“The U.S. economy rebounded strongly this spring after a first-quarter contraction, eking out positive growth over the past six months and raising hopes for sustained growth in the second half of 2014,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Turning the Midterms Into a Base Election
First Read: “So both sides are playing this cynical game, turning the midterms into a base election that will be decided by who best motivates their base rather than by trying to fix the country’s problems. (Republicans: ‘This President is breaking the law!’ Democrats: ‘They want to impeach the president!’) And what’s particularly jarring is that this isn’t taking place on the campaign trail — but rather from their official capacities at the White House and on Capitol Hill. It’s beneath the White House, and it’s beneath the speaker. And each side can rationalize their actions all they want, but all its doing is reinforcing the decision by MILLIONS of Americans who have chosen not to participate in the political process this year that they made the right decision. The leaders in both parties aren’t taking their frustrations seriously. Instead, leaders in Washington are falling back on base turnout gimmicks.”
How Religion Determines Your Politics
Wonk Wire: Strong connection between religion and political identity
Rhode Island Democratic Chair Quits
Rhode Island Democratic party chairman David Caprio resigned Tuesday, saying he couldn’t “dedicate the the necessary time and energy” to help candidates in their campaigns, the Providence Journal reports.
His resignation came a day after reports that the state police are investigating a contract awarded to Caprio for beach concessions.
Rove Says Both Sides to Blame for Impeachment Talk
Karl Rove said President Obama “is playing with the American people by suggesting a constitutional crisis where none exists. Shame on him and shame on those people in the administration who participate with him,” Politico reports.
He added: “Shame on conservatives and Republicans who helped him along.”
Charlie Hurt: “All this talk of impeaching the president is the stupidest Republican political strategy so far this century.”
Paul Planning a Book for Next Year
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told the Louisville Courier Journal that he is working on a new book that will come out early next year — about the same time he will decide whether to run for president.
Said Paul while chuckling: “Just coincidence, probably just coincidence, yeah.”
Quote of the Day
“What happens is they’re like an Ebola virus that spreads. And if you can keep it contained with this bunch of people that really hate the government, OK, I respect their position. But when the virus spreads and they then have a bunch of people all nervous that if they vote the way they really think they should vote then bad things are going to happen, that messes up the process.”
— Former Rep. Steve LaTourette (R), quoted by the Wall Street Journal, on the conservative groups that demand ideological purity.
McDonnell Uses Broken Marriage Defense
Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) and his wife, Maureen, “on trial for conspiring to use his office for personal enrichment, outlined an unexpected defense on Tuesday: Their marriage was so broken that they did not communicate enough to conspire about anything,” the New York Times reports.
“In opening arguments in the couple’s corruption trial in federal court here, their lawyers made clear that they planned to rely on the sordid details of their unhappy union as the basis of their legal defense.”
Richmond Times Dispatch: “Depending on whom you believe, Bob and Maureen McDonnell were either gift-grubbing and financially desperate enough to conspire to sell the governor’s office, or so dedicated to public service that the stresses of a gubernatorial term wrecked their marriage.”
Kasich Up By Double Digits in Ohio
A new Quinnipiac poll in Ohio finds Gov. John Kasich (R) leading challenger Ed FitzGerald (D) in the race for governor by double digits, 48% to 36%.
Said pollster Peter Brown: “The Democratic nominee still has a long way to go with little more than three months until Election Day. Almost two-thirds of registered voters don’t know enough about FitzGerald to have an opinion of him. That’s an awful lot of Ohioans who still have to be introduced to him. This survey was conducted during the period in which the Democrat had just begun his television advertising buy.”
Arkansas Senate Race Remains Close
A new Hendrix College poll in Arkansas finds Tom Cotton (R) leading Sen. Mark Pryor (D) in the U.S. Senate race by two points, 44% to 42%.
Meanwhile, Pryor released an internal poll that shows he has a six point lead, 45% to 39%.
Quinn Trails Badly in Illinois
A new We Ask America poll in Illinois finds Bruce Rauner (R) with a big lead over Gov. Pat Quinn (D) in the race for governor, 47% to 33%.
Visits to Iowa are a Show
Mark Leibovich: “It would be one thing if all of this early activity and attention in Iowa resulted in a smarter electorate, better candidates or a more authentic version of democracy. But in general, the quaint ‘retail’ settings of Iowa diners and New Hampshire living rooms are treated mostly as media sound stages, places where reporters report on how many other reporters showed up… As a result, these scenes have become backdrops for set pieces that blur into an anesthetizing noise: So-and-so has been to Iowa five times; some other so-and-so is ‘thinking about’ running for president; and here’s yet another picture of yet another so-and-so looking a voter right in the eyes and telling him the truth about something or other, as the discerning voters here insist.”
Top Democrat Says GOP Impeachment Talk Helping
DCCC Chairman Steve Israel (D-NY) said the Republican lawsuit against and push for impeachment of President Obama is paying dividends for his party, according to The Hill.
Said Israel: “I think that the Republican strategy of lawsuits, approaching impeachment, is fundamentally misfiring.”
He added: “Look, I understand their strategy is intended to gin up their base, but it’s having the unintended consequence of moving our base in a midterm election and also moving persuadable voters, swing voters to us in a midterm election.”
Most Wouldn’t Want Obama Campaigning for Them
A new Fox News poll found that 57% of American voters would not want President Obama to campaign with them if they were running for office this year, while 41% said they would.
Can Democrats Flip Texas, Arizona and Georgia?
Sean Trende uses Nate Silver’s demographic calculator to estimate how long it will take for Texas, Arizona and Georgia to become blue states given current population trends.
“I waited a long time. Arizona finally flips in 2036, and Georgia flips in 2048. Texas never does. Even if we double the rate of Hispanic and African-American population growth, Arizona doesn’t flip until 2024, Georgia until 2028, and Texas until 2032. On the other hand, if we assume a marginal reversion to mean for Republicans among minorities — 11 percent of the African-American vote and 32 percent of the Hispanic vote — only Arizona flips, and then only in 2044.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“How did I get here? Why am I the guy they shoved out on the end of the diving board, OK, stuck him in the butt with a knife?”
— Parker Griffith (D), quoted by the Huntsville Times, on his decision to run for Alabama governor.
Fiorina Inches Back Into Politics
“Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in California in 2010, is diving back into electoral politics,” according to U.S. News and World Report.
“For now, her work is focused on pushing back against Democrats’ claim of a Republican-led ‘war on women’ in the 2014 midterms. But her recent moves in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire have convinced some she’s eyeing a bigger prize come 2016.”
A Major Unforced Error by Michelle Nunn
First Read looks at the leak of a strategy document from Michelle Nunn’s (D) campaign and notes “the revelation isn’t good for her consultants’ business, that’s for sure.”
“More importantly, this is something Nunn can’t afford. If she’s going to win — in this environment, in the red state of Georgia — she’s got to run a flawless campaign. Talk about a major unforced error. And the timing couldn’t be worse for Nunn: This story comes out just after the GOP’s nine-week runoff and with the start of the general election.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution headline: “Leaked doc: Michelle Nunn non-profit validated grants to charity with Hamas-tied affiliate”
