”Sen. Booker is relieved that Kaci Hickox is on her way home.”

Mel Evans / AP Photo

Sen. Cory Booker believes Ebola policies should set by medical experts, a spokesperson said on Tuesday in a comment that implicitly knocked the mandatory quarantines imposed last week by Govs. Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo.

Booker, the junior senator from New Jersey, has not directly said whether he disagrees with the policy that kept Kaci Hickox, a nurse returning from Sierra Leone, in confinement in New Jersey over the weekend.

But when asked about Booker's stance, a spokesperson said the senator believes that elected officials should rely on medical professionals to handle the Ebola scare.

"While the senator is concerned about the spread of Ebola, he believes that medical professionals — not politicians — should establish clear guidelines for protecting our population from this disease," said Beth DeFalco, the Booker spokesperson.

"Sen. Booker is relieved that Kaci Hickox is on her way home and that she appears to be in good health," DeFalco said.

Booker, a Democrat, has kept relatively quiet on the Ebola quarantines imposed by Christie, his friend and sometimes ally.

The Republican governor has had to defend the mandatory quarantines for health care workers flying home from the three West African countries affected by Ebola outbreaks.

Booker's office did not comment on whether the senator had been in touch with state government officials about the quarantine in the last week. A spokesperson for Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, the senior senator from New Jersey, did not respond to an emailed request for comment about the state Ebola policy.

Hickox, the nurse, was allowed this week to complete her quarantine at home in Maine.

After returning from Sierra Leone to New Jersey, Hickox insisted she had not experienced any symptoms of the virus, and she vocally opposed the quarantine. It violated her rights, she said. (State officials said Hickox did show signs of a fever.)

Christie and Cuomo imposed the mandatory quarantine policy late last week, after the first case of Ebola in New York. The policy has faced criticism from public health officials as overcautious, vague, and a potential deterrent to health workers traveling to affected areas. The White House has reportedly pushed back against the states on the policy.

Cuomo relaxed part of the New York policy, allowing people who had direct contact with Ebola patients to remain at home during their quarantines. And the CDC on Monday announced revised guidelines for monitoring those who travel to affected areas.

Christie said on Tuesday morning that New Jersey's plan would not change. "We're not moving an inch," he said in a televised interview on NBC.

"Our policy hasn't changed, and our policy will not change," Christie said.

Earlier this month, Booker toured Newark Liberty International Airport to meet with officials about the enhanced Ebola screenings that have been put in place.

He said at the time that he did not support a travel ban from the three West African countries affected by Ebola. "I will rely on the experts," he told a reporter.

Booker said he wanted to be careful not to "politicize" the issue.

=(

Former White House spokesman Jay Carney says Democrats are in for a bad election.

"Democrats are, as we've talked about before, going to have a bad election day no matter how you slice it," said Carney. "Republicans will pick up seats in the Senate and the House and may win control of the Senate."

"They need to mobilize their base voters and that's especially true of minority voters and they are playing hardball, too," Carney said, commenting on racially-charged mailers from Democrats in contested states. "Equating support for Stand Your Ground law which is bad policy and bad law doesn't mean you supported the action that took Trayvon Martin's life."

"So that's the kind of rough ad that similar to the one we saw from the Republican. I think we've come to expect that and hopefully a lot of voters as Bill was saying tune it out."

Here's the video:

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Lewinsky is “working really hard at what she’s doing,” says her public relations handler. “And she has a lot of things coming down.”

Monica Lewinsky speaks at the Forbes "30 Under 30" summit earlier this month.

David Maialetti / AP Photo

Monica Lewinsky has hired Dini von Mueffling — a public relations hand, philanthropist, and society figure about town in New York City — to help advise her transition back into public life and promote a campaign to fight cyber-bullying.

After her affair from 1995 to 1996 with President Bill Clinton, Lewinsky tried different paths, some more disastrous than others, to a career as a public figure: She was a handbag designer, television personality, diet supplement spokeswoman. Then in 2005, she moved to London for privacy, earning a masters degree in social psychology.

This year, Lewinsky is back again. In May, she wrote a widely-read essay in Vanity Fair, in which she promised to stop "tiptoeing" around her past. "I've decided, finally, to stick my head above the parapet so that I can take back my narrative and give a purpose to my past," she said.

Lewinsky hired von Mueffling to do her PR about five months ago, according to von Mueffling, who was reached by phone late on Tuesday afternoon.

She did not go into the specifics of her work for Lewinsky.

"I'll let Monica's actions speak for themselves," von Mueffling said. "She's working really hard at what she's doing. And she has a lot of things coming down."

"You'll see. They'll be wonderful."

Von Mueffling said she did not take on Lewinsky as a client until after her story landed in the pages of Vanity Fair. (Lewinsky first appeared in the magazine in 1998, and friendships she developed soon after with its editor, Graydon Carter, and other members of the staff, helped make the essay this spring happen.)

But since working with Lewinsky through her Manhattan-based PR firm, HvM Communications, von Mueffling helped arrange for her client to appear at Forbes's first "30 Under 30" summit in Philadelphia earlier this month.

She also coordinated with officials at Twitter to roll out Lewinsky's debut on the social media platform. Lewinsky's account bore the blue "verified" checkmark the day she logged in to fire off her first tweet: "#HereWeGo," it read.

