Daily Archives
22 posts · Saturday
Harley Rouda (D) beat Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) in one of California’s most closely watched congressional races, the Associated Press projected.
“Rohrabacher’s strong identification with President Trump and his unabashed support for Russia had made him ripe for a challenge in an affluent district that went for Hillary Clinton in 2016.”
The Weekly Standard posted audio of Rep. Steve King (R-IA) using derogatory language to apparently refer to Mexican immigrants at a campaign event after King and his campaign denied the comments were made.
On the audio, King says that if he wants to grow spicy jalapenos, he’ll have to import dirt from Mexico. When King laughs at his comment, an attendee interjects, saying the dirt from Mexico is already “on the way.” King agrees, saying, “there’s plenty of dirt” coming from Mexico, the West Coast and other places, too. “This is the most dirt we’ve ever seen.”
Kyrsten Sinema (D) expanded her narrow lead in Arizona’s U.S. Senate on Saturday with gains in Maricopa and Pima counties erasing smaller losses to Martha McSally (R) elsewhere around the state, th Arizona Republic reports.
Sinema’s lead grew to 29,832 votes and gave her a 1.4 percentage point advantage.
While McSally’s vote deficit grew, Republicans took aim at the election process. In a statement Saturday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee attacked Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, saying he “has been using his position to cook the books for Kyrsten Sinema.”
“A Democrat has all but officially won what’s considered one of the most important local races this election, as Republican Rob Poythress on Saturday conceded to Democrat Anna Caballero in the race for the Senate District 12 seat,” the Fresno Bee reports.
“Once her victory is sealed, Caballero would give Democrats in the state Legislature a supermajority in both houses, just as the state also elected Democrat Gavin Newsom as governor.“
“For Democrats, the victories, near wins and stinging losses on Tuesday have intensified a debate in the party about how to retake the White House, with moderates arguing they must find a candidate who can appeal to President Trump’s supporters and historically Republican suburbanites, and progressives claiming they need someone with the raw authenticity to electrify the grass roots,” the New York Times reports.
“Rather than clarifying which strategy to adopt for 2020, the patchwork of outcomes has only deepened the disagreements. Both wings of the party are now wielding fresh evidence from the midterm results to make their case about the best path to assemble 270 electoral votes and oust Mr. Trump from office.”
Matt Taibbi: “Beware the latest call to ‘move to the center’ — which is just the same old tune, re-packaged.”
Washington Post: “Early Saturday, the White House announced Trump and the first lady had scuttled plans, due to bad weather, for their first stop in the weekend’s remembrance activities — a visit to the solemn Aisne Marne American Cemetery, marking the ferocious Battle of Belleau Wood.”
“It was not completely clear why the Trumps were unable to attend. The cemetery is 50 miles from Paris. Perhaps the president was planning to travel on Marine One, which is occasionally grounded by the Secret Service.”
“But the sight of dignitaries arriving at other sites outside Paris, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, led some foreign policy analysts to speculate the U.S. commander in chief just wasn’t up for it.”
USA Today: Critics denounce “low energy” Donald Trump for skipping World War I cemetery visit.
Andrew Gillum (D) withdrew his concession to Ron DeSantis (R) in the Florida governor’s race on Saturday, hours after the secretary of state announced a recount of their race and two others, CNN reports.
Said Gillum: “I am replacing my words of concession with an uncompromised and unapologetic call we count every single vote.”
Harley Rouda (D) has declared victory in a hotly contested California race against Dana Rohrabacher (R), the Republican dubbed “Putin’s favorite congressman” who is approaching his 30th year in office, the Sacramento Bee reports.
“Rohrabacher won the Costa Mesa district along the coast of Orange County by 17 percentage points in 2016. The latest numbers have Rouda up by 3.6 percentage points — a lead that is likely to increase as more ballots come in.”
Associated Press: “He aggressively deleted inactive voters from registration rolls, enforced an “exact match” policy that could have prevented thousands of Georgians from registering to vote and launched an investigation that disrupted a major voter registration drive.”
