be too burdensome or unwieldy for the federal government to get involved. A good example of that: fire departments. There's really no reason to think a federal fire department would be particularly more effective in a big city or county than a local one. (Obviously, some exceptions may apply with wildfires and in sparsely populated or low-income areas.)
Discrimination in schools is not one of those issues. The history and current experience make that very clear.
States have and still are failing at prohibiting discrimination
We have seen how this plays out already - in the 1960s, when the federal government had to step in to force schools to stop discriminating against black people. It's one of the big reasons the Civil Rights Act passed in the first place.
Similarly, the federal government passed Title IX in the 1970s after it became clear that states were failing to ensure equal opportunities for women in schools.
Now the country is seeing the same kind of failure with trans people. For one, most states do not have explicit anti-discrimination protections for trans people in the workplace, housing, education, or public accommodations (hotels, restaurants, and other places that serve the public). So it's not explicitly illegal under most states' laws to fire, evict, or refuse service to someone entirely because she's trans.
In fact, some states are actively discriminating against trans people. That's what North Carolina did when it passed a law
that banned local nondiscrimination ordinances that include sexual orientation and gender identity, and banned trans people from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity in schools and government buildings.
Some people might wonder why denying trans people access to the bathroom for their gender identity is discrimination. It's simple: Forcing trans people to use the bathroom that doesn't align with their gender identity acts as a reminder that, as far as society has come on some LGBTQ issues, it's still not completely willing to accept trans people and their identities - even if trans people pose no danger to anyone else
. So to trans people, this is just another slight by society. And it's a slight most states allow - and that North Carolina explicitly embraced.
This is why the Obama administration got involved. If the country believes that anti-LGBTQ discrimination should be illegal (and majorities do in every state
), but states aren't stopping that discrimination from happening, it makes sense for the federal government - which has historically done this when states fail - to intervene, especially in schools the federal government funds. That's exactly what happened.
Trump's position sounds more like a dodge
[Donald Trump in West Virginia.]Mark Lyons/Getty ImagesDonald Trump in West Virginia.
Given this history and Trump's position, it's odd that Trump would say this issue should be left to the states.
It does, however, make sense if you see it as a dodge. After all, "states' rights" has long been the mantra of national-level politicians who want to stay out of touchy issues when they know where the country or their party is going. For example, Hillary Clinton said in 2006 that same-sex marriage should be left up to the states
. And John McCain said the same of same-sex marriage
in 2008.
Trump seems to be in a similar position. He says he wants to protect trans people. But he probably realizes that some members of the Republican Party, particularly religious conservatives, wouldn't appreciate that position. So "states' rights" it is.
TJ Helmstetter
Deputy Director of Regional and Specialty Media
Democratic National Committee
202.863.8022 - desk
973.464.9224 - cell
HelmstetterT@DNC.org


Hi Luis,
I saw you on MSNBC earlier today, talking about Sanders.  Good stuff!
I imagine you often get requests for TV news interviews, and sometimes
getting to a studio is tough, especially after-hours or on weekends.
So I wanted to tell you about something which may make your life a bit
easier.
StudiGo is a mobile interview studio that can be sent directly to you.
Meaning, you can be interviewed live, from right outside of your home or
office, 24/7. You don't actually need to travel all the way to a downtown
studio.  (And we can put a custom logo/image in the background.)
We've started working with the big channels in DC, and they pay for the
service.  So it's all about your convenience!!!
Pat Buchanan was on Fox yesterday . live from his driveway!!!  This is how
it looked:
So next time, feel free to ask the channel to send the StudiGo to you . if
you don't have the time to make it to them.
Best,
Jon
Jon Leif
Client Manager
StudiGo LLC
Tel: +1 (202) 448-8995
Email: jon@studigo.tv
Web: www.StudiGo.tv


Part 1
Part 2
From: Bennett, Eric
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2016 10:09 AM
To: Comm_D
Subject: RE: Video Request: Perry on Fox
Perry said that for Cruz, it's win Indiana or bust.
From: Bennett, Eric
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2016 9:29 AM
To: Research_D
Subject: Video Request: Perry on Fox
America's Newsroom coming up!!
9:40 ET #billhemmer
Original Tweet:
Sent via TweetDeck


[   Reuters Top News (@Reuters
)
5/20/16, 3:29 PM
BREAKING: White House on lockdown after reports of what sounded like gunshots: Washington Post
Download
the Twitter app
Sent from my iPhone


Luis --
Over the next few months, we've got to challenge ourselves
to keep asking one simple question: What can we do to keep
moving this country forward?
On a day-to-day basis, the answer may change, but our
mission won't. We've got to continue working so middle-class
families have a fighting chance at getting ahead in this
country. We've got to expand opportunity for our kids and
grandkids so they can forge a path to success. We've got to
protect the work we've done together and keep striving for a
more perfect union.
Knowing what we need to accomplish and how much is at stake
will keep me going every day long after I'm finished serving
as your president. But if we want to keep up this progress,
we've got to elect leaders who will fight for and with us.
We've got 181 days until Election Day, Luis, and we can't
afford to be complacent. So right now, if you're with me and
willing to do whatever it takes to win on November 8th, then
add your name next to mine and let's make this happen together:

Thanks, Luis.
Barack Obama
**************************************************************
Paid for by the Democratic National Committee,  430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington DC 20003 and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
**************************************************************
This email was sent to mirandal@dnc.org.
If this isn't the best email address at which to reach you, update your contact information at  Our email list is the best way we have of staying in regular contact with supporters like you across the country and letting you know about the work President Obama and other Democrats are doing. Visit  to unsubscribe from our supporter list. If you like staying in touch, but want to receive only the most important messages, go here:  Go here to unsubscribe from our supporter list:  but if you leave, it will be harder for you to stay involved in the organization that you've been such a critical part of. This organization is powered by you, and we'd love to hear your ideas. Send us any comments, criticisms, or feedback:  or just reply to this email! Thanks for supporting President Obama and other Democrats.


Watch here
From: Sarge, Matthew
Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2016 8:33 AM
To: Comm_D
Subject: Video Request: Jeff Weaver on New Day
On now. Thanks


Watch me tonight at 7pm on #CNN @OutFrontCNN with @ErinBurnett as we talk the latest news of @realDonaldTrump #TrumpTrain #Trump2016
Original Tweet:


Good to blast to Hispanic list
On May 5, 2016, at 9:17 AM, Garcia, Walter
> wrote:
RNC's Cinco de Mayo message omits last year's call for 'welcoming country'
By NICK GASS
The Republican National Committee dropped a line in its annual Cinco de Mayo message urging the United States to be more welcoming to immigrants from Mexico, issuing a shorter statement emphasizing the ways in which generations of Mexican-Americans have strengthened and defended the country.
“We celebrate Cinco de Mayo to honor the many ways Mexican-Americans have for generations enriched our country’s culture. With a commitment to faith, family, and the belief that hard work will help you achieve the American Dream, Mexican-Americans have strengthened our nation. And we express our deep gratitude to those who are proudly serving in our armed forces and defending our freedoms," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in the statement issued Thursday.
RNC Co-Chairman Sharon Day sent along her wishes as well.
"This festive day is known throughout the country because of the influence Mexican-Americans have had on our culture," Day said in the statement. "Today we reflect on the freedoms we are privileged to enjoy, and I hope Cinco de Mayo will serve as a reminder for us all to keep working to build a future in which the opportunity and prosperity are preserved for our children.”
But in the 2015 message, in addition to the usual verbiage, Priebus commemorated the occasion of the Mexicans' victory over the French in the 1862 Battle of Puebla by stating that the day "is one of the many traditions brought to this country by those looking for a better life and in search of the American Dream."
"As we look to the future, America must remain a welcoming country that finds its strength in both our diversity and our common values," he said in the 2015 statement.
The Republican Party's presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, has called for deporting some 11 million undocumented immigrants, revoking so-called birthright citizenship and building a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border, financed by Mexico.
The RNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the omission.
In previous years' statements available on its website, the RNC made the case for a "serious debate on immigration reform."
“So as our country continues to have a serious debate on immigration reform, Republicans reiterate that we’re committed to fixing our broken borders, strengthening our interior enforcement, and respecting our rule of law to make sure we provide a fair solution for those seeking to come to the United States legally," Priebus said in part of the 2014 greeting. "However, President Obama’s desire not to enforce our laws because of political convenience undermines any type of immigration reform.”
The party's 2012 message again invoked the influence of Mexican-Americans on the country's larger culture and economy, while Day warned that the American Dream that brought Mexican families to the U.S. in search of a better life was being threatened. "The coming election is our chance to change that, and Republicans will stand for the policies that safeguard prosperity for future generations," she said in that statement, six months before President Barack Obama was re-elected.
--
Walter Garcia
Western Regional Press Secretary
Democratic National Committee (DNC)
Email: GarciaW@dnc.org
Twitter: @WalterGarcia231


