Hillary Clinton calls for equal pay for womenRand Paul in Chicago after comments about KKK and ‘Ground Zero mosque’Bobby Jindal and Rand Paul trade blows 6.15pm ET We’re going to wrap up our live blog politics coverage for the day. Here’s a summary of where things stand: 6.01pm ET Why does this sound so... threatening? RICK SANTORUM READY! http://t.co/AFm2u1vOVN 5.51pm ET How many times did Santorum say “American worker”? “I am proud to stand among you, and for you, the American workers who have sacrificed so much, to announce that I am running for president of the United States!”“Four years ago, well, no one gave us much of a chance. But we won 11 states. We got 4m votes. And it’s not just because I stood for something. It’s because I stood for someone. The American worker!”I think the last person to cram in as many references to the American worker in one speech as Rick Santorum was Ray Zalinsky in Tommy Boy. 5.37pm ET Santorum finishes his speech. Here’s the big finish, verbatim:“Four years ago, well, no one gave us much of a chance. But we won 11 states. We got 4m votes. And it’s not just because I stood for something. It’s because I stood for someone. The American worker.“I promised then as I promise you now. I will take money and power out of Washington, and put it back where the Constitution says it belongs: in the people who earned it. 5.34pm ET Rick Santorum holds up being featured in an online publication sympathetic to Isis militants as a national security credential. He says a recent feature in the “Isis magazine” included “my picture and a quote.” 5.29pm ET Ben Jacobs takes in the crowd:Crowd at Santorum event which is now chanting "Rick, Rick, Rick" pic.twitter.com/FGVtABUdlO 5.28pm ET “The Obama team, they don’t understand that peace comes through strength,” Santorum says.“USA! USA! USA!” the crowd chants. 5.27pm ET What does this mean, just then from Santorum? Is it an anti-adoption stance? A veiled attack on same-sex marriage?“Every child in America deserves her birthright to be raised by her parents in a healthy home.” 5.26pm ET Santorum promises to “revoke every executive action and regulation that costs American jobs.” Earlier he referred to the “shale revolution” – fracking is big business in Pennsylvania. 5.21pm ET Santorum announces.“I am proud to stand among you, and for you, the American workers who have sacrificed so much, to announce that I am running for president of the United States.” 5.20pm ET Santorum is talking about lost jobs.“What about those politicians, for all those years, what did they do?” says Santorum, who spent the better part of two decades in Congress and has been running for elected office ever since. 5.18pm ET This is a piece of coal, Santorum says, holding up a piece of coal. He says his grandfather Aldo came from Italy and ended up working in coal.“But he didn’t come for this,” Santorum says, shaking the coal in his left hand. “Like millions of other Americans, he came for this!” 5.16pm ET Santorum takes the stage in Cabot, Pennsylvania. His family is behind him on stage. He introduces Bella, his 7-year-old daughter who has the genetic disorder Trisomy 18. He says the stage looks full of family but in fact one family member, his son Daniel, isn’t there – he’s just left for Alabama for Air Force training. 5.03pm ET Do you follow Florida Man on Twitter? Florida Man is a bot (we think?) that combs the Internet for headlines containing the phrase “Florida Man” and tweets the results. Thanks to the native resourcefulness, and daring, and creativity, and indeed questionable judgment of the good people of Florida, the results never disappoint:Florida Man Calls Sheriff's Office to Ask for Help Buying Drugs http://t.co/T2WcXpli5yYou gotta hand it to those folks at @ijreview. This is pretty good. http://t.co/aOBO0QuWhg.@ijreview Florida man is enjoying some of these stories a lot more with the new headlines 4.29pm ET Rick Santorum’s campaign web site’s error page makes fun of Hillary Clinton for turning over 55,000 pages – as in printed-out pages – of emails from her state department years instead of submitting a, you know, electronic version that investigators actually could search:Rick Santorum ups the ante in the "404" wars. http://t.co/bhX7LKKpU8 pic.twitter.com/IC0gDnbfBp 4.17pm ET Do you watch Pawn Stars? So, apparently, does a certain Florida Man:Marco Rubio holding an event with star of History Channel's Pawn Stars in Nevada pic.twitter.com/zZKq03zAGr 4.10pm ET Republican hopeful Rand Paul visited the south side of Chicago on Wednesday to talk about crime – but not about race and racism, Zach Stafford reports from the scene:In his visit today to the south side of Chicago, Rand Paul let the community know that he believes that crime is not a racial issue, but a spiritual one. And you may be saying to yourself, ‘What does this white guy saying black lives matter? What does he know about my neighborhood?’“[Well] we’ve got crime in my neighborhood, too. In my little town of Kentucky, a white woman cut a baby out of another white woman. So there’s crimes’ going on all across America.