Correct The Record Wednesday October 15, 2014 Morning Roundup
Correct The Record Wednesday October 15, 2014 Morning Roundup:
Headlines:
NBC Bay Area: “Hillary Clinton Delivers Keynote at Dreamforce 2014 Convention”
“Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke about the need to close the ‘word gap’ between low-income children and their more affluent peers at a technology conference in San Francisco.”
“At a tech conference in San Francisco, Hillary Clinton gave yet another cryptic answer to questions about her presidential run.”
Washington Post blog: The Fix: “This girl was REALLY excited to meet Hillary Clinton”
“While she was in the state [Colorado], Clinton came across ten-year-old Macy Friday, who had a look on her face that has never been witnessed by anyone who is not a dad-chaperoning a minivan full of teenagers at a One Direction concert.”
Wall Street Journal: “Hillary Clinton Laments Tech-Induced ‘Limited Attention Spans’”
“During a keynote speech on Tuesday that was largely about philanthropy and efforts to encourage children to read, she talked about how the U.S. was becoming more politically divided.”
Politico: “Leon Panetta goes all in for Hillary Clinton”
“Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday he would ‘absolutely’ support Hillary Clinton if she ran for president, adding, ‘What the hell else do you want?’ when listing his former cabinet colleague’s attributes for the White House.”
Politico: “Report: $50K travel tab for Clintons at Steak Fry”
“Retiring Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin’s last Steak Fry reportedly paid $50,000 to bring Bill and Hillary Clinton to the balloon field in Indianola where the fundraiser was held this year.”
Bloomberg: “Bloomberg/DMR Poll: Clinton's Wall Street Ties Worry Iowans”
“Hillary Clinton's Wall Street ties are a problem for Iowa Democratic caucusgoers; her willingness to use American military force is not.”
Politico: “Hillary Clinton jabs media’s modern mindset”
“Hillary Clinton, who has long had a tumultuous relationship with the media, said Tuesday that reporters are increasingly looking only for ‘the best angle,’ the ‘quickest hit’ and ‘the biggest embarrassment.’”
MSNBC: “Hillary Clinton slams media”
“Hillary Clinton, eyeing a second presidential bid and constantly at the center of intense press coverage, lamented Tuesday that modern media scrutiny has made it more difficult to be a leader today.”
The Hill blog: Ballot Box: “Hillary Clinton criticizes state of the media”
“Hillary Clinton laid out a critique of the current state of the media on Tuesday, saying it has created ‘hurdles for people who want to serve.’”
Associated Press: “2016 questions abound as Jeb Bush stumps for son”
“His wife, Columba, is ‘supportive’ of a potential presidential campaign, he said.”
Articles:
NBC Bay Area: “Hillary Clinton Delivers Keynote at Dreamforce 2014 Convention”
By Associated Press and NBC Bay Area Staff
October 14, 2014, 11:32 a.m. PDT
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke about the need to close the “word gap'' between low-income children and their more affluent peers at a technology conference in San Francisco.
Clinton gave the keynote address Tuesday at Dreamforce 2014, a software convention. She said low-income children are exposed to fewer books and words, creating a word gap between them and more affluent children. She said The Clinton Foundation is partnering with San Francisco-based Next Generation to close the gap.
Clinton did not address whether she will run for president.
After her speech, she participated in a question-and-answer session with Klaus Schwab, executive chairman of the World Economic Forum. When asked whether she felt it’s time for the American people to elect a female leader, she said, “I look forward to voting for her.”
For the rest of the day, Clinton is scheduled to kick-start a daylong effort to fill thousands of bags with clothing, books and other materials to encourage Oakland parents to talk, read and sing to their babies.
By Elizabeth Dowskin
October 14, 2014, 3:36 p.m. EDT
At a tech conference in San Francisco, Hillary Clinton gave yet another cryptic answer to questions about her presidential run.
As these parlor games go, the exchange was a cute one. Mrs. Clinton had given a keynote speech about philanthropy at the sprawling Salesforce.com conference in downtown San Francisco. During the Q&A after her speech, Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, said, “I’m going to ask you a question I asked you in 1999. Don’t you think it’s time for the American people to elect and support a strong, brilliant woman to be president?”
