#julie pace

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Associated Press barred from Oval Office for not using ‘Gulf of America’

Agency says its reporter wasn’t allowed into event in effort to ‘punish’ style guide on upholding use of Gulf of Mexico

Jenna Amatulli at The Guardian:

The Associated Press said it was barred from sending a reporter to Tuesday’s Oval Office executive order signing in an effort to “punish” the agency for its style guidance on upholding the use of the name of the Gulf of Mexico, in lieu of Donald Trump’s preferred name for the geographic landmark as the Gulf of America. AP’s executive editor, Julie Pace, said in a statement: “As a global news organization, The Associated Press informs billions of people around the world every day with factual, nonpartisan journalism.” “Today we were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office. This afternoon AP’s reporter was blocked from attending an executive order signing.” Pace continued: “It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism. Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.” [...] The order signing in the Oval Office ultimately became a question-and-answer session with the president and Elon Musk, the world’s richest man tasked by Trump with overhauling the US government. When asked about those who have called Musk’s anti-government efforts a “hostile takeover” of the executive branch, Musk said: “The people voted for major government reform and that’s what the people are going to get.” [...] The order signing in the Oval Office ultimately became a question-and-answer session with the president and Elon Musk, the world’s richest man tasked by Trump with overhauling the US government. When asked about those who have called Musk’s anti-government efforts a “hostile takeover” of the executive branch, Musk said: “The people voted for major government reform and that’s what the people are going to get.” [...] A few days later, the AP rolled out their style guidance on Trump’s order, noting that the organisation “will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen”. The AP said that’s because the gulf has carried the Gulf of Mexico name for “more than 400 years” and that other countries and international bodies do not have to recognize the name change.

Being barred from the Oval Office for refusing to go along with Tyrant 47’s executive order and following the AP Stylebook regarding the Gulf of Mexico naming issue is a major attack on the freedom of the press.

The correct name of Gulf of Mexico is Gulf of Mexico.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Counting the vote: Will we know who won on election night?

How will various ballots be counted, and what results will be known on election night?

Joe Khalil and AP, via NewsNation Now: 

(AP) — Millions of Americans have already voted, but each state has different rules on when it’s allowed to actually start counting those ballots. That is going to produce results coming in at very different times — perhaps days or even weeks after Election Day.

In some places, election officials can begin processing ballots weeks before Election Day. That means workers can start verifying voter information while also removing ballots from their envelopes to physically get them ready for tabulation. Doing so readies ballots for counting on Election Day and will speed up the release of results.

But it’s not that simple.

In some of the most critical battleground states, laws prevent the early processing of ballots. So on Nov. 3, Election Day, officials will have to run an in-person election while also working through the unprecedented number of mail-in votes. This dynamic is likely to delay results and heighten the potential for big shifts if in-person vote tallies are upended by the counting of mail-in ballots.

While results might come in later than usual this year, that’s because of a change in how people are voting, not malfeasance or fraud.

Here is another wrinkle: Nationwide delivery delays at the U.S. Postal Service are sparking fears that ballots might not arrive in time to be counted.

From the 11.02.2020 edition of WGN America’s NewsNation:

[mystlnewsonline]

WASHINGTON | Trump squabbles with Democrats before speech on unity

WASHINGTON | Trump squabbles with Democrats before speech on unity

WASHINGTON (AP) — The bitter partisanship of the past two years was on full display Tuesday just hours before President Donald Trump was to call for optimism and unity in his State of the Union address.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York seems to have triggered the latest Trump twitter outburst when he said on the Senate floor that the president talks about unity in his annual…

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[mystlnewsonline]

PORTLAND, Maine | Kavanaugh vote reshapes Maine senator's political future

PORTLAND, Maine | Kavanaugh vote reshapes Maine senator’s political future

PORTLAND, Maine  — She is not on the ballot this fall, yet the fight over Susan Collins’ political future is already raging.

Interest in the Maine Republican senator’s 2020 re-election has exploded in the days since she cast the deciding vote to confirm President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick — a vote that helped transform the balance of power on the nation’s high court for a generation and…

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[investmart007]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. | Bredesen backs Senate vote if Kavanaugh accuser won't appear

New Post has been published on https://www.stl.news/nashville-tenn-bredesen-backs-senate-vote-if-kavanaugh-accuser-wont-appear/172805/

NASHVILLE, Tenn. | Bredesen backs Senate vote if Kavanaugh accuser won't appear

NASHVILLE, Tenn.— Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen said Wednesday that the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault “has a very credible story.” But he said the Judiciary Committee should consider proceeding with a vote if she does not testify under oath.

“She has put herself out there,” Bredesen said of Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of assaulting her while they were both in high school. “If she decided at this point to not do something, I guess the committee has to go ahead and say, ‘Well, we were willing to listen, but if she’s not willing to talk, we need to go forward.'”

The Senate race in Tennessee, a reliably Republican state, is among the most competitive in the nation. Bredesen, the state’s former governor, is running as a centrist against Republican U.S. Rep.

