Jules Witcover, author of The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power, joins us on the Political Wire podcast for a discussion of the person “just a heartbeat away” from the most powerful job in the world.
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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told the Weekly Standard that if he is reelected to the U.S. Senate in November, he will begin exploring a bid for the presidency.
“An unidentified man posing as a member of Congress made it into a secure area backstage at President Barack Obama’s appearance at a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation awards dinner in Washington Sept. 27,” Bloomberg reports.
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Salt Lake Tribune: “Mitt Romney, whose name keeps popping up as a possible three-time presidential candidate, would be wise to read legally binding documents before signing them, as demonstrated by a Utah voter-registration gaffe that appeared to have him shunning his Republican Party for independent status and using a home address he couldn’t legally claim since 2009.”
The possibility of runoffs in the Senate races in Georgia and Louisiana “has prompted big election spenders, including the National Rifle Association’s political wing and Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, to begin snapping up television advertising time for the period after Nov. 4 and making other plans for what could be weeks of additional frantic campaigning–possibly with control of the Senate hanging in the balance,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“If runoffs are needed, Louisiana would hold one on Dec. 6 and Georgia on Jan. 6.”
The U.S. economy added 248,000 jobs added in September while the unemployment rate fell to 5.9%, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The Secret Service’s public humiliation and the country’s first Ebola diagnosis–topics that would appear at least one step removed from partisan warfare–aren’t ready-made issues for the campaign trail. But in roughly 24 hours, one candidate has managed to insert both into his own race,” National Journal reports.
“Thom Tillis, the Republican Senate nominee from North Carolina, on Thursday called on President Obama to ban travel from Ebola-stricken countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, arguing that people from those countries could be vectors for the deadly disease. Just a day earlier, Tillis chided his opponent, Sen. Kay Hagan, and Obama for the Secret Service’s litany of recent mistakes.”
“In both instances, the criticism made essentially the same point: The president can’t keep America safe.”
“Republicans have come surging back in the ad wars after a weak September, when Democrats seemed to dominate the airwaves. Heading into the final month before Election Day, Republican outside groups are helping even the score with big media buys,” the New York Times reports.
“Republicans lead the spending in Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Hampshire and Oregon. Democrats are spending more in just two states, Alaska and Colorado.”
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Christopher Abruzzo and a top aide resigned “over revelations that they were among dozens of state officials who sent or received pornographic e-mails over state computers,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
“Their resignations made them the first high-ranking casualties of a scandal that has coursed through the capital as Gov. Tom Corbett (R) vies for a second term and one that widened Thursday to touch one of the state’s most prominent judges, Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffery.”
“Isn’t it a bitch, I mean… that vice president thing?”
— Vice President Joe Biden, quoted by Roll Call, quickly adding, “I’m joking. I’m joking. I’m joking. The best decision I ever made.”
Politico: “It’s been the most remarkably enduring story line of Election 2014: three Democratic senators defying their states’ deep red complexion and their president’s abysmal approval ratings to stay competitive in races that should have, on paper, been lost long ago. The question all along has been, Could it possibly last?”
“Now, a month out from the election, Republicans are seeing subtle but perceptible signs that contests in Alaska, Arkansas and Louisiana — all three pivotal in the battle for the Senate — are finally breaking their way.”
A new Gravis Marketing survey in Iowa finds Joni Ernst (R) well ahead of Bruce Braley (D) in the U.S. Senate race, 50% to 41%.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s (D) chief of staff “left a voice-mail message for a Democrat who was on the verge of quitting the General Assembly in June, saying that the senator’s daughter might get a top state job if he stayed to support the governor’s push to expand Medicaid, according to descriptions from three people who heard the recording,” the Washington Post reports.
“Then-Sen. Phillip P. Puckett wound up resigning, flipping control of the chamber to Republicans and thwarting McAuliffe’s signature goal of expanding health coverage under the Affordable Care Act.”
Exclusive to Political Wire, Nate Silver defends his critique of Sam Wang’s election forecast. It’s definitely worth reading.
“I am not on the ballot this fall. Michelle’s pretty happy about that. But make no mistake: these policies are on the ballot. Every single one of them.”
— President Obama, quoted by the Washington Post.
Former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA) said his daughter, U.S. Senate candidate Michelle Nunn (D), “has little obligation to support Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) should Democrats maintain the chamber in November – given that Reid, in the spring of 2013, asked her not to run for Sam Nunn’s old seat,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
Said Nunn: “They said they had their eye on another candidate.”
Mississippi Senate candidate Travis Childers (D) “signed an anti-amnesty pledge a conservative organization is pushing, a move that could endear him to disgruntled supporters of former tea party candidate Chris McDaniel (R), the runner-up to Sen. Thad Cochran (R) in the GOP primary,” the Washington Post reports.
Roll Call‘s new list of most the 10 most vulnerable House members shows Republicans “are poised to add at least a handful of seats to their majority in the midterms.”
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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