• Iowa gov to 2016 hopefuls: 'Come early and often'

    By Michael O'Brien, Political Reporter, NBC News

     

    DES MOINES, Iowa — Though only six months have elapsed since the last presidential election, Iowa's Republican governor is encouraging GOP White House hopefuls to begin taking trips to the Hawkeye State.

    Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican who's been elected to five terms as governor since 1982, told NBC News on Thursday that he was far from troubled by the fellow Republicans who have already started making their way to Iowa in hopes of sewing the seeds of victory in the state's influential, first-in-the-nation nominating contest in 2016.

    "I've always had out the welcome mat. We certainly want all candidates that have an interest," Branstad said in an interview in his formal gubernatorial office inside the Iowa State Capitol. "Iowa's kind of a grassroots state. I want to encourage them to come early and often."

    It appears as though the governor is already getting his wish. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul will make a highly-anticipated speech on Friday at the Iowa GOP's annual Lincoln Dinner, an event that will let him court some of the party's most influential activists and donors. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is scheduled to travel to Iowa later this month, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (who narrowly won the Iowa caucus in 2012) was set to return to the state earlier this month before he was sidelined by an illness.

    Though Iowa voters just weathered the deluge of candidates associated with a presidential election year — and much can change before 2016, let alone the 2014 midterm elections — the process of selecting candidates to succeed President Barack Obama has already begun.

    Branstad name-checked a variety of Republicans whom he suggested could contend for the party's nomination in 2016: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former vice presidential nominee and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and, of course, Paul and Walker.

    "We've got a strong bench," said Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, whom some Republicans had unsuccessfully wooed to seek the state's open Senate seat in 2014. "They're young and it's diversified, and I think that's exciting. And I think we're going to have a lot of great candidates to choose from."

    And while there is no clear favorite heading into the still-very-distant caucuses of 2016, what is clear is that some elements of the nominating process will change by then. Branstad, for instance, has called for eliminating the Ames Straw Poll, a gathering at which Republican activists vote for their early favorite candidates months before of the caucuses.

    But the winning candidate — Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann bested the field last time — has struggled to eventually win the nomination in recent cycles.

    "In its day, the straw poll was a big celebration and big picnic and whatever, but it's gotten to the point now where a lot of top-tier candidates decide to pass it up," Branstad said. "So it isn't that meaningful, in terms of a test."

    The governor also dismissed any suggestion that Iowa might move away from its traditional caucus system in light of a Republican National Committee report earlier this year discouraging caucuses and conventions as nominating processes. Those formats, rather than a traditional balloted primary, sometimes gives impassioned activists more of an ability to sway the outcome.

    "I don't think that we could go to a primary without being in a conflict situation with New Hampshire," Branstad said. "And we've always had a wonderful understanding and agreement with New Hampshire that we would have the first caucus, and they would have the first primary. I think that system has worked well, and I'd like to see us keep it."

  • Obama campaign gives database of millions of supporters to new advocacy group

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    Obama supporters like this woman who showed up to cheer at a campaign event in Melbourne, Fla., on Sept. 9, may not realize how much personal data the organization collected, or what it's doing with it now.

    By Michael Isikoff, National Investigative Correspondent, NBC News

    President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has turned over its most valuable asset — a massive computer database containing personal data on millions of American voters — to a new advocacy group created to advance the White House agenda on issues ranging from gun control to immigration reform. 

    Organizing For Action (OFA), the advocacy group set up in recent weeks by the president’s top political aides, has already acquired access to the database under a leasing agreement with the Obama campaign, Katie Hogan, a former Obama campaign aide who is now serving as spokeswoman for the lobbying group, told NBC News. The information will be used to unleash an “army of the door knockers” to back the president’s legislative agenda as well as raise money for “issue ads” – particularly in crucial congressional districts, she said.  

    As an opening salvo, the group on Friday urged the president’s supporters to call members of Congress in support of Obama’s gun control proposals, even offering a sample script of what they should say.

    The creation of OFA, which is being chaired by former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina, is stirring controversy – both among public interest groups over the group’s plans to accept unlimited corporate donations, and among privacy advocates over the transfer of the database.

    “It’s extremely worrisome,” said Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, noting that Obama campaign supporters likely have no idea that personal data they voluntarily shared with the campaign has now been transferred and is being used for purposes beyond the election.

