Another early entry into the Hillary Clinton VP sweepstakes, a calendar test for Donald Trump, and several ramifications of the Jeb Bush 2016 rollout — those stories filled our Sunday trip around the “Inside Politics” table.
1. Jeb’s Iowa visit suggests a stronger push than some anticipated
Maybe he just wanted to spend some time in the town where lawman Wyatt Earp grew up. Or maybe Jeb Bush wanted to serve notice he might make a stronger run for Iowa than many GOP strategists anticipate.
Pella, in Iowa’s conservative Marion County, was one of Bush’s stops as he took his campaign kickoff tour to the key early states.
Evangelicals tend to dominate the Iowa Republican caucuses, and there are a handful of GOP candidates competing hard for that niche in the GOP field.
But Dan Balz of The Washington Post says the stop in Pella made him curious about Bush’s Iowa intentions, and that the reporting that followed was more than a little interesting.
“The places he went in Iowa this week were not the traditional big media markets. He went to small towns,” said Balz.
“It said to me — and others suggested this as well when I was out in Iowa — that he may be willing to play more actively with an idea that he could do a lot better than some people now think he could do.”
2. Bush’s second week as an official candidate: a dash for cash
Bush will be busy in the week ahead, but not so much in the early caucus and primary states.
Ed O’Keefe of the Post tells us raising money is the Bush priority this week, which means some work back home in Florida but also stops in other places where the Bush campaign believes there is strong financial backing.
“The goal is to get $5 million by the end of the month to show a strong start for his campaign,” said O’Keefe.
“Monday, he’s making three stops in Florida, Tuesday he does New York City and the Connecticut suburbs of the New York City area, Wednesday Houston, and Thursday Dallas.”
“For a governor who likes to email, he’s already warned his donors that they’ll be hearing from him a lot. He said, ‘I apologize in advance, but the goal now: big money as quickly as possible.'”
3. Watching Jeb gives Camp Clinton at least a little pause
He was the two-term governor of a key, diverse presidential battleground state. He speaks fluent Spanish. He has a history of attracting Latino votes.
Sure, Jeb Bush is struggling at the moment to find his place — and some momentum — in the Republican field, but that doesn’t mean the Clinton campaign doesn’t view him as a potential threat.
Lisa Lerer of The Associated Press shared reporting on how Camp Clinton viewed the Bush official launch week.
“I was picking up some rumblings of anxiety among Democrats this week about Jeb Bush and his potential to woo Latino voters,” said Lerer. “His kickoff this past Tuesday was a picture of cultural fluency. He speaks Spanish at home. He switches seamlessly between the two languages.
“And that has some Democrats worried, certainly, that he could do better than Romney did with the Latino community, where he got the lowest ever on record for Republicans, 27%.”
4. Castro isn’t the only Latino to get some VP buzz
Watch out Julian Castro, the Tom Perez boomlet is off and running.
Who?
OK, so maybe most people would have a hard time naming President Obama’s labor secretary.
But CNN’s Nia-Malika Henderson reports Perez was a huge hit at a major Latino conference this past week in Las Vegas, which then led to a little 2016 buzz.
“He wowed the crowd, a standing ovation,” said Henderson.
“Of course, there’s also been talk about Julian Castro, who’s also in Obama’s Cabinet. But the difference there is that Tom Perez speaks Spanish and he’s good at that sort of populist messaging.”
5. Circle the dates and find out if The Donald is for real
There are still plenty of Republicans — and reporters — who believe Donald Trump is enjoying an ego-boosting summer vacation and won’t really commit to a long, grueling presidential campaign.
Trump promises to prove those skeptics wrong, and two dates on the summer calendar should help settle the question.
July 28 is one. The Federal Election Commission rules say official filing is due within 30 days after announcing. And July 28 is being generous to Trump. That date gives the self-described billionaire businessman 30 business days after Trump declared his candidacy — with a promise not to ask for an extension of the filing deadline.
August 4 is another. That is the cutoff date for Fox News to decide who gets invited to the first GOP debate on August 6.
Trump clearly wants to be on that debate stage. The Fox criterion is to invite the top 10 in an averaging of national polls closest to the cutoff date. If the decision were being made today, Trump would make the cut — but just barely. So watch the polls.
Another Fox criterion, though, is that all required paperwork must be filed with the government. That makes the earlier deadline for the financial disclosure form especially worth watching.