The Note: It’s Not Over Till It’s Over
— -- NOTABLES
--CLINTON ACKNOWLEDGES HISTORIC NOMINATION AS 'MILESTONE' FOR WOMEN: "Thanks to you, we've reached a milestone," Hillary Clinton said during a victory speech in Brooklyn last night in which she embraced her status as the presumptive Democratic nominee. She added that it was the "first time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party's nominee of the United States." It's an achievement the former secretary of state has called "emotional." Clinton took a few swipes at the Republican presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, calling him "temperamentally unfit" to be president, according to ABC’s PAOLA CHAVEZ, JOSH HASKELL, MATTHEW CLAIBORNE and MEGHAN KENEALLY. "When he says, 'Let's make America great again,' that is code for 'Let's take America backwards,'" she said. http://abcn.ws/1Uo8OJ4
--IN AN EMOTIONAL TRIBUTE TO HER LATE MOTHER, Clinton talked very personally about how it felt to be the presumptive nominee. "On the very day my mother was born, in Chicago, Congress was passing the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. That amendment finally gave women the right to vote," Clinton said as the crowd danced and cheered, adding, "I wish she could see her daughter become the Democratic Party's nominee." http://abcn.ws/1Uo8OJ4
--SANDERS STAYS IN: Sen. Bernie Sanders is not dropping out of the presidential race, he told supporters at a rally last night. He said of next week's primary in the District of Columbia, "We are going to fight hard. We are going to fight hard to win the primary in Washington D.C. And then we take our fight for social, economic, racial, and environmental justice to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania!" The Vermont Senator was introduced as "the next president of the United States" by his staff moments before he took the stage in Santa Monica, California, according to ABC’s MARYALICE PARKS and BRIAN MCBRIDE: http://abcn.ws/1WElnpD
--THE SCENE: The crowd, between 2,000 and 3,000 people, cheered for over a minute before Sanders spoke. He thanked the room for "being part of the political revolution" and being ready to "fight for real change." He acknowledged how far his long-shot campaign had come since the beginning of the primary season "All of you know that when we began this campaign a little bit over a year ago, we were considered to be a fringe campaign," said Sanders. "But over the last year I think that has changed just a little bit. By the end of tonight we'll have won, I believe, 22 state primaries and caucuses. We will have received well over ten million votes." http://abcn.ws/1WElnpD
--ANALYSIS -- ABC's RICK KLEIN: There's a question that's been puzzling Democratic operatives, both inside and outside the Clinton campaign, for weeks now: What does Bernie want? That is to say, now that it's overwhelmingly obvious he won't get what he really wants, what will Bernie Sanders settle for? The time has come for him to sort through the conflicting advice of his advisers and get over any personal affronts to chart a new path forward. He's earned the right to something, and something more than a party platform can deliver. As dangerous as he was to Hillary Clinton's campaign before is as powerful as he can be for the Democratic Party now. But first he needs to decide and enunciate what he actually wants.