    Dubbed the “nuclear codes” by campaign aides, the Obama campaign database is widely described as one of the most powerful tools ever developed in American politics. According to published reports, it contains the names of at least 4 million Obama donors – as well as millions of others (the campaign has consistently refused to say how many) compiled from voter registration rolls and other public databases. In addition, the campaign used sophisticated computer programs — with code names like “Narwhal” — to collect information through social media: Anybody who contacted the campaign through Facebook had their friends and “likes” downloaded. If they contacted  the campaign website through mobile apps, cellphone numbers and address books were downloaded. Computer “cookies” captured Web browsing and online spending habits.

    “I can’t think of anything that rivals this data,” said Coney, noting that much of the data was voluntarily supplied by voters, something that consumers are often reluctant to do when dealing with commercial companies. “The private sector would love to be able to do what the (Obama) campaign was able to do.”  

    OFA spokeswoman Hogan said that Obama supporters have the option in emails they receive of opting out — or unsubscribing — from the list, as required by federal law. But critics say that is not necessarily an option for information collected about voters through other means (such as public databases) and note that many on the list likely don’t notice the “unsubscribe” fine print on the emails.

    At the same time, OFA’s plans for corporate-backed lobbying of Congress have spurred sharp criticism from campaign reformers — a cause the president once championed. Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a leading reform group, called OFA “dangerous and unprecedented,” noting that it has been set up under the same section of the tax code used by controversial GOP advocacy groups, such as Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS (as a 501(c)(4) “social welfare” nonprofit organization). This will allow the group to accept unlimited donations from wealthy individuals and corporations.

    “With his decision to allow corporations to fund the new organizations that will operate as an arm of his presidency, President Obama has ‘given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money,’” said Wertheimer in a statement that quoted Obama’s own words two years ago to denounce the Citizens United Supreme Court decision striking down  many campaign finance limits. “This would take President Obama about as far away as he could possibly get from the goal he set in 2008 to change the way business is done in Washington.” 

    Related: Nonprofit spends big on politics despite IRS limitation

    In response to a request for comment, a White House spokesman emailed recent comments by top Obama political adviser David Plouffe to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos: “Yes, we will voluntarily disclose all of our donors,” Plouffe said. “And we're very excited. The people who actually made the president's campaign in both '08 and '12, our great grassroots volunteers, were pretty clear after the election they wanted to stay with it and they want to be out there organizing, driving message, holding people accountable on issues like immigration, you know, the deficit and jobs, gun safety.”

    But how much the group will disclose about the source of its money is still unclear. There is no legal requirement for a 501(c)(4) group like OFA to do so. Hogan, the OFA spokeswoman, declined to say how often the group will make disclosures or whether it will report amounts that donors give or simply provide a list of contributors. (Such a list -- without amounts detailed -- was recently released by the Presidential Inaugural Committee.) “That’s still being worked out,” she said.

    As if to underscore the role of major corporations in helping to underwrite OFA, the unveiling of the group came at a special invitation-only event on inaugural weekend at the Newseum, sponsored by Business Forward, a corporate-backed trade group close to the White House, according to a Politico account. Business Forward -- whose charter members include Citi, Dow Chemical, Duke Energy, Ford, Google and Comcast, majority-owner of NBCUniversal, parent company of NBC News -- had lobbied for the White House-backed fiscal cliff deal, specifically touting its tax breaks for businesses, such as write-offs for new capital investment and research and development credits, according to a statement on the group’s website.

    “We need you. This president needs you,” Messina said at the launch event, according to the Politico account, adding that the national advisory board of OFA will be “filled with people in this room.”  

    One corporate executive who attended the event told NBC News the roll out -- which featured a spirited talk by former President Bill Clinton on gun control -- drew numerous major Obama campaign bundlers and fundraisers, such as Obama campaign finance chairman Mathew Barzun (now reportedly a front-runner to be tapped for ambassador to the Court of St. James) and finance director Rufus Gifford.

    “My takeaway from this was that they set this up to take advantage of the Citizens United decision and operate this outside the Democratic National Committee so they won’t have to file (election) reports,” said the executive, who asked not to be identified.

