USA Today: “The dead can’t vote, but they can give money to politicians. Thirty-two people listed on federal campaign records as “deceased” have contributed more than $586,000 to congressional and presidential candidates and political parties since Jan. 1, 2009.”
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Terror Threats Have Lawmakers on Edge
Jeff Zeleny: “August often has a way of surprising and shaking Washington with an
external event out of anyone’s control. This is a month where the
capital is scheduled to rest a bit, but the terror threats in the air
are a sober reminder that’s really not possible. Congress is away and
President Obama is scheduled to start his vacation by the end of the
week in Martha’s Vineyard. The White House is taking an all-is-normal
posture, with the president even dropping by Jay Leno. But quiet
conversations with members of Congress and aides in both parties, as
well as inside the administration, suggest these latest threats are
specific enough to be taken very seriously.”
First Read: “There isn’t a government official who’s seen some form of this intelligence who isn’t spooked by it.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I don’t intend to run to the right of Mitch McConnell. I don’t intend to run to the left of Mitch McConnell. I intend to run straight over the top of Mitch McConnell and right into the U.S. Senate.”
— Kentucky U.S. Senate candidate Matt Bevin (R), quoted by the Louisville Courier Journal, delivering “what may have been the sharpest attack of the day” at Fancy Farm.
Filner Checks In for Sex Therapy
“Beleaguered” San Diego Mayor Bob Filner (D) “is scheduled to begin two weeks of intensive therapy Monday at an undisclosed clinic to address his inappropriate sexual behavior toward women and while he’s gone the city will continue to pick up trash, the libraries will open on time and the scandal enveloping San Diego won’t be going away,” the San Diego Union Tribune reports.
“Filner won’t be ceding any authority during his self-imposed therapy sessions and plans to be briefed each morning and night on civic affairs and give direction to city staff.”
Reid Pledges to Revisit Gun Background Checks
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said he was “almost certain” Congress would look at background checks again in 2014, the Reno Gazette Journal reports.
Said spokeswoman Kristen Orthman: “I think sometime next year we’ll revisit that issue, I’m almost certain of it.”
Pryor Leads Cotton in Arkansas Senate Race
A new AFSCME poll in Arkansas finds Sen. Mark Pryor (D) leading Rep. Tom Cotton (R) in his re-election race by eight points, 43% to 35%.
Meanwhile, Smart Politics finds that no incumbent U.S. Senator has lost a general election race coming off a victory in which he did not face a major party opponent. Pryor only faced a Green Party candidate in 2008.
Agents Cover Up Program to Investigate Americans
A secretive U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration unit “is funneling information from intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a massive database of telephone records to authorities across the nation to help them launch criminal investigations of Americans,” Reuters reports.
“Although these cases rarely involve national security issues, documents reviewed by Reuters show that law enforcement agents have been directed to conceal how such investigations truly begin – not only from defense lawyers but also sometimes from prosecutors and judges.”
Quote of the Day
“They are totally insulated from public opinion on this because of redistricting. Republicans are gonna continue to hold the House. But then we’ll head into the 2016 presidential election where the electorate is likely to be 2 percent less white than it was in 2012 and 4 percent less white than it was in 2008. This is a simple math equation.”
— GOP strategist Steve Schmidt, in an interview with the New York Times, on the harm House Republicans will do to the GOP’s national ambitions by not supporting immigration reform.
Budget Bedlam
Stan Collender: “When it comes to the budget there’s so left much to do, so many moving pieces and so little time that the overall situation — let alone the fate of a particular bill — is virtually impossible to predict with any degree of certainty.”
“And when you add the somehow-still-increasingly-intractable budget politics to the mix, the odds of being right about what’s going to happen get even longer unless you’re suggesting something close to fiscal chaos.”
“That’s what I’m predicting: budget bedlam this fall and beyond.”
CNN Money has 8 things you should know about the budget showdown.
Can Christie Save the Republican Party?
