Hey, I’ve been hearing a lot about Hillary Clinton and Chipotle…did she make a stop at the much-anticipated grand opening of the Chipotle in Billings, Montana today? That story is below. Plus, rural Democrats are frustrated with Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), as The Hill reports.
National Review’s Jim Geraghty covers the Hillary Chipotle visit in his “Morning Jolt” e-newsletter:
Hillary’s Not the Candidate of Change . . . or Even ‘Keep the Change’
Hillary Clinton told us, “Everyday Americans need a champion.” Apparently that champion doesn’t need to leave tips.
One of the great political mysteries of the early 2016 presidential campaign has been solved: Hillary Clinton did not leave a tip at the Chipotle restaurant she visited during her road trip to Iowa on Sunday.
Listen. The combined net worth of the Clintons is “anywhere from $100 to $200 million.” She can afford to tip, and she chooses to not leave a tip.
Right then and there, she’s got the opportunity to help out the people behind the counter at Chipotle, and she chose not to. We’re supposed to elect her because she’s going to be the “champion” of “everyday Americans,” but she decided she needs those coins, totaling less than a dollar, more than the staff does.
Now, for those of you who might say- “look, Chipotle isn’t the type of place where you typically would leave a tip”- The Daily Caller has this: Hillary Has A History Of Stiffing Waitresses, Hair Stylists
While the revelation that Hillary Clinton failed to leave a tip during her stop at a Chipotle earlier this week fell flat — few customers tip at the fast-casual Mexican restaurant — a deeper look at the former First Lady’s tipping habits shows she does have a history of stiffing people who depend on tips to make ends meet.
From her days as First Lady to her Senate candidacy to her first run for president, Clinton made news for failing to compensate a Florida hair stylist and two waitresses.
Clinton’s tipping habits were put front-and-center on Wednesday when Bloomberg News reported that Clinton and her aide, Huma Abedin, did not leave money in a tip jar after ordering at a Chipotle in Maumee, Ohio. Clinton, who officially announced her presidential candidacy on Sunday, was traveling to Iowa in a van as part of a forced effort to soften her image as an out-of-touch multimillionaire.
Politico: The ‘everyday people’ who made Hillary Clinton’s burrito bowl
The 25-year-old who cooked the chicken that went into the burrito bowl Hillary Clinton ordered at the Chipotle here on Monday makes $8.20 an hour and splits rent with two roommates.
The 29-year-old general manager used to work three jobs and now is thrilled to be able to have just this one.
The young woman who was at the cash register was the only employee on duty at the time who thought she recognized her. She considered asking if anybody had ever told her she “looked like Hillary Clinton.” But she didn’t. It was 1:20 p.m., at the tail end of “peak time,” lunch rush.
Making matters worse…
The famed Hillary Clinton van appears to have paused in a spot reserved for the handicapped http://t.co/jGxRkCxd9Q pic.twitter.com/moeJc5t2Wp
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) April 16, 2015
In other political news, rural Democrats are frustrated with Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. This, as Tester is also fielding calls over a leadership battle brewing amongst Senate Dems, as The Hill reports:
Sen. Jon Tester (Mont.) said he got a call from Murray while at his farm in Montana during the recess. He also fielded a call from Durbin.
“Dick was talking about what we need to do to win and what he’s willing to do to help. I think the undertone there was, you know, we’re going to help,” he said. “Patty was the same.”
Tester, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chairman, said he did not know why Murray called when she left a message. He later read articles about a possible leadership race between Durbin and Murray.
The Hill: Rural Democrats not happy with party committees
On the heels of the third-straight election in which their party continued to lose support from white, working-class voters, more rural Democrats are expressing frustration with how their campaign arms are aiming to reverse the electoral slide.
This cycle, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is headed by Montana Sen. Jon Tester while his counterpart at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), Rep. Ben Ray Luján, hails from northern New Mexico. Tester, from the nation’s seventh most-rural state, replaces Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet of Denver while Luján’s district of mountains, buttes and pueblos is 32 percent rural, a stark contrast to his predecessor, Rep. Steve Israel, whose Long Island turf is choked by expressways and apartment complexes.
But now, months into their new jobs, neither Tester nor Luján seem to have a strategy to compete for votes in the countryside and the natives are getting restless. Despite repeated attempts, neither Tester nor Luján would speak on the record.