“The First Amendment says keep government out of religion, not religion out of government.”
— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by David Brody, speaking at a private prayer breakfast in Washington, DC.
“The First Amendment says keep government out of religion, not religion out of government.”
— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by David Brody, speaking at a private prayer breakfast in Washington, DC.
Arizona state State Sen. Sylvia Allen (R) raised the possibility of requiring church attendance for every American, the Arizona Republic reports.
Said Allen: “Probably we should be debating a bill requiring every American to attend a church of their choice on Sunday to see if we can get back to having a moral rebirth.”
She added that she wished things were more like they were in the 1950s: “People prayed, people went to church. I remember on Sundays the stores were closed. The biggest thing is religion was kicked out of our public places, out of our schools.”
Jeb Bush “is expected to be a formidable contender for the GOP nomination. But there are signs that his biography will lead to struggles in the primary’s early stages. There are signs that a worst-case, crash-and-burn scenario for Bush is more realistic than even his skeptics recognize,” National Journal reports.
Jonathan Bernstein: “If party actors remain split or uncommitted and prefer to wait for tests of electoral strength, it’s easy to imagine Bush finishing fifth or lower in Iowa, failing to rally in New Hampshire, and then finding himself almost a non-factor in South Carolina. One thing’s for sure: Waiting for the Florida primary to come around isn’t going to be a successful nomination strategy.”
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Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) told Nevada Public Radio he “wants to be remembered as a kid who grew up in Searchlight and then fought hard for all the little kids growing up in the same hard scrabble way he did.”
Said Reid: “I want to go out at the top of my game.”
Politico: “How a gruff, pro-gun, anti-abortion Mormon westerner with few social skills and little national name ID became one of the longest-serving Democratic leaders in Senate history is something few who don’t know Reid can fathom. He is dogged, smarter than you think — or he looks — and will outplan and outhustle just about anyone — the ultimate grinder.”
Las Vegas Sun: “These final two years in the Senate are critical for Reid to ensure that’s what happens. Without a grueling 20-month campaign, Reid has a chance to cement his legacy in the state in everything from transportation to wind farms.”
“In his eight years as the Senate’s Democratic leader, Harry M. Reid earned a reputation for legislative sorcery epitomized by the way in which he muscled President Obama’s health-care reform bill through the Senate. And so, it may be fitting that the Nevadan’s retirement announcement came Friday accompanied by an almost magical development: a quiet and bloodless succession,” the Washington Post reports.
“Reid’s endorsement of Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), makes Schumer the favorite to assume the Democratic leader’s chair in 2017, forestalling a messy intracaucus battle that would have played out over the next two years.”
Politico: Inside Schumer’s 24 hour campaign for leader
“An examination of the server that housed the personal email account that Hillary Clinton used exclusively when she was secretary of state showed that there are no copies of any emails she sent during her time in office, her lawyer told a congressional committee on Friday,” the New York Times reports.
“After her representatives determined which emails were government-related and which were private, a setting on the account was changed to retain only emails sent in the previous 60 days, her lawyer, David Kendall, said. He said the setting was altered after she gave the records to the government.”
For the second year in a row, Fortune has not included President Obama on its list of World’s Greatest Leaders.
“Many wise foreign-policy analysts believe the President’s public waffling on Syria not only fed the terrorism of the Islamic State, but also emboldened thugs around the world—notably Vladimir Putin.”
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) retirement “is triggering a free-for-all for his seat — with big implications for control of the Senate in 2016,” The Hill reports.
“Senate Republicans see Nevada as their best chance at a pickup this election cycle, and whether Democrats can hold Reid’s seat in the swing state will go a long way in determining which party controls the Senate after next cycle.”
The Las Vegas Sun notes Reid “came right out with a favorite: Catherine Cortez Masto, former Nevada attorney general and executive vice chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education.”
“The unfortunate reality is this is what happens when you put someone in office who’s never led before. This president, unfortunately, having been a senator, a state senator, a community organizer, never led anything, and so he’s never been in a position to make those sorts of judgments.”
— Gov. Scott Walker (R), quoted by Bloomberg.
NBC News: “With the Obama administration announcing this month that some 16 million people have obtained health insurance since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the Republicans’ intense focus on completely repealing the law is increasingly looking unrealistic.”
“Republicans blasted Obama for disrupting the health insurance of Americans to enact his policy vision, as the early days after the law’s enactment including thousands of Americans having their existing insurance plans canceled. Now, with Obamacare more entrenched, Republicans would face the political backlash from a huge overhaul if they went through with their plans to repeal and replace the ACA.”
“In a surprise announcement this morning, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said he won’t be running for what would be his sixth term in the United States Senate,” the Las Vegas Sun reports.
“In a video to supporters, the Nevada Democrat and Senate minority leader listed several reasons for his decision to end his three-decade career in Congress.”
First Read: “And this has two immediate consequences: One, it most likely hands the Democratic reins over to heir-apparent Chuck Schumer. And two, it creates what could be one of the most competitive Senate contests in the country. Given that it’s a presidential year, that probably helps the Democrats, slightly.”
“Likely GOP presidential candidate Scott Walker told a private gathering of New Hampshire business leaders earlier this month that he supports providing some illegal immigrants with a pathway to citizenship,” the Washington Post reports.
“The position would mark a significant shift from away from the hardline ‘no amnesty’ stance Walker has taken in public in recent weeks. The Wisconsin governor also told the small group that illegal immigrants seeking citizenship should not receive preferential treatment over applicants who are already in line, according to the person, who was not authorized to speak about it publicly.”
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) told The Hill that he might run for president in 2016, saying “I haven’t ruled out an exploratory committee myself.”
However, an aide later told the Texas Tribune that Gohmert was not entirely serious.
Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-WA) posted a call on Facebook for horror stories about the Affordable Care Act on the 5th anniversary of the law.
But as Crooks and Liars notes, “What she received was something else entirely. There are many replies, with most telling her to quit attacking it and get about the job of making it better.”
New research finds that many more people wanted to vote in the 2012 presidential election but couldn’t register.
Alex Street: “We estimate that keeping registration open through Election Day in 2012 would have allowed an additional 3 million to 4 million Americans to register and vote. We used the number of Google searches for ‘register to vote’ in the weeks leading up to the 2012 election to measure late interest in registering. These search terms were entered millions of times, and much of the activity fell at the very end of the campaign period.”
A new Suffolk University poll in New Hampshire finds Jeb Bush leading the GOP presidential field with 19%, followed by Scott Walker at 14%, Rand Paul at 7%, Donald Trump at 6%, Ted Cruz at 5% and Chris Christie at 5%.
“Fearing that Republicans will ultimately nominate an establishment presidential candidate like Jeb Bush, leaders of the nation’s Christian right have mounted an ambitious effort to coalesce their support behind a single social-conservative contender months before the first primary votes are cast,” the New York Times reports.
“In secret straw polls and exclusive meetings from Iowa to California, the leaders are weighing the relative appeal and liabilities of potential standard-bearers like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and former Govs. Rick Perry of Texas and Mike Huckabee of Arkansas.”
Amy Walter: Consensus conservative in 2016?
Politico: “Four GOP senators are trying to gain the upper hand on the commander-in-chief test — Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham — and their competition was on vivid display as the Senate took up a Rubio plan to pump tens of billions of dollars more into the Pentagon budget. Paul blasted the idea because the new spending wasn’t offset by other cuts. And caught in the middle was Cruz, who’s pitching himself as a fiscal conservative who can appeal to the hawkish and libertarian wings of the GOP but ultimately sided with Rubio and Graham.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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