Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) told the Boston Globe that he won’t endorse Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) for president, but added that he is willing to do anything else to help her.
Said Reid: “She’s a good person. I think the world of her. My Nevada politics keep me from publicly endorsing her, which I will not do. But anything I can do to help Elizabeth Warren short of the endorsement, I will do.”
James Hohmann: “The deafening chorus demanding Ralph Northam’s resignation suggests that Americans could be on the precipice of a #MeToo moment for racial politics.”
“Many of Northam’s longtime friends and erstwhile allies, including African American leaders and four of his Democratic predecessors as governor, dismissed his pleas for patience and called on him to step aside over a racist photo on his 1984 medical school yearbook page. The speed and intensity with which they did so reflects some of the ways that the political culture, nationally and in the South specifically, is changing.”
First Read notes that “nearly the entire Democratic Party” now has called for Northam to resign and “the party is united in demonstrating that it has zero tolerance for any past racist behavior from its politicians.”
Ana Maria Archila, the woman who had a widely seen confrontation with former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) last year over his support for then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, on Tuesday will attend the State of the Union address as a guest of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), The Hill reports.
A new Gallup poll finds 60% of Americans oppose major new construction of walls along the U.S.-Mexico border — the goal behind President Trump’s budget showdown with Democratic leaders that led to a record 35-day partial shutdown of the federal government.
The Atlantic: “Joe Biden reliably blows through every public and private deadline for making a decision about running for president. But he’s giving everyone he’s seen in recent weeks the feeling that he’s very close to saying yes.”
“Top positions for a campaign have been sketched out. Donor outreach has accelerated, with Biden himself telling staff at some events to write down the names of people who say they’re eager to help. A list of potential “day-one endorsers” among elected officials has been prepared. Basic staff outreach is happening. Biden has even joked to people that he’s upped his daily workout to get in shape.”
Said one insider: “I have been told that if it happens, I need to be ready to go with a moment’s notice.”
“You can’t impeach somebody for doing the best job of any president, in the history of our country.”
— President Trump, in an interview with CBS News.
The massive leak of President Trump’s private schedules “set off internal finger-pointing and speculation more fevered than any since the New York Times‘ anonymous op-ed,” Axios reports. “White House insiders said the leak sowed chaos.”
Said Cliff Sims, author of Team of Vipers: “There are leaks, and then there are leaks. If most are involuntary manslaughter, this was premeditated murder. People inside are genuinely scared.”
Maggie Haberman: “A White House aide is weaponizing his schedules, which says a lot about how people in the White House feel about the man they work for.”
“Worried about a potential Republican primary challenge, President Trump’s campaign has launched a state-by-state effort to prevent an intraparty fight that could spill over into the general-election campaign,” the AP reports.
“The nascent initiative has been an intense focus in recent weeks and includes taking steps to change state party rules, crowd out potential rivals and quell any early signs of opposition that could embarrass the president.”
Iraqi President Barham Salih said that President Trump did not ask Iraq’s permission for U.S. troops stationed there to “watch Iran,” as he told CBS News in an interview over the weekend, Reuters reports.
“U.S. troops in Iraq are there as part of an agreement between the two countries with a specific mission of combating terrorism, Salih said, and that they should stick to that.”
A new Politico/Morning Consult poll “shows anti-Trump and Democratic voters are more open to supporting third-party candidates than Republicans — evidence supporting the prominent Democrats who spent the last week warning that a credible, well-funded independent could improve President Trump’s chances of reelection.”
“While only 26% of voters who approve of Trump’s job performance as president are very or somewhat likely to consider a third-party candidate, a larger percentage of Trump disapprovers, 41%, would consider voting for an independent. By party, nearly a third of Democrats, 31%, say they would consider a third-party candidate — greater than the 25% of Republicans who would consider voting for someone other than the two major-party nominees.”
