The Trail 2016: Trump vs. the GOP rulebook

by Jonathan Swan - 04/11/16 6:03 PM ET

Welcome to THE TRAIL 2016, your daily rundown from The Hill on all the latest news in the White House, Senate and House races.

Donald Trump has, very suddenly it seems, woken up to the fact that the Republican Party nomination is being wrenched from his grasp. And the billionaire dealmaker is not happy about the weekend’s loss of delegates to Ted Cruz in Colorado.

While Trump is still well ahead in total votes and pledged delegates, his closest rival Cruz is proving more skilled at political tactics that are understood by only a small circle of insiders but could ultimately win the Texan the GOP nomination if the race reaches a contested convention.

Trump and his supporters are on a warpath with the Republican Party over its nominating rules. On Monday, he incited more rage by sharing a video depicting an angry GOP voter in Colorado lighting his party registration on fire after rival Cruz’s delegate sweep there at the weekend.

Meantime, on the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders is facing some delegate math problems of his own. After winning seven of the past eight contests, including Wyoming over the weekend, the Vermont Senator has struggled to dent Hillary Clinton’s overall lead.

Read Ben Kamisar’s piece on how the political outsiders — Trump and Sanders — are getting beat at inside baseball. Also, check out Niall Stanage’s piece on the impact of Bill Clinton’s dust-up with Black Lives Matter protestors. Come back to The Hill tomorrow for Amie Parnes’s story on the high political expectations of black voters who are carrying Hillary Clinton. In their joint column, The Hill’s top editors Bob Cusack and Ian Swanson examine Speaker Paul Ryan’s mysterious moves.

RACE TO 1600 PENN

A NON-ENDORSEMENT ENDORSEMENT: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Vice President Joe Biden in a new interview stops short of endorsing Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton but says he’d like to see a woman elected president.

CALIFORNIA LOVE: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports:“I am going to say a sentence that has not been said in 50 years,” Ted Cruz said during a rally in California on Monday. “California is going to decide the Republican nomination for president.”

SO, ABOUT THAT CRUZ-KASICH TICKET: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: Republican presidential candidate John Kasich hit rival Ted Cruz’s campaign on Monday for the tactics it uses to win delegates. “The Cruz campaign tried to strong-arm and bully people, and they lost everything,” Kasich told reporters in Albany, N.Y., while discussing Michigan.

OPEN SOURCE OBAMA: The Hill’s Julian Hattem reports: President Obama has neither requested nor received confidential briefings about federal investigations into Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton’s private email server, and his only source of knowledge is public news reporting, the White House said on Monday.

SAY WHAT? The Hill’s Neetzan Zimmerman reports: Hillary Clinton performed with Mayor Bill de Blasio in a racially tinged skit at an annual New York City press dinner as the controversy surrounding former president Bill Clinton’s defense of his wife’s “super-predator” remark continues to swirl.

TURNER-ING THE TABLES: The Hill’s Jonathan Easley reports: Former Ohio state lawmaker Nina Turner – who once supported Hillary Clinton – has become one of Bernie Sanders’s most important surrogates. She’s helping the Vermont senator make inroads with black voters, who have so far delivered huge victories to Clinton across the South, building a substantial delegate lead.

NO FRACKING WAY: The Hill’s Tim Devaney reports: Bernie Sanders would ban fracking as president, according to a new campaign advertisement released Monday. The Sanders campaign accused Clinton of shifting her stance on the “extreme and risky” process of hydraulic fracturing

ODDS AND ENDS:

SHARPTON ELBOWS: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Al Sharpton says Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is no different than rival Hillary Clinton on a controversial 1994 crime bill signed by her husband, Bill Clinton, when he was president.

NEW DEFENDER: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) pushed back Monday against the perception that Ted Cruz’s fellow GOP senators are not rushing to back the Texan’s White House bid because they don’t like him.

MINORITY BERN: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders sought Monday to shore up support among minority voters as he battles front-runner Hillary Clinton ahead of next week’s New York primary.

POLL POSITION

FIRST PLACE TEAMS IN NEW YORK: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports:Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders by 12 points in New York, according to a new Monmouth University poll. Also in the lead in New York polls is Donald Trump — the other front-runner claiming hometown status in Manhattan for the crucial April 19 primary.

THE DAILY TRUMP

TRUMP VS THE CIA: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports:Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump slammed John Brennan, calling the CIA director’s latest comments on waterboarding “ridiculous.”

TRUMP VS THE BOSTON GLOBE: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Donald Trump ripped the Boston Globe, which published an editorial criticizing Trump’s rhetoric as “deeply disturbing.” “It used to be a major paper,” Trump said on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.” “Now it’s like a supermarket throw out. It’s a very sad thing.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“If anything else was killing 33,000 people a year, we would be mobilized.”

— Hillary Clinton at a forum on gun violence in Port Washington, N.Y.

CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGNS

BETWEEN BARACK AND A HARD PLACE: The Concord Monitor reports: Vulnerable U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte said she looks forward to meeting with President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, on Wednesday, but continues to believe the next president should nominate the justice who will replace Antonin Scalia.

RUSS ON THE AIR: The Capital Times reports: Democratic Senate candidate Russ Feingold touts his travels to each of Wisconsin’s 72 counties in his first ad of the 2016 campaign, launched Monday.

MONEY WATCH

SAVING THE SENATE: USA Today reports: Two groups focused on keeping the Senate in Republican control collected nearly $17 million during the first three months of this year.

IN THE MONEY: The Hill’s Lisa Hagen reports: Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.) raised $2 million in the first quarter of the year in his bid for a Senate seat. The Florida congressman’s haul brings his cash on hand to $5.6 million. His strong fundraising gives him a huge boost ahead of the Democratic primary election in August, when he faces Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.).

WHAT WE ARE WATCHING FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW:

(All times Eastern)

Hillary Clinton speaks at the Suffolk County Democratic Committee’s Annual Spring Dinner tonight in Holbrook, Long Island. Bill Clinton holds New York campaign events for her on Tuesday, in Flushing at 10:30 a.m. and in New York City at 2:15 p.m.

Bernie Sanders holds a 7 p.m. rally in Buffalo today. On Tuesday, he’ll hold a town hall in Rochester at 10 a.m. and rallies in Syracuse at 2 p.m. and in Poughkeepsie at 7 p.m.

Donald Trump holds a 7 p.m. rally today in Albany, N.Y On Tuesday, CNN will have a town hall at 9 p.m. with Trump, his wife Melania and his children Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr.

Ted Cruz holds a 9 p.m. rally in San Diego today.

John Kasich, his wife Karen and their daughters Emma and Reese will participate in a 9 p.m. CNN town hall today. He’ll also be a guest at 10 p.m. today “Hannity” on Fox News. On Tuesday, he’ll deliver a speech about the “Two Paths” facing America in this election year, at 10:30 a.m. in New York City.

TWEET OF THE DAY