Could we clip this highlighted section from the SFRC hearing earlier today? Thanks!
Trump Foreign Policy Spurned by Veteran Republican Baker
Bloomberg - Bill Faries
While Donald Trump met with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill Thursday, a Senate hearing provided a forum for critics in his party to take aim at his foreign policy proposals.
At the prompting of Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who dropped out of the presidential race in March, former Secretary of State James Baker said that the world "would be far less stable" if the U.S. left the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or let South Korea and Japan obtain nuclear weapons, proposals floated by Trump during the campaign that made him the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
"We've got a lot of problems today, but you'd have a hell of a lot more if that were the case," Baker, who was secretary of state in President George H.W. Bush's administration, said without mentioning Trump by name. "NATO has been the foundation of peace and stability in Europe. The more countries that obtain nuclear weapons the more instability there will be in the world."
Baker, 86, is a quintessential representative of the traditional foreign policy and political establishment for which Trump has shown little regard. Before serving as secretary of state and chief of staff under the first President Bush, he had been chief of staff and Treasury secretary under President Ronald Reagan. Trump and Baker ended up meeting at a law firm later in the day, NBC reported, without giving details.
Adding a twist to Thursday's proceedings: The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that hosted the hearing, Republican Bob Corker of Tennessee, has praised Trump for "challenging the foreign policy establishment" in a policy speech the billionaire businessman gave last month. Corker, who has said he'd be willing to help Trump craft his foreign policy agenda, didn't weigh in on the NATO or South Korea proposals in his opening remarks or initial questioning.
Baker was joined in the discussion by former National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, who served under President Barack Obama from 2010 to 2013. Donilon said he agreed with Baker's comments on NATO and South Korea and thanked Rubio for offering the "thought experiment."
"It's not just a thought experiment," Rubio of Florida responded. "It's actually been proposed."
Before it's here, it's on


