A new Rasmussen survey in Virginia findsTerry McAuliffe (D) leads Ken Cuccinelli (R) in the race for governor by six points, 44% to 38%, with Libertarian Robert Sarvis at 6%.
Cruz Votes to Take Up Budget Resolution After All
Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) “21-hour, 19-minute verbal assault on President Obama’s signature health care law ended Wednesday when the Senate voted 100-to-0 to break off debate and move to consider House legislation that Democrats plan to use to keep the government open next week,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Cruz’s marathon session — which began Tuesday afternoon, went straight through the night and ended at a predetermined noon deadline — did not win over senators from either party, and in fact Mr. Cruz even voted to open debate. After the vote, Senate Mike Lee, Republican of Utah and a Cruz ally, said Mr. Cruz never intended to oppose the motion to take up the bill, a position contradicted by his words and procedural motions for days before the tally.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) greeted the conclusion of Cruz’s speech by declaring it “a big waste of time.”
Quote of the Day
“A lot of minorities, a lot of younger people will not turn out in an non-presidential year. It’s a great year for Republicans!”
— Nevada Assembly Minority Leader Pat Hickey (R), in a radio interview, predicting big GOP wins next year.
D.C. Mayor Says All 32K Employees are Essential
Washington, DC Mayor Vincent Gray moved to designate the entirety of the city government as “essential to the protection of public safety, health, and property,” in a bid to allow city services to continue during a federal shutdown, the Washington Post reports.
Treasury Will Run Out of Cash on October 17
New York Times: “The Treasury will only have $30 billion of cash on hand by mid-October, putting the United States on the precipice of an unprecedented default… The warning puts additional pressure on a hamstrung Congress, which is already struggling to prevent the federal government from shutting down over a budget impasse on Oct. 1.”
Priebus Takes Sides
Weiner Explored Media Prospects Before Mayoral Bid
“Anthony Weiner, whose mayoral bid imploded following revelations that he’d continued sexting long after his resignation from Congress, was already plotting a Plan B more than six months before he lost his bid for Gracie Mansion,” Politicker reports.
According to an industry insider, Mr. Weiner wanted to gauge how a failed mayoral bid would impact his prospects of landing a lucrative TV or radio gig.
Said the insider: “He was exploring his options and what they were at the time and what they may be should he run an unsuccessful campaign. It just seemed that exploring his media options became a factor in running for mayor.”
Ad Spending Explodes in Virginia
Elizabeth Wilner: “Between the 2009 race and today’s, we’re seeing nearly twice as many sponsors, advertisements, and airings of ads. The Cook Political Report takes care every four years to shoot down the presumption that the outcomes of Virginia’s and New Jersey’s gubernatorial races will foreshadow the overall outcome of the next midterm election. That said, Kantar Media CMAG believes the near-doubling, within one election cycle, of ad metrics like sponsors, unique advertisements, and spot occurrences is a fair rule of thumb for the significant general elections of 2014.”
Democrats Stay United on Health Care
President Obama and Bill Clinton “took to the same stage Tuesday to promote the new health care law that Obama championed after Clinton’s own efforts to reform health care years earlier fell flat,” the AP reports.
“Joining forces under dimmed lights in a hotel ballroom in New York, Obama and Clinton laid out the law’s benefits and its connection to the economy while dispelling what they called disinformation about its downsides. Clinton, acting as host, lobbed the questions; Obama answered with the eagerness of a guest on a daytime TV talk show.”
First Read: “If there was a positive of yesterday’s Barack-Bill conversation, it was to drive home the point that the Democratic Party is united on health care. They might disagree with the message and even a few of the new rules, but they’re mostly united behind the substance and certainly united against making real changes. And as we’ve told you before, when it comes to policy/budget disputes, the party that is united almost always beats the party that isn’t. Indeed, it’s hard to look at the GOP right now in Washington and view them as a party that’s united.”
