Tennessee Eagle Forum Newsletter
 February 26, 2016
Inside this issue
  We all just watched them. Now, you can go meet them.  
 

 

All five of the Republican candidates are making stops in Tennessee over the next few days.

Friday, February 26: Governor John Kasich hosts a town hall in Memphis. Sign up for tickets here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/memphis-town-hall-w-gov-john-kasich-tickets-21831041232

Friday, February 26: Senator Ted Cruz hosts a rally in downtown Nashville. Sign up for tickets here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nashvilletn-cruz-rally-with-an-onstage-interview-by-fox-news-sean-hannity-tickets-22233627378

Friday, February 26: Dr. Ben Carson will attend a fundraiser in Nashville. Find out additional information and RSVP here:

www.bencarson.com/nashville

Friday, February 26: Donald J. Trump will be hosting a rally in Millington. Sign up to attend here:

http://trumpmillington.eventbrite.com

Saturday, February 27: Governor John Kasich will appear at a town hall in downtown Nashville. Sign up for tickets here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nashville-town-hall-w-gov-john-kasich-tickets-21789127868

Saturday, February 27: Governor John Kasich keynotes the Knox County Lincoln Day Dinner. Additional details can be found here.

Monday, February 29: Senator Marco Rubio heads to Knoxville. Details TBA.

Please grab your friends and go vote on Tuesday, March 1st.

 

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  Cruz, Rubio Start Clawing Trump Less Than Thirty Minutes Into The Debate  
 
Matt Vespa | Feb 26, 2016

It didn't take long for Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) to start attacking Donald Trump. The CNN debate began at 8:30 p.m., but it took less than a half hour before the two senators, who desperately need to do something to increase their chances of winning the nomination, to attack the billionaire businessman.

The issue of immigration allowed for both senators to slam Trump for hiring illegal immigrants on construction projects and for reversing his positions on the issue. Rubio claimed that the billionaire discussed legalization in 2011, and blamed Romney for losing the 2012 election for pushing self-deportation. Trump countered by saying that Romney was a terrible candidate who lost a winnable elections. He ran a bad campaign. He then took a swipe at Rubio for his reported misuse of credit cards from the Florida State Republican Party, which has been relegated as a nothing burger. Yet, on the claim that Trump hired illegal immigrants for his construction projects, the Donald said that the laws were different back then. Oh, and the project was Trump Tower.

As Christine noted, Cruz slammed Trump for his celebrity status, saying that while he was fighting amnesty in the Gang of Eight legislation, the billionaire businessman was firing Dennis Rodman. Cruz also mentioned Trump's donations to Democrats working on that bill. Lastly, Cruz backed Marco in his claim that Trump was found guilty of hiring illegals for his projects.

Trump touted his relationships with Democrats and Republicans, noting he get's along with everyone because he's a businessman. He also struck back at Cruz saying that he doesn't have a single endorsement from a sitting senator, and that he should be ashamed of himself for that. Cruz responded that wanting to be liked in Washington D.C. isn't a good attribute to channel for a would-be president.

Cruz and Rubio rarely got into prolonged spats between themselves, instead focusing on trying to chip away at the Donald. This was their last chance before voters head the polls in the various states set to cast their ballots on Super Tuesday. Trump has gone on to sweep New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada. And he poised to deliver more punishment on March 1. The stakes are high for Cruz and Rubio, both of whom are working against the clock to usurp the prohibitive frontrunner, Trump, who is seen as a faux conservative.

 

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  Trump's Rivals Must Make the Case for Themselves  
  Michael Barone | Feb 26, 2016

Does Donald Trump's big win in the Nevada caucuses mean he's the inevitable Republican nominee? He has made himself the favorite and could sew up the nomination with the first winner-take-all primaries March 15. But it's not inevitable that he will become the nominee. The question is how others can prevent it.

 

Trump won 46 percent in Nevada; Marco Rubio won 24 percent, and Ted Cruz won 21 percent. That's in line with polling, which showed Nevada to be one of the best Trump states.

In February polls in the nine states with March 1 primaries he gets less, between 23 and 34 percent. And his final percentages have tended to be a bit under his poll numbers. So he could lose even in three-candidate contests.

But each of the three challengers faces serious challenges, including a home-state primary in the next three weeks: Ted Cruz in Texas on March 1; Marco Rubio in Florida on March 15 and John Kasich in Ohio, also on March 15.

Could we see a Cruz revival? Ted Cruz lost very conservative voters to Trump in Nevada and evangelicals there and in South Carolina. He ran just 1 point ahead of Rubio among evangelicals in Nevada and 5 points in South Carolina. These are groups he hoped would help him win, as in Iowa. But he won't win March 1 Super Tuesday Southern primaries without improving on those numbers.

