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Clinton Staffers Meet With Diversity Hiring Group

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Inclusv launched last month to increase the number of minorities on Democratic campaigns.

Andrew Burton / Via Getty

Top staffers for Hillary Clinton met with members of Inclusv, a diversity hiring effort campaign, in New York on Wednesday to discuss hiring for a wide range of positions in the expected Clinton campaign, sources familiar with the meeting confirmed to BuzzFeed News.

Three staffers from Hillary Clinton's campaign-in-waiting — Marlon Marshall, Brynne Craig, and Bernard Coleman — met with Inclusv co-founders Alida Garcia and Steve Phillips, who is a major Democratic donor, and Quentin James, who is Ready for Hillary's black Americans director. James was present in his capacity with Inclusv.

Clinton's campaign has already placed black operatives in key roles, mid-levels posts ranging from political to field to communications at the national headquarters in New York, and out in the early primary states. A source close to the campaign argued Clinton's could be unlike any campaign in recent history in terms of developing a diverse pool and pipeline of political talent.

Bernard Coleman is the campaign's director of human resources, and Marshall is director of state campaigns and political engagement. Craig was recently tapped as the Clinton campaign's deputy national political director. Their hires have been widely lauded in Democratic circles as early evidence that the yet-to-be announced Clinton campaign is building momentum around a robust, diverse team leading up to her announcement.

The point of the meeting was to figure out how Inclusv and its co-founders might best work together leading up to and during Clinton's campaign launch and collaborate during the course of a potential campaign.

Sources familiar with the meeting said members of her Clinton's team reached out to Inclusv, and not the other way around.

Last month, Phillips told BuzzFeed News that increasing diversity on campaigns is key to winning the presidential election in 2016.

"I'm genuinely concerned progressives are going to lose elections if we don't increase our cultural competence in campaigns," he said. "That's what happened in 2010 and 2014, those campaigns were unable to inspire turnout of voters of color."


Ben Carson Asks For Tolerance From The LGBT Community

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“What position can a person who believes in traditional marriage… what position can they take that would be satisfactory to the gay community?” The conservative doctor talks health care, welfare, and Ted Cruz.

Andrew Burton / Getty

Dr. Ben Carson doesn't think there's any reason to be concerned about Hillary Clinton's concussion a few years ago.

"No," he replied simply when asked about whether the former secretary's fall in 2013, a subject of speculation by some conservatives, most notably Karl Rove, should be a cause for concern. "I've seen lots of people with concussions over the years, and generally they recover from them fully."

In a wide-ranging interview Wednesday in Manhattan, the likely presidential candidate talked about health care and welfare and the shooting in South Carolina, offered the kind of Iran deal he'd support (it "would have to guarantee access of the parties that we designate"), and expressed a desire for some rhetorical middle-ground on legalized marriage for same-sex couples.

Carson was in New York to speak in an unlikely venue — at National Action Network, the nonprofit headed by Rev. Al Sharpton, who introduced the doctor by noting the two "probably don't even agree that today is Wednesday." Over the last few years, the retired neurosurgeon has become an outspoken critic of President Obama and a popular figure in the conservative movement, after decades as a more aspirational figure, as a pioneering, world-class surgeon who is also black.

That legacy has splintered somewhat following Carson's more outlandish comments in recent years (comparing homosexuality with bestiality and pedophilia, for instance). The tension was not a secret on Wednesday — Carson began his speech by thanking "my good brother Sharpton for having the courage to invite me to come."

His message to the largely black crowd was the one he often delivers: self-reliance and independence with a mix of social conservatism. "I don't hate gay people; I just happen to believe that marriage is between a man and a woman," told the audience to some applause. The audience also welcomed his insistence that "there is nothing that even slightly compares to slavery" in American history, though few, if any, went along as Carson pivoted to defending his previous statements that the Affordable Care Act is the worst thing "since slavery" with the emphasis on the word "since."

Those past comments loom large in the media landscape as Carson prepares for the likely White House bid. In the interview with BuzzFeed News, Carson — who is soft-spoken and formal (his adviser requested his interviewer remove his hat before speaking) — delivered a more tempered tone on LGBT issues.

Should transgender people be legally protected from discrimination? "I think federal law should protect all American citizens from discrimination," he replied.

How would Carson react if one of his sons were gay? "I would still love him, just like I love all gay people," he said. Would attend his wedding, though, should he choose to marry another man? He was less sure ("I don't know"). But, Carson had a question in response — is there a place for same-sex marriage opponents?

"What I would ask — I think, maybe BuzzFeed can get an answer to this question: What position can a person who believes in traditional marriage, between one man and one woman, have, who has absolutely no animosity or opposition to gay people – what position can they take that would be satisfactory to the gay community?" he asked. "Because if they can give me an answer to that, I'm quite willing to seriously consider it. But so far I haven't been able to find anybody who can give me an answer — it's sort of like, 'Nope! It has to be my way or the highway.'"

"So, hopefully there's a level of tolerance in that community where they can actually come up with an answer," he continued.

Carson's popularity within the social conservative base originates with these kinds of beliefs — he's a deeply Christian social conservative, a true believer. But as he runs for president, he won't be the only person in this space. Sen. Ted Cruz last month announced his own bid at Liberty University, the Christian college, while former Gov. Rick Perry and current Gov. Bobby Jindal have also made a point of courting socially conservative, tea party-minded Republicans.

On Wednesday, Carson was reluctant to criticize other candidates. Asked how a Carson administration would differ from a Cruz administration, Carson offered only, "We're different people." He elaborated with a stock answer that described his own beliefs in the broadest possible terms ("the people are supposed to be the pinnacle of power in the system that we have established") and sounded a lot like... Ted Cruz.

Where Carson has more to say is health care and the intersection between that issue and broader social issues. Carson once served on a committee on bioethics under President George W. Bush's tenure, a time when one of the core issues at the crossing between social conservatism and science — embryonic stem-cell research — dominated the conversation. For his part, Carson said he wouldn't stop research already in progress on embryonic stem cells, but noted that "a lot of the research in recent years has demonstrated that the very best stem cells are mature stem cells that are de-differentiated back to the potential stage. Those are much easier to control, where the embryonic stem cells have a tendency to go off in wild directions and frequently create tumors. A lot of the research now doesn't involve embryonic stem cells for that reason."

The level of consideration isn't surprising — the neurosurgeon proposed dramatic changes to the U.S. health care system as early as 20 years ago in Harvard publications, a plan that involved socializing catastrophic care and decoupling health care from employment. He has since disavowed the plan. "I've subsequently decided that it's better just to scrap the whole system, and come up with something that makes a lot more sense," he said Wednesday of the plan.

Today, he proposes health savings accounts for everyone, "from the day they were born until the day that they die, which they can pass on at the time that they die." He would strip the laws that bar people from buying care across state lines. For the poor, the amount of money spent on Medicaid — roughly $5,000 per person, by his calculations — was enough that it could potentially be re-routed to any number of options, including purchasing "boutique" plans for the poor. ("I'm not suggesting that that's what you do, but I'm saying that those are the kind of resources that are already allocated," Carson was quick to point out.)

