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Clinton In Final Stages of Planning

January 26, 2015 at 7:00 am EST By Taegan Goddard 9 Comments

Hillary Clinton “is in the final stages of planning a presidential campaign that is likely to launch in early April, and has made decisions on most top posts,” Politico reports.

“Campaign advisers say the likelihood of a campaign, long at 98 percent (she never really hesitated, according to one person close to her), went to 100 percent right after Christmas, when Clinton approved a preliminary budget and several key hires. Most of the top slots have been decided, with one notable exception: communications director, a job that is now the subject of intense lobbying and jockeying by some of the biggest names in Democratic politics.”

“The exact timing of Hillary Clinton’s launch is unknown, but close allies expect her to officially enter the 2016 race shortly after the end of this quarter, so that her first fundraising report will be a blockbuster.”

Christie Begins Groundwork for 2016 Presidential Bid

January 26, 2015 at 6:48 am EST By Taegan Goddard 3 Comments

Gov. Chris Christie “will make his most decisive moves yet toward a presidential run by creating a political action committee, hiring eight experienced campaign aides and outlining plans for a spree of fund-raising events across the country,” the New York Times reports.

“The aides will also serve as a skeletal campaign-staff-in-waiting. He is not expected to make a final decision until spring.”

Wall Street Journal: “The launch of the PAC, called Leadership Matters for America, is the clearest sign yet that Mr. Christie is running. It allows Mr. Christie to assemble a team of about a dozen staffers and fundraisers who could support a potential run for president, as well as to raise money that can be used to contribute to like-minded political candidates.”

Mitt Romney Decision Tied to His Faith

January 26, 2015 at 6:44 am EST By Taegan Goddard 12 Comments

New York Times: “Three years ago, Mr. Romney’s tortured approach to his religion — a strategy of awkward reluctance and studied avoidance that all but walled off a free-flowing discussion of his biography — helped doom his campaign. (The subject is still so sensitive that many, including the prominent Republican, would only discuss it on condition that they not be identified.)”

“But now as Mr. Romney mulls a new run for the White House, friends and allies said, his abiding Mormon faith is inextricably tied to his sense of service and patriotism, and a facet of his life that he is determined to embrace more openly in a possible third campaign.”

Silver Will Step Aside Temporarily

January 26, 2015 at 6:17 am EST By Taegan Goddard 1 Comment

Sheldon Silver (D), “the longtime speaker of the New York State Assembly, agreed on Sunday to relinquish his duties on a temporary basis as he fights federal corruption charges,” the New York Times reports.

“His decision came amid mounting pressure from his fellow Democrats in the Assembly, who worried that the criminal charges would impair his ability to carry out the duties of one of the most powerful positions in the state’s government. In an unusual arrangement, Mr. Silver would not quit his post. Instead, he would temporarily delegate his duties as speaker to a group of senior Assembly members.”

Ron Paul Presents Problem for Son’s White House Bid

January 26, 2015 at 5:54 am EST By Taegan Goddard 8 Comments

“This weekend was a crucial one for Rand Paul, the Republican senator from Kentucky and undeclared candidate for the presidency. He was in California, trying to line up donors at an opulent retreat organized by the billionaire Koch brothers,” the Washington Post reports.

“At the same time, his father — retired after 12 terms in Congress and three presidential runs — was in the ballroom of an airport hotel here, the final speaker at ‘a one-day seminar in breaking away from the central state.’ He followed a series of speakers who said that the U.S. economy and political establishment were tottering and that the best response might be for states, counties or even individuals to break away.”

Greek Voters Shift Hard Left

January 25, 2015 at 9:08 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 40 Comments

“Greek voters were set to hand power to a radical leftist party in national elections on Sunday, a popular rebellion against the bitter economic medicine Greece has swallowed for five years and a rebuke of the fellow European countries that prescribed it,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“With nearly all votes counted, opposition party Syriza was on track to win about half the seats in Parliament. In the wee hours of the morning, it clinched a coalition deal with a small right-wing party also opposed to Europe’s economic policy to give the two a clear majority.”

Nothing Is Inevitable In Politics

January 25, 2015 at 9:00 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 7 Comments

Jeff Greenfield: “They are the three American political giants; the only three 20th Century candidates who won two consecutive landslide Presidential elections; three whose triumphs are seen now as the inevitable victories of larger-than-life figures riding powerful historical trends.”

“And each of them came very close to never being President at all—a piece of history to remember as we read of the ‘inevitable’ forces driving the 2016 campaign.”

“There’s a lesson to be drawn from this history. If three of the most dominant political figures of the last century all came perilously close to political defeat, it should remind us to take a ‘determinist’ approach to politics—’this is what will happen, this is what can’t happen’—with several pounds of salt.”

Republican Governors Move to Hike Taxes

January 25, 2015 at 8:55 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 14 Comments

“Republican governors across the nation are proposing tax increases — and backing off pledges to cut taxes — as they strike a decidedly un-Republican pose in the face of budget shortfalls and pent-up demands from constituents after years of budget cuts,” the New York Times reports.

