SEnate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) promised to raise $3 million to support Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to counteract anger over her vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh, The Hill reports.
Said Grassley: “I’m going to help raise $3 million to match that.”
Dina Powell is the top candidate to replace outgoing United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, Politico reports.
“Powell, who returned to Goldman in a senior role after leaving her job as President Donald Trump’s deputy national security adviser, is said to be strongly considering the job but also weighing family concerns. Powell already lives in New York, where the UN is based, but has young children and left the administration in part to spend more time with family. She is also said to be happy in her job at Goldman.”
A new NBC News/Marist poll in Nevada finds Sen. Dean Heller (R-NY) leading challenger Jacky Rosen (D), 46% to 44%.
Former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), who was sent to prison after admitting to sexting with a minor last year, will be released from federal detention early because of “good conduct,” Politico reports.
“Weiner was sentenced in 2017 to 21 months in prison for sending sexually explicit material to a teenage girl and was initially set to be released in August 2019.”
“The office of Russia’s infamous troll factory believed to be at the vanguard of Russia’s information war has been set on fire in St. Petersburg overnight,” the Moscow Times reports.
“An investigation revealed last year that the secretive troll factory had rebranded itself as a media conglomerate with 16 news websites generating more than 30 million pageviews every month. Its operational hub, a website called FAN (Federal News Agency), is based a stone’s throw from the troll farm’s original location in northern St. Petersburg.”
A new Washington Post-University of Maryland poll finds Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has built a formidable lead over challenger Ben Jealous (D), 58% to 38%,”with few voters undecided, and most preferring the incumbent Republican even on key Jealous policy issues such as health care and education.”
President Trump appeared to cast his daughter and a former senior White House national security official as the frontrunners to replace Nikki Haley as ambassador to the United Nations, Roll Call reports.
He said daughter Ivanka Trump would be “wonderful” in the role and added that Dina Powell, a former deputy national security adviser, is a “person I would consider” for the job.
A new SurveyUSA poll in Georgia finds Brian Kemp (R) leading Stacey Abrahms (D) in the race for governor, 47% to 45%.
Key finding: “Abrams, who is African-American, leads 17:1 among black voters, who represent 30% of the likely electorate, according to SurveyUSA’s modeling. White voters, who make up 64% of SurveyUSA’s electorate, back Kemp nearly 3:1.”
Stuart Rothenberg: “My point is not that any single poll, article or talking head is wrong. It is simply a reminder that Republicans (and their media allies over at Fox News) have an interest in arguing that Kavanaugh has changed the midterm dynamics no matter whether or not it has. And even the major mainstream electronic and print media have an incentive to raise questions about a so-called Republican surge.”
“President Trump certainly is trying to use wedge issues to energize his supporters, and there may well be an uptick in GOP enthusiasm after the recent Supreme Court fight. But, based on the past, I’m skeptical the Kavanaugh fight will fundamentally change next month’s outcomes.”
“Republicans won the Kavanaugh fight, and they now have complete control of the federal government. Traditionally, anger, frustration, disappointment and fear are stronger motivators than satisfaction, relief and euphoria. Democrats and liberals simply are more desperate than are conservatives and Republicans, which is one reason I doubt GOP turnout will match Democratic turnout.”
Philip Bump: This is not what a pro-Kavanaugh electoral backlash looks like.
“You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about.”
— Hillary Clinton, in an interview with CNN.
A new CNN poll finds Democrats leading Republicans on the generic congressional ballot by 54% to 41% among likely voters.
Data published by book store chain Barnes & Noble show a 57% boost in political book sales compared to the prior year, CNBC reports.
But with a few exceptions, states that voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election tended to also favor the books that cast him in a friendlier light, and vice versa.
“A Washington, D.C., watchdog group wants a federal investigation into U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley’s use of private planes owned by South Carolina businessmen,” McClatchy reports.
“The group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, says Haley undervalued the flights by tens of thousands of dollars on her annual financial disclosure form required of federal officials. The ethics group says the flights create the impression of impermissible gifts to a public official.”
A Vice News review has found that at least 30 state lawmakers publicly involved in sexual misconduct scandals since 2017 are up for re-election this year. Despite those allegations, 16 of those candidates won their primaries — which are now over in all but one state — and advanced to the November general election.
Two of those 16 lawmakers, who collectively represent 10 states, are almost guaranteed to be re-elected, since they won’t face a challenger come November.
“I can’t say enough good things about Jared and Ivanka. Jared is such a hidden genius that no one understands.”
— Departing U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, quoted by The Hill.
A new Monmouth poll in New Jersey’s 11th congressional district finds Mikie Sherrill (D) maintains her lead over Jay Webber (R), 48% to 44% among likely voters.
“The race stands at 50% for Sherrill and 43% for Webber using a model that incorporates a turnout surge in Democratic precincts. A model projecting lower overall turnout shows Sherrill with a 48% to 45% edge over Webber.”
Departing UN Ambassador Nikki Haley denied she is stepping down later this year to prepare for a 2020 bid for the White House, Roll Call reports.
Said Haley: “I don’t have anything set on where I’m going to go. I’m a believer in term limits.”
She added: “For all of you who are going to ask about 2020, no I am not running for 2020. I can promise you what I’ll be doing is campaigning for this one,” pointing to President Trump.
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.