Hillary hammers Jeb on jobs and the economy, saying American workers 'need a raise' -- but gets HECKLED by anti-Wall Street protester in the middle of her speech

  • Clinton swiped at Jeb Bush over his claim that Americans need to work longer hours to get ahead
  • Her solution is mandated wage increases instead of more time with noses to grindstones
  • 'They don't need a lecture. They need a raise,' she said 
  • Protester was thrown out of the auditorium at the left-wing New School in NYC for yelling a question about reviving a defunct anti-Wall Street law

Hillary Rodham Clinton accused former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush of lacking an understanding of the needs of American workers on Monday - using an agenda-setting economic speech to cast Republican prescriptions for the economy as relics of the past that would do little to boost wages for the middle-class.

But in the middle of her presentation at the famously progressive New School in New York City, a protester heckled her with demands that she separate commercial and investment banks as a populist move against Wall Street.

The protester, later identified as Daniel Burke, a supporter of far-left political gadfly Lyndon LaRouche, demanded to know if Clinton would restore the Glass-Seagall Act as president. 

That law, repealed in 1999 after six years on the books, had limited the ability of commercial banks to deal in securities.

Clinton didn't respond to Burke. Her supporters drowned him out with clapping before he was ejected from the auditorium.

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Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke in New York on Monday, unveiling her latest batch of economic rhetorical swipes at Republicans, especially former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke in New York on Monday, unveiling her latest batch of economic rhetorical swipes at Republicans, especially former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush

Heckled: Daniel Burke, a Lyndon LaRouche acolyte, shouted a question at Hillary during her speech Monday

Heckled: Daniel Burke, a Lyndon LaRouche acolyte, shouted a question at Hillary during her speech Monday

He was ejected by security at the New School auditorium after yelling that she should separate commercial and investment banks if she becomes President

He was ejected by security at the New School auditorium after yelling that she should separate commercial and investment banks if she becomes President

Burke, pictured as he began heckling Hillary, is a supporter of far-left political gadfly Lyndon LaRouche

Burke, pictured as he began heckling Hillary, is a supporter of far-left political gadfly Lyndon LaRouche

With the opposition muzzled, Clinton outlined the tenets of her economic agenda, seizing upon recent comments from Bush – who said last week in New Hampshire that 'people need to work longer hours' in order to advance through the modern U.S. jobs economy.

'We have to be a lot more productive. Workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows,' Bush said in an interview with the Manchester, New Hampshire Union Leader during an interview that was simulcast online. 

'It means that people need to work longer hours and, through their productivity, gain more income for their families,' Bush said. 'That's the only way we're going to get out of this rut that we're in.' 

Clinton pushed back hard, saying that Bush 'must not have met many American workers,' and said he wouldn't hear that sentiment from teachers or nurses or truck drivers. 'They don't need a lecture. They need a raise,' she said.

The Democratic presidential front-runner outlined the themes of her economic agenda in a speech at The New School in New York City, where she called raising incomes for hard-working Americans the defining economic challenge facing the nation. 

The speech offered tough medicine for Wall Street traders just a few blocks away and included swipes at other leading Republican presidential candidates, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who was launching his campaign on Monday.

Hillary Clinton became very animated during her agenda-setting economic speech Monday
She said raising incomes was the defining economic challenge facing the nation

Hillary Clinton became very animated during her agenda-setting economic speech Monday

She said that hard-working Americans needed a raise, not a lecture, in a dig at Bush's recent comments
The speech offered tough medicine for Wall Street traders

She said that hard-working Americans needed a raise, not a lecture, in a dig at Bush's recent comments

Clinton leaving the New School  after her speech. She requires a constant security detail in NYC – provided by taxpayers – because she is a former First Lady

Clinton leaving the New School after her speech. She requires a constant security detail in NYC – provided by taxpayers – because she is a former First Lady

Toodles: Clinton gets into her customized van under the watchful eye of her staff and Secret Service agents

Toodles: Clinton gets into her customized van under the watchful eye of her staff and Secret Service agents

Jeb Bush (pictured) said last week that Americans would have to work longer hours to get ahead - an idea that Clinton rejects in favor of mandatory wage hikes at the bottom end of the income scale

Jeb Bush (pictured) said last week that Americans would have to work longer hours to get ahead - an idea that Clinton rejects in favor of mandatory wage hikes at the bottom end of the income scale

She specifically criticized a tax proposal put forward by Rubio, saying it would significantly cut taxes for households earning $3 million a year. 