And on that front, Carson, who frequently rails against the welfare state as part of his message about self-reliance, argued that giving all Americans health savings accounts would incentivize them to make cost-saving decisions about their own care, in a way that current law does not — using food stamps as an example.

"Some people say: 'Mehhh – people are not responsible enough to be able to do things like that,'" he said. "But that's what they said about food stamps, they said: 'You can't give people food stamps; they won't know how to use 'em. They'll go out and buy porterhouse steak the first five days, and then they'll starve the rest of the month, and they'll be out in the street begging.'

"Did that happen? No! People learn to buy rice, and hamburger helper, and a little bit of corn, and beans, and they learn how to – and people are smarter than we think they are, and we have to start, at some point, depending on people to be able to manage their own lives," he said.

LINK: Ben Carson: South Carolina Shooting By Cop An “Execution… In The Street”

LINK: Could Running For President Destroy Ben Carson’s Legacy?


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How The Clinton White House Dealt With Same-Sex Weddings In 1999

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On Thursday, the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, released thousands of documents about “gay marriage” and the Defense of Marriage Act. Here are some of the documents BuzzFeed News found.

Three years earlier, President Bill Clinton, who opposed same-sex couples' marriage rights at the time, had signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law — banning the federal government from recognizing such marriages.

But, same-sex couples were still out there — holding commitment ceremonies and, for some, weddings. More than a handful of those couples invited Clinton to their ceremony or wedding.

What to do?

Notice an issue.

Notice an issue.

Clinton Presidential Library / Photograph by Chris Geidner/BuzzFeed

The actual policy of the Clinton White House was to take same-sex couples' wedding invitations, put them in a file, and do nothing else with them.

Then, Kelley Van Auken came along and was having none of it. Van Auken had served as the director of volunteers and worked in the Greetings Office in the Clinton White House. She died in 2014.

Her solution to the same-sex couples' wedding invite problem — a solution she saw as entirely consistent with DOMA — was to send such couples cards letting them know the president was joining them in celebrating their "Special Day."

Clinton Presidential Library / Photograph by Chris Geidner/BuzzFeed


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The DNC Still Hasn't Hired Someone To Run Hispanic Media Ahead Of 2016

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Democrats are worried that the DNC doesn’t have someone in place with Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush announcing for president or set to do so. Complaints from Democrats that the position isn’t paying enough and isn’t seen as a priority.

Richard Drew / AP

Ted Cruz is here, Marco Rubio is coming, and Jeb Bush looms, but the DNC still hasn't hired someone to run Hispanic media for them who can message to the Latino community about Republican candidates.

The role has been vacant since Jan. 5, when former director of Hispanic media Pili Tobar left to become communications director for Rep. Ruben Gallego.

Some Democrats say they are frustrated and confused by the vacancy and say the role isn't being seen as a priority, pointing to the budget for the position, in particular.

"It's disappointing that that's where they're at. It's disappointing and unacceptable," said Democratic donor Steve Phillips who believes the party risks losing elections if it doesn't strengthen its focus on diverse coalitions.

The DNC declined to comment for this story.

One candidate for the Hispanic media position said they were prepared to take a paycut to help the party, but that the compensation for the position — $60,000 — was too much of a drop. There was also no room to negotiate, the former candidate said.

"It shows how serious you take that position and if you want a grown up to do that job you need to pay them like a grown up," the former candidate told BuzzFeed News.

Another candidate who withdrew an application before discussing compensation because they got a new job, said when they found out the salary afterwards they told BuzzFeed News they would have had to turn it down as well.

"It's a high-profile job, it's an important job, it needs to be higher than ($60,000)," the former candidate said. Another Latino operative with six years experience in communications on Capitol Hill told BuzzFeed News they didn't apply because they knew the salary range was too low.

"You put your money where your mouth is or you don't," Phillips said.

Gabriela Domenzain, who ran Hispanic media for the Obama campaign in 2012, said in her experience, more than one situation was decided by having a bilingual communicator at the table.

"This is an incredibly important position and one that should be decided carefully," she said. "Elections are about contrast and the Latino vote is going to be the most sought after group in this country. The sooner Democrats and Republicans speak to Latinos in their own language and in a culturally sensitive way, the sooner they will be able to define their issues and candidates."

The DNC has three prominent Latinos on staff outside of communications. Raul Alvillar is the political director, Henry Muñoz is the finance chair and Albert Morales is in charge of Hispanic engagement.

Mannie Rodriguez, the DNC Colorado finance director, who has been at the organization for 14 years, said it's long past time the DNC brought in reinforcements to help during a crucial election cycle.

"Our party is fortunate to have Albert Morales leading the charge to engage our community's outreach efforts. He's the best we've ever had," Rodriguez said. "He's worked under Terry McAuliffe, Bill Richardson, and Howard Dean. But as good as he is, he can't compete with an army of 100, when you combine the Koch Brothers and RNC armies."

Rodriguez was referencing billionaires Charles and David Koch, who are funding the conservative LIBRE Initiative, which has been active in Latino communities since 2011, and infused the group with at least $10 million, angering and worrying Democrats.

The RNC told BuzzFeed News they have about 10 people at their headquarters across communications, outreach and digital, as well as a robust presence on the ground working on Latino initiatives.

The concern among Democrats reflects the very real focus on Jeb Bush as someone who some Democrats fear could erode the growing support the party has enjoyed when it comes to Latino voters.

"Definitely with Jeb and Rubio and LIBRE, the committees and campaigns can't afford to remain in Latino radio silence," former Harry Reid senior advisor and Democratic strategist Jose Parra, said.

And then there's the smaller stuff, too. When the New York Times reported Bush had registered as Hispanic in a 2009 voter form, it was a perfect opportunity for a snarky opposing-party response, along with an anti-Bush message. The DNC responded that afternoon with an email blast.

Morales, pulling double duty, was quoted.


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Bill Maher: Hillary Clinton Has My Vote But She's Not Getting A Million-Dollar Check

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The HBO host talked to BuzzFeed News about a Democratic presidency he’s not excited about, a Republican field he says is too weak to win a general election, and the “teenage girls” who attacked him this week.

Frederick M. Brown / Getty

WASHINGTON — Bill Maher is not bullish on the post-Obama White House, no matter who wins the election.

In a wide-ranging interview with BuzzFeed News this week, the host of HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher said Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton is likely to disappoint many voters in her party with an agenda he said will be too "centrist" for progressive tastes. She's not getting the million-dollar check he cut for President Obama in 2012. He dismissed the Republican presidential field as too beholden to its base to be of much interest to the general electorate. Sen. Rand Paul, who Maher previously called a Republican he could vote for, has thrown over his libertarian values for a base-friendly social conservatism, he argued. And Maher complained that social media swarms like the one he faced this week after a joke placing a photo of convicted Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev next to one of One Direction member Zayn Malik are raising the profile of "people who don't actually do anything good in their life."

The Tsarnaev point is a particular source of tension for the comedian. Some Muslim advocates and progressives have accused Maher of taking a borderline racist stance toward Muslims — but he contends Muslims are actually supportive of his rhetoric, promising to bring one of his Muslim defenders onto his set soon to set the record straight. He was upset that the critics of his Malik joke had gained traction with a social media campaign.