Von Mueffling said that she is Lewinsky's "sole representative" at the moment. But she added that Lewinsky has "a wonderful network of friends who are very accomplished, and I'm sure she gets advice from a lot of people."

Outside her PR practice, von Mueffling has held a bevvy of titles: She has worked as a columnist, writing a "Dear Dini" manners series in Gotham magazine; produced a show on Broadway; and co-founded the AIDS education nonprofit, Love Heals. The biography on HvM's website notes that von Mueffling sits on a number of boards.

Lewinsky has reemerged at a time when Clinton, the former first lady, is back on the campaign trail for Democrats this fall and weighing another run for president.

She has indicated that cyber-bullying will be the focus of the public campaign she is planning with von Mueffling. Lewinsky wrote in Vanity Fair that she was the "first person to have their reputation completely destroyed" on the Internet.

And at the Forbes summit this month, Lewisnky came back to the point. "There was no Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram back then. But there were gossip, news, and entertainment websites replete with comment sections and emails which could be forwarded," Lewinsky said, calling her affair and the impeachment hearings it precipitated "a viral phenomenon," the "first moment of truly 'social media.'"

Lewinsky has not yet announced her next public event.

This article has been updated.

“Hillary Clinton says, ‘Well, businesses don’t create jobs.’ Anybody believe that?”

Rand Paul

Rodger Mallison/Fort Worth Star-Telegram / MCT

OVERLAND PARK, Kansas — A certain likely Democratic presidential candidate has appeared, rhetorically, on the campaign trail in Kansas.

Hillary Clinton has become the target of ire from Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul as he stumps for Republican candidates here after Clinton said at a recent campaign stop that businesses and corporations do not create jobs.

Stumping for Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts and Gov. Sam Brownback on Tuesday, Paul criticized Clinton for the remark at more than one campaign stop. He's one of the most sought-after surrogates for Republicans in the midterms this year, and is a likely 2016 candidate himself. He told BuzzFeed News last week that he would be deciding about a potential presidential run in the spring.

"The president says, you didn't build that, it just sort of happened," Paul said in Wichita in an airport hangar rally at midday. "The plane just sort of came into being because it was a public road and a public library."

"Hillary Clinton comes up and she says, 'Businesses don't create jobs.' Anybody here think businesses don't create jobs?" Paul said. "I'm here today to endorse Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback, because you know what? They know that businesses do create jobs, and I hope you know that too."

Later in the day, in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, Paul offered the line again as he stood next to the podium, sort of in the style of Sen. Ted Cruz.

"Hillary Clinton says, 'Well, businesses don't create jobs.' Anybody believe that?" he said. The crowd roared.

At an event for Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley last week, Clinton said, "Don't let anybody tell you that it's corporations and businesses that create jobs. You know that old theory, trickle-down economics. That has been tried, that has failed. It has failed rather spectacularly."

Clinton later walked back the remark, arguing that corporate tax breaks are not the source of economic growth. The former secretary of state has often been criticized from the left for being too corporate.

Obama and Clinton "are on another page, they're on another planet, reading another book," Paul said.

“Sweet pea, Cory denies science.”

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An ad campaign backed by nearly a half million dollars from pro-choice group NARAL claims Republican Senate candidate Rep. Cory Gardner will make it impossible to buy condoms.

The ads, which furthers attacks from Democrats saying Gardner would outlaw access to some forms of contraceptive citing previous support for personhood bills, will run online, on TV, and on radio in the Denver area. Gardner has backed over-the-counter access to contraceptives this year.

Gardner says he has no plans to ban contraceptives, which the ad states.

"So everyone is sold out of condoms," a woman in the radio ad says. "How did this happen?

"Cory Gardner banned birth control, and now, it's all on us guys," says a man in the ad. "And you can't find a condom anywhere. And the pill was just the start. Pell grants my little brother was counting on for college? Cory cut them. Climate change that everyone knows is weirding our weather, Cory flat-out denies it. Sweet pea, Cory denies science."

The online and TV ads can be viewed here.

LINK: h/t Shane Goldmacher

O_o

Ethan Miller / Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Apple

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Passages of local paper pieces under Ernst’s name appear to have been copied word for word from templates sent as guidelines to Republican members of the Iowa Senate.

Red Oak Express

During her time as a member of the Iowa Senate, Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst frequently published reports of the goings-on in the statehouse for her constituents. These updates took the form of articles in her local newspapers, the Red Oak Express and the Opinion-Tribune, and an online newsletter.

Large portions of many of these articles, which were published under her name, appear to have been copied word for word from templates sent as guidelines to Republican members of the Iowa Senate.

Other passages in Ernst's dispatches appear to have been directly lifted from Gov. Terry Branstad's 2012 "Condition of the State" address, a Branstad press release about a tax return deadline after flooding in the state, and language from a law.

An Ernst campaign spokeswoman, Gretchen Hamel, when asked for comment initially attacked Ernst's opponent, Iowa Rep. Bruce Braley.

In a statement to BuzzFeed News on Wednesday after reviewing the material, the Ernst campaign said that as a state senator, Ernst and others used materials produced "for the express purpose of reproduction":

Joni Ernst is not a career politician, she is a part-time citizen legislator. Like thousands of other state lawmakers around the country, she has no staff of her own, and instead relies on caucus staff and party leaders to help with routine communications.

