Today's Hillary News & Views begins with reports on Clinton's meeting with the mothers of those struck down by violence related to guns and racial injustice, including the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Jordan Davis, Hadiya Pendleton and Tamir Rice.
The Week reports:
On Monday, Hillary Clinton met with the families of several African-American teenagers and children who died in shootings to discuss their experiences and her plans for "commonsense" gun control.
Clinton spent more than two hours in Chicago meeting with more than a dozen mothers who lost their children to gun violence, including the mothers of Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old killed in 2012 in Florida by former neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman; Jordan Davis, a 17-year-old killed in a 2014 shooting that started with a complaint about loud music; Michael Brown, the 18-year-old killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in a shooting that sparked unrest in the town; and Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old shot and killed by police in Cleveland while carrying an airsoft gun.
The Huffington Post reports:
"She is a mother and she is a woman and I felt she understood where we were coming from," said Samaria Rice told CNN. "It doesn't matter what color we are, I felt that she really understand where we are coming from."
Also in attendance was the family of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old girl fatally shot by a gang member in Chicago just weeks after she performed at President Barack Obama's 2013 inauguration. First lady Michelle Obama attended her funeral.
Clinton has been vocally supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement for racial justice, which gained prominence following Martin's death.
“We all have a responsibility to face these hard truths about race and justice honestly and directly,” she said in a July speech.
Time reports:
According to the women, Clinton did not make any explicit promises to them, but did pledge to stay engaged in their causes and work on criminal justice reform. All of them women described the meeting as productive and said Clinton appeared earnest and trustworthy.
Fulton, Martin's mother, said the meeting with Clinton was "powerful" and "productive."
"It was a very powerful meeting, it was very powerful," she said.
"I think that it was very productive," Hamilton said after the gathering. "I think that all the work that the mothers are doing on behalf of our loved ones, it is working. People are asking to hear our stories. People are asking to find out what kind of legislation and policies we are changing."
She added: "We are hoping that her being a mother, being a grandmother that once she gets in office (she) can be effective to help all people, not just the black people, Hispanic people, everybody."
Clinton tweeted about the meeting afterward, saying that she was "grateful to spend time today with mothers who have lost a child to violence and turned their grief into a national call to action."
Clinton later pointed out the tragedy that occurred while the meeting was happening:
Clinton is also focused on the violence used against a young student in South Carolina.
The Huffington Post reports:
“The adults in a school should be modeling appropriate behavior to deal with any disciplinary issues that might arise, and that was clearly not the case in the incident we have seen in the school in South Carolina,” she said.
Clinton said school administrators and teachers should develop alternative measures to handle students who are being “difficult.”
“I don’t know the facts around the young woman who was thrown to the floor -- as we all saw -- but whatever the facts are, it doesn’t justify behavior like that,” she said. “And it’s important that we all take a deep breath here and try to understand better how to deal with kids who may have different challenges in their lives, and they need to be addressed in a more effective way.”
“I know a lot of adults complain that kids aren’t as respectful, that they don’t follow authority. Well, the fact is we are responsible in many ways for modeling the behavior we want from our children,” Clinton said, addressing the crux of arguments supporting Fields' handling of Shakara.
“And people in positions of authority -- particularly teachers, police officers, etc. -- we need to take a very hard look about how we deal with the problems kids have today, and try to help children where they are. And if they’re acting out, there’s a lot of alternatives to picking them up and throwing them on the ground.”
“People in general -- this is not about any particular community -- but people in general right now in our country are turned off by politics. Some of them have given up on politics. They are discouraged or disappointed,” she said.
“And I have a big task in front of me to really convince people that it matters who is elected -- what our goals are; what our experiences are; what we want to do to try to empower and enable people from all walks of life to live out their own dreams … So I’m not taking anybody for granted, and I’m not taking any issue for granted.”
The race-baiting of GOP presidential campaigns is helping them mobilize voters...for Hillary Clinton.