"I feel like any place that considers itself a serious journalistic enterprise — and I certainly consider BuzzFeed to be that — it's beneath their dignity to even ask about something that, really, is the province of teenage girls," he said. "We threw up a picture of the guy from One Direction and we threw up a picture of the Tsarnaev kid. They look alike. That's the whole joke."

He also didn't think the criticisms were all that legitimate.

"'Do something useful with your life' is my response to the people who are asking for an apology," he said. "I understand why teenage girls are upset; they're teenage girls. Anybody else that is upset is acting like a teenage girl."

"I don't know how we got to this place where we think that anything that gives us the least bit consternation we have to make a protest about it," he said. "Turn the page or flip the dial. Pick up the roll of quarters and leave the booth. Whatever it is. It's insane."

Regular viewers of Maher's HBO show would not have been surprised by his wholesale dismissal of the Republican presidential field. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, he said, was most likely to clinch the GOP nomination because "he's the worst, and the Republicans, you know, they are pretty good at nominating the 'are you fucking kidding me?' candidate. And to me, Mr. Walker is the 'are you fucking kidding me?' candidate." Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has "honesty, integrity, and intelligence issues." "What I call The Full Palin." None of the GOP field is "of presidential timbre," Maher said, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

"When he was the governor of Florida, he threw an election for his brother, he threw black people off the voter rolls, he crushed the unions, he signed the Stand Your Ground law, he put the feeding tube back into Terri Schiavo," he said. "This is what passes for a moderate in this party? Yeah, I guess so."

There is one candidate who's different for Maher — Sen. Rand Paul, who has been a guest on his show and about whom Maher has spoken positively (or at least more positively) about in the past. But he now believes the Kentucky senator had strayed from his father's libertarianism ("he had the balls to stand on that stage and get booed") to earn votes from the Republican base.

"His father made a calculation: 'Better to be true to yourself, better to be real, better to be honest and say what you really believe and not win than to sell out like these other dopes,'" Maher said. "And Rand Paul looks like he's not making that calculation — he looks like he's making the opposite calculation."

Paul has been combative this week since announcing his presidential candidacy. Interviews with both NBC News and the Associated Press have been ""testy," and Paul has bristled when asked questions about his past. That's not new, according to Maher. The two men had drinks before Paul appeared on Real Time last November, Maher said, and Paul was interested in coming on only if he wasn't set to face a barrage of questions about his past statements. Maher was happy to accept.

"What I did want to know was what his views on the environment were. And quite frankly, they were not good. It didn't look like he had really given it any thought. I mean, he mumbled the same ridiculous talking points. I told him, that's never going to cut it for me," Maher said. "When he did the show, like a month or so later, he had gotten a much better answer. I don't know whether it was sincere, but it was not an answer that I could really make fun of. And I was certainly ready to make fun of him. So it's not like the boy can't learn. But unfortunately, again, it looks like the lesson he learned from his father is, 'Say stupid shit to get the nomination because if you don't, you'll lose.'"

So the Republicans are set to face the same attacks from Maher this cycle they did in 2012. Democrats may be in for a rougher go. Maher famously gave Obama's super PAC $1 million at the height of the 2012 election, and called on other wealthy Obama supporters to surpass him in a bid to bolster Obama's financials against the billionaires backing Mitt Romney. The expensive stunt worked, Maher said — the host said Paul Begala, one of the leaders of Obama's Priorities USA super PAC and frequent Real Time guest, told him large donations poured in after Maher used his TV show to call for them.

Clinton will not be getting the same full-throated support.

"I like Obama a lot more than I like Hillary. I just think he's better. That's just how it is. Hillary is way too centrist for me, she's way too hawkish for me," he said. But there is no Republican that appeals to him, obviously, so the choice is simple. "So am I going to be a supporter of Hillary? Absolutely. Is it as enthusiastic as I was for Obama? No. But it doesn't have to be because we all have to grow up and and realize, pick the best answer on the test. There's no perfect answer."

Maher defended Clinton but was not bullish on her chances to helm a bold presidency.

"I am not going to worry that if she's president she's going to blow up the world," Maher said. "What I worry about is she's not going to make some significant progress on many issues where progress needs to be made because she's just not enough of a rock-the-boat type. That's not who the Clintons are. They are the ones, after all, in the '90s who could have taken the Democratic Party back to where it belongs on the left but took it back to what we call the center now, but really isn't the center. It really is the right."

"Who knows, maybe she could surprise us," he said. "That certainly is not what her past indicates. Is she really going to go up against the oil companies and say, 'you know what? we need to get serious green energy program in place yesterday. We need a carbon tax and we have to attack this like it's terrorism times fascism which is it is.' But no, that's not going to happen."

So Clinton won't be getting the big check. "That's not something that's going to come around every time. I'm not Sheldon Adelson. I don't have like million dollar amounts like washing around in my pockets. So no, that's not going to happen," he said. Maher said his 2012 million dollar donation was meant to be a wakeup call for well-heeled Democratic donors after Citizens United when unlimited donations to super PACs became par for the campaign course. And Clinton doesn't need any help opening the wallets of the rich, Maher said.

Despite his broad praise for the president, Maher has sharpened his attacks on Obama lately over an issue that is often heard in a Republican stump speech: the president's dismissal of the phrase "radical Islam" when it comes to groups like ISIS. Maher, an outspoken atheist, has used his show to strongly criticize the teachings of Islam, which Maher has warned is inherently violent. After the Malik joke, the spokesperson for the Council on American-Islamic Relations told ThinkProgress the bit was "another example of [Maher's] casual racism and anti-Muslim bigotry."

Maher is a friend to controversy, but has been stung by the accusations of Islamophobia by both Muslims and many of his would-be allies on the left (a fight with progressive actor Ben Affleck on Real Time over Islam went viral last year). He's bristled at the liberal critics.

On March 27, he even said on a webisode of his show that Muslims were actually praising him behind the scenes. "Since this issue blew up, I must say that I've heard from an awful lot of Muslims who say, 'Yes, you're defending me. I'm a liberal Muslim and I want to live in the 21st century. And all the people who are calling you a bigot are shouting down the debate that we need to have,'" Maher said.

This week, Maher said plenty of Muslims support his rhetoric — he specifically pointed to former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani, who stood up for Maher in a January Washington Post op-ed and said he hopes to have her on the show soon.

"She's always saying this, that there's a battle within Islam and the place that others outside of Islam can help us with is by being honest and not giving Islam a pass in the way they wouldn't their own faiths. Which is exactly what I've been saying, but it means a lot more when it comes from a Muslim. And there does have to be a civil war in the Muslim faith. The people who want to live in the 21st century, and those are the people who say thank you to me, are going to have to fight it out with the people who want to live in the seventh century. And we can't do that for them."

Maher also distanced himself from some of the conservatives who have embraced him as he's ramped up his rhetoric on Islam.

