Donald Trump told Fox News he doubts Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) can legally run for president because he was born in Canada.
Said Trump: “It’s a hurdle; somebody could certainly look at it very seriously. He was born in Canada. If you know and when we all studied our history lessons, you are supposed to be born in this country, so I just don’t know how the courts will rule on this.”
The Hill reports Cruz said he is still a natural born citizen by birth because his mother was American.
Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential bid “has prompted an outpouring of excitement and delight — from Democrats,” The Hill reports.
“To liberal activists, the firebrand Texan is much too far to the right for the nation at large and too extreme to even win the Republican nomination. But they want nothing more than for him to run strongly throughout the primary season. The more momentum he develops, they argue, the more likely he is to push the eventual GOP nominee further to the right than that person will want to go.”
The New York Times has a good look at what it would take for Cruz to win.
A new Ogden & Fry survey in Chicago finds Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) well ahead of challenger Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (D) in the race for mayor, 49% to 32%.
You're reading the free version of Political Wire
Upgrade to a paid membership to unlock full access. The process is quick and easy. You can even use Apple Pay.
“Soon after the U.S. and other major powers entered negotiations last year to curtail Iran’s nuclear program, senior White House officials learned Israel was spying on the closed-door talks,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The spying operation was part of a broader campaign by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to penetrate the negotiations and then help build a case against the emerging terms of the deal, current and former U.S. officials said. In addition to eavesdropping, Israel acquired information from confidential U.S. briefings, informants and diplomatic contacts in Europe, the officials said.”
The BBC reports Israel denies spying on the nuclear talks.
Even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Israeli Arabs for comments made during his re-election campaign, “the White House issued a new signal that it remained furious with Mr. Netanyahu for campaign comments that also appeared to close the door on a two-state solution to the Palestinian conflict,” the New York Times reports.
Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) “splashy entry into the 2016 race Monday intensifies the early battle to consolidate conservative voters who are intent on denying the Republican Party establishment yet another presidential nomination,” the Washington Post reports.
“In a primary fight more up for grabs than Republicans have seen in a generation, at least a half-dozen credible contenders are likely to join Cruz in competing for the hearts of conservatives. They face a labyrinth of tests of ideology and temperament, on talk radio and at tea party and faith forums, in a melee to become the hard right’s standard-bearer.”
Politico: Cruz’s strategy is to destroy the “mushy-middle.”
“There was a presidential candidate who ran in 2012 promising to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and that campaign pledge didn’t work out very well for him.”
— White House press secretary Josh Earnest, quoted by The Hill, noting the GOP presidential candidates who want to repeal Obamacare.
The Guardian reports there will be a sequel to Nelson Mandela’s A Long Walk to Freedom, one of the best selling political memoirs ever.
“More than 20 years later, the world will finally get an answer with the posthumous publication of a sequel based on a little known manuscript that Mandela wrote by hand but never completed, chronicling his time as South Africa’s first black president.”
“As House Republicans try to pass a 2016 budget blueprint, GOP leadership is relying on an obscure legislative procedure to try to break the impasse between staunch fiscal conservatives and defense hawks,” Politico reports.
“The move is called called ‘Queen of the Hill,’ and it’s hardly ever used on Capitol Hill. Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)… will allow one vote on Rep. Tom Price’s (R-GA) Budget Committee’s spending plan, which infuriated defense-minded lawmakers who thought it underfunded the Pentagon.”
“They’ll also allow a vote on a nearly identical budget, which includes language to increase defense spending. Whichever plan gets the most votes will become the House GOP’s budget. It’s a gamble for GOP leadership. It is betting that Price’s budget will fail and the spending plan with increased defense money will pass and become the fiscal plan for the House Republican Conference.”
Harry Enten notes that what’s important right now in the GOP presidential race “isn’t where you stand in the polls; it’s where you stand with donors and activists. While Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee and Scott Walker haven’t filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), they have been running for months. In fact, not declaring and instead raising money for your super PAC holds distinct financial advantages in raising unlimited funds.”