When Mrs. Clinton said she must have erased her answer from memory, Mr. Schwab recapped it for her.
Looking at a piece of paper, Mr. Schwab reminded Mrs. Clinton of her answer from Davos in 1999: “Do you recall your answer? I quote you, ‘Yes, and I look forward to voting for her.’ ”
Mrs. Clinton laughed and demurred. “I don’t want to make any news,” she said, adding that she’d stick to her past answer. Mr. Schwab encouraged the crowd to vote for her anyway.
Mrs. Clinton has said she plans to announce her decision on whether to mount a presidential run around the start of next year.
Mrs. Clinton devoted most of her speech to corporate philanthropy and to “Too Small to Fail,” a children’s program she launched earlier this year through the Clinton Global Initiative. The initiative is an effort to get parents to sing, talk and read to their babies and to close the “word gap” between poor and affluent kids.
Mrs. Clinton cited some disheartening statistics about how many parents aren’t reading to their children. The initiative will involve sending smartphone notifications with reading pointers to parents who text, “Text4Baby.” The effort is being spearheaded at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, a local children’s hospital that bears the name of Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff. Mr. Benioff has contributed $25,000 to the super PAC Ready For Hillary, a grass-roots group backing a Clinton run in 2016.
Mrs. Clinton joked that she used to sing to her daughter Chelsea until she learned to hear, at which point baby Chelsea asked her mother to stop.
Washington Post blog: The Fix: “This girl was REALLY excited to meet Hillary Clinton”
By Jaime Fuller
October 14, 2014, 2:28 p.m. EDT
Hillary Clinton went campaigning in Colorado on Monday, trying to help out Sen. Mark Udall in his nip and tuck race against GOP Rep. Cory Gardner in the latest poll. While she was in the state, Clinton came across ten-year-old Macy Friday, who had a look on her face that has never been witnessed by anyone who is not a dad-chaperoning a minivan full of teenagers at a One Direction concert.
Other potential 2016 presidential candidates have not elicited the same reaction from the children of America.
[IMAGES OF POTENTIAL 2016 CANDIDATES WITH CHILDREN]
Wall Street Journal: “Hillary Clinton Laments Tech-Induced ‘Limited Attention Spans’”
By Elizabeth Dwoskin
October 14, 2014, 3:58 p.m. EDT
Hillary Clinton has been working hard to court Silicon Valley, but like many people, she’s troubled by our harried, hyper-connected world.
During a keynote speech on Tuesday that was largely about philanthropy and efforts to encourage children to read, she talked about how the U.S. was becoming more politically divided. Americans have become less racist, sexist, and homophobic than ever, she said, but when it comes to politics, they don’t want to talk to people who disagree with them. The technological climate has only made that worse, she said onstage at Dreamforce, an annual conference sponsored by Salesforce.com.
“We have technological changes that have imposed an almost impulsive reactive challenge to decision-making,” she said.
Clinton said that it was becoming harder to build relationships – political and otherwise — in an age of “limited attention spans.”
Dreamforce is a sprawling summit that shuts down San Francisco’s downtown. In addition to Clinton, the conference featured well-known speakers, including spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle and a benefit concert by singer Bruno Mars.
Clinton in her keynote touted her project Too Small to Fail, launched earlier this year through the Clinton Global Initiative. The effort encourages parents to read, talk, and sing to their infants to close the “word gap” between wealthy and affluent children. UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, named for Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff, is a partner in the effort.
The hospital has donated $25,000 to Clinton’s SuperPAC, Ready for Hillary.
Politico: “Leon Panetta goes all in for Hillary Clinton”
By Lucy McCalmont
October 14, 2014, 9:39 p.m. EDT
Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday he would “absolutely” support Hillary Clinton if she ran for president, adding, “What the hell else do you want?” when listing his former cabinet colleague’s attributes for the White House.
“She is somebody that I’ve seen who’s dedicated to this country. She’s smart, she’s experienced, and she’s tough. What the hell else do you want?” Panetta said, when asked why Clinton should be president.