Wall Street Journal: “Chris Christie, a friend and confidant of President Trump, gave him a no-nonsense piece of advice early in his White House term: Don’t tweet about the Russia investigation. Doing so would only prolong a high-stakes probe that Mr. Trump believes is both unfair and an unwanted drag on his presidency because prosecutors would scrutinize each tweet, Mr. Christie warned. Mr. Trump would hear him out and they would argue about it from time to time, Mr. Christie said in an interview, but in the end the president didn’t listen.”
Said Christie: “He knows full well I think it’s a bad idea. I told him back in February of 2017 there is no way to make this investigation shorter, but there are lots of ways to make it longer… Every time he said something new or different, the prosecutors have to chase it down. It makes the investigation go on longer.’ ‘It’s obvious from what’s gone on for almost the last two years now that he’s not followed the advice.”
Wall Street Journal: “Mr. Trump in private conversations has voiced satisfaction with the arrangement, saying interim leaders are more beholden to the Oval Office.”
Wall Street Journal: “The website that broke the story of the racist yearbook photo that is imperiling the governorship of Virginia Democrat Ralph Northam is a scrappy, pro-Trump outfit backed by Republican operatives, part of a growing wave of low-cost, ideologically driven news publishers.”
“On Friday, Big League Politics was the first to post the image of Gov. Northam’s medical school yearbook page showing a photo of a man in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan costume… The site—whose name is a nod to President Trump’s favorite campaign trail adverb, often misinterpreted as ‘bigly’—was founded in early 2017 by journalist Patrick Howley, a veteran of conservative news sites including Breitbart and the Daily Caller.”
“Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) called an unscheduled senior staff meeting Sunday night just before the start of the Super Bowl, as the governor considered resigning after two days of defiance amid a controversy over a racist photo in his medical school yearbook,” the Washington Post reports.
“People familiar with the meeting said the governor had not reached a decision. It was unclear who was present, but the group included senior staffers of color. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D), who would become governor if Northam resigned.”
“Calling the Sunday night meeting was a clear signal of Northam’s effort to weigh support within the administration as he evaluates his options. Although he pledged on Saturday to stand his ground, he also said he would reconsider if he thought he could no longer be effective. Just a day later, resignation is an active consideration.”
“Surveys are showing overwhelming support for raising taxes on top earners, including a new Politico/Morning Consult poll released Monday that found 76 percent of registered voters believe the wealthiest Americans should pay more in taxes.”
“A recent Fox News survey showed that 70 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on those earning over $10 million — including 54 percent of Republicans.”
A new CNN poll finds almost 7 in 10 say the federal government is doing a bad job of governing, including 43% who say it’s the worst job of governing in their lifetimes.
“That’s about double the share who said the same in early 1996 (21%) following a government shutdown that was the longest on record until last month. Just 19% say the federal government is doing a good job.”
Washington Post: ““It’s been more than a year since senior Palestinian officials have agreed to meet or even speak with representatives of the Trump administration, but now President Trump’s special representative for international negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, appears to have adopted a new diplomatic channel: Twitter.”
“During the past few weeks, Greenblatt has been tweeting his thoughts, requests and criticisms to those Palestinian leaders who are active on the popular social media platform.”
Notes Greenblatt: “And who says the U.S. and the P.A. aren’t talking? The only difference now is that we are speaking about these matters in public via twitter so the public can understand everyone’s positions. Transparency is better for all.”
A White House source leaked President Trump’s private schedules since the midterm elections to Axios, showing that Trump has spent around 60% of the last three months in “Executive Time.”
Jonathan Swan: “Trump, an early riser, usually spends the first 5 hours of the day in Executive Time. Each day’s schedule places Trump in ‘Location: Oval Office’ from 8 to 11 a.m. But Trump, who often wakes before 6 a.m., is never in the Oval during those hours, according to six sources with direct knowledge.”
“Instead, he spends his mornings in the residence, watching TV, reading the papers, and responding to what he sees and reads by phoning aides, members of Congress, friends, administration officials and informal advisers.”
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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