“Stacey Abrams, the Democrat who narrowly lost the Georgia gubernatorial race in 2018, said she believes race may be playing a role in Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke’s rising popularity after his failed Senate run,” she told MSNBC.
“Abrams suggested that she and former Democratic Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum did not receive the same attention as the former Texas congressman, whose popularity skyrocketed after losing his 2018 Senate race.”
A U.S. District Court judge in Washington rejected the Trump administration’s efforts to require poor people on Medicaid to be compelled to seek work in exchange for health benefits, blocking a Kentucky program for a second time and saying rules in effect in Arkansas “cannot stand,” the Washington Post reports.
Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) is moving closer to a 2020 presidential run, CNN reports.
“McAuliffe has been telling Democratic allies that he is leaning toward jumping into the Democratic presidential race next month… The former governor has long said he would make a decision by the end of March, with a potential announcement later in April.”
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Stephen Moore, the conservative economics commentator chosen by President Trump for a seat on the Federal Reserve board, is being pursued by the federal government for $75,000 in taxes that it alleges he owes, The Guardian reports.
Moore said he disputed the IRS claim and was “eager to reach an agreement” with authorities but had been frustrated by bureaucracy at the agency.
A new CNN poll finds 56% of Americans say President Trump and his campaign have not been exonerated of collusion with the Russians, but that what they’ve heard or read about the report shows collusion could not be proven.
Just 43% say Trump and his team have been exonerated of collusion.
“Republicans and Democrats are on opposite sides of this question: 77% of Republicans say the President has been exonerated, 80% of Democrats say he has not. Independents break against exoneration — 58% say the President and his campaign were not exonerated.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May has told Tory MPs she would not remain in her post for the next phase of the negotiations with the European Union if her Brexit deal passes the House of Commons, the BBC reports.
Said May: “I am prepared to leave this job earlier than I intended in order to secure a smooth and orderly Brexit.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said she’s “surprised” and “appalled” by the Trump administration’s decision to argue in court that the Affordable Care Act should be thrown out, Axios reports.
Said Collins: “I’m appalled. I think the Justice Department has a duty to defend the duly enacted laws… I was surprised and disappointed. If the president disagrees with a law, then he should should ask Congress to repeal or change that law. He should not try to get rid of it through the courts.”
President Trump reiterated that the Republican party will now be the “party of great healthcare,” CBS News reports.
Said Trump: “I mean it 100 percent, I understand healthcare now, especially very well. A lot of people don’t understand it, we are going to be, the Republicans, the party of great healthcare. The Democrats have, they’ve let you down, they came up with Obamacare, it’s terrible.”
However, Republican leaders have privately told Trump to back off his efforts to have the law overturned in the courts.
A federal prosecutor said in court that the special counsel’s grand jury investigating Russian collusion into the 2016 presidential election is “continuing robustly” despite the end of Robert Mueller’s probe, Politico reports.
“The fact the grand jury is continuing its work adds a new layer of uncertainty to the Mueller probe, which Attorney General William Barr announced on Friday was finished.”
“Reflecting widespread concerns within his party, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has told President Trump he disagrees with the Trump administration’s attempt to get the entire Affordable Care Act thrown out in court,” Axios reports.
“McCarthy told Trump over the phone that the decision made no sense — especially after Democrats killed Republicans in the midterms in part over the issue of pre-existing conditions.”
“McCarthy is far from alone in this view. Republican lawmakers and officials are exasperated about the Justice Department’s position and about Trump’s substance-free declaration that Republicans will become ‘The Party of Healthcare.'”
Asked about rumors that former vice president Joe Biden might consider selecting her as his 2020 running mate, Stacey Abrams told The View: “I think you don’t run for second place.”
She added: “If I’m going to enter a primary, then I’m going to enter a primary.”
Julia Ioffe: “One of the best things I learned on my last trip to Russia is that in Muslim communities there, Maga is short for Mohammed.”
In an attempt to earn an NRA endorsement for her 2008 re-election bid, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) — then a member of the U.S. House — signed an amicus brief in support of overturning a Washington, D.C. ban on handguns, CNN reports.
During her tenure in the House, Gillibrand “fought vigorously in defense of gun rights, including the right to own handguns… Gillibrand has said she regrets her past positions and frames her views on guns at the time as supporting hunting rights.”
“Only three of the major Democratic contenders hail from states Trump won in 2016, and most of the candidates who’ve run for statewide office haven’t had to — or been able to — win where the president was strong,” Bloomberg reports.
“A nominee who could win traditional Democratic-leaning states like Michigan and Pennsylvania might give the party its best shot of retaking the White House.”
Said William Frey, a senior demographer at Brookings: “There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that if they played it safe this time, that might be the way to go.”
According to a USA Today excerpt of The Matriach by Susan Page, a friend gave Barbara Bush a small plastic clock that counted down the number of days, hours and minutes until the end of Donald Trump’s term in 2021.
It was on her bedside the day she died.
“”For nearly two decades, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) pummeled Republican primary challengers, dispatched Democrats, even a former Iowa governor’s wife, and glided to victory in his conservative district. He spent little energy on fund-raising, put few controls on his racist language and made little effort to hold town halls with constituents,” the New York Times reports.
“Then in November he was re-elected by just 10,000 votes… two months later he was stripped of his committee assignments and rebuked by the House for comments that seemed to endorse white supremacy. Now the nine-term Iowa Republican is under attack from both the left and the right.”
“Far from folding, though, Mr. King is returning to basics, reasserting an aggressive presence in his northwestern Iowa district, scheduling events in every county and holding as many as three town halls in a week, where constituents pack in, then linger to take photos and shake hands.”
“I will say the presidency wasn’t top of mind to begin with, but I think the success I had in our election, transforming the electorate, the work I’ve done as a business leader, as a civic leader, as a political leader, positions me to be just as capable of becoming the president of the United States as anyone running.”
— Stacey Abrams, in an interview with CBS News.
Wall Street Journal: “Of the seven Republican senators up for re-election in seats rated as Lean Republican or Likely Republican in 2020 by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, only Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) voted to terminate the national emergency. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO), who is running in a state Hillary Clinton won in 2016, voted to uphold the president’s emergency declaration.”
“The other 11 Republicans besides Ms. Collins who voted with the entire Democratic caucus and dared break with the president won’t face re-election fights this cycle, though some have still faced backlash.”
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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