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Poll: Bush and Clinton in dead heat in Florida
New Quinnipiac poll finds Clinton leading other Republican contenders in Sunshine State
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitcs.com editor
MIAMI (CFP) — Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are in a statistical dead heat in a hypothetical 2016 presidential match-up in the key swing state of Florida, a new poll finds.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
A Quinnipiac University poll of 936 registered voters in Florida found Clinton was the choice of 44 percent, compared to 43 percent for Bush — within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percent.
However, Clinton, a Democrat, fared much better in hypothetical match-ups with four other potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates, including Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio.
The poll found Clinton led Rubio 49 percent to 39 percent among Florida voters, outside the margin of error.
Against three other Republican candidates, Clinton did even better, cracking 50 percent and holding double-digit leads over former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
Poll: Floridians want U.S. Senator Marco Rubio to seek re-election, not White House
A new Mason-Dixon poll finds the Sunshine State evenly divided on a Jeb Bush presidential bid
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (CFP) — A majority of Floridians want U.S. Senator Marco Rubio to seek a second term in 2016 rather than running for the Republican presidential nomination, a new poll finds.
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio
A Mason-Dixon poll of 625 Florida registered voters found just 15 percent want Rubio to run for president, compared to 57 percent who want him to stay in the Senate and 28 percent undecided.
Among Republicans, the sentiment for Rubio to run for re-election was even higher, at 68 percent. Among Latinos, 30 percent want Rubio to run for president, compared to 56 percent who want him to stay in the Senate.
If elected in 2016, Rubio, who is of Cuban descent, would be the nation’s first Latino president.
Rubio, first elected to the Senate in 2010, has said he will give up his seat in 2016 if he decides to run for president, which would present Democrats with a pick-up opportunity.
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush
However, the poll found substantially more support for a White House bid by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, with 42 percent saying Bush should run for president and 43 percent saying he shouldn’t, with just 15 percent undecided.
The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.
Bush and Rubio are part of a group of nine Southerners — eight Republicans and one Democrat — considering a White House bid in 2016.
Among the potential Southern GOP candidates are former governors Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Rick Perry of Texas; U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas; and Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana.
On the Democratic side, former U.S. Senator Jim Webb of Virginia has already launched an exploratory committee for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination — a race that’s expected to be dominated by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a former first lady of Arkansas.
White supremacist David Duke may run against House Majority Whip Steve Scalise
Duke calls Scalise a “sellout” for apologizing for 2002 speech to racist group
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
BATON ROUGE (CFP) — White supremacist David Duke says he may oppose House Majority Whip Steve Scalise in 2016 over Scalise’s apology for a 2002 appearance before a racist group founded by Duke
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise
“This guy is a sellout,” Duke told Baton Rouge radio host Jim Engster January 28. “Why in the world would he apologize?”
Duke said Scalise was “basically condemning the people of his district who voted overwhelmingly for me to be their U.S. senator and voted (me) to be their governor.” He also said Scalise should resign from Congress because “he has betrayed his people.”
Scalise represents Louisiana’s 1st District in Congress, which includes suburban New Orleans and parts of Jefferson Parish that Duke represented in the Louisiana House form 1989 to 1992.
Scalise’s purported 2002 appearance before the European-American Unity and Rights Organization at a hotel in Metairie was first reported by liberal blogger Lamar White, Jr., who attributed the allegation to Stormfront, a white supremacist Web site.
Scalise had initially said he did not remember speaking to the group and had no records indicating whether he had. However, he later conceded that he had spoken to the group but described his appearance as a “mistake.”
Scalise said the address to EURO was one of a number of speeches he gave to groups in opposition to a ballot initiative that shifted Louisiana’s tax base from sales to income taxes, and he did not endorse its racist ideology.
Despite blistering criticism from Democrats, the House Republican leadership stood behind Scalise, and he remained whip, the No. 3 position in the House.
Duke, 64, a former Nazi and KKK member, remade himself as less confrontational, far-right Republican in the 1980s and won a seat in the Louisiana House in 1989. In 1991, he ran for governor, advancing to a runoff before being defeated by Democratic Governor Edwin Edwards. In 1996, he polled nearly 12 percent of the vote in a U.S. Senate race but failed to make the runoff.
In late 2002 — after Scalise’s purported appearance in front of his group — Duke pleaded guilty to tax and mail fraud and was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison.
As a convicted felon, Duke is barred from seeking state office. But federal law does not bar convicted felons from running for Congress
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham forms presidential exploratory committee
South Carolina Republican highlighting his foreign policy credentials
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
WASHINGTON (CFP) — U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has formed a committee to explore a bit for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham
Graham’s committee, named “Strength through Security,” will enable the senator “to travel the country, listen to Americans, and gauge support for a potential presidential candidacy,” according to an announcement on the group’s website.
Graham, 59, was elected to his third term in the Senate last November, after battling back a gaggle of Tea Party challengers in the GOP primary.
While Graham’s bipartisan work with Democrats has drawn fire from conservative activists in his own party, his hawkish stands on foreign policy and defense issues puts him squarely in the conservative camp.
The website for his new organization calls him “as a conservative problem-solver and one of the strongest proponents of a robust national defense.”
Graham is also a close friend and ally of Senator John McCain of Arizona, who was the 2008 Republican presidential nominee. McCain has been touting a Graham presidential candidacy in the media.
Graham is one of nine Southerners — eight Republicans and one Democrat — considering a White House bid in 2016.
Among the potential Southern GOP candidates are former governors Jeb Bush of Florida, Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Rick Perry of Texas; U.S. Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida; and Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana.
On the Democratic side, former U.S. Senator Jim Webb of Virginia has already launched an exploratory committee for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination — a race that’s expected to be dominated by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a former first lady of Arkansas.
Greg Abbott takes oath of office as Texas governor
In his inaugural address, Abbott takes swipe at Washington for threatening state’s “sovereignty”
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitcs.com editor
AUSTIN, Texas (CFP) — Republican Greg Abbott took the oath of office as Texas governor with a pledge to keep his state “on a path that ensures that years from now, people will stand on this very ground as grateful to this generation as we are to past generations.”
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott
During his inauuration as the Lone Star State’s 48th governor January 20, Abbott also took a swipe at Washington’s perceived intrusions into his state’s authority.
“As governor, I will continue my legacy of pushing back against Washington if they spend too much, regulate too much or violate our state sovereignty,” he said. “Any government that uses the guise of fairness to rob us of our freedom will get a uniquely Texas response — ‘Come and take it.'”
“We Texans aren’t spoiling for a fight, but we won’t shrink from one.”
Abbott, 57, who served eight years as state attorney general before winning the governorship in November, said the priorities of his administration would include road construction, increasing the water supply and keeping Texas “number one in the nation for job creation.”
Abbott also noted the unusual nature of his ascent in state politics: His wife wife, Cecelia, is Texas’s first Latina first lady, and Abbott himself uses a wheelchair after being paralyzed in an accident 30 years ago.
“I am living proof that we live in a state where a young man’s life can literally be broken in half, and yet he can still ruse up to become (governor.)”
Abbott succeeds Republican Rick Perry, who served 14 years as governor, the longest tenure in Texas history. Perry is considering a bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
View video of Abbott’s inaugural address:
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