“A private investigator working for Sen. David Vitter’s gubernatorial campaign was arrested Friday and charged with illegally recording a conversation involving a local sheriff, throwing a last-minute wrench into Saturday’s all-party primary as other campaigns pounced on the news,” Politico reports.
Bush Isn’t First to Slash Staff Ahead of Nomination
Washington Post: “Bush’s retrenchment drew immediate parallels to Sen. John McCain’s campaign implosion in the summer of 2007. The Arizona Republican laid off most of his staff, including several top strategists, and retreated to New Hampshire to grind out a comeback. He eventually won the 2008 nomination.”
“Unlike McCain, however, Bush has no deep history with the voters of New Hampshire or any other early state. McCain’s task was to remind people why they had liked him, while Bush’s challenge in the three months before voting begins is to find ways to win over people who have been cool to his overtures thus far.”
Quote of the Day
“Overall, we’re making enormous progress. And it does make you wonder, why is it that Republican politicians are so down on America? Have you noticed that? I mean, they are gloomy. They’re like grumpy cat.”
— President Obama, quoted by TPM.
GOP In Disarray As Clinton Consolidates
New York Times: “A beleaguered Jeb Bush slashed his campaign spending. Donald Trump lost his lead in Iowa. And a surging Ben Carson galvanized his support among social conservatives.”
“With Hillary Clinton emerging as the unrivaled leader in the Democratic contest, the unruly Republican presidential field suddenly seemed to lack a center of political gravity on Friday, leaving party strategists and voters to fear a long nomination fight that could end with a damaged standard-bearer facing a more unified left.”
New Mexico Official Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement
New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran (R) “pleaded guilty to embezzlement and other charges Friday after abruptly resigning amid a fraud investigation that alleged she siphoned thousands of dollars from her election account to help fuel her gambling addiction,” the AP reports.
Bush to Hunker Down with Family to Assess Bid
Jeb Bush “will attend a finance meeting this weekend in Houston convened by former President George H. W. Bush and attended by Bush’s brother, former President George W. Bush,” CBS News has learned.
“The session, designed to assess where Bush’s candidacy stands in the face of large-scale staff cutbacks and underwhelming poll numbers, will also be attended by Bush’s mother, Barbara Bush. The governor’s campaign confirmed the meeting will be held Sunday and Monday.”
How Gowdy Made Clinton Look Presidential
Matt Taibbi: “These morons in Gowdy’s committee were so bent on proving that Hillary is an unfeeling, ambition-crazed schemer bent on riding gleefully to the White House on the corpses of Benghazi victims that they ended up making her look like the one thing she really isn’t, at least not very often: a regular person.”
“Most of us who watched the fiasco imagined what we would do in her position, facing that same ludicrous barrage of circular questions. Most normal people would have done all of the same things she did: sighing, choking back angry retorts, shaking a head in disbelief at times, even laughing at the absurdity of it all.”
“Actually many people would have lost it early on and grabbed Gowdy by his goofy silver fro-hawk somewhere in hour six or seven, a fact that made Hillary by contrast look patient and presidential, in ways her campaign had been unable to achieve all year.”
Congressman Loses Bet Over Baseball Playoffs
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) lost a bet with Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) over the National League Division Series featuring the Dodger vs. Mets.
The video below shows how he paid up.
Iowa Democratic Dinner Will Feel Like a Convention
“Iowa’s annual Democratic fund-raising dinner is just another night on the rubber pork chop circuit, but it has a place in political legend as a pivot point for presidential races,” the New York Times reports.
“The dinner this weekend will unfold amid the hoopla of a mini-nominating convention. There will be bands, parades and orchestrated cheering sections for Mrs. Clinton and her main rival, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Bill Clinton, on his first visit to Iowa this year, will appear at a pre-dinner rally for Mrs. Clinton outside the Iowa Events Center in downtown Des Moines that will include a performance by Katy Perry.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“Without Romneycare, I don’t think we would have Obamacare. So, without Tom a lot of people wouldn’t have health insurance.”
— Mitt Romney, quoted by the Boston Globe, praising the late Staples founder Thomas Stemberg.
