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Bobby Caina Calvan, Associated Press

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Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, right, snaps a selfie with fellow Montana Sen. Jon Tester and a supporter on Saturday, March 18, 2017, in Helena, Montana, for the state party's annual dinner.

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, right, snaps a selfie with fellow Montana Sen. Jon Tester and a supporter on Saturday, March 18, 2017, in Helena, Montana, for the state party's annual dinner.

Montana Democrats rally behind Quist, rail against GOP

HELENA, Mont. (AP) Montana Democrats brought in one of their national party's rising stars to headline their annual dinner, but the hundreds who gathered Saturday wanted to hear more from one of their own: musician Rob Quist, who must convince fellow Democrats that he can win the state's only congressional seat and help national Democrats push back against the Republican tide.

He will have to prevail in the May 25 special election against Republican Greg Gianforte, a Bozeman entrepreneur and former gubernatorial candidate with deep pockets and a determination to win public office.

"This House seat should not be his consolation prize," Quist said of his Republican opponent, in a speech meant to energize the 1,200 Democrats from across the expansive state meeting for the Mansfield Metcalf Celebration at the Lewis and Clark County fairgrounds.

To win votes, Quist has been traveling the state just as he did while touring with his musical group, the Mission Mountain Wood Band.

"We know that Montanans talking to Montanans is what will determine this election," Quist said in his address.

In his address, he railed against the Republican plan that would dismantle key elements of the Affordable Care Act.

"The right to a healthy and productive life should not bankrupt families," he said. "I understand personally what it's like to worry about mounting health care bills."

A Gianforte spokesman called Quist out of touch with the values of Montanans.

"Montanans want a strong voice in Congress who will stand up for the Second Amendment, enforce our immigration laws, and provide the military with the resources they need to defeat ISIS," said the spokesman, Shane Scanlon. "That's why Greg Gianforte's message is resonating with Montanans, because they know he will always be on Montana's side."

Quist, running for his first political office, beat two experienced legislators and several others to win the right to represent his party in an election to fill the seat vacated by now-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

While Quist is trying to energize his base, the night's keynote speaker, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, is helping the party capitalize on the growing distress among Democrats over Republican control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.

"We are the party of we, not the party of me ... the party of inclusion," said Booker, adding that the party should not be overly fixated on President Donald Trump, but should instead focused on the party's core values.

"It's not about Republicans," he said. "It's about us."

Booker is a first-term Democrat and is already being spoken about by some as a future presidential contender.

Montana's May balloting and another special congressional election in Kansas next month are among the first tests for national Democrats. Outside campaign analysts consider the contests safely Republican, and Quist has scant time to dispel that thinking.

Sen. Jon Tester dismissed the notion that the Montana race would be a referendum on national Democrats.

In his speech, Tester urged the crowd to rally behind Quist. He then reminded supporters that he has his own re-election next year.

It remains to be seen how much national organizations, including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, will invest in Montana's congressional race. Quist acknowledged that the calculation will depend on whether he can convince party leaders that he can mount a serious campaign.

Rank-and-file Democrats wonder, too.

"There's only a small amount of time, and I don't know if he can do it and how much he has," said Macrae Peeples from Missoula.

The Congressional Leadership Fund, an outside group seeking to keep Republican control of the U.S. House, has already begun bombarding the television airwaves to help Gianforte tamp down Quist's chances of turning the race into a competitive one.

"I will meet him anytime and anyplace, and we'll see who's out of tune with Montana Politics," Quist said in an interview.

Quist said he's raised at least $350,000 and that contributions continue to pour in. ___

Follow Bobby Caina Calvan at https://twitter.com/bobbycalvan

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Montana Democrats rally behind Quist, rail against GOP - SFGate

The liberal showdown in Virginia's gubernatorial race played out earlier this month in Northern Virginia, where Democrat Ralph Northam met with workers at Ronald Reagan National Airport who were campaigning for a $15-per-hour minimum wage.

"We need to work hard to increase the minimum wage," he told NBC News after the event, later adding: "I've been fighting for progressive values in Virginia for the last 10 years."

The very next day, his primary opponent Tom Perriello made the same visit - and his campaign told NBC that he had embraced raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour before Northam did.

