Robert Costa: “Four years after using her unique position to propel a number of conservatives — many previously unknown and not favored by party leaders — in the tea party wave of 2010, Palin is today a diminished figure in the Republican Party. Even as she travels to Iowa and elsewhere to bolster her handpicked candidates, her influence in these midterm elections has been eclipsed by a new class of stars and her circle has narrowed, with a handful of aides guiding her and a few allies in Washington beyond a group of backbench troublemakers in Congress.”
Archives for April 2014
GOP Establishment Looks Strong in May Primaries
The Wall Street Journal says May 20 is shaping up as a good day for the Republican “establishment.”
“That’s the day Republican primary voters in Georgia, Idaho and Kentucky pick their nominees for the fall campaigns – and, in the process, help settle which faction of the GOP holds the upper hand in an ongoing split between party leaders and conservative activists. May will bring some of this year’s most competitive Republican primaries. At this point, it looks as if the environment is tilting heavily in the establishment’s favor.”
Majority in Key House Districts Want to Keep Obamacare
A new Democracy Corps survey in battleground congressional districts shows 52% of respondents want to “implement and fix” the 2010 health care reform law versus 42% who want to “repeal and replace” it.
Wall Street’s Fallback Candidate
Politico: “Two dozen interviews about the 2016 race with unaligned GOP donors, financial executives and their Washington lobbyists turned up a consistent — and unusual — consolation candidate if Jeb Bush demurs, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie doesn’t recover politically and no other establishment favorite gets nominated: Hillary Clinton.”
Battle for Gay Rights Shifts South and West
“The country’s leading gay rights groups and donors, after a decade focused on legalizing same-sex marriage, are embarking on a major drive to win more basic civil rights and workplace protections in Southern and Western states where the rapid progress of the movement has largely eluded millions of gay men and lesbians,” the New York Times reports.
“The effort will shift tens of millions of dollars in the next few years to what advocates described as the final frontier for gay rights: states like Mississippi, Georgia, Arkansas and Texas, where Republicans dominate elected office and traditional cultural views on homosexuality still prevail.”
Maybe the Election Won’t Be About Obamacare
Jonathan Chait: “Since at least October, the assumption has held that the midterm elections will revolve thematically around Obamacare. A series of new developments is suddenly making that once-rock-solid assumption look questionable.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I’m the only Republican running this year that every crazy liberal in the country’s heard of.”
— Sen. Mitch McConnnell (R-KY), quoted by the Huffiington Post.
Top Republican Says Obamacare Is Here to Stay
“With the news this week that more than 600,000 Washington residents have acquired new health care plans through the state exchange, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) said it’s unlikely the Affordable Care Act will be repealed,” the Spokesman-Review reports.
Said McMorris Rodgers: “We need to look at reforming the exchanges.”
“GOP members have said the law is unworkable, will increase costs for some and force others into inadequate coverage or plans they don’t want. McMorris Rodgers continued those criticisms… but said the framework established by the law likely will persist and reforms should take place within its structure.”
Quote of the Day
“Well, if I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.”
— Sarah Palin, quoted by CBS News.
Will Mitt Romney Run Again?
“Mitt Romney has said time and time again that he has no interest in running for president a third time. But, on Sunday morning, CBS’ Bob Schieffer said not to write off the idea of a 2016 campaign by Romney so quickly,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Schieffer: “I have a source that told me that if Jeb Bush decides not to run, that Mitt Romney may actually try it again.”
In Search of Vladimir Putin’s Secret Fortune
New York Times: “For years, the suspicion that Mr. Putin has a secret fortune has intrigued scholars, industry analysts, opposition figures, journalists and intelligence agencies but defied their efforts to uncover it. Numbers are thrown around suggesting that Mr. Putin may control $40 billion or even $70 billion, in theory making him the richest head of state in world history.”
Tea Party PACs Spend Little on Candidates
A Washington Post analysis found that “some of the top national tea party groups engaged in this year’s midterm elections have put just a tiny fraction of their money directly into boosting the candidates they’ve endorsed.”
“The practice is not unusual in the freewheeling world of big-money political groups, but it runs counter to the ethos of the tea party movement, which sprouted five years ago amid anger on the right over wasteful government spending. And it contrasts with the urgent appeals tea party groups have made to their base of small donors, many of whom repeatedly contribute after being promised that their money will help elect conservative politicians.”
Mia Love Nominated in Utah
Mia Love (R) “earned ample support from Utah Republicans on Saturday to win her party’s nod for the House — and most likely become the GOP’s first black congresswoman,” Roll Call reports.
GOP Picks Nominee for Competitive Virginia Seat
Barbara Comstock (R) “defeated five other candidates Saturday to win the GOP nomination for a competitive House race in northern Virginia,” Roll Call reports.
“Virgina’s 10th District Republican Committee, which ran the ‘firehouse primary,’ had not yet certified the results. But at least one of Comstock’s opponents, retired Naval officer Howie Lind, has already conceded.”
GOP Candidate Running for Congress in Two States
Allan Levene (R) is bringing the term “carpetbagger” into the 21st century, the Huffington Post reports.
“Earlier this year, the 64-year-old Georgia Republican was running for Congress in four different states, a move that is as legal as it is revolutionary. After various setbacks forced him to pull out of GOP primaries in Minnesota and Michigan, he has refocused his efforts on his campaigns for Georgia’s 11th District and Hawaii’s 1st — making him the first person ever to run for Congress in multiple states simultaneously.”
Quote of the Day
“Yeah, I don’t know if I can do this. It’s just tough.”
— Rick Santorum, quoted about the AP, about making another White House run.
Will the Tea Party Split the GOP in 2016?
The Fix: “The relationship (or lack thereof) between the mainstream of the Republican party and the tea party has long been pooh-poohed by GOP strategists as standard operating procedure for a party out of the White House. The base and the establishment feud and, in the end, the base falls in line, they argue. But what if the tea party movement represents something new — and less manageable — for the establishment heading into the 2016 presidential race?”
Grimm Charges Include Obstruction of Justice
The New York Times reports the anticipated charges against Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) “were expected to include mail fraud and wire fraud, and to focus largely on his conduct in connection with a health food restaurant he owned on the Upper East Side of Manhattan after he left the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2006, two of the people said. He was also expected to be charged with obstruction of justice, for allegedly lying under oath in a federal lawsuit.”
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- …
- 28
- Next Page »