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Howard Dean endorsed Jesus “Chuy” Garcia over Rahm Emanuel for Chicago mayor, the Chicago Sun Times reports.
“Important back story: When Emanuel was the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he stuck it to Dean in 2006 – when Dean was the DNC chair. Emanuel wanted Dean to funnel millions of dollars to help House candidates. Emanuel taunted Dean’s ’50 State Strategy’ and a leaked story about how little Emanuel thought of Dean found its way into print.”
White House adviser Valerie Jarrett told the New York Times that she plans on staying in the White House until the end of President Obama’s term.
Said Jarrett: “Oh, my goodness, I intend to stay until the lights go off. Why would I miss a single second of this?”
“Everyone has their off days, but when you’re the proudly virile and uncontested leader of one of the most-watched countries in the world, your days off make people nervous. Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn’t been seen for days, and now people are beginning to wonder why,” the Washington Post reports.
Hillary Clinton “is one of a few potential 2016 presidential candidates to have a significantly higher favorable (50%) than unfavorable (39%) rating among the American public,” according to a new Gallup Poll.
“And the 89% of Americans who are familiar enough with Clinton to have an opinion of her is more than any other potential 2016 presidential candidate. Clinton’s relatively high scores on both dimensions give her a better starting position regarding her image than other competitors would have in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”
“I hate to mention it because of what happened afterwards, but (he should be saying) the kinds of stuff Bill Cosby used to say.”
— Rudy Giuliani, quoted by the New York Daily News, saying President Obama should tell African-Americans they need “to focus more on education, be better parents and avoid lives of crime.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) “is bulking up his political team with three veterans of George W. Bush‘s re-election campaign in preparation for a likely presidential bid, and his allies have formally launched a super PAC to amplify the expected campaign,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“This burst of activity from the Christie camp comes at a perilous juncture for the New Jersey governor. Polls show his support slipping among Republican primary voters, and the onetime front runner has been overshadowed recently by a pair of potential rivals – former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.”
The AP reports Christie’s team “is pushing back against the impression that he’s struggling in his expected presidential bid.”
Carly Fiorina (R) “easily sticks out among the wide field of possible Republican contenders for president: Most of the others are white men. But what has distinguished her most so far, aside from her gender, is not her private-sector experience or her pro-market policies, but her increasingly pointed attacks on Mrs. Clinton,” the New York Times reports.
“Of course, every Republican contender has taken aim at Mrs. Clinton, the presumed Democratic opponent who looms in the distance. But Ms. Fiorina alone can present herself as a natural foil without the added risk of being labeled a sexist man.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) “hasn’t made any big hires for a potential presidential run. He doesn’t have the money he needs for a campaign and isn’t sure he can raise it. And he’s already sick of hearing about Hillary Clinton. This is not a guy who’s ready for 2016,” Politico concludes.
“He shakes his head no when asked if he’s figured out whether to run as an independent or a Democrat. Instead of dwelling on his recent visits to early nominating states Iowa and New Hampshire, Sanders instead brings up upcoming trips to California, Texas and Nevada. He also admits he hasn’t gotten far on the financial and staffing fronts.”
“Add another trip to Rep. Aaron Schock’s list of potential headaches. Schock appears to have improperly accepted money from an outside group to cover travel expenses for a companion on a trip to India and failed to disclose it in a possible violation of House rules,” according to a National Journal review of public records.
Amy Walter: “Ask anyone on the Acela corridor who the frontrunner and/or likely nominee for the GOP is/will be and you are most likely to hear the name Jeb Bush. After all, he’s going to have bucketloads of cash. He’s vacuuming up GOP talent for his campaign staff. He’s substantive and comfortable talking policy. And, unlike many of his contemporaries, he’s yet to make a significant flub on the campaign trail. There’s just one little thing obstructing his path to the nomination: GOP voters.”
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel “went on the attack” against Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia, airing a TV ad criticizing his challenger on city financial issues, the Chicago Tribune reports.