New York: “We have never had a president as outwardly angry as Christie, but then this country has rarely been as angry as it is now. In the tea-party era, conservative anger has often been channeled by figures such as Michele Bachmann and Ted Cruz into a hysteria over very abstract and inflated threats: health-care death panels, the national debt, the specter of a country overrun by illegal immigrants. Christie’s use of anger is very different: It is much more targeted, and therefore potentially much more useful.”
“What Christie is doing when he starts arguments with other Republicans-and it is telling that what looks very much like a presidential run has begun with a sequence of fights-is offering his party the chance to preserve its anger, while trading in its revolutionaries for a furious institutionalist… Christie is a small-craft warning of a human being; he is a rush of blood to the head; he is a bully. But the governor is something else, too, something that separates him from the nihilistic elements of his party and-maybe-gives him a chance to lead them. He is a believer.”
High Season for Lobbying
“Lawmakers hoping for a respite from Washington’s intense lobbying climate won’t get a break back home during the August recess,” the Washington Post reports.
“Once a lull in the political calendar, August is now officially part of the high season. An array of interest groups has methodically plotted how to use the congressional recess to press causes.”
“The sophisticated operations aim to drive a political narrative throughout the month, hoping to produce a strong display of voter sentiment that lawmakers will not be able to ignore when they return to Washington after Labor Day. At that point, they will immediately contend with a showdown over the budget, a House debate on immigration reform and the launch of new state health insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act.”
House GOP Plans Anti-Washington Push
House Republicans “will take a carefully orchestrated, staunchly anti-Washington campaign to voters this month, blaming President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats for Americans’ unhappiness with government,” Politico reports.
Christie Comes Closest to Clinton
A new Monmouth University poll finds posed four hypothetical 2016 match-ups with Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee running against Republicans Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz.
Christie comes closest in national preference, trailing Clinton by just 4 points, 43% to 39%. Bush is behind Clinton by 10 points, 47% to 37%, and Rubio trails by 11 points, 47% to 36%. Cruz is behind Clinton by 16 points, 48% to 32%.
GOP Governors Warn Against Government Shutdown
“Worried about the potential impact on the fragile economies in their states, Republican governors this weekend warned their counterparts in Congress not to shut down the federal government as part of an effort to block financing for President Obama’s health care law,” the New York Times reports.
“A range of Republican governors, including some who have refused to implement elements of the health initiative in their states, said in interviews that a standoff in Washington before the new fiscal year this fall could backfire on the party if it is seen as being responsible for bringing the government to a halt.”
Christie and Clinton are ‘Hottest’ Politicians
A new Quinnipiac University Thermometer poll finds New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and Hillary Clinton (D) are the hottest politicians today.
The four lowest scores went to the congressional leaders of both parties. A surprise third place on the Thermometer goes to newly-elected Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, although 51 percent of voters don’t know enough about her to rate her.
Said pollster Peter Brown: “Clinton’s score is not surprising given her lengthy political career and especially strong support among Democrats and women. But Christie’s rating is impressive given that his experience – less than four years as governor – pales compared to Mrs. Clinton’ s resume. What is interesting is that only two of the 22 figures rate better than the absolute middle of the scale, not exactly a ringing endorsement of the nation’s political establishment.”
Biden Heads to New Hampshire
Vice President Joe Biden will appear at a fundraiser for New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) that is being hosted by President Obama’s biggest supporter in the state, WMUR reports.
“This is the second time that Biden has been seen warming up Hassan ahead of what could be a presidential run. Biden also invited Hassan to watch his swearing in as vice president earlier in the year.”
Interestingly, the person organizing the fundraiser appeared on Up with Steve Kornacki and endorsed Hillary Clinton for president.
Santorum Considering White House Bid in 2016
Rick Santorum told NBC News that he is open to another presidential run in 2016.
Said Santorum: “I’m open to looking at a presidential race in 2016. But we got a little ways, we got elections in 2014.”
The Des Moines Register notes Santorum will be in Iowa for three days this week.
Bonus Quote of the Day
“Let’s tell it like it is. If the doctors told Sen. McConnell he had a kidney stone, he wouldn’t pass it.”
— Alison Lundergran Grimes (D), quoted by The Hill.
