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Party Favorability Hits New Low

March 16, 2015 at 8:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 8 Comments

Gallup: “Thirty-seven percent of Americans now view the Republican Party favorably and 39% view the Democratic Party favorably. This is the only time since Gallup began tracking the party’s images this way in 1992 that neither party has achieved at least 40% favorability from the public.”

“Except for a brief spike to 51% for the Democrats after Obama was re-elected in 2012, both parties’ ratings have registered below 50% since 2010. The descent to sub-40% ratings for both parties marks a new low in an already inauspicious trend.”

Rubio’s House of Horrors

March 16, 2015 at 7:25 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 2 Comments

Politico looks at a house jointly owned by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and scandal-plagued ex-Rep. David Rivera (R-FL).

“In many ways, it has been a house of horrors for Rubio, a financial and political liability heading into the 2016 election. While he and Rivera were state legislators, they paid way too much for it in 2005, only to see it go embarrassingly into foreclosure for a spell during Rubio’s 2010 Senate race… Now, the three-bedroom property stands as a stubborn symbol of both a politically problematic friendship and lingering questions about Rubio’s personal finances, which dogged him on the campaign trail in 2010 and may do so again.”

Netanyahu Tells Supporters He May Lose

March 16, 2015 at 7:17 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 22 Comments

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “warned supporters at a rally here Sunday that he and his Likud party may not win Tuesday’s election, a potentially dramatic fall for a consummate political survivor whose nine years in office transformed him into the public face of contemporary Israel,” the Washington Post reports.

“A loss by Netanyahu — or a razor-thin win and the prospect that he would be forced to enter into an unwieldy ‘government of national unity’ with his rivals — would mark a sobering reversal for Israel’s security hawks, in a country where the electorate has been moving steadily rightward for the past 15 years.”

GOP Increasingly Divided on Military Spending

March 16, 2015 at 7:14 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 7 Comments

“The congressional push this week to secure the first Republican budget plan in nearly a decade is revealing a chasm between fiscal hawks determined to maintain strict spending caps and defense hawks who are threatening to derail any budget that does not ensure an increase for the military,” the New York Times reports.

Said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC): “This is a war within the Republican Party. You can shade it any way you want, but this is war.”

Walker Sons Will Take Break from College

March 16, 2015 at 7:10 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 21 Comments

Gov. Scott Walker (R) “said his sons Matt and Alex would take a semester off from college this fall to talk to voters around the country — a move that would give Walker two campaign surrogates who can relate to young voters,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Bush and Walker Adopt Different Styles

March 16, 2015 at 7:08 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 10 Comments

In their first political trips to New Hampshire ahead of the 2016 presidential election, “Jeb Bush drew the curious. Scott Walker drew the committed,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“As the two Republicans visited New Hampshire this weekend, the tone and substance of their events showed how the men—considered to be early leaders in the race for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination—have adopted far different profiles at this early stage of their likely campaigns… Even the way the two men were attired sent signals about how they are managing their appeal. Mr. Bush wore the garb of the donor circuit, a dark suit and white dress shirt, while Mr. Walker on Saturday donned a thick sweater that, he bragged, he bought the day before, on sale, for $1.”

Putin Reappears After 10 Days

March 16, 2015 at 7:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 4 Comments

President Vladimir Putin has appeared in public for the first time since March 5, “quelling intense speculation about his health,” the BBC reports.

Commenting on the rumors about his health, Putin said “things would be boring without gossip.”

Obama Still Setting the Agenda Despite GOP Control

March 16, 2015 at 7:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 7 Comments

Politico: “Three months into the expanded Republican majorities on the Hill, White House aides see a landscape in which President Barack Obama is more in charge now than he was before the midterms. Rather than moving forward on their own priorities as Republican leaders promised after their midterm sweep, the House and Senate find themselves reacting to Obama.”

Cruz Calls for Unlimited Campaign Contributions

March 15, 2015 at 8:56 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 33 Comments

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said that “eliminating limits on how much money voters can give politicians would give people a greater say in the political process,” the Washington Post reports.

“Cruz introduced legislation last year that would eliminate limits on direct political contributions — rendering super PACs pointless because individuals could give directly to candidates.”

Democrats Buck White House on Iran Deal

March 15, 2015 at 8:01 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 36 Comments

Politico: “Even as the White House ramps up pressure on Congress to stay out of its negotiations with Iran on a nuclear agreement, Republicans are on the brink of veto-proof majorities for legislation that could undercut any deal. And that support has held up even after the uproar last week over the GOP’s letter to Iranian leaders warning against an agreement.”

