Sen. Ted Cruz “has said that after working on George W. Bush’s 2000 campaign, being passed over for a senior position with the new administration was ‘a crushing blow.’ Turns out, it was his own fault,” the AP reports.
“Cruz was offered a job as White House associate counsel shortly after Al Gore conceded the race in December, but he rejected it, members of the Bush transition team told The Associated Press. Cruz thought he was in line for the more senior role of deputy White House counsel.”
“Hillary Clinton plans to pour half of her presidential campaign’s budget into advertising in the first three months of this year as she seeks to fend off an increasingly tough challenge from chief rival Bernie Sanders,” Reuters reports.
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) contends that President Obama is the most “racially divisive” president since the days of slavery, BuzzFeed reports.
Said Brooks: “There probably has not been a more racially divisive, economic divisive president in the White House since we had presidents who supported slavery.”
He added: “But again, we did have presidents in the first 80 to 100 years of our country that supported slavery. And you cannot say that Barack Obama was worse than them.”
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“Having already delivered him a reprieve from reporting to prison, the Supreme Court announced that it would decide whether former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell (R) was rightly convicted of corruption for his efforts on behalf of a businessman who bestowed money and gifts on the governor and his family,” the Washington Post reports.
“McDonnell’s lawyers had told the court that if his ‘routine political courtesies’ to Richmond businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr. could be construed as felonies, it would make vulnerable all politicians and arm federal prosecutors ‘with a frightening degree of control over the political process.'”
“The mega-donors who helped Right to Rise, the super PAC supporting Jeb Bush, raise over $100 million aren’t exactly the typical crowdfounding type,” the New York Times reports.
“But in an email to donors on Friday, Mike Murphy, the head of Right to Rise, urged them to do just that — contribute online to air an ad in the New England area supporting Mr. Bush during the Super Bowl, two days before New Hampshire holds its primary on Feb. 9.”
Joe Trippi: “Both parties’ frontrunners, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, sport upside down favorable ratings, meaning both have over 50 percent of the electorate rating them unfavorably. None of those likely to challenge their frontrunner status are rated favorably by a majority of Americans. This fact alone means a highly negative campaign.”
“But since the 1980s campaign staffs and consultants have known something about us. We are less interested in positive information about candidates and have a harder time recalling or retaining positive information about candidates. On the other hand, we pay attention to negative information and not only have an easier time retaining it but we are more likely to spread negative impressions of a candidate. Negative ads are run by campaigns because they work.”
An official in Cranston, RI who wanted to include an elderly woman in a photo op about a snow shoveling program persuaded a middle-aged man to dress up in a wig, earrings, lipstick and a dress, WJAR-TV reports. the AP reports.
The man stood next to the mayor of Cranston at a news conference “to make it look good for the media.”
“Before I was in this job I thought it would be nice, now I’m less enthusiastic.”
— RNC general counsel John Ryder, quoted by Time, on the prospect of a contested convention.
“Democrats who control the Maine House of Representatives balked Thursday at the opportunity to investigate and potentially impeach Gov. Paul LePage (R) on charges that included intimidation,” the Portland Press Herald reports.
“Instead, the House passed a vaguely worded resolution that praises cooperation and civil behavior but doesn’t mention LePage.”
“If my husband had done some of the things Bill Clinton had done, I would have left him long ago.”
– Carly Fiorina, in an interview on Morning Joe.
During last night’s undercard debate, Fiorina said that “unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband.”
Rick Hasen: “It is easy to dismiss as overblown the concern about the outsize role of ultra-rich donors in the American political scene. Exhibit 1: Jeb Bush. Bush’s $100 million in super PAC fundraising was supposed to be part of a shock-and-awe campaign that would scare away competitors and give him a smooth path to the Republican presidential nomination. Well, it hasn’t worked out that way.”
“But this overly simplistic analysis misses the key role of money in contemporary American politics. In spite of the rhetoric of some campaign reformers, money doesn’t buy elections. Instead, it increases the odds of electoral victory and of getting one’s way on policies, tax breaks and government contracts. And the presidential race is the place we are least likely to see money’s effects. Looking to Congress and the states, though, we can see that the era of big money unleashed by the Supreme Court is hurtling us toward a plutocracy in which the people with the greatest economic power can wield great political power through campaign donations and lobbying.”
First Read: “Turning to the Democratic race, Sunday night brings us the final Dem debate before the Iowa caucuses… and it promises to be a doozy. Not only do we have a neck-and-neck race in Iowa, but we have a true fight over the heart and soul of the Democratic Party.”
“Do Democrats go with the candidate essentially running on continuity with President Obama (Hillary Clinton), or do they back the candidate promising revolution (Bernie Sanders)? Should their nominee be another Clinton? Or should it be a self-avowed democratic socialist who hasn’t been a member of the party until now? We’ve spent so much time looking at the establishment-vs.-insurgent divide inside the Republican Party, but don’t dismiss the equally compelling fight within the Democratic Party over where it should be entering Year 8 of the Obama presidency.”
Politico: Everything you need to know about the Democratic debate
The new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll confirms that the establishment side isn’t where the energy is in the Republican Party right now.
Donald Trump leads a three-way race for the GOP nomination with 40%, followed by Ted Cruz at 31% and Marco Rubio at 26%.
Brendan Nyhan: “Donald Trump misses no opportunity to remind us that he’s ahead in the polls for the Republican presidential nomination… But he may also be trying to generate a bandwagon effect, a well-documented phenomenon in political science but one that may leave him vulnerable to future disruptions.”
“Research shows that expectations of success are strongly associated with which candidates people support in primaries, especially among less informed voters. In this way, Mr. Trump’s initial success may have helped attract more support, creating a positive feedback dynamic that helped fuel his monthslong ascent in the polls. At this point, his lead in the polls has almost become a rationale for his campaign.”
“But if those expectations of success change as a result of, say, a surprising primary or caucus defeat, Mr. Trump’s supporters may shift their support to another candidate.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is expected to endorse Jeb Bush for president this morning, Politico reports.
“You had your chance Marco — you blew it.”
— Gov. Chris Christie, quoted by The Week at last night’s debate.
Jonathan Chait: “Part of it is that Trump has gotten better, more polished. His cartoonish facial gestures come less frequently. He is less outrageous (and less funny). He seems to control his tone more effectively.”
“But mainly, Republicans have decided to start treating him as a regular candidate and a member of their party in good standing, rather than an imposter who has hijacked it on a lark.”
First Read: “You know the different stages of grief — shock and denial, pain and guilt, anger and bargaining. Well, have we finally reached the last stage, acceptance? Now none of this means that Trump is going to win the GOP presidential nomination. But it does mean that he’s become much more acceptable to Republicans than we ever thought possible; that he’s indelibly shaped the GOP contest in his own image; and that he’s in firm control of this GOP race.”
A “smart Republican” gives his take to Mike Allen on last night’s debate:
“To me the morning story is that if GOP was worried about Trump or Cruz on Monday, today they’re terrified. These two dominated the debate… Cruz and Trump separated even further from pack… Rubio/Christie 3rd place draw, Jeb/Carson/Kasich might as well stay home. … It’s Cruz and Trump, rest fighting to stay alive. Sad – but true… Trump has had his best debate performance to date. It pains me, but its true… Marco was fine. Always looked polished. But Trump and Cruz controlled conversation… Marco had to interject to be involved.”
“The party is starting to look like the banks on Wall Street did in April 2008: ‘What did we do?’… There’s no fixing this — buckle up.”
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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