Welcome to The Lid, your afternoon dose of the 2016 ethos… Parents in 2015 were increasingly inspired by Instagram filters when coming up with names for their children, according to an annual list of the year’s top baby names. The result could mean we one day have a president named Juno, Ludwig, or Lo-Fi.
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’16 AT 30 THOUSAND
By now, the insiders-versus-outsiders theme of the GOP presidential race isn’t exactly revelatory, but what’s continually surprising to us is the degree to which the party’s insurgents are floating far above their rivals despite spending barely any cash. The NBC political unit crunched the latest numbers from ad-spending partner SMG Delta this afternoon and found that the three top-spending establishment candidates (Bush, Rubio and Kasich) are outspending the three top-polling insurgent candidates (Trump, Carson and Cruz) by a factor of SIXTEEN to ONE. That’s not a typo; those three more traditional candidates and their superPACs have already shelled out close to $50 million in television ads, while their outsider foes have spent less than $3 million. Which leads us to ask two questions 1) Is the “establishment” tag now such a problem that candidates can’t even spend their way out of it? and 2) Has the media landscape shifted so much that, at long last, TV ads have simply lost their onetime status as the safest bet to build public support?
POPPING ON NBC POLITICS
- Mark Murray reports on the TV ad spending from the GOP candidates so far.
- ICYMI last night, here are the highlights from the latest Hillary Clinton email dump.
- And NBC’s Monica Alba and Alex Seitz-Wald report on Clinton’s visit to Alabama on the 60th anniversary of Rosa Park’s arrest.
- Msnbc.com’s Aliyah Frumin writes that we’re at Chris Christie’s make-or-break moment.
- Vaughn Hillyard sums up Ted Cruz’s “condom police” moment in Iowa last night.
- President Barack Obama told reporters in Paris that “I’m anticipating a Democrat succeeding me.”
- Did Hillary Clinton pull a Howard Dean and do some damage to her campaign by complaining about the caucuses?
CAMPAIGN QUICK READ OF THE DAY
The New York Times writes : “Two of the most potent financial networks in Republican politics, that of the hedge-fund billionaire Paul Singer and another led by the industrialists Charles G. and David H. Koch, have each had preliminary conversations about beginning an anti-Trump campaign, according to strategists involved."
FOR THE RECORD…
“Pls respond to Bon Jovis”
Hillary Clinton’s email directive to an aide after Jon Bon Jovi’s wife sent condolences for her concussion in 2012.
TOMORROW’S SKED
Hillary Clinton holds an event in Orlando, Florida.
Donald Trump rallies supporters in Manassas, Virginia.
Ben Carson holds four events in South Carolina. Carly Fiorina is also in the Palmetto State.
Mike Huckabee campaigns in Iowa.
