“An Italian appeals court has acquitted former Premier Silvio Berlusconi in a sex-for-hire case,” the AP reports.
“The court’s decision Friday also throws out his seven-year-prison sentence and lifetime ban on holding political office that were given to him by a lower court when it convicted him last year.”
“Regardless of what happens, if I end up in chains in Guantánamo I can live with that.”
— Edward Snowden, in an interview with the Guardian.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) raised doubts “that Congress will be able to fulfill President Obama’s funding request to address the influx of illegal migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border before lawmakers leave Washington for their summer recess in two weeks,” the Washington Post reports.
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A new Landmark Communications poll in Georgia finds Jason Carter (D) leading Gov. Nathan Deal (R) in the race for governor, 49% to 41%.
“I felt sort of peaceful, as though I was in a parachute. I sort of felt that on each side of me were these towering cumulus clouds. On the one side lightning and thunder of evil and the other side brilliant light of good and I sort of felt like I was literally on the front lines and evil and good were going at it all around me and I’m thinking, ‘how did I get here so fast?”
— Former Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), in an interview with David Brody, on the firestorm that erupted after he uttered the words “legitimate rape” during his 2012 Senate campaign.
Regina Egea, an aide to Gov. Chris Christie (R), “says she texted him her thoughts about testimony on the closure of traffic lanes near the George Washington Bridge but later deleted the messages,” the AP reports.
“She says she was inconsistent with which texts she kept and which she deleted. She says she believes the dumped the messages before the story erupted into a major distraction for Christie but can’t be certain.”
A day before fundraising reports were made public in the Texas governor’s race, the campaign of Wendy Davis (D) boasted that she had outraised Greg Abbott (R) over the last few months and hauled in $13.1 million for their fall battle, the Texas Tribune reports.
However, the actual reports told a different story.
“The $11.2 million Davis claims she raised over the latest period — an amount she said was larger than the $11.1 million Abbott raised — contains over half a million dollars in non-cash ‘in-kind’ donations and counts contributions that could benefit other Democratic candidates.”
A Guardian reporter tried to ask former Sen. Scott Brown (R) about the Supreme Court’s recent decision on allowing private companies with religious objections to stop offering contraception coverage to their employees but was rebuffed.
Said Brown: “Not without notifying my office.”
“Brown stood up, walked to the back of the diner, and took shelter in the bathroom. A campaign aide, Jeremy, looked bewildered. He lingered beside me for a few moments, before politely excusing himself – ‘Nice to meet you’ – and joining his boss in the bathroom.”
“I got mad. I walked out of a 60-minute interview in about 10 minutes. There’s a rumor going around that I lost my temper. I can confirm for you today that that is true.”
— Georgia U.S. Senate candidate David Perdue (R), quoted by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, on why he didn’t get the U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsement.
A new InsiderAdvantage/Fox5/Morris News survey in Georgia finds Jack Kingston (R) leading David Perdue (R) in next week’s GOP Senate runoff, 46% to 41%.
Said pollster Matt Towery: “This survey indicates that Kingston has managed to retake momentum in the race with under a week to go.”
“As other Republicans travel the country laying the groundwork for 2016 presidential campaigns, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is raising private-equity funds for oil and gas ventures,” Bloomberg reports.
“Bush, whose family made much of its fortune in Texas oil, has teamed with former… bankers to create an investment firm based in Coral Gables, Florida… Britton Hill was set up in May 2013 but Bush’s role as chairman and part owner wasn’t publicly available information until last month when the firm registered as an exempt adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.”
Rep. Vance McAllister’s (R-LA) “re-election campaign has refunded contributions from the former staffer he was caught kissing on a leaked surveillance tape and the woman’s husband,” the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.
“His latest campaign filing with the Federal Election Commission shows two refunds of $2,600 each to Melissa Peacock, the former staffer. Also refunded were two $2,600 contributions from Heath Peacock, the woman’s husband.”
The Fix: “Two years ago, Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown — and their various and sundry allies and enemies — combined to spend $82 million in the Massachusetts Senate race, making it the most expensive Senate race ever. Now, that eye-popping record is in serious jeopardy thanks to the massive cash coming in for this November’s race between Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell and Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes.”
Said former McConnell chief of staff Billy Piper: “I think there is absolutely a chance that the Kentucky race ends up costing more than $100 million.”
Some great clicks over at Wonk Wire:
Former Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) said that he used a poor choice of words in 2012 when he suggested “legitimate rape” rarely causes pregnancy, but stood by his argument, the Washington Post reports.
Said Akin: “Legitimate rape is a law enforcement term. And it’s abbreviation for legitimate case of rape. If I had been choosing my words better, I should have said legitimate case of rape. And I have acknowledged that it is a poor choice of words.”
Joe Klein’s observation that political courage is dead rings true in so many ways. But it’s not entirely accurate.
One example that came to my attention this week was from New Rochelle, NY Mayor Noam Bramson who wrote about a controversy that erupted over a proposed group home in in his community.
I urge you to read his essay and share it widely.
The Upshot has an excellent table showing how the various forecasts differ.
Kyle Kondik: “If Republicans are to win the Senate, they probably are going to have to do something they haven’t done since 1980: beat more than two Democratic Senate incumbents in November.”
“In that Reagan Revolution election — one of the best for the Republican Party in its entire history — the GOP flipped 12 seats held by a Democratic incumbent who sought another term… Incredibly, in the 16 Senate elections since then, the Republicans have flipped only 12 Democratic Senate seats where the incumbent was running again: It’s taken them three decades worth of elections to match the achievement of that single 1980 effort.”
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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