With conventional wisdom pointing to both the Democrats and the Republicans having presumptive nominees the media is hyping a major fight brewing between the parties. ABC spent their Wednesday evening newscast touting how prepared the Clinton election machine was for a general election bout. “Tonight, Hillary Clinton launching her first general election attack … Backing it up with a new video,” ABC’s Cecilia Vega began the over three-minute segment.
Vega played segments of a new Clinton attack ad before diving into a Clinton campaign email sent out to supporters. “I don't know how else to say it. The whole world is counting on us to win this thing,” she read to ABC viewers. But it didn’t stop there.
Vega touted Clinton’s response to general election strategy questions posed by CNN’s Anderson Cooper earlier in the day:
VEGA: She's hitting him on policy –
CLINTON: At some point, when you're running for president, you actually have to put a little meat on the bones.
VEGA: And refusing to play in the mud.
CLINTON: If he wants to follow in the footsteps of those who have tried to knock me down and take me out of the political arena -- I'm more than happy to have him do that.
ANDERSON COOPER: You're ready for that?
CLINTON: Oh, please. I mean, look. This -- this is -- this is, to me, a classic case of a blustering, bullying guy.
World News Tonight host David Muir brought on Jon Karl to discuss how big Clinton’s advantage was going into the general election:
“Make no mistake, Hillary Clinton begins this with a significant advantage. Take a look at the map,” Karl proclaimed. “The states in dark blue are states that have voted democratic in all of the last six presidential races. All she has to do is to hang onto those states and win the state of Florida and she has the electoral votes to be elected president,” he explained.
CBS’ Evening News was barely any better. Reporter Nancy Cordes was glowing about Clinton’s new tough language and how she isn’t worried about being hit back, “Hillary Clinton isn't worried about that. So she will make the case on issues and on personality in a way that some Republicans only did when it was too late.”
Host Scott Pelley did manage to keep the show somewhat balanced when he acknowledged that both of the candidates are not liked very much, “one of the fascinating things about this matchup is that both of these candidates, according to the polls, are disliked by a majority of the American people.”
Surprisingly, Univision took a different approach by dissing Clinton. Republican analyst Rocio Velez remarked that, “people within her party that consider her as persona non grata.” This echoes what Pelley said about her not being well liked.
Transcripts below:
ABC
World News Tonight with David Muir
May 4, 2016
6:34:29 PM EasternDAVID MUIR: And to the Democrats now, two candidates remain in that primary race. Bernie Sanders winning in Indiana overnight and promising to stay in the fight, even though they essentially split the delegates. And Hillary Clinton with nearly unbeatable delegate advantage at this point. And she's now being asked, is she ready for Trump? ABC's Cecilia Vega on how she answered that.
[Cuts to video]
CECILIA VEGA: Tonight, Hillary Clinton launching her first general election attack on Donald Trump.
HILLARY CLINTON: I think he is a loose cannon, and loose cannons tend to misfire.
DONALD TRUMP: I am a unifier..
VEGA: Backing it up with a new video.
MITT ROMNEY: This is an individual who mocked a disabled reporter.
TRUMP: Ah, I don't remember.
ROMNEY: Who attributed a reporter's questions to her menstrual cycle.
TRUMP: Blood coming out of her where ever.
VEGA: Her campaign, laying it all on the line in an email to supporters saying, “Donald, period, Trump, period. I don't know how else to say it. The whole world is counting on us to win this thing.” Tonight, Clinton's anti-Trump strategy coming into focus. She's hitting him on policy –
CLINTON: At some point, when you're running for president, you actually have to put a little meat on the bones.
VEGA: And refusing to play in the mud.
CLINTON: If he wants to follow in the footsteps of those who have tried to knock me down and take me out of the political arena -- I'm more than happy to have him do that.
ANDERSON COOPER: You're ready for that?
CLINTON: Oh, please. I mean, look. This -- this is -- this is, to me, a classic case of a blustering, bullying guy.
VEGA: But Clinton has to get past Bernie Sanders first. She leads him by more than 800 delegates, even after his big Indiana victory. In order to clinch the nomination, Sanders would need to win 95% of the remaining delegates. But he is not talking like a long shot.
BERNIE SANDERS: I think we can pull off one of the great political upsets in the history of the United States.
VEGA: Clinton now hoping that history repeats itself. That the unity she showed in 2008 happens this time around in 2016.
[Cuts back to live]
MUIR: And Cecilia Vega with us live tonight, and so many people asking, Cecilia, is Hillary Clinton ready for what Donald Trump will likely bring against her? And you've asked her that very question.
VEGA: I did, David. I asked her if running against Donald Trump would give her any pause, she said, not one bit. She wouldn't even let me get the question out, really. And you heard her say it again today, basically, bring it on. David?
MUIR: Cecilia Vega with us again tonight, thank you.
And one more question on this before we move on. Let's get right to Jon Karl. Because Jon, we showed the poll at the top there. Hillary Clinton up by 13 points over Trump. But you're right there at the map. And listen, the Trump team just wiped out 16 other Republicans, he sees openings against Clinton.
JON KARL: They sure do, David. But make no mistake, Hillary Clinton begins this with a significant advantage. Take a look at the map. The states in dark blue are states that have voted democratic in all of the last six presidential races. All she has to do is to hang onto those states and win the state of Florida and she has the electoral votes to be elected president. What Trump hopes to do to change that is to win his home state of New York, neighboring Pennsylvania, perhaps even Michigan. If he can do that, he can change the dynamic and he can win.
MUIR: All right, how long until November? Jon Karl with us, thanks.
...