One of the chief responsibilities of the caucus staff is to provide talking points and draft op-eds for legislators for the express purpose of reproduction in their local districts. State legislators from both parties have have done it for decades, if not longer. In fact, Iowa Democrats do the exact same thing.

The examples cited by BuzzFeed are no different than what virtually every state lawmaker in the nation does, including Iowa Democrats. Despite BuzzFeed's every effort, there is no scandal here. It would appear that the only reason this is being reported now is because Joni is on the verge of winning an historic Senate race.

Republicans also pointed out that two weeks after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Orrin Hatch introduced the "Hire Now Tax Credit Act of 2010," Braley introduced the "Back to Work Act of 2010" in the House. Braley's bill uses identical language to the Reid-Hatch bill. He has cited his introduction of the bill during his campaign for Senate.

Ken Rozenboom, one of several state senators who published articles with text identical or nearly identical to Ernst's told BuzzFeed News that the common language was drawn from summaries of the week's events sent to members of the Senate Republican caucus by their communications team.

"Some of use them in their entirety, some use tidbits," he said, noting the summaries sent were meant to be used as guidelines.

Another state senator, Sen. Michael Breitbach said, "I write my own. I don't know what they do."

State Sen. Nancy Boettger reiterated what Rozenboom said, saying that caucus staff sent summaries and the legislators would often pick and choose what they would put in their newsletters, which often ran in local newspapers.

"The staff write summaries of things that are going on," said Boettger. "It's kind of a briefing. People pick and choose."

The use of these summaries in newsletters and reports from the senators that ran in newspapers appears relatively widespread among Iowa state senators.

Gregory Orear, the editor of the Red Oak Express told BuzzFeed News that Ernst doing articles from templates did not surprise him.

"I wouldn't be shocked," he said, to learn it was the same content others also used, describing Ernst's articles as "bottom of the barrel" content that was used as filler if they didn't have any other editorials to run.

"We never paid her," he said. "I would edit them and I would treat them as any other guest editorial."

"I'm sure some of it was cut and pasted," he added when asked by BuzzFeed News if he knew the template was used by a number of senators. "It'd be nice if she had her own thoughts in it."

The copied-and-pasted passages are part of a larger look into politicians, the written work that appears under their names, and instances of plagiarism that BuzzFeed News has found.

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“Uber is setting the safety standard in the ride-sourcing industry.” But the review’s not quite done yet.

Benoit Tessier / Reuters

Even though his company's audit isn't yet finished, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani penned an update to his four month long audit of Uber's background check process on Wednesday, and he says the on-demand driver service is doing an excellent job.

"Uber is setting the safety standard in the ride-sourcing industry," he wrote.

After coming under fire from both the San Francisco and Los Angeles District Attorney's offices, Uber announced last summer that Giuliani Partners would audit the company's processes. While most rides are uneventful, in some instances Uber drivers have been accused of sexually assaulting their passengers, beating them up, and even kidnapping them.

The update said that Giuliani Partners' (who are working in conjunction with the security consulting firm Guidepost Solutions) findings to date show that Uber "consistently demonstrates its commitment to safety." Acknowledging that it's still early in the review process, Giuliani added that "it is already clear to me that providing the safest rides on the road is a hallmark of Uber's model."

In the report Giuliani notes that Uber has already made some changes to their process. Early this year, they switched up control of the background check process from its regional offices to a centralized unit.. Giuliani also praised Uber's background checks, which go back 7 years, while most taxi services in major cities only do 3 to 5.

Taxi unions, however, have fought back vigorously against the idea that Uber's checks are sufficient. In D.C., where the city council recently passed a law legalizing Uber, taxi drivers say they have to be fingerprinted and send their info to the FBI, a process that Uber does not require.

A detailed report along with recommendations for Uber's background check process is expected in the coming months.

The Department of Justice has tried to compel reporter James Risen to reveal his sources.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder participates in the Washington Ideas Forum, in Washington October 29, 2014.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder suggested Wednesday that it's unlikely former New York Times reporter James Risen will end up in jail for refusing to disclose his sources to federal prosecutors working as part of the Obama administration's unprecedented crackdown on leakers.

Asked at a Washington forum hosted by the Aspen Ideas Institute if federal prosecutors will be "compelling testimony" from Risen, Holder said, "No, no, no."

"We'll see how that goes," Holder went on. "You know, people have to understand something. We have been in touch with Mr. Risen's lawyers, we've talked about a variety of things. And, you know, if what we have talked about remains true, I think there'll be a resolution of that that will be satisfactory to everybody. But as I said, no one's going to be going to jail. No reporter's going to jail as long as I'm attorney general."

Federal prosecutors have pushed Risen to reveal details of the sourcing in his 2006 book about the Bush administration, State of War. Prosecutors first tried to compel his testimony while George W. Bush was still president, and Holder continued the case when he took over as attorney general after President Obama was elected. Risen has continued to refuse to participate in the case.

Risen's legal team has been positive about their chances as Holder has increasingly signaled that the case will be resolved without jail time for the journalist.

"Holder has said that he would not jail or seek to jail any journalist for just doing his job," Floyd Abrams, the legendary First Amendment lawyer whose firm is representing Risen, said in an interview with BuzzFeed News earlier this month. "We hope that's true, and we'll have to see in a case like that of James Risen, who my firm represents I have to say, whether that is true."

Abrams did not immediately respond to an email about Holder's comments Wednesday.

