Archive for April, 2015

Hillary Clinton's opening campaign pitch

This article originally appeared on Slate.

People's Champion. That's Hillary Clinton's first crack at explaining why she's running for president. (What she once called "the hard question.") The campaign video she released announcing her candidacy on Sunday was all about the people--expectant parents, job seekers, a same-sex couple on the verge of marriage, and women of all ages and ethnicities. This was a celebration of what National Journal's Ron Brownstein called the "coalition of the ascendant"--the young people, minorities, and college-educated whites--especially women--who helped give Barack Obama his two victories and who Democrats think are the key to a string of future presidential victories. It was such a play to this group that Business Week's Josh Green said the ad should have ended with a tag line that read "Ron Brownstein is responsible for the content of this message."

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Former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made it official on Sunday that she is running for president in 2016 in a 2-minute video...

The online spot was a departure from the recent vintage of announcement videos where the candidate is hard to distinguish from an action hero, ready to solve America's problems: foreign, domestic, and extra-terrestrial.

The Clinton video--which is the opening argument of her campaign--did exclude some people. She makes it clear that she is not running for all the people. As she wrote on Twitter, "Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion." She is not promising to be the champion of "every American" but rather "everyday Americans." In that grammatical choice lies the campaign: a fight for the people who have been left out of the economic recovery.

In order to put the voters center stage, Clinton doesn't appear until more than 90 seconds into the video. By then, all the voters she hopes to stitch into her coalition have seen a version of themselves. In the most recent CBS poll, Clinton gets low marks for honesty--only 42 percent of the country thinks she is honest and trustworthy--and her favorability is low (only 26 percent have a favorable opinion of her). For the viewers who have these chilly views of her, this opening gambit was a warmth-graft, associating her candidacy with superbly shot images of attractive, striving Americans. It was the visual equivalent of motherhood and apple pie wrapped in the American dream.

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Face The Nation host Bob Schieffer, CBS News congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes, and CBS News political director John Dickerson join CBSN...

Connecting Clinton with people plays to her strengths. A strong majority (56 percent) believes that she cares about people like them.

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Hillary Clinton's opening campaign pitch

Hillary Clinton starts small in Iowa as her vast national network whirs to life

DES MOINES On the surface, Hillary Rodham Clinton is starting her presidential run small. Shes being driven halfway across the country in what shes dubbed her Scooby Doo van, getting out at diners and gas stations to chat with people. She plans an intimate listening tour with everyday Americans, beginning Tuesday in the town of Monticello, Iowa.

Behind the scenes, however, the vast network Hillary and Bill Clinton have cultivated over four decades in politics is whirring back to life to build a behemoth ready to last far beyond the Democratic primaries. It will be the largest operation ever mustered by the Clintons, designed to compete in what is expected to be the most expensive presidential election in U.S. history.

Theres going to be a juggernaut, said John Morgan, a Clinton supporter and fundraiser in Florida. This is straight to the World Series no spring training, no regular league play, no wild card games.

Already, an overwhelming amount of money has come in via the campaign Web site, according to a person familiar with the online response.

Still, the Clinton team says their mantra is: Take nothing for granted. Her campaign advisers say they anticipate a competitive Democratic nominating contest and that she will fight to earn every vote especially here in Iowa, whose quadrennial first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses have humbled many front-runners, including Clinton in 2008.

Yet most Democrats see Clinton, in the absence of a strong challenger, as their inevitable nominee. So it was that on Day One, Clintons campaign and its allies turned to building up an infrastructure for what promises to be a long, costly and bruising journey to the White House.

The nascent Clinton team is laboring to assemble a grass-roots political organization on the ground in all 50 states by next month, when she will formally kick off her campaign with her first rally and major speech.

Clintons activity and footprint will be particularly robust in Iowa, also a general election swing state. Aides said she plans to help rebuild the beleaguered Democratic Party here, including recruiting candidates to run for local offices like school board and growing a corps of volunteers to help in the general election.

Campaign officials asked governors, senators and other elected officials to not simply issue endorsements many did so immediately but to send e-mails and other messages that could mobilize their own volunteers and constituents behind Clintons candidacy. In a Sunday memo, the campaign composed suggested tweets for elected officials to send, sharing her announcement video and inviting them to sign up with her campaign.

Campaign chairman John Podesta and finance director Dennis Cheng began to activate Clintons donor network with e-mails Sunday, followed by calls from regional fundraisers to bundlers across the country. Each was given an individual fundraising goal.

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Hillary Clinton starts small in Iowa as her vast national network whirs to life

CPD officers plead the fifth

CLEVELAND - Five Cleveland police supervisors pleaded the Fifth during CPD patrol officer Michael Brelo's trial Monday.

The supervisors each face two counts of dereliction of duty related to the Nov. 29, 2012 Cleveland police chase and shooting.