"It's funny that they think they're allied with me on the right because my whole point about this is that I'm the liberal in this debate. And that, by the way, is how I won over I think such a big part of the liberal audience that I've been talking to, because I've been talking about this issue for years," he said. "And the audience, especially here in the politically correct studio that I work in, often was booing me — and now they're not because they get it that if you're standing up against countries that have a law saying you should kill people and keep women in beekeeper suits, you're the liberal in this debate."

"It's not the liberal thing to be defending this."

Rand Paul's Weird, Catchy 2010 Campaign Theme Song

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“Rand Paul, he’s the one that will stand for Kentucky. Rand Paul, he’s the one that will fight for you and me.”

Rand Paul's 2010 Senate campaign had a theme song of sorts, according to his old Senate campaign website.

The tune was released in August of 2010 when Paul was in his heated Senate race in his home state of Kentucky.

The song, according to his 2010 Senate campaign was from musician Paul W. Collins and his band Velvet Soul.

The song, according to his 2010 Senate campaign was from musician Paul W. Collins and his band Velvet Soul.

RandPaul2010.com

Here's the tune:

w.soundcloud.com

We the people of Kentucky have a heart that beats true
We're proud of our basketball
And we like our horses too
And we believe in all of our veterans
They're the heroes of U.S.A.
Washington you better take some note
Because we have something to say

Now we are mad because our leaders have gotten things way off track
You've ignored our constitution
And we're going to take our country back
Well you've taxed us way too much
A smaller government would be good
And we want our politicians to represent like they should

And that's why (Rand Paul)
He's the one that will stand for Kentucky
(Rand Paul)
He's the one that will fight for you and me

You can brag about all your stimulus
And why you never came to bail me out
When Rand Paul gets to Washington
We gonna stand and shout

You're giving illegal immigrants
Benefits that we don't have
You advance your own careers and you think you're living in Disneyland
And you're spending our children's money
When you cut your back room deals
But that's okay cause you've had your day cause your end is getting near

And that's why (Rand Paul)
He's the one that will make Kentucky proud
(Rand Paul)
He's the one, we're gonna shout it out loud

There's people all across this nation
They're trying to make it real clear
So when Rand Paul comes to Washington
You're going to hear us all cheer

And that's why (Rand Paul)
He's the one that will stand for Kentucky
(Rand Paul)
He's the one that will fight for you and me

You can brag about all your stimulus
And why you never came to bail me out
When Rand Paul gets to Washington
We gonna stand and shout

And that's why (Rand Paul)
He's the one that will make Kentucky proud
(Rand Paul)
He's the one, we're gonna shout it out loud

And that's why (Rand Paul)
He's the one that will stand for Kentucky
(Rand Paul)
He's the one that will fight for you and me

(Chorus repeats until the end)


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Jeb Bush Updates Voter Registration File To Say He's Not Hispanic

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White, not of Hispanic origin.

David Adame / AP

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush updated his voter registration the day a New York Times story revealed he listed himself as Hispanic on the form in 2009.

A Bush spokesperson confirmed the change.

Bush, whose wife and three children are Hispanic, attempted to laugh off the mistake in a tweet.

Miami-Dade County


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Dick Cheney Made Money Off The Gulf War & 7 Other Interesting Things Rand Paul Said In 2008

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“We have supporters… They drink non-pasteurized milk and don’t want the government to tell them about their milk.”

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul appears with his father, Ron Paul in October 2010.

Ed Reinke / ASSOCIATED PRESS

In 2008, Rand Paul, then a surrogate for his dad gave this interview to TheRealNews.com:

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buzzfeed-video1.s3.amazonaws.com

You know, my dad's a fiscal conservative. My dad voted against every one of George Bush's pledges. Every one of George Bush's pledges has been hugely in debt. George Bush has added $2.5 trillion of debt. George Bush will go down in history as the most fiscally liberal president in our history, because of the huge amount of money spent overseas and all the money spent domestically. Some say, oh, it was spent on the war on terror. Untrue. About a trillion on the war on terror and a trillion and a half of deficits spending on domestic programs. The Republicans turned out to be worse than the Democrats.

All the other Republican candidates are for continuing the war. John McCain said he'd continue the war for another hundred years, for goodness sake. He would keep troops in Iraq for a hundred years. I don't think the independent voters in New Hampshire are for being in Iraq for a hundred years. And if they're thinking about John McCain or Ron Paul, they need to think: Do you want to be in Iraq for a hundred more years? That's crazy.


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Scott Walker Once Listed Effort To "Tighten Gun Laws" On "Legislative Accomplishments" Page

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As a state legislator, Walker supported legislation to prohibit certain former juvenile offenders from owning guns entirely. The Wisconsin governor has an A+ rating from the NRA today.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker once touted his achievements as a member of the state assembly in "tightening gun laws" for people who committed felony-equivalent offenses or were committed as juveniles.

Two gun control measures led the list of Walker's legislative accomplishments on a version of Walker's 2002 legislative biography page — "About Scott" — maintained by the Internet Archive.

"In 1994, Walker pushed through two measures to tighten gun laws. One measure now prohibits any person who commits the equivalent of a felony as a juvenile from possessing a firearm. The other measure prohibits anyone who was involuntarily committed as a minor from possessing a firearm. This legislation resulted from working with students at Wauwatosa West High School following the tragic shooting of a school administrator in 1993."

The Milwaukee Sentinel noted that the Assembly approved both measures "in a voice vote with no debate."

The article provides some context, noting that one of the bills "was introduced by Wauwatosa legislators in the aftermath of the shooting of Dale Breitlow, Wauwatosa West High School associate principal," by a 21-year old with a troubled history with the law.

The article goes on to identify Walker as a key force behind the legislation:

"The tragic situation of the murder of Dale Breitlow and the subsequent information we found out about the suspect revealed major holes in out handgun check system," said Rep. Scott Walker (R-Wauwatosa), who had introduced an identical bill in the Assembly. [...] "This bill may not have prevented what happened … but it's something positive that the whole community supported," Walker said.

The national debate on gun control was in a very different place at the time. President Clinton had recently signed the "Brady Bill" into law. The issue also filled the pages of the Sentinel; the day after the above-quoted article ran, the paper's front page carried "part five of an ongoing series exploring the increase in handgun violence," under the heading "Firearms Frenzy."

Last month, Bloomberg Politics reported that Walker "once backed a bill that could have jailed gun dealers who sold weapons without trigger locks — and the people who bought them," before backpedaling in the face of opposition from the NRA.

"There's a reason why Gov, Walker has consistently had an A or better rating from the NRA," AshLee Strong, spokeswoman for Walker's Our American Revival PAC, told BuzzFeed News. "He has been a stalwart for protecting Americans' 2nd Amendment rights."

Walker currently has an A+ rating from the NRA (the highest) and has signed numerous pieces of pro-gun legislation into law during his time as governor.

Walker spoke at the NRA Annual Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday.

"It is my honor to work with the NRA in my state and across the country. I'm proud of my A+ rating as governor," Walker said.

Internal Data: Hillary Clinton Paid Women And Men Equally

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A report on Clinton’s office compensation earlier this year quickly became a conservative talking point. Internal data shows she paid a dollar for dollar during her Senate tenure across all offices.