Marsha Blackburn and keeping a distance from national Democrats. The seat is opening up with the retirement of Republican Sen. Bob Corker.

Bredesen has avoided saying whether he would vote to confirm Kavanaugh for the high court if he were in the Senate. In an interview with The Associated Press, he said the allegation against Kavanaugh, if true, is “close to being disqualifying, if not disqualifying.”

But Bredesen said hearing directly from Ford would have significant sway over his decision.

“Even what she’s done so far would impact my thinking, but not nearly as much as if she sat there and I had a chance to question her,” Bredesen said.

The Judiciary Committee has invited both Ford and Kavanaugh to testify on Monday, though Ford’s attendance is uncertain. She’s said she wants the FBI to investigate her allegation before appearing in front of lawmakers — a stance that Democrats support but that President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans say won’t happen.

Ford alleges that at a house party in the 1980s, a drunken Kavanaugh tried undressing her on a bed and stifling her cries before she fled — an accusation Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied.

Kavanaugh and Ford were both students at elite private schools near Washington.

By JULIE PACE,  Associated Press

[investmart007]

WASHINGTON | GOP, White House fret about election prospects

New Post has been published on https://www.stl.news/washington-gop-white-house-fret-about-election-prospects/171115/

WASHINGTON | GOP, White House fret about election prospects

WASHINGTON— The prognosis for President Donald Trump and his party was grim.

In a post-Labor Day briefing at the White House, a top Republican pollster told senior staff that the determining factor in the election wouldn’t be the improving economy or the steady increase in job creation. It would be how voters feel about Trump. And the majority of the electorate, including a sizeable percentage of Republican-leaning voters, doesn’t feel good about the president, according to a presentation from pollster Neil Newhouse that spanned dozens of pages.

Newhouse’s briefing came amid a darkening mood among Republican officials as the November election nears. Party leaders were already worried that a surge in enthusiasm among Democrats and disdain for Trump by moderate Republicans would put the House out of reach. But some Republicans now fear their Senate majority is also in peril — a scenario that was unthinkable a few months ago given the favorable Senate map for the GOP.

“For Republican candidates to win in swing states, they need all of the voters who support President Trump, plus a chunk of those who do not,” said Whit Ayres, a GOP pollster. “That is threading a very narrow strategic needle.”

Operatives in both parties say Republicans still have the edge in the fight for control of the Senate. But GOP officials are increasingly worried that nominees in conservative-leaning states like Missouri and Indiana are underperforming, while races in Tennessee and Texas that should be slam-dunks for Republicans are close.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell raised an alarm last week, warning that each of the competitive Senate races would be “like a knife fight in an alley.”

Some of the public fretting among Republicans appears to be strategic, as party officials try to motivate both voters and donors.

Many moderate Republican voters “don’t believe there is anything at stake in this election,” according to the documents Newhouse presented to White House officials. He attributed that belief in part to a disregard for public polling, given that most surveys showed Democrat Hillary Clinton defeating Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

Newhouse and the White House would not comment on the early September meeting. The Associated Press obtained a copy of Newhouse’s presentation, and two Republicans with knowledge of the briefing discussed the details on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the matter publicly.

At the White House, anxiety over the midterms has been on the rise for months as polls increasingly show a challenging environment for the GOP and heightened Democratic enthusiasm. The sheer number of competitive races in both the House and Senate is stretching cash reserves and forcing tough calculations about where to deploy resources and surrogates. And there are growing fears that the coalition of voters that delivered Trump to the White House will not come out for midterms.

Even if those voters do show up in large numbers, Republicans could still come up short. The polling presented to White House officials, which was commissioned by the Republican National Committee, showed that Trump’s loyal supporters make up about one-quarter of the electorate. Another quarter is comprised of Republicans who like Trump’s policies but not the president himself and do not appear motivated to back GOP candidates. And roughly half of expected midterm voters are Democrats who are energized by their opposition to the president.

White House aides say Trump is getting regular briefings on the political landscape and is aware of the increasingly grim polling, even though he’s predicted a “red wave” for Republicans on Twitter and at campaign rallies. Aides say Trump’s sober briefings from GOP officials are sometimes offset by the frequent conversations he has with a cadre of outside advisers who paint a sunnier picture of the electoral landscape and remind the president of his upset victory in 2016.

The paradox for Republicans is that most Americans are largely satisfied with the economy, according to numerous surveys. But the party has struggled to keep the economy centered at the center of the election debate. Trump keeps thrusting other issues to the forefront, including his frustration with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and his intense anger with unflattering portrayals of his presidency in a book by journalist Bob Woodward and an anonymous editorial from a senior administration official that was published in the New York Times. He stunned some backers Thursday when he disputed the death toll in Puerto Rico from last year’s Hurricane Maria, just as another storm was barreling toward the East Coast.

Newhouse told White House officials that Trump could appeal to moderates and independents by emphasizing that a Democratic majority would be outside the mainstream on issues like abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and government-funded health care. Other Republican strategists have offered candidates similar advice.