NOVEMBER PREVIEW -- CLINTON LEADS DONALD TRUMP IN ABC NEWS' ELECTORAL RATINGS: Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, would enter the general election with a decided advantage in the electoral college this November. But the possibility of a scrambled map -- particularly tossups in Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia -- leaves supporters of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump hopeful. So ABC News dug through states’ voting history, demographic shifts and head-to-head polling to develop these electoral ratings. ABC News’ electoral map puts Clinton at 262 electoral votes and Trump at 191, when including both solid and lean states. Eighty-five electoral votes are in toss-up states. ABC’s RYAN STRUYK and JOHN KRUZEL have more on the map: http://abcn.ws/1U7c52f
DAVID MUIR SITS DOWN WITH HILLARY CLINTON ON HISTORIC NIGHT:
--CLINTON: BECOMING DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE WILL ‘SEND A SIGNAL AROUND THE WORLD.’ On an historic night for her presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton called her new status as the presumptive Democratic nominee -- the first woman of any major party to claim that mantle -- “a real milestone.” “It is of course symbolic, but symbols mean something and symbols can often can spark hope and action in people -- particularly young people,” Clinton told ABC News’ David Muir in an exclusive interview. “I think it will be a real milestone with my nomination for our country, but it will also send a signal around the world.” Muir spoke with Clinton at the Brooklyn Navy Yard just moments before she took the stage to celebrate her victories in Tuesday’s primaries. ABC’s MICHAEL FALCONE, MERIDITH MCGRAW, LIZ KREUTZ, and JOSH HASKELL have more. http://abcn.ws/1PG1IDG
--VIDEO (full interview): http://abcn.ws/1Y8EzuZ
--TRANSCRIPT: http://abcn.ws/22OX603
--DEBATE WITH DONALD TRUMP WILL BE ‘SINGULAR MOMENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY.’ The presumptive Democratic nominee, told ABC’s DAVID MUIR Tuesday night that she is “so looking forward” to debating the real estate mogul. “Absolutely, I really am,” Clinton said, ABC’s LIZ KREUTZ and JOSH HASKELL note. "I think it would be a singular moment in American history, because I think I’ll have chance to make clear why I believe why he is not qualified and temperamentally unfit to be president." http://abcn.ws/1TYefE9
--MY MOTHER ‘TAUGHT ME HOW TO STAND UP TO BULLIES’. Clinton reflected on the role her mother has played in her 2016 campaign and what she would think of her daughter clinching the nomination. "She would be really excited and proud. She would be, like I am, overwhelmed by this historic moment," Clinton told Muir at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Tuesday night. "She taught me so much in my life, including how to stand up to bullies, which apparently is going to be very much in demand in the upcoming campaign.” Clinton told Muir that she doubts her mother, who passed away in 2011, would have predicted this moment. "She was very supportive of me, but I’m not sure she would have predicted that, number one I would do it again," Clinton said. "But number two, that it would turn out differently." ABC’s JOSH HASKELL has more: http://abcn.ws/1Od9JPX
YESTERDAY ON THE TRAIL with ABC’s PAOLA CHAVEZ and VERONICA STRACQUALURSI
TRUMP SAYS HE’S ‘HONORED’ TO LEAD GOP AFTER MORE PRIMARY WINS. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump thanked his supporters Tuesday night for giving him the "honor" to lead the Republican party, following his projected wins in New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota. "You've given me the honor to lead the Republican party this fall," Trump said at his primary night event last night at the Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor, New York, where he entered to the song, "We Are The Champions." Acknowledging his role as the party’s presumptive nominee, Trump said "Tonight we close one chapter in history and we begin another...We’re going to lead the Republican party to victory this fall." ABC’s PAOLA CHAVEZ, VERONICA STRACQUALURSI, JOHN SANTUCCI and CANDACE SMITH have more. http://abcn.ws/28j0BzU
CLINTON ACKNOWLEDGES HISTORIC NOMINATION AS ‘MILESTONE’ FOR WOMEN. Hillary Clinton embraced her status as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee on Tuesday night in an historic move that makes her the first female major party presidential nominee in the history of the United States. “Thanks to you, we've reached a milestone,” Clinton said during her victory speech in Brooklyn, New York, adding that it was the "first time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party's nominee of the United States.” It’s an achievement the former secretary of state has called “emotional.” When the Associated Press declared that she had reached the magic number of delegates on Monday night, she told a crowd of supporters in California that “we are in the brink of a historic, historic, unprecedented moment.” ABC’s JOSH HASKELL, MEGHAN KENEALLY, MATTHEW CLAIBORNE and PAOLA CHAVEZ have more. http://abcn.ws/1Uo8OJ4