Win McNamee / Getty

Hillary Clinton paid women and men equally as a U.S. senator, according to a review of internal salary information that shows full-time female and male staffers from her Senate office and three political committees making a dollar for dollar.

Clinton, who has been a longtime advocate of equal pay for women, is expected to launch a second presidential bid on Sunday — and has, along with senior aides, spent recent weeks building her campaign staff, to be headquartered in Brooklyn.

The compensation data, obtained by BuzzFeed News, spans from 2002 to 2008 — a period covering every full fiscal year of Clinton's tenure as the junior senator from New York.

Staffers included were on the payroll of either the Senate office or Clinton's political entities from that time period: Friends of Hillary, Hill PAC, and Hillary Clinton for President. (The data also shows one staffer who worked jointly for Clinton and a Senate committee.)

Part-time employees were not included in the data.

The review of annual salary numbers, which are not publicly available, shows that over the seven-year period, the median salary for both men and women working for Clinton was $43,000. (That number addresses the total pool of employees, regardless of the years in which they worked. The median salaries for each year are different, but the median of the yearly figures is also equal for men and women: $40,000.)

During the seven years, women made more on average for Clinton, according to the data. Women made an average of about $56,000, while men made about $52,000.

Each year in Clinton's overall payroll, more women were on staff than men.

Earlier this year, the Washington Free Beacon published an analysis of publicly available compensation data from Senate expenditure reports from 2002 to 2008 that showed Clinton paying female staffers $0.72 on the dollars.

The analysis did not include data based on annual salaries, or from her political committees.

The Free Beacon report traveled quickly on conservative media as evidence of Clinton's hypocrisy. The former secretary of state supported equal pay legislation and has criticized Republicans for not voting for such measures as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, of which Clinton was was an original cosponsor.

Hillary Clinton Is Running For President

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“I’m getting ready to do something too: I’m running for president,” Clinton announced in a campaign video.


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The 20-Year Hillary Clinton Humanization Project

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Jenny Chang / BuzzFeed

On a quiet day in 1995 — during her third year in the White House — Hillary Clinton visited a museum in Washington and paced the galleries, hoping to blend in for a day.

She didn’t.

A passerby approached. “You sure look like Hillary Clinton,” she said.

“So I’m told,” Clinton replied.

The former first lady, who related the incident a few months later in a newspaper column, said the moment explained the “odd duality” of her public life.

There are, in her telling of the story, two Hillary Clintons: the person she knows, consisting of “different, and sometimes paradoxical, parts” — and the person the public sees, as in a museum, the “most recognizable woman in America,” but “reduced to a snapshot.”

Click to enlarge

“The truth is that sometimes it is hard even for me to recognize the Hillary Clinton that other people see,” she wrote.

Twenty years later, Clinton is perhaps better understood and better liked. But the distance between the person and the public figure remains.

As she prepares to run for president a second time — with plans to run a more open, humble, approachable operation — her campaign staff will spend the next 100 days trying to solve the same challenge Clinton herself alluded to in the 1995 column: how to make the “real” Hillary accessible.

Four years later, one summer morning in 1999, in upstate Elmira, N.Y., Carl and Cindy Hayden served their houseguest a light breakfast and a cup of Earl Grey tea — and asked if she’d mind participating in the family's "little ritual," marking her height on the kitchen wall, just as the Haydens' children had done years ago.

Hillary Clinton, their overnight company, readily agreed.

When Cindy joked that Clinton was “cheating” by wearing heels, the couple couldn't believe it as they watched the first lady, in their kitchen, laugh and kick off her shoes. And when Cindy went on, asking if her guest’s hair might also provide an extra inch or two, Clinton instantly patted it down flat.

“There were few of the trappings of royalty that one would assume would accompany a first lady,” said Carl Hayden, 74, who still remembers every detail from the night that Clinton stayed as their guest while campaigning for U.S. Senate.

The overnight stay was one of about an estimated 15 or 20 such visits with local Democrats, most of them in upstate New York, according to a former aide. The idea was straightforward: introduce those counties to Clinton, in a setting that best suited to her — with word spreading by mouth of the visit from neighbor to neighbor.

Hosts would typically receive a visit two days early from the Secret Service, who would vet the house — and on the afternoon of the overnight, Clinton would arrive, with just one or two aides who would stay over, too. (The Haydens put Clinton up in their bedroom, while they slept in his son’s twin bed.) Secret Service typically stayed in a hotel nearby, taking shifts outside the house and or in nearby parked cars.

When the campaign first pitched the idea of overnights, Clinton was resistant, two former staffers said. It sounded uncomfortable. Maybe awkward. She didn’t know if people would want her there. But she eventually relented. And after eight years in the White House, she got to be a normal guest: She cleared the table, stripped the bed. “We were all on pins and needles about how it would go,” said one of the aides.

“She loved it.”

Fifteen years later, a larger series of voter-focused events from the same Senate race, called the “listening tour,” has become mythologized as a stand-in model for the type of campaign people say Clinton needs this time.

Operatives who have been building her second presidential campaign — which is planned to begin Sunday with an online video — have conjured up words like “intimate” and “informal” to describe the “tone” of the “first 100 days.” They talk about retail-politicking, the hard-working, old-fashioned way. About “voters” — and about allowing them more accessibility to the candidate than in 2008.

During that unsuccessful campaign, there was talk of repeating the overnight stays in Iowa, the state where Clinton’s campaign would falter. The idea was rejected.

The overnights in 2000, however, provide a glimpse at what has worked — on a voter-to-candidate level — and what challenges likely remain for a campaign staff now introducing the electorate to a person still described in twin parts: the Hillary people see, and the “real” Hillary.

Click to see the full 2000 pamphlet

The latter term can be found in the literature of nearly every campaign she’s run.

In 2008, her team organized a series of video testimonials called, “The Hillary I Know,” in which Clinton’s old friends and staff attest to her “softer side.” And during her first campaign, her staff designed a seven-page biographical pamphlet, “Hillary: The Real Story.” (The inside flap, in large block letters, reads, “We know everything — and nothing — about her.”) The literature was seen as a larger effort to reintroduce Clinton and break with the “carpetbagger” image: Ahead of the 2000 race, when Clinton was still first lady, she and her husband purchased their post-presidential home in New York just six weeks before her campaign announcement there.

Even during the Clintons’ first presidential election in 1992, campaign pollster Celinda Lake advised Clinton to schedule herself “more informal settings” to show her “humor.”

“Voters need to see her relating to people.”

The event in Dover, N.H., was her last of the 2014 cycle.

Clinton had already headlined about 45 rallies and fundraisers in 20 states — in less than two months. And after a rally and another retail stop earlier that day, she seemed tired by the time she arrived at the Far Bar & Grille, where, in a small room upstairs, about 20 volunteers from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s reelection bid were waiting, though for what was not immediately clear. Then Clinton suggested they take some photos.

“I thought maybe we could do either a group picture? Or several group pictures? How does that sound? Great?” asked Clinton.

“Maybe we could sorta organize…”

“Organize in whatever natural way....”

“And then Jeanne and I can go around,” Clinton kept going, “and I can say thank you for everything you’re doing for her.”