Panetta’s remarks came at an event held at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue by Politics and Prose and moderated by POLITICO’s Mike Allen in connection with the release of Panetta’s new book, “Worthy Fights.”
When asked whether he would support a 2016 bid by Clinton, Panetta — who also served as former President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff — said, “Sure. Absolutely.”
“I think that there should be somebody who runs for the presidency who’s got great experience and great dedication to this country, and if it happens to be named Clinton, that’s OK with me,” he said.
Panetta also acknowledged the “huge challenge” of running a campaign — and the fundraising.
“There’s so damn much money in politics now that it scares the hell out of you,” Panetta said. “I understand the game, you gotta raise money in order to compete against money, and I’m sure the Clintons do it better than anybody in terms of being able to raise money, and that’s OK.”
The other challenge in politics, Panetta said, is learning to work with others, including those on President Barack Obama’s staff. Panetta spoke about some of the difficulties his staff at the Defense Department faced when dealing with White House staff — echoing similar complaints aired by his predecessor, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in his own memoir.
“I think there was a sense that the staff in the White House sometimes got to the president first or tried to move the president in a certain direction and then wanted the Defense Department to go along with that particular position,” Panetta said. “I had some of the same experiences in dealing with the staff and for that matter, I’m sure that Secretary Clinton did as well. So some of that’s frustrating.”
Politico: “Report: $50K travel tab for Clintons at Steak Fry”
By Maggie Haberman
October 14, 2014, 9:00 p.m. EDT
Retiring Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin’s last Steak Fry reportedly paid $50,000 to bring Bill and Hillary Clinton to the balloon field in Indianola where the fundraiser was held this year.
The cost was buried in a 222-page financial disclosure filing with the Federal Election Commission. It was first reported by Bloomberg Politics.
The event is intended to be an Iowa Democratic Party fundraiser, meaning the proceeds go to help candidates such as Senate hopeful Bruce Braley, who is looking to succeed Harkin, and Staci Appel, who could be the first woman elected to Congress from Iowa.
The Steak Fry, held in September, raised about $315,000, but about $217,000 was spent on staging it, including the more than $50,000 it cost for the private jet to transport the Clintons.
Harkin began asking for Hillary Clinton to attend his 37th and final Steak Fry last April.
Clinton, a likely 2016 presidential candidate, has come under fire for her paid speaking fees in the past 18 months, which typically include a proviso about travel. The Harkin event was Clinton’s first political event of the fall midterm season.
A Clinton spokesman didn’t respond to an email late Tuesday.
Bloomberg: “Bloomberg/DMR Poll: Clinton's Wall Street Ties Worry Iowans”
By Jonathan Allen
October 14, 2014, 5:00 p.m. EDT
[Subtitle:] The former secretary of state is favored by Democratic caucusgoers amid a weak primary field.
Hillary Clinton's Wall Street ties are a problem for Iowa Democratic caucusgoers; her willingness to use American military force is not.
Those are among the findings of a Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll that shows Clinton remains the prohibitive frontrunner to win the 2016 Iowa presidential caucuses. Clinton is the top candidate for 53 percent of likely Democratic caucusgoers. That's roughly five times bigger than Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, who follows with 10 percent support as a first pick. Vice President Joe Biden is the top choice for 9 percent of likely caucusgoers, while 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry draws 7 percent.
Still, the poll shows signs of political weakness for Clinton in Iowa. The Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll of a cross-section of all likely 2016 voters released Saturday showed three Republicans within low single digits of her in hypothetical 2016 match-ups: former nominee Mitt Romney, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan. Her soft spots among likely Democratic caucusgoers stem from a combination of her ties to Wall Street and her personality.
She “looked down on us” during her loss in the 2008 Democratic caucuses and repeated the mistake in a September visit to Senator Tom Harkin's annual steak fry, said Barbara Mathias, who picked Warren as her first choice and Clinton as her second. “She still thinks she's the star of the show,” the 79-year-old Story City resident said. “Iowans know that we are the stars of the Iowa caucus.”
A plurality of caucusgoers, 44 percent, view Clinton's ties to Wall Street as a matter of concern, while 36 percent said they are an advantage. Clinton's closeness to Wall Street, which is home to big donors to her family's foundation and other projects, may be hurting her at a time when she and fellow Democrats are arguing that Republican policies promote “income inequality.”
When asked which candidate “better represents your political beliefs,” 52 percent chose Clinton while 26 percent picked Warren, who is using a populist appeal to build a base of support within the party.
The silver lining for Clinton: The rest of the Democratic field is weak. Clinton clobbers them even when the survey took into account who the caucusgoers would back if they had to make a second pick after their favorite candidate was knocked out. Under that scenario, Clinton's support soars to 68 percent, Biden and Kerry garner 28 percent, and Warren stands at 25 percent. The vast majority of likely caucusgoers say they don't know enough to form an opinion about Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (58 percent), Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley (78 percent), former Virginia Senator Jim Webb (72 percent) and former Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer (79 percent).
Clinton's strengths also are evident in the poll. She is viewed favorably by 88 percent of self-described liberals, 82 percent of women and 82 percent of union households. Among women, 72 percent name her as their first or second choice for the caucuses.
“By no means am I a feminist, but I think it's time for a woman to be president and I think Hillary's the one to do it,” said Marcia McFall, 61, who said Clinton's ties to Wall Street and willingness to use military force are advantages.
Although Iowa Democrats who plan to attend the caucuses are sharply divided over the role of the U.S. military, Clinton doesn't appear to suffer much — if at all — for her advocacy of force as a tool of foreign policy. Forty-six percent say the U.S. should not rule out putting American boots on the ground to fight Islamic State, while 45 percent say President Barack Obama's policy of keeping American troops out of the war is the right one. Overall, 49 percent say the U.S. is overextended abroad, compared with 40 percent who say the nation must lead in world affairs even if it acts alone.
Still, 51 percent of likely caucusgoers say Clinton's willingness to use force in Libya, Syria and other global hotspots make her “better suited to be president,” compared with 28 percent said she's too much of an interventionist.
Adrienne Greenwald, 34, who caucused for Clinton in 2008, said Kerry is her first choice and Clinton is her second pick — in part because she doesn't think Warren can muster the support to win. “She is slightly more hawkish than Kerry. I think she's more willing to intervene,” Greenwald said of Clinton. “It does bother me.”
A big majority, 61 percent, say the former New York senator's choices and policies would more closely resemble those of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, compared with just 13 percent who say they would expect her administration to reflect Obama's.
Even so, 35 percent say Obamacare is the most important issue to them, and 64 percent of all respondents say they want to keep it intact. Clinton led a failed effort to expand health insurance during her husband's presidency and advocated for Obama's version of the law behind closed doors. Twenty-six percent of likely caucusgoers say immigration reform is one of their top issues — with 77 percent supporting a path to citizenship — and 25 percent say a candidate's position on taxes ranks first for them. About four of five respondents say they favor raising taxes on the wealthy.
The poll was conducted by Selzer & Company, in Des Moines, Iowa, and is based on interviews with 426 likely Democratic caucusgoers and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.
Politico: “Hillary Clinton jabs media’s modern mindset”
By Katie Glueck
October 14, 2014, 4:15 p.m. EDT
Hillary Clinton, who has long had a tumultuous relationship with the media, said Tuesday that reporters are increasingly looking only for “the best angle,” the “quickest hit” and “the biggest embarrassment.”
In a conversation with Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, Clinton charged that journalists today spend “dramatically” less time reporting “the real news” than their predecessors did in the 1960s and 1970s.
“So for me, we have created very difficult hurdles for people who want to serve, who believe they can lead, to be able to do so,” she said. “And the media has intensified that over time.”
Clinton, a former secretary of state, is expected to announce by early next year whether she will run for the presidency in 2016. The Democrat’s remarks Tuesday came during an appearance at Dreamforce, a San Francisco technology conference.
