A new Generation Lab/Axios poll finds that nearly a quarter of college students wouldn’t be friends with someone who voted for the other presidential candidate — with Democrats far more likely to dismiss people than Republicans.
Also interesting: 5% of Republicans said they wouldn’t be friends with someone from the opposite party, compared to 37% of Democrats.
“House Republicans are questioning Senate Republicans’ decision-making at every turn, a rift that’s fueling an intraparty fight over the debt ceiling,” Politico reports.
“First it was President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill, then it was last week’s stopgap government funding deal that divided the two GOP conferences. And after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell cut a deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to ease Democrats’ ability to raise the debt ceiling, tensions are boiling over between the wings of the Republican Party.”
“In fact, House GOP leaders said the deal is so toxic they may not need to twist arms to get their members to vote against it.”
The Hill: McConnell faces GOP push back on debt deal.
“The House select committee investigating the January 6 riot has formally subpoenaed the phone records of more than 100 people, a substantial number that includes former Trump officials and associates of the ex-President such as his one-time chief of staff Mark Meadows,” CNN reports.
“The committee has already begun receiving some data from phone providers.”
You're reading the free version of Political Wire
Upgrade to a paid membership to unlock full access. The process is quick and easy. You can even use Apple Pay.
“A federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Joe Biden’s administration from enforcing a Covid-19 vaccine mandate for employees of federal contractors, the latest in a string of victories for Republican-led states pushing back against Biden’s pandemic policies,” the AP reports.
“The order came in response to a lawsuit from several contractors and seven states — Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia. It applies across the U.S. because one of those challenging the order is the trade group Associated Builders and Contractors Inc., whose members do business nationwide.”
“Matthew Dowd, a former George W. Bush political strategist who had launched a bid to be the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 2022, ended his campaign Tuesday, six days before the candidate filing deadline,” the Texas Tribune reports.
Said Dowd: “When I first announced, the only other candidate was a white male Christian. A diverse field is now emerging in the Democratic primary for this office. I do not want to be the one who stands in the way of the greater diversity we need in politics.”
The CDC reported that 60% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Approximately 71% of the U.S. population has received at least one vaccine dose, and around 23% have had a booster shot.
Dr. Anthony Fauci told AFP that “while it would take weeks to judge the severity of the new Covid-19 variant Omicron, early indications suggested it was not worse than prior strains, and possibly milder.”
Said Fauci: “It almost certainly is not more severe than Delta. There is some suggestion that it might even be less severe, because when you look at some of the cohorts that are being followed in South Africa, the ratio between the number of infections and the number of hospitalizations seems to be less than with Delta.”
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) “is planning to vote for a Republican resolution to nullify President Biden’s vaccine mandate for large employers,” The Hill reports.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said last week that he would do so as well.
“The leaders of the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol are vowing to launch criminal charges against Mark Meadows if he refuses to cooperate in the probe,” The Hill reports.
“In a video call that lasted for just over two hours on Tuesday, President Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that if Russia invades Ukraine the U.S. will impose unprecedented sanctions and provide additional weaponry to the Ukrainians,” Axios reports.
“Saule Omarova, President Biden’s pick to serve as a top banking regulator, has withdrawn her nomination for the office of the Comptroller of the Currency,” the Washington Post reports.
“During Omarova’s confirmation hearing last month, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) had suggested that her upbringing in Soviet-controlled Kazakhstan indicated a possible Communist loyalty.”
HarperCollins said that it has canceled plans to publish a book by Chris Cuomo, who was fired over the weekend by CNN following controversy over his role advising his brother, disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, CNBC reports.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports CNN President Jeff Zucker told employees in a meeting that the network won’t pay Cuomo a severance after firing him.
“The statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that once provoked a deadly weekend of violence in Charlottesville will soon be melted down and turned into a new piece of public artwork,” the Washington Post reports.
A source tells CNN the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection is getting “significant cooperation with Team Pence,” even if the committee has not openly discussed that.
About 200 officers have left the U.S. Capitol Police since the January 6 insurrection, according to testimony from the force’s inspector general.
“House leaders introduced legislation that would pave the way for Democrats to raise the debt ceiling in the Senate without Republican support, as lawmakers closed in on a procedural agreement to resolve the partisan clash over lifting the government’s borrowing limit,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Punchbowl News: “It’s early, but our reporting this morning from Capitol Hill leads us to believe that House and Senate leaders have found a way to raise the debt limit with a good possibility of minimal drama.”
A federal judge today set a July 18 date for Steve Bannon’s trial for contempt of Congress, Politico reports.
Playbook: “What this means for the Jan. 6 committee: This is a significant step backward. Allies of former President Donald Trump have shown — once again — that they can effectively use the courts to evade accountability and slow down investigations.”
“What this means for Democrats: They had hoped the panel would wrap up its work this spring, leaving the party plenty of time before the midterms to pivot its focus to kitchen-table issues that resonate with voters. This new trial date could make that difficult. Now, the party has a choice not unlike what it faced in the first and second Trump impeachments: do they fight for evidence to the bitter end, or do they wind down their probe without talking to these critical people?”
A new Wall Street Journal poll finds that President Biden’s approval rate is 41% to 57% overall, but just 29% to 63% among undecided midterm voters and 30% to 60% among independent voters.
In addition, more voters say they would back a Republican than a Democrat for Congress, 44% to 41%, if the election were held today.
This is the first poll from a new, bipartisan polling team that brings together the firms of Democrat John Anzalone, the lead pollster for Mr. Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, and Republican Tony Fabrizio, the lead pollster for former President Donald Trump’s two campaigns.
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.