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November 9, 2018

42 posts · Friday

Caravan Now Barely Mentioned on Cable News

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“Over the final two weeks of the midterm elections, according to closed-captioning data compiled by the Internet Archive, Fox News and Fox Business Channel each mentioned the word caravan in an average of a little over 3 percent of 15-second segments over the course of a day. In other words, the caravan was mentioned an average of almost eight times an hour. On CNN and MSNBC, the mentions were more modest, but not nonexistent,” the Washington Post reports.

“On Monday, both CNN and Fox News mentioned the caravan more than 80 times. On Tuesday, more than 40. On Wednesday and Thursday, the subject was raised fewer than 80 times across CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and Fox Business combined.”

Trump Wants to Replace Commerce Secretary

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President Trump “is telling people he wants to replace Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross by the end of the year,” CNBC reports.

“Trump favors Linda McMahon to replace Ross in the role, said these people… He is also considering Ray Washburne, whom Trump appointed as president and CEO of Overseas Private Investment Corporation last year.”

Trump Claims He Doesn’t Know His New Attorney General

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“Days after appointing Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general and assuring the country that he was capable replacement for the ousted Jeff Sessions, President Trump Friday claimed not to know his new Justice Department chief,” USA Today reports.

Said Trump: “I don’t know Matt Whitaker. Matt Whitaker has a great reputation, and that’s what I wanted.”

He added: “When Sessions left, what I did, very simply, is take a man who worked for Sessions. He’s a highly respected man, especially by law enforcement. And I think he’s going to do a great job.”

GOP Losses Made Leadership Vote Easier for McCarthy

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Los Angeles Times: “McCarthy spent the months since Paul Ryan announced his retirement quietly shoring up his support for a bid for speaker among the Republican conference and acting as a top campaign surrogate by raising money and support for colleagues across the country.”

“But some had questioned if McCarthy had done enough to court the most conservative members of the conference. … But the calculus is different for a minority leader race compared with a speaker’s race, which should make it easier for McCarthy to lock it down.”

Liz Cheney Set to Become GOP Conference Chair

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Washington Post: “Cheney is the only candidate who has declared a desire for the post. If she is chosen in next week’s Republican leadership elections, it would mark a swift ascent for Cheney, 52, who was first elected to the House in 2016 but has long shown a desire to climb the GOP ranks.”

Her father, Dick Cheney, held the same post from 1987 to 1989, when he stepped down to become George H.W. Bush’s secretary of defense.

Judge Blocks Construction of Keystone XL Pipeline

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Washington Post: “It was a major defeat for President Trump, who attacked the Obama administration for failing to move ahead in the face of protests based largely on environmental concerns. Trump signed an executive order two days into his presidency setting in motion a course reversal on the Keystone XL pipeline and the Dakota Access pipeline.”

“The decision, issued by Judge Brian Morris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, does not permanently block a permit but requires the administration to conduct a more complete review of potential adverse impacts related to climate change, cultural resources and endangered species. It basically ordered a do-over.”

Democrats Patched the Blue Wall But Did Not Rebuild It

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James Hohmann: “Democrats made gains in several of the states that flipped from Barack Obama to Donald Trump. But they didn’t pick up as many House seats as they hoped in Pennsylvania, despite court-ordered redistricting that created a more favorable map. There was additional evidence that Michigan and Wisconsin will be hard fought again in the next presidential.”

“The returns from Ohio, though, were full of warning signs for Democrats. For a very long time, the Buckeye State has been the quintessential presidential swing state — both in deciding the winner and closely tracking with the national vote. But Trump won it by eight points in 2016, and Republicans outperformed expectations.”

Democrats Could Win 40 Seats

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“Democrats have won at least 33 seats, but they look poised to win closer to 40 — there are 13 races that are either not called or too close to call, and Democrats have a solid chance of winning seven of those,” Axios reports.

James Hohmann: “Democrats picked up more House seats than they have in any midterm election since 1974, three months after Richard Nixon’s resignation, and a dozen races still remain uncalled by the Associated Press. That’s all the more remarkable considering that the economy is booming, unemployment is historically low and wages are growing.”

