On his way out of the door, the out-going Virginia governor pulls a prank on the incoming governor, WTVR reports.
“So for his prank, former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) left a very big surprise for newly-elected Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) to find. A giant stuffed black bear in his office bathroom.”
Said McAuliffe: “McDonnell left a few items for me. One was pretty cute; he had an alarm clock hidden in a drawer.”
Jay Stamper (D), the lone Democratic candidate in South Carolina’s U.S. Senate race is a felon, the Columbia State reports.
“Grudging and reluctant support has come from some corners of Stampers’ own party after revelations he pleaded guilty to three felony charges associated with the illegal sale of securities in 2006. Stamper was ordered to repay millions of dollars and said at Monday’s meeting that $600,000 of that came from his own pocket. Stamper called the incident “a business mistake I made several years ago,’ and said securities laws are very complicated, and he acted on advice from two teams of lawyers.”
A new Congressional Management Foundation survey finds that nearly four in ten senior staff on Capitol Hill said they plan to look for a job in the next 12 months.
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Charlie Cook: “Christie indeed sat at the top of some of the polls that lay out a long laundry list of every imaginable contender (as well as some who are harder to imagine), but does that make him the front-runner? I think not.”
“Think for a moment who makes up the Republican Party, and most specifically the part of the GOP base that dominates the presidential nomination process. Think about the people they seriously considered for their party’s presidential nomination last time around. Think Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, and Newt Gingrich. Now, quickly, think Christie. Now think Sesame Street: ‘One of these things is not like the others; one of these things just doesn’t belong.’ It’s laughable that the party that has previously seriously considered some fairly inconceivable candidates as worthy of the GOP nomination would suddenly reverse course and head over to a center-right candidate such as Christie.”
A new Gallup poll finds just 23% of Americans say they are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. at this time, unchanged from December and within one percentage point of the 24% average for 2013.
“House leaders are planning to take up Senate legislation to enact new sanctions against Iran, a surprise move that would intensify a standoff between the White House and Congress in the wake of progress this past weekend in President Obama’s diplomatic drive with Tehran,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Mr. Obama has said he would veto any new Iran sanctions Congress sends to his desk while the U.S. and other world powers negotiate a long-term deal to curtail Tehran’s nuclear program, a process underway after a six-month interim deal was finalized Sunday.”
Greg Sargent: “Where are all the Senate Democrats on the bill to impose sanctions on
Iran that is being pushed by Senators Robert Menendez and Chuck Schumer?
How many of them are really prepared to support this bill, and how many
oppose it? By my count, more than half the Democratic caucus have been
mum on where they stand.”
Stu Rothenberg lists his “dangerous dozen,” the open House seats most-likely to switch party control in this year’s elections.
Michael Gerson: “Judged purely as a matter of politics, Christie has done well. Assuming his vehement denial of all involvement is accurate — the alternative is the end of his credibility and his career — Christie’s news conference was a model of crisis management. He accepted responsibility without admitting culpability. He apologized while maintaining he was a victim. I can’t recall a political figure who has done the scandal drill — mistakes were made, heads will roll — any better.”
“In the pre-primary primary, this is actually a qualification. Presidential candidates, who are often human beings, have been known to face draft-record controversies, bimbo eruptions, early DUI revelations, drug-use allegations, questions about discreditable pastoral associations and the like. The successful ones share Christie’s talent for crisis containment.”
“In a political high-wire act, Gov. Chris Christie will try on Tuesday to refocus attention from a controversy over a vindictive traffic jam to the day-to-day work of governing, by outlining plans to extend the school day, lower taxes for homeowners and reduce urban crime,” the New York Times reports.
“Christie’s State of the State address, with all its pomp and formality, offers him a welcome if awkwardly timed opportunity to present himself as a policy-purveying statesman, without having to answer questions. It will be a far cry from his last turn at the podium last week, when he appeared before voters as an angry, humiliated and, in his words, ‘heartbroken’ man who accepted responsibility for his staff’s role in closing traffic lanes to the George Washington Bridge.”
Washington Post: “The governor is expected to address the bridge scandal in Tuesday’s speech, but he is unlikely to linger on it. ”
House and Senate negotiators “unveiled a $1.012 trillion bill to fund the federal government for the next eight and a half months, a compromise that marks a temporary cease-fire in the budget wars that have rocked Congress and the economy in recent years,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The compromise restores some of the funding cut last year from domestic programs such as the National Institutes of Health and Head Start, but keeps overall discretionary spending lower than when President Obama took office in 2009.”
The Hill: “The series of votes this week creates opportunities for disagreements that could lead to a shutdown, particularly given the secretive talks on the bill and the possibility that members of either party will object to spending provisions.”
Rep. John Carter (R-TX) said Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is making a mistake pushing for an immigration overhaul this year, Roll Call reports.
Carter, “one of four GOP congressmen who was part of bipartisan negotiations over comprehensive immigration policy changes last year, said voting on the matter this year would distract from the party’s efforts to highlight flaws in President Obama’s health care law.”
Said Carter: “I’m opposed to voting on a bill this year. I was in conference when John announced that. It was a surprise to me as much as it was a surprise to anybody else.”
The FBI doesn’t plan to file criminal charges over the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups, the Wall Street Journal reports, “a move that will likely only intensify debate over the politically charged scandal.”
“The officials said investigators didn’t find the kind of political bias or “enemy hunting” that would amount to a violation of criminal law. Instead, what emerged during the probe was evidence of a mismanaged bureaucracy enforcing rules about tax-exemption applications it didn’t understand, according to the law-enforcement officials.”
A new Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press poll shows Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) approval rate at 59%, with just 32% disapproving.
In addition, 52% say they don’t believe Christie was involved in the plot to punish the mayor of Fort Lee, NJ by creating a traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge, while 34% believe he was involved.
“In an extended argument that contained large doses of history and practical politics, the Supreme Court on Monday seemed skeptical of the Obama administration’s contention that it had acted properly in bypassing the Senate to appoint several officials during a break in the Senate’s work,” the New York Times reports.
SCOTUSblog: “Even some of the Justices whose votes the government almost certainly needs to salvage an important presidential power were more than skeptical.”
Barack Obama considered former Defense Secretary Robert Gates as his running mate in 2008, Stars and Stripes reports.
Gates says in his new memoir, Duty, that he received a call from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in 2008 about the position, and answered several questions about his public stance on abortion and a few other issues.
Writes Gates: “It took a lot of willpower for me to keep from bursting out laughing. I couldn’t figure out if he was serious, if it was just idle flattery, or if he was delusional … I never told anyone, in part because I didn’t think they would believe me.”
Rep. George Miller (D-CA) is stepping down at the end of this year after four decades in Congress, Politico reports.
“Miller’s decision is a personal loss for Pelosi and is sure to be seen as a blow to Democrats. But Miller said his retirement has everything to do with having reached the 40-year mark in Congress and is no reflection on his party’s chances of regaining power in the House in November.”
Roll Call: “California’s 11th District is safe Democratic territory. President Barack Obama won here by a 38-point margin in 2012.”
Wonk Wire notes the dramatic fall off in cigarette consumption over the past 50 years.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “loves to stick his finger in the GOP establishment’s eye, and he did so again on Monday, hiring a top Republican operative who was fired just last month by House conservatives for leaking internal talks to outside groups,” National Journal 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.
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