'That's a sure budget-busting giveaway to the super-wealthy,' Clinton said. She also ripped into Walker, saying he was an example of a GOP governor who had 'made their names stomping on workers' rights.'

During a stop in New Hampshire last week, Bush had been discussing the high number of part-time workers listed among the roster of employed Americans, and the need for people to find more full-time employment. 

Democrats have seized upon the comments, hoping it will undermine the ability of the brother and son of U.S. presidents to connect with middle-class workers.

Allie Brandenburger, a Bush spokeswoman, said in response that Clinton was 'proposing the same failed policies we have seen in the Obama economy, where the typical American household's income has declined and it's harder for businesses to hire and the middle class to achieve rising incomes.'

Love fest: With the lone heckler out of the way, Clinton delivered an economic speech to a receptive and partisan crowd at the famously progressive New School

Love fest: With the lone heckler out of the way, Clinton delivered an economic speech to a receptive and partisan crowd at the famously progressive New School

Republicans note that under Obama, the workplace participation rate has declined to their lowest levels since 1977 and the labor force includes millions of people working in part-time jobs who would prefer working full-time.

In a sign of his stature in the GOP field, Bush received the brunt of Clinton's criticism. At one point, Clinton said the nation's economy should not be measured by 'some arbitrary growth targets untethered to people's lives and livelihoods.' 

That was a veiled reference to Bush, who has said he would set a goal of 4 percent economic growth, including 19 million jobs, if elected president, and would seek to harness innovation and technology.

Clinton, meanwhile, made no mention of her chief Democratic rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has wooed Democrats by making economic inequality the central plank of his insurgent campaign. 

But her message appeared aimed at liberals who have expressed anxiety about the uneven recovery of the economy since the Great Recession.

Scooby sighting: The 'Scooby Doo' van idled on the street waiting for Clinton to emerge from her speech on Monday

Scooby sighting: The 'Scooby Doo' van idled on the street waiting for Clinton to emerge from her speech on Monday

Body woman: Former State Department deputy chief of staff Huma Abedin (center) accompanied Clinton on her speaking trip and is never far from her side

Body woman: Former State Department deputy chief of staff Huma Abedin (center) accompanied Clinton on her speaking trip and is never far from her side

Clinton pointed to the economic progress during her husband's two terms in the 1990s and more recently under President Barack Obama. But she said that globalization and technological changes require the next president to take steps to help middle-class Americans participate in economic prosperity.

'Today is not 1993. It's not 2009. So we need solutions for the big challenges we face now,' Clinton said.

She pointed to a laundry list of Democratic-leaning policy ideas, including more public investment in infrastructure projects like the construction of roads and bridges, advancing renewable energy and tax cuts for small business owners. 

Clinton also expressed support for an increase in the federal minimum wage, an overhaul to the tax code, and policies proposals related to child care, paid leave and paid sick days.

But in framing her economic vision, Clinton attempted to meet the demands of liberals within her own party who question her willingness to regulate Wall Street. 

Some of those Democrats have rallied behind Sanders and many progressives note that Clinton has received backing from the financial sector in past races and received lucrative speaking fees to address Wall Street conferences.

Clinton urged corporate leaders to 'embrace their responsibilities' to workers, threatening tougher action against those who behave badly.

Not many specifics: Clinton spoke in broad brushstrokes about new challenges and new solutions but provided little in the way of nuts-and-bolts answers

Not many specifics: Clinton spoke in broad brushstrokes about new challenges and new solutions but provided little in the way of nuts-and-bolts answers

Hero worship: 21-year-old Chelsea Galinos painted a portrait of the democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton and showed it to her on Monday in New York

Hero worship: 21-year-old Chelsea Galinos painted a portrait of the democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton and showed it to her on Monday in New York

She vowed to expand the Dodd-Frank law passed by Congress in 2010, which tightened regulation of financial institutions. Clinton said the rules were 'under assault' by Republicans – and advocated increased government oversight not only of the country's' biggest banks but of hedge funds, high-frequency traders, and other powerful financial players.

She leveled a subtle swipe against the Obama administration, which took no action against the individual financial titans who pursued risky fiscal practices that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis. Clinton promised criminal prosecutions of bad bankers.

She said financial figures too often 'get off with limited consequences or none at all, even when they have already pocked the gains.'