WEATHER: 60F, Cloudy
POTUS and the Administration
Obama laments 'corrosive attitude' in U.S. politics
POLITICO // NICK GASS
President Barack Obama on Wednesday delivered a deeply emotional and at times personal plea to the people of Flint, Michigan, to find hope in their future and not get lost in anger over the water supply crisis that has poisoned many of their children with lead. In a speech that veered off script and went much longer than planned, the outgoing president also railed against Republicans not willing to invest in communities that have been left to crumble away. "It's not enough just to fix the water. We've got to fix the culture of neglect," Obama said, remarking that it has "degraded too many schools and too many roads and hurt too many futures." The speech, which came after the president spent much of the day visiting with members of the mostly African-American city of Flint, tapped into Obama's background as a community organizer and served as a potential preview of where the president might focus his efforts after leaving the White House.
Obama jabs at Trump on immigration
THE HILL // JORDAN FABIAN
President Obama on Wednesday took a jab at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump over his harsh rhetoric about immigrants.  Speaking at an event honoring Asian-American and Pacific Islander students and leaders, Obama called on them to vote to push back against a "rising tide of bigotry" against immigrants. "If you doubt what's at stake, you obviously haven't been reading the papers," Obama said at the Asian Pacific American Institute of Congressional Studies gala in Washington. The president said if Asian-Americans exercise their political power, they can help the country "move beyond today's anti-immigrant sentiment" just like past generations did. "We've got to push back against anti-immigrant sentiment in all of its forms," he said. "Especially by those who are trying to stoke it just to seek political gain and just to try to get headlines." The president's line about headline seekers, a clear shot at Trump, drew a raucous ovation from the crowd gathered at the Washington Hilton.
Obama in Flint: water crisis is a 'tragedy that never should have happened'
THE GUARDIAN // RYAN FELTON
The Flint water crisis was a "tragedy that never should have happened" in the US, Barack Obama said Wednesday during his first visit to the city since evidence of lead contamination emerged last fall, while residents jeered Michigan's governor in his first public remarks before the community. "Flint's recovery is everybody's responsibility," the president told a crowd of 1,000 gathered inside a high school gymnasium. "And I will make sure that responsibility is met." The president focused his remarks on what he called a "corrosive" mentality in politics that "contributed to this crisis". "Now, I do not believe that anybody consciously wanted to hurt the people," he said. "And this is not the place to sort out every screwup ... but I do think there's a larger issue.
Obama Blames Antipathy Toward Government for Flint Water Crisis
BLOOMBERG // ANGELA GREILING KEANE AND MIKE DORNING
Widespread water contamination in Flint, Michigan, was a "man-made disaster" brought about in part by a political preference for small government, President Barack Obama in a visit on Wednesday to the city. In a speech to about 1,000 residents, Obama urged them to resist assumptions that their children have been permanently harmed by consuming water with lead, and blamed "a mindset that believes that less government is the highest good, no matter what." He didn't mention Michigan's Republican governor, Rick Snyder, who addressed the audience earlier and professes the virtues of smaller government. Snyder has borne much of the blame for the contamination. "I do not believe that anybody consciously wanted to hurt the people in Flint, and this is not the place to sort every screw-up that resulted in contaminated water," Obama said. "This myth that government is always the enemy -- that forgets that our government is us, that it's an extension of us, ourselves. That attitude is as corrosive to democracy as the stuff that resulted in lead in your water."
Democrats
Dems: Trump wins us the Senate and Garland
POLITICO // EDWARD ISAAC DOVERE
Donald Trump threw a big party Tuesday night. So did every Democrat running for Senate.
The party's Senate candidates are brimming with excitement about spending the next six months hitting their opponents with Trump - and being able to tie their case together by saying that Republicans' opposition to President Barack Obama's Supreme Court pick means they want a President Trump to fill the vacancy. "Here's where we are: If I were Trump or I were [Mitch] McConnell or I were Paul Ryan, the first thing I'd say is, 'Listen, let's take one issue off the table quickly: Let's have hearings on Garland. Let's have a vote and put him on the court,'" Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in an interview Wednesday. He added, "Every Republican candidate will now have to answer for every racist and every anti-woman and every anti-immigrant statement. There are so many other issues than Trump, but Trump is the No. 1 issue."
Democrats in frenzy to take advantage of Trump's Republican ascension
WASHINGTON POST // PAUL KANE AND MIKE DEBONIS
Congressional Democrats set out on a mission Wednesday to tie Donald Trump to every possible Republican running in competitive down-ballot races, following the real estate mogul's elevation to the GOP's presumptive presidential nominee. In memos, in news releases and across social media, Democrats tried to take advantage of Trump's unchallenged hold on the presidential nomination by linking Republican incumbents to his controversial statements and proposals on the campaign trail. Democrats believe Trump's triumph will allow them to make electoral inroads that could flip the Senate to their control and provide major gains in the House. "The bottom line is, the battlefield is going to shift in our favor," Kelly Ward, executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Wednesday. Her committee issued a memo to the Colorado news media highlighting Trump's positions and how they will play in the highly competitive race involving Rep. Mike Coffman (R), who represents Denver's eastern suburbs. The memo was headlined "Coffman and Trump: Welcome to the Trump ticket."
Democrats tie Trump to vulnerable GOP Senate candidates
CNN // TED BARRETT
Democrats got the Republican presidential nominee they hoped for this week as they work to take back control of the Senate. As soon as Donald Trump gained the presumptive nominee title -- following his Indiana primary win Tuesday -- Democrats swiftly moved to tie the GOP standard-bearer to vulnerable Republican Senate candidates. Many had kept a distance from the billionaire businessman even as they acknowledged they would eventually support whoever wins the GOP nomination. "This is no longer a drill," said a series of press releases from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Washington aimed at eight Republican senate candidates that argued GOP inaction on Judge Merrick Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court meant the unpredictable Trump could be the one to fill that vacancy. One of those targeted was Sen. Kelly Ayotte New Hampshire who is in a tight re-election battle against the Democratic governor of that swing state, Maggie Hassan.
Republicans
Hill GOP braces for Trump
POLITICO // JAKE SHERMAN AND RACHEL BADE
Many of them are still in shock, and some of the chattiest of them won't answer their telephones. But slowly, Hill Republicans are coming to grips with a Donald Trump-driven Republican Party, and they are already strategizing how to navigate it. There have been informal conversations between figures in Trump's universe and top House Republicans, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the talks. Senior party officials don't expect the House GOP to fully embrace their party's nominee, but instead concentrate on Speaker Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) agenda, which stands in sharp contrast to Trump's sometimes harsh policy platform. In the Senate, all five Republican leaders indicated Wednesday that they would support Trump as the eventual nominee. And on both sides of the Rotunda, members from various corners of the House and Senate Republican conferences began jumping aboard the Trump Train - including at least two who endorsed Trump for the first time in POLITICO interviews Wednesday. "I am totally and completely looking forward to President Trump - he's our nominee," said Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.), a committee chairwoman who is leaving Congress to run for Macomb County public works commissioner in the heart of Reagan Democrat country. "I believe in the good sense of the American people, the voters, and clearly the voters in our party in enormous numbers have chosen Trump as the nominee. ... It's over."
Mitch McConnell issues tepid endorsement of Donald Trump
POLITICO // HANNA TRUDO
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell offered a lukewarm endorsement of Donald Trump on Wednesday, a day after the real estate tycoon knocked his rivals out of the Republican presidential primary. "I have committed to supporting the nominee chosen by Republican voters, and Donald Trump, the presumptive nominee, is now on the verge of clinching that nomination," McConnell said in a terse, 75-word statement issued at around 8 p.m. "Republicans are committed to preventing what would be a third term of Barack Obama and restoring economic and national security after eight years of a Democrat in the White House," the Kentucky Republican continued. Trump now has "the opportunity and the obligation to unite our party around our goals," McConnell concluded.
George W. and George H. W. Bush to skip convention
THE HILL // BEN KAMISAR
Both Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush will not attend this summer's Republican convention, spokesmen confirmed to The Hill.  The younger George Bush's spokesman, Freddy Ford, told The Hill in an email that the most recent Republican president "does not intend to attend" the convention in Cleveland. Ford also told The Associated Press that Bush does "not plan to participate in or comment on" the presidential race. George H.W. Bush's spokesman confirmed that the former president would not be attending either, citing his age. Neither Bush attended the 2012 Republican convention. Many speculated the younger Bush chose not to appear at that convention to avoid links with nominee Mitt Romney, as Bush's favorability rating had not yet recovered from his time in office.  But now, Bush is looked upon more fondly by Americans, topping President Obama's favorability rating in 2015.
Priebus: I think Trump knows 'this is a different ball game now'
THE HILL // REBECCA SAVRANSKY
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Wednesday that he thinks presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump knows things will change heading into the general election. "I get the sense that he understands that this is a different ball game now," Priebus said on Fox News on Wednesday, noting that he's spoken to Trump a couple of times since he easily won the Indiana primary and Priebus declared him the presumptive nominee. Ted Cruz and John Kasich both suspended their campaigns in light of the results. "This is not primary season. This is not pointing fingers at each other. This is about winning the White House, about our country, about Hillary Clinton, and I think he gets that," Priebus said. Priebus admitted that this was a contentious primary but said Trump will now have the opportunity to "be presidential" and to talk to the American people about his ideas. "It was 17 candidates. Feelings are still very raw," Priebus said. "I'm not pretending that this isn't going to take a while. We had campaigns that were serious operations, that were very deep and a lot of money was spent." But Priebus said the Republican candidates now won't be focusing on one another but rather on the Democratic opponent.
Nikki Haley signals support for Trump
POLITICO // DANIEL STRAUSS
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Wednesday tried to dispel any speculation that she would be Donald Trump's running mate, but she also signaled she would support him in the general election. "I have great respect for the will of the people, and as I have always said, I will support the Republican nominee for president," Haley said Wednesday, according to the Charleston Post and Courier. "To the members of the press who are asking, while I am flattered to be mentioned and proud of what that says about the great things going on in South Carolina, my plate is full and I am not interested in serving as vice president." Haley's comments came a day after Sen. Ted Cruz dropped out of the GOP primary for president and the same day that Ohio Gov. John Kasich announced that he was ending his campaign, leaving front-runner Trump on a certain course for the Republican nomination. Haley has often been mentioned as a vice presidential prospect. She previously supported Sen. Marco Rubio and then Cruz after Rubio dropped out of the primary.
Vulnerable GOP senators duck and cover from Trump
POLITICO // JOHN BRESNAHAN
