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Clinton Will Highlight Gender This Time

February 24, 2015 at 9:30 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 19 Comments

The last time Hillary Clinton ran for president, “she seemed torn over whether to emphasize her chance to make history, or to play down her gender and reassure voters that she was tough enough for the job,” the New York Times reports.

“This time there is no question: Mrs. Clinton’s potential to break what she has called ‘the highest and hardest glass ceiling’ is already central to her fledgling 2016 presidential campaign.”

“But rather than the assertive feminism associated with her years as first lady, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign message will be subtler. It will involve frequent references to being a mother and grandmother and to how her family has inspired her to embrace policies that she believes would help middle-class families.”

Lawmaker Says Cancer Is a Fungus

February 24, 2015 at 5:22 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 87 Comments

Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore (R) wants to ease health care rules because she has friends who left the country to find end-of-life treatments, Jon Ralston reports.

Said Fiore: “If you have cancer, which I believe is a fungus, and we can put a pic line into your body and we’re flushing with, say, salt water, sodium cardonate, through that line and flushing out the fungus. These are some procedures that are not FDA-approved in America that are very inexpensive, cost-effective.”

Villaraigosa Won’t Run for Senate in California

February 24, 2015 at 5:07 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 34 Comments

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) told the Los Angeles Times that he would not enter the race for Barbara Boxer’s seat in the U.S. Senate, leaving state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris (D) as the only major candidate.

“Villaraigosa’s surprise decision followed weeks of meetings and phone conversations with Democratic luminaries, campaign consultants, fundraisers and potential supporters. Close allies had expected him to run.”

McConnell Backs Paul’s Efforts to Run for Two Offices

February 24, 2015 at 4:59 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 24 Comments

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell endorsed Sen. Rand Paul’s “push for a Republican presidential caucus in Kentucky, lending heavy weight Tuesday to a proposal that had raised concerns among some members of the state GOP’s executive committee,” the Lexington Herald Leader reports.

“Paul’s push for a caucus in early 2016 would allow him to run for two offices in the same year despite a Kentucky law that prohibits a candidate from appearing on the same ballot twice.”

Strickland Expected to Launch Senate Bid

February 24, 2015 at 4:42 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 12 Comments

Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (D) is likely to launch a long-rumored U.S. Senate bid this week, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

“Strickland is expected to issue a morning statement, and all indications are that he will confirm his intentions to challenge Republican incumbent Rob Portman. It’s a decision that could pit two Washington veterans against each other in a nationally watched race that could have ramifications on which party controls Congress.”

Obama Vetoes Keystone XL Legislation

February 24, 2015 at 3:39 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 41 Comments

President Obama “has officially vetoed a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, marking his third rejection of congressionally approved legislation during his six years in office,” NBC News reports.

“Congress could override the veto if two-thirds of both the House and the Senate vote to do so, but lawmakers aren’t expected to reach that threshold.”

Reid Won’t Move on Funding Bill Until Boehner Caves

February 24, 2015 at 3:25 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 64 Comments

“In an extraordinary sequence, Mitch McConnell offered Democrats Tuesday exactly what they have been asking for — ‘clean’ full-year funding for the Department of Homeland Security. And Harry Reid said no — or at least, not yet,” Roll Call reports.

“Majority Leader McConnell’s offer of passing a clean full-year Homeland Security bill through the Senate shorn of immigration provisions — which he said could happen very quickly with Democratic cooperation — was put on hold by Minority Leader Reid, who told reporters he was waiting to hear Speaker John A. Boehner agree to pass it through the House first.”

Said Reid: “We have to make sure that we get a bill to the president. Unless Boehner’s in on the deal, it won’t happen.”

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

February 24, 2015 at 2:22 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 17 Comments

“I would think, as we approach the 50th anniversary of Selma, that Republicans should be more sensitive about what they’re doing to this woman.”

— Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), quoted by Bloomberg, on the stalled nomination of Loretta Lynch as Attorney General.

Dreier Urged to Run for Senate in California

February 24, 2015 at 2:12 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 23 Comments

Former Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) “is among those being approached” about a potential U.S. Senate campaign in California, the Sacramento Bee reports.

“A distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution, he has over the decades repeatedly been mentioned as a likely GOP candidate for statewide office. He departed Congress after the once-a-decade process of redrawing district boundaries left him with few good options.”

Foreign Policy Becomes Top Issue for GOP Candidates

February 24, 2015 at 2:03 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 21 Comments

“Gruesome killings by the Islamic State, terrorist attacks in Europe and tensions with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia are reshaping the early Republican presidential race, creating anxiety among party voters and sending potential candidates scrambling to outmuscle one another on foreign policy,” the New York Times reports.

