Good Thursday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 105th day of the year. There are 261 days left in 2016.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are set to debate tonight in Brooklyn. Utahns are divided on whether Barack Obama’s SCOTUS nominee should get a vote. The Utah GOP says they won’t comply with SB54.
The clock:
- Nine days to the Utah Republican and Democratic State Conventions (4/23/2016)
- 75 days to the 2016 Utah primary election – (6/28/2016)
- 95 days to the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland (7/18/2016)
- 102 days to the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia (7/25/2016)
- 208 days until the 2016 presidential election – (11/8/2016)
- 284 days until the first day of the 2017 Utah Legislature – (1/23/2017)
- 329 days until the final day of the 2017 Utah Legislature – (3/9/2017)
Ten talking points for Thursday:
- It’s on like Charles Bronson! Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are ready to brawl on the debate stage tonight in Brooklyn [Politico, The Hill, New York Times]. Clinton’s camp is demanding Sanders disavow the remarks of a campaign surrogate who used the phrase “corporate Democratic whores” during a rally [Politico].
- Sen. Sanders’ wife, Jane, says she and her husband will support Clinton if she wins the Democratic nomination [Daily Beast].
- Donald Trump‘s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, will not be prosecuted for allegedly physically assaulting a reporter on the campaign trail [Politico, Bloomberg].
- A new poll shows a plurality of Utahns disagree with Sens. Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee‘s refusal to vote on President Barack Obama‘s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland [Utah Policy].
- The Utah GOP tells a judge they will refuse to comply with SB54 [Utah Policy, Tribune, Deseret News].
- Karl Rove, while campaigning for Gov. Gary Herbert, says he believes Donald Trump will not get enough delegates to win the GOP presidential nomination and that Utah could vote for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time in decades [Tribune, Deseret News, 2 News]. Rove’s remarks about Trump are curious as his super PAC, American Crossroads, is telling donors Trump can win [Politico].
- Sen. Mike Lee is not abandoning his quest to win the No. 4 job in the Republican leadership, which is causing some unrest in the Senate GOP Caucus [Politico].
- Cottonwood Heights decides to buy its own fleet of snowplows after a private company they contracted with to provide those services did not do a good enough job [Tribune, Fox 13].
- Rep. Rich Cunningham is crying foul about some campaign donations to his opponent for the GOP nomination in Senate District 10, Sen. Lincoln Fillmore [Deseret News].
- Both Republican candidates in House District 20, Rep. Becky Edwards and Glen Jenkins, have enough signatures to ensure a place on June’s primary ballot [Standard-Examiner].
On this day in history:
- 1775 – The first slavery abolition society in North America was founded by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.
- 1828 – Noah Webster publishes his American Dictionary of the English Language.
- 1865 – John Wilkes Booth shot and mortally wounded President Abraham Lincoln during a performance at Ford’s Theatre in Washington. Lincoln died the next morning.
- 1902 – J.C. Penney opened his first store, in Kemmerer, Wyoming.
- 1912 – The British liner Titanic collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic and began to sink.