“The mayor, fighting for his political life on April 7, is using a time-tested campaign tactic: Define your opponent for voters before he can define himself. Emanuel has the money to do so, having raised 10 times more in campaign contributions than Garcia, who has yet to air a new TV ad since forcing a runoff election late last month.”
Jonathan Chait: “All the Republican predictions have failed. Just this week, the Congressional Budget Office once again revised down its cost projections for the law, which is now projected to cost 20 percent less than originally estimated. Given conservative certainty that the opposite would occur, you might expect some revision. But conservatives have not abandoned or even reduced their fervent opposition to Obamacare. This is because the right’s specific, measurable predictions about the law are subordinate to deeper, philosophical beliefs.”
“They oppose the law’s methods (more taxes, spending, and regulation) on principle. They believe those methods will fail to achieve their stated goals, but even if they succeed, they oppose them anyway. Republicans cannot design a partywide health-care alternative because they cannot reconcile the specific things most Americans want from the health-care system (access to affordable insurance, protection from discrimination against preexisting conditions) with their ideological commitments.”
Time: “Along with her husband—the 42nd President of the United States—Hillary Clinton is the co-creator of a soap-operatic political universe in which documents vanish, words like is take on multiple meanings and foes almost always overplay their hand. Impeachment can be a route to higher approval ratings; the occasional (and rare) defeat merely marks the start of the next campaign. Whatever rules may apply to them, the law of gravity is not one. Still, Clinton’s failure to defuse the email issue, along with a growing list of questions about the family’s relentless fundraising and her husband’s choice of companions, has revived hopes among erstwhile rivals in the Democratic Party that the Hillary dreadnought might actually be sinkable. Backbiting inside the Clinton campaign—a hallmark of her failed 2008 presidential effort—has begun to leak into the political press. Republicans who were morose over their presidential chances mere months ago have a spring in their step.”
“Though members of Congress are calling for her to turn over the email server for forensic examination, they would be wise to proceed cautiously. A key page in the Clinton rule book is the one that reads: When in doubt, drive your enemies crazy—then sit back and watch them implode.”
Jonathan Bernstein: “Look, the way those solid politicians become Serious Presidential Candidates and not just random governors and senators — I’m talking here about folks such as Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, John Kasich and Bobby Jindal — is to start running, and visibly enough so the press notices.”
“Yes, Republicans have an unusually strong candidate field in 2016. The Democrats have Clinton and a few leftovers, gadflies and protest candidates. But that isn’t because Democrats have a weak bench…. all those perfectly viable other candidates either dropped out or never seriously considered the race. Had Clinton chosen not to run, plenty of the others would have jumped in, and the field would have been comparable to what the Republicans have put together.”
Gallup: “Americans continue to name the government (18%) as the most important U.S. problem, a distinction it has had for the past four months. Americans’ mentions of the economy as the top problem (11%) dropped this month, leaving it tied with jobs (10%) for second place.”
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that a letter from Republican lawmakers warning that any nuclear deal could be scrapped by the next U.S. president is a sign of “disintegration” in Washington, the New York Times reports.
Said Khamenei: “Isn’t this the ultimate degree of the collapse of political ethics and the U.S. system’s internal disintegration?”
He added that whenever the talks approach a deadline, “the tone of the other party, particularly the Americans, becomes harsher, harder and more violent. This is part of their tricks and deceits.”
“Maybe I’m not what they think a conservative should look like.”
— Gov. Bobby Jindal, in an interview on CNBC.
National Review: “The beneficiary in terms of buzz is Marco Rubio, who now has many of the party’s top donors looking at him in a way they weren’t even a month ago. Though Rubio hasn’t made as much noise as his competitors as the 2016 campaign has gotten underway in earnest, his knowledgeable presentations and obvious political talent are nonetheless turning heads or, at least, enough of them. Rubio hasn’t made a big splash, neither building a ‘shock and awe’ campaign like Bush nor delivering a marquee speech like Walker (who afterward seemed almost to be caught off guard by his rapid ascent). Instead, Rubio appears to be gambling on the idea that, in what is sure to be a long primary with a crowded field, a slow-and-steady approach will prevail.”
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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