Wednesday, May 11, 2016
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Gary L. Bauer
Primary Results: The Democrats
The big contest for Democrats last night was West Virginia. (The Nebraska primary is non-binding.) Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders continues to give former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fits. She just cannot put this race away.
Last night, Sanders beat Clinton by 15 points among West Virginia Democrats. That’s a stunning reversal from 2008 when Clinton beat Barack Obama by 41 points. In 2008, Clinton won nearly 241,000 votes. Last night, she won only 86,000.
Sanders concedes that his path to the Democrat nomination is difficult. But he’s hoping that a few more upset victories will cause Democrat superdelegates to reconsider their support for Hillary Clinton, perhaps setting the stage for a convention fight. That scenario seems unlikely, but this has been a very “unlikely” year.
Primary Results: The Republicans
With the field cleared, Donald Trump scored big wins in yesterday’s Nebraska and West Virginia primaries. Trump received 61% of the vote in Nebraska and 77% in West Virginia.
Voter turnout continues to be a major story this year. With Trump’s rivals out of the race, one might expect participation to fall. But that didn’t happen.
Turnout increased modestly in Nebraska — up nearly 7% compared to 2012. But it exploded in West Virginia — up by a whopping 81% compared to four years ago. In fact, Trump received almost twice as many votes as Mitt Romney did in 2012.
Tomorrow’s Meeting
Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump is set to meet tomorrow with Speaker Paul Ryan and other GOP congressional leaders in Washington, D.C., in an effort to unify the party. Yesterday, both sides were doing their best to put on a happy face.
Ryan, who has so far withheld his endorsement of Trump, told the Wall Street Journal’s Gerald Seib, “What I want to see is all conservatives rally together. . .”
For his part, Donald Trump told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, “I have a lot of respect for Paul and I think we are going to have a very good meeting.” Trump added that he wanted Ryan to remain in his role as chairman of the Republican Party’s national convention this summer.
According to various reports, former candidate Dr. Ben Carson, who has endorsed Trump, is acting as a mediator between the speaker and the Trump campaign. Dr. Carson said he learned that the two men evidently do not know each other very well.
Ryan added that the Republican Party is “a big tent” with “plenty of room for policy disputes.” Sources close to the speaker indicate that tomorrow’s meeting will likely focus not on disagreements, but on unifying principles — smaller government, lower taxes, less regulation, a stronger military.
And Trump is signaling that he intends to make good on one of the GOP’s unifying principles. Asked by Bill O’Reilly about the sanctity of life, Trump said, “I will appoint judges [who] will be pro-life, yes.”
Trump said that he would protect the sanctity of life, adding, “the biggest way you can protect it is through the Supreme Court and putting people on the court.”
Rubio Comes Around
Florida Senator Marco Rubio is doing his part to help unify the party. During an interview with CNN last night, Rubio said that he would honor his pledge to support the party’s nominee. “I signed a pledge, put my name on it, and said I would support the Republican nominee and that’s what I intend to do.”
This morning, Rubio told NBC that Trump “has earned the right to make his case to the American people. He earned it at the ballot box, and I’ll respect that.”
Facebook Is Censoring Your News Feed
Facebook has experienced a number of scandals in recent years and now there’s a new one. It turns out the site’s list of trending news topics may not be as unbiased as previously assumed.
According to former Facebook “news curators,” the Internet giant is censoring its news, deliberately suppressing stories from conservative news sites and supplanting them with left-wing sources like theNew York Times.
Senator John Thune (R-SD), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, is demanding answers from Facebook executives. As one journalism expert suggested, “If they just called it ‘editor’s picks,’ there’d be no problem.” But Facebook led users to believe that unbiased algorithms were behind the trending list, not partisan ideologues.
This is important because while many Americans read news on Facebook, it is the primary source of news for Millennials. Just one more reason why it is so important for parents and grandparents to talk their children and grandchildren about politics and current events.
And that’s one more reason why you should share this daily report with friends and family members. Encourage them to sign up today for the latest news and commentary from a trusted source!
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