“OK, so whatever groups you want to put yourself in…”

They were the last of many, many photos Clinton took on the campaign trail that fall, often at her own suggestion — during a pause in conversation or because there never was a conversation to begin with. Most of the rallies she headlined didn’t allow for any — Clinton was either on stage or at the center of a swarm, like a celebrity, with people reaching over one another or against the ropeline for pictures or a quick handshake.

After an event for Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney at a Westchester country club, Clinton said she’d been having a “great time” back on the trail for fellow Democrats. “I used to do only campaigning for others. I did it for, gosh, 30 years before I ever ran for office.”

Asked if she’d had much of a chance to talk to voters on the swing, Clinton said, “I’ve been pretty focused. But I talk to people at the events that I’m at.”

Occasionally, for security reasons, attendees were even asked to stay in the venue until Clinton and her small cadre of aides had cleared the premises. Her ever-present detail, a function of her life as a former first lady, complicates her interactions with voters, as well as her travel. Since leaving the State Department, she has flown mostly private — though she is known to occasionally take the shuttle between New York and Washington, as well as Amtrak.

The Secret Service is an unavoidable reality for Clinton. She often travels with as many as four officers. Even at her home in Chappaqua, everyday life is different. Police reports obtained through a public records request show that strangers periodically approach the Clinton home, most often with peculiar or unsettling claims and requests. “She stated that she needed to talk to Mr. Clinton about something very important,” one 2007 report reads, “and that Mrs. Clinton stole her handbag and that she needed it back.” The Secret Service identified the woman as a “person of interest.”

The distance between Clinton and average life — however unavoidable — isn’t lost on those around her. Before the midterms, when Clinton was preparing for her return to the campaign trail, some of her advisers were concerned she’d be too rusty. Clinton hadn’t been back in a purely political role, like surrogate, since 2008.

A senior figure in Clinton’s circle eventually raised a concern to others: that “she knows more about Libya than she does about Iowa,” according to a person who heard the remark.

Still, aides on the upcoming campaign may capitalize on venues as small as the upstate New York visits. In Iowa and New Hampshire — the two states that kick off the nominating process, and where Clinton is expected to travel this week — Democrats will see Clinton up close and without the crush of press. It’s likely the campaign will start with a pool reporter system to handle the snug events in living rooms and bars and diners.

“She’s the best in a small group I’ve ever seen. That’s her gift,” said Paul Begala, a Democratic operative who worked on the 1992 presidential race. “Rather than fitting the candidate to a strategy, it looks like they’re fitting a strategy to the candidate.”

Carl Hayden, Clinton’s host, had no doubt he saw the real Clinton that night in 1999.

“She was very down-home, very natural. You’d be surprised how comfortable the visit was — and how comfortable an individual she was,” said Hayden, who is active in local politics and served at the time as chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents.

Clinton engaged him in a lengthy conversation on his porch about policy. “She let me prattle on when it was obvious that she knew about five, or 50 times, more about educational policies than I did.” Later, they went to a neighborhood bar for dinner. (“Nothing shi-shi.”) And at the end of the night, Hayden recalled, an aide carried up some “zonky-looking” equipment to his and Cindy’s bedroom — where Clinton was staying the night — so that before bed, she “was able to have confidential and coded” conversation with her husband, who happened to be in Bosnia at the time.

“When folks connect with her and she with them, it really has an impact,” Begala said.

He recalled a line Clinton used to repeat during the 1992 race about the conversations she’d have with voters: “‘I hear these people and their stories… It’s like a movie that plays in my head.’”

Andrew Kaczynski contributed reporting.

Hillary On Marriage Equality: From Avoidance To Opposition To Silence To Support

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From supporting the Defense of Marriage Act to Billie Jean King’s endorsement.

Via youtube.com

WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton put her support for marriage equality and LGBT rights front and center on Sunday in the launch of her second presidential campaign — including two same-sex couples in her two-minute video announcing her candidacy.

The position isn't surprising. Clinton is the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination and support for marriage equality is shared by almost all national Democratic officials at this point.

But Hillary Clinton stands out, however, for silence at times during the debate over the last two decades over marriage equality. And though her so-called evolution on LGBT rights is by no means unique in the Democratic Party or beyond, her prominence as a public official over the last two decades and proximity to two presidential administrations provides many high-profile moments where she faced — and sometimes avoided — questions relating to same-sex couples' relationship rights.

It all began in 1996, when Congress began considering the Defense of Marriage Act.

The first lady's office began receiving correspondence "on the subject of same-sex marriage." Hillary Clinton's director of correspondence, Alice Pushkar, pushed the issue to the president's office.

The first lady's office began receiving correspondence "on the subject of same-sex marriage." Hillary Clinton's director of correspondence, Alice Pushkar, pushed the issue to the president's office.

Clinton Presidential Library / Photo by Chris Geidner/BuzzFeed

The documents about the handling of the marriage letters were some of hundreds of thousands of documents from made available to researchers at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library for the first time this past week, as first reported by Bloomberg Politics.


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Rubio Called For Pakistan Hearings He Would Skip Days Later

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“If he misses a hearing, he’s briefed on the material covered,” a Rubio spokesperson told BuzzFeed News.

Richard Drew / AP

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who is expected to announce that he is running for president Monday, skipped a series of hearings in the aftermath of Osama Bin Laden's death, including a specific hearing Rubio had called for on talk radio days before he skipped it.

"Do you want the Foreign Relations Committee to be holding hearings soon into the circumstances of bin Laden's death, and the circumstances of his being harbored in Pakistan," radio host Hugh Hewitt asked Rubio on May 2, 2011.

"Well, I sit on two committees that I think are going to look at this. The first is the Intelligence Committee, and I know we meet twice a week, and we'll be meeting tomorrow, and I think there'll be some questions answered there," Rubio responded.

The senator added he hoped the Foreign Relations Committee would hold a hearing on the relationship with Pakistan.

"Obviously, much of that will never be discussed publicly. And then the other is kind of our relationship with Pakistan, on an international level, the aid packages we put together to Pakistan, and that ongoing relationship. And I do think that that's something that Foreign Relations should look at, and I hope the chairman will hold hearings on our relationship with Pakistan."

Three days later, Rubio skipped the Foreign Relations hearing on "Assessing U.S. Policy and Its Limits In Pakistan."

The Washington Post first reported Rubio skipped the hearings but didn't note Rubio had specifically called for them. The Post also noted Rubio missed a 2013 hearing on the War in Afghanistan and another 2013 hearing on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The day of the hearing, Rubio also conducted a phone interview with the Tampa Tribune on torture.

"As a member of both the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees, Senator Rubio receives frequent briefings and reads intelligence reports on a regular basis, in addition to attending most hearings. If he misses a hearing, he's briefed on the material covered," a Rubio spokesperson told BuzzFeed News.

"The day after Osama Bin Laden was killed he received a secure briefing at SOUTHCOM headquarters in Doral, and then attended Intelligence committee hearings later that week in Washington, DC."

Vocativ reported earlier this year that Rubio was the senator who missed the most votes.

Earlier this year, while on a big fundraising swing through California, Rubio missed a top secret intelligence briefing on ISIS from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and two closed Intelligence Committee briefings from that period, according to records.