    Hogan, the OFA spokeswoman, said that OFA will not run campaign ads — only “issue” ads that do not fall under the election laws.

    But the underlying political purpose of the group is not disputed. “The way it’s organized, we legally can’t participate in elections,” Stephanie Cutter, a top Obama campaign official who now serves on the board of OFA, said at a recent Politico-sponsored inaugural event. “But that doesn’t mean the issues we’re organizing around won’t mobilize the American people to vote for things — to vote for that economy we’ve been working for, to vote for immigration reform, to vote for common sense gun reforms. I think we can affect elections, we just can’t legally be involved in them — for this particular organization.”

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  • Obama draws on spirit of '08 at campaign launch

    President Obama and the first lady hit the campaign trail on Saturday in key battleground states. NBC's Brian Moor reports.

    By Michael O'Brien

     

    RICHMOND, Va. — President Obama launched his bid for a second term Saturday by working to mobilize supporters with a forward-looking message in the face of challenges that include sluggish economic recovery.

    The question facing voters, he told a boisterous crowd during the second stop on the official launch of his re-election campaign, isn't whether Americans are better off today than four years ago.  "The real question," he said, is "how we’ll be doing tomorrow."

    Obama tried to accomplish this in two ways: Seeking to rekindle the enthusiasm surrounding his 2008 candidacy, and sending stark warnings about what it would mean if his presumptive Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, were elected.

    Brendan Smialowski / AFP - Getty Images

    President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama wave at a campaign event May 5 in Richmond, Va.

    The word ‘Forward’ printed on placards was held by the crowds at both rallies, a kind of 2.0 version of the ‘hope and change’ theme that propelled the Obama campaign in 2008. The crowds at each were loud and enthusiastic, though the Romney campaign was quick to note that the Columbus arena wasn't filled to capacity. Both crowds were heavy on students, and the Richmond rally had a number of African-Americans in attendance, reflecting the area's large black population.

    Analysis: Obama re-election launch seeks to define stakes of campaign

    Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said Saturday: "No matter how many lofty campaign speeches President Obama gives, the fact remains that American families are struggling on his watch: to pay their bills, find a job and keep their homes.”

    That statement came because the former Massachusetts governor found himself on the receiving end of a broadside by the president on Saturday, one that took aim at a cornerstone of Romney's campaign, his claim of economic competence.

    "When a woman in Iowa shared the story of her financial struggles, he responded with economic theory," Obama said, painting Romney as out-of-touch.

    "Corporations aren't people, people are people!" Obama later added, dredging up Romney's quote at the Iowa state fair, when he compared corporations to individuals.

    The election may hinge on the economy, but Obama's first formal day of campaigning suggested he won't cede that issue to Romney. He and the first lady both played to broad middle class frustration about diminishing social mobility.

    "It's that fundamental promise that no matter who you are or how you started out—if you work hard, you can build a decent life for yourself and yes, an even better life for your kids, and an even better life for your kids," First Lady Michelle Obama said in Columbus.

    There was much about Obama's campaign launch that seemed familiar from his 2008 campaign.

    He said he was still "fired up" and "ready to go," drawing on a campaign slogan from his last election. His two stops on Saturday were in Columbus, Ohio and Richmond, Va. — the state capitals of two crucial swing states Obama had won against Sen. John McCain. And two staple blocs of Obama's 2008 coalition, those young voters and black voters, showed up in throngs for this weekend's events.

    He sought, in no uncertain terms, to draw a line from their effort that year to this fall's campaign, taking strides to remind them of the accomplishments in the meanwhile — his health care law, Wall Street reform, winding down the war in Iraq and killing Osama bin Laden, among other initiatives.

    Melissa Harris-Perry and her panelists discuss President Obama's new campaign slogan of "forward," and how Republicans are reacting to his message.

    "I didn’t run, and you didn’t work your hearts out, just to win an election," Obama said in Richmond.

    He added, toward the end of his remarks: "If people ask you ‘what’s this campaign about?’ you tell them it’s still about hope. You tell them it’s still about change."

    But the heady optimism from 2008 has been tempered, namely by an anemic economic recovery. The April jobs report found the U.S. economy added 115,000 jobs last month, falling below expectations and suggesting that the pace of hiring has slowed.