 

His best opportunity is in his home state, Texas. But he's won only one election there, in 2012, and since then has focused on national politicking rather than getting better acquainted with his 27 million constituents. February polling has him just a few points over Trump and, in one poll, leading Rubio by only 4 percent. He looks likely to fall short of the 50 percent that would give him all of Texas's 155 delegates.

Absent a big victory in Texas, Cruz's prospects look grim. His percentages so far among non-evangelicals -- a larger share of primary voters after March 1 -- are 19, 8, 13 and 18. Enough for third place finishes, not more.

What about a Rubio surge? In Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada, Marco Rubio has demonstrated an affirmative appeal to high-income and college-educated voters -- the groups that gave Mitt Romney the nomination in 2012. That makes him competitive in Virginia and Georgia March 1.

 

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  The extended media drama that led up to Thursday night's Republican debate  
 
 

We can expect some heated moments Thursday night in the final Republican debate before Super Tuesday, but it will take some pretty big flare-ups to match the fireworks that lit up its planning phase.

You might even say that the story of pulling this thing together is the story of the entire GOP campaign, complete with media feuds, a boycott threat, tension with Latinos, arguments about true conservatism - and everything revolving around Donald Trump, of course.

The debate in Houston was originally sponsored by NBC News, Telemundo and the National Review. Only Telemundo remains - and even its survival was in doubt for a while. NBC and the National Review were suspended by the Republican National Committee in separate conflicts and replaced by CNN and Salem Media.

The saga began in October at a debate sponsored and moderated by CNBC, the business-focused cable channel owned by NBCUniversal. Candidates complained during and after the event about questions they deemed unfair or overly confrontational.

One of the signature moments of the evening was this anti-media tirade by Ted Cruz.
It was a hit.

"We understand that NBC does not exercise full editorial control over CNBC's journalistic approach," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus wrote in a letter to NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack. "However, the network is an arm of your organization, and we need to ensure there is not a repeat performance."

Following that decision, representatives of 11 Republican presidential campaigns met to discuss future debate demands. The Jeb Bush campaign recommended that Telemundo be reinstated. The Republican Party's official autopsy of Mitt Romney's 2012 defeat had called for more outreach to Latino voters after they favored President Obama 71 to 27 in the 2012 election. Ditching Telemundo - which had quickly entered talks with the Democratic National Committee, instead - would obviously be a bad look.



 

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Carson: Can somebody attack me, please?

"Can somebody attack me, please?" the former neurosurgeon said off-camera as Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio verbally sparred at the debate, hosted by CNN in Houston.

Carson has repeatedly complained at the debates that he has received little speaking time, and Thursday was no exception.

When moderator Wolf Blitzer earlier asked Carson about a question about how he'd handle North Korea, he pivoted to previous questions

     
Tennessee crushes early voting record for presidential primary

7:16 p.m. CST February 24, 2016

Tennessee has crushed the state's presidential primary early voting record set eight years ago, with Republican primary voters this year far outpacing Democratic voters by a 2-to-1 margin.

It has state election officials bracing for a massive election day turnout on Super Tuesday next week - one that could approach numbers typically seen during November presidential general elections.

Early voting this year saw 385,653 Tennesseans cast ballots, a 17.1 percent increase over the 2008 primaries in Tennessee - the most recent open primary for both parties - in which 329,154 people voted early or absentee.

The increase this year comes with two fewer early voting days than eight years ago. And because not all absentee ballots this year have been counted, the percentage

Early voting began on Feb. 10 and ended Tuesday ahead of the primary next week.

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett explained the spike by pointing to the influx of campaign visits to Tennessee this year by Republican presidential candidates and heightened importance of the so-called "SEC Primary," when primaries are set for Tennessee and six other Southern states.

"I think there are personalities in this race that may not have been what we've seen in previous presidential elections," Hargett said. "And I think people are very engaged and interested."

Tennessee's Republican primary this year attracted 254,659 early voters, compared with 128,343 Tennesseans who voted this year in the Tennessee Democratic primary.

That's an even greater turnout disparity among the two parties than is typically seen in politically red Tennessee.

The crowded GOP primary has been dominated by surging front-runner Donald Trump, who heads into Super Tuesday on a three-state win streak in the GOP nomination process. Tennessee is considered a three-person race between Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Trump, the presumed favorite.

Tennessee Republican Party Executive Director Brent Leatherwood boasted that early voting results are "indicative of where the two parties are right now in our state."

"Each election cycle shows fewer and fewer voters supporting (Democratic) candidates, and that is certainly the case this year," he said. "Meanwhile, Republicans have the energy, enthusiasm and ideas that are motivating a record number of Tennesseans to come out to the polls."