Politics

Bush, Clinton Taking Different Tracks on Potential Matchup

Published

11 years ago

May 8, 2015

In this April 7, 2015, file photo, former Florida governor and potential Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush applauds a speaker during an energy forum which he hosted, at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver. To judge them solely by their travels over the past month, you might think Bush has already plunged into the general election and Hillary Rodham Clinton has a serious fight on her hands for the Democratic nomination. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

THOMAS BEAUMONT, Associated Press
JULIE PACE, Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — To judge them solely by their travels over the past month, you might think Jeb Bush has already plunged into the general election and Hillary Rodham Clinton has a serious fight on her hands for the Democratic nomination.

Whereas the conventional thinking, at least, is quite the opposite: He’s got a real primary race to settle first and she doesn’t.

Bush, who has yet to declare his candidacy for the Republican nomination, has been stopping in states far from the early testing grounds of Iowa and New Hampshire. Over the past month, he’s made appearances in Ohio, North Carolina and Colorado, all crucial general election states.

On Saturday, he’ll be in Virginia, which will also be hotly contested in November 2016, even as most of his Republican nomination rivals are appearing in South Carolina — an important state in the primary race.

“It’s a conscious effort, as he goes through the consideration process, to talk to and hear from people across the board,” Bush spokesman Tim Miller said. “That means in the early primary states and other states that would play a role in the process.”

Bush’s strategy carries potential risks. Voters in early primary and caucus states are used to personal attention from candidates and could see Bush’s apparent flirtation with the general election as premature. Clinton, in contrast, is narrowly focusing her travel schedule on the first four states in the primaries, suggesting she wants voters to know she’s taking nothing for granted despite her dominant position in the party.

To be sure, Bush isn’t avoiding the early states. He’s made visits to Iowa and New Hampshire, as well as South Carolina and Nevada, which round out the first four primary contests, and is headed back to Nevada and Iowa next week.

Also, he does not have paid staff on the ground in the battleground states.

But a candidate’s time remains one of any campaign’s most valuable assets and how and where the candidate spends it provides the clearest glimpse into their strategy.

Bush’s relentless travel schedule has been largely driven by his aggressive fundraising campaign. But he took time out in Ohio last month to speak to the influential Ohio Chamber of Commerce conference, a coveted speaking engagement in a perennial swing state.

This weekend, Bush will give the commencement address at Liberty University in Virginia, a state that Democrat Barack Obama carried twice. In just the past month, Bush has also spoken in Colorado and North Carolina.

Ohio, Virginia, Colorado and North Carolina were each decided by less than five percentage points in the 2012 election, and are expected to be pivotal in 2016.

Since announcing her campaign in early April, Clinton has limited her campaign appearances to Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. She also plans to travel to South Carolina in the coming weeks.

It’s not a liability for Bush to dip a toe into a key fall election state, because such travel is still a priority, said veteran GOP presidential adviser Charlie Black.

“Your first driving force is fundraising,” he said, referring to travel plans. “Second is early-primary states and third is swing states. Sometimes it’s a major speech, or a national speech that’s driving them.”

Black presumed that Clinton would alter her schedule under the right conditions.

“If there were a NARAL conference in St. Louis, you can bet she’d be there,” he said, referring to the pro-abortion-rights group.

Clinton’s campaign is initially raising money for the primaries, not the general election.

But it’s clear she is keeping an eye on Bush, who is viewed by many of her advisers as the toughest potential GOP candidate in a general election.

For example, Clinton had planned to wait until May to start headlining fundraising events. However, she told aides that because Bush was raising money at such an aggressive pace, she needed to pick up her pace on that front. Fundraisers were added to her April schedule in New York and Washington.

Campaign officials said Clinton’s travel plans haven’t been swayed by Bush’s flirtation with general election states. They don’t expect her to appear in states such as Ohio until late summer at the earliest.

But her team is looking for other ways to engage the general election states. Campaign chairman John Podesta met donors in Colorado on Monday and is expected to make similar stops in states that will be crucial on Election Day.

