Political Wire

What’s Holding Back Hiring?

By Leave a Comment

Wall Street Journal: “Many Republicans say enhanced and extended unemployment benefits are discouraging Americans from seeking work, especially in low-wage jobs where the aid often pays more than they earned at previous jobs. The Biden administration and Democrats say other factors, including lack of access to child care and shortages of computer chips, are holding back more robust job growth.”

Said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo: “There’s nothing in the data which would suggest that that’s the reason people are out of work… The No. 1 reason now that people aren’t going back to work is…fear.”

A Tiny and Fragile Senate Map for 2022

By Leave a Comment

David Byler: “It’s still early, and an electoral wave in one direction or the other could completely reshuffle the map. For now, only a handful of races look competitive. But we live in a volatile and changing political era.”

“Best bet: The most likely result is another thin and fragile majority for whichever party prevails in the 2022 Senate races. Which means a dwindling number of moderates will retain outsize influence in the upper chamber.”

Biden Invites Joe Manchin to Private Meeting

By Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “Biden is meeting separately on Monday with two influential Democratic senators who will help shape the president’s ambitious infrastructure plan.”

“He will meet with Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-DE), who leads the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee with jurisdiction over transportation policy, as well as Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-WV), a critical swing Democratic vote who has shown some distance from Biden’s $4 trillion jobs and infrastructure package.”

Newsom Plans Cash Payments to Californians

By Leave a Comment

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) “plans a $100 billion economy recovery package, with the centerpiece a proposal to give $11.9 billion of direct cash payments to Californians,” Bloomberg reports.

“The plan would expand on a previous program distributing $600 checks to qualifying low-income residents by extending eligibility to the middle class. Two out of three Californians would receive a check of at least $600, and families with kids will get an additional $500.”

That’s not going to hurt him in his likely recall race later this year.

The Three Big Drivers in 2020

By Leave a Comment

Electoral data analysis firm Catalist released a major study of the demographic trends that shaped 2020 election:

  • Biden “made significant gains among white voters compared to 2016, particularly among white college and white suburban voters.” Biden actually performed better with non-college White voters than Hillary 2016 and Obama 2012, but Trump still benefited from an overall increase in their turnout.
  • Trump improved with African-American voters (doing 3 points better than in 2016), but thanks to increased turnout, the overall numbers really helped Biden, especially in places like Georgia.
  • 2020’s historic turnout was largely fueled by the rise of young voters (in participation levels and raw numbers): “Millennials and Gen Z now account for 31% of voters, up from 23% in 2016 and 14% in 2008.”

What Joe Biden Learned from Ronald Reagan

By Leave a Comment

Chris Matthews: “It is still early in the game. But should Joe Biden make a positive mark in history it will be by doing it like Ronald Reagan did: Stick to your base; keep your focus, go big; go early.  His commitment to Reagan’s governing politics is clear and it’s working.”

“As a former speechwriter, I’m also impressed by his rhetorical focus. It’s not that he’s a great orator. The point is he’s kept his speeches within his rhetorical abilities. And while he’s governed left, his tone has been totally middle of the road, inclusive. He hasn’t gotten drawn into culture war battles over Dr. Seuss. When he got asked about America being a racist country, he deftly said he didn’t think most people were racists but there was clearly a legacy of racism holding people back right now. He’s used the term systemic racism but in a way that calls on people’s better angels. It’s been hard to pull off but in a slow and grandfatherly way, he’s made it look easy, During the Chauvin trial, it would have been easy to make a misstep. He didn’t. Moderate tone. Left governance. Reagan governed right with a moderate tone. It worked then. It works now.”

What If the GOP Refuses to Certify Democratic Wins?

By Leave a Comment

“The entire left-leaning political world has spent the months after the 2020 election obsessed over the fairness of elections, and conservative attempts to rig the vote through gerrymandering and voter suppression. This is for good reason, of course…,” the Washington Monthly reports.

“But there’s another even more sinister trend among conservative politicians that deserves greater attention: an unwillingness to concede any electoral victory by a Democrat as legitimate, and an eagerness to punish any Republican elected official who concedes the will of the voters. The Big Lie that Trump really won the election is now canon among a majority of Republican voters. Any Republicans who refuses to toe the line is branded a heretic, and elections officials who dared to certify Biden’s win are being censured or stripped of their power.”

Earlier for members: The Danger of the GOP Embracing the Big Lie

Ron Johnson Falsely Says Vaccine Has Killed Thousands

By Leave a Comment

CNN: “In Thursday’s interview with conservative radio host Vicki McKenna, Johnson suggested there have been thousands of deaths connected to Covid-19 vaccinations and that receiving a vaccine could be particularly dangerous for those who had previously been infected.”

“To defend his position and call into question the safety of Covid-19 vaccines, Johnson cited numbers from the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, which allows anyone to submit a report. Johnson said that according to the system, ‘we’re over 3000 deaths after within 30 days of taking the vaccine,’ suggesting these deaths were tied to Covid-19 vaccines.”

About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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.

Praise for Political Wire

“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.