Playbook: “We should pause for a second to reflect on the power of the CPC right now. A few years ago, the group was viewed as a bunch of radicals with no clout. Now they’re flexing and commanding the attention of the White House.”
“Biden called Jayapal after the American Rescue Plan passed, and she told him she wants these kinds of meetings to happen regularly. Now CPC has not one but two meetings at the White House in a span of a few days (another is expected by the end of the week).”
Not even two weeks after the Tennessee historical commission voted to remove the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the state capitol, state senators are trying to vote to remove all members from the commission, WTVF reports.
Geoffrey Skelley: “At first glance, the seriousness of the primary challengers does vary quite a bit, ranging from the very serious — that is, other elected officials, who tend to be stronger candidates — to political newcomers like a conservative activist best known for getting married in a “MAGA” dress. Yet, in most cases, these representatives should all have at least some reason to be concerned about winning renomination in 2022 — especially those who hail from more Republican-leaning districts.”
Every day, data brokers profit from your sensitive info—phone number, DOB, SSN—selling it to the highest bidder. What happens then? Best case: companies target you with ads. Worst case: scammers and identity thieves breach those brokers, leaving your data vulnerable or on the dark web.
It's time you check out Incogni. It scrubs your personal data from the web, confronting the world’s data brokers on your behalf. And unlike other services, Incogni helps remove your sensitive information from all broker types, including those tricky People Search Sites.
Help protect yourself from identity theft and spam calls. Try Incogni here and get 55% off your subscription with code POLITICALWIRE.
“The Senate is poised to confirm Xavier Becerra as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Thursday despite nearly unanimous opposition from Republicans, who have tried to brand him as a radical and unqualified,” ABC News reports.
“Supporters of the recall targeting California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday they submitted 2,117,730 signatures by the day’s deadline, a number that appears to comfortably exceed the required threshold even if some are invalid,” Politico reports.
“Newsom himself acknowledged Tuesday that the recall will likely qualify, and he has already assembled a team that will mount his defense in what’s expected to be the nation’s biggest election in 2021. Democrats could raise well over $100 million to defend the governor’s seat in one of the bluest states in the country.”
Michael Grunwald: “It may be an overstated political cliché that if you’re explaining, you’re losing. But you’re almost certainly losing if you’re explaining, ahead of time, why the economic boom you’re expecting on your opponent’s watch shouldn’t be attributed to your opponent.”
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “Though new congressional lines are typically put into effect for election years ending in ‘2’, four states adopted new maps at later points during this last decade.”
“In North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, Republican-friendly maps were thrown out mid-decade in favor of plans that were more amenable to Democrats.”
“If those pro-Republican maps were still in place, there’s a good chance that House Republicans would be in the majority now.”
Associated Press: “Republicans still divided over former President Donald Trump’s legacy are seizing on his signature campaign issue, turning their focus to immigration as they try to regain the political upper hand.”
“Faced with President Joe Biden’s early popularity, good news about vaccinations, and Americans’ embrace of the COVID-19 relief bill Washington Republicans opposed, the GOP is leaning in on the highly charged issue amid a spike in border crossings. They hope immigration can unite the party heading into next year’s elections, when control of Congress is at stake.”
Axios: Swing voters worry about child migrant buildup.
Thomas Edsall: “The sheer magnitude of the funds released by the American Rescue Plan, the White House is gambling, will shift voters’ attention away from controversies over Dr. Seuss, who can use which bathroom and critical race theory. So far, the strategy is working.”
John Harris: “In this generation, Trump and other politicians have shown there is another choice: Contemptuously challenge the legitimacy of any court that would presume to judge you, and take advantage of the reality that there is no elite consensus that transcends partisan and ideological divides on any subject.”
“Cuomo’s thought bubble isn’t hard to read: Hey, what worked for Trump might work for me.”
Daily Beast: Woman reporters faced Cuomo’s creepy behavior too.
Former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway has a multi-million dollar book deal, according to Page Six.
“She’s written books before. This one’s recipe is a little about her tough pillow talk with her husband, a little about growing up a growing family and a lot about Donald.”
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) will announce Monday his run for Senate alongside former Trump aide Stephen Miller, who has been advising him.
When asked if Donald Trump is supportive of the Senate run, Brooks told CNN: “I think that’s for him to announce at the appropriate time.”
“Inside the White House, there is a growing belief that the president’s agenda will be at risk—and the Senate itself at risk of irrelevance—if the current rules remain in place,” Politico reports.
“At the heart of their argument is a proposition: if the filibuster is used to stymie voting and civil rights legislation, the minority in the Senate will remain protected to the detriment of minority voters.”
Axios: Biden faces roadblocks on next agenda moves.
Karl Rove writes in the Wall Street Journal that Speaker Nancy Pelosi may try to “steal” an Iowa House seat where the GOP candidate won by just six votes.
“Mrs. Pelosi may be tempted to pad her House Democratic margin by reviving a practice used extensively between 1875 and 1903. The Constitution provides that each congressional chamber ‘shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members.’”
CNN: House Democrats weigh ejecting GOP winner of contested Iowa race, dismissing comparisons to Trump.
“The district attorney is sifting through millions of pages of his tax records. The state attorney general has subpoenaed his lawyers, his bankers, his chief financial officer — even one of his sons,” the Washington Post reports.
“And that’s just in New York. Former president Donald Trump is also facing criminal investigations in Georgia and the District of Columbia related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. And Trump must defend himself against a growing raft of lawsuits: 29 are pending at last count, including some seeking damages from Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, when he encouraged a march to the Capitol that ended in a mob storming the building.”
Associated Press: Trump’s taxes in hand, Manhattan DA’s probe heats up.
Politico: “What seemed like a no-brainer at the time — a 9/11-Commission-style review of the origins of the mob, the white nationalists who joined it and the security failures that allowed it to briefly occupy the Capitol — has instead become the latest theater for dysfunction on Capitol Hill as the two parties squabble over the panel’s scope and partisan balance.”
“Despite the state attorney general’s ongoing investigation into sexual harassment allegations against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, senior aides to the governor said they are also conducting their own ‘parallel review’ of a female aide’s recent account of being groped by Cuomo at the Executive Mansion late last year,” the Albany Times Union reports
“Democrats are zeroing in on raising the corporate tax rate from its current 21% to 28% as one of the easiest ways to find new revenue for an infrastructure package,” Axios 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.
“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.