BREAKING VIDEO: Dan Sullivan Returns Home Sweet Home To Ohio
Northeast Ohio native Dan Sullivan skipped a forum in Anchorage yesterday that was attended by Mark Begich and Libertarian Mark Fish. Why would Sullivan skip a candidate forum so late in the election? Turns out, he was just feeling a little homesick. While the other Alaska senate candidates were answering questions about Alaska, Dan Sullivan was prepping for his big homecoming, a secret fundraising trip to Cleveland. Sullivan continues to raise more money from Ohio donors than from any other state, including hefty sums from his wealthy family and friends.
Misery Loves Company
Chris Christie is coming to Wisconsin today to campaign for Scott Walker, and the two have much in common. Both governors were once considered Republican frontrunners for 2016, but have since been tainted by ongoing investigations and a record of fiscal failures. A new business survey released last week showed that Wisconsin and New Jersey rank pathetically as the 46th and 47th best states for businesses. The pair of governors present themselves as business-friendly policymakers, but the facts show otherwise. Moreover, each faces looming budget shortfalls thanks to budget overhauls that gave tax cuts to the wealthy while gutting education. Christie has presided over an astonishing eight credit downgrades in his tenure in the Garden State, while Walker's Wisconsin is last in the Midwest in job growth. Walker is now statistically tied with his challenger in a race he hoped would only be a formality on his path to running for President in 2016, while Christie is struggling to remain relevant on the national stage. Scott Walker and Chris Christie are long on topics for commiseration, and short on good ideas for their constituents.
Corroding the Classroom: Republican Gubernatorial Candidates' Devastating Cuts to Education
In key gubernatorial races across the country, education funding has become a major issue -- and that's bad news for Republicans.
In 2010, a slew of GOP candidates rode a tea party wave to governorships, promising massive budget overhauls that would hand tax cuts to the wealthy and cut other programs to pay for them. Well they delivered on those promises, and one after the next gutted education funding as they reshaped their states in the tea party mold. Now they're reaping what they've sown.
From Rick Scott and Scott Walker to Sam Brownback, Tom Corbett and more, Republican governors are getting slammed for slashing funds for schools, dealing a blow to their respective reelection bids, while prospective governors like Doug Ducey have promised to do the same. Locked in tight races, these Tea Party governors are floundering to explain their draconian cuts to concerned constituents by twisting numbers and distorting their records.
But there is no explaining away the truth: these governors put tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations ahead of children's education, and families in their states are paying the price.
Shady Rick, Part Infinity: Donor Intimidation (VIDEO)
Shady Rick Scott and the Republican Party of Florida continue to show that there is simply no length they won't go to in order to win this election. For the past week, Scott and the Florida GOP have been subject to ridicule and disgust over a pants-on-fire that ran thousands of times across the state, and neither Scott nor the state party would disavow it.
Hello Ernst and Ryan; Goodbye Social Security and Medicare
Joni Ernst is in serious trouble in her Iowa senate race. Paul Ryan really wants to be president. So when Ryan comes to Iowa to campaign for Ernst tomorrow, everybody's a winner! Except Iowans. Paul Ryan pioneered plans to privatize Social Security and slash Medicare, and Joni Ernst was his number one cheerleader. Ernst said "Ryan is a do-er, especially on budget issues," and she gleefully voted to endorse his budget in the Iowa Senate. She's voiced her support for privatizing Social Security on the campaign while refusing to offer any details, and claimed that Medicaid recipients "have no personal responsibility for their health," another program that would be gutted by Ryan's budgets. Joni Ernst is a fringe candidate, and it shows in the company she keeps and the people she admires. She's thanked the Koch brothers for "starting her trajectory." She said she was flattered to be compared to Sarah Palin because Palin is the kind of politician she admires. She appeared with Ted Cruz, who said there was no candidate he was more excited about across the country than Ernst. And now she's campaigning with anti-retirement crusader, Paul Ryan, who she calls a "do-er." Joni Ernst doesn't want Iowans to believe that she's extreme. But facts are facts. Ernst and Ryan want to privatize Social Security and roll back Medicare. That's pretty extreme.
Are Those Palm Trees in Iowa, Joni?
Yesterday, right in the middle of prime campaign season with just 42 days to go until Election Day, Joni Ernst took a break from her usual rough and tumble schedule of pandering to the Koch brothers to pander instead to some wealthy donors in....sunny Florida. American Bridge was there to document Ernst's fun in the Sunshine State, including her arrival and departure in a fancy chauffeured SUV and cracking jokes with her wealthy new Floridian friends. How positively, um, Iowan, of her. Watch Ernst's trip to the Sunshine State here:
NEW VIDEO: Rick Scott's Swindle
It takes a lot for Shady Rick Scott's ethical lapses to make headlines at this point. Why he's set the bar very high for himself with scores of unsavory scandals, attempts to mislead, and even flat out lies. But he's outdone himself this time. Around $2 million has been thrown behind an aggressive attack ad featuring a mysterious man, who Rick Scott and the Republican Party of Florida refused to identify, claiming that Charlie Crist and Scott Rothstein swindled him out of all his money. But the man's identity was finally tracked down by the Miami Herald, and surprise surprise, the ad is incredibly misleading.
Shot/Chaser: Chris Christie Puts Politics Before Governing
Chris Christie may be governor of New Jersey, but governing New Jersey doesn't always seem to be his priority. No,…
EXCLUSIVE Audio: AFP Summit Speakers "Appeal" To Women
Americans For Prosperity held its annual "Defending the American Dream Summit" in Dallas last month, where top tier Republican presidential…
American Bridge & Correct The Record Launch Joint Rapid Response Project Around Benghazi Select Committee Hearings
As first reported in Politico, American Bridge and Correct the Record today are launching a new joint rapid response project to prebut, fact check, and respond to the upcoming Benghazi Select Committee hearings. The new effort, modeled after a formal debate operation, will include a central online hub for research and rapid response - the Benghazi Research Center - accessible at BenghaziCommittee.com.
Get the Facts: Benghazi Research Center
