Gallup: “Americans continue to name the government (18%) as the most important U.S. problem, a distinction it has had for the past four months. Americans’ mentions of the economy as the top problem (11%) dropped this month, leaving it tied with jobs (10%) for second place.”
Iran’s Top Leader Says U.S. Is Disintegrating
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that a letter from Republican lawmakers warning that any nuclear deal could be scrapped by the next U.S. president is a sign of “disintegration” in Washington, the New York Times reports.
Said Khamenei: “Isn’t this the ultimate degree of the collapse of political ethics and the U.S. system’s internal disintegration?”
He added that whenever the talks approach a deadline, “the tone of the other party, particularly the Americans, becomes harsher, harder and more violent. This is part of their tricks and deceits.”
Quote of the Day
“Maybe I’m not what they think a conservative should look like.”
— Gov. Bobby Jindal, in an interview on CNBC.
Buzz Grows for Rubio
National Review: “The beneficiary in terms of buzz is Marco Rubio, who now has many of the party’s top donors looking at him in a way they weren’t even a month ago. Though Rubio hasn’t made as much noise as his competitors as the 2016 campaign has gotten underway in earnest, his knowledgeable presentations and obvious political talent are nonetheless turning heads or, at least, enough of them. Rubio hasn’t made a big splash, neither building a ‘shock and awe’ campaign like Bush nor delivering a marquee speech like Walker (who afterward seemed almost to be caught off guard by his rapid ascent). Instead, Rubio appears to be gambling on the idea that, in what is sure to be a long primary with a crowded field, a slow-and-steady approach will prevail.”
Republicans Find Unity on Foreign Policy
“Congressional Republicans, struggling in their first months of controlling Congress, have struck upon one unifying force: challenging President Obama on Iran and other aspects of his foreign policy,” the New York Times reports.
“The renewed emphasis on foreign policy has done more than provide Republicans with a rallying point — it has also given them a respite from internal divisions that were exposed in an unsuccessful effort to block the president’s immigration actions and the embarrassing collapse of border security and abortion legislation in the House.”
Politico: “Foreign affairs advisers are suddenly prized commodities on the presidential hiring circuit, being fought over like never before.”
Netanyahu Slips Behind in Polls Ahead of Election
“Less than a week before Israel’s general elections, the party of incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu has begun to fall behind an opponent who promises to restart talks with Palestinians and smooth the prime minister’s notoriously rocky relations with the White House,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Two polls on Wednesday put Isaac Herzog, leader of the dovish Labor Party, slightly ahead and suggest that support for Mr. Netanyahu and his Likud party among working-class Jews has eroded because of their widespread perception that he has focused on nuclear threats from Iran and extremist Muslims at the expense of economic problems.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I wasn’t healthy. I wasn’t prepared. This time I’m both.”
— Rick Perry, quoted by the Greenville News, on running for president again.
Clinton Feeding Frenzy Takes Over House
“Now that the Hillary Clinton email flap has blown up into the biggest news story in Washington, seemingly every House Republican wants in on the action,” Politico reports.
“No fewer than three House committees have launched or are considering probes into Clinton’s email practices, a feeding frenzy that could allow the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to cast the investigations as yet another partisan witch-hunt.”
“It could also become a problem for Speaker John Boehner and his leadership team, which has made a point of trying to prevent multiple committees from tripping over themselves investigating the same topic. They’re now working to keep the Clinton investigations on distinct tracks.”
Arkansas Lawmaker Thought His Children Were Possessed
Arkansas state Rep. Justin Harris (R-AR) and his wife gave their adopted children to another family after fear they would be charged with abandonment, the Arkansas Times reports.
Several sources said Harris thought his children were possessed and “spoke openly about the supposed demonic possession. A babysitter said one girl was kept isolated from another girl and “was often confined for hours to her room, where she was monitored by a video camera. The reason: The Harrises believed the girls were possessed by demons and could communicate telepathically.”
Harris and his wife once hired specialists to perform an “exorcism” on the two sisters while the babysitter waited outside the house with their other children.
