A new HuffPost/YouGov poll finds that only about a third of Republicans have a favorable view of Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Also troubling for the GOP leaders is the fact that 45% of Republican respondents said GOP leadership in Congress is not conservative enough.
Michelle MacDonald (R), “the GOP’s endorsed candidate for the Minnesota Supreme Court, was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and resisting arrest last year, and her case will head to trial this fall, during the general election,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
Said State Republican Party Chairman Keith Downey: “None of us, including the convention delegates, were aware of this information about the candidate. She, of course, is innocent until proven guilty, but at the same time, the delegates did not have the full disclosure they should have.”
A new Survey USA poll in Minnesota finds Sen. Al Franken (D) leading Michael McFadden (R) by six points in the U.S. Senate race, 48% to 42%.
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A new Insider Advantage poll in Georgia finds Jack Kingston (R) leading David Perdue (R) in the GOP Senate runoff by double-digits, 46% to 35%.
The IRS says “it has lost a trove of emails to and from a central figure in the agency’s tea party controversy,” CBS News reports.
“The IRS told congressional investigators Friday it cannot locate many of Lois Lerner’s emails prior to 2011 because her computer crashed that year. Lerner headed the IRS division that processed applications for tax-exempt status.”
Ron Fournier: “A sloppy mistake, the government calls it, but you couldn’t blame a person for suspecting a cover-up — the loss of an untold number of emails to and from the central figure in the IRS tea party controversy. And, because the public’s trust is a fragile gift that the White House has frittered away in a series of second-term missteps, President Obama needs to act. If the IRS can’t find the emails, maybe a special prosecutor can.”
A new Rasmussen poll in Virginia finds Sen. Mark Warner (D) way ahead of challenger Ed Gillespie (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 53% to 36%.
Ok, to recap my day. I accidentally hit the star thingy on a @voxdotcom story about Tinder. Sorry.
— Anthony Weiner (@anthonyweiner) June 13, 2014
“American Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, while held prisoner in Afghanistan, was locked in solitary confinement for two straight years and did not see another human face for that entire time, senior military sources with knowledge of his ‘reintegration process’ told Fox News.”
“Officials said Bergdahl, during that period, only talked to his captors through the wall of a six-foot-by-six-foot metal box, which he was kept in.”
Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-ID) announced his candidacy for House Majority Leader, Roll Call reports.
“Labrador faces an uphill battle to defeat Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, who is seen as the overwhelming favorite for the position… A sophomore congressman from Idaho, Labrador’s national profile is limited. But he’s seen as a rising star in the eyes of a number of conservative lawmakers and outside groups. On Friday, FreedomWorks issued a statement urging Labrador to jump in the race.”
Mitt Romney “has repeatedly said it’s time for someone else to carry the Republican Party’s presidential banner, and he insists that he’s not running again in 2016. But in a Friday speech for donors and supporters at a luxury mountain resort, the 2012 GOP loser sounded a lot like a candidate,” NBC News reports.
“Romney’s speech was the kickoff of a weekend of events at a sprawling, ritzy Deer Valley resort high in the Utah mountains. About 300 top donors, supporters and former campaign aides gathered for a weekend that includes a number of other potential 2016 presidential hopefuls, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Rep. Paul Ryan. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) spoke at a Friday morning breakfast and met privately with donors in a hotel suite at the Stein Erickson Lodge on Thursday evening.”
Wonk Wire: Insurers scramble to join Obamacare
Paul Waldman: “We have now reached the rather ironic situation in Iraq where we find ourselves allied with Iran in an effort to save the corrupt and thuggish government of Nouri al-Maliki, while the army we spent eight years training falls apart. I’m not going to pretend to have unique insight into Iraqi politics.”
“But there are few people who understand Iraq less than the Republican politicians and pundits who are being sought out for their comments on the current situation. As you watch the debate on this issue, you should remind yourself that the most prominent voices being heard are the very ones who brought us the Iraq War in the first place, who promised that everything was simple and the only question was whether we’d be ‘strong’ and ‘decisive’ enough — the same thing they’re saying today.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. What happened in Virginia?”
— Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), quoted by Fox News, apparently unaware that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R) lost his seat in a primary.
Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) “is struggling to fundraise for his campaign after a federal indictment,” Roll Call reports.
“Grimm brought in $47,000 for his campaign between April 1 and June 4, according to his pre-primary fundraising report. That’s far less than the $144,000 that his Democratic opponent, former New York City Councilmember Domenic M. Recchia Jr., raised in the same period.”
The Washington Post notes three polls released this week showed President Obama’s favorability rating hitting new lows.
“Fifty-two percent of Americans said they held an unfavorable view of Obama, according to a Gallup poll released Thursday. Forty-seven percent said they held a favorable opinion of him. The five-point net negative favorable rating is a new low for Obama in Gallup polling. The new CNN/ORC International poll showed something nearly identical, with Obama’s favorable rating at 47% (a new low for Obama during his presidency in in CNN/ORC polling) and his unfavorable rating at 51%. A Bloomberg National poll pegged Obama’s favorability rating at 44%.”
For years, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) “has been a rock-solid proponent of traditional marriage between one man and one woman,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
“But that is no longer the case. During a 12-minute news conference at a muddy and messy groundbreaking event in Oak Creek, the first-term Republican governor argued that his position on same-sex marriage is no longer relevant.”
Said Walker: “It really doesn’t matter what I think now.”
Ezra Klein: “Perhaps the single most important fact about American politics is this: the people who participate are more ideological and more partisan, as well as angrier and more fearful, than those who don’t.”
“Chelsea Clinton earned an annual salary of $600,000 at NBC News before switching to a month-to-month contract earlier this year,” sources tell Politico.
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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