Flashback: Lbj’s Advice To Humphrey For Running Mate Included A Surprising Name
Jack Bohrer
At 10:41 in the morning on Aug. 29, the day that Vice President Hubert Humphrey chose his running mate for the 1968 presidential race, outgoing President Lyndon Johnson offered some advice about the decision on a call, including this: consider Daniel Inouye.
Johnson felt the first term senator from Hawaii, whose name was not on the four-person short list in that days New York Times, had two key attributes: combat wounds and brown skin.
Listen to the call here, with Johnson discussing Inouye at the 09:25 mark:
He answers Vietnam with that empty sleeve, Johnson said. He answers your problems with Nixon with that empty sleeve. He has that brown face. He answers everything in civil rights, and he draws a contrast without ever opening his mouth.”
Inouye got his empty sleeve as a second lieutenant during World War II, when a German grenade took his right arm in Italy. Shot and severely wounded, Inouye continued to lead his segregated platoon of fellow Japanese Americans some of whom came from internment camps until enemy resistance was broken, according to his belated Medal of Honor citation.
Johnson spoke of that courage, Inouyes ability to stay on message and the historic nature of the choice: He ought to appeal to the world. It would be fresh and different. Hes young and new.
As for putting the first racial minority on a national ticket after the civil rights battles of the 1960s, Johnson only saw advantages.
Biden Campaign Releases Digital Ad On Floyd Protests Swipes At Trump
The Biden campaign has released a new digital ad in light of the George Floyd protests, which is now playing on social media platforms across six battleground states.
The one-minute digital ad, released both in English and Spanish, features portions of Bidens recent speech on civic unrest and though it does not mention President Donald Trump explicitly, Biden suggests that hes failing to lead at a pivotal moment as the ad shows images of the president, including him holding the Bible.
I promise you this, I won’t traffic in fear and division. I won’t fan the flames of hate, Biden says in the ad over photos of Trump. I’ll seek to heal the racial wounds that have long plagued our country, not use it for political gain.
The ad continues with Biden vowing to take responsibility as president, saying that the job is about the American people, not just him.
When Biden says its incumbent on Americans to build a better future, something that he describes as the most American thing we do, pictures of Biden from his meetings with African American leaders in Wilmington and Philadelphia are shown to contrast what he has done in the days after the killing of George Floyd with the recent actions of Trump.
Biden Releases New Digital Ads On Restoring Empathy
WASHINGTON A day after Joe Biden lambasted President Trump as “exactly the wrong person to lead us,” the presumptive nominee’s campaign released a new digital ad, with three different versions, building off of the message of restoring core American values in the White House.
The ads don’t mention the presidents name directly but instead hone in on their candidates commitment to family in an effort to stress his kitchen table values that have guided him throughout the trials and joys of life.
The Biden campaign unveiled their first digital ad narrated by actor Jeffrey Wright, who describes how the then-senator of Delaware commuted four hours on Amtrak from Wilmington to the nations capital to be with his two sons every night following the death of his wife and infant daughter weeks before he was sworn in to the U.S. Senate.
People in Washington didnt get why Joe Biden would travel all that way. But in neighborhoods all over this country, theres no distance parents wont go for their kids, Wright stresses in the minute-long ad. When Joe Biden traveled those four hours, he wasnt just going home for his kids, he was going to work for them too, just like he will for yours.
You know, you see growing up rich and looking down on people is a bit different than how I grew up here, he said in a dig toward Trump.
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How Healthline Determined These Comparisons
The Healthline News team analyzed the healthcare policies and proposals of both presidential candidates to date.
We based our analysis on the published policy outlines on each candidates official website, as well as public statements made by the candidates and their administration and/or campaign.
From there, we worked with our independent panel of health policy experts and senior editorial team to present where each candidate stands on key healthcare issues.
Trump Takes A Final Shot At Obamacare Exchanges
On his way out of the White House, President Donald Trump is taking one last swipe at the Affordable Care Act, proposing to allow states to opt out of the Obamacare exchanges where millions of Americans enroll in health insurance plans.
