Can Jeb survive a 7th place showing out of Iowa? New Q caucus poll shows: Walker 21, Rubio 13, Rand 13, Cruz 12, Huck 11... Jeb 5.
— @HotlineJosh
BBC:
Texas Governor Greg Abbott is coming under increasing criticism for ordering the Texas State Guard to monitor federal military exercises.
The exercises drew concerns that the government could implement martial law or confiscate citizens' guns.
Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, the Pentagon, and the White House have suggested the concerns and Mr Abbott's request were unfounded.
The exercises, called Jade Helm 15, are set to begin in July.
"In no way will the constitutional rights or civil liberties of any American citizen be infringed upon while this exercise is being conducted," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said. "I have no idea what [Abbott] is thinking."
Well, Abbott's either pandering to the nutters or he's one himself.
Mark Liebovich:
Today’s candidates operate in an environment in which the power dynamic between the media and politicians has shifted in their favor. It has become so much easier to simply call “gotcha” on an unwelcome inquiry and be done with it. Campaigns no longer rely as heavily on the news media to communicate. They can now fashion their own websites and tweets and benefit from their own auxiliary noise machines (super PACs). In so much as the media have become more partisan, candidates can pick and choose their outlets, expect some to be friendly while dismissing others as hostile. Or they can dismiss all of them. (An April 29 headline in Politico: “Harry Reid: Journalism doesn’t exist.”)
@jonward11 @MarkLeibovich @DemFromCT to 've fair, media brought it on itself in a lot of ways
— @PCalith
More politics and policy below the fold.
BREAKING: California regulators adopt unprecedented mandatory water cutbacks to address ongoing drought.
— @AP
NY Times:
Hillary Rodham Clinton appears to have initially weathered a barrage of news about her use of a private email account when she was secretary of state and the practices of her family’s foundation, an indication that she is starting her second presidential bid with an unusual durability among Democratic voters.
Americans now view Mrs. Clinton more favorably and as a stronger leader than they did earlier in the year, despite weeks of scrutiny about her ethics, a New York Times/CBS News poll has found. And nearly nine in 10 Democrats say the nation is ready to elect a woman president.
Republican voters showed the most openness to considering Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and former Govs. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Jeb Bush of Florida among their party’s presidential contenders, the survey found.
Haters gonna hate, but this is the reality.
Igor Bobic:
[Carly] Fiorina, who is the first woman to lead a Fortune 100 company, ran for Senate in California in 2009 by pledging to revive a shattered U.S. economy. She lost to incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer (D), but not before staking out moderate positions in an effort to appeal to the state's liberal electorate. Although Fiorina does not support marriage equality, she believes that same-sex couples ought to have the same government benefits as heterosexual couples. She also holds a relatively moderate stance on immigration, similar to that of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), by supporting a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants.
But it's Fiorina's record as economic adviser to then-Republican presidential nominee John McCain in 2008 that could really come back to haunt her. Addressing the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis that year, Fiorina touted McCain's cap-and-trade plan, a toxic proposal in today's Republican Party.
NY Times:
Mike Huckabee, a former Republican governor of Arkansas and preacher who has announced his run for the presidency on Tuesday, has been outspoken on a range of matters, particularly foreign policy and social issues like same-sex marriage. Here are his stances on important issues.
Nate Cohn:
The religious right remains the largest voting bloc in the Republican Party, and that gives Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, the potential to play a big role in the presidential nominating contest.
But Mr. Huckabee, who was set to announce his presidential bid Tuesday morning, will have a harder time winning Iowa than he did in 2008, when religious conservatives had serious reservations about the two main candidates, John McCain and Mitt Romney.
Politico:
We don’t really have elections like 1960 and 1976 anymore. In the current Electoral College battlefield, 40 of 50 states have voted for the same candidate in all four elections since 2000. And, of the 10 exceptions, three were fluky: New Mexico’s pluralities were wafer-thin in both 2000, when it went for Al Gore, and 2004, when George W. Bush took the state. It has now trended mainly Democratic. Indiana and North Carolina, meanwhile, narrowly went for Barack Obama in 2008, in part because Obama’s campaign invested heavily in field operations and advertising in those states while John McCain, out of necessity, neglected them. Overall, Hoosiers are still predominantly Republican and Tar Heels marginally so. That leaves just seven super-swingy states: Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Ohio, and Virginia, all of which backed Bush and Obama twice each, and Iowa and New Hampshire, which have voted Democratic in three of the last four elections.
Matt Katz:
Officially, Gov. Chris Christie says he's still mulling whether to run for president. But unofficially an apparatus is being readied to announce a candidacy sometime between Memorial Day weekend and July 4th -- a timetable that will be determined by how soon he can wrap up a deal on the next budget with Democrats who control the Legislature. Friday's news that three former associates have been accused in the Bridgegate affair -- David Wildstein pleaded guilty, while Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni will be arraigned today -- has not fundamentally altered the governor's timetable, sources say. There's several reasons for that.
This is what the Christie camp thinks to itself. It's how losing candidates sleep through the night. But the reality from the
NY Times/CBS News poll:
Republican voters were least resistant to Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin: Only 13 percent said they would not consider voting for him. At the opposite extreme, 42 percent of Republicans said they would not consider voting for Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey.