High-ranking state Democrats plan for New Jersey to be “first out of the gate” for Hillary if she runs. A plan for $5 to $10 million on day one.

Mike Segar / Reuters

A collection of New Jersey's highest-ranking Democratic fundraisers, state politicians, and political operatives convened in Newark on Thursday night for about two hours to discuss a plan to be "the first state out of the gate" for Hillary Clinton.

The powerful group — a gathering of about 35 state leaders who make up the core of New Jersey's Democratic fundraising infrastructure — was described by a key attendee as a "pre-organizing meeting," and an early iteration of what would be Clinton's state finance committee, should she decide to run for president.

The plan discussed by the Democrats: to deliver $5 to $10 million to Clinton on day one. As soon as she creates a vehicle for contributions, whether a preliminary exploratory committee or an actual campaign, the source said, "New Jersey would have significant commitments already lined up and ready to go."

There is no other state with a known working group comparable to the local Democrats in New Jersey readying funds for a possible Clinton bid.

Michael Kempner, the head of a national PR firm based in New Jersey's Bergen County and a major Democratic donor, organized the gathering. Kempner raised millions for President Obama's reelection, placing him in the very top tier of Democratic "bundlers," or raisers. He is also a longtime Clinton supporter.

Kempner has ties to the super PAC, Priorities USA, which is poised to support Clinton. But the plan of the group that assembled on Thursday night is to raise money for Clinton herself, not an outside group.

Josh Gottheimer, a former speechwriter for Bill Clinton, co-hosted with Kempner.

In the last presidential cycle, New Jersey was a top-spending state, ranking 14th overall. And with its proximity to New York City and Philadelphia, the state is home to the some of the country's biggest donors and fundraisers.

The existence of the gathering was first reported on Friday by PolitickerNJ. But the scope of the meeting and the plan for the finance committee in-waiting, which has been dubbed "New Jersey for Hillary," was previously undisclosed.

The gathering, and the plans to make New Jersey the "first state out of the gate," as the source put it, was not sanctioned by or coordinated with Clinton. But the group is moving forward under the widely held assumption that Clinton will run.

The group of 35 has plans to meet again. The key attendee stressed the discussion was a "pre-organizing conversation," but the person also said that Democrats would start the work of gathering commitments from donors in the next month.

The planning group met at the Robert Treat Hotel in downtown Newark.

The state directors to both Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, the two U.S. senators from New Jersey, attended. And Booker's longtime political confidant, Elnardo Webster, was also there. Neither senator has endorsed a Clinton run.

The representation from Booker's camp in particular was a signal that the former mayor of Newark is not considering his own run for president in 2016.

Other Democrats in the room included George Norcross III, the South Jersey power broker; Steve Fulop, the mayor of Jersey City; Steve Sweeney, the president of the state Senate; Maggie Moran, a former top aide to Jon Corzine; Rob Andrews, the former congressman; John Wisniewski, a state assembly leader; and Pamela Miller, an Obama fundraiser.

"This reception was incredibly positive," said the source in the room.

"People are ready to go."

But Rep. Jeff Duncan says he does know what works to stop it: “closed borders and quarantine.”

View Video ›

A Republican congressman calling for a travel ban on West African nations suffering from the Ebola virus questions if the Ebola can be "spread by airborne," contradicting information from health officials and even an Ebola fact sheet on the congressman's own website.

Speaking with WCRS radio host Anne Eller, South Carolina Rep. Jeff Duncan said Friday that while "we think we know" Ebola is a virus but don't know if it is mutating and can be spread through the air.

"We also have an infectious disease, Ebola," said Duncan. "And we don't know what we don't know about Ebola. We think we know it's a virus, but we don't know, is it mutating? Can it be spread by airborne?"

Duncan said while we think we know it's a virus and don't know if it's spread through air he does know a travel ban and quarantine would work to contain the virus.

"I do know what works and that is closed borders and quarantine. Those are two simple things that the neighboring countries in Africa, neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone, and the other West African countries that have Ebola outbreaks ... they've shut their borders down. They don't allow anybody from those countries to travel. They also allow a quarantine to happen for a minimum of 21 days."

U.S. and international health officials, however, have repeatedly said there is no evidence that Ebola can be spread through the air, even little chance if a victim coughs or sneezes on another person.

Still, 85% of Americans said in a recent Harvard School of Public Health poll they thought you'd be "likely" to catch Ebola if you were coughed or sneezed on by someone who had the virus.

Dr. Ron Behrens, a senior lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine previously told BuzzFeed News "there's no evidence for that at all."

"Theoretically, viruses mutate," Behrens told BuzzFeed News. "There's been no strong evidence that there's been significant mutation in the virus over the last 30 or 40 years. It's very unlikely to be a problem in such a short time scale."

Republican Rep. Peter King of New York also recently suggested in a radio interview Ebola could have mutated and gone airborne.

This post has been updated.

In the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, the Cato Institute makes new arguments for limits on states’ rights in a brief filed in the Louisiana marriage case with the progressive Constitutional Accountability Center.

Dr. Jesus Hernandez, left, and Oscar Hull, center, are married by Meredith Sloane outside of Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds office in Charlotte, North Carolina, October 13, 2014.

Davis Turner / Reuters

WASHINGTON — The Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank, made a vigorous case for same-sex couples' marriage rights on Friday — going further than it ever has in supporting the constitutional claims making their way across the nation.

In a brief filed in support of same-sex couples challenging Louisiana's marriage ban at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, the Cato Institute joined the progressive Constitutional Accountability Center in arguing that the court should strike down the ban.

"The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees to all people—regardless of race, sexual orientation, or other group characteristics—equality of rights, including the fundamental right to marry," the groups argue. "These protections are the 'supreme Law of the Land,' overriding laws enacted through the democratic process, whether adopted by state legislatures or by the voters."

The "odd couple" pairing of the two groups — similar to Ted Olson and David Boies' leadership in fighting California's Proposition 8 and Virginia's similar ban — is not new. They've filed joint briefs opposing the bans in most of the recent marriage challenge appeals, including in the Prop 8 case. In Friday's filing, however, they made two new arguments — both of which could have an impact beyond the marriage landscape.

The groups argued that the federal trial court decision upholding Louisiana's ban was wrong, calling out U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman's deference to the "democratic process" as a misreading of the 14th Amendment. Additionally, they argued that the recent Supreme Court decision upholding Michigan's voter-approved ban on affirmative action in higher education, Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, does not back up the trial court's decision.

Ilya Shapiro, the scholar who signed the brief for the Cato Institute, told BuzzFeed News that the brief was consistent with the group's long-held interest in "wanting an engaged judiciary to enforce individual rights." As to the changes in this brief, Shapiro pointed to a recent paper put out by the Constitutional Accountability Center that was written by David Gans as forming some of the underlying basis for the changes in Friday's filing.

In the filing, the groups argue, "The district court here lost sight of ... foundational equal protection principles, instead empowering the people of Louisiana to 'disparage and to injure' loving, committed same-sex couples, 'whose moral and sexual choices the Constitution protects,'" quoting from the Supreme Court's decision striking down the Defense of Marriage Act. "That is a majoritarian bridge too far."

After detailing the history of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, the brief concludes that the amendment "established equality under the law and equality of rights for all persons as a constitutional mandate, forbidding the people of a state from using the democratic process to subject minorities to adverse, discriminatory treatment and take away their fundamental rights. The district court's contrary conclusion is sharply at odds with the Fourteenth Amendment's text and history."

Then, the groups addressed the decision by the trial court — that has been made by supporters of marriage bans across the nation — that the Schuette Supreme Court decision "stand[s] for the proposition that a majority of the people of Louisiana could use the democratic process to single out same-sex couples for adverse treatment and deny them the right to marry." To the contrary, they argue, "This is an unsupportable reading of Schuette, divorced from its context and inconsistent with its reasoning."

Read the brief:

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown blamed the NRA for a lack of a U.S. surgeon general, and Congressional Republicans for cuts to public services.

View Video ›

A Democratic senator puts the blame for the Centers for Disease Control's slow response to Ebola directly on the National Rifle Association and Senate and House Republicans.

Speaking in a local radio interview on Thursday, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown blamed the NRA for a lack of a U.S. surgeon general, and Congressional Republicans for cuts to public services.

"We don't have a surgeon general to, to run this, to oversee this, because of the opposition to him brought on by opposition from the National Rifle Association," Brown said.

"So we're not – we have cut spending on public health in this country, um, because some members of Congress, unfortunately a majority in the House, would prefer to do tax cuts for the wealthiest people and cut public services like CDC, like National Institutes of Health, like early childhood education – this wasn't foreseen but some of it could have been prevented if we had people in Washington that really looked out more for the public interest than for their special interests."

Brown called Republican and some Democratic opposition to the president's surgeon general pick "tragic."

"We had one, she resigned, the president made a nomination and the nominee had spoken out about gun violence and the National Rifle Association opposed that man, virtually almost every Republican got in line in the filibuster, and a few people in my party joined the filibuster as a result of the NRA, and I think it's tragic."

The National Rifle Association did indeed propose scoring a vote on Obama's surgeon general nominee Vivek Murthy, due to his support for gun control.

"I wish that were talked about a little more, because that — I don't know that a surgeon general would have been in a place that could have prevented this, but I think with a surgeon general, head of public health in this country, the surgeon general would have had a better-prepared public health response, and I think fewer mistakes would have been made."

Brown took aim at what he called a "bunch of demagogues in Washington" for criticizing the CDC's response.

"Instead, we've got a bunch of demagogues in Washington that are finger-pointing, and saying 'Fire the CDC,' 'It's the President's fault,' all the things that they sort of — one bird flies off a telephone wire, they always do kind of response."

The Democratic senator placed more blame on every Republican and some Democrats who he said were "at the beck and call of the NRA."

"I'm not letting my party off the hook on this — virtually every Republican is at the beck and call of the NRA when it comes to votes on the Senate floor, and a number of people in my party are. So I don't think we got to fifty votes because of that, so I'm not blaming just Republicans here. I am blaming the NRA, and I'm blaming people who say 'Appoint an Ebola czar,' but were not willing to vote for a very, very qualified Surgeon General. It just so happens the Surgeon General said some critical things about gun manufacturers."

Ah, 1985.

This is what a mobile phone looked like.

Via Motorola

This is what a laptop looked like.

Via thenextweb.com

This is what Windows looked like.

Via en.wikipedia.org

This is what an Xbox looked like.

View Entire List ›

Two of biggest names in Democratic politics did their first ever event together on Friday.

Stephan Savoia / AP

Stephan Savoia / AP

BOSTON — They did not appear on stage at the same time. They delivered their remarks one speaking slot apart. One did not introduce the other. And there were no photo-ops to speak of on Friday for Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren.

At their first joint campaign showing, the two Democrats kept a notable distance.

Clinton, the former secretary of state, and Warren, the U.S. senator from Massachusetts, didn't cross paths in public view at the rally for Martha Coakley, the flagging candidate for governor in this state. But the scene and speeches at Boston's Park Plaza Hotel, where hundreds came to support Coakley, afforded a rare glimpse at the personal and political shades of the Clinton-Warren relationship.

They are two of the party's biggest names, often cast as adversaries in a presidential race to which neither has committed. But before the Coakley event on Friday, the two leading Democrats had never appeared at a public political event together.

The dynamic at the rally would best be described as one-sided.

Light on Clinton, heavy on Warren.

From the beginning of her prepared speech — a 25-minute outline of Coakley's record and a personal appeal for higher wages, better support for working families, and equal pay legislation for women — Clinton went out of her way to praise Warren.

In a series of nods to other officials headlining the rally, including Sen. Ed Markey and Gov. Deval Patrick, Clinton gave a line or two to each person. The last attendee she mentioned was Warren. "And I am so pleased to be here with your senior senator," Clinton said, her voice louder, hitting every word almost too hard, "the passionate champion for working people and middle-class families…"

"Elizabeth Warren!" she said, sounding out the syllable of the name. The crowd roared below. Clinton waited for quiet and then went on. "I love watching Elizabeth, you know, give it to those who deserve to get it — standing up not only for you but for people with the same needs and the same wants across the country."

Warren did not talk about Clinton in her speech.

View Entire List ›

A Clinton aide said the officers who escorted the group of protesters from the rally were not members of the Secret Service.

A protester is escorted out of the building by an officer as Hillary Clinton speaks for U.S. Senator Kay Hagan during a campaign event in Charlotte.

Chris Keane / Reuters

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Three immigration protesters interrupted a speech here by Hillary Clinton on Saturday at a campaign rally for Sen. Kay Hagan's reelection.

The activists — working as members of a local affiliate of the national immigration group, United We Dream — said after the event that they were mishandled by an outfit of about five or six security officers. After escorting the three protesters outside, the officers asked for identification and "tried taking photos" of the activists, said Yash Mori, a fourth protester, who joined the group outside the hall.

In an interview, Mori said he and the three activists were "harassed."

A Clinton aide said the officers were not members of the Secret Service.

Hagan's spokesperson said the officers were not associated with their campaign.

It was not immediately clear whether the security officers who ushered Mori and the three hecklers from the rally were employed by the Charlotte convention center, where Hagan and Clinton spoke to a loud and spirited crowd of about 1,800 supporters.

Mori, a 19-year-old immigrant from India who is a U.S. citizen, organized the action. He said he works part-time as an immigration advocate but is also a freelance photographer. Mori wore press credentials clipped to his shirt at the Hagan-Clinton rally and videotaped the Clinton protest from a spot on the press risers.

He and the three protesters belong to a group called the Dream Organizing Network, a Charlotte-based affiliate of the organization United We Dream.

The idea of the protest was to pressure Clinton to reveal whether she supports the executive actions on immigration that President Obama has said he will take after the election. Hagan, in a tight race for another term in this conservative-leaning state, has said Obama should not act unilaterally to ease deportations.

About seven minutes into Clinton's speech, one member of the activist group, standing center stage, toward the middle of the crowd, held up a sign and started yelling. The sign read, "Hillary Do You Stand With Our Immigrant Families?"

Clinton did not appear to immediately see Oliver Merino, the 25-year-old local activist and undocumented immigrant. The other two protesters were in the audience too, but were not as loud as Merino, who kept shouting for about five minutes. During most of the protest, Merino's voice was drowned out by the crowd, which at one point erupted into an "equal pay" chant as Clinton made her remarks.

Finally, Clinton addressed the three hecklers. "I understand immigration is an important issue," she said. "I thank you for your advocacy."

When the protesters were escorted out by the security officers, they were asked for identification, according to Mori, who had left the press risers to join the group.

Then, Mori said, the officers "started taking pictures of them without giving a reason of why they would need a photo of someone who was obviously cooperating."

At one point, the loudest protester, Merino, "put his hand in front of the phone" of one of the officers," Mori said. The officer then "smacked [Merino's] hand away."

Eventually, the Dream Organizing Network group was taken outside.

This fall, as Clinton has hit the campaign trail and fundraising circuit for Democrats, immigration activists have organized small protests at a handful of her events to press her to take a public stance on Obama's promised executive actions.

Activists with United We Dream said last month that they expect the actions to continue.

On Friday in Charlotte, Mori was unhappy with Clinton's reply from the podium.

"Again and again, we've gotten the same response from Hillary," he said.

With the campaign not interested in causing a scene, two activists walked right up on stage and stood next to North Carolina Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan with a sign that read, “Friends don’t deport friends.”

youtube.com

Immigration activists upset with Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan's record on deportations got onstage and protested the senator's event Sunday afternoon just feet away from her.

The confrontation came just a day after a similar action by activists at an event headlined by Hillary Clinton and Hagan. The North Carolina Democrat has repeatedly said she opposes President Obama's plans to take executive action on immigration policy.

Viridiana Martinez, with the North Carolina DREAM Team, an organization of undocumented youth, was part of the group who showed up at the event and caused the disruption. She said before the event someone with the campaign asked to see their shirts and signs. Some activists were let in to the baseball field where the event was being held but those with the signs were not allowed in.

But once the event started, those outside the fence began chanting and interrupting Hagan. Eventually, the activists inside walked over, grabbed the signs, and went up on stage where aides halfheartedly tried to stop them.

Once Hagan realized the activists were up on stage with her she addressed them. "Oh y'all, we definitely support immigration reform. But you need to go talk to Thom Tillis," she said, referencing her Republican opponent, before being interrupted. "Y'all I supported common sense bipartisan immigration reform."

"We wanted to make clear she is not our friend," Martinez told BuzzFeed News after the event Sunday. "She has a track record of being anti-immigrant," she said, pointing to her vote against the DREAM Act and to end the president's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that protected undocumented youth from deportation in 2012.

The NC DREAM Team has also called out Hagan on this issue in recent Spanish-language billboards they put up ahead of the midterm election.

Erika Andiola, a DREAMer and national immigration activist who helped coordinate the action with the North Carolina advocates, said that even in a climate where Democrats could lose the Senate to Republicans, Hagan deserves to be protested because she is no better than Tillis on immigration.

"Having her or her opponent in office makes no difference as they are both anti-immigrant," Andiola told BuzzFeed News. "The North Carolina Dream Team has been working for years to try to get her on our side, and all we have gotten is a no vote on the Dream Act and a vote to repeal DACA."

Andiola said holding Hagan and other senators accountable during election season sends a clear message to Democrats that Latinos should not be taken for granted and talked about Obama's much-criticized delay on administrative actions to slow deportations.

"When her and the other blue dog Dems decided to convince Obama to delay relief for our families and continue to deport our community, they chose to throw Latinos under the bus. Now the Latino community in NC is making sure she gets a clear message that that was the wrong move," she said.

At the Saturday event with Hagan and Clinton, activists affiliated with United We Dream interrupted Clinton and were led out, leading her to address the issue.

"I understand immigration is an important issue," Clinton said to hecklers. "I thank you for your advocacy."

View Entire List ›

On Sunday, Gov. Christie’s decision a quarantine a nurse who treated sick Ebola patients in West Africa overshadowed the reason he was there: to campaign for Gov. Rick Scott.

Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie speaks about Ebola during a news conference in New York.

Carlo Allegri / Reuters

BOCA RATON, Florida — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie defended Sunday his decision to enforce a mandatory quarantine for health workers who have interacted with Ebola patients and who are entering the state of New Jersey.

Christie has faced questions about a quarantined Doctors Without Borders nurse who showed no symptoms of being infected with the Ebola virus, as he campaigns here with Republican Gov. Rick Scott.

The woman, Kaci Hickox, has not tested positive for Ebola. But asked why she had been isolated anyway, Christie said he'd made a public health decision on one individual to protect millions.

"The reason she's been quarantined is because she's been high risk," Christie said outside of a retail stop at an Italian pizzeria in Plantation. Christie said that Hickox had a fever, one of the symptoms associated with infected patients.

But later, at a retail stop in Boca Raton, Christie told reporters that he couldn't get into specifics about her condition. It was not immediately clear if Christie was backtracking from his original statement that she had "presented" with a fever.

"We're one of the five gateway airports in the country where everyone who has spent time in West Africa is going to come through," Christie said, referring to Newark Liberty International. "What we've said was if you're a health care worker who has had direct contact with people who are ill with the Ebola virus in West Africa, you're going to get quarantined for 21 days."

Under pressure, New York Gov. Cuomo on Sunday issued revised guidelines for medical personnel returning from Ebola-stricken nations. The new policy brings New York closer to federal protocols and distances itself from the controversial policies still in place for New Jersey.

Christie said at the second press gaggle that he's sorry if isolation made Hickox uncomfortable.

"I understand that she doesn't want to be quarantined. But my greater responsibility is the 8.9 million people in the state of New Jersey."

Christie said he did not consult the White House before making his decision. He did not engage a reporter who referred to a New York Times report that the Obama administration is pressuring New York and New Jersey to end their mandatory quarantines. Christie later told a Times reporter that he had not heard from the White House about the policy.

"I think folks understand we want to take every precaution," Christie said about the policy. "If it gets to the point where she no longer [has] an issue as a risk factor then we'll move on from there."

“I short-handed this point the other day.”

Mark Makela / Reuters

SOMERS, N.Y. — When Hillary Clinton fumbled a line at a rally last Friday — "Don't let anybody tell you that corporations and businesses create jobs" — the comment caused a minor outrage among political observers. Republicans said she'd been pandering to liberals. Democrats wondered if she'd been trying too hard to channel Elizabeth Warren, the populist senator who also spoke at the event.

On Monday, Clinton went out of her way to correct the comment at a rally for Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the Democrat up for reelection in this Hudson Valley district.

Clinton said in her speech that corporations that outsource jobs or move profits overseas should not be granted tax breaks. The clarification made clear that the remark was a botched line — not new messaging from Clinton, who has honed a new stump speech during a series of rallies ahead the election next month.

"The Republican alternative is a discredited economic theory that will hurt middle class families," Clinton said. "So-called trickle-down economics has failed."

"I short-handed this point the other day, so let me be absolutely clear about what I've been saying for a couple of decades."

"Our economy grows when businesses and entrepreneurs create good-paying jobs here in America and workers and families are empowered to build from the bottom up and the middle out — not when we hand out tax breaks for corporations that outsource jobs or stash their profits overseas."

A Clinton aide pointed to the remarks at the Maloney event as clarification to she had meant to say in her speech last week.

At the event with Warren on Friday, a rally for Martha Coakley, the Democrat running for governor in Massachusetts, Clinton made her initial remark in the lead-up to her case against "trickle-down economics" — an argument she's long made.

Her original line — that "corporations and businesses" don't "create jobs" — doesn't make much sense as a concept. An aide initially said on Friday that she'd meant to refer to "tax cuts" for corporations.

Clinton in particular has also more often been accused of being too friendly to corporations. (When she was a U.S. senator from New York, Clinton voted for a number of tax break for corporations.) She didn't clarify the remark in speeches at her next two public events: a rally for Mike Michaud, the Democrat running for governor in Maine, and one for Kay Hagan, the U.S. senator in North Carolina.

At the Maloney event in a club in Westchester County, Clinton cleaned up the stumble toward the middle of her 20-minute speech for Maloney, praising businesses that are "showing what it means to be responsible corporate citizens."

"They're paying workers a living wage instead of a poverty wage. They are investing in communities instead of hollowing them out. They are empowering workers instead of preventing them from organizing and joining unions to represent them."

"But we still don't have enough who are doing all of that," Clinton said.

Asked about the "jobs" comment after the event, Clinton glanced at her press secretary, Nick Merrill, and said, "You can talk to Nick about that."

This article has been updated to clarify comments by the Clinton aide.

North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis is aiming to unseat Sen. Kay Hagan.

Getty Images/Win McNamee

WASHINGTON — The National Organization for Marriage is dropping more than $100,000 into the heated North Carolina Senate race in its final days.

The group, which opposes same-sex couples' marriage rights, spent $117,000 in postcard mailers distributed on Monday in support of Republican North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis or in opposition to Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan. The information was reported in a filing with the Federal Election Commission.

Tillis, in his role as speaker, has attempted to fight lawsuits that resulted in bringing marriage equality to North Carolina earlier this month.

Additionally, NOM will be running a television ad in support of "traditional marriage" during the 6 p.m. news broadcast in Charlotte, North Carolina. The ad will run three times, at a cost of $8,400. The agreement form for the ad states that it is not communicating "a message relating to any political matter of national importance," does not list any candidates referenced in the ad, and is signed by Frank Schubert — the man behind ads supporting California's Proposition 8 and similar measures elsewhere.

In a message to supporters posted on Monday afternoon, NOM's president, Brian Brown, mentioned the North Carolina activity, as well as some action the group is taking in other states.

"Television ads have been purchased and will be on the air this week in North Carolina and Arkansas. Automated phone calls have been made in California, Massachusetts, and Oregon. Mailers have been sent out in North Carolina and are being sent out in California," he wrote.

The group earlier announced its opposition to the two out gay Republican congressional candidates, Carl DeMaio and Richard Tisei. On Oct. 25, the group spent $4,000 on calls opposing DeMaio and $2,000 on calls opposing Tisei.

Information on NOM's North Carolina mailer:

Information on NOM's television buy in Charlotte, North Carolina:

View Entire List ›

Exclusive Facebook data shows who partisans are liking this cycle. Everybody likes “The Voice” and Journey.

New data on the 2014 midterms from Facebook shared exclusively with BuzzFeed News examined the non-political likes of people who liked any candidate's page, running in a race for House, Senate, or governor. The goal, according to Facebook's data gurus, was to find "the pages that were most differentiating — that is, the pages that were liked by supporters of one party vs. the other — and those that were the most balanced."

Facebook's full results for each category are below the graphic.

Justine Zwiebel / BuzzFeed

Full datasets from Facebook:

Facebook

Facebook

View Entire List ›

Campaigning for a former employee on Monday, Clinton smoothly folded ’90s themes into her fast-developing stump speech. A more comfortable atmosphere.

Rep. Sean Maloney cedes the stage to Hillary Rodham Clinton during a "Women for Maloney" event in Somers, New York, on Monday.

Seth Wenig / AP Photo

SOMERS, New York — When Sean Patrick Maloney took the stage on Monday at a Westchester County rally with his old boss, Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop," the theme song for Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign, filled the banquet hall.

Don't stop, thinking about tomorrow.
Don't stop, it'll soon be here.

When the crowd greeted him in Heritage Hills, a complex of condos in this midsize New York town, they raised signs that read, "Clinton Democrat for Congress."

And when Maloney, running for a second term in Congress, wrapped up his speech here, he invoked a string of legendary lines from that 1992 race. "I believe in a place called Hope," Maloney said. "I believe in walking across that bridge to the 21st century. And we won't stop thinking about tomorrow."

By the time Maloney introduced his headliner, Hillary Clinton, he'd made the point clear enough: "I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I'm a Clinton Democrat."

Maloney, a former Clinton campaign staffer and senior White House aide, rallied the crowd in Somers with repeated references to the former first family and the distinct political brand they brought to the Democratic Party in the early '90s.

The speech was a bit of a time warp. But it also proved that the ideas behind the 1992 campaign, which Maloney outlined in his speech, could still translate more than two decades years later on the stump for him and Clinton both. Even as the former secretary and New York senator has moved toward embracing a more explicitly progressive message than the mix of centrism and populism that defined her husband's first White House bid, she knitted together the speech she's been using on the trail this month with a handful of themes from that first campaign.

For instance: When Maloney closed his speech with language Bill Clinton took national in 1991 — the troika of "basic, enduring" values: "opportunity for all, responsibility from all, in a community of all" — Clinton came back to the line in her own remarks.

"I loved what you said at the end," she said during her 20-minute speech. "When we crisscrossed our country in 1992, that's exactly the message that Bill Clinton took forth: opportunity, responsibility, community. And just like Sean, I was blessed to have parents who worked hard and gave me the opportunities and expected the responsibilities in the community that I grew up in."

Clinton added that she wanted to make sure her "precious granddaughter, Charlotte," who was born late last month, would enjoy those same rights too.

During his speech, Maloney recalled his move to Arkansas in early 1992 to work for Hillary Clinton on the campaign. He packed everything he owned into his pickup truck — "Everything," he stressed. "I didn't have any future" — and drove the 1,300 miles to Little Rock, where he set up his mattress on the floor of another aide, Susan Thomases. "I was part of what they called Hillaryland."

The Clintons, Maloney said, "spoke about a dream of a prosperous America where the middle class would do well, where the middle class would thrive."

"And folks, they made that dream a reality."

Clinton said she remembered meeting Maloney in New Hampshire one night in 1992. He joined the campaign, she said, because he believed, "as Bill and I did, that we needed changes in America and we needed to be putting people first."

"I'm proud of how hard Sean has worked since then — in the White House, in other important positions, now in the Congress — to continuing that idea."

This month on the campaign trail, where she has tweaked and honed a stump speech at rallies across about a dozen states, Clinton has found a window into the debate over economic inequality through issues like equal pay for women and a minimum-wage increase. And she has more consciously embraced some of the populist language associated with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a progressive figurehead.

That appeared to go awry last Friday when Clinton fumbled a line saying that "corporations and businesses" don't create jobs. She clarified during her speech in Somers that she had "short-handed" the point. Corporations that "outsource jobs or stash their profits overseas" shouldn't be handed tax breaks, she said.

On Monday, Clinton's economic arguments seemed much more natural, framed through the lens of middle-class families. She also returned to a familiar line about "trickle-down economics," a theory she and her husband have long denounced. He first campaigned against the idea in 1992.

"The Republican alternative is a discredited economic theory that will hurt middle-class families." Maloney, Clinton added, "stands for equality, equality of opportunity."

"We are supposed to be about upward mobility. If you work hard and do your part, you and your family are supposed to be able to have a better life."

Maloney, one of the few openly gay members of Congress, is in a competitive race against Nan Hayworth, the Republican he beat two years ago to win his seat in New York's 18th district.

About 150 people, many elderly residents of the housing complex, packed the event at the restaurant hall in Heritage Hills. (Attendees couldn't leave until Clinton had vacated the venue, and two people passed out waiting for her departure, according to a security officer staffing the event.)

Clinton is scheduled to continue her tour on behalf of Democrats on Wednesday, with two campaign events for Rep. Bruce Braley, the U.S. senate candidate in Iowa. On Thursday, she heads to Maryland for Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, the gubernatorial nominee there. And on Saturday, she will return to Kentucky to stump at two events with Alison Lundergan Grimes, another longtime friend of the Clintons.

Maloney is the only individual candidate in the House of Representatives that Clinton has campaigned for this fall.

Asked later by reporters to define "Clinton Democrat," Maloney said, "Fighting for the middle class, reaching across the aisle, and getting bipartisan results."

Grimes, running against Sen. Mitch McConnell in Kentucky, has also called herself a "Clinton Democrat." Her family has been close to the Clintons for years.

Maloney and his old bosses have remained close. The Clintons were invited to his wedding. And Bill Clinton campaigned for Maloney two years ago.

The congressman's campaign said on Monday that they planned to roll out a new television ad featuring tape of that event with the 42nd president.

Before closing his speech on Monday, Maloney said that when people ask him why he wants to work in government, he often replies, "Because I've seen it work."

"I've seen the Clintons work."

Ruby Cramer / BuzzFeed / Via Twitter: @rubycramer

Unless the justices — or another court — grant Mark Christeson a stay of execution, he is due to be executed Wednesday.

Missouri Department of Corrections

In an unusual filing at the Supreme Court on Monday, however, several former state and federal judges argue that the execution should not go forward because the "rush to execute" Christeson has "privileged finality above fairness." The former judges ask the Supreme Court to step in "to restore balance to the administration of the death penalty."

Christeson attempted to seek federal review of his conviction through a habeas corpus petition filed in 2005, but the federal district court denied his petition because it was filed late. The same lawyers who had represented him in that late filing — Eric Butts and Phil Horwitz — have continued to represent him since then.

Earlier this year, when Christeson found out that his habeas corpus petition had been dismissed and that the state was readying to execute him, attorney Jennifer Merrigan began attempting to have another lawyer appointed for Christeson.

The new lawyer, she argued, could bring a claim that Butts and Horwitz's actions are egregious enough that Christeson should still be able to pursue federal review of his conviction. Butts and Horwitz could not be expected to make that argument, she stated, as it would mean impugning their own legal work. As such, she concluded, they have a conflict of interest and Christeson should get a new lawyer.

After the trial court and 8th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the request for substitution of counsel, Merrigan has asked the Supreme Court to do so — and to grant Christeson a stay of execution so this can be worked out.

Merrigan is not alone. Several former judges — including retired 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Nathaniel Jones, other former federal judges, former state supreme court justices, and other former state judges — filed a brief with the court in support of Christeson's claim. They argue that "the lower courts set the terrible precedent that federal courts can reject a capital inmate's request for relief without considering the core of his argument, or even ensuring that his attorneys are capable of representing his interests."

Another request for a stay of execution for Christeson based on Missouri's secrecy surrounding its execution protocol, filed by Butts, was denied by the full 8th Circuit. Butts could seek to appeal that denial at the Supreme Court.

Merrigan lays out Christeson's claim in Monday's filing at the Supreme Court:

Merrigan also claims that Butts and Horwitz have revealed privileged communications with Christeson in order to protect their own interests:

View Entire List ›

Miguel Paredes would become the 10th and final person to be executed by Texas in 2014.

Miguel Paredes, a San Antonio gang member involved in a triple slaying in 2000, is scheduled to be executed in Texas on Tuesday.

minutesbeforesix.blogspot.com

Paredes, 32, along with two other co-defendants, was convicted of murdering three people in 2000 over a drug dispute with a rival gang. Paredes was the only one who got a death sentence; his co-defendants are serving life in prison.

If executed, Paredes will become the 10th and the final person to be put to death by Texas this year, which saw the fewest number of executions there since 1996.

Paredes' attorney, David Dow, filed an appeal with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Monday to stay the execution while it considers a petition for certiorari writ petition seeking Supreme Court review, also filed Monday.

In the writ petition, Dow argued that Paredes' previous counsel failed to discover that Paredes' suffered from a significant mental disease when he waived his "Wiggins claim" — the right to challenge his sentence based on ineffective trial counsel. The appeal says that Paredes is scheduled to be executed without ever having the opportunity to have the federal courts review the merits of his claim.

Texas officials opposed Paredes' request in a filing at the court on Tuesday morning.

When Paredes was 18, he and his fellow Hermanos Pistoleros Latinos gang members shot to death Adrian Torres, 27; his 23-year-old girlfriend, Nelly Bravo; and Shawn Michael Cain, 23.

Prosecutors said they were settling a drug debt with Torres, who was a member of rival gang, the Mexican Mafia. Paredes shot at Bravo's head and fired a shotgun at her chest. He was also found responsible for the death of Cain. The three bodies were found wrapped in carpet, burned, and dumped in a remote stretch of road in South Texas.

Paredes turned to art while he awaited his execution for 13 years.

"As long as one kid sees beyond all that crap because of my situation, that's fine," said Paredes, who expressed regret over the slayings.

It requires background checks going back seven years and $1 million in insurance.

AFP / Getty Images PAUL J. RICHARDS

WASHINGTON — The D.C. Council passed a bill Tuesday that Uber hopes will pave the way for other cities to formally legalize and regulate rideshare apps.

The controversial bill, dubbed the Vehicle-for-Hire Innovation Act of 2014, has been heavily opposed by the taxi unions for not creating a level playing field but praised by Uber for codifying safety standards they say have already been in place.

The legislation "could be a model for the rest of the country and maybe the world," said David Plouffe, Uber's chief strategist and former aide to President Barack Obama, in a Q & A session with the Washington Post.

The legislation could have even farther extending consequences. A Teamsters spokesman said that "at this point our primary concern is representing the taxi drivers," but if drivers for apps like Uber and Lyft are allowed to operate legally, it's been suggested they may try and unionize them as well. Teamsters already represent Uber drivers in Seattle and California.

Specifically, the bill requires background checks on Uber drivers going back seven years, annual safety inspections, a prohibition of street hails by UberX drivers, and $1 million in liability insurance when a driver is en route to a rider and when the rider is actually being transported. The insurance requirements for when the driver has the app on but is not actively picking up or transporting a passenger is significantly lower.

"From the Potomac to the Pentagon, DC has led the way in embracing innovative solutions to modern transportation challenges and we're excited to see the local Lyft community grow and thrive for years to come," a Lyft spokeswoman emailed in a statement.

A late amendment by Councilmember Mary Cheh also gives police officers and hack inspectors the ability to check drivers' phones if they suspect an illegal street hail has been made, punishable by a civil fine.

"There may be other adjustments that need to be made and I'm committing to looking at those going forward," Cheh said.

Councilmember Jim Graham, who a Teamsters source said has supported the taxi drivers, introduced nine other late amendments aimed generally at helping traditional cabs.

Among the more contentious amendments was one that aimed to set a floor for rideshare app pricing, where they'd be banned from charging less than the minimum fare for a taxi, and another that mandated where the "trade dress" could be placed on the vehicles. Neither were approved.

The Teamsters, as well as the D.C. Taxicab Commission, have been vocal about their opposition to the bill, especially regarding the background checks and insurance requirement. The union has arranged several taxi protests, where drivers blocked up traffic for hours in the middle of the day, including one Tuesday morning. The commission sent a letter to the D.C. Council outlining its concerns.

"The illegal private sedan services currently do not follow the same rules and regulations that taxi drivers must follow, and the bill in its current form falls far too short in providing fairness," the D.C. Taxi Operators Association, affiliated with Teamsters Local 922, said in a statement. Because of the private sedan services' huge competitive advantage, D.C. taxi drivers are losing work and are struggling to make ends meet."

“In the Vietnam War, the anti-war left went after the troops and this time they went after contractors and Blackwater represented anything they love to hate.”

View Video ›

The founder and former CEO of Blackwater Erick Prince blamed the anti-war left Tuesday for the conviction of four former guards for the 2007 shootings of more than 30 Iraqis in Baghdad.

"There's a lot of politics that surrounds the event," Prince said on NewsMax TV's Midpoint. "The government spent tens of millions of dollars after this one case and a lot came after that Nisour Square event."

"The bureaucratic attack the company withstand because of this. It's all wrapped into the anger of the Iraq War. In the Vietnam War, the anti-war left went after the troops and this time they went after contractors and Blackwater represented anything they love to hate."

A federal jury last week found one Blackwater guard, Nicholas Slatten guilty of first-degree murder.

Three other guards Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard were found guilty of multiple counts of voluntary manslaughter and other lesser counts.

The 2007 shootings in Baghdad's Nisour Square left 17 Iraqi civilians dead and strained American-Iraqi relations.

As an ambassador for governors all over the country, the New Jersey governor can’t help but slip into his fallback mode: ruthless. On the trail with Scott and Christie.

Darren Sands

ORMOND BEACH, Florida – He was here to spread the Gospel According to Rick Scott.

Love thy family and thy neighbor as thyself. Get a good education and a good job. Pay your property taxes like a good Floridian and, when you're good and ready, retire, with dignity, in a place just like this tanned, sleepy little town of 40,000. To hammer it home, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie even went to worship service Sunday, an event his office and the Republican Governors Association closed to press.

But over the course of two sun-drenched days in South and Central Florida with Gov. Rick Scott early this week, Christie kept falling into the pull of his abrasive, no-nonsense style. Scott's genial manner plays well in parts of Florida where he is most popular: rural, mostly elderly, and highly conservative. Christie's a talented retail politician, boisterous and natural — but eternally forceful. And on Christie, playing the supporting part seemed to wear thin.

When a reporter in Plantation asked Scott if he "fully subscribed" to comments that Christie made about the minimum wage at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, the Florida governor launched into a rehearsed stem-winder about opponent Charlie Crist being out of touch and his record on losing jobs. "I've worked minimum wage. I know what it's like," he said. "Charlie grew up rich. He isn't worried about your family. Think about it: he raised your tuition, he raised your taxes, he's never had to worry about doing some of these things … I grew up in public housing so I know what it's like—"

Christie cut him off.

"Listen — I'm standing right here, okay?" said Christie, fixing his eyes squarely on the reporter. "So the fact is I never said my comments were misunderstood. What I said, I mean. Which is that there are not families who are sitting around tables right now across America hoping and dreaming to get a higher minimum wage. What they want are better paying jobs to give their children better opportunities than that."

After a rare live appearance on the Today Show in the morning, Christie will travel to Maryland to campaign with Maryland gubernatorial hopeful Larry Hogan on Tuesday, then a whole slate of governors and candidates across the country. On Thursday, he'll be back in Florida with Scott.

"I have said that this is an extraordinarily important race in the country," Christie told BuzzFeed News. "By the time I get done here, I will have been here more than any other state in the country." (When asked by BuzzFeed News if he'd be back on Election Day, he said it was unlikely. "I'm barely home the rest of the time so I'm going to go home then.")

The stakes are high for Scott. Florida's political races are historically close — and polls show the race between Scott and Crist is extremely so.

The stakes are high for Christie, too. He is telling supporters in Florida he is taking seriously the decision to run for president. If he does become the 2016 Republican nominee for his party he knows how crucial it is to have the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election — and to have Scott in office in Tallahassee.

It's why as much as Christie has been by Scott's side to advocate for him — he has also helped shield Scott from vulnerability to negativity. In a rousing bit on the campaign trail here recently, Christie told audiences up and down I-95 are going to give Crist a title on Nov. 4: "Loser!"

In a fiery speech before a rowdy crowd at a strip mall nightclub in Boca Raton, Christie was most impressive. "New Jersey South," he said, "your governor is here!"

Florida voters have a choice, Christie said, laying out his own specific contempt for Crist like Scott never would — or could. "When Charlie Crist said it's not about him, you know how you know he's lying? His lips are moving, everybody! That's how you know Charlie Crist is lying. There's lots of races in this country where all the people in the race are good people … that's not what the instance is here."

Scott waited for the rapt crowd to die down. "This is New Jersey South," Scott said, as if to say, What can I say?

Dr. David Ritter, an anesthesiologist in Boca Raton, said he was glad someone like Christie could come along to give voters a succinct message. "He's not afraid to he has no problem with saying what he thinks. He means everything he says," his wife, Maribel chimed in. "I like that. He's straight up."

"He's New Jersey and he doesn't seem super conservative," Dr. Ritter said, alluding to Christie's speech. "That works against him with some conservatives – I certainly have some reservations for that reason – but you've got to support who can win because you don't get everything. Otherwise you end up with Barack Obama. You need somebody who's passionate."

Boca Raton Mayor Susan Raynie said she knows the impact Christie can have on the election.

"He has the respect of residents here, people trust him," she said of Christie. "He's a free spirit and I think that plays well here and makes him a great complement to Rick. Personality-wise I think Christie is a "fire and brimstone" kind of guy and Rick is a bit more reserved. Does that mean one is more talented than the other? No. I think it's just a matter of personality."

On Monday morning in Wellington and again here in Ormond Beach Christie said that he was a "warm, compassionate guy," on his way to telling voters to give Crist to the title loser. The laughter that followed the line appeared to annoy Christie — though it was unclear if because it disrupted his one-liner's timing, or because he may one day need to be known as a nice guy.

"I think Christie may be a little bit more confrontational than Scott," Florida Rep. Bill Posey told BuzzFeed News, adding that because of Scott's constituency — "a state with more retired people in it" — he may need to be bit more reserved. "But it all balances out. Scott will do whatever it takes. They're both very aggressive with their agendas and try to drive the train and not ride in the back."

The governor's wife, Ann Scott, who agreed to an interview before her spokesperson stepped in, suggested her husband and Christie were more alike than people cared to understand.

"I think they both shoot straight from the hip," Scott said. "They both are representing the people of their states and working hard to make a difference and turn the economy around."

And if Christie can't help himself from being forceful, he at least seemed to be trying to offer a softer touch at multiple points during the swing.

After Christie stood his ground against criticism that his policy for health workers returning from West Africa had led to a nurse, Kaci Hickox, to argue she had been mistreated, he changed tactics a little later in the day. Christie commended Hickox's work, telling the press gaggle at a zoo in Melbourne there was confirmation that she had been treated well — and that New Jersey even footed the bill for her travel to Maine.

Then there was Scott's third grandson, Sebastian, whose lack of patience has been a favorite subject of Scotts, and the very mention of him drew "awwws."