Rubio was spending a week in California on what was deemed an "aggressive" fundraising trip by the press. On the day of one hearing Rubio appeared at a $1,000 per-person admission Beverly Hills fundraiser.

Hillary Clinton's Announcement As Told By 11 Front Pages From Around The World

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Clinton’s presidential announcement, which has been expected for weeks (8 years), garnered significant international attention, making the front pages of several foreign newspapers. Here are the best.

Denmark

Denmark

Netherlands

Netherlands

Via newseum.org

Portugal

Portugal

Newsuem / Via webmedia.newseum.org

Argentina

Argentina

Newsuem / Via Newsuem.org


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Democratic Senator: Netanyahu Unrealistic, "Feels Like Any Deal Would Be A Bad Deal"

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“I have not heard him articulate anything that I think is realistic as an alternative.”

J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Sen. Tim Kaine says Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is unrealistic and feels any deal with Iran would be a bad deal.

"In my personal opinion based on discussions with him, um, I think he feels like any deal would be a bad deal," Kaine told the John Fredericks Show on Friday, adding that he thought Netanyahu had no realistic alternative to a deal with Iran.

"I have not heard him articulate anything that I think is realistic as an alternative. And,um, Israel, the entire world, the United States are going to better off with an Iran with no nuclear weapons to an Iran with nuclear weapons. So, um, while he does not seem to like the framework of this deal -- and that's no surprise he's said that all along, in my last visit to Israel in January there are others: intelligence, military, others who actually think a deal of this kind, while not perfect, is certainly the best alternative."

The Virginia Democrat is a sponsor of the Senate bill requiring Congressional approval of any deal of with Iran regarding its nuclear program.

Kaine added earlier he personally had met with Netanyahu five times regarding Iran in the last few years.

"I have met with the prime minister probably five times, three times in his office and twice in Washington to talk about Iran over the course of the last few years. He has really since the mid-90s, he has been really focused on Iranian behavior and on Iranian nuclear program. You know, and he should be, Iran is a nation that is (A) dangerous and (B) most of its leadership is very anti-Semitic and he is deeply concerned on the effect of Iranian behavior particularly if Iran gets a nuclear weapon on Israel."

Here's the audio:

w.soundcloud.com

How Rubio Will Wield His Youth Against Clinton And Bush

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Justin Sullivan / Getty

MIAMI, Florida — When Hillary Clinton became First Lady of Arkansas in 1979, Marco Rubio was 8 years old and likely still hanging on to some of his baby teeth.

Fourteen years later, Clinton ascended to the White House with her husband while Rubio was racking up student debt as a political science undergrad at the University of Florida.

And in early 2000, as Clinton made plans to parlay her high-profile East Wing perch into a U.S. Senate candidacy — thus formalizing the arrival of America's newest political dynasty — 28-year-old Rubio was a small-town city commissioner running for state legislature in Florida, where he earnestly touted his role in establishing West Miami's first bike cop as the "cornerstone" of his campaign.

The generational contrast between Rubio, 43, and Clinton, 67, will be front and center in the media this week as TV newscasts fill with split-screen images of the two candidates launching their presidential bids within 24 hours of each other. Democrats widely view their presumptive nominee's long record of government service and accompanying gravitas as a distinct advantage, enabling her to overshadow the GOP's field of fresh faces and first-termers. But inside the tight circle of advisers and confidantes plotting Rubio's 2016 campaign, the senator's age is being treated as one of his deadliest electoral weapons — and one they won't wield against Clinton alone.

In interviews with multiple Republicans familiar with Rubio's strategy — including senior advisers, as well as donors and consultants who have been courted by his team — the candidate's youth was repeatedly identified as a key 2016 selling point, and one that could help distinguish him from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the early favorite among GOP elites.

Rubio, said one adviser, will not be "competing for who can be the whitest, oldest rich guy" in the Republican field. Instead, they will cast him as a symbol of America's future — a son of working-class immigrants, whose fluency in both Spanish and contemporary pop culture sets him apart from the flabby, boomer-built political establishment.

Eager to maintain the optimism that has long permeated Rubio's political identity, his team will work to keep direct attacks on fellow Republicans to a minimum for as long as possible. They are particularly wary of blasting away at Bush, since the former governor has been widely portrayed in the media as Rubio's "mentor" — a characterization they contest — and they worry that any explicit attacks from their campaign would play in the press as a personal betrayal by an overly ambitious protege. Instead, Rubio's team will seek to draw generational contrasts with Bush in the primaries by using Clinton as a proxy target.

Rubio's personal identity and future-tense campaign message are built into the backdrop he selected for his announcement here Monday evening. He plans to speak in front of the Miami Freedom Tower, the site where Cuban refugees first arrived in the 1960s when they were coming to the United States. "To me, it's a place that's symbolic of the promise of America," Rubio told the Miami Herald.

The contours of his pitch were clear in a video released last week by his campaign, which featured a five-minute montage of the candidate's sunny, soaring rhetoric condemning the politics of the past — the "Obama-Clinton foreign policy" in particular — and then promising "a new American century." In a country where 60% of the electorate says the U.S. is on the "wrong track," Rubio's team is betting that a dynamic, young, Latino candidate will hold more appeal than a dynastic heiress or heir.

youtube.com

How to make that case beyond the visual contrasts? At least one adviser believes Rubio’s unique affection for pop culture will be an asset. The adviser recalled a TMZ stakeout during which the camera-wielding gossip reporter asked Rubio to weigh in on Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade's buzzed-about penchant for capri pants: Rubio "blew them away" when he revealed he was not just aware of the reference, but had a fully formed opinion. In the same vein, Rubio's advisers have talked up his fluency in discussing hip-hop — he famously prefers Tupac over Biggie, and is on a first-name basis with Pitbull — as a key signifier of his generational appeal. (Conservatives on Twitter, meanwhile, are currently mocking newly unearthed evidence of Clinton's Hootie and the Blowfish fandom.)

Rubio, of course, is not the only relatively young prospect in the Republican field — Sen. Ted Cruz is 44, Gov. Scott Walker is 47, and and Sen. Rand Paul is 52. But Rubio's team believes that none of the other newcomers project the sort of optimism, vitality, and buoyancy that their candidate possesses. Cruz and Paul, in particular, have so far veered toward tones of defiance and apocalyptic warnings as they appeal to Tea Partiers and libertarians.

Rubio's message is meant to be more broad-based and mainstream — meaning that his path to the nomination will necessarily include hurdling Bush. There may come a time, Rubio's advisers say, when he will have to start aggressively "drawing a contrast" with his fellow Floridian. But for now, he will make his case as the happy partisan warrior taking the fight to Clinton.

"Marco's pitch in one word is 'transformative,'" said one GOP consultant who was recently approached about joining Rubio's team. "He is the candidate who can be most Reagan-esque in this race."

But Rubio's team is sensitive to the risks inherent in such a pitch: Namely, it calls to mind Barack Obama's 2008 campaign. Indeed, one Rubio adviser argued that he is uniquely positioned among Republicans to make gains with the so-called "coalition of the ascendant" that carried Obama into office — a group made up primarily of minorities and younger voters.

