Welcome to The Lid, your afternoon dose of the 2016 ethos… Like he did with the Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision and South Carolina’s Confederate flag debate, Rand Paul has again gone silent on the hot political topic of the day -- peas in guacamole.
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’16 AT 30 THOUSAND
Nerds, assemble! The parade of quarterly fundraising announcements has begun! Hillary Clinton touted her $45 million-plus number yesterday. Bernie Sanders announced a $15 million haul today. And many more fundraising totals are coming from among the parade of would-be presidents running in 2016.
Here’s some context on those numbers, via NBC’s Jessica Washington. During the SAME months during the primary in 2011, Barack Obama raised about $46 million (although about $4 million of that was earmarked for the general election.) Future GOP nominee. Mitt Romney’s haul during the same time was about $18 million. Eventual GOP Iowa caucus winner Rick Santorum clocked in at just $582,347.
Back in 2007, Obama nabbed $33 million during the second quarter, while then-rival Hillary Clinton raised $27 million. Democratic rival John Edwards collected about $9 million. (Noted: All three had begun their campaigns close to the beginning of the year,, so these numbers represent their SECOND quarter of fundraising as candidates, not their first.)
POPPING ON NBC POLITICS
- The Bernie Sanders campaign has raised $15 million since April 30, with a total of about 250,000 donors, one of us(!) writes.
- Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb announced in an email Thursday that he will seek the Democratic nomination for president, another one of us(!!) wrote.
- Scott Walker filed paperwork with the FEC on Thursday preparing for his expected presidential run.
- Bernie Sanders attracted a whopping 10,000 people during a rally last night in Madison, Wisc.
- And from this morning’s First Read: From Donald Trump to the Ex-Im bank to gay marriage, is the GOP no longer the party of big business?
CAMPAIGN QUICK READS
HUCKABEE: He’s pushing a plan to classify crimes against same-sex marriage opponents as hate crimes, Buzzfeed reports.
PERRY: He made a pitch to black voters, saying “When we gave up on trying to win the support of African-Americans, we lost our moral legitimacy as the party of Lincoln, as the party of equal opportunity for all.”
WALKER: He welcomed Obama on the tarmac in Wisconsin.
RUBIO: From CNN: “Sen. Marco Rubio's plan to buy presidential campaign advertising at a bargain price is hitting a snag: Some television stations are refusing to reserve the airtime.”
FOR THE RECORD…
“I don’t think either President Obama or Jeb Bush are anti-pea, that’s not how we’re taking it. “
- Tim McGreevy, CEO of the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council, quoted by the New Republic
TOMORROW’S SKED
Hillary Clinton raises cash in New Hampshire.
Bernie Sanders campaigns throughout Iowa.
Rick Perry attends a house party in Derry, NH.