“The idea was to have candidates to speak to the community because they never really come down here,” Helene Walsh, an organizer, told the Guardian.New Beginnings Church is located in the Greater Grand Crossings, which has seen over 77 violent crimes in the past month alone. 3.47pm ET The Iowa director for potential Democratic candidate Jim Webb whose resignation was reported earlier today is being replaced, Webb’s team tells Ben Jacobs in a statement: Our exploratory committee is reassigning staff to ensure people are tasked with opportunities that best serve their strengths. Joe Stanley, an accomplished professional who has worked with Jim since his 2006 Senate campaign, will be going to Iowa.” 3.36pm ET The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs is getting ready to watch Santorum in Cabot, Pennsylvania, just north of Pittsburgh and near where Santorum grew up. Rick Santorum supporter card includes an option to "offer prayer" pic.twitter.com/UMevRvfu0xLet's get it on briefly starts to play at Santorum rally before being switched off 3.30pm ET He’s pointing at his gut.never forget https://t.co/RwpQypgJGf 3.27pm ET If you’re not following the Hillary Clinton propaganda Twitter feed The Briefing, you might miss video clips from her campaign appearances. Here’s one to get you started, from this afternoon’s appearance in South Carolina:What's one key way Hillary thinks we can strengthen families? Equal pay. Get the facts: http://t.co/3JfVgHTlHF pic.twitter.com/WHeqJkVH6B 3.10pm ET Spoiler alert: He likes root beer floats and cutting his own hair!What the heck are we talking about? The new US Weekly rundown of 25 interesting factoids about Republican presidential hopeful Rand Paul:13. I’m not an expert stargazer, but I can recognize many of the constellations and am always interested to see the next eclipse. 2.57pm ET Sabrina Siddiqui unveils some of the hidden villains in Clinton’s remarks: Without taking names, Clinton cites GOP candidates saying equal pay is "bogus issue" (Walker) and Congress is "wasting time" (Rubio). 2.49pm ET The Paul-Jindal smackdown continues:Rand Paul camp hits Jindal on flip-flops: "The American people are looking for a candidate who can express a coherent viewpoint" 2.49pm ET Clinton exits. Happy crowd there in South Carolina. 2.47pm ET Clinton closes with a pair of anecdotes she’s already told a couple times on the trail, one about getting the call from Obama to take the secretary of state slot, the other about appearing on the Awesome show in Indonesia and getting asked how she could work with Obama after their heated primary campaign..@HillaryClinton in SC about losing to Obama: "He won and I lost and then I went to work to make sure he'd win" 2.37pm ET Clinton brings down the house with a self-deprecating joke about her age and dying her hair.She says being president is a tough job that takes a visible toll on the chief executive. They grow grayer. And grayer. And by the time they leave, they’re as white as the house they live in.“I might not be the youngest candidate in this race, but I have one big advantage. I’ve been coloring my hair for years! 2.32pm ET Clinton is on to the wage gap between men and women. She calls on Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which she sponsored when she was in the Senate. “It’s time to get this done,” she says. She also calls for better reporting on salary ranges so women employees know they have pay parity.“I think transparency, when it comes to pay, is our friend.” 2.30pm ET Clinton shares her new least-favorite statistic – and it’s another dig at hedge fund managers:The 25 biggest hedge fund managers earn more than all the kindergarten teachers in America combined. What does that say about our values?Eaglevale Partners LP, founded by Marc Mezvinsky and two former colleagues from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., told investors in a letter sent last week they had been “incorrect” on Greece, helping produce losses for the firm’s main fund during two of the past three years, according to the letter. Mr. Mezvinsky married Chelsea Clinton, the former first daughter, in 2010. 2.27pm ET Clinton, on a rhetorical roll, lists four definitions for “middle class.” Being middle class, she says, should mean you:– feel in control of your financial destiny 2.23pm ET Clinton shifts to talk of the economy and the family unit. There’s the pat line about coming through tough economic times but only with tough sacrifices and we’re not there yet. “Democratic presidents, and there’s two in particular I’m thinking about over the last 35 years, seem to inherit a mess of problems, and so they have to dig us out of the ditches...Clinton: "I am running to live again at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave … but I don't want to be there all by myself." 2.20pm ET Clinton is speaking at a lectern at the Democratic Women’s Council. Behind her is a stageful of Democratic women. Clinton is cruising through introductions.I first came to South Carolina as a young lawyer working for the children’s defense fund, started by your own Marian Wright Edelman,” she says. 2.16pm ET The next stage of the Clinton trip to South Carolina is now being broadcast live on CSPAN here. Clinton is about to speak. 