Say hello to the 2017 Democratic gubernatorial primary in Virginia, which increasingly has become a contest to see which candidate is more progressive. And say goodbye to the more centrist Virginia Democratic playbook that current Sen. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and Jim Webb, to lesser degrees used successfully in the state over the last 16 years.

Northam, the state's lieutenant governor, has touted his record fighting the state's transvaginal ultrasound legislation in 2012, as well as pushing for gun-safety reforms.

Perriello, a former Democratic congressman, talks about achieving criminal-justice reform, combating a "rigged" economy and fighting against the Trump administration's "white tribalism."

And it all raises the question: Just how blue is the state that Democrats have won in three-straight presidential elections? Or is it still purple, given the Republicans' control of the state legislature and their gubernatorial victory there eight years ago?

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, says Perriello's surprise entry in the contest earlier this year Northam originally expected no serious competition in the June 13 Democratic primary made it a race to the left.

"No question Perriello is dragging Northam to the left," Sabato said. "Actually, Northam has moved left during the McAuliffe administration, even before Perriello announced. But now Northam has to stress all of his liberal positions some of which, on gun control and abortion, may be more to the left than Perriello's record."

But Sabato also notes that President Trump's unpopularity in Virginia a poll last month had his approval rating at 38 percent in the state could overshadow this Democratic competition over who is more progressive.

"Trump may generate a larger turnout than usual than usual among Democrats come November. The larger the turnout, the likelier the electorate will resemble last November, and the better the [Democratic] nominee's chances," he said.

Northam, a doctor and Army veteran, says he isn't concerned about a primary dragging the eventual Democratic nominee to the left. "These are things that I've fought for my whole life," he told NBC. "And as a lot of people know, I ran in a very conservative district," referring to his days as a state senator.

Perriello's campaign has a similar response, arguing that pursuing priorities like a $15-per-hour minimum wage "is a fight we welcome" given that it's something even some Trump backers support, says Perriello spokesman Ian Sams.

"Of the two candidates running in the primary, Tom brings bolder arguments than Ralph has brought," Sams adds. "We welcome an argument who can be the most bold."

Yet as Northam and Perriello try to one-up each other in the Democratic primary, their own progressive records contain some noticeable holes, which each candidate is trying to exploit.

For Northam, it's voting for George W. Bush in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. "Knowing what I know now, that vote was wrong. That administration does not stand for what I believe in," he said in an interview with NBC News.

"At the end of the day, I don't think Virginians are worried about who I voted for 17 years ago. They're worried about what I've been fighting for since I was a public servant and where I want to take Virginia."

For Perriello, it's the A-rating he earned from the National Rifle Association when he served in Congress, as well as his vote for an anti-abortion amendment in the debate over the 2010 health-care law.

"I want to be very clear that I regret my vote on the Stupak-Pitts Amendment," he wrote in an online post last month. "This vote caused real pain to constituents and other women. I appreciate that some of these brave women and reproductive justice advocates took time to tell me their stories and educate me about the full implications of that vote."

Republicans in Virginia are giddy to see this Democratic contest turn into a race to the left.

"This is a primary between left and left-er and it's hard to tell which one is which," says Matt Moran, a spokesman for GOP gubernatorial frontrunner Ed Gillespie. "They oppose offshore drilling, an energy pipeline backed by Gov. [Terry] McAuliffe, and are both in favor of sanctuary cities, driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, a $15 minimum wage, and free community college. And it's only March!"

Adds Republican Party of Virginia Chair John Whitbeck, "It appears that Tom Perriello and Ralph Northam are desperate to be Virginia's version of Bernie Sanders."

But Democrats ultimately believe that Virginia's gubernatorial race will be more about the eventual Republican nominee having to own President Trump than any primary liberal showdown.

"There's going to be a tremendous amount of focus on Virginia to see which way this country wants to go," Northam told NBC News.

As well as focus about just how blue - or purple - Virginia really is.

