FRIDAY, MARCH 4
MORNING MESSAGE
Jobs Report: Sunny with Storm Clouds Looming
The monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report offered good news with 242,000 new jobs created in February, while headline unemployment remained at 4.9 percent. February marked a record 72 months of private sector jobs growth, with some 12.5 million more jobs now than at the official end of the recession in June 2009. We’ve come a long way, but have far to go. There are 15.6 million Americans still in need of full-time work ... Wages are barely stirring ... The wealthiest 1 percent continue to capture virtually all of the income growth ... Trade deficits have widened as exports have fallen...
TRUMP HAMMERED, ACCEPTED AT DEBATE
Trump grilled over Trump University. Slate:“… Trump, after the debate, tweeted an image of an ‘A’ rating … Trump U did, however, have a D-minus rating at one point before it was renamed … A lead plaintiff is now getting out of the case because it’s ‘so bad for her.’ This might be the most upsetting thing Trump said … she is afraid of Trump retaliating against her.”
But rivals all agree to support him as nominee. Bloomberg:“…the remaining candidates agreed they’d fully support Trump if he became the party’s nominee. In doing so, they delivered a striking blow to a movement of Republican elites seeking to reject Trump under any circumstances.”
Trump openly flip-flops on immigration. WSJ:“…Trump, whose website calls for eliminating the H1-B class of visas that allow companies to import high-skilled immigrants, said he’d changed his mind. ‘I’m changing. I’m changing,’ he said. ‘We need highly skilled people in this country, and if we can’t do it, we’ll get them in. But, and we do need in Silicon Valley, we absolutely have to have.'”
They’re all con artists, says NYT’s Paul Krugman:“Donald Trump is a ‘con artist,’ says Marco Rubio — who has promised to enact giant tax cuts, undertake a huge military buildup and balance the budget without any cuts in benefits to Americans over 55 … it’s Ted Cruz, not Mr. Trump, who seems eager to ‘carpet bomb’ people, without appearing to know what that means.”
Much of CPAC conservative gathering anti-Trump. W. Post:“conservative host Guy Benson [at] a final pre-debate panel [asked] ‘How many of you are in the #NeverTrump camp’ … Half of the arms in the audience shot up. ‘That’s going to be a problem,’ said Benson.”
ENTER ROMNEY?
Romney attacks Trump but rules out his own run. Politico quotes:“No, no, the people who can save this party are Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio or John Kasich. There are no circumstances I can foresee where that would possibly happen.”
CNN reports Romney eyes blocking Trump at convention:“The 2012 GOP nominee’s advisers are examining what a fight at the convention might look like and what rules might need revising … Romney is focused on suppressing Trump’s delegate count to prevent him from accumulating the 1,237 delegates he needs … implicit in Romney’s request to his team to explore the possibility of a convention fight is his willingness to step in … Another name these sources mentioned was House Speaker Paul Ryan…”
CLINTON, SANDERS VIE FOR MICHIGAN
“Hillary Clinton, in Detroit, Will Unveil Jobs and Wage Plan” reports NYT:“‘You’ll hear her full vision for the future of good paying jobs,’ her policy director, Jake Sullivan, said on Thursday, previewing the address, which will touch on a wide range of topics, including free trade, clean-energy jobs, and how to address stagnant middle-class wages.”
Sanders knocks Clinton on trade. LAT:“He cited her support for NAFTA during her husband’s presidency and for subsequent deals involving China, Colombia and Mexico. He suggested that her current opposition to the Pacific trade agreement would be reversed were she to become president … ‘she was very, very wrong, and millions of families around America have been suffering because of those disastrous trade policies,’ Sanders said.”
EMILY’s List hopes to sell young women on Hillary. Time:“…the organization is starting #Sheswithus: a movement of young women online talking about why they support Clinton. The first group of testimonials went live Thursday on Medium.”
Democracy for America tries to extend Sanders revolution to Congress. Time:“Democracy for America, a million-member organization, on Friday endorsed Zephyr Teachout of New York and Pramila Jayapal of Washington for Congress. Both Teachout and Jayapal have endorsed Sanders. It’s part of a wider effort to realize the Vermont Senator’s dream of progressives challenging establishment candidates.”
Sanders to do Fox News town hall Monday before Michigan primary. W. Post:“Anchor Bret Baier announced Thursday that the presidential hopeful would appear with him and said that Hillary Clinton had also been invited but declined because of ‘a scheduling conflict.’ Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said there had also been discussions about having Republican front-runner Donald Trump appear at the same forum, an idea Sanders welcomed.”
BIDEN TALKS SCOTUS
VP Biden explains 1992 remarks on Supreme Court nominations in NYT oped:“It was late June, and at the time there was much speculation that a sitting justice would retire … I feared that a nomination at that late date, just a few weeks before the presidential conventions, would create immense political acrimony … My purpose was not to obstruct, but to call for … a more consultative process [and] a consensus candidate … It is the same view I hold today.”
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