CNN has learned that federal officials are investigating whether New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) improperly used hurricane relief funds to produce tourism ads that starred him and his family.
“If the Sandy inquiry finds any wrongdoing, it could prove even more damaging to Christie’s national ambitions. His performance during and after the superstorm has been widely praised and is a fundamental part of his straight-shooting political brand.”
The Hill has an early except from HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes.
“Aides on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign kept a detailed list of party colleagues who staffers believed had betrayed her during the long and bitter primary battle with President Obama…The list included rankings, with those who were considered the most egregious traitors by Clinton loyalists receiving the worst possible score of 7 on a point scale.”
“Then-Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), who would ultimately succeed Clinton as Secretary of State in the Obama administration, was among those receiving the blackest of black marks… So too was Kerry’s Senate colleague from Massachusetts, Edward Kennedy, who died in 2009. Also on the political hit-list were Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Bob Casey (D-PA) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) as well as Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Rob Andrews (D-NJ) and Baron Hill (D-IN).”
Wall Street Journal: “Interviews with mayors and other New Jersey Democratic officials show that Mr. Christie’s allies in conversations that swung from friendly to persistent fostered a perception of better access to the governor’s office and state commissions for those who cooperated, while a few who stayed neutral or endorsed Mr. Christie’s opponent said they felt locked out. Others suffered no harm.”
“One question is whether carrot-and-stick political tactics by Christie aides played a role in a traffic scandal allegedly engineered as a political punishment for a Democratic mayor who didn’t endorse the governor.”
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Daily Beast: “A conservative group targeting establishment GOP incumbent senators spent nearly half a million dollars buying copies of a book by conservative talk show host Mark Levin. Was it coincudence or quid pro quo?”
“The ‘Hollande Affair’ took an unexpectedly sinister turn on Monday with claims – and counter claims – that the flat used for the president’s alleged love tryst with an actor was linked to the Corsican mafia,” the BBC reports.
“French media reported that the apartment where François Hollande met Julie Gayet was lent to her by a friend who was involved with two mobsters.”
Politico: “It’s been framed as the clearest barometer of the public’s mood heading into this year’s midterms: a special election battle for a 50-50 congressional district in the famously 50-50 state of Florida. But upon closer inspection, the race for Florida’s 13th Congressional District, occupied by Republican Bill Young for more than four decades until his death in October, is not quite the bellwether it’s being portrayed as.”
“More than a dozen operatives and officials from both parties interviewed by Politico were almost unanimous that Democrat Alex Sink, her party’s 2010 nominee for Florida governor, has emerged as the unambiguous favorite in the race. The primary, in which Sink has run unopposed as a group of Republicans have slugged it out, is on Tuesday. The general election is on March 11.”
“If, for some reason, it’s not true, the man has put his political career completely at risk if it turns out there is some evidence that he knew about it. He’s taken the complete risk that his political career is over. I don’t think he’d do that if there’s any suggestion he knew about this.”
— Rudy Giuliani, quoted by ABC News, on Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) denials of knowing about the scheme to tie up traffic in Fort Lee, NJ.
A new U-T San Diego/10News poll in San Diego finds Kevin Faulconer (R) has opened a commanding lead over David Alvarez (D) in the mayor’s race, 53% to 37%, with 10% still undecided.
Early voting begins Monday for the February 11 runoff.
The Huffington Post got an early copy of The Loudest Voice in the Room notes the book reports Fox News chief Roger Ailes blamed Gov. Chris Christie (R) for Mitt Romney’s loss in the 2012 presidential election:
“Around 5 p.m. on Election Day 2012, Fox News chief Roger Ailes realized that Mitt Romney would not make it to the White House. ‘Thank you, Chris Christie,’ Ailes groused.”
“Ailes was frustrated that the New Jersey governor appeared alongside President Barack Obama days earlier to survey the damage of Hurricane Sandy. When Ailes was told polling data suggested the incident hadn’t hurt the Republican Party’s chances, he responded: ‘Well, hugging the guy couldn’t help people feel good about Romney, either.'”
“We know we didn’t come from monkeys! Ladies and gentlemen, they’re using your tax dollars to brainwash our children into socialist issues and ideas and it is time for it to stop.”
— Texas Board of Education candidate Lady Theresa Thombs (R), quoted by the Dallas Observer, on science education.
“When you’re governor, they close the Lincoln Tunnel for you. And you get to drive right through. No traffic… I love it.”
— New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), quoted by the Newark Star Ledger in March 2013.
“The George Washington Bridge lane-closure investigation could reach into Governor Christie’s office as early as Monday when a new round of subpoenas is expected to land on the desks of key members of Christie’s inner circle,” the Bergen Record reports.
“The subpoenaed records — and, potentially, orders to testify under oath — could offer a rare peek at the internal deliberations of a highly disciplined and insulated office. They could also either confirm or dispel suspicions that have thrust the Christie administration into the gravest controversy it has faced — speculation that the goverenor’s office was involved in a plan to exact revenge by authorizing lane closures that led to traffic jams in Fort Lee in September.”
Politico compiles the still unanswered questions about “Bridgegate.”
The Hill has even more questions.
The New York Times reports on “a sophisticated political apparatus designed to channel political money from around the country into states where conditions were ripe for Republican takeover. In 2010, the effort achieved striking success, moving a dozen states to sole Republican control, including presidential swing states like Ohio and Pennsylvania.”
“In 2012, a resurgent Democratic version — financed chiefly by labor unions and wealthy liberal donors rather than corporations — began to catch up, spearheading Democratic takeovers in Minnesota and Colorado.”
“Their combined work has helped remake the nation’s political landscape. Republicans or Democrats control both the legislature and the governor’s office in 36 states, the most in 60 years. Twenty-three states are now solely controlled by Republicans, and 13 solely by Democrats. In two others — New York and Washington — one chamber is jointly controlled.”
Although we had a poll yesterday showing a much tighter race for Georgia governor, a new Insider Advantage survey finds Gov. Nathan Deal (R) comfortably ahead of challenger Jason Carter (D), 44% to 22%.
“Mayors in New Jersey say they’re starting to consider foul play on behalf of the Christie administration in light of the George Washington Bridge lane closure controversy,” WNYC reports.
Meanwhile, CNN reports the Democratic legislator leading an investigation into Christie’s administration “says he believes laws were broken when the governor’s aides ordered lane closures at the nation’s busiest bridge.”
Dan Balz: “The bridge scandal that has engulfed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has also brought more disruption to the already-muddled early stages of the Republican Party’s search for a 2016 presidential nominee. Republicans appear headed for the most wide-open and unpredictable nomination campaign in decades.”
“Their prospective field of candidates is mostly untested on the national stage, and a number of them spent the past year generating questions about their readiness rather than burnishing their credentials. Christie is just the latest.”
A new Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll in Georgia finds Gov. Nathan Deal (R) leading Jason Carter (D) in the race for governor by nine points, 47% to 38%.
“On the one hand, I think he’s got a lot to offer. I think he’s the most able politician since Bill Clinton. On the other hand, you look at these other qualities and ask, do you really want that in your president?”
— Former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean (R), in an interview with the Washington Post, about Gov. Chris Christie (R).
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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