"I cannot elaborate on what he said," Justice Department spokesperson Brian Fallon wrote in an email when asked about Holder's comments. "But what he said was pretty descriptive in its own right."

In an email Abrams said he has not been in contact with the Justice Department about Risen's case, noting that while his firm represents the journalist, he is not personally a member of the legal team.

"I have not been in touch with representatives of DOJ, do not know what the Administration will do and I am not personally involved in the representation of Mr. Risen," he said.

“I want to put things on his desk that he would actually give true consideration to signing.”

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A Republican senator says an Obamacare repeal isn't going to happen anytime in the next two years.

Speaking with WPBI radio, Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso said Republicans would be best served by trying to repeal bits of the law and pass legislation the president would actually sign.

"In terms of the things that I want to see put on the president's desk, I want to systematically strip away the very worst parts of Obamacare, that have hurt patients, have hurt providers, and have hurt our economy," he said Wednesday.

"And the 30-hour work week regulations have been harmful to school districts, to teachers, to take-home pay, and there is bipartisan support to removing that. There is bipartisan support on the employer mandate on health care, and to eliminating or delaying those components."

The senator said a full repeal was not going to happen anytime Obama was in office.

"Well, I would imagine there will be a vote on repeal, but I — let's be realistic, Barack Obama is still going to be in the White House for another two years, and he is not going to sign that," he added. "I want to put things on his desk that he would actually give true consideration to signing, because they're good for our economy, they'll get people working again, and they'll help move the country forward."

The president not-so-subtly knocks Republican Gov. Chris Christie (and Democratic governors who are implementing mandatory quarantines).

President Barack Obama at the White House, October 29, 2014.

Larry Downing / Reuters

WASHINGTON — President Obama surrounded himself at the White House Wednesday with American medical personnel back from stints treating Ebola patients in western Africa and took a thinly veiled swipe at the American politicians seeking to involuntarily quarantine them.

"A lot of people talk about American exceptionalism. I'm a firm believer in American exceptionalism. You know why I am? It's because of folks like this," Obama said. "It's because we don't run and hide when there's a problem. It's because we don't react to our fears, but instead we respond with common sense and skill and courage. That's the best of our history – not fear, not hysteria, not misinformation; we act clearly and firmly even when others are losing their heads. That's part of the reason why we're effective. That's part of the reason why people look to us."

For days, the White House has been battling a growing number of governors who have implemented 21-day quarantine detentions of anyone flying into U.S. airports from the site of the African Ebola outbreak. The most vocal of the group is New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican and possible 2016 presidential contender, though Democrats have also put the quarantines in place, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (who weakened the quarantine order after White House outcry). On Wednesday, California public health officials announced the state will also implement a quarantine; the state's governor, Jerry Brown, is a Democrat.

The White House has declined to say if Christie and Obama have spoken about the quarantine order and on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest declined to say if the administration's Ebola czar, Ron Klain, has spoken with Maine health officials, currently seeking to involuntarily quarantine nurse Kaci Hickox.

In his brief remarks at the White House, Obama had an argument to state officials calling for quarantines: They won't work, and they threaten to prevent more Americans from going to Africa to help end the Ebola outbreak at its source.

"We've got hundreds of Americans from across the country — nurses, doctors, public health workers, soldiers, engineers, mechanics — who are putting themselves on the front lines of this fight. They represent citizenship and patriotism and public service at its best. They make huge sacrifices to protect this country that we love," Obama said. "And when they come home, they deserve to be treated properly. They deserve to be treated like the heroes that they are."

The White House case against mandatory quarantines has been muddied somewhat by the Defense Department's plan to institute a 21-day quarantine for troops returning from service in Ebola-afflicted African nations. The president argued Wednesday that policies that don't promote more trips by civilians to treat Ebola in Africa will only prolong the outbreak.

"The truth is that until we stop this outbreak in West Africa, we may continue to see individual cases in America in the weeks and months ahead, because that's the nature of today's world. We can't hermetically seal ourselves off," Obama said. "The nature of international travel and movement means that the only way to assure that we are safe is to make sure that we have dealt with the disease where it is most acute. So yes, we are likely to see a possible case elsewhere outside of these countries, and that's true whether or not you adopt a travel ban, whether or not you adopt a quarantine, it's the nature of diseases. As long as Ebola exists in the world, no one can promise that there won't be any more cases in America or anyplace else."

Obama accused those calling for travel bans and mandatory quarantines of shirking America's responsibility to lead the fight against Ebola.

"When I hear people talking about American leadership and then are promoting policies that would avoid leadership and have us running in the opposite direction and hiding under the covers, it makes me a little frustrated," he said. "I put those on notice who think that we should hide from these problems: that's not who we are, that's not who I am, that's not who these folks are. This is America, and we do things differently."

People who get their photos taken with the Florida senator can download the professional shots after they give their information to Rubio’s PAC.

Kate Nocera/BuzzFeed News

DUBUQUE, Iowa — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has been traveling around the country, stumping for senate and House candidates, with his aides and often his family in tow.

But another near-constant presence with Rubio on the trail is a professional photographer, hired by his PAC to take photos of the Senator with those who want them. The photographer has been on-hand at events in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina in recent weeks. Those who get a professional photo snapped are then handed a card by a Rubio aide, who tells them they can download the photos for free at Rubio's Reclaim America PAC website.