'This is wrong and on my watch it will change,' she said. Clinton said she would offer plans to 'rein in excessive risks on Wall Street and make sure stock markets work for everyday investors.'

Clinton's economic framework will be followed by a series of speeches this summer to outline a number of economic proposals, including wage growth, college affordability, corporate accountability and paid leave. 

She plans to discuss the need for corporate profit-sharing during a stop in New Hampshire on Thursday.

Clinton's high-profile economic speech coincided with a courting of labor groups and Hispanic officials, who also are being wooed by Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley. 

Clinton received the endorsement of the American Federation of Teachers union on Saturday and both Clinton and Sanders were holding private meetings with labor leaders later in the week.

The three Democratic contenders were addressing the National Council of La Raza conference in Kansas City later Monday, appealing to members of the nation's largest Latino advocacy organization.

 

THE 2016 FIELD: WHO'S IN AND WHO'S THINKING IT OVER

A whopping 20 people from America's two major political parties have declared themselves candidates in the 2016 presidential election.

The field includes two women, an African-American and two Latinos. All but one in that group – Hillary Clinton – are Republicans. 

A few Democrats are still assessing their chances. And although the GOP field is deeper than ever, at least two more contenders could still join the race. 

DEMOCRATS IN THE RACE 

Lincoln Chafee  Former Rhode Island governor

Age: 62

Religion:  Episcopalian

Base: Centrists

Résumé: Former Rhode Island governor. Former U.S. senator. Former city councilman and mayor of Warwick, RI.

Education: B.A. Brown University. Graduate, Montana State University horseshoeing school.

Family: Chafee is married to Stephanie Chafee (1990) with three children. Like him, his father John Chafee was a Rhode Island governor and US senator, but also served as Secretary of the Navy. Lincoln was appointed to his Senate seat when his father died in office.

Claim to fame: While Chafee was a Republican senator during the George W. Bush administration, he cast his party's only vote in 2002 against a resolution that authorized military action in Iraq. Hillary Clinton, also a senator then, voted in favor – giving him a point of comparison that he hopes to ride to victory.

Achilles heel: Chafee's lack of any significant party loyalty has turned allies into foes throughout his political career, and Democrats aren't sure he's entirely with them now. He was elected to the Senate as a Republican in 2000 but left the party and declared himself a political independent after losing a re-election bid in 2006. As an independent, he was elected governor in 2010. Now he's running for president as a Democrat.

 

Martin O'Malley    Former Maryland governor

Age: 52

Religion: Catholic

Base: Centrists 

                              Résumé: Former Maryland governor. Former city councilor and mayor of Baltimore, MD. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

Education: B.A. Catholic University of America. J.D. University of Maryland.

Family: O'Malley is married to Katie Curran (1990) and they have four children. Curran is a district court judge in Baltimore. Her father is Maryland's attorney general. O'Malley's mother is a receptionists in the Capitol Hill office of Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski.

Claim to fame: O'Malley pushed for laws in Maryland legalizing same-sex marriage and giving illegal immigrants the right to pay reduced tuition rates at public universities. But he's best known for playing guitar and sung in a celtic band cammed 'O’Malley’s March.'

Achilles heel: O’Malley may struggle in the Democratic primary since he endorsed Hillary Clinton eight years ago. If he prevails, he will have to run far enough to her left to be an easy target for the GOP. He showed political weakness when his hand-picked successor lost the 2014 governor's race to a Republican. But most troubling is his link with Baltimore, whose 2016 race riots have made it a nuclear subject for politicians of all stripes.


Jim Webb     Former Virginia senator

Age: 69

Religion: Christian (nondenominational)

Base: War hawks

Base: War hawks and 

Base: War hawks and economic 

Family: Married to Hong Le Webb (2005). Divorced from Jo Ann Krukar (1981-2004). Divorced from Barbara Samorajczyk (1968–1979). 

Claim to fame: Webb is the rare Democrat who can bring both robust defense credentials and a history of genuine bipartisanship to the race. He served in Republican president Ronald Reagan's defense directorate as Navy secretary, and earned both the Navy5r Star and the Purple Heart in combat. Webb is also seen as a quiet scholar who has written more than a half-dozen historical novels and a critically acclaimed history of Scots-Irish U.S. immigrants.

