A new Bloomberg Politics/Saint Anselm New Hampshire Poll finds Sen. Rand Paul and Gov. Scott Walker leading the GOP presidential field with 12%, followed by Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio at 11%.
They are followed by Donald Trump at 8%, Chris Christie at 7%, Ted Cruz at 6%, Ben Carson at 5%, Mike Huckabee at 4% and Carly Fiorina at 3%.
“Hillary Clinton’s war in Libya, I think, made it less safe… It made it a hotbed for jihadists. And, in fact, I Libya is now a jihadist wonderland.”
— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by The Hill.
President Obama’s “most aggressive and sustained legislative push since the Affordable Care Act faces a crucial first test this week, when a divided Senate considers a bill that would grant him accelerated power to finalize a massive trade accord with 11 nations across the Pacific Rim,” the New York Times reports.
“But after a lobbying campaign that has included giving members of Congress rides on Air Force One, pitching them at meetings in the West Wing, making private vows of political support and attacking publicly critics in his own party, Mr. Obama’s top legislative priority remains at risk.”
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.
The New York Times profiles the money man behind Sen. Marco Rubio’s rapid political rise, a billionaire auto dealer named Norman Braman.
“As Mr. Rubio has ascended in the ranks of Republican politics, Mr. Braman has emerged as a remarkable and unique patron. He has bankrolled Mr. Rubio’s campaigns. He has financed Mr. Rubio’s legislative agenda. And, at the same time, he has subsidized Mr. Rubio’s personal finances, as the rising politician and his wife grappled with heavy debt and big swings in their income.”
Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) will enter the race for Indiana Senate on Saturday, joining a former chief of staff for retiring Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN) in the Republican primary, The Hill reports.
Former “Brady Bunch” star Florence Henderson told the Huffington Post how she unexpectedly contracted a sexually transmitted disease after a “little fling” with former New York City Mayor John Lindsay.
Said Henderson: “It’s not something I’m proud of but it’s something that happened. We had a little fling one night and the next morning, I woke up and I had these creatures and I had no idea.”
She added: “He sent me flowers the next day and apologized. And of course, I never really saw him again.”
Jeff Greenfield: “Up to now, Clinton’s potential rivals have been taking the traditional route of arguing that she does not truly reflect the Democratic base on issues like income inequality and corporate regulation. Now, they have been handed a much more potent argument: that the financial behavior of the Clintons demonstrates that they identify with the one per cent—or one-tenth of one per cent—and that their conduct will be as big a liability to Hillary Clinton as Mitt Romney’s business career and tax returns were to him in 2012.”
“But, as with nitroglycerin, a potent substance can also be highly dangerous. Bill Clinton is the most admired man in America; and among Democrats, his approval rating is stratospheric. Up to now, there has been no significant unhappiness within her party at the prospect of a Hillary Clinton nomination… Moreover, nothing is more likely to rally Democrats around Clinton than the assaults from across the political divide.”
The World Health Organization declared that Liberia was finally free of Ebola virus transmission.
“Forty-two days have passed since the last laboratory-confirmed case was buried on 28 March 2015. The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Liberia is over.”
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the richest man in Congress, told CNN that America has made “our poor somewhat the envy of the world.”
Said Issa: “If you go to India or you go to any number of other Third World countries, you have two problems: You have greater inequality of income and wealth. You also have less opportunity for people to rise from the have not to the have.”
Akron mayor Don Plusquellic abruptly announced his resignation Friday, blaming the Akron Beacon Journal for his departure.
Said Plusquellic: “I do not believe that my hometown newspaper is interested in the truth. I am done fighting this madness.”
Plusquellic had been mayor since 1987.
Vermont state Sen. Norman McAllister (R) “has pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of sexual assault and three misdemeanors of prohibited acts, the charges arising from what police describe as a sex-for-rent scheme involving several unwilling tenants,” the Burlington Free Press reports.
Prosecutors allege McAllister, “over a period of several years sexually assaulted two women who were his tenants and employees, and that he attempted to solicit a third woman… The allegations, explained in sometimes graphic detail in court papers, shocked the governor and McAllister’s Statehouse colleagues, several of whom witnessed his arrest outside the Capitol on Thursday evening.”
Hillary Clinton “has agreed to testify before the Benghazi committee this month but don’t expect Republicans to be satisfied with her appearance,” The Hill reports.
“House Republicans have now spent a full year investigating the 2012 terrorist attacks in Libya — including whether any of the former secretary of State’s actions may have contributed to the incident — and there are few indications there will be a speedy conclusion to their inquiries.”
Representatives from Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) political action committee reached out and asked Paul Joffe if he would be willing to sell the domain name BernieSanders.com to them, CNN reports.
“He gave them a flat no. He didn’t want money, he told them. All he wanted was to meet the senator.”
“The story of how Sanders, the newly minted presidential candidate, came to own BernieSanders.com exemplifies the kind of grassroots liberal support the independent senator enjoys. And the story of his acquisition contrasts vividly with domain name mistakes that have hurt other presidential candidates.”
“In all my years as journalist and strategist, I’ve never seen as stark a failure of polling as in the UK.”
— David Axelrod, quoted by the Daily Beast.
Jeb Bush “is putting in motion an ambitious plan to develop a super PAC that would be unprecedented in its size and scope — a blueprint growing in scale and intensity as he nears the formal launch of his presidential campaign,” Politico reports.
“The group, called Right to Rise, is said to be on track for raising an historic $100 million by the end of May, and its budget is expected to dwarf that of Bush’s official campaign many times over.”
“Bush is even setting the timing of his official campaign announcement — which is increasingly likely to come in mid-June, following a trip to Europe — around a cross-country fundraising tour. In the final weeks leading up to the launch, his strategists have been devising a plan to allow both arms of the campaign — the official one and the super PAC — to work seamlessly, even as they will be legally barred from coordinating once he officially becomes a candidate.”
“According to a draft of the document provided to The Daily Beast by someone asked to join the effort, de Blasio will call for a number of measures for which he has already pushed in New York City, including national paid sick leave and free, universal pre-kindergarten and afterschool programs.”
“The contract will also put de Blasio in the center of some of the debates currently roiling Washington. According to a draft of the document circulated this week, de Blasio will call for the passage of comprehensive immigration and for Democrats to ‘oppose trade deals that hand more power to corporations at the expense of American jobs, workers’ rights, and the environment.'”
“I said he reminds you of a psychopath, because they tend to be extremely smooth, charming people who can tell a lie to your face with complete — it looks like sincerity, even though they know it’s a lie. I think he knows full well that the unemployment rate is not 5.5%. He knows that.”
— Ben Carson, Friday on CNBC interview, about his characterization of President Obama as a psychopath.
“A record 1,335 Americans living overseas renounced their citizenship in the first three months of 2015,” The Hill reports.
“That number is 18 percent higher than the previous record… In all of 2014, 3,415 individuals gave up their U.S. citizenship, the second straight year when renouncements hit a new record high.”
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.