Democratic strategist Tara McGowan is planning a new $65 million effort to push progressive local news around the United States as part of an attempt to match the dominance of right-wing media, Recode reports.
All Eyes on the Senate’s Referee
Associated Press: “Elizabeth MacDonough, an English literature major and the Senate’s first woman parliamentarian, is about to demonstrate anew why she’s one of Washington’s most potent, respected yet obscure figures. Any day, she’s expected to reveal if she thinks a federal minimum wage boost, progressives’ most prized plank in Democrats’ $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan, should fall from the bill.”
“Her decision, a political minefield likely to elicit groans from whichever side she disappoints, will play an outsized role in deciding the wage increase’s fate. It may not be definitive — majority Democrats might try overriding an opinion they don’t like.”
Four Overseers of Texas Energy Grid Will Resign
Four board members of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the entity that manages and operates the electricity grid that covers much of Texas, will resign on Wednesday, the Texas Tribune reports.
Here’s the kicker: “All four of the members who are resigning live out of state.”
Schumer Approval Rating Hits 20-Year Low
A new Marist poll finds 41% of New York registered voters think Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is doing either an excellent (15%) or good (26%) job in office.
This 41% approval rating is Schumer’s lowest job approval score since March of 2000.
DNC Will Be More Involved in Midterms Than Past
“New Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison is pledging to play a larger role in next year’s midterm elections than the group has in more than a decade, hoping a more robust effort from the once-beleaguered party apparatus can help prevent the type of steep electoral losses traditionally suffered by a sitting president,” McClatchy reports.
“In recent years, Democratic strategists say an underfunded and often neglected DNC was an afterthought in midterm races. But the new DNC chair is promising that those days are now behind them, pointing to an influx of cash and the full-throated backing of a new Democratic president — whose political operation appears much more intent on using the committee than the party’s last president.”
McConnell Backs Merrick Garland for Attorney General
“Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will support Merrick Garland’s nomination for attorney general, five years after blocking the judge’s path to the Supreme Court,” Politico reports.
Trump Endorses South Carolina GOP Chair
Associated Press: “Trump is endorsing South Carolina’s GOP chairman Drew McKissick for a third term, wading not only into state-level politics but also playing a role in maintaining the local party framework in places that backed his presidency.”
Vilsack Confirmed as Agriculture Secretary
The U.S. Senate confirmed Tom Vilsack to be the next secretary of agriculture, 92 to 7.
This will be Vilsack’s second stint in the job.
McConnell Urges Senate GOP to Oppose Tanden
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told Senate Republicans today he wants them to stay together and oppose the Neera Tanden nomination for budget director, Politico reports.
If all Republicans oppose Tanden — and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) sticks with his opposition — she can’t be confirmed.
The Sunday Shows Are Hopelessly Broken
Alex Shephard: “The Sunday shows are not designed to inform or educate. They are barometers of what representatives from the two parties think is important. The goal is not to understand an issue, let alone divine the truth, but to broadcast what Democrats and Republicans care about at that moment. They are vehicles for talking points rather than works of journalism…”
“But overall, the format itself feels exhausted, a relic from an earlier, more consensus-driven era. These were shows designed to highlight respectful political difference and to provide a place where both sides could come together and spin the public. These were not shows designed for a political system where one party wrongly believes that an election has been stolen, or that lives in fear of the whims of one man. The Sunday shows remain influential, but they haven’t been relevant in a long time.”
Al Jazeera Launches New Conservative Platform
“Al Jazeera is launching Rightly, a new digital platform aiming to serve conservative audiences — reaching center-right folks who feel left out of mainstream media,” Politico reports.
The Hill: “Al Jazeera, which is financially backed by the Qatari government, has had mixed success in its past U.S.-focused efforts.”
Kristi Noem to Hold Fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) will be greeting donors at a re-election fundraiser next week at Mar-a-Lago, Politico reports.
The event will be hosted by Donald Trump Jr. and girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle.
Can Democrats Avoid Another Midterm Debacle?
Jonathan Bernstein: “What we’re seeing right now are the effects of 1994 and 2010. Republicans are repeating their approach from those years: Oppose whatever the Democratic president proposes. It appears at this point that President Joe Biden will fail to get any Republican votes on his first major bill, and opposition to his cabinet picks is growing. Biden and the Democrats, for their part, are determined to have a different outcome than what happened in those years, drawing the lesson that the risks of underreaction are worse than the risks of overreaction.”
“Here’s the thing: In the old days, what happens over the next 10 months or so would be critical… To the extent that elections are nationalized now, all that changes. Voters still have short memories; what they think about Biden and how he’s handling things this year probably won’t matter much next year. Perhaps that means that Biden has more leeway for a slow start than, say, Clinton or Reagan did. But there’s still nothing certain about it. So the Democrats are probably correct to tackle the pandemic and boost the economy as quickly as possible if they want to avoid yet another midterm debacle.”
GOP Senators Apply Double Standards
Dan Balz: “Hypocrisy has never been in short supply in Washington, or politics in general for that matter. The application of double standards is time honored if not necessarily to be admired. So it is not a surprise to see the phenomenon on display in the confirmation process of two of President Biden’s nominees.”
“One nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, is sailing toward confirmation as the next attorney general. Another, Neera Tanden, is on the defensive as the nominee to become director of the Office of Management and Budget. What they share at this moment is the capacity of Republicans for compartmentalization and deliberate memory loss.”
Noem Calls on State Attorney General to Step Down
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) called on state Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg (R) to resign, after he was charged in a fatal car crash five months ago, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports.
Said Noem: “Now that the investigation has closed and charges have been filed, I believe the Attorney General should resign. I have reviewed the material we are releasing, starting today, and I encourage others to review it as well.”
160 Confederate Statues Came Down in 2020
Associated Press: “When rioters tore through the U.S. Capitol last month, some of them gripping Confederate battle flags, they didn’t encounter a statue of the most famous rebel general, Robert E. Lee.”
“The Lee statue which represented the state of Virginia as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection in the Capitol for 111 years, had been removed just weeks before — one of at least 160 public Confederate symbols taken down or moved from public spaces in 2020.”
Thomas-Greenfield Confirmed as U.N. Ambassador
The Senate has confirmed Linda Thomas-Greenfield as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, 78 to 20.
New York Times: “Ms. Thomas-Greenfield joined the foreign service in 1982. From 2008 to 2012, she served as ambassador to Liberia, before moving on to become the director general of the foreign service for about a year. From 2013 to 2017, she served as the top United States diplomat for African affairs, where she helped oversee the response to the Ebola epidemic. In 2017, she was among the diplomats pushed out of the department by Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson.”
Biden Will Visit Texas on Friday
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are heading to Houston on Friday as Texas recovers from winter storms that left millions without power and water, the Houston Chronicle reports.
