Welcome to The Lid, your afternoon dose of the 2016 ethos… Echoing other candidates’ assertion that politics “ain’t beanbag,” Jeb Bush said today that the presidential race “isn’t tiddlywinks.” Still under consideration: cornhole, marbles, hopscotch, Pokemon or Duck Duck Goose.
THE LID: JUNE 2, 2015
’16 AT 30 THOUSAND: "Before the end of its legislative session last night, the Nevada legislature failed to take up a bill to allow the state to hold presidential primaries rather than caucuses.” We get it; for non-political junkies, that sentence doesn’t exactly sound like a riveting plotline in “Mad Max.” But here’s why it’s big news: Caucuses, which are more time-consuming vote-casting affairs, tend to benefit candidates with lots of appeal from devoted grassroots activists, while primaries are good for more mainstream candidates who want votes from a broader slice of the electorate. In 2016, that means Rand Paul was on Team Caucus, and other big-name candidates like Jeb Bush (and perhaps Marco Rubio too) would have benefited from a Team Primary victory. And Team Caucus won, due in part to some last-minute lobbying by a Nevada *Democrat* you may have heard of (spoiler alert: it’s Harry Reid.)
While GOP candidates say they aren’t throwing in the towel in Nevada just because of its unexpectedly preserved caucus system, the development definitely means that campaigns will have to recalibrate their early state strategy. Except perhaps Paul, who gleefully tweeted: “Look forward to competing in the Nevada caucus.”
Get NBC's 2016 newsletter “The Lid” straight to your inbox every afternoon -- click here to sign up.
POPPING ON NBC POLITICS
From First Read: Why the fight over access to Hillary Clinton matters.
Frank Thorp reports on the latest developments in the Congressional debate over NSA surveillance.
President Barack Obama will eulogize Vice President Joe Biden's son Beau at a funeral ceremony Saturday, the White House announced.
Bernie Sanders is calling on the DNC to increase the number of debates throughout the presidential primary.
CAMPAIGN QUICK READS
GRAHAM: Sure, he would support Rand Paul if the Kentucky senator won the GOP presidential nomination… Right after he “came out of my coma."
HUCKABEE: Earlier this year, he joked of the emergence of more transgender Americans: “Now I wish that someone told me that when I was in high school that I could have felt like a woman when it came time to take showers in PE.”
BUSH: Via Buzzfeed: “In an email from 2009 obtained by BuzzFeed News, Jeb Bush offered assistance to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on reauthorizing No Child Left Behind – the controversial education legislation signed into law by President George W. Bush.”
CLINTON: The Washington Post offers an in-depth look at how the Clinton Foundation evolved from a germ of an idea to a sprawling set of organizations with an annual budget of more than $223 million.
WALKER: He vowed on Tuesday to compete in the Florida primary, despite recent comments that appeared to suggest he might leave the state to favorite sons Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush.
FOR THE RECORD…
“I’m pretty sure that I would have found my feminine side and said, ‘Coach, I think I’d rather shower with the girls today.’”
- Mike Huckabee’s remarks at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention earlier this year. Video of the remarks was recently uploaded to YouTube.
TOMORROW’S SKED
Lincoln Chafee announces his presidential intentions at a foreign policy-themed speech in Arlington, Va.
Chris Christie’s “Tell It Like It is Town Hall Meeting” goes to South Carolina.
Lindsey Graham campaigns in New Hampshire.
