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Walker Once Wished a Jewish Constituent ‘Molotov’

December 10, 2014 at 11:43 am EST By Taegan Goddard 23 Comments

The Madison Capital Times dug up a letter from Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) in which he goofed on a Jewish salutation by ending with, “Thank you again and Molotov.”

“Presumably, Walker meant to write ‘mazel tov’ and didn’t intend to wish good tidings of incendiary weapons. Perhaps it was a case of AutoCorrect or that pesky Microsoft Word paperclip causing shenanigans.”

Bonus Quote of the Day

December 10, 2014 at 10:57 am EST By Taegan Goddard 63 Comments

“It served absolutely no purpose other than one last thumb in the eye of the Bush administration and was a big mistake in my opinion.”

— Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by TPM, on the Senate’s torture report.

10 Governors Don’t Have Majority Support

December 10, 2014 at 9:34 am EST By Taegan Goddard 14 Comments

Smart Politics: “As a result of these competitive contests, caused in party by strong showings from several third party and independent candidates, 10 winning candidates will remain in or take office in the coming weeks without the support of the majority of the electorate.”

“Plurality winners in the 2014 cycle are independent Bill Walker of Alaska (48.1 percent), Democrats John Hickenlooper of Colorado (49.3 percent), David Ige of Hawaii (49.5 percent), John Kitzhaber of Oregon (48.9 percent), Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island (40.7 percent), and Peter Schumlin of Vermont (46.4 percent), and Republicans Rick Scott of Florida (48.1 percent), Sam Brownback of Kansas (49.9 percent), Paul LePage of Maine (48.2 percent), and Charlie Baker of Massachusetts (48.4 percent).”


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A Search Engine for Legislation

December 10, 2014 at 9:30 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Trackbill 150x150 Special thanks to TrackBill, our new sponsor.

TrackBill is the perfect solution for government affairs professionals to search, track, and report on legislation in the United States Congress and all 50 state legislatures. The real time alerts and integrated mobile apps are simply amazing.

If you follow legislation, you need TrackBill.

Familiar Faces Mull Presidential Bids

December 10, 2014 at 9:23 am EST By Taegan Goddard 8 Comments

First Read: “Turning to 2016, it’s striking how many — if not most — of the potential presidential candidates have either run for the White House before or have had a relative do it. Think about it: There’s Hillary Clinton (who ran in ’08 and whose husband was president from 1993-2001), Jeb Bush (whose brother and father were president), Rand Paul (whose dad ran THREE times), Rick Perry (who ran in 2012 and is thinking about another retooled one), Mike Huckabee (who ran in 2008), Rick Santorum (who ran in 2012), and even maybe Mitt Romney (who GOP fundraisers believe is keeping his powder dry).”

“The only fresh faces we can think of: Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, Scott Walker, Jim Webb, and Martin O’Malley.”

Quote of the Day

December 10, 2014 at 8:47 am EST By Taegan Goddard 62 Comments

“The United States of America is awesome, we are awesome. We’ve closed the book on torture, and we’ve stopped doing it. And the reason they want to have this discussion is not to show how awesome we are. This administration wants to have this discussion to show us how we’re not awesome.”

— Fox News co-host Andrea Tantaros, quoted by Gawker.

Would Obama Do It Differently Today?

December 10, 2014 at 8:44 am EST By Taegan Goddard 27 Comments

Washington Post: “In his first week in office, Obama had ordered an end to torture. And back in May 2009, before rejecting the idea of setting up a commission, Obama condemned harsh techniques in a soaring speech at the National Archives… Obama wanted to avoid distracting and divisive criminal prosecutions or hearings. He believed any inquiry of his would look like an attack on his predecessor, President George W. Bush, and dispel any hope of bringing a bipartisan spirit to government. And he feared that the intelligence services, whose career rank-and-file members had followed guidelines handed down from above, would feel they had been abandoned by a new administration.”

Fleming May Run for U.S. Senate in Louisiana

December 10, 2014 at 8:37 am EST By Taegan Goddard 7 Comments

Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) is “very interested” in running for Senate in 2016 if Sen. David Vitter (R) is elected Louisiana governor next year, Roll Call reports.

“Louisiana only wrapped up the 2014 Senate race a few days ago, but soon state operatives may start thinking about another race. Vitter has already announced an exploratory committee to run for governor in 2015. If Vitter wins, Fleming said, he wants to succeed him in the Senate.”

Will Grimes Run for Kentucky Governor?

December 10, 2014 at 8:21 am EST By Taegan Goddard 33 Comments

The Lexington Herald Leader looks at the possibility that Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) challenges Jack Conway (D) for the Democratic nomination for Kentucky governor.

“If Grimes wades into that race, it seems all but certain that her entry would mark the start of the next chapter in the Kentucky Democratic Party’s rough-and-tumble history, dividing a party that is already in the midst of a soul-searching journey and reopening divisions that Democrats hoped had been healed by their collective disdain for Mitch McConnell, who is about to become U.S. Senate Majority Leader.”