“At least eight Republican governors have ventured into this once forbidden territory: There are proposals for raising the sales tax in Michigan, a tax on e-cigarettes in Utah, and gas taxes in South Carolina and South Dakota, to name a few. In Arizona, the new Republican governor has put off, in the face of a $1 billion budget shortfall, a campaign promise to eliminate the unpopular income tax there.”

Quote of the Day

January 25, 2015 at 8:53 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 15 Comments

“My first thought was it sounded like he was running for a third term.”

— Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by The Hill, on President Obama saying during his State of the Union address: “I have no more campaigns to run. I know because I won both of them.”

Top White House Aide Reveals Hostage Identity

January 25, 2015 at 8:37 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“White House chief of staff Denis McDonough suffered a slip of the tongue Sunday when he offered the first name of an American woman held hostage by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,” Politico reports.

Obama Moves to Expand Oil Drilling Ban in Alaska

January 25, 2015 at 8:30 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 3 Comments

President Obama proposed “to designate 1.4 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness, setting off a battle with the Republican-controlled Congress over oil and gas drilling in pristine areas of northern Alaska,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

Huckabee Says He’s Likely to Run for President

January 25, 2015 at 1:35 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 94 Comments

Mike Huckabee (R) told NBC News that he is leaning toward another run at the White House.

Said Huckabee: “I think it’s pretty evident that I’m moving in that direction.”

Walker Shines in Iowa

January 25, 2015 at 8:24 am EST By Taegan Goddard 74 Comments

Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) “stock is soaring after a triumphant return to Iowa,” The Hill reports.

“The Wisconsin Republican governor delivered a pitch-perfect speech to a room packed with influential Hawkeye State conservatives on Saturday, walking them through his robust resume and ideology with a passion that surprised many. Activists say Walker came out on top after 10 hours of candidate speeches.”

The Des Moines Register says Walker “was the center of buzz after his speech.”

Biden Has No Organization

January 25, 2015 at 8:18 am EST By Taegan Goddard 23 Comments

Wall Street Journal: “Potential presidential candidates — top-tier contenders and long-shots alike — have already spent years quietly laying groundwork, building email lists, recruiting staff, and generally doing the scut work of building an organization on which to call if they flip the switch and launch a 2016 campaign Mr. Biden, who said this week that he is still weighing a presidential run, is one of the few potential candidates with no political organization, nonprofit, foundation, or campaign staff-in-waiting.”

GOP Gathering in Iowa Highlights Divided Party

January 25, 2015 at 8:12 am EST By Taegan Goddard 22 Comments

Rick Klein says Saturday’s Iowa Freedom Summit “quickly and frequently got sidetracked. There were familiar diversions, even more familiar intra-party battles, brief heckling episodes, and a few famous faces who are only tangentially involved with national politics these days.”

“The result was that at a showcase moment for an energized Republican Party, with a deep bench of talented presidential aspirants, the fault lines of policy and personality that have defined the GOP during the Obama era made themselves known yet again. The clear signal was that they’re unlikely recede amid the most wide-open field in modern history.”

Bush Says He and Romney Avoided Talking Politics

January 24, 2015 at 10:24 am EST By Taegan Goddard 30 Comments

Jeb Bush told the Washington Post that when he met with Mitt Romney earlier this week they mostly avoided talk about the 2016 presidential campaign.

Said Bush: “We talked about the Patriots. We talked a little bit about politics, not as much as you might imagine. We talked about the future of the country. We talked about the need for a more engaged foreign policy.. . .The awkward side of this, about running and such, we put aside.”

Why Christie Has a Better Shot Than Many Think

January 24, 2015 at 10:20 am EST By Taegan Goddard 61 Comments

Byron York: “Chris Christie is in better shape than you think. There was a widely-held assumption that Christie’s Jersey Guy persona wouldn’t play well in Iowa — that he is just too hot and too confrontational to get along with a bunch of nice Midwesterners. But it turns out a lot of Iowa Republicans actually like Christie, even if they’re not quite ready to support him. Christie connects with audiences in Iowa just like elsewhere in the country, and more importantly, Iowa Republicans really want someone to fight for them in the next campaign. Most felt Romney just wouldn’t take it to President Obama in 2012, so now Christie is OK with them as long as they believe he will give Democrats hell.”

Bush Says Republicans Must Be Upbeat to Win in 2016

January 24, 2015 at 10:17 am EST By Taegan Goddard 17 Comments

“Sketching the broad outlines of a presidential campaign that is undeclared but well underway, Jeb Bush on Friday mixed familiar calls for lower taxes and less regulation with an admonishment to fellow Republicans to stay upbeat and offer hope as their central message in 2016,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

Said Bush: “We’re not going to win votes as Republicans unless we can lay out a hopeful, optimistic message that’s based in reality, that’s grounded in a set of policies that are real, that people believe can actually happen. Hope and a positive agenda wins out over anger and reaction every day of the week.”