    Perhaps in recognition of the new political reality, Obama dropped the gloves versus Romney and sharply criticized the former Massachusetts governor, linking him also to a deeply unpopular Republican House of Representatives.

    "For the last few years, the Republicans who run this Congress have insisted that we go right back to the policies that created this mess in the first place," Obama said. "And now, after a long and spirited primary, Republicans in Congress have found a champion — they have found a nominee for president who has promised to rubber-stamp this agenda if he has the chance."

    It might not have been the lofty rhetoric that drew so many admirers to Obama in 2008, but these new, sharper themes in this campaign still resonate with the president's most ardent supporters.

    "I'm just as enthusiastic as the last time, because I think it's going to be a race between an average joe and a multimillionaire," said Marc René of Richmond, an emigre from Haiti in 1994 who works at a local nonprofit.

    "My wife and I work, we have great careers, but we still try to make end's meet. We don't have a net worth of $280 million dollars," he said.

    Meaghan Mcinnis of Richmond, a relatively recent college graduate who lost one of her first jobs out of school before finding a new one, attended the rally with her friend Jamie Dalton. Both women said they feared the notion of Republican-led "war on women" aggressively messaged by Democrats.

    "I feel like there are much bigger issues, and I don't appreciate that 50 and 60-year-old men are making decisions for my 20-something-year-old body," said Mcinnis.

     

  • Away from Nevada, Santorum campaign is undeterred

    By NBC's Andrew Rafferty

    GREELEY, Colo. - As his plane touched down in Denver, Colo. on Saturday afternoon, presidential hopeful Rick Santorum peeked up from his iPad to announce the first results he had seen come out of Nevada. “We’re tied with Romney in Searchlight, Nevada. That may be the highlight of our day,”  Santorum joked to the handful of reporters following him throughout the state.  "You guys are going to tweet that, aren't you?"

    While most of the political world was focused on the Silver State's caucus, the former Pennsylvania senator headed east for three stops in Colorado.  He remained upbeat and largely dismissive of any impact the results would have on his candidacy -- even as it became clear he would finish last, something he has been able to avoid in all previous primaries and caucuses.

    "It's a state that very much favors Gov. Romney," Santorum said of Nevada.  "He's invested about $1 million in the state already.  Ron Paul's got close to $1 million in the state.  We just don't have those resources. We think we'll do well in some of the conservative areas...Las Vegas doesn't match up for me as well as some other states do. We're not putting an emphasis on it."

     

    Santorum's absence from Nevada on Saturday marks the second straight time when the candidate was not in the state that was voting.  When Florida voters went to the polls last Tuesday, the GOP hopeful was in Nevada and arguing the Sunshine State's results show nothing more than the fact that candidates with the most money do well in the state's that are most expensive.

    Since his Iowa caucus victory, Santorum has struggled to remain relevant.  With each state he has lost, the excuses have built. Romney took New Hampshire because he hailed from a neighboring state, and Newt Gingrich won South Carolina for the same reason, he argues.

    Political observers point to his ailing poll numbers and comparatively low war chest as evidence Santorum's campaign is on its last legs.

    But the Santorum campaign remains undeterred by the conventional thinking that their candidate needs wins that translate into momentum and money is irrelevant.  They have more money now than at any point during their run.  And while reports have indicated Newt Gingrich is losing support from some of his big money backers, Santorum to this point has not had that issue.

     The commitment does not seem to be waning from Foster Friess, the billionaire largely funding the pro-Santorum Super PAC "Red, White, and Blue Fund."  Friess has recently been with Santorum, traveling with him to each of his three stops and illustrating the blurry laws that say candidates are not allowed to collaborate with Super PACs.

    "We don't talk about any activity of the Super PAC at all," said Santorum. "I have no idea about what he's doing or how much he's giving and I don't want to know. We talk about family. We talk about other activities. He's very careful in that regard and so am I."

    Outside of Friess' influence, Santorum has been able to continue to translate their Iowa victory into dollars, though still underfunded compared to the campaign coffers of the three other Republicans still in the race.  Santorum has made the comment in the past that the only reason candidates stop running for president is because they run out of money.  Campaign aides say they are stretching dollars as far as possible to ensure that doesn't happen soon.

