“The White House announced that it will cancel all tours of
the building because of budget cutbacks caused by the sequester, Roll Call reports.
Bush Quietly Lays Groundwork for Campaign
BuzzFeed: “If Jeb Bush decides to convert his media tour into a presidential bid in a couple years, he won’t have to look far for a campaign staff: The well-funded education foundation he runs out his office in a Miami hotel is stacked with former political operatives, a large communications team, and a rapidly growing staff whose work stretches into 40 states.”
“It is common practice for undeclared presidential candidates to build a campaign infrastructure under the guise of a political action committee, but Bush appears to be laying the groundwork for a potential campaign through his foundation.”
Grassley Suggests Ending Iowa Straw Poll
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told BuzzFeed that it may be time for Iowa Republicans to end the legendary Ames Straw Poll, but insisted the state’s much derided caucus system is still sound.
Brennan Clears Hurdle After White House Concession
The Senate Intelligence Committee voted 12 to 3 to confirm John Brennan as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, “hours after the White House agreed to provide more information on the legal basis for targeted killings of Americans believed to pose a terrorist threat,” the New York Times reports.
“The vote, in a closed committee meeting, clears the way for Mr. Brennan, a 25-year C.I.A. veteran who has been President Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, to be confirmed by the full Senate later this week.”
Lawmakers Think Voters are More Conservative
A fascinating new study finds that politicians significantly overestimate the conservatism of their constituents on several key issues, including universal health care and same-sex marriage, the Huffington Post reports.
For example, a survey of voters found they supported gay marriage and universal health care by 10 percentage points more than their own politicians had estimated in a separate survey. For conservative politicians, the spread was near 20 percentage points.
The authors conclude: “Most politicians appear to believe they are representing constituents who are considerably different than their actual constituents.”
Lobbyist Faces Ethics Complaint After Tangle with Lawmaker
The Denver Post reports Coloardo state Rep. Cheri Gerou (R) filed an ethics complaint against gun lobbyist Joe Neville “after an encounter in which she admits telling Neville to “fuck off” and he responded by saying: “You just earned yourself another round of mailers in your district.”
Lawmaker Worries Divorce Makes Girls Promiscuous
Seven Republicans in the Iowa House are pushing a bill to prohibit parents of minor children from getting a “no fault” divorce, Radio Iowa reports.
Rep. Tedd Gassman (R) explained the issue is “near and dear” to his heart because his daughter and son-in-law recently divorced, putting his granddaughter at risk.
Said Gassman: “There’s a 16-year-old girl in this whole mix now. Guess what? What are the possibilities of her being more promiscuous? What are the possibilities of all these other things surrounding her life that a 16-year-old girl, with hormones raging, can get herself into?”
Booker Has Earned $1 Million in Speaking Fees
Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) has earned about $1 million from public speaking engagements during his seven years in office, the New York Times reports.
Said Booker: “Even though I am entitled to keep it, after Uncle Sam takes his share and after I’ve given away hundreds and hundreds of thousands, I’ve kept very little of it, if any.”
Meanwhile, BuzzFeed reports Booker will defend his legacy in major address today.
Bush Defends His Son in New Book
Out today: All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings.
CNN notes that many of the letters written by George H.W. Bush are in defense of his son, George W. Bush: “Now I see some of his most nasty critics trying to shoot down my beloved son – shoot him down by mean spirited attacks. I was a scared kid back then. Now I am just an angry old man hurting for my son.”
Charges Filed in Death of Openly Gay Mayoral Candidate
A man has been charged in the death of a mayoral candidate in the Mississippi Delta, KLTV reports.
Family members revealed in a statement that 34-year-old Marco McMillan (D) — whose campaign was noteworthy because he may have been the first openly gay man to be a viable candidate for public office in Mississippi — was beaten, dragged and burned.
The Power of Boehner
Noam Scheiber: “Yes! Boehner is goofy, poorly informed, and frequently incoherent. He often sows confusion among the very people he’s supposed to be leading. But despite this–or perhaps because of it–he has been remarkably effective at saving the Republican Party from complete self-destruction. Through heroic improvisation, he’s avoided the global economic apocalypse House Republicans are so intent on provoking.”
“Under the circumstances, Boehner has, in fact, been a raging success. I hesitate to call him ‘sophisticated’ because that would imply a level of self-awareness and reflection I’m not sure he’s capable of. But the man’s instincts are damn-near impeccable.”
Christie Rips Washington
In his classic style — and on camera — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) blasted political leaders in Washington: “I don’t have the first damn idea of what they’re doing down there.”
Quote of the Day
“It just, it breaks my heart he’s not there. He didn’t run — his campaign
wasn’t the best, but he would have been a really fine president.”
— Jeb Bush, quoted by Politico, on Mitt Romney’s loss in the presidential election.
When Politics Comes Down to Simple Math
Ryan Lizza: “A fundamental fact of modern political life is that the only way to advance a coherent agenda in Washington is through partisan dominance. When Obama had large Democratic majorities in Congress during his first two years in office, he led one of the most successful legislative periods in modern history. After he lost the House, his agenda froze and the current status quo of serial fiscal crises began. Like it or not, for many years, Washington has been most productive when one party controlled both Congress and the White House.”
“The boring fact of our system is that congressional math is the best predictor of a President’s success. This idea is not nearly as sexy as the notion that great Presidents are great because they twist arms in backrooms and inspire the American people to rise up and force Congress to bend to their will. But even the Presidents who are remembered for their relentless congressional lobbying and socializing were more often than not successful for more mundane reasons–like arithmetic.”
Bush’s Poorly Timed Flip Flop
The stunning reversal by Jeb Bush on supporting a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants “comes down to a colossal political miscalculation,” National Journal reports.
“When Bush and co-author Clint Bolick were writing the book during the 2012 presidential campaign, the GOP was veering far to the right. Republican nominee Mitt Romney had staked out a hardline position against illegal immigration, blasting his primary rivals as pro-amnesty and promoting ‘self-deportation’ for undocumented workers. Bush sent the book to the printer before Christmas – weeks before a handful of Senate Republicans embraced a sweeping overhaul that, like the proposals backed by Bush’s brother, former President George W. Bush, would allow illegal immigrants to earn citizenship.”
“In other words, Bush’s party unexpectedly moved a lot faster than the book publishing world.”
The Miami Herald quoted an angry adviser to Mitt Romney’s presidential run: “Where the hell was this Jeb Bush during the campaign?”
Will McMahon Run Again in Connecticut?
Although she lost back-to-back U.S. Senate races in 2010 and 2012, the Greenwich Time reports Connecticut Republicans are quietly trying to gauge Linda McMahon’s (R) interest in running for Congress in the 4th congressional district in 2014.
More Blame Republicans for Sequester
A new CBS News poll finds Americans blame the Republicans in Congress more for the difficulty in reaching agreement on automatic spending cuts that took effect last week.
Key findings: 38% place more blame on the Republicans in Congress for the failure, while 33% blame President Obama and the Democrats in Congress more. Nineteen percent volunteer that they blame both sides.
GOP Seeks to Prevent “Todd Akin Moments”
Roll Call: “The National Republican Senatorial Committee plans to expand its press operation to train campaigns earlier in the cycle on how to better handle the kind of candidate missteps that have plagued its party’s nominees.”