While it's nice for people to get a professional shot taken, there's an advantage for Rubio. To access the photos, you must first enter a name, address, and personal email "to verify your attendance." But it's also a way to collect information on voters and add them to Rubio's PAC list: information that will be especially useful down the road should Rubio run for president in 2016.

"We think that if you want a picture taken, you're probably also a supporter," a Rubio aide said.

Here's where you "verify your attendance"

Screenshot / Via reclaimamericapac.com

And here's where you can find the photos

Screenshot / Via reclaimamericapac.com

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Warning: These can’t be unseen.

Lindsey Graham as John McCain.

Claire McCaskill as Marco Rubio.

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The knock was Hillary wouldn’t visit Iowa, the state she never clicked in. She’s been twice this fall, she looks at ease in the state — and despite the theories, Iowa Democrats are on board.

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rep. Bruce Braley wave to supporters during a campaign event for his senate race on Wednesday in Davenport, Iowa.

Jeff Cook / AP Photo / The Quad City Times

DAVENPORT, Iowa — She recalled campaign visits to the Teamsters hall, and remembered "barbeque and blues festivities" at the River Music Experience. She stressed what a "great personal pleasure" it was to be back in Cedar Rapids, and how impressed she's always been "by the history and beauty" of Davenport. And she told a crowd at the first of two rallies in Iowa on Wednesday afternoon just how hard it'd been to watch severe flooding here scourge the cities and towns she'd spent months getting to know during her presidential campaign six years ago.

Hillary Clinton paused on the solemn note at a Cedar Rapids labor hall.

"I watched with such distress," she said. "When you've been somewhere and you envision the places you've visited, it's heartbreaking to watch the destruction."

It didn't look like Clinton had an "Iowa problem" here on Wednesday. And state Democrats don't seem think there is one, either.

The former presidential candidate knows the place pretty well for someone who, as local Democrats have said in the past, could never quite gel the way she needed to with the state that historically gets to go first in the nominating process. Since that crippling third-place finish in the caucuses behind Barack Obama and John Edwards, then both senators, Clinton's missteps in Iowa have been retraced again and again.

There was a perception that Clinton couldn't connect in 2008. She worked rope lines more than she talked one-on-one with voters. Her events were tightly controlled. She didn't take questions. And hanging over her campaign was an unhelpful internal memo, leaked to the press months before caucus night, advising she forgo Iowa altogether.

In the past year, the theory has persisted: State Democrats are wary or disinterested about the prospect of another go-round with Clinton; they want to weigh their options, find a challenger, or at least see her work harder for it than in 2008.

But Clinton has returned twice to the state in as many months this fall — first for Sen. Tom Harkin's annual Steak Fry fundraiser, and again on Wednesday to headline twin rallies for Rep. Bruce Braley, the Democrat in a toss-up race for U.S. Senate.

State leaders said in interviews this week that Clinton has easily reestablished a connection here and fostered fresh goodwill, particularly in her efforts to help Braley. And at her events on Wednesday, Clinton showed she could play to the crowds, making references to local political establishments in her speeches, calling out individual Braley volunteers by name to thank them, making time for an unannounced stop at a restaurant in Iowa City, and joking about that special kind of devotion to presidential politics for which the early-voting state is known.

Her problems here were always overstated, said Teresa Vilmain, the 2008 campaign's state director. "Anyone who focuses on that story line is having a slow news day," Vilmain said. "Iowans are still excited to see her and hear from her."

A poll this month found 76% of likely Democratic caucus goers view Clinton favorably.

Janet Petersen, an Iowa state senator who supported Obama in the primary, said Clinton has "built up a lot of goodwill" by campaigning for Braley. She discounted the idea that Clinton has any outsize hurdles to overcome in the state.

"It's always interesting to see what the national media is covering with the caucuses. It's generally not what we're seeing on the ground," Petersen said.

Clinton's first event of the day was a Cedar Rapids rally with Braley — who is close to tied in polls with his Republican opponent, state Sen. Joni Ernst — at the local 405 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The brown- and beige-colored union hall where Clinton spoke to a crowd of about 400, as estimated by the Braley campaign, is also headquarters to the Hawkeye Labor Council, a coalition of 45 unions in seven counties. Clinton made a point to mention that. (Ahead of 2008, the president of that council, Justin Shields, co-chaired her state campaign.)

"I know we've got some teamsters here today," Clinton said looking out at the audience.

Hillary Clinton and Bruce Braley stop for pie shakes in Iowa City on Wednesday.

Via Twitter: @DIpolitics

After the rally, Clinton rolled out of the union hall parking lot in a black van amid a string of seven other cars, and headed for Iowa City. There, she made a off-schedule stop with Braley at the Hamburg Inn restaurant. Clinton ordered a chocolate bourbon pecan pie milkshake, or pie shake, and sat down at a table just below a framed photo of Harkin. (Her husband's picture was hanging not too far away.) A group of young women one spot over struck up conversation. Clinton talked about her new granddaughter, and whether she'd watch the seventh game of the World Series.

The ordeal didn't last long. (Clinton has made similar drop-ins during trips to rallies in Colorado and Illinois this month.) But the brief stop amounted to rare time with voters, not spent from the lectern or a hurried, hectic ropeline. And to longtime political observers in Iowa, it signaled a change in Clinton's approach.

John Deeth, an Iowa political blogger, used to feature a count on his homepage of the number of days Clinton had spent away from Iowa. The final tally: 2,446.