According to media accounts and clips of the speech, Clinton also spoke almost longingly of previous eras, when politicians, she said, had time “to think and recreate, take some deep breaths.”
She noted that former President Dwight D. Eisenhower played “so many rounds of golf that he was occasionally criticized for it, but he said it cleared his head.” (President Barack Obama has frequently been slammed for playing golf).
And she pointed to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was wheelchair-bound, saying that if more people knew he “couldn’t stand,” he might not have been elected president — but “everybody constructed his life in a way so that was not in the public arena.” And even in the middle of World War II, she said, Roosevelt took time to “be a human being, for goodness’ sakes.”
“Human beings haven’t changed that much, but the scrutiny, the attention, the criticism about people in the public eye has accelerated dramatically,” Clinton said.
A clip of the reference to Roosevelt was also disseminated by the Greg Abbott campaign, the Republican running for governor in Texas. Abbott is in a wheelchair, and his opponent, Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis, made reference to that in a recent controversial ad.
MSNBC: “Hillary Clinton slams media”
By Alex Seitz-Wald
October 14, 2014, 3:10 p.m. EDT
Hillary Clinton, eyeing a second presidential bid and constantly at the center of intense press coverage, lamented Tuesday that modern media scrutiny has made it more difficult to be a leader today.
“We have created very difficult hurdles for people who want to serve, who believe they can lead, to do be able to do so. And the media has intensified that,” the former secretary of state said at the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, sponsored by the tech company Salesforce.
Clinton said she had watched Ken Burns’ documentary on the Roosevelt family, noting that reporters kept hidden Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s handicap. Roosevelt was diagnosed with polio at age 39 in 1921 and was largely confined to a wheelchair as president.
“Instead of, in a democracy, doing what we should to be doing, which is giving people information so they can be decision makers,” Clinton said reporters today are only interested in “the best angle, quickest hit, the biggest embarrassment.”
Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum in Davos, conducted the interview with Clinton.
“If you look at how much time used to be spent reporting the news, the real news, not analyzing it, but reporting it in the 1960s and 1970s compared to now, it’s dramatically shrunk,” she added.
In the 1960s there were three broadcast TV networks. Today, in addition to those networks, there are three 24-hour news channels (including msnbc), more local and cable channels, and a vast proliferation of online news outlets.
According to Pew, the number of hours of TV news coverage in 2014 grew 46% since 2003. In a separate study, the non-partisan research organization also found that that online outlets employ more than 5,000 full-time editorial staffers, and that 85% of those outlets were created since 2005.
Clinton has long had a difficult relationship with the press. When she first moved to the White House in 1993, after Bill Clinton became president, she ordered the corridor that gave reporters access to the West Wing to be blocked off, “effectively locking the world’s most important (and self-important) press corps in the White House cellar,” as Carl Bernstein wrote in his biography of Clinton. The decision was soon reversed.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Clinton’s aides and supporters often complained that she was subjected to endless media scrutiny while Barack Obama, her main rival for the Democratic nomination, was treated more gently. Later, after becoming Obama’s top diplomat in his first administration, Clinton often praised the reporters who covered at the State Department, saying they were more interested in policy than the political scribes who scrutinized her in the White House and on the campaign trail.
In a his new book, journalist Matt Bai argues that the media started caring about politicians’ personal lives in 1987, when they revealed presidential candidate Gary Hart’s extramarital affair. That type of reporting would later play a major role in Clinton’s own life, when reporters uncovered her husband’s affair with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky.
Critics have long debated the merits of reporters being complicit in what was essentially a White House cover-up of FDR’s disability.
Clinton didn’t only blame the media, however. She pointed structural trends that have impeded “problem-solving” in government.
She lamented the fact that fundraising now plays such a large part in lawmakers’ lives that they have little time left to get to know each other and broker deals. “Nobody’s around to actually spend time together to see what kind of human being I’m dealing with,” she said.
The Supreme Court contributed to the problem with its Citizens United decision, Clinton added. The 2010 decision unleashed a flood of cash into politics from corporations and wealthy individuals.
“The hamster wheel is going so fast, it’s hard to see how anyone even keeps up, let alone solve problems,” she said.
