Welcome to THE TRAIL 2016, your daily rundown from The Hill on all the latest news in the White House, Senate and House races.
All eyes are on Wisconsin as Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders look to keep their White House dreams alive in Tuesday night’s primary.
Both candidates have dug in, holding a series of rallies across the states in the hopes of ensuring a victory that would deal a blow to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
For Sanders, the victory in the Badger State would be his sixth win of the past seven contests. While he’d need a major margin to cut into Clinton’s lead among pledged delegates, it would be a further momentum boost as he heads into Clinton’s backyard for a pivotal matchup in New York.
And Trump has said that a win in Wisconsin could seal the deal for him, an opinion shared by Karl Rove. but Cruz is hoping to turn it into Trump’s Waterloo and use it to deny him a path to the delegate majority.
Check out Jonathan Swan’s preview of what’s at stake for Cruz and Sandesr tonight and stay tuned to The Hill and our social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook) for our comprehensive coverage of Wisconsin. Come back tomorrow for an analysis by Niall Stanage on what Wisconsin’s results mean going forward.
Also tomorrow, check out our website and print edition for stories on the Indiana Republican Senate primary, Google’s new foray into online polling and how Trump could have a negative impact on the Democratic convention.
RACE TO 1600 PENN
CHANGE OF PLANS: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager Jeff Weaver said that his campaign expects to take the race to a contested convention, where he would presumably beat Hillary Clinton on the convention floor with support from superdelegates who have so far flocked to Clinton.
OBAMA BURN: The Hill’s Jordan Fabian reports: President Obama slammed Donald Trump’s border wall plans as wacky and dangerous to American diplomacy.
NO PRESSURE: The Hill’s Julian Hattem reports: FBI director James Comey said he doesn’t feel any pressure to finish up the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server before the Democratic convention.
NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE: The Hill’s Peter Sullivan reports: Hillary Clinton believes that pro-life women can still be considered feminists.
HOW WILL THEY PAY?: The Washington Post reports: Donald Trump has laid out another way he hopes to force Mexico to pay for his border wall–by limiting money transfers into Mexico by immigrants.
ODDS AND ENDS
ENEMY OF MY ENEMY: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Hillary Clinton praised Megyn Kelly as a “superb” journalist amid her confrontations with Donald Trump.
NEW SANDERS AD: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: The daughter of Eric Garner, a black New Yorker killed in an altercation with police, stars in a new ad for Bernie Sanders.
DC FEELS THE BERN: The Hill’s Harper Neidig reports: The Washington, D.C., Council voted to put Bernie Sanders on the District’s Democratic presidential primary ballot after a mistake by the party briefly threatened his eligibility.
LOW INFORMATION CAMPAIGN: Politico reports: The Trump campaign laid off its data team leader last month and is now having trouble accessing some of its data. Trump pushed back, tweeting that it’s Politico that’s in, using Politico’s words about his campaign, “disarray” over “bad, dishonest journalists.”
GUN ISSUE DOGS SANDERS: The Huffington Post reports: Connecticut Senator and Hillary Clinton supporter Chris Murphy admonished Bernie Sanders on new comments that back up his call for immunity for gun manufacturers.
POLL POSITION
KEYSTONE CRUSHING: The HIll’s Jonathan Easley reports: Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders by 22 points in Pennsylvania ahead of this month’s Democratic primary.
A POLL TRUMP MIGHT NOT LOVE: The Hill’s Jonathan Easley reports: A new poll puts Hillary Clinton within the margin of error against Trump in Mississippi, the deep red state that hasn’t gone blue in a presidential year since 1976.
EXPLAINS A LOT: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: More than nine out of 10 Trump supporters say in a new poll that they feel under attack.
THE DAILY TRUMP
NO RETWEETS, NO ENDORSEMENTS: The HIll’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Melania Trump warned her husband during a Fox News interview to slow down the retweets after a rash of controversial retweets on the campaign trail.
PROTECTOR OF ALL WOMEN: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Donald Trump said that the key to winning over women is proving that he can protect them as president.
IT’S ONLY BUSINESS: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Scott Walker told Fox News that his opposition to Donald Trump isn’t personal, it’s just business. The two have sparred repeatedly over the past weeks after Walker endorsed Ted Cruz and Trump responded by repeatedly lampooning Walker at his rallies.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“If Cruz wins . . . then the fog of war will determine the nominee.”
— GOP strategist Ron Bonjean on the stakes of Wisconsin’s GOP primary.
CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGNS
NOT SO MUCH SUNSHINE: The Hill’s Cristina Marcos reports: The Office of Congressional Ethics has found that Congressman and Senate hopeful Alan Grayson may have committed ethics violations in his management of a hedge fund.
CHALLENGE BREWING: The Hays Daily News reports: Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) isn’t ruling out a primary bid against Sen. Jerry Moran after he agreed to meet with President Obama’s Supreme Court pick Merrick Garland.
MONEY WATCH
VICTORY LAP: Tim Canova, the Florida lawyer mounting a longshot bid against DNC Chairwoman and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s congressional seat penned a thank-you note to his supporters on The Huffington Post that essentially amounted to a victory lap after yesterday’s announcement that he raised more than $550,000.
WHAT WE ARE WATCHING FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW:
(All times Eastern)
Ted Cruz holds an election watch party in Milwaukee today from 8-11 p.m.
Bernie Sanders holds a rally in Laramie, Wyo.,, at 10 p.m. today. On Wednesday, he’s holding a “community conversation” in Philadelphia at 6 p.m. and a rally at Temple University in Philadelphia at 8 p.m.
Hillary Clinton speaks at the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Convention at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday in Philadelphia and holds a campaign event in Pittsburgh at 6 p.m.
Donald Trump holds a rally in Bethpage, N.Y. at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
TWEET OF THE DAY
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