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Virginia Democrats Run to The Left in Key 2017 Race - NBCNews.com

Florida House Democratic Leader-designate talks about empathy and leadership James Call

Speaker Richard Corcoran's crusade to end state subsidies to businesses is a dagger aimed at the heart of Gov. Rick Scott's job-creating legacy.(Photo: Steve Cannon, AP)

Florida House Democrats find themselves in an unusual situation they matter. Their 41 votes could be the deciding factor in a fierce turf war raging within the ruling Republican Party.

Gov. Rick Scott and Speaker Richard Corcoran quickly escalated a dispute about how to spend .002 percent of the state budget into what is surely going to be remembered as a classic capital slugfest.

Corcoran threw a haymakeron the eve of a vote to kill Enterprise Florida, the states chief business recruiter. Meeting with GOP lawmakers, he showed a video detailing Enterprise Floridas failed projects and calling business incentives corporate welfare.

Scott countered with his own video, in which he depicted Corcoran as a job-killing Tallahassee politician.

At ringside, available to each corner, are House Democrats. Theyve lacked influence in Tallahassee since the lastdecades of the 20th Century. But in the fight over how to build a 21st Century economy, Democrats find themselves wanted and needed by two unlikely suitors, both Scott and Corcoran.

To get a veto proof majority for the budget, you need to come to us, said Rep. Evan Jenne, the Democrats policy chair. Theyre not there. We havent seen the House's final version of the budget, yet.

'A chance to define the party'

Corcoran and his allies recoil at the idea of giving taxpayers dollars to profitable businesses to make money in Florida. That strategy,Scott claims, has made Florida a national leader in job creation.

Its deeply offensive whether you are a Bernie Sanders progressive or a Ted Cruz conservative, said Rep. Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast. He sponsored the House bill that strips millions of dollars spent on tax credits and other incentives Florida provides businesses from the state budget.

We live in a constrained balanced budget world, said Renner. Those $200 million are not spent on public safety, they are not spent on schools, they are not spent on tax relief and other forms of relief that would benefit all businesses and all people.

The House approved what Scott called "job-killing" legislation with an 87-28 vote.

Twenty-two Democrats voted with the Republican majority to cut business incentives from the state budget. Corcoran cant afford to lose more than seven of them to Scotts side. He needs at least 80 votes to block Scott from vetoing a budget without the incentives the governor demands. And Corcoran needs to get an incentives-free budget througha Senate, which at this point seems more aligned with Scott than with the House.

So, a veto-proof vote on the House floor for the budget means a lot, said House Democratic Leader Janet Cruz, D-Tampa.

Former House Democratic Leader Mark Pafford called it a once-in-a-generation opportunity for theminority party.

"Absolutely, it's a chance to define the party. A party that has lost the confidence of its electorate,"said Pafford, who was term-limited out of office in November.

'The governor could go nuclear'

Cruz said the Democrats are taking it one day at a time while the GOP sorts things out. New House rules require representatives to attach their names to local funding requests. Members are asking for more than $2.3 billion requests both Corcoran and Scott can use as leverage to win votes.

The incentives brawl could prolong the session, keepinglawmakers in Tallahassee into June, sweating out a July 1 deadline to produce a budget Scott will sign.

Last week, Scottheld a campaign-style rally at the statehouses front door to pressure the House. A couple of hundred tourism executives and private sectorworkers crowded into the rotunda to show support for using tax dollars to market the state.

Gov. Scotts 'Fighting for Florida Jobs' rally

Backed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater they dont have a vote in the dispute but signaled the establishment is with the governor Scott explained Floridas economy was on a roll. He urged his listeners to tell lawmakers not to throw away the tools he used to produce 1.2 million jobs since he took office in 2011.

All these people showed up because they care about jobs in this state. This is about jobs for Florida families, jobs, jobs, jobs, said Scott, speaking to reporters afterward. What I asked everybody to do is go talk to their House member, go talk to their Senator.

Scott is playing hardball. He has taken the fight to the districts of opposing lawmakers.He has also been generous in his praise of lawmakers siding with him on business incentives. At a Tallahassee media event, he singled out Representatives Loranne Ausley and Ramon Alexander, two Democrats who voted with him in the House debate. The two have filed 44 bills requesting more than $100 million for local projects.