Achilles heel: Webb has a reputation as a bit of a quitter. He resigned his Navy secretary post over a budget-cut dispute just 10 months after taking the job, and he dec;lined to run for re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2006. He also attracted bad press for defending the use of the Confederate flag as a heritage symbol for American southerners. Amid a nationwide clamor to remove the flag from the South Carolina statehouse grounds, he wrote that Americans should 'respect the complicated history of the Civil War. ... Honorable Americans fought on both sides.'

Hillary Clinton Former sec. of state

Age: 67

Religion: United Methodist 

Base: Liberals 

                            Résumé: Former secretary of state. Former U.S. senator from New York. Former U.S. first lady. Former Arkansas first lady. Former law school faculty, University of Arkansas Fayetteville.

Education: B.A. Wellesley College. J.D. Yale Law School.

Family: Clinton's husband Bill (1975) was the 42nd President of the United States. Their daughter Chelsea is married to investment banker Marc Mezvinsky, whose mother was a 1990s one-term Pennsylvania congresswoman.

Claim to fame: Clinton was the first US first lady with a postgraduate degree and presaged Obamacare with a failed attempt at health care reform in the 1990s.

Achilles heel: A long series of financial and ethical scandals has dogged Clinton, including recent allegations that her husband and their family foundation benefited financially from decisions she made as secretary of state. Her performance surrounding the 2012 terror attack on a State Department facility in Benghazi, Libya, has been catnip for conservative Republicans. And her presdiential campaign has been marked by an unwillingness to engage journalists, instead meeting with hand-picked groups of voters.

 

Bernie Sanders*  Vermont senator

Age: 73

Religion: Judaism

Base: Far-left progressives

                              Résumé: U.S. senator. Former U.S. congressman. Former mayor of Burlington, VT.

Education: B.A. University of Chicago.

Family: Sanders is married to Jane O’Meara Sanders (1988), a former president of Burlington College. They have one child and three more from Mrs. Sanders' previous marriage. His brother Larry is a Green Party politician in the UK and formerly served on the Oxfordshire County Council.

Claim to fame: Sanders is an unusually blunt, and unapologetic pol, happily promoting progressivism without hedging. He is also the longest-serving 'independent' member of Congress – neither Democrat nor Republican.

Achilles heel: Sanders describes himself as a 'democratic socialist.' At a time of huge GOP electoral gains, his far-left ideas don't poll well. He favors open borders, single-payer universal health insurance, and greater government control over media ownership.

* Sanders is running as a Democrat but has no party affiliation in the Senate.


DEMOCRATS IN THE HUNT 

Joe Biden, U.S. vice president

Biden would be a natural candidate as the White House's sitting second-banana, but his reputation as a one-man gaffe factory will keep Democrats from taking him seriously.

Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts senator

Warren is a populist liberal who could give Hillary Clinton headaches by challenging her from the left, but she has said she has no plans to run and is happy in the U.S. Senate.

 

 

REPUBLICANS IN THE RACE  

Jeb Bush       Former Florida governor

Age: 62

Religion: Catholic

Base: Moderates 

Résumé: Former Florida governor and secretary of state. Former co-chair of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.

Education: B.A. University of Texas at Austin.

Family: Married to Columba Bush (1974), with three adult children. Noelle Bush has made news with her struggle with drug addiction, and related arrests. George P. Bush was elected Texas land commissioner in 2014. Jeb's father George H.W. Bush was the 41st Presdient of the United States, and his brother George W. Bush was number 43.

Claim to fame: CJeb was an immensely popular governor with strong economic and jobs credentials. He is also one of just two GOP candidates who is fluent in Spanish.

Achilles heel: Bush has angered conservatives with hsi permissive positions on illegal immigration (saying some border-crossing is 'an act of love) and common-core education standards. His last name could also be a liability with voters who fear establishing a family dynasty in the White House. 


Chris Christie        New Jersey governor

Age: 52

Religion: Catholic

Base: Establishment-minded conservatives

Résumé: Governor of New Jersey. Former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. Former Morris County freeholder and lobbyist.

Governor of New Jersey. Former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. Former Morris County freeholder. Former statehouse lobbyist.

Education: B.A. University of Delaware, Newark, J.D. Seton Hall University.

Family: Married to Mary Pat Foster (1986) with four children.

Claim to fame: Pugnacious and unapologetic, Christie once told a heckler to 'sit down and shut up' and brings a brash style to everything he does. That includes the post-9/11 criminal prosecutions of terror suspects that made his reputation as a hard-charger.

