Welcome to The Lid, your afternoon dose of the 2016 ethos…. Hillary Clinton told reporters Tuesday "I don't know how it works digitally at all,” when asked if she had wiped her email server. The answer came after exhaustive focus-group testing of your Mimi trying to write you a letter on the Facebooks.
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’16 AT 30 THOUSAND
The time is almost rolling around to begin asking anew the question that captivated the political press before the August 6 FOX debate: Who will be a part of the big show at the CNN debate in September? Here’s an important thing to keep in mind: CNN’s criteria for calculating the top 10 candidates to participate in the major debate event are different than how FOX did their math. While FOX only averaged the latest five national polls before the debate, CNN will average national polls from July 16 (yes,July) all the way until September 10 to determine the top candidates. That means that, by our count, nine polls in the mix will be from BEFORE the August 6 debate -- and the accompanying polling bumps for Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina. There are lots of polls yet to come that will shift the calculations, but expect to start seeing stories about who would be in and who would be out if the CNN debate was held tomorrow. And at this moment in time: Fiorina is still on the outside looking in.
POPPING ON NBC POLITICS
- NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell reports on Scott Walker’s changing tone on the campaign trail.
- The Hillary Clinton presidential campaign has hired Latino-owned firm Latino Decisions to join the campaign's polling team, sources told NBC News Latino Wednesday.
- And she’s out with a new ad highlighting how she’d fight economic inequality.
- Ted Cruz scored a big endorsement in Iowa today, NBC’s Vaughn Hillyard and Danny Freeman report.
- Sen. Claire McCaskill is not happy with Missouri state lawmakers after they considered using an intern dress code to address sexual assault allegations.
CAMPAIGN QUICK READS
TRUMP: Buzzfeed reports that his account of a near-death experience might be fabricated.
Some high school students are also petitioning to have their senior prom moved from a Trump-owned golf course next year.
CLINTON: She gets Fact Checked on her account of how her email controversy escalated.
HUCKABEE: From the New York Times reporting on Huckabee’s trip to Jerusalem: “Former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas said Wednesday that the entire occupied West Bank was part of Israel, leaving no room for a Palestinian state there.”
FOR THE RECORD…
“It was too many years ago to remember. I have one of the great memories of all time, but it was too long ago.”
- Donald Trump, on the last thing he apologized for
TOMORROW’S SKED
Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, and Scott Walker campaign in New Hampshire.
Rick Santorum delivers an immigration policy address at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Elsewhere, Marco Rubio campaigns in Michigan and Bobby Jindal is in South Carolina.
Martin O’Malley addresses the Young Democrats Convention in Los Angeles.
