A new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll in Texas finds Greg Abbott (R) leading Wendy Davis (D) in the race for governor, 40% to 34%.
In a three-way race against Davis and Libertarian Kathie Glass, Abbott’s lead shrinks to 5 points, 40% to 35%.
Maine Candidate Comes Out
Rep. Mike Michaud (D), running for governor of Maine, writes in the Bangor Daily News: “So I wasn’t surprised to learn about the whisper campaigns, insinuations and push-polls some of the people opposed to my candidacy have been using to raise questions about my personal life. They want people to question whether I am gay.”
“Allow me to save them the trouble with a simple, honest answer: ‘Yes, I am. But why should it matter?'”
Quote of the Day
“And whether you like the model of Obamacare or not, the fact that the
president sold it on a basis that was not true has undermined the
foundation of his second term. I think it’s rotting it away.”
— Mitt Romney, in an interview on Meet the Press.
Obama Shifts Focus in Bid for Momentum
“Problems with the government’s health-care website are forcing President Obama to redraw his plans for the rest of the year as he looks for ways to regain political momentum,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Scrapping a planned push to drive people to the balky website, the White House is organizing a flurry of events on the economy and immigration, as well as health care.”
McAuliffe Still Leads Heading Into Final Day
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Virginia finds Terry McAuliffe (D) comfortably ahead of Ken Cuccinelli (R) in the race for governor, 50% to 43%, with Libertarian Robert Sarvis at 4%.
In the Lt. Governor’s race Ralph Northam is headed for a blowout win over E.W. Jackson, 52% to 39%. The intrigue will be in the Attorney General contest where Mark Herring is only up 47% to 45%.
A new Quinnipiac poll finds McAuliffe leading by six points, 46% to 40%, with Sarvis at 8%.
Christie Headed for Big Win
A new Monmouth poll in New Jersey finds Gov. Chris Christie with a 20 point lead over Barbara Buono (D) in the race for governor, 57% to 37%.
A new Fairleigh Dickinson poll finds Christie with a 19 point lead, 59% to 40%.
A new Rutgers Eagleton
poll gives Christie a 36 point lead, 66% to 30%.
A new Quinnipiac poll shows Christie with a 28 point lead, 61% to 33%.
Probe of Campaign Donations Sheds Light on Dark Money
A California investigation into dark money “offers a rare glimpse into the shadowy world of politically active nonprofits, which have played an increasing role in elections nationwide since the U.S. Supreme Court eased campaign rules in 2010. They provide donors a way to influence elections by piping major money around the country until it resurfaces — without their fingerprints — in a campaign,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
Sticker Shock Leads to Anger Over Health Care Law
“Americans who face higher insurance costs under President Obama’s health-care law are angrily complaining about ‘sticker shock,’ threatening to become a new political force opposing the law even as the White House struggles to convince other consumers that they will benefit from it,” the Washington Post reports.
“The growing backlash involves people whose plans are being discontinued because the policies don’t meet the law’s more-stringent standards. They’re finding that many alternative policies come with higher premiums and deductibles.”
Meanwhile, TPM reports that insurers are hiding Obamacare benefits from their own customers.
Romney Seeks to Reemerge as a Public Voice
The Boston Globe notes Mitt Romney “did not form a political action committee, and he did not try to play a major role in the Republican Party” after his defeat last year. He knew “that the Romney brand of Mr. Fix-it had been undermined by his own words and failed strategy.”
“But as the calendar nears this week’s anniversary of his 2012 defeat, and a difficult year of reflection comes to a close, Romney is intent on re-emerging — slowly, carefully, in the calculated way of a cautious investor sensing an opportunity — but re-emerging nonetheless.”
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The Disastrous Beginning to Obamacare
Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial: “Instead of being remembered for fundamentally changing the health care landscape in America for the better, President Barack Obama may instead go down as one of the most disconnected, too-cool-for-school chief executives in U.S. history.”
“And he better hope that it doesn’t get any worse than that, for his flubbing of the Obamacare rollout threatens the very success of what is otherwise a noble attempt to make sure everybody has adequate and affordable medical insurance.”
Ted Cruz 2.0?
“Texas tea party activists eager to send another firebrand in the mold of Ted Cruz to the Senate have launched a movement to draft evangelical historian David Barton to run against Sen. John Cornyn,” Politico reports.
“Political analysts doubt he could take down a candidate as well-funded, well-known and widely endorsed as Cornyn. But they’re not willing to count out an insurgent from the right — not after watching Cruz come from nowhere two years ago. Barton has deep political roots, having spent nearly a decade as vice chairman of the Texas Republican Party. He is a skilled orator. And he’s got the stagecraft down pat: He travels the country to deliver rousing tributes to patriotism, often in red, white and blue Western shirts.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I take it as an insult, and I will not lie down and say people can call me dishonest, misleading or misrepresenting — I have never intentionally done so and like I say, ‘If dueling were legal in Kentucky, if they keep it up, you know it’d be a duel challenge.'”
— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), on This Week, responding to plagiarism charges.
Quote of the Day
“I’m not planning for it, I just think it’s inevitable.”
— New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), quoted by Politico, saying that the message from his all-but-assured reelection will extend across the country.
Christie’s Skeletons
Peter Hamby reviews Double Down: Game Change 2012 by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann and focuses on Mitt Romney’s wariness of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie during the presidential campaign.
“Halperin and Heilemann make abundant use of a vice-presidential vetting file dropped into their hands by someone in Romney’s orbit to illuminate secrets about the governor. Delivering the documents to the authors was a stunning breach of political decorum that can only be read as a giant middle finger at Christie and his aides.”
“His ‘disturbing’ research file is littered with ‘garish controversies,’ the authors write: a Justice Department investigation into his free-spending ways as U.S. attorney, his habit of steering government contracts to friends and political allies, a defamation lawsuit that emerged during a 1994 run for local office, a politically problematic lobbying career that included work on behalf of a financial firm that employed Bernie Madoff. And that’s not to mention the Romney team’s anxiety about the governor’s girth.”
Virginia Blame Game Begins
Politico: “Well before the last votes are cast in the state’s off-year governor’s race, GOP leaders are already engaged in a spirited debate over why, exactly, a fight against a Democrat as flawed as Terry McAuliffe has turned into such a painful slog of a campaign. Even Republicans who haven’t yet counted out their nominee, state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, view the governor’s race as a profile in frustration for the GOP – an election that should have leaned toward the Republicans, but where Democrats have held a persistent lead in polling, money and tactical prowess.”
“The GOP’s internal discussion about the race mirrors much of the broader national tug of war within the conservative coalition, between officials and strategists who want the party to trim back some of its most confrontational tactics and hard-edged rhetoric, and activists bent on drawing the starkest possible lines of contrast with the Democratic party of President Barack Obama.”
Schumer Calls on Clinton to Run
In a visit to Iowa, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) became the most senior Democratic lawmaker yet to call on Hillary Clinton to run for president in 2016, “calling her the best-prepared to ‘vanquish’ tea party Republicans in the next election,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Schumer: “I am urging Hillary Clinton to run for president, and when she does, she will have my full and unwavering support.”
Paul’s Book Copied Sections of Think Tank Report
An entire section of Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) 2013 book Government Bullies “was copied wholesale from a 2003 case study by the Heritage Foundation,” BuzzFeed has learned.
“The copied section, 1,318 words, is by far the most significant instance reported so far of Paul borrowing language from other published material. The new cut-and-paste job follows reports by BuzzFeed, Politico, and MSNBC that Paul had plagiarized speeches either from Wikipedia or news reports.”