Achilles heel: Christie is often accused of embracing an ego-driven and needlessly abrasive style. His administration continues to operate under a 'Bridgegate' cloud: At least two aides have been indicted in an alleged scheme to shut down lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge as political retribution for a mayor who refused to endorse the governor's re-election.

 

Carly Fiorina         Former CEO

Age: 60

Religion:      Episcopalian 

Base: Conservatives

                Résumé: Former CEO of Hewett-Packard. Former group president of Lucent Technologies. Onetime U.S. Senate candidate in California.

Education: B.A. Stanford University. UCLA School of Law (did not finish). M.B.A. University of Maryland. M.Sci. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Family: Married to Frank Fiorina (1985), with one adult step-daughter and another who is deceased. She has two step-grandchildren. Divorced from Todd Bartlem (1977-1984).

Claim to fame: Fiorina was the first woman to lead a Fortune 20 company, something that could provide ammunition against the Democratic Party's drive to make Hillary Clinton the first female president. She is also the only woman in the 2016 GOP field, making her the one Republican who can't be accused of sexism.

Achilles heel: Fiorina's unceremonious firing by HP's board has led to questions about her management and leadership styles. And her only political experience has been a failed Senate bid in 2010 against Barbara Boxer.


Mike Huckabee     Former Arkansas governor

Age: 59

Religion: Southern Baptist 

Base: Evangelicals

Résumé: Former governor and lieutenant governor of Arkansas. Former Fox News Channel host. Ordained minister and author.

Education: B.A. Ouachita Baptist University. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (did not finish). 

Family: Married to Janet Huckabee (1974), with three adult children. Mrs. Huckabee is a survivor of spinal cancer.

Claim to fame: 'Huck' is a political veteran and has run for president before, winning the Iowa Caucuses in 2008 and finishing second for the GOP nomination behind John McCain. He's known as an affable Christian and succeeded in building a huge following on his weekend television program, in which he frequently sat in on the electric bass with country & western groups and other 'wholesome' musican entertainers.

Achilles heel: Huckabee may have a problem with female voters. He complained in 2014 about Obamacare's mandatory contraception coverage, saying Democrats want women to 'believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar.' He earned more scorn for hawking herbal supplements in infomercials as a diabetes cure, something he has yet to disavow despite disagreement from medical experts.


George Pataki      Former New York governor 

Age: 69 

ReligionCatholic

BaseCentrists              

Résumé: Former governor of New York. Former New York state senator and state assemblyman. Former mayor of Peekskill, NY.

Education: B.A. Yale University. J.D. Columbia Law School.

Family: Married to Libby Rowland (1973), with four adult children.

Claim to fame: Pataki was just the third Republican governor in New York's history, winning an improbable victory over three-term incumbent Mario Cuomo in 1994. He was known for being a rare tax-cutter in Albany and was also the sitting governor when the 9/11 terror attacks rocked New York CIty in 2001.

Achilles heel: While Pataki's liberal-leaning social agenda plays well in the Empire State, it won't win him any fans among the GOP's conservative base. He supports abortion rights and gay rights, and has advocated strongly in favor of government intervention to stop global warming, which right-wingers believe is overblown as a global threat.


Rand Paul      Kentucky senator

Age: 52

Religion: Presbyterian 

Base: Libertarians 

                  Résumé: US senator. Board-certified ophthalmologist. Former congressional campaign manager for his father Ron Paul.

Education: Baylor University (did not finish). M.D. Duke University School of Medicine.

Family: Married to Kelley Ashby (1990), with three sons. His father is a former Texas congressman who ran for president three times but never got close to grabbing the brass ring.

Claim to fame: Paul embraces positions that are at odds with most in the GOP, including an anti-interventionist foreign policy, reduced military spending, criminal drug sentencing reform for African-Americans and strict limits on government electronic surveillance – including a clampdown on the National Security Agency.

Achilles heel: Paul's politics are aligned with those of his father, whom mainstream GOPers saw as kooky. Both Pauls have advocated for a brand of libertarianism that forces government to stop domestic surveillance programs and limits foreign military interventions.


Rick Santorum     Former Penn. senator

Age: 57

Religion: Catholic

Base: Evangelicals 

 

Résumé: Former US senator and former member of the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Former lobbyist who represented World Wrestling Entertainment.

Education: B.A. Penn State University. M.B.A. University of Pittsburgh. J.D. Penn State University Dickinson School of Law.

Family: Married to Karen Santorum (1990), with seven living children. One baby was stillborn in 1996. Another, named Isabella, is a special needs child with a genetic disorder.

