New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) “is set to arrive in Florida on Tuesday to wrap up his yearlong job as Republican Governors Association chairman, a position that brought national visibility to the potential 2016 contender,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The conference comes on the heels of Republicans picking up four gubernatorial seats in a particularly strong showing during the midterm elections. The GOP now controls 31 governor’s seats, a high last reached in 1998.”
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) “is expanding his footprint as a presidential kingmaker,” the Des Moines Register reports. “The conservative congressman with the fitting last name is launching his own annual multicandidate forum for presidential hopefuls.”
Already attending the January summit: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA).
Said King: “It’ll be an event that all the nation stops and looks at. What gets said and done, some of those things will be driving the conversation in the country.”
“The top minds in the proto-Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign infrastructure are already gaming out Electoral College scenarios. What they think they have is a candidate who could compete in a handful of traditionally red states, putting Republicans on the defensive and increasing her chances of winning the White House,” TPM reports.
“There are two buckets of states potentially in play. Arkansas, Indiana and Missouri comprise one bucket. The first is a somewhat unique case, given Clinton’s history there, while the other two were razor-thin in 2008, but the principle is the same: Clinton has a record of appealing to white working-class voters — especially women — and they could be enough when paired with the Obama coalition to pull out a win.”
“The second bucket consists of Arizona and Georgia, two states that Democrats believe are demographically trending toward them, a process that could accelerate with the voter turnout that usually occurs in presidential elections.”
The Fix: “The first bucket of states is ridiculous. The second is plausible — but almost certainly not in 2016.”
You're reading the free version of Political Wire
Upgrade to a paid membership to unlock full access. The process is quick and easy. You can even use Apple Pay.
Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray (D) “rejected an offer by federal prosecutors in September that he plead guilty to a single felony count in connection with their long-running investigation of his 2010 campaign,” the Washington Post reports.
“Prosecutors have also re-interviewed key witnesses in recent weeks, several individuals familiar with the case said — a further indication that authorities are marching toward an indictment of the outgoing mayor.”
California Attorney General Kamala Harris (D) told BuzzFeed that said she was not opposed to the legalization of marijuana.
Said Harris: “I don’t have any moral opposition to it or anything like that. Half my family’s from Jamaica.”
Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS), “one of the most strident anti-illegal immigration Republicans in the U.S. House,” refused to directly answer a question on Bloomberg TV about what he would do about the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the country.
“Huelskamp responded by saying he didn’t know exactly how many immigrants were in the country illegally, and then tried to pivot to the importance of border security.”
When pressed again for a plan to handle undocumented immigrants in the U.S., Huelskamp said “nobody in Washington I know of is talking about deportation.” He then questioned the number again: “I want to know how many folks are here. I want to secure the border.”
Politico: “No, as much as national pundits like to bemoan Christie’s demeanor and as much as events like Bridgegate have underscored Christie’s reputation as a bully and a back-room brawler, his biggest campaign trail albatross is a more fundamental challenge—one he can’t fix with a smart made-for-YouTube put-down. Chris Christie’s greatest challenge as he contemplates moving onto the national stage is that his own state looks to be in rough shape.”
“Unlike the nation as a whole, which has more than recovered the jobs it lost during the recession, New Jersey has yet to recover half of its lost jobs. Christie once declared a ‘New Jersey Comeback,’ but he has since abandoned that narrative. Opponents in 2016 will want to tell Americans why.”
A new USA Today poll finds that 46% of Americans think President Obama should hold off and allow the new Republican majorities in the House and Senate to act on immigration reform while 42% say Obama should act now.
Obama has pledged to act by the end of the year.
A new Gravis Marketing poll in Louisiana finds Bill Cassidy (R) leading Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) by 21 points in their U.S. Senate runoff, 59% to 38%.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she has no plans to relinquish her leadership position until Democrats retake control of the House, the Washington Post reports.