The campaign has also pledged to have employees in all the states, working with volunteers and organizing efforts to get out the vote.

While campaign officials said those efforts are currently focused on the primaries, they are also a way to start building a foundation for the general election.

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Activism

Supreme Court Voting Rights Ruling Reverberates From the South to California

The Supreme Court’s recent ruling weakening the Voting Rights Act is reshaping political battles, particularly in the South. While California’s protections may offer a buffer, the decision raises national concerns about Black political representation and redistricting.

Published

1 day ago

May 15, 2026

Oakland Post

Researchers pointed out that the number amounts to 1 in every 50 adults, with 3 out of 4 disenfranchised living in their communities, having completed their sentences or remaining supervised while on probation or parole. (Photo: iStockphoto)

iStock.

By Brandon Patterson

A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling weakening a key section of the federal Voting Rights Act is already reshaping political battles in parts of the South while raising broader questions about the future of Black political representation nationwide.

In Louisiana v. Callais, the Court’s conservative majority limited the use of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the provision historically used to challenge electoral maps that dilute minority voting strength. Writing in dissent, Justice Elena Kagan warned that the ruling marked the “now-complete demolition of the Voting Rights Act.”

The immediate effects of the ruling are expected to be felt most sharply in Southern states, where litigation over majority-Black districts has shaped congressional maps for decades. Republican-led states including Louisiana, Alabama, and Texas have already moved to defend or revisit maps following the decision, according to reporting by Reuters and Politico.

California’s political landscape is different. The state uses an independent citizen’s commission to draw district lines and also has its own California Voting Rights Act, which in some cases provides broader protections than federal law. Because of those safeguards, the Supreme Court’s decision is not expected to immediately alter Black political representation in California.

Still, legal scholars and voting rights advocates say the ruling could shape future national debates over how race is considered in redistricting and voting rights enforcement.

“It changes the legal atmosphere around voting rights nationally,” UCLA law professor Rick Hasen told Axios. “Even states with stronger protections are paying attention to where the Court is headed.”

The decision also arrives amid renewed political fights over redistricting. In California, voters approved Proposition 50 in November 2025, a measure backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that expanded the state’s ability to redraw congressional maps in response to mid-decade redistricting efforts in other states.

Supporters argued the measure was necessary to counter increasingly aggressive Republican-led redistricting nationally, while critics warned it could weaken California’s independent redistricting tradition.

For Black Californians, the ruling lands at a time when political representation remains significant even as demographic shifts have changed historically Black neighborhoods in cities like Oakland, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee criticized the Court’s decision in comments to The Oaklandside, calling the Voting Rights Act one of the nation’s foundational civil rights protections.

“This decision weakens one of the most important civil rights tools our communities have had,” Lee said. “We know voting rights were never given freely. People fought and died for them.”

Rep. Lateefah Simon warned against complacency.

“This is part of a larger effort to erase the gains of the civil rights movement,” Simon told Oaklandside. “Black political power matters, and representation matters.”

The Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965 during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, helped expand Black political representation nationwide, including in California, where coalition politics among Black, Latino and Asian American voters helped elect candidates of color at the local, state and federal levels.

For many observers, the latest ruling serves less as an immediate threat to California districts and more as a reminder that voting rights protections long viewed as settled remain politically and legally contested.

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School District Extends Supt. Dr. Denise Saddler’s Contract for a Second Year

The Oakland Board of Education has extended Superintendent Denise Saddler’s contract through June 2027, promoting her from interim to permanent superintendent with a salary of $367,765.45 per year.

Published

1 day ago

May 15, 2026

Oakland Post

Supt. Dr. Denise Saddler. File photo.

By Post Staff

The Oakland Board of Education voted this week to extend Superintendent Denise Saddler’s contract for another year, from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027.

Under the new agreement, Saddler’s job title will become “superintendent”; she will no longer be called “interim.”

Along with the new title, she will receive full superintendent benefits and salary at $367,765.45 per year, according to the employment agreement.