2.15pm ET The Guardian’s Sabrina Siddiqui (@sabrinasiddiqui) reports from Hillary Clinton’s first campaign visit to South Carolina, at a roundtable with a group of minority women who are small business owners in the Palmetto State. “The event was held Wednesday afternoon at Kiki’s Chicken and Waffles, located in a strip mall northeast of downtown Columbia, the latest in a string of low-key stops as Clinton continues her quiet listening tour in key early voting states,” Sabrina reports:Roughly 40 patrons were at the restaurant, which opened its doors in 2012 and is the first to serve chicken and waffles in the Midlands. Clinton arrived shortly after noon in a royal blue pantsuit to a round of applause from excited customers, who suspected they were in for a special visitor based on the tight security but wondered aloud if it might be South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, a Republican.Clinton made the rounds to each table to shake hands with customers as onlookers snapped pictures. She did as most candidates do – greeted individuals while asking how they were doing, cooed at a baby girl and posed for the occasional picture. 2.10pm ET The GOP: the party of diversity in 2016?Which is the party of diversity in 2016? pic.twitter.com/BIFuRnaWgT 2.07pm ET It’s an embarrassment of riches today on the custom campaign song front. We had a Christian Ted Cruz rap and a look back at Rick Santorum’s 2012 campaign megahit. Now there’s a new song attached to Santorum’s current campaign launch: Take Back America.Isn’t it time to take back America?Isn’t it time to unleash the pride?Santorum comes out with what is sure to be the next big radio hit: Take Back America #WatchOutTaySwift https://t.co/baeyrovewG 2.01pm ET As we wait for Hillary Clinton to begin speaking, we’d invite you to bone up on the political career of Rick Santorum – helpfully summarized in one of our trademark Guardian candidate resumes (click through to read all nine!):Work experience: 1.52pm ET Speaking with reporters in Columbia, South Carolina, Republican presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina dismissed speculation that she was following Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton, also speaking today in Columbia. “Perhaps she’s following me,” Fiorina said. “I have never been following Mrs. Clinton. The Hill has more:“Hillary Clinton is the personification of the professional political class,” Fiorina said. “We need a nominee who can ask her these questions.”Sarah Isgur Flores, Fiorina’s deputy campaign manager, slammed the Clinton campaign as the “Hillary for America But Against Transparency campaign” in an email to reporters Tuesday. 1.45pm ET Wish there was a way to waste a couple minutes before the Clinton event starts. Like if a Christian rapper would drop a Ted Cruz track. make DC listenCirculating in Iowa: Video of a Ted Cruz campaign song by Christian rapper Joe Salant. "Grind for righteousness." https://t.co/7cUduqAIHj 1.38pm ET Ready to go."I'm ready to do this again," Rick Santorum tells me on joining the 2016 race. pic.twitter.com/ay1sQYhgwZ 1.17pm ET When you look at it this way...Bernie Sanders 2016 has more support than Graham, Jindal, Fiorina, and Kasich combined, @pbump notes http://t.co/2nNdSoCWvf 1.14pm ET Where’s Hillary Clinton? Columbia, South Carolina, where she’s scheduled to deliver remarks beginning in about a half hour to the South Carolina House Democratic Women’s Caucus and the South Carolina Democratic Women’s Council. 1.09pm ET Did Hillary Clinton just edge an inch closer to the Democratic presidential nomination? Jim Webb is the former senator from Virginia and secretary of the Navy who has been seen as positioning himself to be among the Democratic politicians who could swoop in to fight for the nomination should Clinton stumble. It’s harder to swoop without Iowa, though. NEW: Dem presidential hopeful Jim Webb's Iowa director, Rania Batrice, resigned last week, she confirmed to me today. @RaniaBatrice 1.02pm ET Rand Paul is joining the “convo” on the #southside, meaning south of Chicago, where Paul spoke to a crowd on an outdoor stage moments ago. The Paul camp said the candidate visited the area on the invitation of local pastor Cory Brooks.We must get beyond party labels to find solutions. I'm proud to be in the #southside today to be part of the convo pic.twitter.com/dFzgT7RnyN 12.52pm ET As painful as the campaign process can be for voters who only experience it in endless negative ads interrupting their favorite TV or in junky fliers junking up their mailboxes, there’s something about the business of retail politics that can create these heartfelt moments of American happiness, little moments like smiling babies and I Voted buttons and ice cream, perhaps donated in bulk to mark the launch yesterday evening of Vermont senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential run. so @BernieSanders rallies against corporations but has no problem taking @benandjerrys free handouts at kickoff.