Welcome to The Lid, your afternoon dose of the 2016 ethos… John Kasich offended a female college student by comparing her eagerness to ask a political question to millennials’ excitement about Taylor Swift concert tickets, demonstrating Kasich’s complete lack of knowledge that all feuds involving Taylor Swift always, always end badly for the non-Swift participant.
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’16 AT 30 THOUSAND
At long last, we’ve got Hillary Clinton’s answer on whether or not she supports the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and it’s a no. She told PBS “I don’t believe it’s going to meet the high bar I have set,” citing issues like the lack of measures to curb currency manipulation. The decision puts her on the side of labor unions and her existing Democratic rivals Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley (and also populist candidates like Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump, by the way.) But it’s a direct break with the White House, and with potential candidate Joe Biden, who’s now alone in the potential Democratic field as a backer of the deal.
For Clinton, it’s a dramatic reversal, too (she championed the idea of the deal when she served as secretary of state.) The calculation here was clearly that her left flank would punish her more for backing the deal than the general electorate would for her backflip on it. Also, it’s a move that will placate labor unions that could be eying Biden or Sanders instead of the current Democratic frontrunner.
As our colleague Mark Murray writes, the decision comes down to three words: presidential primary politics.
POPPING ON NBC POLITICS
- In her biggest break with the Obama administration yet, Hillary Clinton says that she does not support the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, one of us writes.
- Dante Chinni has a smart look at why there’s been a decline in support for gun control.
- NBC’s Iowa team of Danny Freeman and Vaughn Hillyard report on how Marco Rubio is doing in Iowa.
- NBC’s Kailani Koenig reports that Marco Rubio again defended missing Senate votes, saying “When I miss a vote or two in Washington, it's not because I'm on vacation, it's because I'm running for president.”
- In an ad, a GOP House primary candidate says she’s “huntin’ RINOs,” then fires a gun.
- From NBC’s Alex Moe: Candidates for House Speaker are making their case to House conservatives.
- Ben Carson defended his most recent comments about the Oregon shooting, saying he wants to “plant in people’s minds” the idea of attacking active shooters.
- President Barack Obama has called the head of Doctors Without Borders to apologize for the airstrike on a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan.
CAMPAIGN QUICK READS
CLINTON: The Washington Post says that the Obama administration has looked into her proposal to close the gun show loophole with executive action -- but the White House doubts that it could work.
SANDERS:Yahoo! has a good look at how a group of Obama alums helped Bernie Sanders post a record-making tally of donors.
CHRISTIE: The Washington Post looks at why he’s going up and Kasich seems to be moving down.
PAUL: He indicated to The Daily Caller on Wednesday that he would like to see House Republicans chose someone other than House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy as the next speaker.
FOR THE RECORD…
“No, John Kasich, I don't want Taylor Swift tickets”
- Headline of an article from a University of Richmond student critical of Kasich during a recent visit. The student said Kasich told her he doesn't have Swift tickets when she was trying to get his attention to ask a question.
TOMORROW’S SKED
Marco Rubio and Donald Trump are in Nevada.
Chris Christie and Lindsey Graham campaign in New Hampshire.
Joe Biden delivers a speech to the American Job Creation forum in Washington, D.C. Hillary Clinton will address the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Gala in Washington.
