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Democrats Say Cruz is Leading the Republican Party

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“Conservative Republicans in Iowa aren’t the only ones happy to see Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) visiting the Hawkeye State beginning today. So are Democrats — who are eager to make him the face of Iowa Republicans in next year’s midterm races,” NBC News reports.

The DNC highlighted the trip in a joint memo with local Democrats: “Up and down the ticket, the reckless and irresponsible political tactics of Ted Cruz are being admired and adopted by Iowa Republicans. Make no mistake: Ted Cruz is leading the Republican Party. Candidates want to be him. Incumbents are afraid of him. The Republican Party base is energized by him.”

GOP Lawmaker Says Obama Not a Traitor to Kenya

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North Carolina state Rep. Larry Pittman (R) was videotaped telling a crowd of supporters that President Obama isn’t a trator to his country — if that country is Kenya.

Said Pittman: “Someone had posted something with a picture of Barack Obama and across it said ‘traitor.’ And, you know, I don’t always agree with the guy, I certainly didn’t vote for him but I gotta defend him on this one. I just don’t think it’s right at all to call Barack Obama a traitor. There’s a lot of things he’s done wrong but he is not a traitor. Not as far as I can tell. I haven’t come across any evidence yet that he has done one thing to harm Kenya.”

[Read more…]


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Hillary Clinton Testing Out Campaign Themes

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Time: “It has been like this for months now. Clinton, who claims not to have decided about another presidential run in 2016, has been traveling the country delivering speeches on her own record and current events that sound a lot like precursors to campaign rhetoric. The fact that she is not officially running has not stopped her from testing out themes on the stump, while positioning herself against her likely Republican opponents. The examples show up on both sides of the Atlantic, in paid speeches, at awards dinners, rallies and fundraisers.”

Bonus Quote of the Day

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“My own view is that I think Gillibrand
is one of the people in the United States of America that I think can be
president of the United States.”

— Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), quoted National Journal, in a profile of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).

Quote of the Day

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“We’re on the same team, but I can tell you what is resented amongst Republicans. And that is that Senator Cruz and Senator Lee are raising money for an organization that is running ads attacking Republican senators.”

— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), in an interview with KFYI.

Paul May Hold Yellen Nomination

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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) “is threatening to put a hold on the nomination of Janet Yellen to chair the Federal Reserve,” CNBC reports.

“Paul is insisting on a vote on his Fed transparency bill, and has informed Senate leadership of his intentions.”

She’s Back!

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“The Republican establishment can’t stand her. The media mocks her. But Sarah Palin isn’t going anywhere,” CNN reports.

“After laying low for much of this year, Palin is gingerly stepping back into the public arena with a national book tour, a trip to the always-important political state of Iowa, and an eye on making yet another series of splashy endorsements in a variety of competitive Republican primaries.”

“Five years after rocketing from Alaska obscurity to worldwide fame, Palin wants to be a political player in 2014.”

Health Care Reform or Bust

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Charlie Cook: “At just about every step, Obama has pushed ahead on health care
reform, even when it would have been more practical to put it aside,
waiting perhaps until the economy stabilized or until the public was
more accepting of the law. He most recently chose to plow ahead when the
apparatus to implement the ACA had huge problems. Warnings inside the
administration were ignored. If perseverance were the only virtue, the
president and congressional Democrats would be the most virtuous people
around and assured a place in heaven. But sometimes balance and reality
should intervene. They certainly did not here.”

Governing vs. Not Governing

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First Read: “You can boil down the past three weeks in Washington to this one theme: The Obama White House and Democrats have a political problem when it comes to governing (see the Obamacare website), while Republicans have a political problem because they don’t want to govern (see the shutdown). And both sides have used the other party’s problems to mask their own.”

“Basically, the best thing both parties have going for each other right now is each other. That said, the public clearly wants competence and does like governing, see, well, every recent poll.”

The Next Political Wedge Issue

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Nate Cohn: “We’ve reached the point where there should be no surprise if a major national politician embraces marijuana legalization. Without any large-scale campaign on its behalf, surveys show that approximately half of Americans now support marijuana legalization, including 58 percent in a recent, but potentially outlying, Gallup poll. Regardless of the exact support today, marijuana is all but assured to emerge as an issue in national elections–it’s only a question of how and when.”

House Plans No Immigration Vote This Year

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House Republican leadership “has no plans to vote on any immigration reform legislation before the end the year,” Politico reports.

“The House has just 19 days in session before the end of 2013, and there are a number of reasons why immigration reform is stalled this year.”

About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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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