Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) “filed a statement of candidacy this week for his re-election campaign,” the Sacramento Bee reports.
“But instead of listing the 39th congressional district he has represented since winning re-election in 2012, he listed the 40th congressional district, the number of the district he represented during the 2000’s.”
“As to how to stay involved, I’ll be very blunt. I knew exactly what I needed to say after 2010 to rebuild a career in Democratic politics. I also knew exactly what I needed to say to become a Republican superstar in 2013. But in neither case was I willing to say and spout the things that would make smart party politics.”
— Former Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL), quoted by the Birmingham News, on why he hasn’t yet launched a political comeback as a Republican.
“An analysis by the New York Times shows that Mr. Bloomberg has doled out at least $650 million on a wide variety of perks and bonuses, political campaigns and advocacy work, charitable giving and social causes, not to mention travel and lodging, connected to his time and role as mayor.”
“In the process, he has entirely upended the financial dynamics surrounding New York’s top job. In the past, the city paid its mayor; Mr. Bloomberg paid to be the city’s mayor.”
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“Democratic Party leaders, bruised by months of attacks on the new health care program, have found an issue they believe can lift their fortunes both locally and nationally in 2014: an increase in the minimum wage,” the New York Times reports.
“The effort to take advantage of growing populism among voters in both parties is being coordinated by officials from the White House, labor unions and liberal advocacy groups.”
“In a series of strategy meetings and conference calls among them in recent weeks, they have focused on two levels: an effort to raise the federal minimum wage, which will be pushed by President Obama and congressional leaders, and a campaign to place state-level minimum wage proposals on the ballot in states with hotly contested congressional races.”
Wonk Wire: “The minimum wage will rise in 13 states this week, and as many as 11
states and Washington, D.C., are expected to consider increases in 2014.”
A new CNN/ORC poll finds that just 17% of Americans support the war in Afghanistan — with 82% opposed — making it the the most unpopular war in U.S. history.
Said pollster Keating Holland: “Opposition to the Iraq war never got higher than 69% in CNN polling while U.S. troops were in that country, and while the Vietnam War was in progress, no more than six in 10 ever told Gallup’s interviewers that war was a mistake.”
A new Gallup poll finds President Obama and Hillary Clinton are the most admired man and woman in America by large margins for the sixth consecutive year.
Washington Post: “The Obamas’ annual holiday vacation, at a lush and secluded surf-side retreat in Kailua, has underscored just how much their family dynamic has evolved in the five years since they moved into the White House.”
“As his girls grow into young women, the president has been increasingly nostalgic in public, lamenting how quickly time has slipped by.”
“Republicans count enough competitive races to challenge Democrats for control of the Senate in the 2014 elections, if only they can figure out what to do with the tea party,” the AP reports.
“The looming question is whether Republicans undercut their solid shot with tea party-style candidates who fizzled out in Delaware, Colorado and Nevada in 2010 and Indiana and Missouri in 2012.”
“Georgia is keeping some Republicans awake at night. Eight candidates, including three House members, are pursuing the open seat of retiring two-term Sen. Saxby Chambliss in a state that dramatically went Republican in 1994 and rarely has looked back. Georgia hasn’t elected a non-incumbent Democrat since 1998. A loss of the GOP seat would complicate any Republican math for a majority.”
New York Times: “These days, when Mr. Obama retreats to the White House residence after a long day on the other end of the colonnade, he is working his way through the DVD box set of AMC’s Breaking Bad, the award-winning TV drama about a drug-dealing high school teacher. The show just ended after five seasons, but the president is way behind and frequently reminds those around him not to give anything away.”
“Friends say Mr. Obama is also keenly awaiting the new season of the Netflix show House of Cards, which starkly depicts a dysfunctional Washington — a theme that must seem all too familiar. At a meeting of technology executives last week, Mr. Obama jokingly lamented his own inability to maneuver the halls of Congress in the way of Kevin Spacey’s character, Frank Underwood.”
The Verge: “According to a new report from Der Spiegel based on internal NSA documents, the signals intelligence agency’s elite hacking unit (TAO) is able to conduct sophisticated wiretaps in ways that make Hollywood fantasy look more like reality. The report indicates that the NSA, in collaboration with the CIA and FBI, routinely and secretly intercepts shipping deliveries for laptops or other computer accessories in order to implant bugs before they reach their destinations.”
“If ever there were a sign that the world is a crazy place, that is it.”
— Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), quoted by ABC News, on Ted Cruz to the Future being the bestselling coloring book on Amazon.
Dan Balz: “Political polarization has ushered in a new era in state government, where single-party control of the levers of power has produced competing Americas. One is grounded in principles of lean and limited government and on traditional values; the other is built on a belief in the essential role of government and on tenets of cultural liberalism.”
“These opposing visions have been a staple of national elections, and in a divided Washington, this polarization has resulted in gridlock and dysfunction. But today, three-quarters of the states — more than at any time in recent memory — are controlled by either Republicans or Democrats. Elected officials in these states are moving unencumbered to enact their party’s agenda.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has retained legal counsel that he says “is preparing the paperwork to renounce the citizenship,” the Dallas Morning News reports.
“He expects to complete the process in 2014. That time frame jibes with predictions from Canadian legal experts.”
“I don’t worry about gifts — I love that part of the tradition! When people wring their hands about the presents, I get it, though. It costs money and sometimes people aren’t as thankful as you think they should be when you spend your time and money on them.”
— Sarah Palin, quoted by the Anchorage Daily News which adds, “Wonder who she has in mind.”
New York Times: “In the 12 years since the United States helped oust the Taliban, Afghanistan has held four national elections. But Afghans are only now experiencing a phenomenon that has been upending conventional wisdom in more established democracies for decades: polling.”
“Three recent polls are giving Afghans a crash course in front-runners, horse-race coverage and candidates who eagerly dismiss any numbers that do not put them out front, topics familiar to Americans.”
“We all wear thin with the American people after a while. To count a man of that talent out at this point in time in his administration would be a huge mistake.”
— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), quoted by the AP, on President Obama’s declining poll numbers.
Out next week: Call Girl Confidential: An Escort’s Secret Life as an Undercover Agent by Rebecca Kade.
New York Post: “Eliot Spitzer lusted after violence, a former hooker says in a new tell-all book — revealing in graphic detail how the love gov pinned her to a bed inside a posh, Murray Hill apartment and then gripped her by the neck until she feared for her safety. The violence was scripted by Spitzer, who wanted his hooker to follow a role-play dialogue in which she would pretend she had just taken a self-defense class.”
“President Obama celebrated a low-key Christmas in Hawaii this year… But the one thing the president and his family did not do — something they have rarely done since he entered the White House — was attend Christmas church services,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Obama has gone to church 18 times during his six years in the White House, according to Mark Knoller of CBS News, an unofficial White House historian, while his predecessor, Mr. Bush, attended 120 times during his eight years in office.”
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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