Overnight Campaign: Attacks change dynamics of GOP race

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

Emboldened GOP hawks running for president have seized on the terror attacks in France to paint President Obama as feckless on the issue of national security and gain the high ground on an issue that has burst to the forefront. 

It’s making life tough for Sen. Rand Paul, whose non-interventionist views are met with hostility in some quarters of the party, and Ben Carson, who has struggled to communicate his foreign policy agenda. 

Check The Hill on Thursday morning for the dispatch from Julian Hattem. 

Also coming on Thursday morning, The Hill’s Niall Stanage reports on what impact the terror attacks have had on voters’ views of Donald Trump.

 

RACE TO 1600 PENN 

SEIZE THE MOMENT: The Hill’s Jonathan Easley reports: The terror attacks in Paris have given Jeb Bush and his campaign a renewed sense of purpose and urgency as he seeks to own the issue of national security and turn his campaign around. 

WHO’S NEXT: The Hill contributor Eddie Zipperer writes: These five Republican presidential candidates should follow Bobby Jindal out the door. 

RUBIO ENDORSEMENT PART I: The Hill’s Lisa Hagen reports: Prominent GOP donor Frank VanderSloot is backing Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) over former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. 

RUBIO ENDORSEMENT PART II: The Hill’s Jonathan Easley reports: Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) is also backing Rubio, bringing the Florida senator’s total number of congressional endorsements to 14. 

NURSES GO ROGUE: The Sunlight Foundation reports: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has made his distaste for super-PACs well known and has made it clear he won’t bless one devoted to helping his campaign. But National Nurses United’s super-PAC has spent more than a half-million dollars in support of Sanders anyway.

 

ODDS AND ENDS: 

DRUM BEAT: The Hill’s Jordain Carney reports: Sen. Lindsey Graham will roll out legislation authorizing war against ISIS. 

SLOW DOWN: The Hill’s Jordain Carney reports: Sen. Marco Rubio is supporting a push to delay reforms to the National Security Agency in the wake of the terror attacks in France. 

DENMARK COMES TO DC: The Hill’s Ben Kamisar reports: Sen. Bernie Sanders is set to give a campaign-defining speech in defense of democratic socialism on Thursday. 

SALUTE: The Hill’s Tim Devaney reports: Gun control advocates will honor Hillary Clinton on Thursday in a move that helps the former secretary of State contrast her record against Bernie Sanders. 

Can’t get enough of politics? Check out The Hill’s new mid-day political newsletter, The 12:30 Report.

 

POLL POSITION 

CLINTON TRAILING: The Hill’s Lisa Hagen reports: Clinton trails several leading GOP candidates in Colorado and Florida, two polls found. 

TRUMP ON TOP: The Hill’s Ben Kamisar reports: Trump leads three statewide polls in New Hampshire, Florida, and New Jersey. 

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Ben Carson leads the GOP field in Colorado, according to a new poll.

 

THE DAILY TRUMP 

AIR SUPPORT: The Hill’s Ben Kamisar reports: Donald Trump is up with some new radio ads in early-voting states hitting President Obama over his response to the terror attacks in France. 

NO CHOICE: The Hill’s Bradford Richardson reports: Donald Trump says the government must monitor U.S. mosques and shutter those with extreme messages. 

ON THE OTHER HAND: The Hill’s Bradford Richardson reports: An American Muslim woman dressed in a stars-and-stripes hijab is raising eyebrows for blasting Donald Trump’s calls to monitor U.S. mosques on Fox News Channel. 

BOLD STATEMENT: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady says Donald Trump’s golf game has no equal. 

FAINT PRAISE: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Trump thinks Bobby Jindal is mostly “a nice guy,” but says he got “a little nasty” in the primary.

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY 

“Mr. President, if you want to insult me, you can do it overseas, you can do it in Turkey, you can do it in foreign countries. But I would encourage you, Mr. President, come back and insult me to my face.”

Sen. Ted Cruz responding to criticism from President Obama over GOP attempts to block Syrian refugees from entering the country.

 

CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGNS 

TROUBLE: The Hill’s Jonathan Easley reports: California Attorney General Kamala Harris, the favorite to replace Sen. Barbara Boxer in the Senate, has parted ways with her campaign manager and is cutting costs amid questions about whether her campaign is spending too much. 

MIXED MESSAGING: TheNatural Resources Defense Council slammed Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who is up for reelection in what’s expected to be a tight race, in a press release for voting to block an EPA rule on Tuesday night. Problem is, Kirk voted against that bill in line with what environmentalists had hoped. The group later followed up with an updated release about an hour and a half later. The Illinois senator has been a huge target of Democratic-leaning environmental groups ahead of his reelection. 

DUCKWORTH PRO-REFUGEES: Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), the establishment favorite to take on Kirk, announced her support for accepting Syrian refugees into America in a new op-ed in the Chicago Tribune. “This is a time for the United States to lead with strength, not fear,” she wrote.

YOUNG GUNS: Roll Call reports: The NRCC just named 32 candidates to the “On the Radar” portion of its “Young Guns” program, the first step in the program that the group uses to help bolster selected candidates with organizational support.  

 

MONEY WATCH 

ON YOUR LEFT: The Hill’s Jonathan Swan and Kyle Plantz report: Wealthy liberal powerbrokers met in Washington on Wednesday to plot a strategy to fund more minority groups..

 

WHAT WE ARE WATCHING FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW:

(All times Eastern) 

Illinois Senate candidate Tammy Duckworth is scheduled to be a guest on “The Rachel Maddow Show” at 9 p.m. today on MSNBC. 

Mike Huckabee will make a few campaign stops in Iowa on Thursday. 

Chris Christie holds an evening reception in Phoenix at 7:30 p.m. today and at 8:30 p.m. Thursday in Atherton, Calif. 

On Thursday Hillary Clinton makes her first appearance on “Live! With Kelly and Michael” as a presidential candidate. Then at 10:30 a.m., she’ll deliver a national security address in New York, focusing on the role of the U.S. in combating terrorism and defeating ISIS. In the evening, she’ll receive the first Mario M. Cuomo Leadership Award presented by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence at its annual gala. 

Bernie Sanders gives a 2 p.m. Thursday speech at Georgetown University to explain democratic socialism and elaborate on the Independent senator’s views on national security, particularly in light of the Paris terror attacks. 

Lindsey Graham will be on “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” at 1 p.m. Thursday.   

Jeb Bush is scheduled to attend a business tour and employee meet and greet at Dynamic Network Services Incorporated, Manchester, N.H. on Thursday. 

John Kasich will visit South Carolina on Thursday and attend town halls in Spartanburg and Charleston. 

Carly Fiorina will speak at the Keystone Conference on Business and Policy at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia Thursday morning.

 

TWEET OF THE DAY

Donna Brazile, a vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, on GOP presidential candidate John Kasich’s proposal to create a governmental agency to push Judeo-Christian values. 

 

Write us with tips, suggestions and news: Jonathan Easley, Ben KamisarJonathan Swan 

Sign up to receive The Trail | 2016 overnight newsletter here.

Tags Barbara Boxer Bernie Sanders Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Lindsey Graham Marco Rubio Mark Kirk Rand Paul Ted Cruz

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