If states choose this potential new option, residents would no longer have access to a one-stop shop for health insurance. Instead, they would have to find their way to private insurance brokers or individual carriers.
They also wouldnt have access to impartial advisers, so-called navigators, to assist them in making their choices.
The rule, proposed on Thanksgiving Eve, is one of the last attempts by the Trump administration to undo the ACA. Trump failed to kill President Barack Obamas signature law in Congress, but is still attempting to do so in a case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court last month. Through administrative acts, Trump has been able to chip away at the law.
The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the proposed rule, which still must go through a public comment period, would increase enrollment in health insurance and decrease premiums by encouraging competition and innovation. CMS claims that if adopted, the rule would enable a more curated, customized consumer experience.
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Medicaid-eligible people are likely to be especially susceptible to that pressure, Altman said.
There will be a lot of opportunities and perhaps pitfalls for consumers to be directed to plans that dont meet QHP-certified standards, said Christina Cousart, a senior policy associate at the National Academy for State Health Policy.
But Ed Haislmaier, a health policy researcher at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said that in a few scattered cases around the country, insurance carriers with ACA-compliant policies did not join the exchanges. Direct enrollment would make it easier for consumers to purchase policies from those companies, he said.
Overall, he said he thought the effects of the proposed rule would be pretty marginal.
Others disagree. I think the advantage of an exchange is that it offers apples to apples shopping comparison experience, said Johanna Fabian-Marks, director of policy and plan management of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange.
Its important to have detailed information impartially offered on all plans offered. When you lose that hub approach it can make it potentially more confusing for consumers to navigate and compare the options.
She said Maryland would not be interested in a direct enrollment option.
An Early August Veep Pick Would Put Vp Front
Melissa Holzberg and Liz Brown-Kaiser
WASHINGTON Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Bidens self-declared timeline for announcing his V.P. pick is inching closer. But if Biden sticks to the first week of August, hell be making his selection public about two weeks before the Democratic convention thats earlier than most recent nominees.
Both former President Obama and President Trump announced Biden and Vice President Pence as their running mates just three days before the 2008 Democratic convention and 2016 Republican convention respectively.
2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney made the decision a bit earlier: he named then-Rep. Paul Ryan on and the convention began Aug. 27.
The woman Biden chooses will make her address to the Democratic convention sometime between Aug. 17 and Aug. 20. The less time there is between the pick going public and that speech could mean less time for opposition research to drop, but also less time for party enthusiasm to build.
Heres what some contenders have been up to this week:
Sen. Kamala Harris: After Biden said on MSNBC that four Black women are on his shortlist , Harris also took to the airwaves. Asked if shes one of those Black women, she deflected, saying, Im honored to be in the conversation.
I am not going to speak for the vice president, she said Tuesday. Im going to do everything in my power to make sure Joe Biden is elected the next president of the United States.
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Kanye West Won’t Appear On Illinois Or Ohio Ballots
Melissa Holzberg
WASHINGTON Kanye West won’t appear on either the Ohio or Illinois presidential ballots this November, the states respectively officially announced on Friday.
In Illinois, West’s home state, the board ruled unanimously that West hadn’t submitted enough signatures from registered Illinois voters to be on the ballot. The board of elections requires 2,500 signatures for independent candidates, and West only filed 1,200.
. has ruled that will not appear on the November ballot as a candidate for president in Illinois. West needed 2500 signatures of registered Illinois voters to qualify for the ballot as indep candidate filed only 1200
Illinois SBE
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced that West failed to meet the requirements to appear on the ballot in that state as well. According to LaRose, the information and a signature on the nominating petition and statement of candidacy submitted to the secretary of state’s office did not match the nominating petition and candidacy statement used to circulate “part-petitions”, or circulated nominating materials.