Yet, Republicans have long argued that Obama was an inexperienced lightweight in 2008 who conned Americans into electing him with a winning personality and a shallow mastery of cultural ephemera. Rubio ha already tried to preempt contentions that he is simply a right-leaning Obama.

In a recent Fox News interview, the senator argued intently that Obama "was a back bencher in the state legislature in Illinois and I was in leadership all nine years that I served there, including two as Speaker of the House."

Clinton Campaign Brings On Jose Villarreal As Campaign Treasurer

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A day after Hillary Clinton’s announcement, Villarreal joins political director Amanda Renteria as Latinos in top positions on the campaign, BuzzFeed News has learned.

Eugene Hoshiko / ASSOCIATED PRESS

A day after the long-expected announcement that Hillary Clinton is running for president in 2016, she has hired Jose Villarreal, a Latino with deep ties to the Clintons, as campaign treasurer, a Clinton campaign official told BuzzFeed News.

Villarreal has a long history in Democratic politics and with the Clintons, having served as deputy campaign manager for Bill Clinton in 1992 and as a senior adviser to Clinton in 2008, during her first presidential campaign. Of Mexican-American descent, he has also been a presence in Latino activism as chairman of the board of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR).

The hiring of Villarreal comes after Clinton chose Amanda Renteria, who was the first Latina chief of staff to a U.S. senator and a former congressional candidate, to be her political director.

"First of all, big props to Hillary," said Andrés W. López, a lawyer from Puerto Rico and national co-chair of the Futuro Fund, which helped raise $32 million for Obama in 2012 from Latino donors. "He has a wealth of experience, he's insightful and has the trust of the candidate."

After the 2012 election, López said he turned to Villarreal for advice and had a long, fruitful conversation with him on how to continue "moving the needle forward on Latino issues."

"As long as he is someone in the room, seated at the table with her, his word carries weight," he said.

Democratic operatives and donors know that repeating Obama's success with Latino voters, when he got 71% of their support, would be a boon to her campaign and have publicly and privately called for Clinton to both take outreach to the growing Latino electorate seriously as well as fill the campaign at all levels with Hispanic staff with expertise in their respective areas.

"Building a successful strategy to reach Latino donors and voters starts with having members of the community in key decision making roles. I applaud the Clinton campaign for bringing on Jose Villarreal," said Cristóbal Alex, president of the Latino Victory Project, which has helped elect Latino Democrats. "Much of this election cycle will be focused on how effectively campaigns can register, educate and turn out Latino voters. And the Clinton team is taking this challenge seriously."

Clinton has also brought together the duo of operatives who helped Obama win 70% of the Latino vote in Nevada, state director, Emmy Ruiz, and organizing director, Jorge Neri, BuzzFeed News reported last week.

Here's Hillary Clinton Ordering A Chicken Bowl At Chipotle

Everyone In Miami Is Just So Happy Both Bush And Rubio Are Running

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Polite optimism rules the day as two of Florida’s favored sons run for president. But get ready for the unavoidable conflict underneath it all — Rubio certainly was on Monday.

Joe Raedle / Getty

MIAMI — Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen remembers Marco Rubio as one the best interns to have ever worked in her office.

It was former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, however, who chaired her first congressional campaign back in 1989.

And so, because she has known him longer, Ros-Lehtinen is backing Bush for the 2016 presidential nomination. But you'd be hard-pressed to get her to say a bad word about Rubio.

"I have not met anybody in South Florida who is anti- either of them. I don't see anybody being down on either candidate," Ros-Lehtinen told BuzzFeed News. "No one is going to be negative. There is a lot about them that is similar, they are eloquent, they are smart, and they make us really proud."

Ask nearly anyone in Miami and you'll find this good cheer about both men, regardless of which one they're supporting. Underneath that civility is the stark reality that Rubio and Bush share the same South Florida political base, the same optimistic tone, and a similar potential trajectory in the Republican primary — and the torn loyalties between them are only a symptom of the unavoidable conflict.

Announcing his presidential bid Monday, Rubio for the first time made abundantly clear that he was not going to defer to Bush or Bush supporters.

In his speech at the Freedom Tower, he emphasized many of the things he's talked about before — a hawkish foreign policy, his moving personal story growing up as the son of Cuban immigrants, and an optimistic view of a "new American century."

"I have heard some suggest that I should step aside and wait my turn," he said. "But I cannot. Because I believe our very identity as an exceptional nation is at stake, and I can make a difference as president."

The crowd of hundreds of supporters who showed up at Miami's historic Freedom Tower went nuts for it. They weren't there to bash Bush, and it was difficult to find anyone that would, but instead argued that Rubio was the most energetic, and electable Republican in the race. The Mayor of Miami, Tomás Regalado, called the event "historic" and "one that would resonate across the nation."

The speech was peppered with lines about "yesterday" and privilege, some of which were directed at Hillary Clinton — but could easily double for Bush.

"In many countries, the highest office in the land is reserved for the rich and powerful. But I live in an exceptional country where even the son of a bartender and a maid can have the same dreams and the same future as those who come from power and privilege," Rubio said.

The new tone, and emphasis on Rubio's relative youth, is meant to distinguish him from that previous generation, something the Miami crowd was receptive to on Monday. Maria Zenoz, a Miami resident who plans to volunteer for the campaign, said Rubio's roots as a son of working-class Cuban exiles has infused him with a special appreciation for the American dream — and a unique ability to articulate it to voters.

"He's experienced that… it makes a big difference," she said. "He's had to live it in his household, so he's not only saying it from his head but he can express it to the public. "

Whether it will work with Florida lawmakers and stakeholders is less clear. The state's Republicans have struggled with the choice between the two men — but at the end of the day, many members of Florida's Washington delegation have already pledged their support for Bush.

"As I have stated before, no one is more prepared to be president than Jeb Bush," Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart said in a statement to BuzzFeed News, though like nearly everyone else, he had plenty of praise for Rubio, as well. "I am a great admirer of Sen. Rubio; he is a brilliant and talented leader with a great message for America who understands the disastrous effects of President Obama's policies."

Plenty of Florida Republicans remain up for grabs, though, and Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said outreach would begin in the coming days and weeks.

Rep. Tom Rooney, the only Florida member to endorse Rubio so far, was in Miami for Rubio's announcement and said that his connection with Rubio played a role in his endorsement but ultimately he bought Rubio's message "hook, line, and sinker."

"I just believe in the guy. That's not to say that I don't believe in Jeb, I'm just more in the Rubio camp," he told BuzzFeed News. "There are a lot of people in my delegation who aren't supporting either right now because they don't want to burn that bridge but I don't believe in retribution, so I don't think the governor is going to be mad at me. And I'm certainly not going to speak out against him."

Rubio's backers understand that a lot of people in Florida are conflicted, but said that animosity between the two camps would be at a minimum.

"We don't take shots at each other. Especially when we're from the same hometown," said Jorge Luis Lopez, a Rubio supporter and fundraiser. "These guys worship together, they know each other. Between the candidates there's no animosity. At the end of the day one is going to have to support the other in order to win."

McKay Coppins contributed reporting.

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