    Another sign that the Pennsylvanian has no plans to leave the race are the debut of newer and sharper hits on his GOP rivals.  "Newt can throw out some funny lines about people going to jail, but he supported the basic concepts of Dodd-Frank.  And you don't think the President's going to point that out?  You don't think the President is going to point out what their position is on health care, which is identical to his?" Santorum asked while campaigning in Montrose, Colo.

    "I heard Mitt Romney say the other day that he doesn't care that he doesnt care about the very poor.  He doesn't care about the very rich or the very poor, that his program's going to focus on the 95%," Santorum said. "I thought, that's not the Republican party I believe in. That's not the conservative movement I believe in.  We need a President who believe in 95%, or 99% like this president.  We need a President that's concerned with 100% of Americans."

    Santorum now heads to Minnesota for a day of campaigning and will be back in Colorado Monday night. 

  • Debate poll: Which GOP presidential candidate can best spur economic growth?

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  • GOP presidential hopefuls preview debate attacks at conservatives' rally

    Before the Republican presidential debate in Orlando Thursday, seven GOP candidates addressed the Florida Faith & Freedom Coalition.

    By NBC's Carrie Dann, Andrew Rafferty, James Novogrod and Garrett Haake. Video edited by NBC's Matt Loffman.

    Hours before the fourth presidential debate, a parade of GOP hopefuls made their pitches to conservative and religious activists Thursday afternoon at a forum across the street from the fight night venue.

    Candidates addressed a crowd of about 3,000 at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Rally, an event billed as a kickoff to the Florida Presidency 5 gathering that will dominate the political news cycle this weekend.

    Seven of the nine candidates who will share the stage at tonight's debate spoke at the rally, each underscoring their conservative credentials while hinting at the attacks they are likely to make during the debate itself.

    Rep. Michele Bachmann, the first candidate to speak, delivered remarks laced with historical references — and a barb aimed, it seemed, at a fellow candidate.

    “We are that Gideon’s army that’s coming together to stand for the values that we know are the backbone of America. For life, for liberty, for the American family. For religious freedom,” Bachmann said, referencing a military hero of the Old Testament.

    She continued: “Some people have said that this election has to be anybody but Obama,” adding, “of any election, this is the one when conservatives don’t have to settle.”

    Bachmann didn’t mention anyone’s name, leaving the audience to decipher which candidate she had in mind. During last week’s CNN / Tea Party Express debate, Bachmann attacked Rick Perry’s HPV vaccine mandate he authorized as governor of Texas. But social conservatives have also been critical of Mitt Romney — whose speech followed Bachmann's.

    Gov. Mitt Romney stuck largely to his business and economy focused message, not singling out any of his rivals by name.

    "I spent my life in the private sector. I'm a business guy. I'm a conservative business guy." Romney told the crowd, before repeating his standard anti-Obama line that to create jobs it "helps to have had a job."

    Unlike most of the other candidates, Romney never discussed his own faith directly. When he strayed from his economic message, it was to talk about patriotism and values more generically. He said the country needed leaders who could "draw on the patriotism of the American people" and said his own travels around the United States had made him optimistic, not cynical about America's future.

    Romney also repeated a characterization of President Obama that he debuted at the VFW convention in San Antonio last month: that the president's policies were guided by "all those years, perhaps, in the Harvard faculty lounge" and by looking to Europe. Some observers see this as an odd distinction for Romney to attempt to draw with the president, since the former Massachusetts governor himself earned a J.D./M.B.A at Harvard, and several of his advisers hold degrees from the Cambridge, Mass. institution, or have taught there. Three of Romney's five sons also have advanced degrees from Harvard.

    The last speaker, Gov. Rick Perry, made a direct pitch for support in the P5 straw poll to be held on Saturday. Perry also delivered an in-person critique of the Obama administration's "Race to the Top" education reform program, which his team slammed in an email to reporters earlier Thursday. The Texas governor's aides charge that Romney has flip-flopped on his views of the White House's educations reforms.

    Receiving one of the most enthusiastic receptions from Faith and Freedom attendees was former Godfathers Pizza CEO Herman Cain, who noted that he has never held elected office.

    Also speaking at the event were former Pennsylvania Sen. RIck Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman was included on a preliminary schedule, but a spokesman said that he was never slated to attend.