The vote to approve the new contract passed 5-2 at Wednesday night’s board meeting.

Saddler’s original interim contract was for one year. The school board was planning to select a permanent superintendent by the fall but earlier this year decided to delay the search.

The new contract reflects the Board of Education’s “determination that continuity in executive leadership is in the best interests of the district as Oakland Unified continues implementation of its fiscal stabilization strategies, academic priorities, labor relations initiatives, and operational improvements,” the employment agreement reads.

In November, the board approved a $150,000 contract with a consulting firm to carry out that search, but Board President Jennifer Brouhard told KQED last month that the process never got off the ground.

“No work was done, no money has been paid for the work (to) the search firm for the superintendent search,” Brouhard said. “Hopefully, we’ll be resuming that in the early part of the fall.”

Dr. Saddler was born and raised in Oakland, attended local schools, and has dedicated more than 45 years of her career to serving Oakland students and families.

She began her career in 1979 as a teacher of students with disabilities. Over the years, she has served as a teacher, principal, district leader, and teachers’ union president.

While working in OUSD, she has served as principal at Chabot Elementary, area auperintendent, and executive leader for Community Engagement and Educational Transitions. She has also supported schools as a principal coach and substitute principal and taught at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education.

Dr. Saddler holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Mills College and master’s degrees in special education and in Staff Development and Administration.

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Mayor Barbara Lee Joins National Public Safety Leaders to Advance Proven Violence Reduction Strategies

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee attends a two-day meeting with other mayors and public safety leaders to discuss violence reduction strategies; Oakland has seen a 39% drop in homicides.

Published

1 day ago

May 15, 2026

Oakland Post

Oakland was one of four cities participating in a public safety convening. Courtesy image.

By Post Staff

Mayor Barbara Lee this week joined Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and public safety leaders from Oakland for a two-day meeting focused on advancing cutting-edge public safety strategies, including focused deterrence and violence reduction.

The meeting brought together civic and public safety leaders from Oakland and Indianapolis to locations in Baltimore and Philadelphia to share lessons learned and identify innovative approaches to crime prevention, intervention, and enforcement.

The participating cities are widely recognized for pioneering community-centered public safety models that prioritize prevention, accountability, and sustained investment in neighborhood-based solutions

Oakland’s delegation included Department of Violence Prevention (DVP) Chief Holly Joshi, Oakland Police Department Assistant Chief Casey Johnson, and Ceasefire Director Annette Jointer.

Oakland’s participation underscores its continued leadership in advancing evidence-based violence reduction strategies and building a public safety system that integrates law enforcement with community intervention and prevention programs.

Oakland continues to see historic reductions in violence, reflecting coordinated efforts across the Department of Violence Prevention, Oakland Police Department, Ceasefire, and community-based partners, including:

Violent crime down 22%
Homicides down 39%
Lowest homicide total in nearly 60 years

These gains reflect sustained investment in focused deterrence strategies, real-time intervention, and expanded community violence interruption programs.

“Public safety is not achieved by any one agency alone—it requires coordination, trust, and a shared commitment to prevention and accountability,” said Lee. “We are proud to stand alongside cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Indianapolis that are proving what works. We are seeing real progress in reducing violence in our communities, and we remain committed to building on that momentum through strategies that center prevention, intervention, and strong partnerships with residents.”

“Oakland’s progress shows what is possible when cities invest in focused deterrence and wraparound supports that reach people most at risk,” said Joshi. “Our work is grounded in building trust, responding quickly to emerging conflicts, and connecting individuals to services that interrupt cycles of violence. This convening was an opportunity to strengthen that work through shared learning with peers who are advancing similar strategies nationwide.”

Said Johnson, “Effective public safety requires a balanced approach that combines accountability with deep collaboration across agencies and communities.”

“We are seeing meaningful reductions in violent crime because of strong partnerships between law enforcement, DVP, Ceasefire, and community organizations,” said Johnson. “Engaging with peer cities allows us to refine and improve the strategies that are making Oakland safer.”