At 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Sen. Rob Portman - facing a tough reelection battle against a popular former Democratic governor - strongly reaffirmed his support for John Kasich as the GOP presidential nominee. Twenty minutes later, news broke that Kasich was out of the race. Kasich's decision was just a formality, but it left businessman and reality TV star Donald Trump without any opponent and cemented his hold on the GOP presidential nomination. For Portman and other Senate Republicans up for reelection in 2016, the clock has run out. There's no place left to hide on Trump. Like it or not, the next five months will mean a steady diet of Trump, Trump and more Trump. With 24 GOP-held Senate seats up for grabs in November - including in swing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire - Trump is a wild card that Republicans have tried to avoid dealing with for months. They're still ducking the question, but they can't avoid the reality for long. These GOP senators will head into the general election with Trump on the top ticket, and Democrats using every chance they can to tie them to him.
2016 Democrats
How the Rest of the Democratic Delegate Race Could Unfold
THE NEW YORK TIMES // GREGOR AISCH, JOSH KATZ and K.K. REBECCA LAI
Democratic delegates are awarded proportionally, and in states that have voted so far, Hillary Clinton has won more than half of the vote. The absence of winner-take-all states on the Democratic side makes it very hard for Bernie Sanders to close the delegate gap. If Mrs. Clinton maintains her current level of support in the remaining races, she will earn a majority of the pledged delegates by June 7. To have a shot at overtaking Mrs. Clinton in pledged delegates, Mr. Sanders would need a series of landslide victories in the few remaining contests, increasing his vote share to about 70 percent, on average. Mr. Sanders is also significantly trailing Mrs. Clinton in superdelegates, the 714 Democratic Party officials whose support counts toward the nomination. Superdelegates are free to switch candidates at any time before the convention in July; in past elections, they have supported the candidate who has received the most pledged delegates. If all superdelegates vote for the candidate with the most pledged delegates, Mrs. Clinton will get to 2,383 delgates.
Hillary Clinton Is Taking Fire From Two Rivals
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL // LAURA MECKLER AND COLLEEN MCCAIN NELSON
Hillary Clinton is now fighting a two-front war for the presidency, facing an emboldened, combative Donald Trump while fending off Bernie Sanders, who promises to take his campaign all the way to the Democratic National Convention in July. Mr. Trump, by contrast, has cleared the Republican field and can direct his firepower at Mrs. Clinton alone. He signaled Wednesday that he would pick up Mr. Sanders's line of attack against the Democratic front-runner. "Bernie actually said she's unqualified because she's got bad judgment, and it's true," Mr. Trump told Time magazine. Mrs. Clinton is also attacking Mr. Trump on a daily basis, and Wednesday she told CNN the U.S. can't afford to take a risk on a "blustering, bullying guy." "He is a loose cannon, and loose cannons tend to misfire," she added.
Clinton: America can't take a chance on 'loose cannon' Trump
CNN // TOM TOBIANCO
Hillary Clinton said Wednesday she is certain that Americans won't take a chance with Donald Trump in November because he is a "loose cannon." "I don't think we can take a risk on a loose cannon like Donald Trump running our country," she told CNN's Anderson Cooper in an exclusive interview. "I do think he is a loose cannon, and loose cannons tend to misfire."
In the interview, which aired one day after Trump became the Republican Party's presumptive nominee, Clinton also weighed in on the ongoing Democratic primary and comments she made about the coal industry in March, when she said "we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business."
Clinton: GOP is now the party of Trump
THE HILL // CAITLIN YILEK
Hillary Clinton continued a series of video attacks against Donald Trump on Wednesday as the two candidates look toward the general election.  The new video on the Democratic front-runner's Twitter account explains what the "party of Trump" stands for.  The minute-and-a-half video shows clips of the presumptive Republican nominee's comments on Muslims, the Islamic State and abortion. Many Democrats hope that Trump working as the standard-bearer for the GOP will bode well for their chances of regaining the majority in Congress.
Clinton camp: 'Unfathomable' that hacker breached email server
THE HILL // EVELYN RUPERT
Hillary Clinton's team quickly shot down a claim from a Romanian hacker that he had breached her private email server while she was secretary of State.  "There is absolutely no basis to believe the claims made by this criminal from his prison cell. In addition to the fact he offers no proof to support his claims, his descriptions of Secretary Clinton's server are inaccurate. It is unfathomable that he would have gained access to her emails and not leaked them the way he did to his other victims," the Clinton camp wrote in a statement. Romanian hacker Marcel Lehel Lazar, known as "Guccifer," told several news outlets that he had easily hacked into her email server on more than one occasion. His hack into the email account of a close Clinton ally first brought her private email to light.  Clinton has claimed throughout the investigations into her use of a private server that it was never infiltrated by foreign hackers as critics accuse her of putting confidential materials at risk.  Lazar was recently extradited to the United States and is currently in prison in Alexandria, Va., facing other cybercrime charges.
Hacker 'Guccifer': I Got Inside Hillary Clinton's Server
NBC NEWS // CYNTHIA MCFADDEN, TIM UEHLINGER and TRACY CONNOR
The Romanian hacker who first exposed Hillary Clinton's private email address is making a bombshell new claim -- that he also gained access to the former Secretary of State's "completely unsecured" server. "It was like an open orchid on the Internet," Marcel Lehel Lazar, who uses the devilish handle Guccifer, told NBC News in an exclusive interview from a prison in Bucharest. "There were hundreds of folders." Lazar was extradited last month from Romania to the United States to face charges he hacked political elites, including Gen. Colin Powell, a member of the Bush family, and former Clinton advisor Sidney Blumenthal.
Bernie Sanders fans may not love Hillary Clinton. But they won't vote for Donald Trump.
VOX // JEFF STEIN
Democrats hoping to bring the party together after a bitter and contentious primary between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders may have found their answer: Donald Trump. Trump has become the presumptive Republican nominee after rivals John Kasich and Ted Cruz suspended their presidential campaigns. From the perspective of Democratic Party unity, Trump's march to the nomination is great news: Sanders's supporters have made a lot of noise about going "Bernie or bust," but a poll out from CNN on Wednesday finds they prefer Clinton to Trump by an 86-to-10 margin. That's about the same ratio of Clinton supporters who voted for John McCain over Barack Obama in 2008, according to Emory political scientist Alan Abramowitz. And it's still early: As we move to the general election, Abramowitz says, Democrats are even more likely to swing behind their nominee.
Sanders won't stop amid worries he's hurting Clinton
THE BOSTON GLOBE // ANNIE LINSKEY
Bernie Sanders made one thing very clear Wednesday: He's staying in the Democratic race, even if it bloodies the party's frontrunner. While crisscrossing Kentucky on a rainy spring day, he took a verbal shot at Hillary Clinton as he visited a new campaign office in Bowling Green, then greeted voters at a stop in Elizabethtown and held a rally in Lexington. And just in case anyone thought he would tone it down in the name of Democratic unity, his nine-car motorcade even made a detour back into Indiana - where he inflicted a fresh wound on Clinton with his surprise win in that state's primary Tuesday - to buy a new bullhorn. Sanders stands virtually no chance of capturing the nomination because Clinton's lead in delegates is too great. But the Vermont senator continues to hammer Clinton, and over the next two weeks he stands a good chance of winning three more states, West Virginia, Oregon, and Kentucky, which will put him in position to drag out the primary contest until the last states vote June 7. That stubbornness wins him love from supporters, but it's also a gift to the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, who sewed up the nomination with a knockout win in Indiana and can count on a month-long head start for the general election.
Sanders can't win with pledged delegates, but aides hope he can block Clinton
CNN // TOM LOBIANCO
It is mathematically impossible for Bernie Sanders to win enough delegates in the remaining Democratic contests to secure the nomination, but his aides see a path through a convention battle in Philadelphia that would target the party's superdelegates. The Democratic nominee must win 2,383 delegates to secure the nomination, but with only 933 delegates up for grabs in the remaining contests, it is impossible for Sanders to get there just by winning contests against front-runner Hillary Clinton. The Vermont senator has racked up 1,444 delegates, according to the latest CNN delegate tally, but would need to win more than 100% of the remaining delegates. Asked about this hurdle Wednesday, Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver dismissed it. "The truth is, no one is going to the convention with the requisite number of pledged delegates to win. The superdelegates are going to decide this race," Weaver said on CNN's "New Day."
2016 Republicans
With Donald Trump in Charge, Republicans Have a Day of Reckoning
NEW YORK TIMES // PATRICK HEALY, JONATHAN MARTIN, AND MAGGIE HABERMAN
Republican elected officials, donors and strategists grappled uncomfortably on Wednesday with the inevitability of Donald J. Trump
as their presidential nominee, an unexpectedly sudden denouement that left many in a state of political paralysis and others vowing to oppose the party's new standard-bearer. While some called for unity, many Republican leaders refrained from falling in line behind Mr. Trump, with dozens avoiding inquiries about where they stood or saying they wanted Mr. Trump to detail his policies or tone down his language first. Others tied themselves in knots as they praised and criticized Mr. Trump in a single breath, or suggested that they could abide Mr. Trump but loathed his agenda.
Donald Trump takes the reins of a divided Republican Party
WASHINGTON POST // PHILIP RUCKER, ROBERT COSTA, AND JOSE A. DEL REAL
Donald Trump assumed control of the Republican Party on Wednesday as its presumptive presidential nominee after Ohio Gov. John Kasich exited the race, moving swiftly to consider vice-presidential prospects and plan for what is expected to be a costly and vicious six-month battle for the White House against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump, who has proudly touted how he has self-funded his campaign, said he would begin actively seeking donations for his campaign and raise money for the national party, part of the arduous task of coalescing a party deeply divided over his toxic brand of politics. Party leaders are scrambling to stave off a parade of prominent Republicans endorsing Clinton, but already there were notable defections. The two living Republican past presidents, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, have no plans
to endorse Trump, according to their spokesmen.
Trump's improbable coup leaves Republican Party in an identity crisis
WASHINGTON POST // KAREN TUMULTY AND ROBERT COSTA
Donald Trump has demolished just about every pillar of Republican philosophy, leaving the party to grapple with an identity crisis deeper than anything it has seen in half a century. The GOP has chosen as its 2016 standard-bearer a candidate who has flouted a litany of its once-sacred conservative principles. Trump is disdainful of free-trade agreements, leery of foreign intervention, less than strident on social issues and a champion of protecting entitlements. Trump has also shattered Republican efforts to appeal to minorities and women by taking extreme positions on building a wall along the Southern border and barring Muslims from entering the country - and offending women with a series of insulting comments.
Donald Trump Won't Self-Fund General-Election Campaign
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL // MONICA LANGLEY AND REBECCA BALLHAUS
Donald Trump won't self-fund his general-election campaign, and will instead create a "world-class finance organization," the presumptive Republican nominee said in an interview on Wednesday. For a campaign expected to cost more than $1 billion, "I'll be putting up money, but won't be completely self-funding, as I did during the primaries," Mr. Trump said on Wednesday. The New York businessman, who did receive some mostly small unsolicited donations, lent his campaign $36 million of the $47 million he spent through March. That plan represents a shift for Mr. Trump, who has for months portrayed his Republican opponents as "puppets" for relying on super PACs and taking contributions from wealthy donors that he said came with strings attached.
Trump: I want to raise $1B for the GOP
THE HILL // MARK HENSCH
Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he wants to raise $1 billion or more for the GOP before the general presidential election. "We're going to try to raise over $1 billion," he told host Lester Holt on "NBC Nightly News." "I hear the Democrats may try to raise up to $2 billion. "I'm not even sure that's necessary," Trump added of his estimate. "I have a big voice. I go onto shows like yours and speak the truth and people seem to go along with it." Trump said that he relishes battling Hillary Clinton after eliminating the Republican presidential field and becoming the party's presumptive nominee. "Hillary will be a lot easier to beat than many of the governors and senators and others I have beat," he said. "Bernie Sanders said she is not qualified to be president because she has bad judgment," Trump added. "I agree with that.