Jon Stewart Pukes Over Torture Report

December 10, 2014 at 8:12 am EST By Taegan Goddard 2 Comments

Jon Stewart: “It’s funny, I just made this movie about a guy who triumphs over the inhuman conditions in his imprisonment in an authoritarian country, and I don’t think they did half that shit to him.”

Reid Blames Obamacare Rollout for Democratic Losses

December 10, 2014 at 6:58 am EST By Taegan Goddard 28 Comments

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) told Politico that it was the bungled website and the rollout of the Affordable Care Act last fall that cost Democrats the majority and gave Republicans “ammunition to go after all of my candidates” — nothing else.

Said Reid: “We never recovered from the Obamacare rollout. I’m not going to beat up on Obama. The rollout didn’t go well. We never recovered from that.”

Asked about the lessons he drew from the losses, Reid paused for a second and said: “Have a better rollout of Obamacare.”

Lawmakers Agree to Raise Campaign Finance Limits

December 10, 2014 at 6:32 am EST By Taegan Goddard 11 Comments

Capitol Hill lawmakers agreed on “a small provision to be added to the omnibus spending bill, allowing the two party committees to raise money for their presidential nominating conventions. The limit per donor would be $97,200 a year, on top of each party committee’s existing limit of $32,400 per year,” NPR reports.

“The $97,200-per-year year limit comes to $388,800 for a four-year presidential election cycle. If the new provision had been available in 2012, just 94 donors could have matched the public financing for both conventions. Or put another way – as the pro-regulation groups would – regular contributions and the new convention account would enable a donor and spouse to funnel more than $500,000 to a party each two-year congressional election cycle.”

[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]There was not a single word of debate about the proposal. [/speech_bubble]

What Will Ted Cruz Do?

December 10, 2014 at 6:25 am EST By Taegan Goddard 5 Comments

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “faces a tough decision on whether to follow through on his pledge to block any legislation he deemed nonessential in the lame-duck session,” The Hill reports.

“With his colleagues scrambling to finish a $1 trillion government-funding measure and get out of town, Cruz is a wild card.”

Senate Democrats Have $20 Million in Debt

December 10, 2014 at 6:04 am EST By Taegan Goddard 6 Comments

“The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is stuck with $20.4 million in post-election debt, more than twice the debt owed by its Republican counterpart and a challenge for the party as it heads into the next cycle,” Politico reports.

Roll Call: DSCC Chairman makes recruitment pitch for 2016

Santorum Gears Up for Another Campaign

December 10, 2014 at 6:00 am EST By Taegan Goddard 14 Comments

The Washington Post says Rick Santorum is running for president again, even though he’s rarely mentioned with the other contenders.

Said Santorum: “America loves an underdog. We’re definitely the underdog in this race.”

“Where he had to build his operation from the ground up in 2012, Santorum now has a grass-roots operation called Patriot Voices, which boasts 150,000 activists across the country… Whether Santorum can raise the money he needs is another question. Foster Friess, the benefactor who ponied up $2.1 million to a pro-Santorum super PAC in 2012, says he would support him again. The former senator is sounding out other deep-pocketed donors, whom he declined to identify. He is retooling his message, hoping to appeal beyond his socially conservative base and reach blue-collar voters who are being left behind in the economy.”

Perry Says He’s Different This Time

December 9, 2014 at 8:28 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 36 Comments

Washington Post: “Rick Perry is trying to show that he is not the Rick Perry you remember. Gone, it seems, is the blustery bravado, the empty rhetoric, the cowboy boots — and, yes, the ‘oops’ moments. This Perry comes across as studious, contemplative and humble. He said he is at peace with his 2012 presidential campaign, in which his shoot-first-aim-later approach proved catastrophic, but is hungry to redeem himself.”

“As Perry packs his belongings at the governor’s mansion after 14 years in office, he is undergoing exhaustive preparations to run again for president in 2016. He is striving to make a better second impression than his first one.”

Congressional Leaders Reach Deal to Avert Shutdown

December 9, 2014 at 8:26 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 7 Comments

“Congressional leaders reached a deal Tuesday on a more than $1 trillion spending package that would fund most of the federal government through the current fiscal year,” the New York Times reports.

“But because negotiations on the package dragged over policy details, House lawmakers also prepared to move on a short-term spending measure that would avert a government shutdown if they cannot pass the larger bill by Thursday, when current funding expires.”

Bush Administration Paid $80M for Torture Consultants

December 9, 2014 at 5:14 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 21 Comments

“The CIA contractors who helped develop and operate the ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ that the agency used on terror suspects, including waterboarding, were paid more than $80 million,” NBC News reports.

“The contract was for more than $180 million, but the contractors had only received $81 million when their contract was terminated in 2009.”

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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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