USA Today reports:
The first signs of a major U.S. Latino voter mobilization are forming, and it’s Republicans turbocharging an effort likely to help Hillary Clinton.
Her strength with Hispanic voters — she carried them overwhelmingly in her 2008 primary fight against Obama — figures to help her in the primaries, something her campaign and its supporters are trying to capitalize on.
Talks are underway with a major Spanish-language television network to sponsor a voter-registration drive, said Peña, who supports Clinton's bid but is not a part of her official campaign.
The Clinton team is investing heavily in a Latino outreach effort that began in recent weeks. Teams are forming in at least seven battlegrounds, including Ohio and Virginia.
Clinton aims for a more muscular approach than Obama’s 2012 effort, said Lorella Praeli, Clinton’s Latino outreach director.
Latinos want to know "who’s gonna have my back,’’ Praeli said. The campaign theme, "I am with you'' in Spanish, draws an implicit comparison with Trump.
Clinton's campaign enters November with two major staffing changes.
The Hill reports:
The Democratic presidential hopeful is adding Zac Petkanas, who served as former communications director for Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and is a veteran of the liberal watchdog group Media Matters, which is run by longtime Clinton ally David Brock.
Current rapid response staffer Josh Schwerin will become Petkanas’ deputy, and communications aide Adrienne Elrod will be promoted to head of surrogate operations.
Opposition research veteran Christina Reynolds will also be promoted to deputy communications director.
Politico reports:
Maura Keefe will join Clinton's political team as the director of congressional affairs. She previously served as chief of staff and chief political adviser to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).
The Clinton campaign has made congressional outreach a key priority for the primary. She's hosted intimate events for Democratic lawmakers since announcing earlier this year and has seen members of the Congressional Black Caucus stump for her in early voting states.
Finally, some good polling news on the state and national levels.
Public Policy Polling reports:
On the Democratic side in Iowa Hillary Clinton has really reestablished her dominance, getting 57% to 25% for Bernie Sanders, 7% for Martin O'Malley, and 1% for the now departed Lawrence Lessig. Clinton's seen a 15 point improvement in her net favorability rating over the last six weeks, from +42 at 65/23 in mid-September to now +57 at 74/17. Sanders has continued to become more popular too, going from 56/20 to 62/20.
Clinton is really dominating with several key groups in Iowa. Among seniors she's up 74/13 and with women she's up 61/21. She leads across the board with the various constituencies we track but it is tighter with younger voters (43/40), men (51/31), and voters who identify themselves as 'very liberal' (48/30).
Public Policy Polling reports:
PPP's new North Carolina poll finds Hillary Clinton with her largest lead in the state since May. 61% of Democrats in the state support Clinton to 24% for Bernie Sanders, 5% for Martin O'Malley, and 2% for Lawrence Lessig. A month ago Clinton led 51/23 in a Joe Biden-less field and these numbers suggest that pretty much everyone who's made up their mind since then has gone into her camp.
North Carolina provides more evidence of Clinton's favorability numbers improving over the last month. She's gone up a net 9 points from +34 (63/29) in September to now +43 (67/24). Her lead is pretty steady across the board- she gets 74% with African Americans, 66% with seniors, 65% with liberals, 62% with women, 60% with men, 58% with moderates, and 57% with whites. The group where Sanders come closest is with younger voters, but even there Clinton still has a 50/34 advantage.
Survey USA reports:
* Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders 73% to 16% in the contest to be the Democratic nominee for President in 2016.
NBC News reports:
In the new poll, conducted October 25-29, 62 percent of Democrats chose Clinton as their top choice to win their party's presidential nomination, while 31 percent picked Sanders. Former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley received just three percent support.
That's up from Clinton's 25-point lead earlier in October, 58 percent to 33 percent.
Hillary Clinton has increased her dominant lead within the Democratic Party's presidential contest, now besting rival Sen. Bernie Sanders by a margin of two to one among primary voters in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
Crossposted at Hillary HQ.com, an independent, progressive blog committed to electing Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States.