“That presents another complication for the administration ahead of a rough deadline of March 24 to reach a nuclear agreement with the country.”

McConnell Will Hold Up Lynch Nomination

March 15, 2015 at 1:40 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 48 Comments

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN said he plans to hold up attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch’s confirmation until the Senate passes a now-controversial human trafficking bill.

Said McConnell: “This will have an impact on the timing of considering a new attorney general. I had hoped to turn to her next week, but if we can’t finish the trafficking bill, she will be put off again.”

“Democrats are now holding up the trafficking bill, which glided through the judiciary committee, after they noticed an abortion provision embedded in the bill that would prevent victims of human trafficking from using restitution funds to pay for an abortion.”

Bonus Quote of the Day

March 15, 2015 at 11:04 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 77 Comments

“I suspect she didn’t want Louie Gohmert rifling though her e-mails, which seems to me to be a kind of reasonable position for someone to take.”

— James Carville, quoted by Bloomberg, on why Hillary Clinton may have kept a private email server while Secretary of State.

Jindal’s Star No Longer Rising

March 15, 2015 at 11:02 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 48 Comments

The Washington Post says Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) “is one of the great mysteries of the early 2016 campaign: the rising star who has stalled.”

“Not long ago, the Louisiana governor was the Republican candidate of the future — the son of immigrants and also a proud product of the Deep South. He is a devout Catholic, an experienced governor and — in a political sphere dominated by shallow cable-television shouters — a data-driven Rhodes Scholar.”

“But now, Jindal sits at about 2 percent in national Republican polls. He has become such an afterthought that he recently resorted to asking himself a “gotcha” question. The media hadn’t bothered, and he wanted to stay in the conversation.”

Boehner Will Launch Broad Probe of Clinton Emails

March 15, 2015 at 10:09 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 28 Comments

House Speaker John Boehner “is expected to announce this week a new investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email practices as Secretary of State, including her admission that more than 31,000 emails were destroyed because she determined them to be personal,” ABC News reports.

Clinton said “she deleted all of the personal emails because she felt she ‘had no reason to save them.’ The revelation has only raised more questions among Clinton’s detractors about what was in those emails and why she used the private account in the first place.”

David Remnick: “Why do I suddenly feel twenty years younger yet thoroughly exhausted?”

Rumors Swirl Over Putin’s Absence

March 15, 2015 at 10:07 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 29 Comments

Russian President Vladimir Putin “had not been seen in public for more than a week. Where he has been – or is, if he doesn’t appear today – has been the subject of worldwide speculation. Whatever the answer, it is beyond doubt that there was a gaping, Vladimir Putin-sized hole in Russia for 10 days,” the Independent reports.

New York Post: “Putin hasn’t been seen in public for more than a week — and rampant speculation over the Russian president’s whereabouts took a wild turn on Friday with reports he was in Switzerland for the birth of his secret daughter.”

Daily Mail: “Vladimir Putin is ‘alive’ but ‘neutralised’ as shadowy security chiefs stage a stealthy coup in Moscow, it was claimed last night.”

Netanyahu Trails in Final Days Before Election

March 15, 2015 at 10:02 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 27 Comments

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is fighting for his political life this weekend, as a rival aided by a former consultant to President Obama threatens to oust the long-serving Israeli leader in Tuesday’s parliamentary election,” USA Today reports.

“Polls show a coalition led by Isaac Herzog clinging to a small lead over Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party.”

Haaretz has a round up of the latest polls.

Hollings Makes Grand Gesture for Former Judge

March 15, 2015 at 9:56 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 12 Comments

Former Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-SC) called Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to ask that a federal courthouse named after him be renamed for former U.S. District Judge Julius Waties Waring instead, the Charleston Post & Courier reports.

Waring was a relatively unknown judge but one who Hollings believes kicked off the civil rights movement with his rulings.

Said Graham: “I was touched by it; it was incredible. It speaks volumes about Sen. Hollings. Not many people in my business would do that.”

Schock Benefited from Donor Projects

March 15, 2015 at 9:47 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 6 Comments

Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) “has built much of his personal wealth over a decade through real estate investments with political donors, an Associated Press review found. His relationships with other contributors, which afforded him flights on private planes and other expenses, are already under scrutiny.”

“Donors built, financed and later purchased a house Schock owned as an investment in a suburb of Peoria, Illinois. Schock owns a stake in a Peoria apartment complex involving other contributors. And he pushed for a federal appropriation that would have benefited a donor’s development project.”