Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 75th day of the year. There are 291 days left in 2016.
It’s Super Tuesday 3.0. The Salt Lake City GOP debate will be on Fox News, but will anyone show up? Trump may have a Mormon problem.
The clock:
Two days until the Utah candidate filing period closes – (3/17/2016)
Six days to the GOP presidential debate in Salt Lake City (maybe) – (3/21/2016)
Seven days to the Utah Republican and Democratic caucus meetings (3/22/2016)
15 days to the last day the governor may sign or veto bills (3/30/2016)
39 days to the Utah Republican and Democratic State Conventions (4/23/2016)
55 days to the last day a veto override session may begin (5/9/2016)
105 days to the 2016 Utah primary election – (6/28/2016)
125 days to the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland (7/18/2016)
132 days to the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia (7/25/2016)
238 days until the 2016 presidential election – (11/8/2016)
314 days until the first day of the 2017 Utah Legislature – (1/23/2017)
359 days until the final day of the 2017 Utah Legislature – (3/9/2017)
Ten talking points for Tuesday:
There are 793 Democratic and 367 Republican delegates up for grabs today with primaries on tap in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. Republicans are trying desperately to stop Donald Trump‘s momentum while Bernie Sanders is focusing on winning as many delegates as possible to close the gap with Hillary Clinton [Washington Post, Politico, New York Times].
Bernie Sanders says he’s running as a Democrat instead of an independent candidate to get media coverage [Politico].
Fox News announces they will host the GOP presidential debate in Salt Lake City on March 21. It remains to be seen which candidates show up [Utah Policy, Tribune, Deseret News, Fox 13].
Donald Trump may have a significant problem courting the Mormon vote in 2016 [Tribune].
The judge in the lawsuit against SB54 signals he may be leaning toward preserving the signature-gathering route to the primary ballot [Tribune, Deseret News].
Rep. Brad Dee‘s decision to run for Weber County Commission looks a little bit shady when you consider the man running to replace him in the legislature, Matt Bell, is effectively Dee’s boss in Weber County [Utah Policy].
Democratic congressional candidate Charlene Albarran rented an apartment inside the district boundaries of the seat she’s running for just seven days before filing for office [Utah Policy].
“Superdell” Schanze, who has had frequent run-ins with the law since his computer chain shut down, has once again filed to run for governor [2 News, Fox 13, Deseret News, Tribune].
An audit shows nearly $100,000 missing from the Kane County coffers is linked to Kane County Treasurer Georgia Baca [Deseret News, Tribune].
Watch Lin-Manuel Miranda, the composer of Broadway smash hit Hamilton, freestyle with President Barack Obama in the Rose Garden [Time].
On this day in history:
44 – Julius Caesar was assassinated by Brutus and others in Rome.
1493 – Christopher Columbus returned to Spain after his first voyage to the New World.
1820 – As part of the Missouri Compromise between the North and the South, Maine was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state.
1913 – President Woodrow Wilson met with about 100 reporters for the first formal presidential press conference.
1985 – The first internet domain, symbolics.com, was registered by the Symbolics Computer Corp. of Massachusetts.