Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) “is introducing legislation to expand online voter registration, which would allow all eligible voters across the country to register online,” Capital New York reports.
“The legislation would open online registration to nearly 100 million potential registrants who currently are without it.”
Former President George W. Bush “offered rare, and broad-ranging, remarks Saturday night about current national security threats and the 2016 presidential campaign to a large audience of Jewish donors, suggesting that sanctions on Iran should not be lifted, that his last name was a burden to his brother, the likely presidential candidate Jeb Bush, and that Hillary Rodham Clinton, while ‘formidable,’ was beatable,” the New York Times reports.
“He spoke dismissively of candidates who surrounded themselves with ‘sycophants’ and bemoaned a culture built around a single person, or even a party. The goal, he stressed, should be about serving the national interest.”
“You can’t let the process numb you to the point where you’re just a robot. Even though all the pressure is ‘Don’t gaffe, don’t deviate, be prepared, give the prepared thing,’ you’ve got to watch that, because you can just be boring and you can be vanilla and you can so sanitize yourself that you’re not yourself.”
— Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), quoted by Politico, on running for national office.
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President Obama “came out swinging in his speech at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner Saturday night, mocking his critics and taking various shots at Republicans and members of the media,” The Hill reports.
CNN compiles Obama’s top ten jokes or you can watch the whole thing here:
“Campaigning for Sunday’s second wave of quadrennial unified local elections has highlighted a legal loophole that allows candidates to go to extremes — including nudity — to gain votes,” the Japan Times reports.
“In contrast with the ubiquitous portrait shots preferred by most candidates, the campaign poster for Teruki Goto, an independent running for the Chiyoda Ward Assembly in Tokyo, went viral after it showed him posing nude against a Rising Sun flag motif while raising a katana over the Imperial Seal, his genitals covered by his name.”
“According to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, the use of nudity is not banned because there are no restrictions on poster design in the Public Offices Election Law. All posters are legal as long they bear the name of the candidate and are posted on the designated boards.”
“I’m not sure we’re a party of enough new ideas. I think both parties kind of are married to their constituencies and their powerful interests, and they’re unwilling to challenge them in the way I did as mayor.”
– Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D), quoted by the Los Angeles Times.
Michiagn Gov. Rick Snyder (R) “may be the newest GOP candidate for the White House,” the Guardian reports.
“Snyder mingled with donors at a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas on Friday and told at least one attendee that he was a candidate.”
Said former Minnesota senator Norm Coleman: “I met with Rick Snyder yesterday. He’s running. He’s running.”
“Scott Walker, the son of a Baptist preacher, learned a lot about being a politician by going to church,” the New York Times reports.
“He was introduced to glad-handing while greeting worshipers beside his father after Sunday services. His confidence as a public speaker began at 2, when he delivered a Christmas greeting from the pulpit, and it blossomed when he preached occasional sermons as a teenager. And now, Mr. Walker’s lifelong church involvement may be a powerful asset as he positions himself to run for the Republican presidential nomination and focuses on early primary and caucus states dominated by evangelical voters.”
Wonk Wire: The irrelevance of independents
“I didn’t fall off a turnip truck, here. I was a state senator, I was nine terms in Congress, I’ve been elected governor and won 86 out of 88 counties.”
— Gov. John Kasich (R), quoted by Real Clear Politics, saying he’s more experienced than any of the other GOP presidential candidates.
“I think it’s fair to say that Christian convictions are under attack as never before. Not just in our lifetime, but ever before in the history of this great nation. We are moving rapidly toward the criminalization of Christianity.”
— Mike Huckabee, quoted by Politico.
“A months-long internal investigation of Brian Williams by NBC News has turned up 11 instances in which the anchorman publicly embellished details of his reporting exploits, according to a person familiar with details of the probe,” the Washington Post reports.
“It’s not clear when, or even if… findings about Williams will be made public. Although the investigation could be a critical factor in whether NBC decides to bring Williams back, it could also remain confidential as a condition of any potential severance agreement, an NBC journalist said on Friday.”
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) “proposed a bill this week that would block the courts from hearing cases that could legalize same-sex marriage, so Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) has proposed a (satirical) bill to block King from legislating,” the Huffington Post reports.
“Polis’ office issued a press release on Friday announcing the Restrain Steve King from Legislating Act, playing off King’s Restrain the Judges on Marriage Act. Polis’ fake bill would prevent King from ‘abusing taxpayer dollars by substituting the judgments of the nation’s duly serving judicial branch of government with his own beliefs.'”
“An assertive Republican Congress coupled with new disclosures about the Clinton family’s charitable foundation threaten to shadow Hillary Clinton’s newly minted presidential campaign for months, a period when she will be trying to reintroduce herself to voters as an advocate for the middle class,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Republican presidential hopefuls are struggling with how to position themselves on same-sex marriage, an issue that is bedeviling a party hoping to avoid social controversies as the 2016 election approaches,” the Washington Post reports.
“Rapidly changing public opinion has forced much of the field to recalibrate their pitches. Early front-runners have sought balance between the GOP base and the broader electorate — saying that they have no problem with gay people but oppose a national right to gay marriage and favor strong legal protections for business owners who do not want to serve same-sex ceremonies.”
President Obama “escalated a public feud over international trade with the liberal wing of his own party, a brawl that threatens to undermine one of the key goals for the White House this year,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The schism over trade widened with several testy exchanges this week between Mr. Obama and his liberal base, including remarks Friday in which the president said critics were mischaracterizing the deal.”
Huffington Post: Obama hits Warren and Democrats on trade
“I have proposed a new rule to allow school districts to install deep fat fryers and sell beverages like diet soda. I believe each school district – not the state or federal government – should decide what foods are offered to students… If a school district doesn’t agree with any of these changes, then the district doesn’t have to implement them. That’s the beauty here. It’s not about French fries; it’s about freedom.”
— Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, in a letter to the Houston Chronicle.
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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