Three separate sources tell KGTV that Mayor Bob Filner “is considering taking time off for therapy amid more calls for him to resign over sexual harassment accusations.”
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Steve King Doubles Down
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) “isn’t backing down from his controversial remarks about the children of illegal immigrants, saying Friday that he is guilty only of offering “an objective analysis,” National Review reports.
Said King: “I have been saying this a different way for 10 years and they’re not paying attention.”
He added that his controversial characterization came from “many days down on the border, sitting with the border patrol” witnessing drug busts.
Michaud Leads for Maine Governor
A new Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research (D) poll finds Michael Michaud (D) would crush current Gov. Paul LePage (R) by 27% in a two-way race, 61% to 34%.
Michaud also holds a solid lead in a three-way race, 40% to 31%, with Eliot Cutler (I) at 26%.
McConnell Way Ahead in Primary
A new Wenzel Strategies (R) poll in Kentucky finds Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) with a huge lead over challenger Matt Bevin (R) in a Republican primary, 59% to 20%.
The Importance of State Legislative Races
Glenn Thrush:
“Barack Obama has spent well over $1 billion on his political
campaigns, but it’s the $20 million to $30 million Democrats didn’t
shell out three years ago that is costing the White House as he slogs
through the first six months of his second term. The GOP’s wildly
successful, low-key and stunningly cheap campaign to seize state
capitals in 2010 has come back to haunt Obama and his fellow Democrats.
It’s now clear that the party’s loss of 20 state legislative chambers
and critical Midwestern governorships represents an ongoing threat every
bit as dangerous as the more publicized Republican takeback of the
House that same year.”
Most GOP Lawmakers See No Urgency on Immigration
Charlie Cook:
“It’s hard to be optimistic about the prospects for comprehensive
immigration reform when you talk to House Republicans. My conversations
suggest that if anything passes the House, it will most likely be small,
bite-sized morsels of largely noncontroversial
ideas–lowest-common-denominator items that bear little resemblance to
the sweeping immigration measure that passed the Senate on June 27.”
“All of this high-minded stuff–that Republicans need to get the
immigration issue off the table if they want to win and hold a Senate
majority or win the White House–matters little to many GOP House
lawmakers who sit in very white, very conservative congressional
districts and who have much more to fear from a conservative primary
challenger than from a Democrat.”
Greg Sargent: “Democratic aides say they are discussing the possibility of having Dem lawmakers invite House Republicans to do joint, bipartisan town hall meetings on immigration reform in August. The idea — which is in early discussion stages — would be to offer Republican lawmakers an opportunity to show they are genuinely serious about doing something about our immigration problems, even if deep differences over how to proceed remain.”
Snowden Wouldn’t Face Death Penalty or Torture
“U.S. authorities say National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden wouldn’t face the death penalty–and also promise he wouldn’t be tortured–in a new letter hoping to persuade Russia not to grant him asylum or refugee status,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Divided by Race Once Again
Ron Brownstein:
“Like a lightning flash in a stormy sky, the Trayvon Martin case has
illuminated the depth of the impasse between white and nonwhite America.
But a similar dynamic looms less visibly behind Washington’s standoff
between a Democratic coalition that relies on overwhelming support from
minorities and a Republican coalition still almost entirely dependent on
the votes of whites, especially older ones. Both developments tell the
same challenging story: Even as America experiences its most profound
demographic change in more than a century, our society is increasingly
fracturing along overlapping racial, generational, and partisan lines.
The diversity remaking America could be a source of rejuvenation and
innovation, but today it is reinforcing our ferocious partisan
polarization.”
Sanford Goes Missing Again
Rep. Mark Sanford (R-SC) “wasn’t aware the House moved up Wednesday evening’s vote series, and he was caught en flagrant delit excerciso, racing to the floor in sweaty attire and borrowing a dark blazer to attend to the people’s business on the floor,” Roll Call reports.
Asked Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA): “Where have you been? Hiking?”
Magazine Cover of the Year
The New Yorker wins hands down.
Abedin Has Her Own Scandal Now
Anthony Weiner isn’t the only scandal Huma Abedin needs to deal with these days.
Josh Rogin reports
Abedin “is facing an ongoing Senate investigation into the
consulting fees she earned while also working as a State Department
employee for then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.”
“In June,
2012, Abedin changed her employment status at the State Department from
being a full time employee with the title of deputy chief of staff to
being a ‘special government employee,’ a type of contractor that allowed
her to take on private clients in addition to her government job that
included Hillary Clinton’s post-State Department transition team, the
William J. Clinton Foundation, and Teneo Holdings, a firm run by Clinton
confidante Doug Band.”
Spitzer’s Wife Will Seek a Divorce
Silda Spitzer “is privately telling friends” she plans to divorce Eliot Spitzer, Page Six reports.
“Multiple sources tell us long-suffering Silda — who, he last night admitted, will not be joining him on the campaign trail — ‘has had enough’ and plans to start divorce proceedings after his run for New York City comptroller is over.”
Burr Says Shutting Down Government is Dumb
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) said that an emerging strategy to block a government funding bill over Obamacare is “the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard,” The Hill reports.
Said Burr: “I think some of these guys need to understand that you shut down the federal government, you better have a specific reason to do it that’s achievable. Defunding the Affordable Care Act is not achievable through shutting down the federal government.”
First Read: 2014 already looks very positive for Republicans: It’s going to be VERY difficult for Democrats to take back the House, and the GOP has a doable (though still narrow) path to take back the Senate. But could a government shutdown or protracted battle over the debt ceiling upend that 2014 apple cart?”
White House Hardens Stance in Advance of Fiscal Showdown
“Senior White House officials are discussing a budget strategy that could lead to a government shutdown if Republicans continue to demand deeper spending cuts,” the Washington Post reports.
“The posture represents a more confrontational approach than that of this spring, when President Obama decided not to escalate a fight over across-the-board reductions known as sequestration in an earlier budget battle with Republicans.”
The Week: Will Americans buy Obama’s renewed economic focus?
Quote of the Day
“The only way Republicans will lose the House is to shut down the government or default on the debt. Shutting down the government is not in the best interests of the American people and it makes you look politically irresponsible.”
— Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), quoted by Politico.
Garcia Still Doesn’t Live in His District
The Miami Herald notes it’s been almost a year since Rep. Joe Garcia (D-FL) said that he’d move into his new congressional district if he won the election.
“Garcia won. But he hasn’t yet moved.”
Obama Nominations Turn Sharply Political
“Since the beginning of his second term, President Obama has appointed campaign fundraisers, party allies and other political figures as ambassadors at a level that is now almost double what has prevailed in the last few administrations,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“More than 56% of Obama’s 41 second-term ambassadorial nominations have been political, compared with an average of about 30% for recent administrations… Of the political nominees, at least half have had fundraising roles.”
Christie Rips Libertarian Drift of Republican Party
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) “heatedly denounced the growing libertarian drift on national security in the Republican Party that is favored by Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, and others in the party,” the New York Times reports.
Said Christie: “This strain of libertarianism that’s going through parties right now and making big headlines I think is a very dangerous thought.”
He added: “”These esoteric, intellectual debates — I want them to come to New Jersey and sit across from the widows and the orphans and have that conversation. And they won’t, because that’s a much tougher conversation to have.”