"Whoever votes to help me make sure we get more jobs, I'm going to praise them," Scott said. "If you're going to vote to decimate the job market in this state, I'm not going to praise you."

On the other hand, playing with lawmakers' funding requests is a dangerous game. If Corcoran were to promise support for a member's vote against Scott, the maneuver could backfire.

"Thegovernor could go nuclear as well and begin systematically line item vetoes on many different specific lines of spending for particular legislators," said Aubrey Jewett, a University of Central Florida political science professor. "If Gov.Scott aimed most of his line item vetos at opposition House members for instance, but left Senate priorities untouched, it might encourage Senators to give up attempts at overrides."

'No guarantees'

Capitol observers cant remember a similar intra-party fight played out in public in the last 50 years.

Were in uncharted waters, headed to the part of the map where it says there are dragons, said Jenne, the Democrats policy chair. Im worried about a month from now when there are two weeks left and theres no agreement."

Jenne has been around politics much of his life. His father served in the Legislature in the 1970s and Jenne has eight sessions under his belt.

Were not trading votes. Weve told our members to vote for whats best for your constituents," said Jenne. "We're focused on policy.

The Democrats'focus does not necessarily line up with either Scotts pro-business or Corcorans limited-government approach. Rep. Kionne McGhee, D-Miami-Dade, who will follow Cruz as the Democratic Leader in 2019, pledged to keep policy discussions about people, especially the underdog.

We will continue to fight on your behalf, McGhee said in his acceptance speech Monday night when he recalledhis struggle to overcome poverty and undiagnosed dyslexia to become a prosecutor. There is no time for apathy. But there is always room for more empathy for those who truly need our help.

While supporters congratulated McGhee on his selection as the futureleader in the Democrats House office, Cruz stayed focus on the present logjam.

The Speaker made it very clear to us what his priorities were, and we, in turn, made it clear to him what our priorities are, said Cruz.

I will tell you not to make any plans for summer vacation," was the Democratic Leader's response when askedwhether the odds were with Scott or Corcoran.

The session is scheduled to end on May 5. Summer begins June 21. The state needs a budget 10 days later.The Senate has yet to weigh in on the dispute. No Senate bills have been filed to advance Corcorans cause.

Some Senators, including Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, have expressed support for incentives.

"Bottom line there are opportunities for the Democrats here," said UCF's Jewett, who like Corcoran once worked for former Speaker Tom Feeney. "But there are no guarantees as to how this will all play out."

Reporter James Call can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on Twitter @CallTallahassee.

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GOP family feud makes Democrats feel wanted - Tallahassee.com

NEW YORK (AP) Whenever Donald Trump fumes about fake news or labels the press the enemy of the people, First Amendment scholar David L. Hudson Jr. hears echoes of other presidents but a breadth and tone that are entirely new.

Trump may not know it, but it was Thomas Jefferson who once said, Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper, said Hudson, a law professor at Vanderbilt University.

But whats unusual with Trump is the pattern of disparagement and condemnation of virtually the entire press corps. Weve had presidents who were embittered and hated some of the press Richard Nixon comes to mind. But I cant think of a situation where you have this rat-a-tat attack on the press on virtually a daily basis, for the evident purpose of discrediting it.

Journalism marks its annual Sunshine Week, which draws attention to the medias role in advocating for government transparency, at an extraordinary moment in the relationship between the presidency and the press.

First Amendment advocates call the Trump administration the most hostile to the press and free expression in memory. In words and actions, they say, Trump and his administration have threatened democratic principles and the general spirit of a free society: The demonizing of the media and emphatic repetition of falsehoods. Fanciful scenarios of voter fraud and scorn for dissent. The refusal to show Trumps tax returns and the removal of information from government websites.

And in that battle with the Trump administration, the media do not have unqualified public support.

According to a recent Pew survey, nearly 90 percent of respondents favored fair and open elections while more than 80 percent value the system of government checks and balances. But around two-thirds called it vital for the media to have the right to criticize government leaders; only half of Republicans were in support. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that Americans by a margin of 53-37 trust the media over Trump to tell the truth about important issues; among Republicans, 78 percent favored Trump.

