“North Korea says it has conducted a successful hydrogen bomb test,” the AP reports.
The Wall Street Journal reported an earthquake “hit North Korea early Wednesday near the site of the nation’s previous nuclear tests and South Korean experts said the seismic activity appeared to be triggered by a man-made explosion.”
Meanwhile, Reuters reports North Korea “appears to have carried out a test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile last month.”
Donald Trump said that rival Ted Cruz’s Canadian birthplace was a “very precarious” issue, the Washington Post reports.
Said Trump: “Republicans are going to have to ask themselves the question: ‘Do we want a candidate who could be tied up in court for two years?’ That’d be a big problem. It’d be a very precarious one for Republicans because he’d be running and the courts may take a long time to make a decision. You don’t want to be running and have that kind of thing over your head.”
He added: “I’d hate to see something like that get in his way. But a lot of people are talking about it.”
Donald Trump wants someone to ask Bill Clinton how he’s different from Bill Cosby, Politico reports.
Said Trump: “The whole Cosby thing is a weird deal, and he’s got himself some big problems, and you’d almost have to ask Bill Clinton that. It would be very interesting question to someday ask him. There certainly a lot of very strong charges against him, some pretty bad stuff.”
“As Chris Christie’s establishment rivals seize on his blue-state governing record, the New Jersey governor punched back here Tuesday with the kind of bluntness that had been his trademark but in this presidential campaign has been the domain of Donald Trump,” the Washington Post reports.
“Signaling a turn among center-right candidates into a tougher phase, Sen. Marco Rubio charged that Christie has been too closely aligned with President Obama on gun control, health care and Common Core education standards, echoing twin attack ads aired here by his allied super PAC.”
Said Christie: “I just don’t think Marco Rubio’s going to be able to slime his way to the White House. He wants to put out a whole bunch of negative ads? Go ahead. I hope that he will acknowledge at some point that I couldn’t care less.”
He also mocked Rubio as naive in the arts of political street-fighting: “He’s never been in a tough race in his life.”
“Congressional Republicans have widely condemned President Obama’s new executive orders on firearms, but for all the criticism there’s little chance this GOP-controlled Congress can block the president’s latest gun control moves,” Politico reports.
“A key problem: After congressional leaders cleared the decks ahead of the 2016 elections, there are no must-pass bills looming that Republicans could use as vehicles to force Democrats to undo Obama’s actions.”
The Hill: GOP scrambles for response to Obama
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) will give the Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union address, the AP reports.
A new Field Poll in California finds Ted Cruz has surged ahead of his GOP presidential rivals with 25%, followed by Donald Trump at 23%, Marco Rubio at 13%, Ben Carson at 9%, Rand Paul at 6%, and Jeb Bush at 4%.
Not only did Cruz catch Trump in first-choice rankings, but he is now twice as likely to be listed as a California Republicans’ second choice.
British members of Parliament “are to debate calls for the US presidential candidate Donald Trump to be banned from the UK following his controversial comments about Muslims, after more than half a million people signed a petition,” the Guardian reports.
“More than 560,000 people have signed the petition demanding the billionaire businessman be barred. Politicians will also discuss a separate petition opposing such a ban, even though it only gained about 40,000 signatures – well below the 100,000 threshold for triggering a debate.”
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) “has set March 8 as the date for critical special elections to” fill four vacancies in the state House of Representatives caused by legislators taking jobs he offered them in the executive branch, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports.
“Those elections could tip the balance of power in the House, which will stand at 50 Democrats and 46 Republicans when the General Assembly convenes on Tuesday.”
Governing: “If you run for president, make sure you win… In recent decades, just two sitting governors have won the presidency: Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. But the list of sitting governors who have either lost or dropped out of a race for president is much lengthier. In most cases, these candidates’ gubernatorial careers suffered after they lost their bid. It’s happened to Democratic and Republican governors alike.”
Josh Romney (R), the son of former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, told the Deseret News that “running for governor in 2020 is definitely something I am strongly considering. What others do will not affect my decision-making process.”
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) “said in a recent interview with the Deseret News that he wants to return to Utah and run for governor rather than stay in the House and try again for a leadership position or make a run for the Senate.”
“President Obama and Democrats are going all in on gun control,” The Hill reports.
“Obama on Tuesday will issue executive actions intended to curb gun violence by expanding background checks on people buying firearms online or at gun shows. The effort, which comes a week before the president’s final State of the Union address, underlines the Democratic Party’s decision to champion an issue it believes will be a winner in November.”
Wonk Wire: Vast majority of Americans support background checks for gun purchases
“Donald Trump reminds me of the Kim Kardashian of politics.”
Pete Souza: “One of the best and most challenging aspects of my job is whittling down a year’s worth of photographs to the final selections for my annual Year in Photographs. Every year, I attempt to keep it less than 100 photos — and every year I fail in that goal.”
A new Monmouth poll finds 70% of Americans say that the world’s climate is undergoing a change leading to more extreme weather patterns and sea level rise, including 41% who call climate change a very serious problem.
Key takeaway: “There is a significant partisan divide in this view. A majority of Democrats (63%) and a plurality of independents (42%) see climate change as a very serious issue, while just 18% of Republicans agree. On the flip side, a plurality of Republicans (43%) believe climate change is not happening at all, compared with just 17% of independents and 10% of Democrats who feel the same.”
“The well-financed super PACs supporting Ted Cruz are launching a $1 million advertising blitz this week to boost the Texas senator — and cast his rival, Marco Rubio, as unserious and unready,” the Washington Post reports.
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.