Roll Call:
“For a candidate known for one of the past decade’s most colossal
political mistakes, former Gov. Mark Sanford has run a nearly flawless
campaign for the 1st District. As a result, Sanford is on track to win
the Republican runoff and maintains a solid position in the special
election for the coastal, GOP-leaning district.”
First Read: “Following American politics can be fascinating… You can’t make this up.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) will be the keynote speaker at the South Carolina Republican Party’s Silver Elephant Celebration on May 3, The State reports.
Cruz is “widely considered to be a presidential candidate in 2016. His speech in South Carolina — which holds the crucial first in the South presidential primaries — will only intensify that speculation.”
Tennessee state Sen. Frank Niceley (R) introduced a bill to give Tennessee lawmakers the power to select nominees to the U.S. Senate, the AP reports.
“Under the bill, primary elections would be replaced with caucus votes in the General Assembly… the measure is aimed at returning to a system more closely resembling the era before the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ended legislatures’ power to directly appoint senators in 1913.”
Charlie Cook: “You can hear bad ideas almost every day. But only occasionally do you hear a colossally bad, ill-conceived idea, one that leaves you wondering who dreamed it up.”
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New York State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D) and City Councilman Dan Halloran (R) “were arrested this morning on charges they plotted to rig this year’s mayoral election through fraud and bribes,” the New York Post reports.
“The pols allegedly formed an alliance built on cash payments and fraud to get Smith — one of the state’s top Democrats — placed on the GOP mayoral ballot, sources said.”
Law enforcement sources tell NBC 4 New York that Smith “was allegedly involved in a plot to try to get onto this year’s GOP mayoral ballot by offering payments to Republican county chairmen.”
Aides to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) told Roll Call that the senator “views a lengthy, traditional process that includes hearings, a healthy committee markup and an open floor debate during which senators can offer amendments as key to his ability to build and maintain conservative support for a comprehensive immigration rewrite. Rubio does not have a specific timetable in mind. But anything viewed as ‘rushed’ would violate promises he made to grass-roots conservatives and could cost his support, even if he is OK with the bill in principle.”
Edward Morrissey: “No one doubts that momentum has quickly developed for a deal on
comprehensive immigration reform and border security. But by rushing to
get a deal done and working behind closed doors, Congress is cravenly
trying to sneak reform through without a full hearing before the
American public.”
The RNC has hired Raffi Williams, the 24 year old son of Fox News analyst Juan Williams, to sell “the GOP to youth outlets and the African American press as a Deputy Press Secretary,” BuzzFeed reports.
“Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign begins this year in Virginia,” Politico reports.
“She hasn’t said anything about 2016, but Terry McAuliffe’s 2013 gubernatorial campaign is serving as a testing ground for Clinton’s clout, operatives and donors. In fact, McAuliffe and some of his top allies have suggested to big donors and consultants that supporting his campaign is a way to get in on the ground floor of Hillary 2016.”
Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) told the Allentown Morning Call that he “had decided over time that the Defense of Marriage Act — the federal law that defines marriage as one man and one woman — should be repealed, and determined that such a belief could not be separate from the overall question of gay marriage.”
Said Casey: “I ultimately decided that to make a decision about DOMA was making a decision about marriage equality itself… It wasn’t until recently that I thought some point this year it will be reintroduced, so that was a question I was asking myself: Can you separate the vote on that [from] the ultimate question on marriage equality? There’s no way to do that.”
Connecticut lawmakers “said they had met the solemn challenge presented by the Sandy Hook school massacre with a bipartisan agreement for the nation’s strongest gun control bill,” the Hartford Courant reports.
“Easy passage of the legislative response to the Dec. 14 killings is expected in House and Senate votes scheduled for Wednesday, leaders of both the Democratic majority and Republican minority said after completing weeks of negotiations on the bill.”
New York Times: “It would require new state-issued eligibility certificates for the purchase of any rifle, shotgun or ammunition; mandate that offenders convicted of any of more than 40 weapons offenses register with the state; require universal background checks for the sale of all firearms; and substantially expand the state’s existing ban on assault weapons.”
Howard Kurtz: “The reason there were so many Republican debates last year–and more than 20 involving Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the previous cycle–is that the candidates kept saying yes. And whose fault is that?”
Coming this fall: If Kennedy Lived: The First and Second Terms of President John F. Kennedy by Jeff Greenfield.
“Let’s not take on any more water on this sinking ship. Let’s patch the holes. Then we’ll decide what do we do with all this water that’s here.”
— Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA), quoted by the New York Times, on why he opposes a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants until the nation’s borders are secure.
A new SurveyUSA poll in the Los Angeles mayoral runoff finds Eric Garcetti leading Wendy Greuel by seven points, 47% to 40%.
This is pretty interesting: Front Row Seat: A Photographic Portrait of the Presidency of George W. Bush by Eric Draper.
Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) told KTVK-TV that he does not support gay marriage despite having a gay son.
Said Salmon: “I don’t support gay marriage. My son and I have had a lot of dialogue about it. I will say this: you know, my son is by far one of the most important people in my life. I love him more than I can say.”
He added: “My view is while I don’t believe we should be vitriolic and try to enact harmful policies, by the same token, I’m just not there as far as believing in my heart that we should change 2,000 years of social policy in favor of a redefinition of the family.”
Peter Beinhart: “There are various ways to describe the civil war rising inside the
Republican Party: insiders versus outsiders, pragmatists versus
true-believers, establishment versus Tea Party. Here’s another: Bill
O’Reilly conservatives versus Rush Limbaugh conservatives.”
“O’Reilly and Limbaugh are both conservative; they both idealize an
older, pre-lapsarian America that they believe leftists want to destroy
in the name of progress. The difference is that Limbaugh’s conservative
vision is more static and more personal. For O’Reilly, traditional
morality is not an abstract, coherent set of beliefs; it’s the folk
wisdom of ordinary people at any given moment, and it can change.”
The Week: “Attention, GOP: Your rebranding attempts are being undercut by a segment of your party getting big headlines and lots of airtime — a segment symbolized by the Minnesota quote-machine, Rep. Michele Bachmann.”
“I hate that. Black tie benefit for homeless.”
— Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), quoted by the Baltimore Sun, in an accidentally-released text message complaining about having to wear a tuxedo for a United Way fundraiser.
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.
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