Karl Rove, who served as chief political strategist to President George W. Bush, said that if Republicans cast their Democratic rivals as soft on immigration or in favor of high-dollar government spending on health care, “that’s a toxic mix to the soft Republicans and Republican-leaning independents.”

In his most recent campaign appearances, Trump soft-peddled his predictions for a Republican wave and warned supporters that a Democratic congressional majority would have consequences. But he focused less on the policy implications of Democrats regaining control of Congress and more on the impact on his presidency, including the prospect of impeachment.

“If it does happen, it’s your fault, because you didn’t go out to vote,” Trump said of the prospect of getting impeached. “You didn’t go out to vote — that’s the only way it could happen.”

By JULIE PACE, CATHERINE LUCEY and ZEKE MILLER, Associated Press

[investmart007]

WASHINGTON | Obamas step up political efforts ahead of midterms

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/wru34T

WASHINGTON | Obamas step up political efforts ahead of midterms

WASHINGTON  — Former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, are stepping up their political involvement ahead of the November midterm elections, moves aimed at bolstering Democratic enthusiasm as the party aims to regain control of Congress.

Advisers cast a speech Barack Obama will give Friday, when he accepts an ethics in government award, as the moment he will re-engage in politics after spending most of his post-presidency on the partisan sidelines. He’ll enter the fray in a more traditional campaign sense Saturday when he stumps for several House Democratic candidates from California at an event in Orange County.

Meanwhile, Michelle Obama will headline voter registration rallies in Las Vegas and Miami later this month during a week of action by a new, nonpartisan organization, When We All Vote, which she co-chairs. It encourages voting in November and future elections.

Previewing Friday’s address, an adviser said Obama would be “pointed” in taking on the current political environment, including President Donald Trump, and what has led to this moment in American politics. The adviser was not authorized to discuss Obama’s thinking publicly and insisted on anonymity.

Obama will then campaign Saturday for several House Democratic candidates from California at an event in Orange County. He recently endorsed 81 Democrats up and down the ballot in 13 states, with a second wave expected in the fall.

The campaign activity with continue through October and include fundraising appearances. While Obama will be visible throughout the general election phase, he will not be a daily presence on the campaign trail, the adviser said.

While many Democrats have been clamoring for Obama to have a greater presence, advisers said he has taken a more low-key role in part to create room for a new generation of party leaders to step up.

He’s also said to be acutely aware that he does not have a strong track record in helping Democrats win in years when he’s not on the ballot, and that his presence can have the effect of energizing Republicans, according to the adviser.

The former president’s three priorities are to help Democrats take back control of the House, help his party win seats in the Senate, and support state-level candidates in order to influence the redistricting process for future congressional races.

Obama has weighed in with support for Democratic candidates or statements condemning Trump administration policies, but he has not helped Democrats frame their opposition to Trump. His campaign activity would mark a contrast from his predecessor, George W. Bush, who largely avoided the trail in 2010, the first midterm election after he turned the presidency over to Obama.

Bush had adopted a policy of withholding public comment on his successor.

After his presidency, Bill Clinton campaigned during the 2002 midterms, the first under Bush.

For her part, Mrs. Obama will hold voter registration rallies in Las Vegas on Sept. 23 and Miami on Sept. 28, said Stephanie Young, communications director for When We All Vote.

Mrs. Obama announced last month that the organization is encouraging Americans to mark the 53rd anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in voting, by holding events Sept. 22-29 in their communities to sign people up to vote.

“This is important,” she told volunteers on a conference call Wednesday. “If we organize and get things done and make these events exciting … it’s going to make a difference.”

Mrs. Obama urged people to “be creative” and to “think outside the box” when planning events.

She has long been one of the most popular draws among Democrats, but it remains an open question whether she will campaign for any Democratic candidates. She has kept a low profile since leaving the White House in January 2017, limiting her political commitment for now to helping When We All Vote.

Her highly anticipated memoir, “Becoming,” is due in stores on Nov. 13 — exactly one week after the midterm balloting — and Mrs.

Obama is expected to devote the bulk of her time until then to preparing for the book’s worldwide release and subsequent media tour.

In addition to Mrs. Obama’s events in Las Vegas and Miami, Janelle Monae, another When We All Vote co-chair, is scheduled to host an event at Spelman College in Atlanta on a to-be-announced date.

The Las Vegas, Miami and Atlanta events are among those being planned for other co-chairs to host in a dozen key cities, including Detroit, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Tennessee, Houston and Cleveland. Other co-chairs are actor Tom Hanks, “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, the NBA’s Chris Paul, and singers Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and JULIE PACE ,  Associated Press

[whytehousetv]

Can Steve Bannon ‘Exist And Survive’ On His Own? | Morning Joe | MSNBC Axios reporter Jonathan Swan and AP reporter Julie Pace join Morning Joe to discuss the fallout of remarks about the Trump family made by Steve Bannon, the president's former chief strategist.