Attorneys for Sgt. Michael Donegan, Lt. Paul Wilson, Sgt. Randolph Daley, Sgt. Jason Edens and Sgt. Patricia Coleman appeared with their clients in court.

A sixth Cleveland police officer invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination after taking the stand at the trial last Wednesday.

Officer Michael Demchake immediately stated he was told not to answer questions based on advice from his attorneys.

His refusal to answer questions sparked an angry outburst by Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty.

"We need his testimony in this trial. We're asking for his testimony. We're asking for the truth. That is his duty as a police officer," said McGinty.

McGinty said Brelo's colleagues knew he was "in trouble" for jumping on the hood of Timothy Russell's Chevy Malibu and firing at least 15 shots through the windshield at the conclusion of the November 2012 CPD chase and shooting.

View a PHOTO GALLERY of some of the crime scene photos here

During opening statements last Monday , prosecutors said Brelo committed a crime when he jumped onto the hood of Russell's car and fired 15 to 18 shots through the front windshield.

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CPD officers plead the fifth

Five police supervisors plead the Fifth in the trial of Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Five more police supervisors invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination Monday in the trial of Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo.

The five supervisors have been charged with dereliction of duty in connection with the same Nov. 29, 2012 police chase and fatal shootings that resulted in Brelo being charged with voluntary manslaughter.

Michael Donegan, Patricia Coleman, Randolph Dailey, Jason Edens and Paul Wilson have all pleaded not guilty to the charges, and a date for their trial has not been set yet.

Brelo, 31, is charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter in thedeaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams. Russell drove the Chevy Malibu that led police on the chase. Williams was a passenger in the car.

The supervisors appeared in court on Monday, but none took the witness stand. Instead, they pleaded the Fifth as a group, with their lawyers present. There was no discussion of their right to plead the Fifth, as there was last week, when Officer Michael Demchak invoked his Fifth Amendment right.

The rest of the morningfocused on a Bratenahl police officer and a Cleveland police officer, both of whom were involved in the chase but not the shooting.

Here are highlights from the morning's testimony.

1. A Bratenahl police officer suspected crossfire.

Bratenahl Sgt. Michael Flanagan, a K-9 officer, testified to joining the chase and stopping at Lee Boulevard, perpendicular to the driveway that Russell's 1979 Malibu was stopped in.

Flanagan said he got out of his car, heard shots fired, and ran to take cover behind a nearby gray Ford.

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Five police supervisors plead the Fifth in the trial of Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo

Phillips declines to face his accuser

By Ryan Mavity | Apr 13, 2015

Dover A Delaware Superior Court judge is expected to rule within 90 days on a motion for summary judgment in a civil sexual-assault case against former Sussex County Councilman Vance Phillips.

Phillips did not appear at the April 13 hearing in Dover. In previous depositions Phillips has consistently invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.

Brian Brittingham, attorney for Phillips accuser, Katelynn Dunlap, said Phillips silence is telling, as he has not refuted accusations that Phillips sexually assaulted Dunlap 10 times in different locations starting May 9, 2011, and continuing through July.

According to Dunlaps lawsuit, the relationship between the now 21-year-old Lincoln woman and the then-Sussex councilman began in 2010 when Dunlap was 16. When Dunlap turned 18 in April 2011, Phillips was 48; the lawsuit says at that point, the relationship took a sexual turn. On May 9, the lawsuit said, Dunlap met Phillips in the parking lot of a Georgetown dental office, where Dunlap alleges Phillips tried to have sex with her and then threatened her if she told anyone.

Despite ample opportunity, the defendant wholly failed to address the claims at issue, Brittingham said. He said Phillips has consistently invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid addressing Dunlaps allegations. He also invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering questions not related to the allegations, such as when Phillips and his wife divorced.

Defense attorney Kurt Heyman said the court could not infer guilt from Phillips decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights. He said Dunlap has made inconsistent statements and has changed her story numerous times.Heyman said at one point, Dunlap said some of the encounters with Phillips were consensual, but she later changed her story to say she was sexually assaulted.

Brittingham said Dunlaps inconsistencies are explained by the fact that she was fearful, confused, shamed and intimidated by Phillips. He said Dunlap was scared of retaliation by Phillips and had an emotional breakdown.

While Heyman said the case hinges on Dunlaps credibility, Brittingham said third parties, including family and Delaware State Police officers, support Dunlaps credibility. Brittingham said a reasonable jury would find Dunlaps claims to be true and award her damages.

The April 13 arguments were a subdued affair, with only Dunlaps family attending the proceedings. Dunlap is seeking punitive damages and legal fees. Judge William Witham offered no timetable for when he would rule on the motion, but Heyman said he would have 90 days to make a ruling. If Witham does not grant the motion, the case would head to trial.

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Phillips declines to face his accuser