Overnight Campaign: Tug of War

by Jonathan Swan - 10/20/15 6:38 PM ET

Welcome to OVERNIGHT CAMPAIGN, your daily rundown from The Hill on all the latest news in the White House, Senate and House races.

Vice President Biden’s flirtation with a White House run is putting President Obama in an awkward position, report Amie Parnes and Jordan Fabian in The Hill later tonight.

Meanwhile, check out The Hill for the latest on a presidential race that has centered itself this week on the issue of guns. As campaign reporter Jonathan Easley writes, both parties’ front-runners, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, are talking about guns, though from polar opposite viewpoints, and think it will help lead them to victory.

RACE TO 1600 PENN

HISTORY WARS NO. 1: The Hill’s Jordan Fabian reports: Vice President Biden on Tuesday offered a different account of his advice to President Obama on the Osama bin Laden raid, an issue that could haunt him if he decides to challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. Biden said that only two advisers gave definitive answers on whether Obama should carry out the raid, contradicting Clinton’s claim that she fully backed the mission.

HISTORY WARS NO. 2: The Hill’s Amie Parnes reports: A former senior administration official involved in deliberations on the raid that killed bin Laden said Tuesday that Biden did not back the operation. The official, who took part in deliberations on whether to approve the operation in Pakistan, said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and CIA Director Leon Panetta both backed the raid, but that Biden did not.

THE BAD OIL: The Hill’s Timothy Cama reports: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is asking the Justice Department to investigate whether ExxonMobil Corp.’s climate change research strategy broke federal law. The Democratic presidential candidate cited a recent investigation by InsideClimate News that found that Exxon, prior to its merger with Mobil, concluded from its research in the 1970s that climate change is a real threat but later spent millions of dollars sowing doubt about global warming.

SEARCHING FOR INDEPENDENCE: The Hill’s Ben Kamisar reports:Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb announced he is dropping out of the Democratic presidential race but signaled he will consider running as an independent… “We’ll have to just see what happens next,” he said. “We intend to spend the next couple of weeks talking to people” about an independent run.

ODDS AND ENDS:

BILL CLINTON DOES NOT ENDORSE THIS MESSAGE: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday touted an “endorsement” from Bill Clinton… The video includes clips of the former president calling Trump a “master brander,” an “interesting character” and offering a “macho appeal.”

PLAYING THE AGE CARD: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley on Tuesday said that Vice President Joe Biden’s generation is already represented in the Democratic presidential race.

POLL POSITION

NEW HILLARY: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: The latest poll out of New Hampshire finds Hillary Clinton getting a post-debate bounce, leading Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) 41 percent to 33 percent. Meanwhile, another poll in New Hampshire shows Vice President Biden lagging behind both Clinton and Sanders.

ALPHA AND BETA: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Trump ranks first and Carson second in two separate national polls released Tuesday. Both men are well ahead of the other Republican White House hopefuls in 2016.

LESS COMPETITION: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: A new Emerson College Polling Society survey released Tuesday finds that Clinton expands her lead nationally over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) should Vice President Biden remain absent from the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.

THE DAILY TRUMP

RABBLE ROUSER: The Hill’s Mark Hensch Reports: Trump predicts that Hispanic advocacy organizations criticizing him would bring NBC and “Saturday Night Live” record ratings next month. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), meanwhile, wants the billionaire’s hosting invite cancelled.

STOOD UP: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Trump is bailing on his scheduled appearance on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” late Tuesday night. His campaign maintains he is re-booking his appearance for a later date.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Americans are disgusted by all this talk of Republicans & Democrats calling each other the enemy instead of finding ways to work together.” — Jim Webb, who dropped out of the Democratic presidential race, possibly taking a parting shot at Hillary Clinton, who during last week’s Democratic debate listed Republicans alongside Iran as her “enemies” during the Democratic debate.

CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGNS

REEMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE: The Hill’s Ben Kamisar reports:Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has been out of politics since he lost a bid to retake the Governor’s mansion in 2014. Now, thanks to Marco Rubio’s run for president and redistricting, Crist is back in the game. On Tuesday, he announced he will run for Congress as a Democrat for the seat being vacated by Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.), who is leaving the House to run the Senate seat Rubio is vacating.

MONEY WATCH

MARCO SAYS HIS MONEY AIN’T FUNNY: The Hill’s Ben Kamisar reports:Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) pushed back at accusations from the Jeb Bush camp that his campaign falsely claimed it had more money in the bank than Bush.

WHAT WE ARE WATCHING FOR TOMORROW:

(All times Eastern)

Hillary Clinton is scheduled to appear on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” on Tuesday night.

Larry Lessig appears on Tavis Smiley’s PBS show Tuesday night.

Martin O’Malley will appear on “Late Night with Seth Meyers on Wednesday night.

Jeb Bush will speak and participate in a question and answer at the LIBRE initiative – a Koch network Hispanic outreach group – event in Las Vegas on Wednesday night.

TWEET OF THE DAY