How Donald Trump Becomes the GOP Nominee: The Path to 1,237 Delegates
ABC NEWS // LAUREN PEARLE AND RYAN STRUYK
While the Republican field has now been cleared for Donald Trump, the road ahead is still messy for the front-runner to become the official nominee at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, in July. Currently, Trump has 1,012 bound delegates, plus an additional 43 unbound delegates who are free agents -- though they have told ABC News they support Trump. Most likely, Trump will hit and far surpass the needed 1,237 in total delegates on June 7, when delegate-rich states like New Jersey and California cast their ballots. He is predicted to take most of the 228 delegates up for grabs on that day. Before June 7, though it is mathematically impossible for Trump to clinch the nomination with only bound delegates, he could still hit the winning delegate number with unbound (free agent) delegates after the primaries in Oregon and Washington, which happen in late May.
Trump, lone survivor in Republican White House race, now must unify party
REUTERS // STEVE HOLLAND
Donald Trump on Wednesday became the last man standing in the race for the Republican U.S. presidential nomination and faced the challenge of repairing deep fissures in the party, as his sole remaining rival, John Kasich, ended his campaign. Anointed the presumptive nominee after winning Indiana on Tuesday and driving his closest rival, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, from the race, the 69-year-old New York billionaire planned to set up a vice presidential selection committee and step up efforts to seek unity among a wider group of Republicans ahead of the Nov. 8 election. Trump's win in Indiana cleared the way for him to prepare for a likely general election match-up against Democrat Hillary Clinton. The former secretary of state lost the Indiana primary to tenacious challenger U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, but remains on course to become her party's nominee. Trump told NBC News he would probably work with the Republican National Committee to raise about $1 billion for the general election campaign.
Ted Cruz's $10 million donor backs Donald Trump
USA TODAY // FREDREKA SCHOUTEN
Toby Neugebauer, a wealthy energy investor, likes Ted Cruz so much that he deposited $10 million into a super PAC designed to boost the Texas Republican's presidential ambitions. On Wednesday, Neugebauer was in Donald Trump's camp after the reality TV star's big win in the Indiana primary Tuesday ended the campaigns of Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. "Today, I am a Trump supporter," Neugebauer told USA TODAY. "I am excited about the voters he turned up." Several Republican donors, including Neugebauer, are moving to unite behind the brash billionaire who vanquished 16 other candidates to emerge as the GOP's standard-bearer, even as his positions on health care and trade and his harsh rhetoric about women and some immigrants prompted fierce opposition from the party's establishment wing. "I am going to do what I can to help him," said Stanley Hubbard, a Minnesota broadcasting magnate who had contributed money to a super PAC that spent heavily to thwart Trump in early contests. "He wasn't my first choice, but I think you'll find he'll moderate himself" in the general-election campaign.
Seven pols who could be Donald Trump's VP pick (and two who won't)
THE BOSTON GLOBE // JAMES PINDELL
Donald Trump, after winning the Indiana primary this week and becoming the party's presumptive nominee, has begun openly talking about his parameters for selecting a running mate. First, the person would have to be a Republican (Sorry to former US senator Joe Lieberman, who has said kind words about Trump). Secondly, Trump said he is looking for someone with political experience. "I have the business, let's call them talents, and I think I'll probably go the political route," Trump told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday. "Somebody that can help me with legislation and somebody that can help me get things passed and somebody that's been friends with the senators and congressmen and all so we don't have to go the executive order route as much as Obama did, you know, where he can't get anything approved so he just keeps signing executive orders."
The 12 Signs That Trump Will Win the White House
POLITICO // MATT LATIMER
Unless the #NeverTrump people have been hiding a mad scientist with a DeLorean in a warehouse somewhere and haven't gotten around to telling anybody, Donald J. Trump is now the certain Republican nominee for president of the United States. True to form, having learned nothing from their yearlong string of overconfident and embarrassingly wrong predictions about voter behavior and preferences, the D.C. pundit class has already proclaimed him a general election loser. Not so fast. For the handful of polls that have Trump losing by double digits, there's one or two that foretell a much closer race. And if enough major chips fall the tangerine billionaire's way, he may get his shot at repainting the White House metallic gold. Want to know if you should join Lena Dunham on a house-hunting trip in Canada? Here's a month-by-month guide of the signs of a looming Trump victory.
Ted Cruz's zombie campaign
POLITICO // KYLE CHENEY
Ted Cruz's run for president is over, but this weekend, his operatives will fight on, heading to a pair of state conventions to push the campaign's preferred delegates to the Republican National Convention. According to a GOP source familiar with the Cruz campaign's decision, staff will be on the ground in North Carolina and South Carolina, where 56 delegates will be selected. Some will even fan out next week when a dozen more states - including Cruz's home state of Texas - pick their national delegates. It's an effort, two Cruz sources told POLITICO, to pack the convention full of conservatives who can stand up to any attempt by Donald Trump to weaken conservative planks of the GOP platform or rework the rules that govern the presidential nomination process. "It's still important that we have a conservative convention ... I think we would be doing Ted Cruz a disservice if we gave up that fight," said Rob Uithoven, who helmed Cruz's operation in western states. "It'll be even more difficult now with the campaign suspended to try to get our [delegates] elected." Uithoven sent a letter Wednesday to the Cruz leadership teams in each of the western states he oversaw urging the delegates he helped elect to attend the national convention rather than cede the floor to Trump.
Trump: I'm open to Cruz as VP
THE HILL // MARK HENSCH
Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he would consider making Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) his running mate. "I respect Ted," he told host Bill O'Reilly on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor." "He was a very strong competitor. He really competed hard and tough." "He's certainly a capable guy," the presumptive GOP presidential nominee added. "It's something we can think about." Trump defeated Cruz in Tuesday's Indiana GOP presidential primary, making him the presumptive nominee. Cruz suspended his Oval Office bid shortly afterward, saying that his results in the Hoosier State "foreclose" his path to the Republican presidential nomination. Trump on Wednesday said that he does not resent Cruz for their often bitter contest against each another.
No, Ted Cruz did not endorse Hillary Clinton
USA TODAY // STEPH SOLIS
Ted Cruz has been full of surprises lately, but an endorsement for Hillary Clinton isn't one of them. Some thought otherwise when they went to tedcruz.com less than a day after the Texas senator suspended his presidential campaign. It's not Cruz's real campaign website, which remains alive and well at tedcruz.org. It's unclear at this point who is behind the fake page, which confused (and amused) some voters. Back in February, then-presidential hopeful Jeb Bush became the victim of a website prank pulled by Donald Trump. Except Trump took over Bush's official campaign website after the Bush campaign let the website domain expire.
Analysis: Ted Cruz Maybe Should Have Been Less Of A Jerk To Everyone
HUFFINGTON POST // JASON LINKINS
Last night, after the Indiana primary results were called, almost immediately, for reality television star and R'lyehian love-pillow Donald Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz - thought to be the last hope of the "#NeverTrump" movement if we weren't counting John Kasich (and we weren't) - bowed out of the race, elbowing his wife in the face in the process. Cruz vacates the race after winning a handful of states and demonstrating some degree of savviness when it comes to meticulously working the delegate selection process. This probably will give him hope to believe he might give this whole running-for-president thing another try in 2020. There is one thing he might consider doing differently, however: Maybe don't be a huge prick to everybody. Maybe just cut back on the whole being-a-prick thing by, like, 50 percent. Give that a try. Think about it: At a time when Cruz needed everything possible to break his way in Indiana to forestall Trump running the tables and making it certain he'd get the number of delegates he needed to claim the GOP nomination outright, you got former Speaker of the House John Boehner describing Cruz as "Lucifer in the flesh." Boehner went on to say, "I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life."
Waiting for Kasich
THE ATLANTIC // NORA KELLY
Landmark Aviation sits 30 miles away from the White House, a mini private airport for those who won't deign to wait in line at Dulles. This is the place-a bleak airport on a foggy post-primary morning, with sleek jets idling beyond the lobby's large windows-that the John Kasich campaign chose for his reintroduction: as the only guy standing between Donald Trump and the Republican nomination, and the one who'd wrest it from the billionaire in July. Politicians typically use places like this, austere as they are, to embark on new and bold ventures. What could be bolder than staying in a presidential race when voters really don't want you? The Ohio governor had outlasted 16 others to make it to this moment near Washington, D.C.-the city where he worked as a young congressman, and where he aspired to be by next year. He kept his head down. He was nice when others turned bitter. And his campaign would (quixotically) continue. Kasich's chief strategist had said as much after dismal returns on Tuesday night, and reporters gathered Wednesday morning to hear how it would go. But Kasich never arrived, and news shortly leaked that he would drop out of the U.S. presidential race. The candidate's plane, like his campaign itself, hadn't successfully made it out of Ohio.
Carson floats Cruz as attorney general to go after Clinton
POLITICO // BRIANNA GURCIULLO
Ben Carson has a plan for Ted Cruz now that the Texas senator has dropped out of the GOP presidential race: attorney general, then Supreme Court justice under a Trump administration.
When Fox News Radio's John Gibson asked Carson on Wednesday whether it would be "smart" for presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump to offer Cruz a position on the Supreme Court, he said yes. "I think he would be terrific on the Supreme Court, or I think he would be a terrific attorney general. Or he could be both," Carson said. "He could be attorney general first, you know, go ahead and prosecute Hillary, and then go on the Supreme Court." Gibson went on to ask the former presidential candidate whom Trump should choose as his running mate. "I wouldn't advise him to pick me," Carson said. "I would advise him to pick someone who really is willing and able to take a significant part of the load."
Editorials/Op-Eds
John Kasich Exits an Ugly Campaign Season
THE NEW YORK TIMES // THE EDITORIAL BOARD
John Kasich's suspension of his presidential campaign eliminates the last remaining, and most reasonable, Republican opponent to Donald Trump. Mr. Kasich, the Ohio governor, polled higher than Mr. Trump against Hillary Clinton. That became his sole rationale for remaining in the race as he almost cheerfully racked up primary losses, winning only his home state and fewer total delegates than did Senator Marco Rubio, who dropped out in March. In a brief speech on Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Kasich focused mostly on the people he met on the campaign trail. He said that their stories reminded him that "the spirit, the essence of America lies in the hearts and souls of us." He did not mention his opponents or any specifics about his future. "As I suspend my campaign today, I have renewed faith, deeper faith, that the Lord will show me the way forward and fulfill the purpose of my life," he said.
A Trump reboot? Impossible.
WASHINGTON POST // EDITORIAL BOARD
NOW THAT a reality-television star has all but secured their nomination
, Republicans are scrambling to adjust - or hoping that Donald Trump will change. Not surprisingly, GOP Chairman Reince ("Winning is the antidote to a lot of things") Priebus was one of the first to hail the "presumptive @GOP nominee
" Tuesday night on Twitter and call for party unity. Former Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal
- who last fall recognized Mr. Trump as a " narcissist
," "an egomaniac," "a carnival act" who "believes in nothing
" and is "absurd," "insecure and weak" and "dangerous" - now says he will vote for the man. The Wall Street Journal editorial page
, previously eloquent in its opposition, urges Mr. Trump to behave "in a way that reduces his epic unfavorable numbers with many voters."


