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“Consumer prices rose last month at the slowest 12-month pace since December 2021, closing out a year in which inflation hit the highest level in four decades and challenged the Federal Reserve’s ability to keep the U.S. economy on track,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The Labor Department on Tuesday said that its consumer-price index climbed 7.1% in November from a year ago, down sharply from 7.7% in October—building on a trend of moderating price increases since June’s 9.1% peak.”
Nate Cohn: “Here’s a figure about the 2022 midterm elections that might surprise you: Republicans won the national House popular vote by three percentage points — 51 percent to 48 percent. They still won by two points after adjusting for races in which only one major party was on the ballot.”
“Yes, that’s right: Republicans won the popular vote by a clear if modest margin, even as Democrats gained seats in the Senate and came within thousands of votes of holding the House.”
“If you’re looking to make sense of the 2022 election, the Republican lead in the national vote might just be the missing piece that helps fit a few odd puzzle pieces together.”
A prominent donor and ally of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was found dead of an apparent suicide in a parking lot in North Florida last week, the Orlando Weekly reports.
The Florida Times Union says investigators were scrutinizing the man’s alleged sexual misconduct.
“The only thing harder than protecting Democrats’ 51-seat majority during the 2024 election cycle might be finding a senator willing to take on the job,” the HuffPost reports.
“The search has become a struggle for reasons both obvious and obscure. The DSCC chair could have to navigate divisive and ideological intraparty fights in both Arizona and California. The growth in online fundraising has made the connections to big donors that come with the job less valuable than in the past. More than half of the party’s senators are up for reelection or are members of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) ever-expanding leadership team.”
“But more than anything, the brutality of the map Democrats are facing would discourage any glory-seeking politician.
“Joe Manchin is among the last of a dying breed — a Democratic senator representing a deep red state. He’s managed to hang on time and time again in West Virginia by bucking his party on key votes and building a reputation as a centrist,” NBC News reports.
“But Republicans are already betting that in this era of extreme partisanship, and with West Virginia trending further and further to the right, voters will want someone who’s more aligned with the state’s trajectory. Candidates are already eyeing a chance to topple him, setting up the Senate contest there as one of the premiere races of the 2024 cycle.”
“Lackluster candidates nearly cost Republicans what once looked like a can’t-miss House majority. Inside the party, discussions about how to keep that from happening again in 2024 have already started,” Politico reports.
“The GOP gained control of Congress thanks to wins by some of their strongest recruits in years, a cohort that included decorated military veterans and a first-generation American. But far-right, inexperienced and Donald Trump-endorsed candidates lost other winnable seats across the country from Ohio to Michigan to Washington State.”
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was set to announce a “major scientific breakthrough” Tuesday in the decades-long quest to harness fusion, the energy that powers the sun and stars, the AP reports.
“As anger and frustration ripple through the Republican Party over its underwhelming performance in this year’s midterm elections, Republicans are offering a number of explanations for their losses,” the New York Times reports.
“Some in the Trump wing of the party have settled on their own scapegoat: Ronna McDaniel, who has been the chair of the Republican National Committee since 2017. Coming after McDaniel reshaped the committee in the former president’s image — it was even paying his considerable legal bills until recently — this discontent is a striking turn of events.”
“Members of the inner circle of power at collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX formed a chat group called ‘Wirefraud’ and were using it to send secret information about operations in the lead up to the company’s spectacular failure,” the Australian Financial Review reports.
“Republican support for Donald Trump’s presidential bid in 2024 has cratered, an exclusive USA Today/Suffolk University Poll finds, as the former president is beleaguered by midterm losses and courtroom setbacks.”
“By 2-1, GOP and GOP-leaning voters now say they want Trump’s policies but a different standard-bearer to carry them. While 31% want the former president to run, 61% prefer some other Republican nominee who would continue the policies Trump has pursued.”
“They have a name in mind: Two-thirds of Republicans and those inclined to vote Republican want Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to run for president. By double digits, 56% to 33%, they prefer DeSantis over Trump.”
Meanwhile, while Joe Biden now leads Trump in a possible match up, he trails DeSantis in a head-to-head race, 47% to 43%.
Virginia Gov. Glen Youngkin (R) set the special election to replace the late Rep. Donald McEachin (D-VA) for Feb. 21, but the real deciding moment in the heavily Democratic district is Dec. 20, as party leaders announced they will hold a “firehouse primary” to choose a nominee.
The Richmond Times looks at the field of candidates.
As expected, a recount confirmed that Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) narrowly won reelection last month, the Denver Post reports.
Politico: “Though Sinema’s switch avoids a contested Democratic primary, it opens up a nightmare scenario for the party: With three candidates on the ballot, a GOP nominee can capitalize on centrist and liberal divisions and win a Senate seat with a plurality vote.”
“Democrats are not eager to intervene at the moment, but at some point they may have to make a call about whether to support Sinema, back whoever wins a primary or sit out the race altogether.”
“Don’t go too far to the left. We didn’t get here in the majority by going to the left — and I can say that as a left-wing San Francisco liberal… Let us win, okay?”
— Speaker Nancy Pelosi, quoted by Politico in a new documentary made by her daughter, talking to then-candidate Joe Biden during the 2020 campaign.
“Supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro burned buses, clashed with police and tried to force their way into the Federal Police headquarters in the capital, Brasília, on Monday night after one of their own was detained,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“For a century prior to 2015, no member had attempted to remove a speaker from office by offering a ‘motion to vacate the chair.’ Then conservative hardliners used the arcane procedure to help oust former Speaker John Boehner, and nothing has ever been the same,” Punchbowl News reports.
“Speaker Paul Ryan, Boehner’s successor, always faced the threat of such a motion being filed if he alienated hardliners. Any single member could do so and get a vote. When Speaker Nancy Pelosi took office, she changed the rule so that only a party leader could do it at the behest of a majority of their lawmakers.”
“But 21 days before the election of the next speaker, it’s becoming ever more clear that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy may have to restore the motion to vacate to the old standard if he wants to be speaker.”
“Chinese social media users posted their final screenshots of a nationwide Covid location tracking app after the government announced Monday that it was deactivating the once-mandatory service,” Semafor reports.
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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