“After President Joe Biden pummeled Republicans on Social Security and Medicare during his State of the Union address, drawing shouts of outrage from the party, Republican leaders urged him to stop telling Americans that the GOP wants to slash those retirement programs,” NBC News reports.
“Then Biden paid a visit to Florida and did it again, exasperating the party and escalating a fight that is poised to play out on Capitol Hill and in the 2024 presidential election.”
A Tulchin Research poll in Mississippi finds Gov. Tate Reeves (R) trailing challenger Brandon Presley (D), 47% to 43%.
Key takeaway: “The sprawling welfare scandal has emerged as one of the top issues of the 2023 governor’s race.”
Jonathan Bernstein: “In almost four hours of testimony Thursday by witnesses and questioning from committee members, Republicans on the newly formed panel offered practically nothing designed to appeal to a broader spectrum of voters. Indeed, a good deal of what was discussed would be difficult to understand for those who don’t regularly watch Fox News’s Tucker Carlson or listen to radio host Mark Levin’s talk show.”
“It’s a really tough situation for DeSantis. If he starts punching at Trump, he’s going to anger a lot of the people he needs to vote for him. But if you are viewed as weak and cower in response to attacks from Trump, that will be seen as a proxy for how you will be seen as a Republican nominee and how you’ll be as president.”
— Democratic strategist Tommy Vietor, quoted by the New York Times.
“Moldova’s President outlined Monday what she described as a plot by Moscow to use external saboteurs to overthrow her country’s government, put the nation ‘at the disposal of Russia’ and derail its aspirations to one day join the European Union,” the AP reports.
“Nikki Haley takes her place in the presidential spotlight this week. The former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador will head to New Hampshire for two days of campaigning, followed by more of the same in Iowa, after announcing her 2024 bid Wednesday with a late morning rally in Charleston, South Carolina,” The Dispatch reports.
“All three are key early states: The Iowa caucuses next February will kick off the Republican presidential nominating contest, followed by New Hampshire, host of the first traditional primary, then South Carolina, first in the heavily Republican South.”
“But so far, the soon-to-be-official Haley presidential campaign has no staff or advisers—paid or pro bono—in Iowa or New Hampshire. At least that’s the best The Dispatch could figure out after lobbing several calls into each state to ask dialed-in Republican insiders if they know who is helping Haley organize events.”
A new Political Company (R) poll in Montana tested three potential U.S. Senate matchups:
Donald Trump “has insulted Mr. DeSantis in casual conversations, describing him as ‘Meatball Ron’, an apparent dig at his appearance, or ‘Shutdown Ron,’ a reference to restrictions the governor put in place at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic,” the New York Times reports.
Washington Post: “Over the first 100 days of their majority — what Newt Gingrich (R-GA) considered a critical moment when he took over as speaker in 1995 — the House Republican calendar includes just 30 days in the Capitol voting on legislation. Over the next roughly 10 weeks, the House is slated for just six full days in session, with nearly a dozen other half-day meetings so members travel into and out of Washington.”
“All told, this Congress will be mostly about sound and fury well into the spring and early summer.”
“For the first time since Economist/YouGov polls began asking — in July 2022 — if Americans want Biden to run again in 2024, more than half of Democrats say yes.”
“Now, just about the same share of Democrats favor a Biden run (53%) as the share of Republicans who support another run by Trump (54%). Trump has generally enjoyed more stable support for his 2024 campaign from Republicans than Biden has from Democrats.”
Bloomberg: “Three years into the pandemic, business leaders and city officials around the world are still trying just about everything to lure employees back into offices and revive local economies. But new data on in-person work analyzed by Bloomberg News show that in a number of cities across the US, Fridays at the office are dead. Mondays are a crapshoot. And returning to pre-pandemic work schedules looks like a lost cause.”
“Nowhere is the economic cost of remote work more pronounced when it comes to spending than in the world’s leading financial center: New York. Manhattan workers are spending at least $12.4 billion less a year due to about 30% fewer days in the office.”
“A final report produced by an Atlanta-area special grand jury investigating efforts by President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia will be remain mostly sealed as a local prosecutor considers charges in the case, a judge ruled,” the Washington Post reports.
“But Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said in an order released Monday that he will make public three sections of the grand jury report, including the panel’s introduction and conclusion as well as a section in which the grand jury ‘discusses its concern that some witnesses may have lied under oath during their testimony to the grand jury.'”
“The death toll from the earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria passed 35,000 Monday as only a handful of survivors were pulled from the rubble more than a week after the disasters that devastated swaths of both countries,” NBC News reports.
Rep. George Santos (R-NY) “has spent his campaign money in plenty of conspicuous ways, from lavish hotel stays in Las Vegas and Palm Beach, Fla., to an unusual slew of payments for exactly $199.99 — two cents below the threshold where receipts would be required,” the New York Times reports.
“But deep within Mr. Santos’s campaign filings, The New York Times found another eye-catching number: $365,399.08 in unexplained spending, with no record of where it went or for what purpose.”
“The mysterious expenditures, which list no recipient and offer no receipts, account for nearly 12 percent of the Santos campaign’s total reported expenses — many times exceeding what is typical for congressional candidates.”
“Former President Donald Trump faces a unique limitation that is enticing to both his 2024 GOP rivals and Republicans who hope to be his running mate: He’s eligible to serve only one more term,” NBC News reports.
“That’s because the Constitution prohibits a person from being elected president more than twice.”
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) “is taking steps to run for president, adding to the stable of Republicans looking to wrest the party mantle from former President Donald Trump,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Mr. Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, is testing a message with GOP voters in key early states focused on unity and optimism as some Republicans say it is time to move on from the Trump era. Mr. Trump has announced a bid for president in the 2024 election.”
“The U.S. on Monday issued a top-level advisory telling American citizens to leave Russia immediately and cease travel to the country as Russia’s war against neighboring Ukraine continues, citing risks of harassment and wrongful detention for Americans specifically,” The Hill reports.
“The warning marks the highest level, Level 4, of alerts issued by the State Department, which ranges from exercising precaution to ceasing all travel.”
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.