“Doubts that crept into the minds of conservatives about engagement abroad after George W. Bush’s presidency and the protracted war in Iraq are dissipating, and they are increasingly pressing for more action against the Islamic State.”

Walker Has Not Communicated with God

February 24, 2015 at 1:15 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 201 Comments

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) frequently says he’s waiting for “God’s calling” to run for president, so he was recently asked under public records laws to provide call “a copy/transcript of all communications with God, the Lord, Christ, Jesus or any other form of deity.”

Walker’s office responded that no such records exist.

Walker Leads the GOP Pack

February 24, 2015 at 11:39 am EST By Taegan Goddard 117 Comments

A new Public Policy Polling national survey finds Scott Walker leads the Republican presidential field with 25%, followed by Ben Carson at 18%, Jeb Bush at 17% and Mike Huckabee at 10%.

No other potential candidate gets more than 5% of the vote.

Key finding: “Walker is climbing fast in the polling because of his appeal to the most conservative elements of the Republican electorate.”

Killing the Messenger

February 24, 2015 at 10:42 am EST By Taegan Goddard 3 Comments

Coming later this year: Killing the Messenger: Clintonland, Kochville, and the Battle for 2016 by David Brock.

New York Times: “Mr. Brock declined to comment… But one person involved in the production said it’s expected to be an outgrowth of a speech Mr. Brock gave at the Clinton School of Public Affairs in Little Rock., Ark., last year. That address was something of a matriculation for the former self-described ‘hit man’ whose work for conservative outlets in the 1990s produced some of the ugliest stories the Clinton White House had to contend with.”

Bush Invites Donors to Meet Campaign Team

February 24, 2015 at 10:01 am EST By Taegan Goddard 6 Comments

Jeb Bush “plans to reward his biggest early financial backers with a mid-April meeting in Miami with his likely campaign team,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The confab is being organized for so-called bundlers who have ‘met or exceeded’ their fundraising targets, according to an email circulated by Mr. Bush’s finance team. Heather Larrison, who runs his fundraising effort, told a group in Washington last week that the event would take place on April 13… The timing of the session is bound to fuel speculation that Mr. Bush will officially announce his intent to run for president beforehand. The Bush team is scrambling to collect as much money as possible for a pair of political-action committees by March 31, the first-quarter fundraising deadline.”

Rubio Appears Decided on Presidential Bid

February 24, 2015 at 9:38 am EST By Taegan Goddard 48 Comments

The New York Times reports Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) “is quietly telling donors that he is committed to running for president, not re-election to the Senate.”

He’s expected to make a formal announcement in April.

Can Republicans Find a Way to Avoid a Shutdown?

February 24, 2015 at 9:19 am EST By Taegan Goddard 30 Comments

Rick Klein: “This is the era of manufactured crises, as President Obama is fond of pointing out. It is also, apparently, the era of manufactured crises without exit strategies. Two months in the new year surely felt like plenty of time back when Republicans agreed to set a Department of Homeland Security funding deadline to force a showdown over immigration. But the end of February has come fast, with no change in the political dynamics or vote results or rhetoric. There’s been wide commentary on how Republicans knew they were given the keys to Capitol Hill on a provisional basis – that they needed to show they can govern, not just hold a majority. Well, here’s such a time.”

First Read: “Republicans claim that Senate Democrats are the ones obstructing things, because they are filibustering a DHS funding bill that contains riders rolling back President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. Yet as we learned during the last government shutdown, the side that’s using government spending to demand changes to existing law or directives is going to be side that gets blamed if the government (or just part of it) shuts down.”

Morning Line: “By the way, this funding crisis probably isn’t the last one we’ll see this year. There are more within view — in coming months, the U.S. will again hit its debt ceiling and the Highway Trust Fund will go into the red if Congress doesn’t act.”

Clinton Holds Early Lead in North Carolina

February 24, 2015 at 8:21 am EST By Taegan Goddard 73 Comments

A new Elon Poll in North Carolina finds Hillary Clinton leading Jeb Bush in a possible presidential match up, 46% to 40%.

Weiss Playing Same Role But Without Senate Confirmation

February 24, 2015 at 8:19 am EST By Taegan Goddard 6 Comments

Bloomberg: “Eight days after joining the Treasury Department as an adviser, Antonio Weiss was the lead U.S. official listed at a meeting with Wall Street executives. It’s a role typically played by the undersecretary for domestic finance — the same post Weiss lost after Democratic senators stymied his nomination.”

“The sequence of events has raised questions about whether the administration is trying to circumvent the normal Senate confirmation process.”