Just ordered: The Wilderness: Deep Inside the Republican Party’s Combative, Contentious, Chaotic Quest to Take Back the White House by McKay Coppins.
Ted Cruz Is Playing a Different Game
Rick Klein: “So he’s not Bob Dole’s favorite guy, just like he isn’t George W. Bush’s man, or John McCain’s. (Can you be disliked by three more effective boldfaced names, in the modern iteration of the Republican Party?) Ted Cruz isn’t playing their game because he’s playing a different one entirely, in casting himself as the right blend for a frustrated GOP that’s sick of losing and sicker still of the party establishment. Cruz is quickly developing into the man to watch, for his understanding of the primary electorate and the deft ways he uses that knowledge.”
“As Jeff Greenfield notes in a Politico piece, Cruz may be the most effective debater in the Republican field because he’s playing chess while his opponents play checkers. He’s executing a game plan that’s hard to read from the sidelines; somehow, he pseudo-attacked Marco Rubio on a high-profile issue (immigration) and a low-profile one (sugar subsidies) without having to utter Rubio’s name. Cruz’s camp sees itself as the potential heir to Ben Carson’s horde of voters. He’s looking like the next man to watch in the still-fluid race — and with Cruz, it’s never dull.”
Fiorina Contradicts Story of Meeting Putin
During Tuesday night’s GOP debate, Carly Fiorina went after Donald Trump on foreign policy and earned applause when she noted that unlike him, she had met Russian President Vladimir Putin “not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting.”
However, MSNBC reports that during a September interview Fiorina used the term “green room” to describe her own encounter with the Russian leader: “I met him in Beijing. We were in sort of a green room setting—each of us were giving a speech at a major economic conference.”
New Bush Memoir Settles Scores
“Jon Meacham has written the memoir that President George H.W. Bush didn’t — and probably couldn’t,” USA Today reports.
“Alone among modern ex-presidents, Bush ruled out producing an account of his White House tenure that would defend his decisions and settle some scores.”
“Now, however, George and Barbara Bush have provided extraordinary cooperation, including access to their diaries, for an account of his life and presidency that has depth and value. And there is plenty of dish: Bush’s distaste for 1988 Republican rival Bob Dole (‘a no good son of a bitch’), Nancy Reagan’s dislike of Barbara Bush, Vice President Dan Quayle’s machinations to stay on the ticket in 1992.”
Newly-Aggressive Kasich Flops
Gov. John Kasich’s “attempt to interrupt his way into Tuesday’s GOP debate soured — getting him lots of talking time, but painting images alternately dour, belligerent and petulant,” the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.
“Stories panning Kasich’s performance dominated national political news Wednesday, the boos Kasich received from conservatives echoing behind the analysis. Kasich had previewed a new, aggressive approach two weeks ago — Kasich-as-usual, to those who’ve watched him as Ohio’s governor. But on Wednesday, headlines spoke not of Kasich’s dispatching of Donald Trump but of his repeated attempts to butt in to assert his more moderate views. And if Kasich slides in the polls as a result, he risks failing to qualify for the main stage in future debates.”
White Evangelicals Dominate the Early Contests
Geoffrey Skelley: “Based on the election calendar, white evangelical Christians are going to receive ample attention early in the 2016 Republican primary. Using exit poll data from the 2012 and 2008 GOP primaries… we found that about two-thirds (64%) of the total delegates in states with contests on or before March 8 will come from states with electorates that may be at least 50% white evangelical.”
In Case You Missed the GOP Debate
Stephen Colbert wasn’t impressed with the fourth Republican presidential debate: “It was kind of like watching paint dry, without the added benefit of being able to huff the fumes.”
GOP Voters Like Congress Least
Washington Post: “Since July, Democrats and independents have actually given a more favorable rating of the Republican-controlled Congress than Republicans.”
Turnout In Louisiana Expected to Rise
“Louisiana is half-way into early voting in the runoff race for governor, and voter turnout appears to be outpacing the early vote in the Oct. 24 primary,” the Baton Rouge Advocate reports.