When he saw news of the Hamburg Inn stop, he tweeted a picture of a beret on a plate, set with silverware as if for a meal. "Tonight I'll be dining on this," he said.

Deeth was not able to cover Clinton's visit, though he has long argued that her campaign was far too scripted. "Of course, after six years of loudly demanding that Hillary do exactly this, I'm stuck at the office when it happens," he wrote on his blog.

At her rally in Davenport, Clinton kept up the personal touch, calling out two volunteers from the Braley campaign to thank them by name. "Is Bobby Dodd here? Where is Bobby Dodd? Oh, Bobby. Bobby is 91 years old and volunteering," Clinton said. "What about Judy? Judy Moss? Is she here? Judy? Thank you, Judy!"

Clinton seemed to suggest she'd be ready for the Iowa test next time around. "I don't know any place in America that takes politics more seriously. You take politics seriously because you take public service seriously."

"And you like to test your candidates, don't ya?" she said. The crowd laughed. "You wanna force them to be the best they can be. I have experienced that myself."

"And you wanna know if somebody is here asking you for your votes — they have to answer some tough questions. About what they would do if you gave them your vote. Not in Iowa do people get away with not answering questions."

"Except… questions that are far in the future," Clinton said with a grin and a quick glance at Braley. It was the only reference that day to her possible campaign.

This month, in trips to about a dozen states to campaign for Democratic candidates running in the midterm races, Clinton has kept the focus off herself. She has tamped down the coy references to her potential presidential run, which came up frequently in interviews during a publicity tour to promote her memoir this summer.

"She's made it very clear that she's stumping for other people right now," said Liz Mathis, a state senator who was a caucus leader for Clinton. "She's been very careful to step back and let other people shine. She uses her clout in the right way." Once Clinton "reestablishes herself as 'the candidate,'" Mathis said, "you'll see full commitment, and you'll see that relationship come together with Iowans."

People in Iowa politics haven't forgotten the difficulties Clinton had in the state. This summer, a state newspaper wrote a pointed second-person editorial, warning Clinton to show Iowans she wanted it, "sooner rather than later this time."

And officials with the pro-Clinton group, Ready for Hillary, first landed in Iowa in January to commit early to the state and gather a list local supporters who would back a campaign. (They have not made the length of that list public.)

Jerry Crawford, a mainstay in Iowa politics who supported Clinton in 2008 and has advised Ready for Hillary, said that voters in the state do enjoy a contested race.

"On the one hand, no candidate in the Iowa caucuses has ever approached them with as much organized support as Ready for Hillary has created for Clinton," Crawford said. "On the other hand, caucuses are by nature contentious and contrarian events that appeal most to the philosophical edges in each party. That is how Rick Santorum won Iowa."

Clinton won't have a coronation in Iowa. But any challenger will "have trouble beating her," said Crawford. "She is beloved by mainstream party regulars."

Petersen, the state senator, said that eventually Iowans will want more direct contact with Clinton. "They're used to getting that chance," Petersen said. "With Ready for Hillary, they don't speak on behalf of the candidate. That's not who Iowans want to engage with. They want to get to know the candidate and hear her vision."

"But she's showing us that she's going to be back," Petersen said.

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The taxification of Uber?

Gas4Ads.com

WASHINGTON — A small California startup wants to help Uber drivers cope with one their top grievances about working for the ridesharing giant — cost.

Driver activists have taken to the streets and online forums in recent weeks and months to complain about Uber allegedly taking a larger cut of their fares and lowering prices without consulting them.

Kaz Moayedi, a 36-year-old who also runs a digital marketing firm, created Gas4Ads early this summer to try and alleviate those issues. The company, which is not affiliated with or expressly approved by any ridesharing app, seeks to reimburse drivers for companies like Uber and Lyft the cost of gas in exchange for prime ad placement — right at the eye-level on the back of their headrests.

"I'm an Uber fan," Moayedi said. "So I took some rides and spoke to some of the drivers, and saw a need."

Moayedi wouldn't provide BuzzFeed News with the exact formula he uses to determine how much he'd pay back drivers, but it involves drivers sending in their weekly statements to Gas4Ads and once they calculate how far they'd driven, the company pays them back.

Joseph DeWolf, the co-founder of the California App-Based Drivers Association, said he has mixed feelings about that program. On the one hand he said drivers should be free to do what they want to increase their income. But he also noted that part of the benefit of what Uber offers is the fact that it's an alternative to a taxi. And placing ads inside, or even eventually outside, the vehicle could change that "not-a-taxi" feel.

"Personally I wouldn't do it because it cheapens the experience," he said.

DeWolf added that though Uber may not ban it directly, it's possible that if a rider dislikes the with-ad experience, a driver could receive a low rating, which could lead to a sudden suspension.

Uber didn't return a request for comment on their rules about third-party advertising services, and there isn't much historical context to guess how they'd respond if the program becomes popular. Uber drivers are "independent contractors," so theoretically they can do whatever they want with their vehicles.

"From what we know we're not going against any rules, if we did we wouldn't be doing it," Moayedi said. "From our perspective we aren't breaking any rules."

Uber has placed ads inside its own cars before, like when Delta advertised new USB ports on its airplanes by placing USB ports inside some Uber taxis.

But if there are other third-party advertising clients for Uber drivers, they have either been unsuccessful or poorly advertised. A quick Google search on the topic yields few results.