Said Pelosi: “I could have walked away, but we built something and then we want to take it to the next step. I thought I’d be long gone by now. I thought we’d win the third term in the majority [in 2010] and I would have completed some of the work. I’m not here because I want to have the accoutrement of being leader. I’m here because we have a mission to accomplish for the American people.”
Roll Call: “In a shock to her caucus, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi selected Rep. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the 2016 cycle.”
Gerald Seib: “Republicans, of course, have taken control of the Senate after eight years of Democratic rule, and lawmakers from both parties are nursing serious grievances over how the other side behaved during that stretch.”
“Democrats endured a blizzard of Republican filibusters, shattering previous records and helping gum up the works. That’s the burden new Majority Leader Mitch McConnell carries when he says, as he did the day after the election, ‘This gridlock and dysfunction can be ended.'”
“Republicans chafed under the iron-fisted rule of Democratic leader Harry Reid , who regularly limited debate, blocked amendments and prevented votes. That’s the burden Mr. Reid now faces when he says, as he did last week, ‘This is not get-even time.'”
“With the health insurance marketplace now open for a second year, President Obama will be depending more than ever on the insurance companies that five years ago he accused of padding profits and canceling coverage for the sick,” the New York Times reports.
“Those same insurers have long viewed government as an unreliable business partner that imposed taxes, fees and countless regulations and had the power to cut payment rates and cap profit margins.”
“But since the Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010, the relationship between the Obama administration and insurers has evolved into a powerful, mutually beneficial partnership that has been a boon to the nation’s largest private health plans and led to a profitable surge in their Medicaid enrollment.”
The Atlantic: “For all of the Republican handwringing over President Obama’s use—or overuse—of executive authority, there is one exclusive presidential power he has barely wielded at all: the veto.”
“Obama has rejected just two bills passed by Congress in his nearly six years in office. That’s the fewest of any president since James Garfield, who didn’t veto a single bill, but lasted only six months in the White House before his assassination in 1881. And when you look at presidents who have served as long as Obama has, you’d have to go back to James Monroe, the nation’s fifth president, to find a chief executive who has formally clashed with Congress so rarely. Monroe vetoed just one bill in his two terms, according to records kept by the Senate.”
“That’s about to change for Obama in January, when Republicans control both the House and the Senate.”
Gallup: “As the Affordable Care Act’s second open enrollment period begins, 37% of Americans say they approve of the law, one percentage point below the previous low in January. Fifty-six percent disapprove, the high in disapproval by one point.”
“Repeal is highly unlikely, given Obama’s veto power, but the law’s new low in approval — and new high in disapproval (56%) — could potentially have an impact on its future. The president himself has acknowledged he will consider modifications to the law, which could include repealing the tax on medical devices.”
Wonk Wire: Who still lacks health insurance?
“I think that, for the moment, it will take money to win the election to get people there who believe in taking the money out.”
— House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), quoted by Politico.
New York Times: “Today, Mr. Obama needs a foreign policy accomplishment more than ever, and he sees time running out on his hope of changing the calculus in a Middle East where Americans are, against his instincts, back on the ground. But the forces arrayed against a deal are formidable — not just Mr. Khamenei and the country’s hard-liners, but newly empowered Republicans, some of his fellow Democrats, and many of the United States’ closest allies.”
“Yet even if a deal is struck it will be the beginning of an argument, rather than the end of one. For many of the president’s adversaries, the details of whatever deal he emerges with — how much warning the West would have if Iran raced for a bomb, for example — are almost beside the point.”
“The coalition of voters that twice elected President Obama to the White House might not be there for the Democratic nominee in 2016, party strategists are warning,” The Hill reports.
“Following their disastrous showing at the polls this month, many Democrats have consoled themselves with talk of how the groups that fueled Obama’s resounding victories — namely minorities and young people — will make up a bigger slice of the electorate in two years’ time. But some fear the party is placing far too much trust in demographics, while ignoring the unique circumstances that led to Obama’s rise.”
“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.
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.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.