| | | | Recount begins in Wisconsin; two more could come soon | | Donald Trump's destruction of the Democratic "blue wall" of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania -- victories that catapulted him to the presidency over Hillary Clinton -- is set to become the subject of recounts sought not by Clinton, but by Green Party nominee Jill Stein. Here's how it's going to play out:
Wisconsin: It'll be up to elections officials in each of the state's 72 counties to work nights and weekends to recount their votes. Some could just re-tabulate the results from their voting machines, rather than counting by hand. This will all happen at a rapid pace: Under Wisconsin law, the deadline to finalize the tally is December 13.
Pennsylvania: The state's process to request a recount is complicated. More than 100 Stein supporters have petitioned for one, but she'd need more, and a state official tells the Philadelphia Inquirer that Stein already missed the deadline.
Michigan: The state's results were officially certified today. Wednesday is the deadline to request a recount -- and Stein has indicated she'll do so. Because of legal guidelines for such a recount, it might not start until days before the electoral college's December 19 meeting. Michigan's recount would be by hand, since the state doesn't use voting machines.
More audit than recount? Writes FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver: "Let's not call it a 'recount,' because that's not really what it is. It's not as though merely counting the ballots a second or third time is likely to change the results enough to overturn the outcome in three states. ... So what we're talking about is more like an audit or an investigation. An investigation that would look for signs of deliberate and widespread fraud, such as voting machines' having been hacked, whole batches of ballots' intentionally having been disregarded, illegal coordination between elections officials and the campaigns, and so on." | | | The counting is all over. Now that Michigan officials have certified Donald Trump as the victor there, here's 2016's final electoral vote tally and map -- assuming all electors are faithful: | | | Michigan was the only state that CNN hadn't called because of the tight vote there. Trump won by a 10,704-vote margin, with the President-elect earning 2,279,543 votes (47.5%) and Hillary Clinton earning 2,268,839 votes (47.3%). Clinton still leads in the popular vote by 2 million votes nationally. More from CNN's Jennifer Agiesta and Daniella Diaz. | | Transition watch: Trump to dine with Romney Tuesday | | Donald Trump and Mitt Romney will have dinner together Tuesday night as Trump considers whether to leave Romney's brutal campaign trail criticism of him in the past and tap the 2012 GOP nominee for secretary of state.
One person unhappy with the Romney talk: Trump's campaign manager (and now senior adviser) Kellyanne Conway. She told CNN's Dana Bash yesterday that she is "all for party unity, but I'm not sure we have to pay for that with the secretary of state position." Trump, a source said, is "irritated" with Conway's public bashing of Romney.
The problem with Conway's actions, per Karl Rove on Fox News today: "This first of all suggests that Donald Trump is weak. When his inner circle, his closest advisers are publicly telling people, 'This is the advice I gave my chief and he isn't listening to me,' it makes him look weak."
Other Trump meetings included former Gen. David Petraeus today, with House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker on deck for Tuesday.
Here's what Trump had to say about his Petraeus meeting: | | | On the other hand ... this tweet is from a key adviser to Sen. Rand Paul, who will cast an important vote on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Trump's secretary of state nominee. He's referring to Petraeus revealing classified information to his mistress and biographer: | | | It's all a bit "Apprentice"-like, noted Trump ally Newt Gingrich. "It's the only place so far that we have seen him trying to do an open apprenticeship, if you will," he told The Wall Street Journal's Damian Paletta. | | "He is a self-serving egomaniac who puts himself first, who has a chip on his shoulder, that thinks he should be president of the United States." -- Rep. Chris Collins, a New York Republican and early Donald Trump supporter, about Mitt Romney on CNN's "New Day." | | | Challenger hits Pelosi ahead of House elections | | From CNN's Manu Raju and Deirdre Walsh: Rep. Tim Ryan is accusing House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of seeking to "further consolidate her power" as he tries to stoke antipathy over her long tenure as the Democratic leader ahead of this week's leadership elections. Ryan, an Ohio Democrat in his seventh term, is mounting an uphill battle to defeat Pelosi in the Wednesday elections, seizing on the Democrats' disappointing election results and continued status in the House minority to call for changes at the top of his caucus.
While Pelosi remains a prohibitive favorite, she has taken a series of steps aimed at easing House Democratic concerns that rank-and-file members -- particularly those elected in recent elections -- have little influence over the messaging and strategy. Pelosi has sent two letters to her colleagues laying out a series of changes she'd like to make, including giving more junior members a bigger say at the leadership table.
But Ryan says such changes do not go far enough. "I am very disappointed in Leader Pelosi's proposed caucus reforms, which are seemingly designed to further consolidate her power over the caucus," Ryan said in a Monday statement. "There is a clear desire among our members to democratize the Democratic Caucus by returning more power to our rank and file members." Pelosi's office declined to respond to Ryan's criticism. | | | A Republican in Texas who criticized President-elect Donald Trump is resigning as an elector after writing in a blog post over the weekend that Trump is unqualified to be President, but he can't do anything about it. ... The White House is urging Trump to keep President Barack Obama's Cuba policies in place. | | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Check out CNNMoney's Reliable Sources, an insider's look into the media brought to you by Brian Stelter. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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