Gas4Ads is still in its very early stages. Mostly through Facebook advertising and word of mouth, Moayedi said he's managed to sign up a few hundred drivers, though he wouldn't provide any documentation. The true test will come either the first or second week of November, when the company will run its first big beta test in Los Angeles and Orange County, California, the only two cities it is in right now.

The company also has yet to draw any major advertisers — it's mostly local businesses and advertisers for local conferences — but Moayedi said if the beta launch is successful, they could try to expand.

"It's something that as it went along…it just seems like some people weren't making as much money as they hoped," Moayedi said. "Overall [reaction has] been very positive. Taking home some extra money was always something on top of their minds."

United We Dream confronted Clinton in force. The effect was jarring.

Chris Keane / Reuters

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — In a wave of staggered protests, five groups of loud and persistent activists disrupted Hillary Clinton's speech at a rally here on Thursday.

The incident marked the latest, and rowdiest, in a series of public actions meant to press Clinton to disclose her stance on the executive actions to slow deportations
that President Obama is expected to announce after the midterm elections.

For about 10 minutes of a stump speech at the Ritchie Coliseum at the University of Maryland College Park, Clinton had trouble making her words heard over the shouts and hollers from the immigration activists with United We Dream, a national advocacy group that has targeted Clinton at her public speeches this year.

Last week, four protesters from a United We Dream affiliate caused a minor disturbance at Clinton's rally for Sen. Kay Hagan in Charlotte, North Carolina.

But the demonstration on Thursday was the group's biggest effort yet.

The protests, timed at intervals from different parts of the auditorium, had a startling effect. Clinton was about five minutes through her remarks here — a stump speech to support Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Maryland — when the first wave of hecklers started shouting from the audience.

They held signs that read, "Choose Families Over Politics."

When the group of about six activists on the main floor started yelling, Clinton kept to her speech. But eventually, she acknowledged the cries from the crowd.

"Immigration is an important issue in this state," Clinton said.

Martin O'Malley, the outgoing governor here, passed a state version of the DREAM Act two years ago granting in-state tuition to young undocumented immigrants.

The crowd of Clinton and Brown fans overpowered the first round of hecklers, who were escorted out by security. "Hill-a-ry! Hill-a-ry!" the audience chanted.

"If they'd just waited a little while, I was getting to the DREAM Act," Clinton joked.

"I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform," she added.

"We have to treat everyone with dignity and compassion."

But that's not the answer these activists were looking for. The idea of the demonstrations — according to protesters who have participated in them this year and officials from United We Dream — is to pressure Clinton to say whether she supports the executive actions Obama has said he'll take after the election.

Greisa Martinez, a 26-year-old activist from Texas who was one of those escorted out by security, said the group was there to show its displeasure with reports that the president is considering excluding a key group from future executive actions: the parents of undocumented immigrants given temporary legal status in 2012.

"She tried to make it seem like we were advocating for the DREAM Act when she knows very well that's not what we're asking for," Martinez said.

"We wanted to ask, 'Madam Secretary, where do you stand on administrative relief? We demand relief for our families — and where do you stand on the president acting?'"

The United We Dream activists said last month that Clinton will be a continuing target of actions like the one last week in North Carolina and Thursday in Maryland.

When it seemed like the protests had died down, Clinton returned to the normal rhythm of her speech. Then another group of activists started chanting "We Shall Overcome" in a sing-song voice from the risers. More waves of protests followed.

There appeared to be about five groups dispersed about the hall. In total, the United We Dream activists here on Thursday numbered at least a dozen.

Each time another round of shouts started from one part of the auditorium, security found the hecklers and escorted them out.

The confrontation is the latest and largest disturbance at a Clinton event from immigration activists across the country — including California, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

United We Dream officials said the organization believes they are starting to make a mark by continually putting the issue to Clinton publicly.

Martinez, the protester who was part of the group singing and chanting as they were escorted out, said she connected and spoke with several white, middle-aged women who were at the event to support Clinton. Martinez told them she was protesting because she was worried she might lose her mother to deportation.

As Martinez was escorted out, she said the group of women joined her and the other protesters in singing "We Shall Overcome."

Martinez said the Latino and immigrant communities deserve to know where Clinton stands on granting some kind of legal status for their parents.

Towards the end of her speech, Clinton added, "It's always good to have some debate and discussion in an election season like we're having now."

LINK: The Final Recommendations For Immigration Actions Are Being Sent To Obama

LINK: DREAMer Activists Plan To Keep Confronting Hillary Clinton On Immigration

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Paul, who thinks there should be visa restrictions for people coming from Ebola-affected countries, says it’s unclear if some states’ quarantine policies honor the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus.

Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group / MCT

WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Rand Paul is unsure if the mandatory, Ebola-related quarantines in New Jersey and New York qualify as lawful imprisonment, he told BuzzFeed News on Thursday.

"I think it's a complicated issue," Paul said. While the states think they have the right to quarantine returning Ebola health workers, "is there a conflict between state and federal law?"

"One of the primary freedoms we've had in our country" is "habeas corpus, the right of legal petition as to why you're being held," he said. "It's unclear or not that is honored in these situations."

Both New York and New Jersey announced quarantine measures for health workers returning from treating Ebola patients in West Africa last week, though New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo later walked back the measure, saying those under quarantine could stay in their homes. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie came under fire for having a nurse who has not tested positive for Ebola quarantined; she threatened to sue, to which Christie responded, "Get in line." Other states, including California, have also implemented mandatory quarantines.

