“Look at what we wound up with: Some bimbo who decided not to run again.”
— Former Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA), quoted by The Hill, on the decision by Rep. Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-CA) not to run again after she ousted Baca in 2012.
Rutherford Pulls All TV Ads
Illinois GOP gubernatorial candidate Dan Rutherford (R) — who is under fire for sexual harassment allegations — has sent notice to television media outlets that he is pulling his campaign ads, CBS Chicago reports.
“The statewide cancellation is effective immediately. However, campaign officials will decide to resume advertising later in the month, sources said.”
Negrete McLeod Will Not Run Again
Rep. Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-CA) is not running for re-election, the Highland News reports.
Liberals Like Cats More Than Conservatives Do
A TIME survey found that preferences for pets or particular kinds of food can accurately predict partisanship.
“Loving cats may not make a person a liberal, but it does increase the odds that a person already is one. To see how accurate our survey was, we analyzed the data from 220,192 TIME readers who took the quiz and then volunteered their actual political preferences, and found that all 12 items did in fact predict partisanship correctly.”
Holt Will Retire
Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) announced that he will not be seeking re-election, the Newark Star Ledger reports.
“Holt, who lost the U.S. Senate primary in the special election to replace the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg last year, said he would not be stepping away entirely from public life, but made no mention of his future plans.”
Kennedy Charts a Different Path
The Boston Globe profiles Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III (D-MA).
“The newest Kennedy in public life mocks his own lack of experience; casts himself as just another freshman Democrat, lower profile than most; and defers to colleagues from both parties. He is building a reputation for delving into unglamorous subjects; his favorite topic: STEM, an acronym favored by education policy wonks, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.”
“But don’t mistake any of that for lack of ambition.”
Still Debating the Stimulus Package 5 Years Later
“The costly $787 billion spending bill that President Barack Obama signed into law soon after taking office boosted the economy and helped avoid another Great Depression, the White House said in a status report on Monday’s fifth anniversary of the law’s enactment,” the AP reports.
“Republican leaders in Congress took note of the anniversary, too, but argued that the bill spent too much for too little in return.”
Wonk Wire has a report card.
On Wonk Wire
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Turtle Soup
Texas U.S. Senate candidate Dwayne Stovall (R) has a new ad out criticizing Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) for siding with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Says Stovall: “And you certainly don’t do all this to please some guy who looks and fights like a turtle.”
Republicans Say No Big Legislation This Year
Washington Post: “After a tumultuous week of party infighting and leadership stumbles, congressional Republicans are focused on calming their divided ranks in the months ahead, mostly by touting proposals that have wide backing within the GOP and shelving any big-ticket legislation for the rest of the year.”
“Comprehensive immigration reform, tax reform, tweaks to the federal health-care law — bipartisan deals on each are probably dead in the water for the rest of this Congress.”
Bullock Brushed Back Reid on Senate Appointment
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) said he told Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-MT) “to butt out when Reid tried to offer his opinion on the governor’s future appointment of a new U.S. senator to replace Sen. Max Baucus,” the Helena Independent Record reports.
Said Bullock: “He wanted to weigh in on who I should choose and this was before it was even public. And I said it was none of your damn business.”
Stockman Gains on Cornyn
A new Human Events/Gravis poll in Texas finds Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) leading primary challenger Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX), 43% to 28%, with 29% undecided.
Said pollster Doug Kaplan: “These are dangerous numbers for Cornyn, because they show that despite his power in the Senate and his familiarity with the voters, he has not yet made the sale.”
Billionaire Plans Ad Campaign on Climate Change
“A billionaire retired investor is forging plans to spend as much as $100 million during the 2014 election, seeking to pressure federal and state officials to enact climate change measures through a hard-edge campaign of attack ads against governors and lawmakers,” the New York Times reports.
“The donor, Tom Steyer, a Democrat who founded one of the world’s most successful hedge funds, burst onto the national political scene during last year’s elections, when he spent $11 million to help elect Terry McAuliffe governor of Virginia and millions more intervening in a Democratic congressional primary in Massachusetts. Now he is rallying other deep-pocketed donors, seeking to build a war chest that would make his political organization, NextGen Climate Action, among the largest outside groups in the country, similar in scale to the conservative political network overseen by Charles and David Koch.”
Quote of the Day
“I came here to hopefully shape the debate for 2016 — not join it, but shape it.”
— Rep. Darrell Issa (R-A), quoted by the New Hampshire Union Leader, on a visit to New Hampshire.
Reynolds Arrested in Zimbabwe
Former Rep. Mel Reynolds (D-IL) was arrested in Zimbabwe for “allegedly possessing pornographic material and violating immigration laws,” the AP reports.
Reynolds “resigned from his congressional seat in 1995 after he was convicted of 12 counts of statutory rape, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography.”
Mega GOP Donors Step In
“A group of major GOP donors, led by New York billionaire Paul Singer, is quietly expanding its political footprint ahead of the midterm elections in an increasingly assertive effort to shape the direction of the Republican Party,” Politico reports.
“The operation was launched discreetly last year, with the previously unreported formation of a club called the American Opportunity Alliance to bring together some of the richest pro-business GOP donors in the country, several of whom share Singer’s support for gay rights, immigration reform and the state of Israel. Around the same time, Singer and his allies also formed a federal fundraising committee called Friends for an American Majority that raised big checks for a select list of the GOP’s most highly touted 2014 Senate hopefuls.”
Petri Asks for Ethics Investigation of Himself
Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI) says he is “distressed by the innuendo” that there is a conflict between his personal financial interests and his official actions in Washington so he took the unusual step of asking the House Ethics Committee to investigate him, USA Today reports.
Said Petri: “To end any questions, I am requesting that the committee formally review the matter and report back.”
South Carolina Poised to Make History
“A record seven African-American candidates are running for statewide office in 2014. Some could be eliminated in June’s primary elections, but it appears at least three black candidates will make it to November’s general election,” The State reports.
“South Carolina also is assured to elect its first African-American candidate in a statewide race since Reconstruction in one U.S. Senate race, where all three of the announced candidates are black.”
