“I’m the candidate. And my views are the ones that matter.”
— Rick Perry (R), quoted by the Des Moines Register, forgetting that he’s not officially said he’s a candidate for president when asked about the views of his aides.
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McConnell Blocked Just As Often By His Own Party
“When he became majority leader, propelled by sweeping Republican victories last year, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky vowed to run a more productive and traditional Senate than his Democratic predecessor, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada,” the New York Times reports.
“In some ways, that has come to pass. Democrats have been given greater opportunity to amend bills than Republicans had when Mr. Reid had a majority. Mr. McConnell promised there would be no government shutdown, and he averted one over funding the Department of Homeland Security. And, occasionally, senators now have to work on Fridays. But when it comes to the central role of a Senate leader — getting things done — Mr. McConnell has been impeded by internal struggles in his party and the hostility that awaits him across the aisle.”
Israeli Politics Complicates Clinton’s Emerging Campaign
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s victory in this week’s Israeli elections has reverberated through American politics, reinforcing Republican faith in the political wisdom of a hawkish foreign policy, worsening his relationship with President Obama, and energizing liberal critics of Israel’s government. But mostly it has complicated the life of Hillary Clinton,” the New York Times reports.
“As she moves closer to making her campaign for president official, Mrs. Clinton now faces a deepening polarization among Jewish Democrats over Mr. Netanyahu and how the United States should deal with his government.”
Boehner Takes On Conservatives
Over the next week, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) plans “to jam two big-ticket items through the House — a show of strength for a leadership team stung by a string a defeats and facing doubts about whether it even can govern,” Politico reports.
“First, to get a budget approved, the Republican leaders intend to employ a parliamentary maneuver to boost defense spending by $20 billion without any corresponding spending cuts. They’re betting the move will help break a stalemate between fiscal hardliners and defense hawks. Within days of that, the GOP leaders will try to pass a permanent fix to the ‘Sustainable Growth Rate,’ a formula by which the federal government reimburses doctors who serve Medicare patients.”
Clinton Foundation Tapped Foreign Donors
“The Clinton Foundation swore off donations from foreign governments when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. That didn’t stop the foundation from raising millions of dollars from foreigners with connections to their home governments, a review of foundation disclosures shows,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“All told, more than a dozen foreign individuals and their foundations and companies were large donors to the Clinton Foundation in the years after Mrs. Clinton became secretary of state in 2009, collectively giving between $34 million and $68 million, foundation records show.”
McConnell Begins Campaign to Thwart Obama Rules
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “has begun an aggressive campaign to block President Obama’s climate change agenda in statehouses and courtrooms across the country, arenas far beyond Mr. McConnell’s official reach and authority,” the New York Times reports.
“The campaign of Mr. McConnell, the Senate majority leader, is aimed at stopping a set of Environmental Protection Agency regulations requiring states to reduce carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants, the nation’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.”
Campaign Staffers Are Targets Too
Politico: “The cross hairs are no longer trained solely on the candidates themselves: Staffers are now also considered fair game for opposition research hits — and campaigns are struggling to react to a world in which the candidate isn’t always the focal point for attacks.”
A Nixonian Path to the White House
“The effective kickoff of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign was an act of deck-clearing so breathtaking, so brazen, that it remains difficult to process,” Michael Gerson writes.
“The former secretary of state summoned reporters to the United Nations, made a statement on Iran nuclear negotiations, then admitted deleting more than 30,000 e-mails she had deemed personal from the account she exclusively used while in office. This was the culmination of a deliberate, multiyear end run around congressional oversight, the Freedom of Information Act and the archiving of federal records. Documents she found inconvenient to sort while in government were convenient to destroy after leaving office.”
O’Malley Hopes Iowa Groundwork Pays Off
“Over the past two years, as Martin O’Malley has mulled a run for president, he has poured hefty resources into Iowa, appearing at 24 campaign events and fundraisers, lending 14 staffers to Democratic candidates and the state party, and donating more than $40,000,” the Washington Post reports.
“Remarkably, as the 2016 presidential race launches in earnest, very few of the candidates and party leaders O’Malley helped in Iowa have committed — to him, to presumed front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton or to anyone else. Many of these Democrats say it is too early to decide whom they will support, creating hope for the long shot from Maryland but also leaving it unclear whether his considerable efforts will generate anything more than goodwill.”
