“Yes, they broke the law, but it’s not a felony. It’s an act of love, it’s an act of commitment to your family. I honestly think that is a different kind of crime, that there should be a price paid, but it shouldn’t rile people up that people are actually coming to this country to provide for their families.”
— Jeb Bush, quoted by CNN, saying he wants to move past derisive rhetoric describing illegal immigrants.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), Sen. Rand Paul (R) and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R) will be in Iowa for the GOP state convention on June 14, the Des Moines Register reports.
“Hillary Clinton’s phantom presence in the Democratic presidential-nomination stakes–neither in nor out–is freezing the rest of the field, creating formidable obstacles for other candidates needing to raise money and set up an organization,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
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Chicago Tribune: “Pivoting from a primary campaign geared to his party’s conservative base, Republican governor candidate Bruce Rauner is now seeking to expand his appeal with a TV spot featuring playful banter with his wife, who proclaims herself to be a Democrat.”
“But that on-screen declaration of political allegiance doesn’t line up with Diana Rauner’s history of campaign donations, which skews heavily Republican. Since 1995, 77 percent of the more than $500,000 she’s given has gone to Republican candidates and causes, federal and state records show.”
“A government investigation has found that the State Department has incomplete files or is missing files for more than $6 billion in contracts over the last six years,” the AP reports.
A State Department spokeswoman says that the $6 billion hasn’t gone missing and calls it a “bureaucratic issue” that’s being addressed.
Sam Youngman of the Lexington Herald Leader joins us for a fascinating look at Kentucky politics, including a tight U.S. Senate race:
Former Ambassador Nicholas Burns explains the Russia-Ukraine crisis and how it might impact domestic politics:
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The HBO original series Veep, a satirical look at the insular world of Washington politics. Season 3 premieres Sunday, April 6 at 10:30pm ET on HBO.
The AMC original series TURN, the untold story of America’s first spy ring. Premieres Sunday, April 6 at 9pm ET on AMC.
Sources with knowledge of the plans of Ted Kennedy Jr. (D) say he will run for state senate in Connecticut, the Branford Seven reports.
“Kennedy is spending time Sunday contacting key Democrats in the 12th Senate district, informing them of his intention to run… In the last year Kennedy has become more active in politics, and his name has been mentioned for national seats, including U.S. House and Senate seats.”
The New Republic has a fascinating, must-read interview with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
“There are things that people know, or think that they know, about Rahm Emanuel: He is voluble, tireless, notoriously profane. And yet, when I met him last month, all the stories hadn’t prepared me for his intensity in person. A conversation with Emanuel is a physical experience. When he has strong feelings about a subject–which is often–he frequently sits on the very edge of his chair, emphasizing his point through proximity. At one point, he waved his finger inches from my face, Lyndon Johnson-style.”
“With eyes increasingly on him, Jeb Bush signaled on Sunday the kind of campaign he would mount if he ran for president: one arguing against ideological purity tests while challenging party orthodoxy on issues like immigration and education,” the New York Times reports.
“Even as he sharply criticized President Obama for his handling of foreign affairs and health care, Mr. Bush made clear that he would run against the style of politics that has characterized recent Republican nominating contests. He said he would decide by the end of the year, in part on whether he thought that with a ‘hopeful’ message, he could avoid ‘the vortex of a mud fight.'”
Said Bush: “We need to elect candidates who have a vision that is bigger and broader, and candidates that are organized around winning the election, not making points. Campaigns ought to be about listening and learning and getting better. I do think we’ve lost our way.”
“If he doesn’t think that was torture, I would invite him anywhere in the United States to sit in a waterboard and go through what those people went through, one of them 100-plus-odd times.”
— Sen. Angus King (I-ME), in an interview on MSNBC, on Vice President Cheney defending the “enhanced interrogation techniques” used by the CIA under the Bush administration.
New York Post: “New York City’s longest-serving congressman won’t pay his rent. State taxpayers were stiffed out of at least $87,000 when Rep. Charles Rangel stopped paying for the district office he rents in Harlem’s Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building.”
“Incredibly, instead of demanding payment of the back rent and late fees from its deadbeat legislative tenant, the state cut him a huge rent break. The state says it allowed Rangel in March 2013 to enter into a new sweetheart deal in which he could postpone paying six months of rent.”
The Washington Post reports on the “credentials caucus” — “the period before the 2016 campaign when the Republican Party’s presidential aspirants quietly study up on issues and cultivate ties to pundits and luminaries from previous administrations.”
“Over meals, on the phone and in one-on-one chats, the rivals are building relationships with people they hope to recruit to help them navigate a range of issues. Policy leaders are generally hesitant to align with a candidate this far out, but the meetings send signals to would-be donors and operatives about the seriousness and direction of a potential candidacy.”
“Most of the 2016 hopefuls are networking within an entrenched community of conservative professionals who rose to prominence in the Nixon, Reagan or Bush eras.”
“A three-month house arrest for San Diego’s former Mayor Bob Filner is ending,” the AP reports.
“Filner’s confinement ended Sunday, fulfilling a sentence for felony false imprisonment and two misdemeanor charges of battery involving victims of sexual harassment… Filner had to stay in his downtown residential building and was subject to searches and visits at any time from his probation officer.”
Wonk Wire: Republican leaders quietly made a modification to President Obama’s health care law.
Washington Post: “Starting Monday and running for six (!) weeks, India will hold its national election. Approximately 815 million people will cast a ballot, making it, by far, the largest vote in the world.”
Michael Kinsley: “The power of money in politics, in other words, is only as large as we allow it to be. What we need are a few more campaigns where the amount an opponent is spending becomes an issue itself. We need a political culture where a politician will have to make a calculation before accepting a contribution from Rich Plutocrats for America: Will the number of votes I gain by having more money to spend on obnoxious TV commercials be bigger or smaller than the number I will lose because people are offended by Rich Plutocrats for America (and those obnoxious TV commercials)?”
“The solution when you don’t like someone’s speech is not to silence that person, or that corporation. It’s more and louder speech of your own. Just like they teach in law school.”
Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) “has been moved from a federal prison in North Carolina to a minimum-security prison camp in Montgomery, Ala., after clashing with prison officials and being placed in solitary confinement,” a source told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“The 49-year-old former Chicago congressman had been advising other inmates in North Carolina about their rights in prison, according to the source, who said a guard took exception to that.”
Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) “was talked out of retiring by Democratic leadership who promised him more campaign funds,” The Hill reports.
“Rahall, a longtime House Democrat, is a top Republican target in a state where Obama has been deeply unpopular.”
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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