Friday, September 25, 2015

First Read: 2016 Hopefuls Court Religious Conservatives


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First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.

Why today's Values Voter gathering will be fascinating to watch

Today's Values Voter summit in DC, sponsored by the socially conservative Family Research Council, couldn't be coming at a more fascinating time politically -- sandwiched between Pope Francis' address to Congress yesterday and the congressional action against Planned Parenthood that could lead to a government shutdown. Given Francis' admonition against polarization, just how heated will the rhetoric against Planned Parenthood be at the Values Voters gathering, especially from the GOP presidential candidates? And given that no one yesterday was on Cloud Nine more than House Speaker John Boehner (see all of the tears he had to wipe away), does the brewing conservative GOP insurrection against him subside for a few days? Or have things already snapped back? Those are the questions we have this morning before the Values Voter speeches get started this morning. And here's the lineup: Marco Rubio speaks at 9:25 am ET, Ted Cruz at 10:15 am, Rick Santorum at 11:00 am, Donald Trump at 11:40 am, Mike Huckabee at 2:40 pm, Ben Carson 3:00 pm, as well as Bobby Jindal and Rick Perry (who is no longer in the GOP race).  



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