Schock Leaves Congress with $3.3 Million War Chest
Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) “is resigning from Congress with about $3.3 million in his campaign funds and several options for spending it,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
“Federal law used to allow officials leaving office to keep that money for themselves. But that’s no longer allowed. Schock may use the cash to pay any legal bills he’s incurred amid recent questions about irregularities in his spending. He also could return the money to donors or give it to other candidates, the GOP or to charity.”
Jindal’s Budget Cuts Funding for Presidential Primary
“State officials in Louisiana are scrambling to find the money to stage a primary election next year after Governor Bobby Jindal, a potential presidential candidate, did not provide funding in his annual budget,” Reuters reports.
Why Is Marco Rubio Underperforming?
Amy Walter: “Jeb Bush is the strongest in the establishment space, while Rand Paul dominates the Libertarian column. The Tea Party, social conservative and internationalist slots are pretty crowded and lack an obvious frontrunner. However, only Rubio and Scott Walker start out as suitable to the entire spectrum. Among the twelve GOP “constituencies” identified by the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, Walker and Rubio are the only candidates who rank high in all twelve. Walker ranks first among men, conservatives, Tea Party and Gun Rights voters. Rubio, meanwhile, comes in first among women, very conservative voters, independent/Dems, and those who supported Romney in 2012.”
“Yet, if Rubio’s got such obvious advantages, why is he stuck in the low single digits while Walker has become a co-frontrunner with Bush?”
Emanuel Needs GOP Votes to Win
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel “is about as partisan a Democrat as there is in this country. But to win a second term and avoid a humiliating defeat, he’ll need to win over and turn out the small number of Republicans in the city,” National Journal reports.
“Emanuel isn’t openly telegraphing his runoff strategy, but signs of his reliance on the party he has worked to oppose his whole career are everywhere.”
Clinton Foundation Donors Not Disclosed as Promised
“In 2008, Hillary Clinton promised Barack Obama, the president-elect, there would be no mystery about who was giving money to her family’s globe-circling charities. She made a pledge to publish all the donors on an annual basis to ease concerns that as secretary of state she could be vulnerable to accusations of foreign influence,” Reuters reports.
“At the outset, the Clinton Foundation did indeed publish what they said was a complete list of the names of more than 200,000 donors and has continued to update it. But in a breach of the pledge, the charity’s flagship health program, which spends more than all of the other foundation initiatives put together, stopped making the annual disclosure in 2010.”
Feds Seek Evidence Christie Retaliated Against Mayor
“Federal prosecutors issued a new subpoena to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey this week seeking possible evidence of claims New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s administration retaliated against the Democratic mayor of Jersey City,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The subpoena seeks records from a broad range of former authority officials regarding their interactions with Jersey City… including two Christie allies who resigned from the authority amid the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal, David Wildstein and Bill Baroni.”
Netanyahu Reopens Door to Palestinian State
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “walked back his pre-election declaration that no Palestinian state would be established on his watch, and said he had not been trying to suppress the votes of Arab citizens when he posted a video on Election Day warning that they were heading to polling stations in large numbers,” the New York Times reports.
The Wall Street Journal says Netanyahu withdrew his pledge to block the creation of a Palestinian state, saying he only believed the conditions for one “today are not achievable.”
Thomas Friedman: “When the official government of Israel is a far-right party that rejects a two-state solution and employs anti-Arab dog whistles to get elected, it will split the basic unity of the American Jewish community on Israel. How many American Jews want to defend a one-state solution in Washington or on their college campuses?”
Quote of the Day
“I think we are just going to see the ongoing attempt to investigate Hillary Clinton, be it her hair or her emails.”
— House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, quoted by Politico.
John Kasich Flirts With Presidential Race
New York Times: “Next week, Mr. Kasich will ratchet up his presidential guessing game with visits to the first primary state, New Hampshire, on Tuesday and to Manhattan on Wednesday to mingle at a dinner with Republican donors. In April, he will address the Detroit Economic Club, which recently hosted Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida.”
“If he does jump in, both skeptics and admirers say, Mr. Kasich must find a way to distinguish himself from an already overcrowded pack. But he will almost certainly enliven the debate and gain a measure of instant credibility because of Ohio’s status as a key swing state.”