“John Couvillion of JMC Analytics has reviewed the figures and says in a new blog post that voter turnout could be 45 to 50 percent in the Nov. 21 runoff election. Voter turnout in the primary was just 39 percent.”
Trump Quote of the Day
“We started off with 17, and one by one by one they’re disappearing. It’s a beautiful thing to watch as they go out — I love it.”
— Donald Trump, quoted by the AP, on the GOP presidential field.
Ex-Cabinet Member Says Obama Failed
“When President Obama first won the White House, he recruited Ray LaHood, a Republican congressman, to join his Cabinet. The appointment, Obama declared, ‘reflects that bipartisan spirit’ that would distinguish his presidency,” the New York Times reports.
“Despite the glowing words, Obama abandoned his promise to govern across the aisle, LaHood said in an interview. The only elected Republican in Obama’s original Cabinet, LaHood said that the president never made a sustained effort to reach out and gave up too easily. As a result, he became isolated and reliant on a narrow group of like-minded advisers.”
LaHood’s new book: Seeking Bipartisanship: My Life in Politics.
GOP Debate Did Little to Narrow the Field
Washington Post: “This has been a confusing race almost from the beginning, and it seems only to grow more muddled. That became apparent again on Tuesday night in the fourth round of debate among the candidates. No one was treated as though he or she was the person to beat. The night belonged to many and therefore to no one in particular.”
“Republicans have celebrated the breadth and depth of their field of candidates. At some point, they will have to pick the person to lead them. For now, the choices remain numerous, although hardly similar in what the candidates offer. The campaign has moved beyond the period of introduction. The next phase will bring more heated engagement and with it, perhaps, greater clarity. To date, the campaign has produced anything but.”
Quote of the Day
“I like nearly all of them. Except Cruz.”
— Former Sen. Bob Dole, quoted by the New York Times, on the GOP presidential field.
Rivals Shy Away from Attacking Rubio
“As Marco Rubio settles into his new role as a rising top-tier candidate, most of his opponents in the Republican presidential race are showing a reluctance and even an unwillingness to engage him directly on the national stage,” the Washington Post reports.
“The spotlight on Rubio is intensifying in the media as journalists investigate the senator’s political record and background. But he otherwise is left facing relatively low hurdles for now, bypassing the kind of heated personal clashes that have shaped the 2016 nomination race.”
How the Koch Network Made Joni Ernst
Politico: “Until now, little has been known about the secretive role played by the Kochs’ donors and operatives in boosting Ernst. The Koch network has focused primarily on policy fights, mostly leaving the spadework of recruiting and nurturing candidates to the party.”
“But the network’s financial support for Ernst ― detailed here for the first time ― offers the first signs of a move into GOP primaries. The Kochs and their allies are investing in a pipeline to identify, cultivate and finance business-oriented candidates from the local school board all the way to the White House, and Koch operatives are already looking for opportunities to challenge GOP incumbents deemed insufficiently hard-line in their opposition to government spending and corporate subsidies.”
What Defines a Conservative?
New York Times: “Years’ worth of arguments conducted at issues forums and in the pages of policy journals and newspapers are now coming to life. The Republican hopefuls are sparring over such high-fiber fare as tax policy: whether to adhere strictly to the party’s supply-side creed or move at least modestly toward policies aimed at bolstering lesser earners. They are clashing over the role America plays in the world, and whether fiscal conservatism is compatible with a drastically enlarged military.”
“Most vividly, and perhaps consequentially, they are staking out their ground on immigration, clarifying the divide between restrictionists and pragmatists on an issue that could determine who is the party’s nominee.”
McCain Threatens Court Battle Over Guantanamo
“Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain is threatening a court battle if President Barack Obama tries to go around Congress in a last-ditch attempt to achieve his campaign pledge of closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,” Politico reports.
Donald Trump’s Hair
Saturday Night Live released an skit from last week’s show that was cut for time.