See attached. This can be uploaded.
Thanks,
Mark
Mark Paustenbach
National Press Secretary &
Deputy Communications Director
Democratic National Committee
W: 202.863.8148
paustenbachm@dnc.org
From: Bonosky, Garret
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 11:39 AM
To: Paustenbach, Mark; Banfill, Ryan; Kate Houghton; Kroll, Amy; Miranda, Luis
Subject: RE: Briefing for 1:30 call
Let us knowwhen it is ready to upload and amy will upload
From: Paustenbach, Mark
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 11:38 AM
To: Banfill, Ryan; Kate Houghton; Kroll, Amy; Miranda, Luis; Bonosky, Garret
Subject: RE: Briefing for 1:30 call
Call script attached here in case it hasn't already gone around.
Thanks,
Mark
Mark Paustenbach
National Press Secretary &
Deputy Communications Director
Democratic National Committee
W: 202.863.8148
paustenbachm@dnc.org
From: Banfill, Ryan
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 11:32 AM
To: Kate Houghton; Kroll, Amy; Paustenbach, Mark; Miranda, Luis; Bonosky, Garret
Cc: Banfill, Ryan
Subject: Briefing for 1:30 call
For your review: Here is the briefing paper for the 1:30 pm call.


Thanks, Greg!
On May 11, 2016, at 10:27 AM, DNC Helpdesk
> wrote:
Pablo, it done Sir
Greg Bates (bates@dnc.org
)
Ticket Details
________________________________
Ticket ID: NHB-619-69279
Department: DNC Helpdesk
Type: 15 Minutes
Status: Pending Reply
Priority: Low
Helpdesk:
Pablo Manriquez
Democratic National Committee
Phone: 202.572.5488
Email: pablo@dnc.org
web: democrats.org
Twitter: @Pablo_DNC