TRUMP-BACKED HOUSE REPUBLICAN RENEE ELLMERS LOSES IN PRIMARY. Renee Ellmers, R-North Carolina, the only member of Congress endorsed by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, has lost her primary, becoming the first Republican incumbent member of Congress to lose a reelection bid this cycle. Ellmers, a registered nurse who was elected to Congress in 2010 on the Tea Party wave, was defeated by Rep. George Holding, R-North Carolina, according to the Associated Press. ABC’s BENJAMIN SIEGEL notes Conservative group Club for Growth "actively opposed" Ellmers in her reelection bid. Holding also defeated Greg Brannon, who lost the state's GOP primary to Sen. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina. http://abcn.ws/1WE5css
TRUMP SAYS CONTROVERSIAL REMARKS ABOUT JUDGE ‘MISCONSTRUED’. Donald Trump says that remarks he made about a judge's Mexican heritage were "misconstrued" -- a statement that came in the wake of a firestorm that erupted as a result of the comments. "It is unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage," Trump said in the statement Tuesday. "I do not feel that one’s heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial." ABC’s TOM LIDDY notes Trump drew fire when he questioned whether federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel could be impartial presiding over a lawsuit against the real estate mogul's now-shuttered school, Trump University. http://abcn.ws/22NfWVn
NOTED: RYAN RIPS DONALD TRUMP FOR ‘TEXTBOOK’ RACIST COMMENTS ABOUT JUDGE, BUT STANDS BY ENDORSEMENT. House Speaker Paul Ryan Tuesday ripped Donald Trump's attack on a federal judge over his Mexican heritage as the "textbook definition of a racist comment" but expressed no regrets about endorsing the New York businessman. "I regret those comments that he made," the Wisconsin Republican said in Washington Tuesday, of Trump's remarks questioning federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel's ability to impartially preside over two civil lawsuits against Trump University. "Claiming a person can't do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment," Ryan continued. Defending his endorsement of the presumptive GOP nominee, Ryan said Trump is more likely to back the House GOP's election-year policy agenda than Hillary Clinton, ABC’s BENJAMIN SIEGEL and MARY BRUCE report. http://abcn.ws/1UDyzrn
ENDANGERED GOP SENATOR MARK KIRK RETRACTS SUPPORT FOR TRUMP. Mark Kirk, one of the most electorally at-risk senators this election cycle, became the first senate Republican to retract his initial support of Donald Trump, saying the presumptive nominee’s comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel were the last straw. “While I oppose the Democratic nominee, Donald Trump's latest statements, in context with past attacks on Hispanics, women and the disabled like me, make it certain that I cannot and will not support my party's nominee for President regardless of the political impact on my candidacy or the Republican Party,” Kirk, of Illinois, said in a statement released by his campaign. ABC’s ALI WEINBERG reports Kirk, a moderate Republican running in a state that skews heavily Democratic in presidential years, said last month that he would “certainly” support Trump if he were the nominee. http://abcn.ws/1Yds3e5
VEEPSTAKES 2016
NEXT STOP FOR PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEES: RUNNING MATE PICKS. After a long and wild primary season, we know that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will likely be sitting at the top of their parties' tickets in November. The big unknown remaining: their running mates. Trump’s attacks on federal judge Gonzalo Curiel over his Mexican heritage has many Republican leaders outraged, leaving few potential VP picks remaining who haven’t criticized the real estate mogul. According to ABC News reporting and analysis, top-tier contenders included Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, but they have been moved down a tier after hitting the presumptive GOP nominee over comments about Curiel. On the Democratic side, a big factor is something that is completely out of Hillary Clinton’s hands: control of the U.S. Senate. Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown was a top tier contender, according to ABC News reporting and analysis, but has been moved down a tier since he comes from a state with a Republican governor. ABC’s SHUSHANNAH WALSHE has more. http://abcn.ws/1RWENOJ
WHO’S TWEETING?
@maryaliceparks: ABC News told that Sanders staff will shrink by almost half over the next week
@brianefallon: GOP analyst @ananavarro on CNN: "When I saw Hillary Clinton come out ... there was a stirring of emotion in me"
@EvanMcSan: great part of @rubycramer's story is the discussion of how hard it was to run "as a woman" in 08 vs today for HRC http://bzfd.it/1t8K0OM
@isaacleep: Bernie Sanders is the most popular candidate among young people ever - @ThisIsFusion http://uni.vi/Vb0I3012NzF
@realDonaldTrump: Nobody is watching @Morning_Joe anymore. Gone off the deep end - bad ratings. You won't believe what I am watching now!
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