Schwab, who said he’d asked Clinton in the 1990s if a woman should be president, couldn’t help but ask again.
“I’ve known a lot of the women world leaders, presidents and prime ministers, and I do hope that the United states joins the ranks of those countries that have really overcome that hurdle to gender equality,” she replied.
“But it’s just a hypothetical. I don’t want to make any news today,” she added, laughing.
Clinton spent most of her prepared remarks describing the Clinton Foundation’s Too Small to Fail initiative, which works to build the language skills of low-income children.
But being a tech conference, she couldn’t but joke about social media. Noting that Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff’s shoes have their own Twitter account, Clinton asked, “What do you think, should I start @HillarysPantSuit?”
She also said the company’s mascot, “SaaSy,” is her favorite mascot name and added that she admired the conferences’ values of “Innovation, fun, and giving back.”
“We have a big fun deficit,” she said.
Clinton has worked hard to court the exploding tech sector, visiting the campuses of Google, Facebook, and Twitter earlier this year. She praised the sector’s innovation Tuesday, but also warned that we have to make sure its benefits outweigh its “pitfalls.”
The Hill blog: Ballot Box: “Hillary Clinton criticizes state of the media”
By Peter Sullivan
October 14, 2014, 1:56 p.m. EDT
Hillary Clinton laid out a critique of the current state of the media on Tuesday, saying it has created "hurdles for people who want to serve."
"If you look at how much time used to be spent reporting the news, the real news, not analyzing it, but reporting the news, in the 1960s and 70s compared to now, it's dramatically shrunk," Clinton said during a question and answer session at the Dreamforce technology conference in San Francisco. "And people are looking for the best angle, the quickest hit, the biggest embarrassment, instead of in a democracy doing what we should be doing, which is giving people information so they can be decision makers since as voters indeed they are," she said.
Clinton has had a long, fraught relationship with the media, from the Monica Lewinsky scandal and other battles of the 1990s to the present. Clinton ally David Brock founded Media Matters, an organization dedicated to countering what it views as "conservative misinformation" in the media.
One possible reason Clinton could decide not to run for president is not wanting to go through the media scrutiny again, and she spoke of the barrier that presents for candidates on Tuesday.
"For me, we have created very difficult hurdles for people who want to serve, who believe they can lead, to be able to do so, and the media has intensified that over time," she said.
It is not just the media, Clinton said, making the current environment difficult, but growing fundraising needs, as well.
She said when she was a senator, she spoke to older senators who "bemoaned" that they now had to spend all their time fundrasiing.
"They’re on the fundraising march, and they don’t get to know their colleagues, they don’t play golf, they don’t play cards, they don’t have dinner, have their children meet each other," Clinton said.
In an apparent reference to the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision, she added the role of money has worsened.
"And then with the changes from the Supreme Court, and huge amount of unregulated money that is flooding into the elections, the hamster wheel is going so fast that it's almost hard to imagine how anybody could keep up, let alone think about solving problems," she said.
Associated Press: “2016 questions abound as Jeb Bush stumps for son”
By Michael J. Mishak and Will Wiessert
October 14, 2014, 6:33 p.m. EDT
ABILENE, Texas (AP) — Jeb Bush headed deep into the plains of West Texas on Tuesday, eager to campaign for his favored candidate for the office of state land commissioner. That would be his son, George P. Bush.
But amid the cattle auctions, smokehouse barbeque and fried pies, the voters the former Florida governor was trying to win over were already sold. They're eager to vote for a Bush, and not just for land commissioner. For president, too.
"Governor, who do you support for president?" supporter Blake Norvell shouted as Bush and his son posed for pictures at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene.
Bush smirked. "That's a trick question," he said as cameras flashed.
Norvell shot back: "But you're the only one who can win."
"Well, we'll see," Bush said.
Tuesday's campaign swing, a bus tour that started early in Fort Worth and headed toward the oil town of Midland, was designed to inject some of Jeb Bush's political celebrity into George P. Bush's campaign for an office with a sleepy title that's a stepping stone to bigger things in Texas politics.