From: HuffPost Hill
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2016 5:04 PM
To: Helmstetter, TJ
Subject: HUFFPOST HILL - Democrats Get Back To Basics By Failing Easy Task
[HuffPost Hill]
By Eliot Nelson
and Arthur Delaney
Paul Ryan and Donald Trump’s already-fraught relationship is another reminder that politics is just one big text chain where everyone forgot to turn off read receipts. We’re not saying that the White House and the Democratic Party are botching their anti-Donald Trump messaging, but it’s pretty clear “Recovery Summer” is still their high point. And Dick Cheney broke with other establishment GOP figures and said he’ll support Trump
. The former VP’s email list, connections to party officials and loyal army of undead soul reavers will really help the real estate mogul with turnout. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Friday, May 6th, 2016:
OBAMA LAYS TRUMP OUT WITH KILLER LINE - The presidency isn’t . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . a reality show! Wow. Wow. So great. So. So. Great. So glad Well-Connected Failed Novelist Ben Rhodes is there by the commander-in-chief’s side, forming policy and crafting messages. Reuters: “President Barack Obama urged the U.S. media and American public on Friday to examine the ‘long record’ of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and not get distracted by the ‘spectacle and the circus’ aspect of the 2016 election campaign. The Democratic president delivered an indirect swipe at the flamboyant, combative Republican primary campaign run by Trump, a former reality television star, and how media have covered it. ‘It’s important for us to take seriously the statements he’s made in the past,’ Obama said in remarks to reporters. ‘I just want to emphasize the degree to which we are in serious times and this is a really serious job. This is not entertainment. This is not a reality show. This is a contest for the presidency of the United States.’ He said Trump has a long record in public life and that should be closely examined, as should the statements and policy positions of all the candidates.” [Reuters
]
Take *that,* Dangerous Donald!
RYAN INVITES TRUMP TO MEETING - But will the customary turkey chili — the dish the Constitution mandates advisaries eat during tete-a-tetes — be served? Cristina Marcos: “Donald Trump will meet with House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Thursday as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee works to unify a fractious party around him. Ryan invited Trump to Capitol Hill a day after he stunned Republicans by saying that he wasn’t ready to endorse Trump...Trump will meet separately with Ryan and Priebus at the RNC’s Capitol Hill headquarters on Thursday. He will not be addressing the entire House GOP conference as has been the norm with other presidential nominees, but he will have an additional meeting with House GOP leaders. Trump’s campaign recently instituted weekly meetings with lawmakers whenever the House is in session to provide updates about strategy. But the gatherings over the last month or so have only included Trump’s top aides.” [The Hill
]
This will end well: “Trump, speaking on ‘Fox & Friends,’ took a shot at the Romney-Ryan ticket, saying the 2012 election was ‘a race that should have easily been won.’” [Fox
]
PAUL RYAN’S DILEMMA - Matt Fuller: “Had Ryan immediately endorsed Trump, he’d be connecting House Republicans — and himself — to Trump’s toxic brand of politics. He’d be disregarding the offensive, sometimes insane things Trump has said over the course of this campaign and pretending that all is well. All is not well, and Ryan wanted some say over it. By holding off on a formal Trump endorsement, Ryan seems to be hoping that Trump will temper his rhetoric — if that’s what you call tweets about taco bowls and decades of horrible quotes about women — and start acting like someone who is running for the highest office in the country. If Trump doesn’t do that, Ryan will have insulated the GOP from the incendiary real estate mogul — and made himself look like one of the few adults in the Republican Party. And if Trump does clean up his act, Ryan can take some credit for taming a madman.” Good luck, Paul! [HuffPost
]
Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), Zephyr Teachout and Andrew Sullivan are guests on this week’s HuffPost Politics podcast
. Sullivan said he experienced sublime horror watching a Trump speech on weed.
DELANEY DOWNER - The Social Security Administration is quietly changing how it handles some appeals from Americans who’ve sought disability benefits. The changes are part of an effort to chip away at an unprecedented backlog of unresolved claims, one that’s left some people waiting more than 500 days for a decision. “With over 1.1 million people waiting for a hearing decision, we are in the midst of a public service crisis,” SSA spokesman Mark Hinkle said in an email. “For some people this results in a wait of over 17 months to receive a hearing decision, which we concede is unacceptable service.” … Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican who believes the disability program is rife with fraud, will hold a hearing on the new appeals policy next week, his office said. “These proposed changes break with decades of practice, run contrary to well established interpretation of the Social Security Act, and depart from the SSA’s own regulations,” Lankford said in a letter to the agency last month. “The possibility that such actions could invite large-scale, costly, and protracted litigation from affected claimants is very troubling.” [HuffPost
]
Like HuffPost Hill? Then pre-order Eliot’s book’s, The Beltway Bible: A Totally Serious A-Z Guide To Our No-Good, Corrupt, Incompetent, Terrible, Depressing, and Sometimes Hilarious Government
.
Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It’s free!Sign up here.
Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com
. Follow us on Twitter -@HuffPostHill
PAUL RYAN AND DONALD TRUMP: THESE TWO TEAMS JUST DON’T LIKE EACH OTHER - Jake Sherman: “On Wednesday morning, not even 24 hours after Donald Trump effectively clinched the Republican nomination, Paul Ryan convened his top advisers for a call. With Congress out of session, Ryan was bouncing between multiple states, raising the piles of money needed to keep House Republicans in the majority. But Donald Trump was on his mind. The speaker could not — at least at this point — support him. And he wanted to talk through how to proceed…Ryan never expected Trump to lock up the nomination so quickly. He didn’t think Texas Sen. Ted Cruz would drop out of the race in May. In fact, Ryan’s orbit was preparing for a contested convention in Cleveland, where he is slated to serve as chairman, effectively the emcee of the Trump coronation. The decision was made quickly. The next day, he would go on CNN and make it official, in no uncertain terms...Trump’s campaign was stunned by Ryan’s interview. Earlier on Thursday, campaign sources said, advisers to the candidate had reached out to Ryan’s office with an invitation: Would the speaker be able to meet with Trump for a one-on-one meeting to discuss the fall campaign and the party’s agenda? The invitation was passed on to a staffer, and the campaign didn’t hear back immediately from Ryan’s office.” [Politico
]
Donald must use inside voice: Republican Party chairman: “Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said Friday that presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump understands the need to change how he speaks about marginalized groups…’Do Hispanics think Donald Trump likes them?’ asked moderator Mike Allen.’I think there is work to do,” Priebus replied. ‘There’s work on tone to do.’ Priebus said he has spoken to Trump about his incendiary language, and that the candidate “understands it. He gets it. I think you’re going to see the change in tone.” [HuffPost’s Christina Wilkie
]
DONALD TRUMP DOESN’T BELIEVE IN MANY THINGS - Except for taco bowls. Matea Gold: “The New York real estate tycoon, who frequently boasted throughout the primary that he was financing his campaign, is setting up a national fundraising operation and taking a hands-off posture toward super PACs. He is expressing openness to raising the minimum wage, a move he previously opposed, saying on CNN this week, ‘I mean, you have to have something that you can live on.’ And Trump is backing away from a tax plan he rolled out last fall that would give major cuts to the rich. ‘I am not necessarily a huge fan of that,’ he told CNBC. ‘I am so much more into the middle class, who have just been absolutely forgotten in our country.’ The billionaire’s tendency to change his mind on policy matters is a hallmark of his unconventional campaign — a quality he casts as an asset, saying it shows he is open to new ideas. But even for a candidate who touts his willingness to change his mind, his latest reversals are striking — particularly when it comes to the financing of his presidential bid, a central part of his pitch to voters.” [WaPo
]
MICHAEL GRIMM OUT OF JAIL - Seems like just yesterday he was threatening to throw people off balconies — a pity he missed the Trump wave. New York 1: “Michael Grimm says there’s nothing like being home. The former Staten Island congressman has been released from a federal prison outside of Pittsburgh after serving more than seven months for one count of felony tax evasion related to a health food restaurant he owned in Manhattan before he was elected to Congress in 2010. In his first interview since his release, Grimm says he passed his time behind bars reading books, working out and corresponding with friends, family and more than 500 residents who he says wrote him letters of support...He says he has begun working on a book about his life and needs to find a job to begin paying off his many legal fees as well as pay restitution to the government under the terms of his sentence. He says he hasn’t ruled out a return to politics. Grimm also says he’d like to work for change inside the prison system.” [NY1
]
BECAUSE YOU’VE READ THIS FAR - Here are - lions playing with toys
.
PAUL LEPAGE TAKES PUPPY, BREAKS HEART - Amada Terkel: “Hannah Arsenault had her heart set on adopting a cute 2-year-old Jack Russell terrier mix she saw on the local shelter’s website. Arsenault, 22, recently suffered a sexual assault and told the Lewiston-Auburn Sun Journal that she hoped the pup, named Jasper, would provide some much-needed emotional support. The Greater Androscoggin Humane Society in Lewiston, Maine, says people can adopt animals on a first-come, first-served basis once they become publicly available. Arsenault planned to take off work and wait in line early Wednesday to be sure that she would be able to adopt the dog she had her eye on. But on Tuesday night, she noticed that the organization had posted a photo of Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) with that very same dog.” [HuffPost
]
COMFORT FOOD
- What countrydo you sleep like?
- Baby announcements are getting weird
.
- A supercut of writers block.
TWITTERAMA
@libbycwatson
: Dangerous Donald
[
@jesseberney
: Reminder that Trump, but not Clinton, is a No Labels “Problem Solver.”
@dceiver
: I think this stupid Dangerous Donald stuff boils down to
-there is a GOP nominee
-there’s no Dem nominee
-Dems are all “gotta do something”
Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com
) or Arthur Delaney (arthur@huffingtonpost.com
). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill).
Want to get your own copy? Click here to sign up for HuffPost Hill
(C) 2016 The Huffington Post PO Box 4668 #22504 New York, NY 10163-4668
Sent via ActionNetwork.org
. To update your email address or to stop receiving emails from HuffPost Hill, please click here
.


