Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “privately apologized to GOP senators Tuesday for interrupting their holiday schedules by his surprise tactics that effectively brought the Senate into session over the weekend,” Politico reports.
“According to five senators who attended Tuesday’s caucus lunch, Cruz offered the apology in unsolicited remarks, saying that he regretted if any of his colleagues’ schedules were ruined by his maneuvering. He didn’t say if he would do something similar again, senators said.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) gave a very positive reaction to TPM to the news that Jeb Bush announced his exploration of a White House bid: “You know, I think the more the merrier.”
He added: “I think we have a big tent, and we can use moderates, conservatives, libertarians — we need ’em all.”
“During a C-SPAN debate Tuesday centered on whether or not bipartisanship is good for governing the country, Dallas and Brad Woodhouse — brothers and political operatives who work on opposite sides of the aisle — received a call from ‘somebody down south’ in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Huffington Post reports.
“You’re right I’m from down south!” the voice on the phone shot back.
Said Dallas: “Oh God, it’s mom.”
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The Fix: “The thinking in Bush world, according to this strategist, was that the best way to combat these series of negative stories was to make a semi-definitive declaration of intent — changing the storyline, at least for the moment… There is also the calculation that if Bush is going to get scrutiny from the media as though he’s an announced candidate, he should also get the benefits of being a close-to-announced candidate. At least one prominent Republican consultant disagreed with that assessment, however.”
“Aside from changing the narrative, another argument I heard in my conversations was that Bush hasn’t actively campaigned in a very long time and has shown signs in the past year or two — see the release of his book in 2013 — that he needs some work.”
Said one GOP consultant: “The guy is rusty. He hasn’t done this is a while. He will now have more of a preseason; after a flurry of attention, he will be off Broadway.”
Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) spokesman told The Hill that Jeb Bush’s decision to “actively explore” running for president in 2016 will not factor into the senator’s own deliberations about a White House bid.
Said Alex Conant: “Marco has a lot of respect for Governor Bush, and believes he would be a formidable candidate. However, Marco’s decision on whether to run for president or re-election will be based on where he can best achieve his agenda to restore the American dream — not on who else might be running.”
“On behalf of the French delegation, I want to tell you, you are very beautiful.”
— French ambassador Gérard Araud, quoted by the New Yorker, in a text message to U.N ambassador Samantha Power, adding that, “As a Frenchman, I’m not condemned to be politically correct.”
A new Monmouth University Poll finds that when GOP voters are asked to name who they would like to see as the party’s nominee for president, they volunteer more than a dozen names, with none exceeding 10% support.
Contenders include Mitt Romney (8%), Ben Carson (7%), Chris Christie (7%), Jeb Bush (6%), Ted Cruz (5%), Rand Paul (5%), Mike Huckabee (3%), Scott Walker (3%), Bobby Jindal (2%), Rick Perry (2%), Marco Rubio (2%), and Rick Santorum (1%).
Jeb Bush announced on Facebook that he has “decided to actively explore the possibility of running for President of the United States.”
[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]This announcement puts enormous pressure on Chris Christie to make his decision while essentially freezing those Republicans who have urged Mitt Romney to run again. [/speech_bubble]
“I’m going to end on a note of gratitude — something I never thought that I would say. George W. Bush, thank you for not dying while you were in office.”
— Jon Stewart, on former Vice President Dick Cheney’s defense of torture during the Bush administration.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “doesn’t believe governors have an advantage over senators when it comes to winning the 2016 GOP presidential nomination,” Roll Call reports.
Said Cruz: “It’s an advantage only if you think that the American people are looking for someone who is not standing up and leading on the great challenges of the day.”
“Jeb Bush, who’s seriously considering a 2016 presidential bid, has sprinted to the front of the Republican field in a new McClatchy-Marist Poll. Former GOP nominee Mitt Romney remains on top, with Bush, a former Florida governor, a close second. Take away Romney, and Bush leads the field.”
A new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds that 49% of Americans believe that the CIA “did in fact torture suspected terrorists; 38% think its actions did not amount to torture, with the rest unsure. Regardless, the public by a broad 59% to 31% also says the agency’s interrogation actions were justified.”
“One reason is that 53% think these interrogations produced important information that could not have been obtained any other way. Just 31% reject this claim, a focus of the recent debate.”
Des Moines Register: “The event is likely to live on almost as-is, despite some resistance — including from the governor.”
“Traditionally, the straw poll is held in Ames in the August before the caucus. It’s often viewed as a dress rehearsal for the caucuses a few months later, and as a means to help winnow a large field of candidates. But it has been under fire for years — for elevating long-shot candidates who appeal to only the most conservative evangelical voters; for driving away more mainstream GOP candidates and ruining efforts to attract all candidates to Iowa; for putting a financial squeeze on presidential hopefuls by requiring them to pay the party certain sums in order to participate; and for giving Iowa ‘two bites of the apple’ with two high-profile votes that draw extensive national media attention.”
George Tsunis, a major donor to President Obama’s re-election, told Newsday that his bid to become U.S. ambassador to Norway was “over” after it appeared his nomination would not get a vote in the Senate.
During his confirmation hearing, Tsunis admitted that he had never been to Norway and referred to the nation’s president, when in fact it has a king and prime minister. He also described one of the country’s major political parties as a “fringe element.”
Roll Call: “The hard right and the hard left ended up out in the cold last week — free to raise their fists and their profiles and make a ruckus, but ultimately powerless to stop the cromnibus.”
“The deal represents a return — at least for a week — to the fabled establishment Washington dealmaking of yore, warts and all, like it or loathe it. It’s a return that could put the ‘do nothing’ label back on the congressional shelf — with Republicans and the president eyeing deals next year on trade and taxes, in addition to keeping the government open for business after four years of serial shutdown and default dramas.”
“President Obama’s pick to serve as the next surgeon general was confirmed Monday evening more than a year and half after being nominated, the first of nearly a half dozen of the president’s picks set for confirmation this week as Democrats prepare to cede control of the U.S. Senate,” the Washington Post reports.
“Senators voted 51 to 43 to confirm Vivek Murthy, a Harvard and Yale-educated doctor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, whose nomination had been in limbo amid concerns about his experience, and opposition from the gun lobby.”
“Democrats would like some credit for the run of good economic news. Yet the better those reports are, the more divided the party has become over how — even whether — to take any,” the New York Times reports.
“In one camp are Democrats who argue that if they do not take some credit, they will continue to receive little. Others counter that boasting would backfire, infuriating millions of Americans who do not see the economy improving for them or their children.”
“Many, including President Obama, fall in the middle: still seeking to strike some balance, more than five years after the recovery officially began, between extolling progress and recognizing the pain that lingers.”
“Six years after candidate Barack Obama vowed to make working for government ‘cool again,’ federal hiring of young people is instead tailing off and many millennials are heading for the door,” the Washington Post reports.
“The share of the federal workforce under the age of 30 dropped to 7 percent this year, the lowest figure in nearly a decade, government figures show.”
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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