A signature is the most basic form of authentication and an important, time-honored, security measure to ensure that a candidate aspires to be on the ballot and that a voter is being asked to sign a legitimate petition, LaRose said in a statement. There is no doubt that the West nominating petition and declaration of candidacy failed to meet the necessary threshold for certification.
Everytown Booking $6 Million In Florida Ads To Target President Trump
Ben Kamisar
WASHINGTON Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund is booking $6 million in television and digital ads to boost former Vice President Joe Biden in Florida, NBC News has learned.
The group is partnering with Priorities USA, the major Democratic super PAC that’s supporting Biden and attacking President Trump, on production and strategy. Everytown plans to spend $4 million in TV ads in the Orlando and Tampa markets and $2 million in statewide digital ads starting after Labor Day and running for five weeks.
Facing a gun violence crisis that claims 100 American lives every day, President Trump has chosen the gun lobby over the safety of the American people at every turn, John Feinblatt, the head of Everytown Victory Fund, said in a statement. Together with Priorities, we’re going all-in to make sure Trumps a one-term president. Everytown has an aggressive plan to mobilize voters in Florida, who know the pain of gun violence all too well and are poised to play a decisive role in electing Joe Biden, a proven gun sense champion.
The announcement marks the group’s first formal entry into the presidential race’s TV ad wars of the cycle, and its largest-ever investment in a presidential race. The state has seen a handful of mass shootings in recent years, including at an LGBT-friendly nightclub in 2016 and a Miami-area high school in 2018.
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Trump Super Pac Launches Multi
Ben Kamisar
WASHINGTON President Trump’s top allied super PAC, America First Action, has begun airing three new ads in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania as part of a $7.5 million ad campaign aimed at chipping away at former Vice President Joe Biden in key swing states.
The group hits Biden in Michigan and Wisconsin on the loss of manufacturing jobs to China.
And the Pennsylvania ad warns Biden’s climate plan would cost fossil fuel jobs in the state.
The super PAC is spending $1.75 million in Michigan’s Traverse City, Flint and Grand Rapids markets $2.25 million in Wisconsin’s Wausau, La Crosse/Green Bay and Milwaukee markets and $3.5 million in Pennsylvania’s Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Johnstown, Erie and Wilkes-Barre markets. Those spending figures also include digital and mail ads, as well as television advertising, from Thursday through the July 4th weekend.
Many of those markets cover places Trump won significantly in 2016, and will need to perform well in again to hold the pivotal states in 2020. The Trump campaign just finished a $5 million TV buy that flooded the airwaves in many of those markets too.
Republicans have significantly outspent Democrats over the past week in the presidential race $5.3 million to $1.9 million on TV and radio between May 27 and June 3, according to Advertising Analytics. With the Biden campaign dark on the airwaves, the top Democratic spender over that span has been the pro-Biden Priorities USA super PAC.
Black Women Take Center Stage Hedging For Biden’s Veep Slot
Liz Brown-Kaiser and Melissa Holzberg
WASHINGTON Even as protests and demands for police reform grow greater in the wake of George Floyds killing, presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden told CBS that recent events arent impacting who hell pick as his running mate. Symone Sanders, Bidens senior adviser, clarified that Biden hears the concerns of those who want an African American running mate.
However, Black women hedging for the veep slot have been out front this week on issues of police brutality and institutional racism.
Here are this weeks most significant veepstakes developments from the NBC News political unit:
Stacey Abrams: Abrams has been highly visible this week after widespread voting problems plagued Georgias primaries on Tuesday but that hasn’t gotten her a call from the Biden camp.
I have said many times that if called I will answer, but I have not received any calls, Abrams said of her contact with the Biden team during an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Despite confirming she has not yet been vetted, Abrams made clear that she believes voting problems are directly related to racial inequality.
We can’t divorce today from what we’re seeing happening across this country in response to the murder of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor and the litany of names that is too long to be held by memory, she said Tuesday.
Check out the NBC News political units coverage of the veepstakes here.
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