Were clearly in a particularly polarizing moment, although this is something weve been building to for a very long time, says Kyle Pope, editor in chief and publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review, a leading news and commentary source for journalism.

I think one of the mistakes the press made is we became perceived as part of the establishment. And I think one of the silver linings of the moment were in is that we have a renewed sense of what our mission is and where we stand in the pecking order, and that is on the outside, where we belong.

Hudson, ombudsman of the Newseums First Amendment Center, says its hard to guess whether Trump is serious or bloviating when he disparages free expression. He noted Trumps comments in November saying that flag burners should be jailed and wondered if the president knew such behavior was deemed protected by the Constitution (in a 1989 Supreme Court ruling supported by a justice Trump says he admires, the late Antonin Scalia).

Hudson also worries about a range of possible trends, notably the withholding of information and a general culture of secrecy that could close a lot of doors. But he did have praise for Trumps pick to replace Scalia on the court, Neil Gorsuch, saying that he has showed sensitivity to First Amendment issues. And free speech advocates say the press, at least on legal issues, is well positioned to withstand Trump.

We have a really robust First Amendment and have a lot of protections in place, says Kelly McBride, vice president of The Poynter Institute, a nonprofit journalism education center based in St. Petersburg, Florida. That doesnt mean that attempts wont be made. But when you compare our country to what journalists face around the world, I still think the U.S. is one of the safest places for a journalist to criticize the government.

The First Amendment, which states in part that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, is far broader and more uniquely American than when ratified in 1791.

At the time, free expression was based on the legal writings of Britains Sir William Blackstone. The First Amendment protected against prior restraint, but not against lawsuits once something was spoken or published. Truth was not a defense against libel and the burden of proof was on the defendant, not the plaintiff. And the Bill of Rights applied to the federal government, but not to individual states, which could legislate as they pleased.

The most important breakthrough of recent times, and the foundation for many protections now, came with the New York Times Co. v. Sullivan case of 1964.

The Times had printed an advertisement in 1960 by supporters of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that noted King had been arrested numerous times and condemned Southern violators of the Constitution. The public safety commissioner of Montgomery, Alabama, L. B. Sullivan sued for libel. He was not mentioned by name in the ad, but he claimed that allegations against the police also defamed him. After a state court awarded Sullivan $500,000, the Times appealed to the Supreme Court.

Some information in the ad was indeed wrong, such as the number of times King was arrested, but the Supreme Court decided unanimously for the Times. In words still widely quoted, Justice William Brennan wrote that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials. He added that a libel plaintiff must prove that the statement was made with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.

It was breathtakingly new, First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams said of Brennans ruling. It was an extraordinary step the court was taking.

But freedom of speech has long been championed more in theory than in reality. Abraham Lincolns administration shut down hundreds of newspapers during the Civil War. Woodrow Wilson championed the peoples indisputable right to criticize their own public officials, but also signed legislation during World War I making it a crime to utter, print, write, or publish anything disloyal or profane about the federal government. During the administration of President Barack Obama, who had taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago, the Wilson-era Espionage Act was used to obtain emails and phone records of reporters and threaten James Risen of The New York Times with jail.

Predicting what Trump might do is as difficult as following his views on many issues. He often changes his mind, and contradicts himself.

During the campaign last year, he spoke of changing the libel laws to make it easier to sue the media. But shortly after the election, he seemed to reverse himself. He has said he is a tremendous believer of the freedom of the press, but has worried that Our press is allowed to say whatever they want and get away with it.

Trumps disparagement of the media has been contradicted by high officials in his administration. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said recently that he did not have any issues with the press. Vice President Mike Pence was an Indiana congressman when he helped sponsor legislation (which never passed) in 2005 that would protect reporters from being imprisoned by federal courts. In early March, he spoke at a prominent gathering of Washington journalists, the Gridiron Club and Foundation dinner.

Be assured that while we will have our differences and I promise the members of the Fourth Estate that you will almost always know when we have them President Trump and I support the freedom of the press enshrined in the First Amendment, he said, while adding that too often stories make page one and drive news with just too little respect for the people who are affected or involved.

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NATIONAL: Advocates say First Amendment can withstand Trump attacks - Stanly News & Press

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