Wonk Wire has an unsettling chart of housing prices vs. laughter at Federal Reserve Board meetings.
Archives for February 2014
Lawmaker Wants Sex Offenders Identified on Driver’s License
Tennessee State Rep. Matthew Hill (R) proposed piece of legislation which “would allow you to spot a registered sex offender just by looking at their Tennessee driver’s license,” WSMV reports.
“The bill would require the licenses of registered sex offenders to be marked with those words over the person’s picture.”
Brown Announces Re-Election Bid in California
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) announced that he has taken out the papers to run for re-election, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Said Brown: “If you had asked me 40 years ago–when I first ran for governor–what I would be doing in 2014, I could never have guessed. Nor could anyone else. Yet, by the grace of God and habits of perseverance instilled in me by my family, the Dominican nuns and the Jesuits, I am here and ready to go.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“My gripe is not with the tea party; my gripe is with some Washington organizations who feel like they got to go raise money by beating up on me and others.”
— Speaker John Boehner, quoted by Roll Call.
Rangel Foe Tries Again
Adriano Espaillat (D) kicked off his rematch campaign against Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) this afternoon, “vowing to unify the district as he attempts to defeat the state’s longest-serving congressman once again,” the New York Observer reports.
“Espaillat came just over a 1,000 votes of beating Rangel two years ago in a vicious primary battle that oftentimes seemed to devolve into a war between the black and Hispanic alliances in the quickly-changing 13th Congressional District, which spans from Harlem though Washington Heights to the Bronx.”
Boehner Says GOP Will Lead But Backs Away from Votes
Speaker John Boehner attacked President Obama for intending to “pack it in for the year” and said Republicans would, by contrast, demonstrate leadership by presenting an alternative vision to the country, The Hill reports.
Said Boehner: “We’ll lead and our members will not shy away from advancing better solutions for the American people.”
“But when pressed on whether the House would actually hold votes on major legislation in 2014, the Speaker quickly backed away, and wouldn’t commit to anything more than continued ‘conversations’ in the coming month.”
On Wonk Wire
Some great clicks over at Wonk Wire:
Pastor Will Not Run Again
Rep. Ed Pastor (D-AZ) announced he will not seek a 12th term in Congress, Roll Call reports.
“Pastor’s district, located in the heart of downtown Phoenix, is not likely to switch party control. President Obama carried the district by a 45-point margin in 2012, making it one of the most heavily Democratic districts in the country.”
For the full retirement list, plus those running for other offices, see Roll Call’s Casualty List.
Kentucky Ordered to Recognize Gay Marriage
A federal judge said that he would “issue a final order within 24 hours requiring Kentucky to immediately recognize same-sex marriages performed outside the state,” the Lexington Herald Leader reports.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Jack Conway (D) wants the judge “to delay for 90 days the impact of his expected order requiring Kentucky to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.”
Wonk Wire: Is gay marriage allowed in your state?
Christie Aides Joked About Causing Traffic Problems
“Newly uncensored records released today by the legislative panel investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closings show David Wildstein and Bridget Anne Kelly, two people at the center of the scandal, joked about causing traffic problems for a prominent New Jersey rabbi,” the Newark Star Ledger reports.
“The 20 pages of documents, released today, also reveal that Kelly was the unidentified recipient of many of the text messages originally provided by Wildstein, the former director of interstate capital projects at the Port Authority.”
New York magazine notes the messages “reveal a bizarre obsession with getting revenge via transportation delays.”
Perry Heads to Iowa Again
Des Moines Register: “During his two-day Iowa visit this week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry will appear at Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad’s campaign headquarters/GOP Victory offices to meet with some of the state’s most diehard Republican activists.”
“Republican organizers invited Perry to come, with the goal of motivating campaign-weary volunteers to jump back into door knocking and phone calling for the slate of Iowa GOP’ers up for election in November… But the exposure to some of the Des Moines metro area’s most loyal activists and opinion leaders likely won’t hurt someone eyeing a 2016 presidential bid.”
Cruz Won’t Promise to Stay Out of Primaries
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) didn’t rule out involvement in GOP primaries this year against incumbent Republican senators, The Hill reports.
Said Cruz: “What I have said is that I’m likely going to stay out of incumbent Republican primaries. I haven’t put that in concrete.”
Rivera Implicated in Illegal Money Scandal
For the first time, convicted congressional candidate Justin Lamar Sternad has stated in federal records that former Rep. David Rivera (R-FL) was a part of the conspiracy to funnel illegal contributions to his campaign, the Miami Herald reports.
“Sternad said in three recent FEC filings that a total of $81,486.15 in illegal campaign contributions were coordinated or tied to ‘Ana Alliegro and/or David Rivera.’ The revelations about the two come almost a year after Sternad’s March 15 guilty plea on counts of accepting illegal campaign contributions, conspiracy and making a false statement on an FEC report.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“It’s not like we’re talking about Arlen Specter here. Sen. McConnell has a longstanding conservative record and for an opponent to beat him, they’ll have to prove somehow that he’s not a conservative.”
— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by the Washington Post.
Republicans Expand the Map
First Read notes that what Cory Gardner (R) running for Senate in Colorado does is put more seats in the 2014 playing field for Republicans.
“The GOP no longer has to run the table of red states (Arkansas, Alaska, Louisiana, North Carolina) and hope that Democrats aren’t able to pull off an upset in Georgia or Kentucky. Now the GOP has more margin for error by trying to pick off a race in Michigan or Colorado. And everyone is waiting to see if former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) runs for the Senate in New Hampshire, creating another potential pick-up opportunity for GOP. Back in the 2012 presidential race, we constantly pointed out how many more different paths to 270 electoral votes Barack Obama had than Mitt Romney did, which is why we and others always called him the favorite. Well, Senate Republicans have a similar advantage right now — they have more paths to netting six pickups than Democrats do in blocking that gain.”
“Think about this math: The GOP can lose both Georgia and Kentucky and still find eight Dem-held seats to net the six they need to win the majority.”
Democrats Work to Expand Voter Access
“National Democrats are launching a program to expand voter access to
polls, with a Thursday announcement aided by former president Bill
Clinton,” USA Today reports.
“The Democratic National Committee says it will fund and staff a
permanent effort in battleground states to work for early voting and
online voter registration, and against voter identification laws,
combating what it calls Republican efforts at voter suppression.”
Clinton Defends Obamacare
“Hillary Clinton offered a defense of Obamacare – but struck a note of concern for small business owners who’ve complained about mandates required by the law – in a twin set of speeches in Florida,” Politico reports.
Said Clinton: “I think we are on the right track in many respects but I would be the first to say if things aren’t working then we need people of good faith to come together and make evidence-based changes.”
First Read: “But do note: Hillary really didn’t say anything different than we’ve heard from President Obama on fixes.”
Almost to the Top
Glenn Thrush has a must-read profile of Vice President Joe Biden.
“Joe Biden in winter is still basically a happy warrior, but the past couple years have been a struggle for both relevance and leverage–a fight largely hidden from public view, between the presidential dreams he can’t quite relinquish and the shrinking parameters of a job he described to me as derivative, borrowed and ‘totally reflective of the president’s power.'”
“Almost all White House partnerships deteriorate in the end, undone by diverging politics, festering policy disputes–or simply human fatigue amid the strains of trying to turn what is inevitably a shotgun marriage into a love match… How does this one end?”
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