“This idea of poking Republicans with a stick in the eye is not a good idea.”
— Mitt Romney, in a CBS News interview, on President Obama challenging Republicans after the midterm elections.
Republicans Used Twitter to Bypass Election Laws
“Republicans and outside groups used anonymous Twitter accounts to share internal polling data ahead of the midterm elections, CNN has learned, a practice that raises questions about whether they violated campaign finance laws that prohibit coordination.”
“The Twitter accounts were hidden in plain sight. The profiles were publicly available but meaningless without knowledge of how to find them and decode the information, according to a source with knowledge of the activities.”
“The practice is the latest effort in the quest by political operatives to exploit the murky world of campaign finance laws at a time when limits on spending in politics are eroding and regulators are being defanged.”
Brown Keeps Raising Money After Landslide Victory
“Less than two weeks after winning a fourth term,” California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) “plans to collect more money for his reelection committee Monday at a Sacramento reception with lobbyists and their clients,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“The event is unusual. Typically, candidates who continue to raise money after being elected do so to retire campaign debt. But Brown, who coasted to reelection, appears to have none to repay. As of Oct. 18, the governor still had nearly $21 million in his reelection account, according to the committee’s most recent finance statement.”
Quote of the Day
“I privately talk to senators, and they’re just baffled. All the things that people were seriously upset with the administration about, it seems the president is doubling down on them.”
— Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), quoted by the Washington Post, on a newly-combative President Obama.
GOP Hopes Fade on Tax Reform
“Less than two weeks after Republicans won control of Congress, acrimony over immigration is dampening hopes for cooperation on more ambitious initiatives, with President Obama and GOP lawmakers bracing not for compromise but for combat,” the Washington Post reports.
“Obama has been promising to cut the nation’s corporate tax rate, the highest in the world, for nearly three years. And with a rash of companies moving abroad to escape U.S. taxes, many Republicans see action on that issue as critical to both the economy and their political fortunes in 2016, when more than 20 GOP senators will be up for reelection.”
“However, lawmakers say that instead of engaging with Republicans, Obama has provoked them on a range of issues, most explosively his threat to unilaterally halt deportations of millions of undocumented immigrants. And instead of starting work on tax legislation that would be politically and substantively challenging under the best circumstances, Republicans are threatening another bitter partisan showdown that risks shutting down the government.”
Biden Promises to be Key Player in Final Two Years
“The next two years may be when Joe gets his last, best chance to help run the show,” David Hawking writes.
“Joseph R. Biden Jr. is preparing to celebrate his 72nd birthday next week and has been sending really mixed signals about where he’d like to take his career in 2016. But regardless of whether he decides to launch his third uphill campaign for president, the 47th vice president of the United States is positioned by the force of his experience, personality and circumstance to be among the indispensable players of the 114th Congress.”
Obama on Collision Course with Republicans and Democrats
“In the days since the U.S. midterm elections, President Obama has begun grooming his legacy in ways that place him on a collision course not just with Republicans in Congress, but with his own Democratic Party,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“All of it appears designed to demonstrate his continued relevancy on the heels of an election that solidified his status as a politically weakened lame duck.”
Politico: Obama turns to McConnell to secure legacy
Cassidy Headed for a Landslide in Louisiana Runoff
A new Magellan Strategies poll in Louisiana finds Bill Cassidy (R) crushing Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) in their runoff race for U.S. Senate, 57% to 41%.
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“The president has got to learn that he lost this last election round. The American people spoke loud and clear.”
— Mitt Romney, quoted by The Hill, saying President Obama should not be using executive actions to advance his policy agenda.
ISIS Executioner Injured in Air Strikes
“Jihadi John, the Briton who beheaded two British and two American hostages held by Islamic State terrorists, has been injured in a US-led air strike, according to reports received by the Foreign Office,” the Daily Mail reports.
“The masked ‘executioner’ with a London accent is believed to have narrowly escaped death when he attended a summit of the group’s leaders in an Iraqi town close to the Syrian border last Saturday. The meeting was targeted by American and Iraqi jets.”
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports President Obama confirmed the beheading of Peter Kassig saying he “was taken from us in an act of pure evil by a terrorist group.”
Obama’s Email List Costs More Than $1.2 Million a Year
“The nonprofit group Organizing for Action is paying more than $1.2 million a year to rent what is widely believed to be the largest political email list ever created,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
“OFA is paying the Obama campaign — which still exists on paper — just under $5 million for a four-year rental of the campaign’s much vaunted email list and campaign data. OFA has paid about $1.3 million of the total balance, according to tax records.”
Turkey President Claims Muslims Discovered America
“Muslims discovered the Americas, not Columbus — or at least that’s what the president of Turkey wants people to believe,” the New York Post reports.
Said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan: “Muslims discovered America in 1178, not Christopher Columbus. Contacts between Latin America and Islam date back to the 12th century. Columbus mentioned the existence of a mosque on a hill on the Cuban coast.”
“The Spanish-employed sailor did speak of a mosque in his personal diary, which was published in 1996, but the notion has been widely considered to be a misunderstanding and should instead be viewed as a metaphor for the shape of the landscape. The fact that no Islamic structures have been unearthed that pre-date Columbus also debunks Erdogan’s claims.”
Reagan and Bush Also Acted to Shield Immigrants
President Obama’s “anticipated order that would shield millions of immigrants now living illegally in the U.S. from deportation is not without precedent,” the AP reports.
“Two of the last three Republican presidents — Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush — did the same thing in extending amnesty to family members who were not covered by the last major overhaul of immigration law in 1986.”
“There was no political explosion then comparable to the one Republicans are threatening now.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
‘There was a collapse of the youth vote. The African-American vote held fairly steady and was remarkable… we had a little bit of a loss of the Hispanic vote perhaps because the president didn’t sign an order on executive action on immigration reform.”
— Bill Clinton, quoted by Politico, on the results of the 2014 midterm elections.
Wall Street’s Favorite Senator
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) “received $1.87 million from the securities and investment industry, making him the top recipient of Wall Street money this election cycle,” NPR reports. “Booker also received more money from real estate groups than any other member, as well as more from the entertainment and tech industries, accountants, and groups considered to be pro-Israel.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “got the second highest draw from Wall Street – $1.26 million.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“We should not return to the old rule. We should teach those blunderheads that they made a big mistake. And we have the votes to stop bad judges if we want to.”
— Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), quoted by Huffington Post, vowing to keep filibuster rules put in place by Democrats.
GOP Rule Could Hamper Presidential Bid by Ryan
“House Republicans will operate the 114th Congress under essentially the same rules as the 113th — with two exceptions, including one that could have big implications for Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI),” Roll Call reports.
“Republicans voted Friday on conference rules for the 114th, approving a proposal that would allow Congress to hand out more medals and one that would require committee chairmen running for other office to hand over their gavel.”
McConnell Works to Avoid Another Shutdown
Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is once again trying to avoid a government shutdown, the Washington Post reports.
“McConnell’s advisers are worried enough that by Friday evening they were circulating a memo showing how damaging last year’s shutdown was to the Republican Party — an effort designed to counter conservatives who point to this month’s triumphant election as proof that the shutdown did little damage.”
Politico: “Republican leaders wanted a quick and clean, drama-free lame duck session to kick off their new majority, but they find themselves heading toward a showdown over how to fund the government.”