Democrats Start to Worry About Clinton
“Senior Democrats are increasingly worried that Hillary Clinton is not ready to run for president, fearing that the clumsy and insular handling of the nine-day fracas over her private e-mails was a warning sign about the campaign expected to launch next month,” the Washington Post reports.
“Few Democrats believe that the revelations about her unorthodox e-mail practices as secretary of state are a substantive issue that would damage Clinton with voters, and many said she performed adequately in a Tuesday news conference defending herself. But in interviews Wednesday with The Washington Post, current and former Democratic officeholders and operatives from across the country raised serious questions about her and her political team’s strength and readiness for a 2016 presidential campaign.”
The Media May Be Clinton’s Toughest Adversary
“With no other powerful Democrats likely to run against her, Hillary Clinton’s toughest adversary for her party’s presidential nomination in 2016 has now become clear. It is an opponent that challenged her in the early 1980s over her use of her maiden name — and was hectoring her again on Tuesday over her use of personal email for State Department business,” the New York Times reports.
“How she and her emerging campaign organization react to critical articles and unwelcome surprises from the news media, as well as to questions posed by journalists in Democratic primary debates, will reveal her strengths and weaknesses as a candidate in some of the same ways that running against Mr. Obama did in 2007 and 2008.”
House Plans Subpoena Over Clinton Emails
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) said he “was prepared to subpoena former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to answer questions about her private email accounts,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Chaffetz said his committee “would by Friday formally request answers to a series of questions from the State Department and Mrs. Clinton about the former secretary and presumptive 2016 Democratic presidential candidate’s email. The committee will seek, among other things, access to the electronic versions of Mrs. Clinton’s emails, not merely the printed copies she said she submitted to the State Department.”
Conway Has Edge for Kentucky Governor
A new SurveyUSA poll in Kentucky finds Jack Conway (D) with small leads over all possible Republican rivals in the 2015 race for governor.
Feingold Leads in Possible Senate Rematch
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Wisconsin shows Russ Feingold (D) with a clear lead over Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) in a hypothetical rematch of their 2010 contest, 50% to 41%.
Crist Mulls Another Senate Bid
Charlie Crist (D) “might be back on the Florida ballot once again,” CNN reports.
“The former Florida governor, who lost his Republican-turned-Independent bid for Senate in 2010 and then fell short in his comeback attempt as a Democrat in last year’s gubernatorial race, is now considering running for Senate in 2016.”
Associated Press Sues to Get Clinton Records
The Associated Press filed a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department to force the release of email correspondence and government documents from Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state, the AP reports.
“The legal action comes after repeated requests filed under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act have gone unfulfilled. They include one request AP made five years ago and others pending since the summer of 2013.”
“The FOIA requests and lawsuit seek materials related to her public and private calendars, correspondence involving longtime aides likely to play key roles in her expected campaign for president, and Clinton-related emails about the Osama bin Laden raid and National Security Agency surveillance practices.”
The Clinton Way
First Read: “What we learned yesterday is that Hillary Clinton hasn’t changed a thing. In her news conference responding to her use of personal emails as secretary of state, Clinton was 1) lawyerly, 2) dismissive of the news media’s interest in the story (that’s why she began her remarks talking about her speech at the UN and the Iran negotiations), 3) telling reporters and the public that they were going to have to trust her regarding the emails she preserved versus those she didn’t, and 4) giving Democrats and defenders just the bare minimum (she will release all of her work-related emails but not turn over her private server). Folks, this is the Clinton Way. Secretive. Lawyerly. Dismissive of the press. And if there’s a big danger here, it’s looking like a candidate of the past instead of a candidate of the future when nearly 60% of American voters want change, per our most recent NBC/WSJ poll.”
“But there’s one other important thing to remember about the Clinton Way: With just one big exception — in 2008 against Barack Obama — they win.”
Historians Say GOP Letter Is Without Precedent
“The U.S. Senate Historian’s Office has so far been unable to find another example in the chamber’s history where one political party openly tried to deal with a foreign power against a presidential policy, as Republicans have attempted in their open letter to Iran this week,” McClatchy reports.