Arrington Blames Her Defeat on Mark Sanford

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“Eight hours after Katie Arrington (R) lost her South Carolina congressional race, she blamed her shocking defeat on Rep. Mark Sanford (R-SC), the outgoing Republican congressman she bested in the primary,” the Charleston Post and Courier reports.

Said Arrington: “We lost because Mark Sanford could not understand that this race was about the conservative movement — and not about him.”

Parties Go to War In Florida

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First Read: “We guess it’s only fitting — and expected — that Election Day 2018 is far from over, with drama and controversies over new vote counts and/or upcoming recounts in Arizona, Florida and Georgia.”

“But what is taking place in Florida is now war – after Republican Rick Scott’s lead in the Senate contest was reduced to just 15,000 votes. Scott, the state’s current governor, filed a lawsuit accusing Democrats of fraud and trying to steal the election. President Trump weighed in, tweeting: ‘Law Enforcement is looking into another big corruption scandal having to do with Election Fraud in #Broward and Palm Beach. Florida voted for Rick Scott!'”

“What happens when you have a 2000-like recount in our current Trump Era – not only in Florida, but also in Arizona and Georgia? Well, we’re about to find out. The following weeks in Florida could very well define the state over the next two years, and it’s likely to produce a result where half of the state won’t believe it’s legitimate.”

Wisconsin Republicans Look at Limiting Governor’s Power

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “The Republican plan to take power away from the incoming Democratic governor could include overhauling state boards and removing authority that Republican lawmakers handed to GOP Gov. Scott Walker (R) when he took office in 2011.”

“Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) said Thursday that Republicans are looking at giving incoming Gov. Tony Evers (D) less say in state rules that implement state laws. Eight years ago, Republicans handed Walker more power over those rules when he was first sworn in.”

How Kris Kobach Lost for Kansas Governor

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Kansas City Star: “Interviews with more than a dozen Republican strategists and officials paint a picture of a candidate who refused to listen to advice, was unwilling to put energy into fundraising and failed to set up a basic ‘get out the vote’ operation.”

“Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, struggled to pay his campaign staff on time and at one point lacked a working phone system at his Johnson County campaign office, according to GOP sources familiar with the campaign. And people who offered to volunteer were never contacted.”

Sid one long-time GOP operative: “It was the most dysfunctional thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

How Bill Nelson Could Win the Recount

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The Tampa Bay Times outlines Sen. Bill Nelson’s (D-FL) path to victory as the race heads to a recount. Nelson trails by just 21,888 votes out of 8.2 million.

  1. Not all the ballots have been counted yet in South Florida, a Democratic stronghold. As of Thursday morning, two voter-rich counties were still tabulating an unknown number of ballots.
  2. Undervote in Senate race in Broward County. In Broward County, 695,799 people turned in ballots. But only 665,688 voted in the Senate race. That’s a 30,000 difference, a remarkable disparity given the stakes in this race and the name-recognition of these officials. It’s a degree of undervote that is non-existent in the other statewide races on the ballot.
  3. Provisional ballots will break hard for Democrats. Voters who forgot identification or showed up at the wrong polling place cast a provisional ballot on Tuesday. In most counties, those ballots still need to be reviewed by the local canvassing board and counted toward the final tally.

Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Times notes the race for governor is also now in recount range.

Abrams Presses for a Runoff In Georgia

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Stacey Abrams is not conceding Georgia’s governor’s race, “hopeful that a trove of provisional ballots and other votes not yet recorded could be enough to force the tight race into a runoff,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.

“Her campaign unveiled a litigation team poised to take the fight to the courts as it continues a hunt for an additional 25,632 Abrams votes that will push the race into runoff territory.”

Brian Kemp’s (R) office “has said there are roughly 25,000 outstanding provisional and absentee ballots — making his lead virtually insurmountable — and on Thursday he released for the first time a detailed accounting of where each was cast.”

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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