Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “loves to stick his finger in the GOP establishment’s eye, and he did so again on Monday, hiring a top Republican operative who was fired just last month by House conservatives for leaking internal talks to outside groups,” National Journal reports.
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Who Does John McCain Admire?
The Washington Post compiles a list of people whom Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is a “great admirer.”
Trump Says There’s an Even Chance He’ll Run for Governor
Donald Trump told Fox News there’s a 50-50 chance he’ll run for governor of New York.
Said Trump: “A group of people, a great group, a big group of people, over 50 just came in to my office and I was very honored by it. As you know, the state of New York is doing very, very poorly. Tremendous unemployment. Tremendous. And the highest taxes in the United States. So, they are talking to me. And I have given them certain ideas and certain parameters. And we will see what happens. But certainly it’s something I’m considering and I will make a decision pretty much by the end of the month or early February.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I’m not even sure if she still lives in the state.”
— Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK), in a Huffington Post interview, saying he has “no worry or fear” of Sarah Palin challenging him in the U.S. Senate race, adding, “I’m not sure she even knows what’s going on.”
Christie Canceled Meetings After Mayor Didn’t Endorse
New documents released to the Wall Street Journal “indicate that meetings arranged between top commissioners to Gov. Chris Christie and Jersey City mayor Steve Fulop were abruptly canceled without reason last year–providing evidence of Mr. Fulop’s claim that he was cut off after he decided not to endorse the governor.”
“The documents don’t indicate why the meetings were scrapped, but Mr. Fulop has said that he was punished for declining to endorse the governor. Mr. Christie attended the Democrat’s inauguration in Jersey City in July, and Mr. Fulop’s advisers had considered endorsing Mr. Christie, but ultimately didn’t.”
Jeff Zeleny: “It’s another buckle-your-seatbelt kind of week for Gov. Chris Christie. The around-the-clock analysis of his political future shows little sign of easing”
Kingston Blasted for Free Lunches
Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) “is facing heat back at home for using taxpayer dollars to pay for staff lunches while criticizing school-lunch programs for poor students,” The Hill reports.
“Kingston, who’s running for the Senate, stirred controversy in December for suggesting there ‘should be no such thing as a free lunch’ for poor children who receive federally-funded lunches at school, suggesting they ‘sweep the floor in the cafeteria’ in exchange for the food.”
Now, WSAV has found that Kingston’s staff “spent $4,200 of taxpayer money on free lunches in the last three years and $4,300 from outside groups, not counting expenses incurred on international trips.”
More Politics, Less Policy
With gridlock limiting the ability of Congress to pass legislation, Wonk Wire notes that lawmakers are shifting their staff resources from policy jobs to constituent service back home.
Quote of the Day
“I actually agreed with virtually every decision the president made on Afghanistan.”
— Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in an interview with NBC News, dialing back criticism of President Obama taken from his new book, Duty.
Topic A: Defense has more on the interview.
Close to a Budget Deal
Roll Call: “In what has become a familiar scenario, the House and Senate have a full legislative plate and only until Jan. 18 to clean it, with a potential government shutdown on the line. The current continuing resolution that keeps the government operational is set to expire Jan. 15, and appropriators announced on Friday that they would be seeking to approve a brief, three-day stopgap measure to avert a shutdown as they finalize the details of a massive omnibus spending package. The Senate as also so far failed to resolve partisan differences on offsets for an emergency extension of long-term jobless benefits that expired for 1.3 million Americans on Dec. 28.”
David Rogers: “House-Senate negotiators have substantially narrowed their differences over a $1.1 trillion government wide spending bill and are closing in on a deal that the leadership hopes can be filed by Monday night and moved quickly through Congress this week.”
Supreme Court Mulls Recess Appointments
David Hawkings: “One of the biggest congressional stories of the decade starts unfolding Monday — not at the Capitol, but across the street.”
“The Supreme Court will hear arguments in an epic balance of powers battle between the other two branches, one that’s been waiting to happen since George Washington’s time. During the hour, the justices may or may not signal clearly whether they’re going to permit the continued expansive use of the president’s recess appointment authority — or seriously limit its use for the first time.”
Wonk Wire: Supreme Court could nullify existing recess appointments.
Feds Investigating Christie’s Use of Sandy Relief Funds
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.”
Clinton’s Traitor List
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).”
Christie Pressed Hard for Endorsements
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.”
Group Spends $400K on Talk Show Host Book
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?”
Hollande Used Apartment Linked to Mafia For Affair
“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.”
Sink Favored to Win Florida Special Election
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.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“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.
Republican Way Ahead for San Diego Mayor
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.