CBS
Evening News with Scott Pelley
May 4, 2016
6:35:39-6:39:02PELLEY: So what's next? Let's turn to our political team, Major Garrett is covering the Republicans. Nancy Cordes is with the Democrats. And we have John Dickerson in Washington, the anchor of "Face the nation." Nancy, let me start with you. How does the Clinton campaign go forward from here?
NANCY CORDES: Well, they work to distill their message against Donald Trump. You heard Hillary Clinton today calling him risky. She called him a loose cannon four times. Nuclear weapons are another phrase you'll hear a lot. She'll argue that he's not steady enough to have his finger on the button. One campaign aide told me today they're basically going to break their message down into three parts. Number one, he can't unify the country. Number two, he can't be commander-in-chief. And number three, he isn't out for anyone but himself.
PELLEY: Yet, Major, he defies all expectations. How do you see the campaign going ahead into November?
GARRETT: Senior Trump advisers have told me if Trump is the issue, they lose. What has to be the issue and what Trump has to guarantee is projected as the issue, the Obama administration, Hillary Clinton's role in it, insider versus outsider, establishment politics versus a new framing of politics. If Trump does that, his closest advisers believe the way he has remade the Republican math in the primaries can be remade in a general election. He can run competitively in places Republicans haven't for a good, long while and change the dynamic of the race.
PELLEY: John Dickerson, how do you see Trump-Clinton?
JOHN DICKERSON: Well, that word risk keeps coming in all the conversations I had today. The way some establishment Republicans are coming around to Trump saying big risk but big reward. So they believe that he can put some new states in play. This is the most optimistic case, of course. Then there are others today who were talking about the dangers and unpredictability and
volatility of Trump. They are still, a lot of Republicans in Washington, trying to figure out how much to get behind him and how much to run on their own kind of ticket and just hope that things don't come crashing down.
PELLEY: Nancy, is Donald Trump the candidate that Hillary Clinton wanted to run against?
CORDES: He's very unpredictable, and her campaign acknowledges that. It perhaps would have been easier to run against someone like Ted Cruz. What they argue, though, is that they have some advantages that all of his Republican opponents didn't. First of all, they come out of the gate against him pointing out his flaws in a way that a lot of the Republicans were afraid to because, a, they were afraid he would train his fire on them, and, B, they wanted his supporters. Hillary Clinton isn't worried about that. So she will make the case on issues and on personality in a way that some Republicans only did when it was too late.
GARRETT: The other thing the Trump campaign has to begin working on is the vice presidential running mate. That formal vetting process hasn't begun. There isn't a committee. There isn't a single veteran looking over it, but the process will begin in the next couple weeks.
PELLEY: Finally, John Dickerson, one of the fascinating things about this matchup is that both of these candidates, according to the polls, are disliked by a majority of the American people.
DICKERSON: That's right. And we're going to see potentially some of these big outside groups spending money fast to define Donald Trump, which means that this race in its initial stage may be ugly from the start, and it may just keep getting uglier as they trade attacks back and forth between each other.
PELLEY: Been plenty ugly already. John Dickerson at "Face the nation," Nancy Cordes, page Garrett, thanks so much.
...
UNIVISION
NOTICERO UNIVISION
May 4, 2016
6:31:05 PM EasternTranslation by MRC Latino's Edgard Portela
MARIA ELENA SALINAS, HOST, UNIVISION: How are you, good evening. Donald Trump now has a clear path to become the Republican candidate for the presidency. It started with 17 hopefuls last year, soon after the group was reduced to ten, and the last two rivals that remained, Cruz and Kasich, threw in the towel after the mogul’s victory in the Indiana primaries. Lourdes Meluza brings us the latest in the complex political outlook of the country.
LOURDES MELUZA, REPORTER, UNIVISION: Donald Trump is now the presumptive Republican nominee for the presidency. The general election essentially has started, he said today. With a squashing victory in the primaries of Indiana, he precipitated Ted Cruz’s suspension of his campaign, and today, for John Kasich to do it.
LOURDES MELUZA, REPORTER, UNIVISION: [Translating Ted Cruz remarks] “With great sorrow but an unlimited optimism about the future of our nation, we suspend our campaign.” Trump called him a great competitor, and said that he’d consider Kasich as Vice President.
LOURDES MELUZA, REPORTER, UNIVISION: [Translating John Kasich remarks] “As I suspend my campaign, I have faith the Lord will show me the way.” After months of great tension with the Republican Party, its President [GOP Chairman Reince Priebus] made it official on Twitter. [Translating Priebus’ tweet.] “Donald Trump will be the presumptive nominee of the Republicans. We all need to unite and focus on beating Hillary Clinton.” It won’t be easy. Among big party influencers, he is not considered conservative.
ROCIO VELEZ, REPUBLICAN ANALYST: They’re not gonna give their full support to Donald Trump, that as we all know, represents a person that was a Democrat at heart.
LOURDES MELUZA, REPORTER, UNIVISION: For the general election, Trump will also have to start to attract key voting groups like women and Hispanics.
CARLOS MERCADER, REPUBLICAN ANALYST: If he doesn’t change is rhetoric, if he doesn’t change his proposals, basically we can presume and assume that finally he will never have the support of any of these groups.
LOURDES MELUZA, REPORTER, UNIVISION: To compensate, he will have to increase the number of his followers.
ROCIO VELEZ, REPUBLICAN ANALYST: We can’t underestimate a candidate [Trump] that will face a candidate [Clinton] that also has people within her party that consider her as persona non grata.
LOURDES MELUZA, REPORTER, UNIVISION: According to experts, Trump will have to arrive to the Republican convention in July more prepared, moderated, and conciliatory. Also that he will be able to fundraise the 1 billion dollars that are required to run a presidential campaign.
