Tag: Political campaign

Former PM David Cameron has suggested the launch of a ‘Shag a Stabber’ campaign to help lower knife crime. With the rise in knife crime across Britain becoming a serious concern, the former prime minister believes serious action is required. ‘We need to hit it hard and hit it fast. Just like my “Hug a Hoodie” campaign stopped teens from wearing hoods, we need a “Shag a Stabber” campaign to stop knife crime,’ said Cameron. Cameron believes such a campaign would be a huge success as the increased amount of copulation would lower stress levels and lead to a decrease in violence. ‘Sometimes it’s hard to remember that not everyone has a dead pig to take out their sexual frustrations on. We need to come together as a nation, figuratively and literally,’ said the former PM. Cameron says he has forwarded the idea to Conservative HQ but no-one seems to be returning his calls for some reason.

We gathered several of our political reporters — Jess Bidgood, Liz Goodwin, Victoria McGrane, and James Pindell — to answer questions via Slack Monday about her nascent campaign: When Elizabeth Warren entered the race, she faced some criticism about her candidacy — everything from her DNA test release to questions about her ‘likability’ (more on that later). Since we’re talking about Massachusetts... What other ways, if any, does she bring up her life here? Bidgood: She has talked a lot about beating Scott Brown in 2012. This person, like most if not all Republicans, really does not like Warren. When you talk to the people who appear at her rallies, what do they say about her “likability”? Pindell: Democratic voters I talk with are really struggling with the “I want a progressive fighter who understands I want to punch Trump every day” and then someone they think will have a persona of calm that can tactically appeal to some Trump voters. Goodwin: It feels like a lot of voters are willing to vote for whoever is getting the most traction and seems to have the best shot at beating Trump. Getting in so early was partly a nod to her wanting to get the meter started on these donations. (Of course, other candidates will have the same challenge.) McGrane: Warren, interestingly, has done some work on outreach to voters of color in the past couple of years as Jess wrote about.

The effect is amplified in an election year. That resulted in pump prices hitting all-time highs in rupee terms in Indian cities of 91.20 rupees ($1.22) per liter for petrol and 80.10 rupees per liter for diesel though international crude prices had only touched a four-year peak. The central government finally caved in to public and political pressure in early October, whittling down the excise tax on petrol and diesel by 1.50 rupees (2 cents) per liter from 19.48 rupees and 15.33 rupees per liter respectively. The country's public-sector refiners were asked to cut prices by another 1 rupee per liter, out of their pockets. As the pre-election political rhetoric in India rises in the coming months, it will be important for the ruling BJP government as well as the Congress, the main opposition party, to avoid engaging in oil price populism. But managing the country's growing crude imports and foreign exchange outflows as well as domestic fuel pricing policies is only a facet of a comprehensive energy strategy India needs, not just for the next few months or years, but decades. The current government earned respect within the country and internationally by opening a channel of communication with OPEC leaders and the Middle Eastern oil producers, from whom India gets the bulk of its crude needs, as crude prices raced up over the second and third quarter of 2018. As the world's third largest oil consumer and crude importer spoke, OPEC listened. A string of energy policy reforms initiated or accelerated by the Modi government will need to be sustained, irrespective of which political party or coalition takes over after the election. These include India's push for cleaner fuel rules to reduce harmful vehicular emissions, full deregulation of oil product prices, a boost in production and consumption of biofuels, ambitious plans to raise renewable energy's share in the power sector and lift electric vehicle sales targets.

“This is the heat of the general election, and the same person is acting as an agent for the NRA and the Trump campaign.” Reporting by The Trace, which has teamed up with Mother Jones to investigate the NRA’s political activity, shows that the NRA and the Trump campaign employed the same operation—at times, the exact same people—to craft and execute their advertising strategies for the 2016 presidential election. The investigation, which involved a review of more than 1,000 pages of Federal Communications Commission and Federal Election Commission documents, found multiple instances in which National Media, through its affiliates Red Eagle and AMAG, executed ad buys for Trump and the NRA that seemed coordinated to enhance each other. Experts say the arrangement appears to violate campaign finance laws. AMAG does not appear to have any employees or contacts independent of National Media; a lawyer who has been identified in news accounts as representing AMAG did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Records in the FCC “public inspection files”—files that television stations maintain in order to comply with transparency regulations around political advertising—show that Red Eagle and AMAG often bought ads around the same time, on the same stations, for the NRA and the Trump campaign, respectively. FCC documents also list her as the AMAG buyer or contact for various other Florida stations. “In mid-September,” the book says, “Angle and his boss were summoned to Trump Tower and told their firm would be placing all of the Trump campaign’s television advertising during the last seven weeks of the campaign.” Angle is listed on National Media’s website as a “senior media buyer.” In October, his name appeared in FCC paperwork as the contact for an NRA ad buy, placed through Red Eagle, at an ABC station in Denver. Ferrell’s “efforts help [National Media] provide optimal financial stewardship of campaign media budgets.” Kovatch “has consistently bought the largest media markets around the country, building an extensive knowledge of ratings, costs and seasonal trends across all time periods and dayparts.” Angle uses his “extensive experience” to “strategically place efficient and effective media buys for our clients.” And Kowalski “acted as a liaison between media buyers and TV, radio, and cable networks,” and “researched voter demographic data to help create” advertising campaigns for, among others, “presidential” candidates and “issue-advocacy groups.” Prior reporting has identified consulting firms as conduits for potentially illegal coordination between campaigns and outside groups. Documents authorizing the purchase were signed by Ferrell, whose colleague Ben Angle, the senior buyer at National Media, has been a proponent of sports as a way to reach conservative audiences. Angle’s name appears on Trump campaign paperwork documenting the Raycom purchase, directly above “AMAG.” After reviewing the Raycom records, Wilson said the pattern suggests the purchases were part of a unified strategy by the NRA and the Trump campaign.