“Cruz is actually late to the party. He has fallen behind the leading contenders. A candidate who isn’t as flawed as Cruz could afford such a misstep. Cruz, though, needs to run a perfect campaign to have any shot of winning. He’s already failing to do so.”
Politico: The curse of being first
Nate Cohn: “Political scientists argue that the single most important determinant of the outcome of the nomination is support from party elites: those operatives who can staff a winning campaign; the donors who fund it; the elected officials and interest group leaders who bestow the credibility necessary to persuade voters and affect media coverage.”
“The candidate with the most support from party elites doesn’t always win the nomination, but support from elites is probably a prerequisite for victory… Mr. Cruz has done nothing to endear himself to the elites.”
The Atlantic: “Why is Cruz a longshot? He’s a first-term senator (yes, yes, exceptions and rules, etc.). He’s probably too conservative even to win a GOP primary, but particularly to win a general election: Even his backers portray him as a latter-day Barry Goldwater, only somehow able to win. In just a few short months, he has managed to consistently alienate even his Republican colleagues — which, whatever you think of the merits of Senate courtesy, won’t help in a primary campaign.”
Dan Balz: “If there is a senator who has had chillier relations with his colleagues, it would be hard to name that person.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized “for warning last week that Arab citizens were voting in “droves,” comments that have been denounced by President Obama, other world leaders, American Jewish leaders and many Israelis as anti-democratic, race-baiting and fear-mongering,” the New York Times reports.
“The apology came hours after Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, announced that Mr. Netanyahu had secured the backing of 67 of the 120 Parliament members elected last week and officially designated him to form the next government.”
“People want folks who they believe in what they say and don’t change depending on what state they’re in.”
— Gov. Chris Christie (R), quoted by Time, taking a shot at Gov. Scott Walker (R).
Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-FL) said he will run for the U.S. Senate in 2016 Marco Rubio is expected to vacate, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Murphy defeated Rep. Allen West (R-FL) in 2012 “and was considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the country. But a strong competitor never emerged in 2014 and Murphy did a good job of navigating the politically mixed nature of the district. He’s the first candidate to officially declare but will likely be joined by others in pursuit of what should be an open seat.”
Gerald Seib notes “two factors — the rapid rise of Islamic State as a broad threat to the international order and the likelihood of a highly controversial nuclear deal with Iran — are driving national security higher on the agenda than seemed likely just a few months ago. And that, in turn, scrambles the political calculus in both parties.”
“This change doesn’t mean foreign policy will trump economic concerns as a 2016 area of emphasis, merely that it won’t take the back seat that seemed likely not long ago. The broadest issue atop the agenda still figures to be the widespread sense of middle-class stagnation: the sense that even as the economy improves on a macro level, on the micro level many families aren’t seeing commensurate improvement in wages, job security or economic confidence.”
“But that sense of domestic unease now will share more of the stage with a sense of global uncertainty.”
“In 2008, the Justice Department took the unusual step of indicting a sitting United States senator. Prosecutors described the senator, Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican, as a crafty politician who concealed the expensive gifts that had been lavished upon him by one of his friends, a millionaire oil contractor. The case ultimately collapsed, becoming an embarrassing cautionary tale about overzealous prosecuting,” the New York Times reports.
“Now, federal corruption prosecutors are close to once again bringing charges against a senator, Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat. The Justice Department’s public corruption unit, which was overhauled after the Stevens case, is running the investigation. Once again, the case involves a lawmaker and gifts from a wealthy friend.”
“The House is inching closer to a major deal on Medicare payments that could help cement a legacy for Speaker John Boehner,” The Hill reports.
“Boehner has spent two months quietly working with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to finally solve a Medicare payment problem that has eluded congressional leaders for more than 20 years. ”
As Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “launches his presidential campaign Monday, he will draw heavily upon his experience in 2012, when he shocked the GOP establishment and toppled a better known and better-funded opponent in a tea-party fueled primary win,” National Journal reports.
“Then, as now, Cruz began as a blip in the polls. Then, as now, he planned to run as an unbending conservative champion. Then, as now, the establishment was against him. Then, as now, he knew he would be outspent.”
“Then, he won. Now, he’s trying to do it again, this time on an even bigger stage.”
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.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.