That celebrity comes in no small part because so many Republicans are waiting on Jeb Bush to decide what he's going to do in 2016. His son, a 38-year-old attorney and officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve, is a part of that calculus: Bush has repeatedly said that he must determine whether a presidential campaign would be right for his family.
"I don't want to do anything that would make it harder for George to be successful in his pursuits, for sure," Bush said in an interview with The Associated Press on his son's campaign bus.
Bush said his mother, the former first lady who declared last year there had been "enough Bushes" in the White House, was now "neutral, trending in a different direction." His wife, Columba, is "supportive" of a potential presidential campaign, he said.
"But that doesn't mean that I don't understand the challenges that this brings," Bush said. "This is ultimately my decision with as much consideration as I can to take into account the people that I really love."
He quickly added that son George P. would be able to weather any complications a presidential campaign would bring, just as he himself did when staking out a career as Florida governor in a family where his father and brother have both held title to the Oval Office.
"My only request — he didn't seek my advice on whether he runs or not — is that I write the first check," Bush said. "Mission accomplished." And then some: It was for $50,000.
For his part, George P. Bush stayed on message as a candidate up for election in just a few weeks. He'd like to help his father run for president, he said, should Dad decide to do so, but "he knows that if I'm privileged to serve the state ... my focus has to be on this agency."
Unlike several other Republicans said to be considering runs for the White House, Jeb Bush has kept a relatively low profile for much of the year, sticking to paid speeches and private fundraisers. He has headlined more than two dozen fundraisers for Republican candidates and committees, including campaigns for governor in Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada. Those will be three of the first four states to hold early presidential primaries.
Now, in the final stretch of the midterm campaign, he is making a public push to boost candidates in some of the most heated Senate and gubernatorial races in the country.
Such help isn't all that necessary in the race for Texas land commissioner. George P. Bush is expected to cruise to an easy win in deeply conservative Texas. Still, that didn't dampen Dad's enthusiasm.
"I invited myself. I love him," Bush said of his son. "He doesn't need me; the guy is grinding it out. He's worked harder than any candidate probably running for office in Texas, so he could do it on his own, but he was kind enough to let the old guy show up."
After listening to George P. Bush deliver a campaign speech at Hardin-Simmons about "the politics of aspiration" and what he characterized as an overbearing federal government, Jeb Bush beamed.
"You heard him speak. I taught him everything I know," Jeb Bush told the crowd. "And somehow he managed to do even better."
Bush urged the crowd in Abilene to vote for other Republicans, too, in November, saying, "If we can fix a few big things, this country will take off."
"Republicans could show that they could govern like grown-ups and begin to forge consensus," he said.
He did not, however, mention whether he would try to play a bigger role in the country's future, and it remains an issue he'd just as soon not talk about. When asked about the potential of a White House bid in his interview with the AP, Bush shot back: "You're about ready to get a 15-yard penalty and loss of down here."
But out in the crowd of Republicans in Abilene, potential voters who were all for his son, the question they had was still if they would be able to cast votes for the father.
"It's the question we all want the answer to," one woman said as she shuffled off once Bush left the room.
Calendar:
Sec. Clinton's upcoming appearances as reported online. Not an official schedule.
· October 15 – Louisville, KY: Sec. Clinton campaigns for Alison Lundergan Grimes (Politico)
· October 16 – MI: Sec. Clinton campaigns for Rep. Gary Peters and Mark Schauer in Michigan (AP)
· October 20 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton fundraises for House Democratic women candidates with Nancy Pelosi (Politico)
· October 20 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton fundraises for Senate Democrats (AP)
· October 24 – RI: Sec. Clinton campaigns for Rhode Island gubernatorial nominee Gina Raimondo (Politico)
· November 2 – NH: Sec. Clinton appears at a GOTV rally for Gov. Hassan and Sen. Shaheen (AP)
· December 1 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton keynotes a League of Conservation Voters dinner (Politico)
· December 4 – Boston, MA: Sec. Clinton speaks at the Massachusetts Conference for Women (MCFW)