Awesome. Should get this out ASAP so the oppo makes it into stories. Even better if reporters mention how quick we were to the draw.
Once our release goes out, we should flag for state party comm directors in IA, CO, MO, PA, MI, UT, AL, MN, WI, and TX. Good opportunity for them to unload w oppo as well.
From: Freundlich, Christina
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2016 2:14 PM
To: Helmstetter, TJ; Comm_D
Subject: Re: FLAG: Trump's SCOTUS short-list
Alright let's cue up that release!! Will handle in a few
_____________________________
From: Helmstetter, TJ
>
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2016 2:11 PM
Subject: FLAG: Trump's SCOTUS short-list
To: Comm_D
>
Steven Colloton of Iowa, Allison Eid of Colorado and Raymond Gruender of Missouri.
Also on the list are: Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, Joan Larsen of Michigan, Thomas Lee of Utah, William Pryor of Alabama, David Stras of Minnesota, Diane Sykes of Wisconsin and Don Willett of Texas.

TJ Helmstetter
Deputy Director of Regional and Specialty Media
Democratic National Committee
202.863.8022
- desk
973.464.9224
- cell
HelmstetterT@DNC.org


H/t to Kelly for sending this on Slack. Flagged for reporter from La Opinion (largest Spanish language newspaper), who will be following up on this.
Revealed: inside the tug-of-war to run Donald Trump's California campaign
Paul Lewis
in San Francisco
Tim Clark was asked if he was interested in running Donald Trump's campaign in California
earlier this month. "Interested?" he recalls telling an emissary for the Republican frontrunner. "You bet I'm interested. I'm about to fall out of my chair."
Clark could have been forgiven for assuming the job of Trump's state director in California - the most delegate-rich primary contest, and the one likely to determine the outcome of the 2016 Republican race - would involve being thrust into the billionaire's inner circle.
Yet more than two weeks into the role, Clark has still not met with Trump or even spoken with him on the phone. "I haven't talked to him," he conceded, when pressed over the extent of his communications with Trump. "There's been, you know, email traffic and things like that."
The fact Trump has yet to talk to the strategist in command of the all-important California primary contest may say more about the frontrunner's centralized presidential campaign than it does about Clark.
On the other hand, it turns out Clark was not an uncontroversial pick.
Stuart Jolly, who until recently was Trump's national field director, said he considered Clark for the role but decided he was not qualified enough.
"I had already ruled him out," he said.
Jolly said he was overruled by a more senior campaign operative, newly hired national convention manager Paul Manafort, but maintains that Clark's selection over another contender in California was "almost laughable".
Others, including some of the most prominent figures in California Republican politics, maintain that Clark is more than capable of running Trump's operations in the state, even if he currently finds himself on the margins.
Either way, the inside story of how Clark got the job sheds new light on the internal power struggle that has rocked the Trump campaign in recent weeks.
For his part, Clark, who granted the Guardian a wide-ranging interview in his small office overlooking the I-80 highway in Auburn, California, said Trump's team was fully invested in his plan for winning the California primary on 7 June.
While he had not spoken to Trump, who is traveling to California to launch his campaign in the state on Thursday, Clark said he had received "direct feedback" in email form "so we've had some interactions".
"I appreciate the fact that Mr Trump has reviewed my bio and found me to be somebody that he would like to hire," Clark said, smiling. "You watch some of the episodes of The Apprentice and you say: 'OK, alright, I'm good, I'm not going to take that elevator ride down.'"
A political power struggle
Clark was not the first choice to run Trump's crucial campaign in California, the last state to vote and, almost certainly, the place the Republican frontrunner will either secure the requisite number of delegates for the nomination or fall short.
Trump's campaign began its search in late March, several weeks after his rivals had selected prominent political figures to spearhead their California campaigns.
Ted Cruz had opted for Ron Nehring, a former chairman of the California state GOP and a well-known face on CNN, to chair his campaign in the state. Soon after, John Kasich announced his California campaign chairman would be Steve Poizner, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur and ex-gubernatorial candidate.
At first, it appears to have been Republican operative Jimmy Camp who was approached about a role in the Trump campaign. But Camp politely declined the offer.
The problem, he told the Guardian this week, was the candidate.
"I've actually been pretty vocal in my opposition to Trump," he said. "I'm not a fan. I think he's deathly for our party and for our country and I'm actually doing everything I can to stop him."
Second in line for the job was Kathy Tavoularis, statewide director to Arnold Schwarzenegger's re-election campaign and director of California's delegation to the Republican convention in 2012.
Tavoularis was open to the job and interviewed and vetted by Jolly, who had selected every one of Trump's other statewide directors. Jolly confirmed that he considered Clark but concluded there was no comparison.
"I just didn't think he was as qualified as Kathy," he said. "She had much more experience in delegate work, she had more experience statewide."
Jolly said, in early April, he was on the cusp of offering Tavoularis the job, adding: "She was so much more qualified it was almost laughable, in my opinion."
However a power struggle was under way at Trump's campaign headquarters between the businessman's campaign manager and close confidante, Corey Lewandowski, and Manafort, the veteran political bruiser who had been appointed convention manager.
"Manafort wanted to have full reign over California and asked me to let him [select the director] for California," Jolly said. "I was probably within the hour of offering the job to Kathy. Literally, a day later, Kathy would have been state director."
Why was Manafort so keen to go with Clark? "He just wanted his people [in California]," said Jolly, who resigned from the Trump campaign last week. "It's politics. Everyone wants their guy there."
An uphill battle to gain allies
Some 3,000 miles away, Clark was apparently oblivious to the political tug-of-war at Trump headquarters that was about to land him the job of lifetime.
The 49-year-old gave up consultancy work last year for a slower-paced job in Sacramento, working as chief of staff to a state legislator he helped get elected.
He believed he had been recommended as a suitable candidate to Trump's campaign. "It sounds like there were those in the industry that said, you need to go to get Tim," he said.
It cannot have harmed Clark that, a month earlier, he declared himself a Trump supporter in an op-ed in the Sacramento Bee
. Clark parted company with the Republican establishment in the article, arguing Trump's "track record of abrasiveness" was actually an electoral asset in an era when conservative voters wanted something new.
Clark said he received the call on 8 April from "a representative of Mr Manafort" asking if he wanted the job.
The process thereafter was remarkably quick. Clark sketched a roadmap to victory for Trump in California and had a series of calls over the weekend with the real estate mogul's advisers in New York. By Monday morning, he said, the job was his.
When the announcement was made, two days later, there was consternation among some Republican political strategists in the state.
"Overall, in general, people just don't want to work with Tim," said one such Republican political operative, who said Clark had been involved in disagreements with other consultants. "He's a nice guy, not unpleasant, but he's burned a lot of bridges."
The operative was one of three GOP consultants who told the Guardian they would not work with Clark - although none would go on the record.
Some might put that criticism down to professional jealousy, or dismay that Clark opted to back the controversial frontrunner.
Clark may be lower-profile than the figures running the Cruz and Kasich campaigns, but he does have a track record of winning elections. One notable success was the triumph of Fresno's Republican mayor, Ashley Swearengin, a rising start in the small world of conservative politics in California.
"Tim is a bright guy, he's got a good record and he can help the delegate-selection effort," said Rob Stutzman, a GOP operative leading a major anti-Trump effort in California
. Stutzman did, however, question how central a role Clark would play in Trump's notoriously centralized campaign.
Jim Brulte, the current chairman of the California Republican party, who is staying neutral in the race, said Clark was "absolutely" qualified for the job.
He pointed out that in addition to his success in local races, Clark was involved in one of only two statewide Republican non-incumbent victories in the overwhelmingly Democratic state in recent years: the election of Poizner as state insurance commissioner in 2006.
Poizner also complimented Clark, saying he was "one of the key strategists" in his successful election 10 years ago.
"It is very difficult to run statewide in California," Poizner said. "In addition, if you are a Republican, it is 10 times harder."
Plotting a roadmap to victory
Winning a statewide Republican primary, of course, is less of a challenge, not least when your candidate has the momentum currently powering Trump, who registered overwhelming victories in five eastern states on Tuesday
.
Clark provided a glimpse of how he planned to pull off a similar victory in California. He pulled out a map and showed how he has divided California into five regions, each of which will have campaign offices opening next week. He said Trump would spend more time in California than all other primary states, except Iowa and New Hampshire.
"I put together, based on what I know of the state, a budget that I believe will win 172 [delegates]," he said. "That's my goal. I presented that to the guys back east. I feel very strongly that the team in New York, and Mr Trump, who heads that team, understands what it takes to win California."
Clark appeared to hedge over whether that would involve big spending in California's notoriously expensive media market.
"There's some elections that transcend paid media," he said. "What new thing can be said about Donald Trump
to these voters in California? Because it's not as if they've shut off their TVs and haven't been paying attention for the last year."
Clark suggested the campaign probably would spend lavishly on TV ads, but also cast doubt on the wisdom of that approach.
"Will the Trump campaign have a vigorous paid media? Yeah, I expect so," he said. "Will the other side? Yeah, I expect so. Will it have any impact? I don't know, I don't think so. So our campaign is built to anticipate that it will [have an impact], but it won't."
With the California GOP primary limited to registered Republicans, Clark said a key part of his strategy was convincing former Republicans
who switched to independents to change their registration. With mail-in ballots arriving with California voters soon, he acknowledged he had limited time to do so, but insisted the strategy made sense.
"That type of voter is very attracted to Mr Trump's independence," he said, adding that the tactic would "fundamentally change the voter equation" in the 53 congressional districts that award delegates.
"All the models that the Cruz people have, all the models that the Kasich people have, we're blowing them up right now by changing the population of who is available to vote," he said.
Clark did not rule out Spanish-language TV ads or robocalls on behalf of the presidential candidate who has likened Mexicans to "rapists" and "criminals".
"It is a strategy point that we have to keep internal right now," he said.
He exuded unequivocal confidence in Trump, pointing out a recent Fox poll
gave Trump a huge 27-point lead over Cruz.
"We've tried it with the smooth politician, we've tried it with the congenial politician, and it has got us very little," he said. "It is time to try it with a guy who will just get in and fight."
Later, in an email exchange, Clark confirmed he would have an opportunity to speak with his boss for the first time on Thursday, when Trump flies into Los Angeles for a major rally in the suburbs of Orange County.
"Yes," he wrote. "I'll be seeing Mr Trump tomorrow."
--
Walter Garcia
Western Regional Press Secretary
Democratic National Committee (DNC)
Email: GarciaW@dnc.org
Twitter: @WalterGarcia231
[SigDems]


Thanks!
Sent via the Samsung GALAXY S®4, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone
-------- Original message --------
From: Ryan Banfill
Date: 05/22/2016 09:07 (GMT-05:00)
To: "Miranda, Luis"
Subject: Statement by Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to Senator Sanders endorsement of her primary campaign opponent
Contact: Ryan Banfill, (850) 933-7707
Statement by Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to Senator Sanders endorsement of her primary campaign opponent
"I am so proud to serve the people of Florida's 23rd district and I am confident that they know that I am an effective fighter and advocate on their behalf in Congress.  Even though Senator Sanders has endorsed my opponent I remain, as I have been from the beginning, neutral in the Presidential Democratic primary. I look forward to working together with him for Democratic victories in the fall."
Sent from my iPad


YouTube, DNC Clips
TITLE —
Super Tuesday: Indiana Democratic Party Chair John Zody on CNN
Thanks!
On May 3, 2016, at 10:54 AM, Jakubiec, Matthew
> wrote:
Watch here
From: Helmstetter, TJ
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2016 10:30 AM
To: Comm_D
Subject: Video request: John Zody on CNN
Indiana Dems chair John Zody was just on CNN. Can someone send me video? Thanks!
TJ Helmstetter
Deputy Director of Regional and Specialty Media
Democratic National Committee
202.863.8022 – desk
973.464.9224 – cell
HelmstetterT@DNC.org
Pablo Manriquez
Democratic National Committee
Phone: 202.572.5488
Email: pablo@dnc.org
web: democrats.org
Twitter: @Pablo_DNC