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“It seemed to be kind of spontaneous. People just started coming to the
floor, first the other senators and then like 15 or 20 congressman came
over, and that doesn’t happen very often, so we were pretty excited
about that.”
— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by Politico, on the support for his filibuster of John Brennan’s nomination to head the CIA.
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus revealed in a
radio interview that an internal review of what went wrong in the 2012 elections
will be released on March 18, Roll Call reports.
“Specifically, he said the report will address whether the party will
take control of the debates, including which network televises them and
which journalists serve as moderators.”
Rep. Mike Conway (R-TX) has asked for a “reconnaissance survey” of the Bush family home in Midland, Texas in an effort to turn the property into a part of the National Park Service, the Abilene Reporter News reports.
The Bush family lived in the home for four years, from 1951 to 1955.
Just 16% of registered voters in Los Angeles actually voted in this week’s mayoral election.
One possible reason: The Los Angeles Times reports that most “get their news from local television stations, which devote far more time to covering the weather — which is exactly the same 320 days a year — than to local politics and government.”
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Michigan finds Gov. Rick Snyder (R) trailing three possible Democratic challengers in 2014 match ups.
Virg Bernero (D) beats Snyder 43% to 38%, Gary Peters (D) tops him 44% to 37% and Mark Schauer (D) is ahead 40% to 36%.
Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said he was “optimistic” about President Obama’s new outreach to rank-and-file Republicans, but warned it will not make the GOP bend on taxes, The Hill reports.
Said Boehner: “I think it’s a sign, a hopeful sign, and I’m hopeful that something will come out of it. But, if the president continues to insist on tax hikes, I don’t think we’re going to get very far. If the president doesn’t believe that we have a spending problem, I don’t know if we’re going to get very far. But I’m optimistic.”
Roll Call has an excellent rundown — in case you didn’t get to watch all 13 hours.
“A son-in-law of Osama bin Laden and longtime suspected member of al Qaeda has been captured by U.S. officials, who are preparing to bring him to the U.S. to face charges,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“I am quite bullish on the field of Republicans in 2016 and on Republican chances for recapturing the White House. I wouldn’t comment on any candidate as a favorite.”
— Romney strategist Stuart Stevens, in an interview with ABC News, on the 2016 Republican presidential field.
First Read: “Say what you will about Rand Paul’s marathon filibuster — whether it was a noble cause, a vanity project with 2016 overtones, or a protest over a hypothetical — but it makes the case for filibuster reform requiring senators to actually SPEAK if they want to hold things up. Why? Because it truly forced a debate, in this case over the administration’s drone policy targeting terrorists.”
A new Quinnipiac poll finds Hillary Clinton tops the presidential 2016 field in hypothetical
matchups with Chris Christie, 45% to 37%, Paul Ryan 50 to 38%, and Marco
Rubio 50 to 34%.
By contrast, Christie would beat Joe Biden 43 to 40%. Biden, however,
beats Rubio 45 to 38% and Ryan 45 to 42%.
Jim Messina defends Organizing for Action in a CNN piece saying it’s “an issue advocacy group, not an electoral one. We’ll mobilize to support the president’s agenda, but we won’t do so on behalf of political candidates. The president has always believed that special interests have undue influence over the policymaking process, and the mission of this organization is to rebalance the power structure…”
“But just as the president and administration officials deliver updates on the legislative process to Americans and organizations across the ideological spectrum, there may be occasions when members of Organizing for Action are included in those updates. These are not opportunities to lobby — they are briefings on the positions the president has taken and the status of seeing them through.”
First Read: “In other words, these folks will be able to meet with the president. Here’s another thing to consider: While OFA won’t take corporate money, nothing is there to stop, say, a particular CEO from writing a $500,000 check. This op-ed was clearly intended to calm down the critics, but other than eliminating the possibility of corporate donors, it doesn’t get to the larger criticism that campaign-finance advocates are upset about.”
Greg Sargent says President Obama’s efforts to woo Republicans is part of long term strategy to break his rivals.
“Democrats are increasingly pessimistic about forcing real concessions from Republicans in the near term — for example, by using the threat of a government shutdown to force them back to the table — and are instead settling in for what will amount to a months-long war of attrition in hopes of ultimately getting Republicans to cave on new revenues.”
Jonathan Chait: “As sequestration begins, Republicans have been overtaken with something close to giddiness, and Democrats seized with gloom.”
President Obama “stepped up his wooing of rank-and-file Republican lawmakers Wednesday, hosting a dozen senators at a dinner at a Washington restaurant and setting a visit to the Capitol in hopes of reigniting talks on a broad budget deal,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The efforts mark his most aggressive outreach to lawmakers in years and show Mr. Obama is trying to build his own coalition in Congress at a time when his past negotiating partners in the GOP leadership are under renewed pressure to accommodate the party’s conservative base.”
Washington Post: “Obama picked up the tab personally, and two of his guests, Sens. John
McCain (R-AZ) and Tom Coburn (R-OK), emerged flashing a thumbs-up.”
Meanwhile, Politico reports Obama invited Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) to lunch at the White House.
Stu Rothenberg: “While the fight for the House of Representatives will take center stage next year, another battle could be almost as important for the two parties: control of a handful of big-state governorships.”
“Republicans like to point out that while they lost the presidency and seats in both chambers of Congress in 2012, their party continues to hold governorships in 30 states, including nine of the country’s 12 largest states. But most of those governors — 23 to be exact — were elected in 2010, a great GOP year that doesn’t reflect the nation’s (or many states’) political fundamentals.”
Even though President Obama’s gun control proposals are stalled on Capitol Hill, Politico notes gun control advocates “still haven’t said a word to complain. That’s no accident.”
“The White House knew its post-Newtown effort would require bringing key gun-control groups into the fold. So the White House offered a simple arrangement: the groups could have access and involvement, but they’d have to offer silence and support in exchange.”
“The implied rules, according to conversations with many of those involved: No infighting. No second guessing in the press. Support whatever the president and Vice President Joe Biden propose. And most of all, don’t make waves or get ahead of the White House.”
“I would go for another 12 hours to try to break Strom Thurmond’s record, but I’ve discovered that there are some limits to filibustering and I’m going to have to go take care of one of those in a few minutes here.”
— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by the New York Times, ending his filibuster after 13 hours and looking forward to using a bathroom.
“One of the oldest and most storied traditions of the Senate made a sudden return to Capitol Hill on Wednesday when a junior senator seized control of the chamber with an hours-long filibuster involving rambling speeches aimed at blocking a vote on President Obama’s choice to lead the CIA,” the Washington Post reports.
“Led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) with help from other junior senators, the filibuster stretched nearly 13 hours — with the Senate adjourning at about 12:40 a.m. Thursday — and was aimed at drawing attention to deep concern on both sides of the aisle about the administration’s use of unmanned aerial drones in its fight against terrorists and whether the government would ever use them in the United States.”
John Avlon: “Instead of resorting to cheap filibuster tricks like reading the dictionary or a phonebook, Paul delivered a real speech–albeit Castro-esque in length–discussing the constitutional principles at stake more or less off the top of his head for nearly 13 hours.”
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.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.