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Monday’s Talking Points – March 21, 2016

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Good Monday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 81st day of the year. There are 285 days left in 2016

Obama visits Cuba. Presidential candidates campaign in Utah. Sanders raises more money than Clinton in February.

The clock:

  • The Utah Republican and Democratic caucus meetings are tomorrow (3/22/2016)
  • Nine days to the last day the governor may sign or veto bills (3/30/2016)
  • 33 days to the Utah Republican and Democratic State Conventions (4/23/2016)
  • 49 days to the last day a veto override session may begin (5/9/2016)
  • 99 days to the 2016 Utah primary election – (6/28/2016)
  • 119 days to the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland (7/18/2016)
  • 126 days to the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia (7/25/2016)
  • 232 days until the 2016 presidential election – (11/8/2016)
  • 308 days until the first day of the 2017 Utah Legislature – (1/23/2017)
  • 353 days until the final day of the 2017 Utah Legislature – (3/9/2017)

Ten talking points for Monday:

  1. President Barack Obama makes a historic visit to Cuba [CNN, Reuters].
  2. Republican Donald Trump says party rules requiring a candidate to win a majority of delegates to capture the party nomination outright are “unfair,” claiming he should be given the nomination if he has the most delegates [New York Times].
  3. Bernie Sanders raised a lot more money than Hillary Clinton in February [Politico].
  4. Presidential candidates were crawling all over Utah this past weekend:
    • Democrat Bernie Sanders spoke to an estimated crowd of 14,000 on Friday afternoon [Tribune, Deseret News]. Sanders will hold another rally, and talk about foreign policy in Salt Lake City on Monday [Tribune].
    • Republican Donald Trump spoke at a smaller rally in Salt Lake City on Friday, where he took a shot at Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith [Tribune, Deseret News].
    •  Republican John Kasich tells crowds he’s the only candidate who can beat Hillary Clinton in November [Tribune, Deseret News].
    • Republican Ted Cruz told supporters in Utah he would consider nominating Sen. Mike Lee for the Supreme Court [Tribune, Deseret News].
  5. Donald Trump could get shut out of the delegate count in Utah according to a new survey showing Cruz with a big lead among Utah caucus-goers [Utah Policy, Tribune]. 
  6. Another study shows Donald Trump might lose to either Sanders or Hillary Clinton in Utah if he’s the nominee [Deseret News].
  7. Trump supporters and protesters clash outside of his rally on Friday night [Deseret News, Tribune].
  8. Presidential campaigns are spending big in Utah, dropping more than $1.5 million on advertising [Tribune].
  9. 16 legislative candidates are running unopposed in November [Tribune].
  10. Utah’s unemployment rate doesn’t change, holding at 3.4% [Deseret News].

On this day in history:

  • 1790 – Thomas Jefferson became the first U.S. Secretary of State.
  • 1918 – Germany launched the Somme offensive during World War I.
  • 1963 – Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay was emptied of its last inmates.
  • 1965 – More than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators, led by Martin Luther King Jr. began a four-day march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
  • 1987 – The album “The Joshua Tree” by U2 was released.
  • 2006 – The social media website Twitter launched with the first tweet by co-founder Jack Dorsey.