Expat Elector Weekly Roundup #2

Here is the weekly roundup of the top five most important stories of the week in the US election as well as any upcoming local events here in Montreal or the surrounding area if you want to get involved with the election right here in Canada.

1. After his confirmation as Speaker of the House this week, Paul Ryan announced that he will not be running for president in 2016. While this does not particularly influence the campaign itselfas there are so many other candidates, it does mean that Speaker Ryan, a powerful and potentially successful candidate for the position, will be unable to run again at least until 2020, possibly 2024 at which time who knows where his place in politics could be.
2. The CNBC-hosted Republican debate on Wednesday was seen by GOP faithful to be rigged with “gotcha” questions. Republican National Convention Chairman Reince Priebus went as far to pull all future engagements with the larger network of NBC for the rest of the election due to “CNBC’s moderators [engaging] in a series of “gotcha” questions, petty and mean-spirited in tone, and designed to embarrass our candidates.” You can read his full statement here.
3. Jeb Bush went after Senator Marco Rubio’s Senate attendance record in Wednesday’s

   Republican debate. Bush stated that Rubio has “given up” on his job as a US Senator for the state of Florida, having missed over a 1/3 of all Senate votes (see graphic to the right for a comparison with other Senator candidates like Sanders and Cruz). Rubio defended himself by stating the urgency of the campaign, but I have to agree with Bush.

4. Bernie Sanders released his first television ad today in an effort to reach swing states. It’s a powerful, positive ad which expresses his views quite well. It makes a point to focus on the vast number of individual donors his campaign has garnered thus far. While I am not a Sanders supporter, I have to admit that it is a great ad. You can watch the official video here.
5. Hillary Clinton was protested this week by members of the “Black Lives Matter” movement during a speech in Atlanta, Georgia. The former Secretary of State spoke at Clark Atlanta University, an HBCU (Historically Black College/University) and was interrupted mid speech by proponents of the movement prompted by the deaths of people like Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Sandra Bland to name only a few. These activists claim that Secretary Clinton has not taken a strong enough stance of support for their movement. While she has spoken on the matter, I think that Hillary does indeed need to show more genuine support and provide possible solutions to this important group of potential voters. What is your opinion on this? You can watch the video here.

Democrats Abroad will hold a general meeting Tuesday, Nov 3rd in the SSMU cafe at 5:30pm.

McGill Students for Hillary Clinton will hold a general meeting Wednesday, November 11th in McClennan Library Room M3-37F at 7:00pm.

If you would like to advertise your campaign-related meetings or events in the Expat Elector Weekly Roundup, please email Phoebe Warren at [email protected].

With  372 days until the election,

Phoebe Warren