Claim to fame: Santorum won the 2012 Republican Iowa Caucuses by a nose. He won by visiting all of Iowa's 99 states in a pickup truck belonging to his state campaign director, a consultant who now worls for Donald Trump.

Achilles heel: As a young lobbyist, Santorum persuaded the federal government to exempt pro wrestling from regulations governing the use of anabolic steroids. And the stridently conservative politician has attracted strong opposition from gay rights groups. One gay columnist held a contest to redefine his name, buying the 'santorum.com' domain to advertise the winning entry – which is too vulgar to print.


Scott Walker     Wisconsin governor

Age: 47

Religion: Christian (nondenominational)

Base: Conservative activists  

Résumé: Governor of Wisconsin. Former Milwaukee County Executive. Former member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Education: Marquette University (did not finish)

Family: Married to Tonette Tarantino (1993), with two children. One of Mrs. Walker's cousins is openly lesbian and was married in 2014, with the Walkers attending the reception.

Claim to fame: Walker built his national fame on the twin planks of turning his state's past budget shortfalls into surpluses and beating back a labor-union-led drive to force him out of office through a recall election. Both results have broad appeal in the GOP.

Achilles heel: Wisconsin has suffered from a shaky economy during Walker's tenure, which makes him look weak compared with other governors who presided over more robust job-creation numbers. He promised to create 250,000 private sector jobs but delivered less than 60 per cent of them. Also, he led an effort in the state legislature to enact $800 million in tax cuts – putting the Badger State back on the road to government deficits.

Ben Carson       Retired Physician

Age: 63

Religion:              Seventh-day Adventist

Base: Evangelicals

            Résumé: Famous pediatric neurosurgeon, youngest person to head a major Johns Hopkins Hospital division. Founder of the Carson Scholars Fund, which awards scholarships to children of good character.

Education: B.A. Yale University. M.D. University of Michigan Medical School.

Family: Married to Candy Carson (1975), with three adult sons. The Carsons live in Maryland with Ben's elderly mother Sonya, who was a seminal influence on his life and development. 

Claim to fame: Carson spoke at a National Prayer Breakfast in 2013, railing against political correctness and condemned Obamacare – with President Obama sitting just a few feet away.

Achilles heel: Carson is inflexibly conservative, opposing gay marriage and once saying gay attachments formed in prison provided evidence that sexual orientation is a choice.


Ted Cruz            Texas senator

Age: 44

Religion:         Southern Baptist

Base: Tea partiers

                    Résumé: U.S. senator. Former Texas solicitor general. Former U.S. Supreme Court clerk. Former associate deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush.

Education: B.A. Princeton University. J.D. Harvard Law School.

Family: Married to Heidi Nelson Cruz (2001), with two young daughters. His father is a preacher and he has two half-sisters.

Claim to fame: Cruz spoke on the Senate floor for more than 21 hours in September 2013 to protest the inclusion of funding for Obamacare in a federal budget bill. (The bill moved forward as written.) He has called for the complete repeal of the medical insurance overhaul law, and also for a dismantling of the Internal Revenue Service. Cruz is also outspoken about border security.

Achilles heel: Cruz's father Rafael, a Texas preacher, is a tea party firebrand who has said gay marriage is a government conspiracy and called President Barack Obama a Marxist who should 'go back to Kenya.' Cruz himself also has a reputation as a take-no-prisoners Christian evangelical, which might play well in South Carolina but won't win him points in the other early primary states and couls cost him momentum if he should be the GOP's presidential nominee.

 

Lindsey Graham  South Carolina senator

Age: 59

Religion:        Southern Baptist

Base: Otherwise moderate war hawks 

Résumé: U.S. senator. Retired Air Force Reserves colonel. Former congressman. Former South Carolina state representative.

Education: B.A. University of South Carolina. J.D. University of South Carolina Law School.

Family: Never married. Raised his sister Darline after their parents died while he was a college student and she was 13.

Claim to fame: Graham is a hawk's hawk, arguing consistently for greater intervention in the Middle East, once arguing in favor of pre-emptive military strikes against Iran. His influence was credited for pushing President George W. Bush to institute the 2007 military 'surge' in Iraq.

Achilles heel: Some of his critics have taken to call him 'Grahamnesty,' citing his participating in a 2013 'gang of eight' strategy to approve an Obama-favored immigration bill. He has also aroused the ire of conservative Republicans by supporting global warming legislation and voting for some of the president's judicial nominees.