Paul has been a vocal proponent of travel bans for people coming from countries in West Africa affected by the Ebola epidemic, and has accused the Obama administration of downplaying the real threat posed by Ebola.

He said his "preference" is still "visa restrictions," but that "for American citizens it's a little more difficult."

“Children in your area are vulnerable”… to the Democratic Senate candidate.

Josh Brennan/Amy Kernan

WASHINGTON — Susan B. Anthony's List, a prominent anti-abortion lobbying group based, is sending voters in Iowa a mailer that looks like an official warning of a disease outbreak.

"ALERT — CHILDREN IN YOUR AREA ARE VULNERABLE TO A PUBLIC HEALTH THREAT THAT CONTINUES UNCONTROLLED," reads the envelope.

Inside the mailer, the "potentially life-threatening public health danger" is revealed to be Democratic Senate nominee Bruce Braley's support for abortion rights. The letter contained inside the mailer, while carrying on the ominous tone from the envelope, uses fairly standard voter persuasion language.

Amy Kernan, a Davenport, Iowa FM radio host who says she is personally pro-life but favors legal abortions received the mailer Thursday. She said the envelope was jarring and called the mailer "disgusting."

"I get home from work, and this thing falls onto the ground and it says 'public health alert.' Of course, like anybody, even though I'm not scared of the whole Ebola thing I'm thinking, 'oh maybe they're telling us it's in our neighborhood,'" she said.

Kernan, who posted the mailer to Facebook, says she is a registered Democrat but regularly votes split tickets. She said the mailer helped turn her her against Republican nominee Joni Ernst and she intends to vote Braley.

The mailer was posted on Twitter, by the brother of one of Kernan's friends.

A representative for Susan B. Anthony's List did not respond to an email and phone call.

"Abortion is a very serious public health risk both for the child whose life is ended and the mother who may suffer health complications," group spokesperson Mallory Quigley wrote in an email. "Voters deserve to know where their candidates stand on this life and death issue."

Josh Brennan/Amy Kernan

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The previously reported ad supporting Republican Senate candidate Tom Cotton on the gay hook-up ad is “100% fake,” the political consulting firm working with the NRA says.

WASHINGTON — The political consulting firm that has worked with the National Rifle Association to promote Tom Cotton's Senate run in Arkansas hired a consultant Thursday to look into claims that the gun-rights group advertised on a gay hook-up app.

Brett Buereck, the president of Majority Strategies, the firm that has advertised for Cotton on behalf of the NRA, told BuzzFeed News that the ad is "100% fake" on Thursday. He said the firm had engaged a third party for the investigation — "Dr. Neal Krawetz, the man who authenticated the president's birth certificate."

Buereck sent BuzzFeed News an eight-page report from Krawetz, which states, "The findings in this report conclude that the screenshot was altered and the ad was digitally inserted into the picture."

On Wednesday, the Daily Beast reported that "the NRA is running ads for a socially conservative Republican candidate" on the app, Grindr.

Asked about the pro-Cotton ad and another ad that appeared to support Iowa Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst, Grindr initially released a statement saying, "We have both direct advertisers as well third party ad networks which supply advertising to the app. The ads you reference were served by one of these third party ad networks." Noting the company has a policy against third-party ad networks using political ads, the Grindr statement concluded, "In this instance, we've reached out to the third party networks to have these ads removed."

Within hours, though, the NRA and Majority Strategies told CNN the group wasn't responsible for the ad. Additionally, Buereck claimed the ad was "doctored."

On Thursday morning, asked whether the ad could have inadvertently shown up on Grindr through a third-party ad network purchase, NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told BuzzFeed News, "Neither the NRA nor any of our immediate vendors, or those down the line, purchased ad space on Grindr. This was not an NRA ad. The ad was doctored and is a fake. Period."

Arulanandam added that Buereck would be able to provide more details. A couple hours later, Buereck did respond to BuzzFeed News' questions, stating, "We can say definitively that we did not permit Grindr to run this ad. Most sophisticated firms are now targeting based on audience and not apps or websites. Based on the error analysis that our mobile firm did, it is highly likely that the image was doctored using photoshop or another tool."

Grindr has not responded to several requests from BuzzFeed News on Thursday about the statements from the NRA and its consulting firm.

Read the report:

“We wanted to make sure even our Halloween costumes were on message.”

On Thursday, several Republican National Committee employees in Washington went to work dressed in jogging gear. Their costumes: "Democrats running away from President Obama."

With Republicans poised to make big gains across the country in next week's midterm elections, RNC operatives in D.C. are apparently feeling celebratory — and a bit troll-y — this Halloween.

One of the persistent plot lines of this election has been the awkward dance between President Obama, who is mired in low approval ratings, and electorally vulnerable Democrats in red and purple states, who need to keep their distance from their party's standard-bearer.

Republicans have spent no small amount of time highlighting this dynamic.

The RNC official who passed these photos along to BuzzFeed News said, "Four days from Election Day, we wanted to make sure even our Halloween costumes were on message."

The official continued, "We dressed as vulnerable Democrats running from President Obama. It's been comical how much these 2014 Democrats have tried to run from the President and his failed policies. If I were a Democrat on the ballot next week, I'd be running scared, too."

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