@benandjerrys great. There are still laws. One is you can't donate without reporting it to the Federal Election Commission 12.34pm ET Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, who is exploring a presidential run, has just unleashed some heavy-duty friendly fire on fellow Republican – and potential primary opponent – Rand Paul.Paul has expressed reluctance about new foreign military expeditions in general and hesitancy in particular about deploying thousands of additional US troops to the Middle East to confront Isis militants or for any other reason.(1/5) Sen. Paul’s comments on ISIS take the weakest, most liberal Dem position, showing he is unsuited to be Commander-in-Chief.It’s one thing for Senator Paul to take an outlandish position as a Senator at Washington cocktail parties, but being Commander-in-Chief is an entirely different job. We should all be clear that evil and Radical Islam are at fault for the rise of ISIS, and people like President Obama and Hillary Clinton exacerbate it.American weakness, not American strength, emboldens our enemies. Senator Paul’s illogical argument clouds a situation that should provide pure moral clarity. Islam has a problem. ISIS is its current manifestation. And the next President’s job is to have the discipline and strength to wipe ISIS off the face of the earth. It has become impossible to imagine a President Paul defeating radical Islam and it’s time for the rest of us to say it.”(4/5) The next President must have the discipline and strength to wipe ISIS off the face of the earth. 12.20pm ET Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard executive who lost big in her 2010 Senate run but who has been making them tingle in Iowa, has drawn a target on Hillary Clinton’s back, to the extent that she maintains www.readytobeathillary.com..@HillaryClinton must not be President. Check out our new site to learn more. http://t.co/3DUlwa16Kt. #Carly2016While @HillaryClinton continues to hide from tough questions, I look forward to answering more of them in Columbia, SC today. #Carly2016 12.08pm ET Rand Paul, the Republican presidential candidate, invoked the Ku Klux Klan on Tuesday to explain why he opposed the construction of a Muslim community center – pejoratively known as the “Ground Zero mosque” – near the site of the September 11 attacks in lower Manhattan.During an appearance on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the Republican senator from Kentucky said he had been “horrified” at the Muslim community center proposal but that he opposed any law that would prevent it. 12.06pm ET The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs (@bencjacobs), after some robust Bernie Sanders reporting yesterday, turns to the Santorum announcement. The Guardian confirmed with a source familiar with the former Pennsylvania senator’s thinking that Santorum will launch his second bid for the White House today, Ben reports:Santorum will hold a rally at Penn United Technologies, a factory a few miles from the western Pennsylvania town where he grew up, to announce his decision.The former two-term senator finished second to Mitt Romney in the 2012 GOP primary and won 11 states. An ardent social conservative, Santorum was considered an afterthought for much of the Republican primary before he surged in the run-up to the crucial Iowa caucuses. Although Romney was initially given credit for winning Iowa, a recount showed Santorum had won by a hair.Santorum hopes to triumph in the crowded GOP field in 2016 by touting his message of “blue-collar conservatism.” However, he faces new obstacles in his second run for the White House. Unlike 2012, there are a number of strong contenders this year, such as Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee, who appeal the Republican Party’s evangelical base.Further, Santorum faces the possibility of being excluded from televised debates, as he is just at the national polling threshold necessary to participate. 11.35am ET Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, who has made something of a career of upsetting those who would count him out, is running for president once again, AP and ABC News report.We’re scheduled to hear from the candidate at midday. 11.07am ET Good morning and welcome to what promises to be a positively hopping day in the national politics. Teed up for today is nothing less than a major presidential announcement, a surprise challenge on the ground to Hillary Clinton and an effort to make sense of comments last night by Senator Rand Paul about the Ku Klux Klan, the so-called “Ground Zero mosque” in lower Manhattan and “the right to be despicable”.We’ll be at the scene for a Paul campaign appearance in Chicago this morning, before skipping to Pittsburgh Cabot, Pennsylvania, where Rick Santorum, the runner-up in the 2012 Republican nominating contest, is scheduled to announce that he’s back in the saddle. Last time around he won 11 states! Continue reading...
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