“More than 200 million Americans — over 60 percent of the population — have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus,” the New York Times reports.
“The United States remains far behind not only developed countries like Singapore and Portugal, which will soon have vaccinated 90 percent of their populations, but developing nations like Cambodia (over 80 percent).”
Former Rep. Renee Elmers (R-NC) announced on Twitter that she’s running for Congress again in North Carolina’s 4th district — and sent the House GOP gossip mill into overdrive.
Playbook: “Ellmers, you’ll recall, lost her primary in 2016 following allegations that she was having an extramarital affair with Kevin McCarthy, who also lost his bid for speaker around that time in part due to the controversy. (Both denied the allegations.) Oddly enough, her foray back into politics comes as McCarthy is in his best position yet to attain the job he’s wanted for years.”
“Yet the plot thickens: McCarthy met Wednesday with Bo Hines, a former football player and Trump loyalist who is currently running in another North Carolina district — but who is considering switching to run against Ellmers instead. It’s unclear whether McCarthy would endorse in the race, but it’s a safe bet House Republicans will be watching this primary closely.”
“Donald Trump and his associates are systematically reshaping the Republican Party, working to install hand-picked loyalists across federal and state governments and destroy those he feels have been disloyal,” Axios reports.
“If most or all of Trump’s candidates win, he will go into the 2024 election cycle with far more people willing to do his bidding who run the elections in key states.”
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“Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) offered a forceful warning to Republican colleagues during a private lunch on Wednesday, saying former President Trump will come down hard on any GOP senators who vote for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) deal to set up a special pathway to raise the debt limit,” The Hill reports.
Punchbowl News: “In many ways, this will be the toughest vote for Senate Republicans this year. Yes, it’s a process vote that very few people outside of D.C. really understand. And yes, Senate Democrats will have to carry the vote on actually increasing the debt limit by themselves.”
“But this has been a particularly bruising episode for McConnell. He’s been beaten up in public and private by rank-and-file GOP senators for the last couple of days, including during a Steering Committee meeting on Wednesday.
“President Joe Biden is ready to urge participants at the first White House Summit for Democracy to reverse an ongoing ‘recession’ of democracy that is playing out at a time of rising authoritarianism around the globe and extraordinary strains on foundational institutions in the U.S., the AP reports.
“The two-day virtual summit that starts Thursday has been billed as an opportunity for leaders and civil society experts from some 110 countries to collaborate on fighting corruption and promoting respect for human rights. But the gathering already has drawn backlash from the United States’ chief adversaries and other nations that were not invited to participate.”
Playbook: “The list includes some of the most committed democracies (Finland and New Zealand), some questionable cases (Serbia), and some places where democracy is slipping (Poland, Philippines, and, er, the United States). On some difficult calls, such as Brazil and India, large democracies that have seen several years of anti-democratic drift, Biden’s team decided to be inclusive. But other edge cases, such as Hungary, they didn’t invite at all.”
“The Biden administration is moving to tighten enforcement of sanctions against Iran, according to senior U.S. officials, the first sign of Washington increasing economic pressure on Tehran as diplomatic efforts to restore the 2015 nuclear deal falter,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“A small group of Senate Democrats is privately invoking the legacy of late West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd in an effort to sway Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) to support their plans to change the chamber’s rules,” Axios reports.
“Manchin — who holds Byrd’s Senate seat — has often referenced his predecessor’s strong moral conviction and insistence on preserving the Senate as an institution, as justification for some of his tough positions.”
“Even Byrd, one of the most ardent defenders of Senate decorum and procedure, helped change the Senate rules in the face of obstruction, these senators argue.”
“The Senate on Wednesday voted to nix President Biden’s vaccine mandate for larger businesses, handing Republicans a symbolic win,” The Hill reports.
“Senators voted 52-48 on the resolution, which needed a simple majority to be approved. Democratic Sens. Jon Tester and Joe Manchin voted with Republicans, giving it enough support to be sent to the House.”
“The resolution faces an uphill path in the House, where Republicans aren’t able to use a similar fast-track process to force a vote over the objections of Democratic leadership.”
“North Carolina’s highest court on Wednesday delayed the state’s planned March 8 primary until May while state courts review claims of illegal gerrymandering,” the AP reports.
“Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) brought a GOP congressional candidate onto the House floor Tuesday night, likely in violation of House rules,” The Hill reports.
“Cawthorn was able to do so by telling House security that his guest, Tennessee Republican Robby Starbuck, was one of his House staffers.”
“Mark Meadows, facing an imminent threat of criminal contempt of Congress charges, is suing Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of the Jan. 6 select panel,” Politico reports.
Daily Beast: “Meadows’ attorneys wrote in the suit, filed in Washington D.C. federal court on Wednesday, that if Meadows does comply with the committee’s request, he would be ‘illegally coerced into violating the Constitution.'”
“President Joe Biden has picked big money political donor and former Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman to be his ambassador to Kenya,” CNBC reports.
“Ali Alexander, a prominent organizer of Stop the Steal rallies with ties to far-right members of Congress who sought to invalidate the 2020 election results, is cooperating with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, pledging to deliver a trove of documents that could shed light on the activities that preceded the attack,” the New York Times reports.
“The participation of Mr. Alexander, who is scheduled to be deposed by the panel on Thursday, could provide insight into the nature and extent of the planning by President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress for their bid to overturn the election on Jan. 6. It could also help clarify whether and to what degree the prospect of violence was discussed or contemplated before or during the rampage.”
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that more than 40 people in the U.S. have been found to be infected with the omicron variant so far, and more than three-quarters of them had been vaccinated,” the AP reports.
“But she said nearly all of them were only mildly ill.”
“Senate Republicans on Wednesday are working to lock down votes within their conference to pave the way for bypassing the filibuster on a debt ceiling vote,” The Hill reports.
“GOP leadership is feeling confident that they’ll be able to round up the votes. But they aren’t there yet.”
“Former Sen. David Perdue (R) wasn’t planning to jump in the race for Georgia governor so soon. But Stacey Abrams (D) scrambled his schedule when she made the leap last week, presenting the Republican with a gut-check moment,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
Said Perdue: “When Stacey Abrams announced, it forced my hand, honestly. I was conflicted The last thing I want to do is run a campaign, but on the other hand, I can’t see the state go down this road that Stacey Abrams wants to go down. Kemp has failed to unite the party, and he can’t defeat her.”
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) said that President Biden’s vaccine mandate is “a problem” for her and state government, the Greenville Daily News reports.
Said Whitmer: “We’re an employer too, the state of Michigan is. I know if that mandate happens, we’re going to lose state employees. That’s why I haven’t proposed a mandate at the state level. Some states have. We have not, we’re waiting to see what happens in court.”
“A Texas school district pre-emptively pulled more than 400 books from its libraries for review following an inquiry from a Republican state lawmaker,” NBC News reports.
The school district said in a statement that it was reviewing the books “out of an abundance of caution” to “ensure they did not have any obscene or vulgar material in them.”
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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