Political Wire

Archives for December 2015

Could Rubio Lose Early States and Win Nomination?

· 85 Comments

Nate Cohn: “Usually, it would be pretty hard to win the nomination without an early victory. But this year, there’s a good case for why it might be easier: The candidates favored in Iowa and New Hampshire might be such flawed candidates that they would not necessarily block Mr. Rubio.”

“Those candidates, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, will face protracted resistance from the party’s elite and many of its voters. The opposition they face will not evaporate, even if one of them wins in Iowa and New Hampshire. Opposition could even grow in a desperate, last-ditch effort to stop them — assuming such an effort still seems possible.”

Conservative Talk Radio Moves to Cruz

· 1 Comment

Politico: “Conservative talk radio likes to flirt with Donald Trump, but its hosts are showing their commitment to Ted Cruz. With a month left until the Iowa caucuses, attacks on the ascendant 2016 contender have nudged his talk radio supporters back into line, pushing them to throw their valuable support behind the candidate they want to win rather than the one who assures a strong audience.”

GOP Turns Political Correctness Into Straw Man

· 8 Comments

Dana Millbank: “The notion of political correctness became popular on college campuses a quarter-century ago but has recently grown into the mother of all straw men. Once a pejorative term applied to liberals’ determination not to offend any ethnic or other identity group, it now is used lazily by some conservatives to label everything classified under ‘that with which I disagree.’ GOP candidates are now using the ‘politically correct’ label to shut down debate — exactly what conservatives complained politically correct liberals were doing in the first place.”

When the GOP Establishment Embraces Ted Cruz

· 10 Comments

Politico: “In email after email, the political arm of Senate Republicans — part of what Cruz has repeatedly derided on the campaign trail as the ‘Washington cartel’ — has teased Cruz’s upcoming birthday to gin up new online supporters… The NRSC isn’t just hitting its existing fundraising lists with Cruz’s birthday reminders. They’re using the occasion to drum up new donors, renting out email files from Rick Perry and Mitt Romney and asking them to celebrate Cruz, too.”

“The reason: While Cruz may be a persona-non-grata at the weekly Senate Republican luncheons on Capitol Hill, he remains a powerful force in drawing small donors to a party that still lags far behind the Democrats when it comes to online fundraising prowess.”

Carson Campaign Burning Through Cash

· 12 Comments

“Internal campaign budget documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal show a political operation hemorrhaging cash. Mr. Carson’s team raised $8.8 million in October and spent $9.5 million—putting the retired neurosurgeon’s effort under water months before the first early-state voters caucus and cast ballots.”

“The budget documents also undermine the Carson campaign’s Nov. 1 claim that it raised $10 million in October—a figure Mr. Carson himself talked up on Twitter.”

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The GOP Race Promises to Be a Wild Ride

· 2 Comments

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Political Lie of the Year

· 32 Comments

Politifact: “In considering our annual Lie of the Year, we found our only real contenders were Trump’s — his various statements also led our Readers’ Poll. But it was hard to single one out from the others. So we have rolled them into one big trophy.”

“When it comes to inaccurate statements, the Donald was on fire.”

Obama Has Broken the Second Term Curse

· 51 Comments

Bill Scher: “Presidential scholars have a term to describe the typical experience of a chief executive who wins re-election to the White House. It’s called the ‘second-term curse.’ There’s evidence for it. Midway through their second terms, George W. Bush suffered Hurricane Katrina and the Iraqi quagmire, Bill Clinton was impeached, Ronald Reagan was staggered by the Iran-contra scandal, and Richard Nixon was run out of town.”

“But Obama, unlike all of his second-term predecessors in the last 40 years, has not been knocked off course by scandal. Even if something truly awful happens in his last year, he has already been able to pocket several significant wins that will burnish his legacy.”

Lawmakers See Tax Reform Possible After Election

· 17 Comments

“Lawmakers say passage of a major tax deal has increased the chances that Congress will tackle tax reform in 2017,” The Hill reports.

“The $680 billion tax bill approved last week gives hopes for reform a major boost, supporters say, by altering the budget baseline in a way that could make it easier to lower the 35 percent corporate tax rate — one of the highest in the world. Reducing that rate has long been a goal for Republicans, who argue it makes the U.S. less competitive on the global stage. In addition, few corporations actually pay the 35 percent rate because of tax breaks throughout the system.”

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Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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