“Now Republican Brian Kemp is declaring himself the victor in Georgia’s race for governor, a race so close that even marginal differences in voting and turnout could make the difference in determining whether the race goes to a runoff.”
“Florida officials said vote tallies from counties, which were due to the state today, show the races are close enough to trigger a recount,” the Washington Post reports.
“A machine recount and possibly a hand recount will be necessary to learn the outcomes of the races between Sen. Bill Nelson (D) and Gov. Rick Scott (R), who is seeking to unseat him, and between former congressman Ron DeSantis (R) and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum (D), who are vying for governor.”
“President Trump is set to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the nation’s highest civilian honor — to the wife of one of the Republican Party’s most prominent patrons,” Politico reports.
“Miriam Adelson will receive the medal along with six other ‘distinguished individuals’ at a ceremony on Friday… She is married to billionaire Las Vegas casino magnate and GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson, who joined Trump for a watch party at the White House residence on Tuesday evening to monitor the incoming returns from the 2018 midterm elections.”
The Floridian: “The controversy surrounding unaccounted for ballots in Broward continues as provisional ballots were found unattended in a the Tamarac Lakes Community Center.”
“Upon finding them Saturday night, a citizen called the Broward Sheriff’s Office after finding election equipment and two locked boxes marked ‘Provisional Ballot Box.'”
“Democrats winding up to challenge President Trump in 2020 have long approached the electoral map with two goals in mind: Reestablish the party’s dominance in the upper Midwest, and expand the competitive terrain to include several new, traditionally conservative states,” Politico reports.
“Tuesday served as a reminder of how difficult that will be. Despite drawing closer to Republicans in marquee races in Georgia, Arizona and Texas — all hopeful signs — Democrats nevertheless ran into traditional ceilings in those states.”
“They also failed to pick off Iowa’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds — despite near-optimal conditions of a freshman incumbent, massive turnout and tariffs weighing heavily on rural voters — and lost the Ohio gubernatorial race, winning just nine of 88 counties after Trump carried the state by 9 percentage points in 2016.”
For members: Here’s the 2020 Electoral Map Based on 2018 Results
CNN: “When things were particularly bad between President Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions, the attorney general’s chief of staff, Matt Whitaker, would attend White House meetings in his place.”
“But Sessions did not know that Whitaker at the same time was angling for a promotion. Whitaker, who was installed at the Justice Department by powerful White House allies, ‘spoke and behaved like he was attorney general.’”
Playbook: “Patriot Majority, a non-profit group aligned with House Democrats, is running a six-figure, nationwide television campaign framing the House Democrats’ agenda before the new Congress. The 30-second spot will start airing on Sunday shows this week, and run through Thanksgiving. It’s worth watching, if only to understand a bit more about what Democrats plan to do in 2019 and 2020.”
From the ad: “We’ve been counted out. Frozen out. And forgotten. By a White House and Washington mired in special interest politics. But we can take our country back with a Democratic agenda for the people. That means lowering health-care costs. Increasing pay through rebuilding America. And cleaning up corruption. And it means having the strength to stand up for our values. It’s time to make Washington work for the people again.”
Matthew Whitaker, the nation’s new acting attorney general, “repeatedly chided presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in public statements during 2016 while he was speaking for a group that is barred by its tax-exempt status from supporting or opposing political candidates during a campaign,” the AP reports.
“Before coming to the Justice Department in 2017, Whitaker was president and executive of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, a charitable organization that styles itself as nonpartisan government watchdog promoting ethics and transparency. The tax-exempt group — known by its initials, FACT — is supposed to serve the public interest under Section 501c3 of the U.S. tax code, without directly or even indirectly supporting or opposing specific candidates for office.”
The Guardian: “Seven scientists are entering the U.S. congress next year, from engineers and health professionals to an energy businessman and a computer programmer. Five of them are women, including a new senator for Nevada. All are Democrats.”
President Trump blamed “mismanagement” of California’s forests for ongoing deadly wildfires, threatening to withhold federal payments after multiple blazes killed 9 people and prompted evacuation orders for some 250,000 state residents, Politico reports.
Said Trump: “There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!”
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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