And there Christie was on Monday morning, playing it up for the cameras, smiling, as he held little Sebastian's arm.

The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security are expected to send final recommendations in the next two weeks. Activists are worried and angry about what they’re hearing.

Anti-deportation protesters chant in front of the White House in Washington.

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

Justice Department and Homeland Security officials are sending to the White House their final recommendations on what immigration executive actions should look like, according to four sources who have been briefed on the timeline.

President Obama is expected to announce a series of executive actions that would slow the deportation of undocumented immigrants, similar to his executive action in 2012 that deferred the deportations of some undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children.

The details of the final recommendations from the departments, which are expected to be delivered in the next two weeks, are still unclear. Predicting how many undocumented immigrants would be affected is difficult without knowing exactly which groups the administration will include in eventual actions. A handful of factors, however, could have major consequences for those numbers.

For instance, according to four sources, officials are considering what length of time an undocumented immigrant needs to have been a resident to receive protections. If the administration requires proof of 10 years of residency, a far smaller group of people would be affected by the actions than if five years is the standard.

Similarly, it is still unclear whether the parents of young undocumented immigrants — or DREAMers — protected by the 2012 executive action will fall under the new actions through changed enforcement priorities or a larger deferred action program like the one that gave work visas to DREAMers.

Activists who have consistently called on Obama to "go big" say they are angry about what they're hearing and are ready to go on the offensive to ensure the administration doesn't lose the nerve they believe they had to act decisively after the election.

There is growing concern about the range under consideration among activists. The bipartisan Senate bill included protections for about 8 million undocumented immigrants and some, like Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez who has been active in the immigration debate, have called for the administration to extend deferment to 3 to 5 million people. Two sources said the numbers they have heard fall below expectations, with one saying it is in the "low seven figures" and another saying it is "3 million."

Activists are particularly concerned about the length of time undocumented immigrants would need to prove they have lived in the country. After the 2012 action, activists say, fewer people ultimately applied for protections than qualified — for one reason, providing proof of residency is difficult.

The White House pushed back on these concerns saying it is entirely too premature to discuss what the administrative action will look like.

"As you know, the president has not made a decision yet on the administrative immigration reforms he is set to announce by the end of the year. It will be premature to speculate about the specific details including the scope of the number of immigrants who will be impacted since that decision has not been made," said White House spokeswoman Katherine Vargas.

But advocates say it is precisely these final recommendations to be delivered in the next two weeks that will influence the president, and that's before his political advisers, who have cautioned being conservative on immigration before, weigh in. It is for these reasons that they see the recommendations as incredibly important and they say they are ready to unleash actions against the administration that were planned for right after the election, now.

"We're going to ramp up and unleash the ferocity of the movement to get the relief we deserve and expect," one influential immigrant rights leader said.

"We've been repeatedly disappointed and disrespected by this administration," said Lorella Praeli of United We Dream, which plans to hold a press conference Wednesday explaining the organization defines successful administrative actions as including protections for the parents of DREAMers. "The administration has significant work to do to get right with the Latino and immigrant community."

And because much can get lost in trying to define how many millions of people would be included in the eventual actions, Praeli made it clear.

"It matters who we're talking about," she said. "When I'm sitting here talking to you I'm thinking about my mom and all the parents in the state of Connecticut and throughout the United States."

"For us we will measure the success or failure from whatever shift in policy occurs on whether it helps or hurts those we love," said Chris Newman of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON).

One immigrant advocacy leader said the White House has not been as forthcoming or as engaging "since they threw us under the bus in September" with the immigration delay, and said that, coupled with what they're hearing about where the debate stands now on administrative actions, is why they're accelerating the timeline for planned protests against the administration.

The activists who spoke with BuzzFeed News also were puzzled and expressed frustration over why the White House would consider enacting something the immigrant rights community feels comes up short, because they believe Republicans will hit the president over immigration actions no matter their size and scope.

"We're going to have a fight on our hands with Republicans and need every part of the movement to be enthusiastic and lean into this fight," veteran immigration advocate Frank Sharry said. "He's not going to get criticized any less for somehow trying to go smaller."

"Whether it's 1 million or 2 million or 7 million, it will be equal criticism," said Marielena Hincapié, the executive director of the National Immigration Law Center. "This isn't about appeasing Republicans; he's never going to appease them."

Sharry said he understands the predicament the administration finds itself in but recalled a story AFL-CIO union President Richard Trumka told him once during a meeting as illustrative of where Obama is now.

"He said, 'When I was union president I would get as much [criticism] when we raised dues a nickel as when we raised them a dollar. Might as well raise them a dollar.'"

And Sharry invoked the concern from advocates that Obama's political advisers will counsel him to hold back on going big, as they did when he chose to delay action until after the election.

"I'm optimistic he's going to do it, but will it be big enough to help people and enthuse the movement?" Sharry said. "Politicos around the president may urge him to go smaller."

Kica Matos, director at the Center for Community Change, said her organization's expectations have not changed.

"We are expecting that the president will act with courage and deliver for our communities in a big way," she said. "We expect he will go big and go bold and he will secure relief for as many immigrants as he possibly can."

Hincapié also echoed calls for the parents of DREAMers to be included along with the parents of U.S. citizens in administrative actions. Ultimately, she said, Obama will be defined in the eyes of Latinos and immigrants by what he does here.

"This is a moment — regardless of what happens with the midterms — this is a moment for him to stand strong and be as inclusive as possible. This is about following through on a promise to the immigrant community. The day after the midterm election, this is all about his legacy and about 2016."

This time it’s Debbie Stabenow, not Patrick Leahy.

View Video ›

Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan confirmed to Michigan local radio she's got a role in the coming movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice which has been filming in her state.

"I was part of 300 extras," said Stabenow Tuesday on the on the Big Show with Michael Patrick Shiels.

"I really can't say any more than that," said Stabenow. "We all signed forms of confidentiality and ya gotta wait until the movie comes out."

"It was really terrific to see not only the movie being done in Michigan and being done in East Lansing but all the people working from Michigan. It wasn't just extras, ya know, those of us who were doing little bit things."

Stabenow's not the first senator to have a role in a Batman movie.

Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy had a cameo role in The Dark Knight. The Vermont senator, who is a huge Batman fan, also appeared in 1997's Batman and Robin.