Striptease Video Leaked Just Days Before Election
“The video of a beautiful mayoral candidate writhing around on a bed has emerged just days before potential voters go to the polls. It shows Valeria Prokopenko, 21, who wants to become the next mayor of Odessa in south-west Ukraine, stripping down to her underwear and dancing to pop music,” the Daily Mail reports.
“The jobless law graduate claims she made the video to compete in a beauty contest known as ‘Miss Olymp’ and did not expect it to surface before the elections on Sunday.”
The Latest on Wonk Wire
Bush Shakes Up Struggling Campaign
Jeb Bush “is shaking up his struggling presidential campaign, ordering across-the-board pay cuts, downsizing his headquarters staff, cutting ties with some consultants and refocusing his efforts on retail campaigning and on-the-ground organizing in the early voting states,” the Washington Post reports.
“The campaign, which entered October with $10.3 million in the bank, is taking significant steps to curtail spending. It is slashing its budget, excluding media and voter contact efforts, by 45 percent from its June plans, and is reducing ties to some consultants to eliminate what the campaign sees as extraneous overhead costs.”
Bloomberg: “Bush’s advisers, under pressure from their donors and from falling and stagnant poll numbers, have been discussing ways to retool the campaign in recent days, and came to the conclusion that a course correction was essential. While recent tangles with Donald Trump have energized the campaign, Bush’s senior team recognized a more fundamental set of changes was required that didn’t involve dealing directly with the party’s surprising—and surprisingly durable—front-runner.”
National Review: Jeb Bush is toast
A Very Bad Showing for House Republicans
First Read: “Hillary Clinton’s goal yesterday was to survive (which she more than accomplished), while Republicans’ goal was to justify the legitimacy of the Benghazi Committee (which they failed to do). Yesterday was a really poor showing for House Republicans.”
“What did they accomplish? They re-litigated the actual Benghazi attack, which has been debated and examined over the past three years. They almost turned Sidney Blumenthal into a sympathetic figure (which, trust us, is hard to do). They really had no understanding of how the State Department bureaucracy works in wondering why Chris Stevens never emailed Clinton while Blumenthal did… And then Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC), after the 11-hour event, had a difficult time answering the question what new was learned.”
“How else do we know that yesterday was a disaster for Republicans? We saw more Republicans wanting to talk about President Obama’s Defense veto than what was occurring at the Benghazi committee. Bottom line: Just like at last week’s Democratic debate, Clinton was good yesterday — not great. But she looked great compared with her opposition.”
Chafee Quits Democratic Race
Lincoln Chafee said he is ending his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Politico: “With that, the Democratic field was whittled down to three — with no one else waiting in the wings: Clinton, the insurgent Bernie Sanders, and distant third Martin O’Malley. The three are set to address Iowa Democrats at the state party’s Jefferson-Jackson dinner on Saturday night.”
How Republicans Get Paid Attacking Republicans
New York Times: “The calls to oust Republican leaders in Congress did not come from Democrats. They came from conservative websites and bloggers who have helped stoke a grass-roots rebellion to make Congress more conservative, a fevered continuation of the six-year Tea Party movement.”
“But these politically charged appeals to conservatives around the country were often accompanied by a solicitation for money, and the ultimate beneficiaries, records suggest, are the consultants who created the campaigns rather than the causes they are promoting. It is a practice that has accelerated with the explosion of social media.”
Quote of the Day
“I don’t know that she testified that much differently today than she has the previous times she’s testified.”
— Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), quoted by Politico, when asked if he learned anything new after 11 hours of testimony by Hillary Clinton before the Benghazi committee.
Clinton Had a Very Good Week
Politico: “The remarkable week puts Clinton in better standing than she was at this point eight years ago, when Barack Obama changed the course of the election with an electrifying speech at the Iowa Jefferson-Jackson Dinner. It was a pivotal moment that marked the beginning of the end of Clinton’s presidential hopes that cycle. Today, as she gears up for that same dinner this weekend, Clinton appears to be the one enjoying a pivotal, game-changing moment.”
Todd Purdum: “In fact, across the board in the past 10 days—and after months when every news cycle seemed to bring more bad news for her—Clinton has seen event after event break her way, starting with last week’s strong debate performance.”
