NEWS AND OPINION:
Is this a cautionary tale for Republicans? Those working for President Biden‘s reelection campaign believe that Republican voters who once supported Nikki Haley‘s bid for the White House are not necessarily transferring their loyalty to former President Donald Trump. Ms. Haley left the presidential race on March 6.
Here’s how they see it.
“Unlike Trump, the Biden campaign isn’t sleeping on independent, moderate and Haley voters heading into November, continuing to reach out and say what Donald Trump won’t – there is a place for them in the Biden coalition,” the Biden campaign said in a press release shared with Inside the Beltway.
“Nikki Haley voters have heard Donald Trump loud and clear: He doesn’t want their vote and his allies don’t want them in his MAGA Republican Party,” said James Singer, spokesman for the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign, in a written statement.
“At the Biden campaign, we will earn their vote. As President Biden said, Democrats and Republicans and Independents disagree on many issues and hold strong convictions, but what unites Democrats and Republicans and Independents is a love for America. We know there are more Americans united by love of country than devotion to Donald Trump,” Mr. Singer said.
A BIG APPLE TRUMP RALLY
Donald Trump still has fans in New York City. Most definitely.
The New York Young Republicans Club — the nation’s oldest and largest organization for GOPers of a certain age, according to its history — will stage a rally to support Mr. Trump on Tuesday at Collect Pond Park in Manhattan.
“Come rally peacefully in support of President Trump against a politicized witch hunt! Bring your MAGA hats and Trump signs!” the group instructs its members, exclamation point and all.
The club itself was founded in 1856 as the New York Young Men’s Republican Union; its membership also endorses Mr. Trump’s bid for reelection.
“In 2024, the American People must send President Trump back to the White House with a clear mandate: Save America,” the organization said in an endorsement declaration issued in November.
WHAT HISTORY IS WORTH
The nation has not lost its taste for historical documents.
The original reward notice for John Wilkes Booth — who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in 1865 — just sold for $200,000, according to Dallas-based Heritage Auctions — which also has offices in a dozen other cities here and abroad.
“This is a very important piece of American history,” said Don Ackerman, managing director of political Americana for the auction house.
“When issued, John Wilkes Booth and his two main accomplices were still at large, and broadsides like this one were extremely important in the effort to gain information about their location. There are three versions of the large reward poster, and all are incredibly rare and sought-after,” Mr. Ackerman said in a statement.
The online auction itself drew 1,800 bidders.
But public interest extended to other items too. Among those that also sold was an “Inauguration” Bible used by then-first lady Jackie Kennedy to select verses to be read at her husband’s funeral. It fetched $162,500.
More than two dozen bids arrived for a first-generation 4GB iPhone, sealed in a box with an Apple drawstring bag. It drew $75,000. An American flag retrieved at the World Trade Center during the cleanup efforts after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks drew a winning bid of $41,250. A 16-by-20-inch oil painting by President Dwight Eisenhower fetched $40,000; the “lightly soiled” white linen tablecloth on which Lincoln ate his last meal brought $40,000.
In addition, a pair of 25-inch-long feathered “trophy arrows” from the Battle of Little Bighorn fetched $30,000.
STEFANIK HAS A SAY
Rep. Elise Stefanik has weighed in on the ongoing unrest at Columbia University, and has released the following written statement:
“Columbia has surrendered to the radical pro-Hamas antisemitic mob instead of securing campus and protecting Columbia’s Jewish students. There can be no more extensions or delays. There can be no negotiations with self-proclaimed Hamas terrorists and their sympathizers,” the New York Republican said.
Ms. Stefanik previously suggested that the university lose federal funding over the situation.
MEANWHILE IN OREGON
“In eastern Oregon, voters in 12 counties have approved ballot measures regarding seceding from the state and joining neighboring Idaho between 2020 and 2023. Supporters refer to this effort as Greater Idaho,” reports Ballotpedia.org, a political news and research site that is following the trend.
“Since 2020, there have been 16 countywide ballot measures on Greater Idaho in Oregon. Voters approved ballot measures in 12 counties — Baker, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Union, Wallowa, and Wheeler,” the site states.
Matt McCaw, a spokesman for the Greater Idaho movement, told the Portland TV station KOIN that “eastern Oregon is culturally, politically, and economically much more similar to Idaho than it is to western Oregon.”
“Our movement is about self-determination and matching people to the government that they want and that matches their values. In Oregon, we’ve had this urban-rural divide for a very long time,” he explained.
In an editorial for the Idaho State Journal, former Oregon state House Speaker Mark Simmons expalined the rationale.
“Idaho would have the satisfaction of freeing rural, conservative communities from progressive blue-state law. We are dismayed by the manner in which Oregon’s government has marginalized our values and villainized our resource-based livelihoods,” the Republican ex-lawmaker wrote.
But it’ll be complicated, Ballotpedia said.
“Changing the state boundaries of Oregon and Idaho would require approval from the U.S. Congress and state legislatures of Oregon and Idaho, per the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 10, and Article IV, Section 3,” the site explained.
POLL DU JOUR
• 23% of registered U.S. voters say they are a “strong Republican.”
• 6% say they are a “not very strong Republican.”
• 12% say they are “independent, lean Republican.”
• 13% say they are “strictly independent.”
• 10% say they are “independent, lean Democrat.”
• 8% say they are a “not very strong Democrat.”
• 23% say they are a “strong Democrat.”
• 5% say they have “some other” political label.
• 1% are “not sure” about the issue.
SOURCE: An NBC News survey of 1,000 registered U.S. voters conducted April 12-16.
• Follow Jennifer Harper on X @HarperBulletin, on Facebook @HarperUniverse; contact her at [email protected].