Clayton Jump's first campaign ad is a wonder of politics, an honest, direct talk with the voters of Colobraska. Getting a "Jump" on the competition, this isn't for 2018, but 2020, giving Clayton a chance to lay our his vision…

Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton admits she still wants to be president; reaction from Trump 2020 presidential campaign manager Brad Parscale. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as…

Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former White House aide, has released fresh audio recordings that she claims show she was offered “hush money” by Donald Trump’s re-election campaign. Manigault Newman has already made several serious and provocative accusations about Trump and the White House in her book Unhinged, including that there are recordings of Trump using the N-word. The White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said earlier this week she was unable to guarantee that any such recording did not exist. During an appearance on MSNBC on Thursday, Manigault Newman played excerpts of an apparent phone conversation between her and Lara Trump, Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, which Manigault Newman claims was recorded shortly after her dismissal from the White House. However, she noted that if Mangault Newman joined the campaign, everything she would say about Trump would have to be “positive”. Manigault Newman, a former Apprentice contestant who was once the most prominent African American in the Trump administration, told MSNBC she saw the offer as “an attempt to buy my silence, censor me and pay me off – $15,000 a month”. Asked if she saw it as “hush money,” Manigault Newman responded: “Absolutely.” In the course of the conversation, Lara Trump noted “the only thing we have to consider where we’re talking about salary as far as the campaign is concerned is that, as you know, everything is public”. Manigault Newman said that Lara Trump was clear during their phone conversation that the impetus for the phone call came from Donald Trump. She went on: “[I am] absolutely shocked and saddened by her betrayal and violation on a deeply personal level.” Manigault Newman refused to rule out releasing further recordings. “Every single time the Trump people challenge me, I bring the receipts,” she said of the criticism she has received for making the recordings, and making them public.

Cruz, the incumbent Republican, was at The Pantry in McKinney and Babe's Chicken House in Arlington, holding classic retail meet and greets, urging conservatives to support his re-election bid and stem the predicted blue wave that could propel Democrats and his rival. O'Rourke discussed the importance of the Dallas area Monday night, when he kicked off his North Texas swing at the opening of his campaign office in Dallas. We're just showing up everywhere, every day," O'Rourke told The Dallas Morning News. The people are behind us. Last month, he campaigned at a Dallas barbecue restaurant and a barber shop. A Texas Lyceum poll showed a statistical dead heat, with Cruz ahead 41 percent to 39 percent, well within the margin of error of plus or minus 4.67 percentage points, which means that either could be ahead. And a Quinnipiac University Poll put Cruz leading 49 percent to 43 percent. During the question-and-answer period in Arlington, Cruz blasted O'Rourke as a liberal who doesn't reflect Texas values, saying his rival opposes building a wall to keep people from illegally crossing the southern border, favors government-sponsored health care, supports gun control and wants to impeach President Trump. Tuesday evening at DeSoto High School, O'Rourke hosted a town hall exclusively on education, a crucial issue for the teachers and retired educators scattered across the crowd of 400. "I have yet to meet a teacher who doesn't want to be held accountable, and I have yet to meet a teacher who doesn't want to do a better job in the classroom," O'Rourke said.

Brussels insists on the free market, including for wages, but Bern wants to keep high Swiss salaries at any price. Switzerland’s political system is based on broad compromises in parliament so that solutions are not vetoed in referendums. Red lines and Europe More than 25 years ago, Swiss voters threw out a framework agreement of cooperation with the EU: the European Economic Area. Parliament has found a solution for an arbitration mechanism. Brussels argues this rule restricts the free movement of people, a key political tenet of the EU. If such a compromise becomes part of a future framework agreement between Switzerland and the EU, both the left and the right would most certainly force a referendum. At the same time, the leftwing Social Democratic Party (one of four main parties represented in the Swiss government) argues that concessions of this kind are unacceptable and can’t be part of any form of negotiation with Brussels. Optimists and pessimists Political scientists in Switzerland have described this policy as a “veto game”. The political impact is not defined by the share of votes in an election, but by the ability to challenge an issue to a public vote, thereby overturning a decision by the parliamentary majority. The centre-right Radical Party wants to ensure access to the common EU market for Swiss companies but without Switzerland joining the 28-nation bloc.

Labour’s latest bitter row over antisemitism could hardly have come at a worse time for the party’s army of activists in the north London Tory stronghold of Barnet. “Barnet has been moving towards Labour now for quite a while. We have been campaigning almost non-stop for eight, 10 years. If Labour could take those two seats, and the political makeup of the rest of the borough remained unchanged, it would seize control of the council, which has been in Tory hands since 2002. Adam Langleben, the Labour councillor for West Hendon, points to last year’s general election result in Chipping Barnet as a sign of the changing times. The difference between now and 40 years ago when my parents moved up here is that people are bringing their politics with them. But something has changed in the last 10 years. Langleben helped represent local residents at the two inquiries into the project. Labour says the project has failed to deliver promised savings, undermined accountability and allowed public services to deteriorate. You need something to bring things together.” As campaigning begins in earnest, Richard Cornelius, the leader of Barnet council, insists he and his colleagues will not be exploiting Labour’s discomfort in strongly Jewish wards.