Bobby Jindal     Louisiana governor

Age: 44

Religion: Catholic

Base: Social conservatives

                  Résumé: Governor of Louisiana. Former congressman. Former Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation. Former Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

Education: B. Sci. Brown University. M.Litt. New College at Oxford University

Family: Married to Supriya Jolly (1997), with three children, each of whom has an Indian first name and an American middle name. Bobby Jindal's given name is Piyush.

Claim to fame: Jindal's main source of national attention has been his strident opposition to federal-level 'Common Core' education standards, which included a federal lawsuit that a judge dismissed in late March. He is also outspoken on the religious-freedom issues involved in mainstreaming gay marriage into the lives of American Christians.

Achilles heel: JindaDuring his first term as governor, Jindal signed a science education law that requires schools to present alternatives to the theory of evolution, including religious creationism. Similarly, his staunch defense of businesses that want to steer clear of providing services to same-sex couples at their weddings will win points among evangelicals but alienate much of the electorate.


Rick Perry      Former Texas governor 

Age: 65 

Religion: Christian (nondenominational)

Base: Conservatives 

Résumé: Former Texas governor, lieutenant governor, agriculture commissioner and state representative.

Education: B.Sci. Texas A&M University

Family: Married to Anita Thigpen (1982) with two afult children. His father was a former Democratic county commissioner in Texas.

Claim to fame: Perry boasts that while he was governor between the end of 2007 and the end of 2014, the Texas economy created 1.4 million new jobs while the rest of the U.S. lost close to 400,000. A Perry-led Texas also had the nation's highest high school graduation rate among Hispanics and African-Americans.

Achilles heel: Perry has a tough hill to climb after his 2012 presidential campaign spectacularly imploded with a single word – 'Oops' – after he couldn't remember one of his own talking points during a nationally televised debate. He also faces an indictment for alleged abuse of power in a case that Republicans contend is politically motivated and meritless.


Marco Rubio         Florida senator

Age: 43

Religion:          Catholic

Base: Conservatives


Résumé: US senator, former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, former city commissioner of West Miami

Education: B.A. University of Florida. J.D. University of Miami School of Law.

Family: Married to Jeanette Dousdebes (1998), with two sons and two daughters. Jeanette is a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader who posed for the squad’s first swimsuit calendar. 

Claim to fame: Rubio's personal story as the son of Cuban emigres is a powerful narrative, and helped him win his Senate seat in 2010 against a well-funded governor whom he initially trailed by 20 points.

Achilles heel: Rubio was part of a bipartisan 'gang of eight' senators who crafted an Obama-approved immigration reform bill in 2013 which never became law – a move that angered conservative Republicans. And he was criticized in 2011 for publicly telling a version of his parents' flight from Cuba that turned out to appear embellished.


Donald Trump     Real estate developer

Age: 69

Religion: Catholic

Base: Presbyterian   

 

Résumé: Chairman of The Trump Organization. Fixture on the Forbes 400 list of the world's richest people. Star of 'Celebrity Apprentice.'

Education: B.Sci. Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Family: Married to Melania Trump (2005). Divorced from Ivana Trump and Marla Maples. Five grown children. Trump's father Fred Trump amassed a $400 million fortune developing real estate.

Claim to fame: Trump's niche in the 2016 campaign stems from his celebrity as a reality-show host and his enormous wealth – $8.7 billion, according to Trump. Because he can sef-fund an entire presidential campaign, he is seen as less beholden to donors than other candidates.

Achilles heel: Trump is a political neophyte who has toyed with running for president and for governor of New York, but shied away from taking the plunge until now. His billions have the potential to alienate large swaths of the electorate. And his Republican rivals are already labeling him an ego-driven celebrity and an electoral sideshow because of his past enthusiasm for anti-Obama 'birtherism.' 

 

 

REPUBLICANS IN THE HUNT 

Jim Gilmore, former Virginia governor

Gilmore is no political neophyte, having been Virginia's governor and attorney general. He would also bring military credentials through his service as an Army intelligence agent. He is also a board member of the National Rifle Association and presdient of the Free Congress Foundation, a conservative think tank.

John Kasich, Ohio governor

Kasich is a popular governor in the battleground Buckeye State, but has little name-recognition elsewhere. He has accommodated liberals on some issues and could be seen as a more palatable version of Jeb Bush for Republicans who fear electing a family dynasty. 

 
 

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