About Ted’s Talk
First Read highlights what you need to know about Sen. Ted Cruz’s all-nighter on the Senate floor:
“One, it’s technically not a filibuster, because it isn’t stopping any of today’s action in the Senate. Two, the legislation that the Senate is considering is the House GOP effort to fund the government and also defund the president’s health care law, so some Republicans are puzzled why Cruz is waging this crusade since the legislation is exactly what Ted Cruz begged the House to do… And three, there’s only one real beneficiary of this long speech — Ted Cruz. Indeed, probably taking the criticism he received from House Republicans to heart, Cruz’s speech creates the illusion he’s doing something when he really isn’t; in fact, he’s risking nothing other than the ire of his fellow Republican senators.”
Dallas Morning News: “Condemned from all sides, Sen. Ted Cruz launched a talkathon
Tuesday intended to cripple Obamacare but aimed — inconveniently — at a
bill that would deliver exactly what he asked for.”
McCain Link Hurts Graham in South Carolina
A new Clemson University poll finds Sen. Lindsey Graham would get the votes of 31% of GOP voters regardless of his primary opponent, while nearly 20% of Republicans said they would not vote for him.
Key findings: GOP voters told the Clemson poll they disliked Graham for: his perceived lack of conservative principles; association with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and tendency to compromise too much with Democrats.
Snyder Goes On Air Early
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s (R) unannounced re-election campaign is launching a statewide TV ad campaign today in an unusually early move — more than 13 months before the election, the Detroit Free Press reports.
“The one-minute ad, expected to air in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint, Lansing and Traverse City markets, is titled ‘Michigan is Back’ and touts Snyder’s accomplishments since taking office in January 2011.”
His closing line: “It’s a nerdy job, but someone has to do it.”
Walsh and Connolly Face Off for Boston Mayor
Martin Walsh and John Connolly “emerged Tuesday atop a crowded field vying to become Boston’s next mayor, propelled by well-funded campaigns that outmuscled and outorganized the competition,” the Boston Globe reports.
Byrne and Young Advance in Alabama
Bradley Byrne (R) and Dean Young (R) advanced to a Republican runoff in Alabama’s 1st congressional district, the Birmingham News reports.
According to complete but unofficial results, Byrne captured nearly 35% of the vote in the six-county district and Young was second with 23% of the vote. Out of the seven other Republican contenders, Chad Fincher was third with about 16% of the vote.
Poll Shows Disapproval of Threat of Government Shutdown
A new New York Times/CBS News poll finds 8 in 10 Americans find it unacceptable for either President Obama or members of Congress to threaten to shut down the government during budget negotiations in order to achieve their goals. Fewer than 1 in 5 think the stalemate between President Obama and the Republicans in Congress is acceptable.
A new Global Strategy Group (D) poll finds 35% would blame Republicans in Congress for a shutdown, 29% would blame President Obama and another 12% would blame congressional Democrats — a total of 41% blaming either Obama or his Democratic allies in Congress.
Huge Majority Say Country on Wrong Track
A new Bloomberg poll finds that just 25% of Americans say the U.S. is on the right track — the lowest mark since September 2011, a month after S&P downgraded U.S. government debt. Sixty-eight percent say the country is headed down the wrong track.
Cruz Continues Night Long Attack on Obamacare
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), “who took to the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon and declared he would speak ‘until I cannot stand’ was still standing more than 14 hours later as he pressed ahead with his impassioned and often lonely verbal assault on President Obama’s health care law,” the New York Times reports.
“It is a fight he will almost certainly lose later on Wednesday when both Republicans and Democrats are expected to vote overwhelmingly to move ahead so the Senate can begin considering a bill, approved by the House last week, that would fund most of the government but not the Affordable Care Act.”
Washington Post: “Speaking with little assistance from his Republican colleagues, Cruz assured that debate on the spending measure will stretch well into the weekend. With Senate passage all but certain on a bill that will include funding for the health-care law, Cruz’s strategy will give House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and his colleagues only a few hours to respond with a different version of the legislation.”
Christie Running Away in Re-Election Race
A new Quinnipiac poll in New Jersey finds Barbara Buono (D) trailing Gov. Chris Christie badly and making no progress in recent weeks.
Christie leads by a whopping 64% to 30%.
Said pollster Maurice Carroll: “Even a third of Democrats prefer Christie. And, although the Buono campaign and Buono’s political background are big on women’s issues, even women favor Christie. So do men. There’s not even a very big gender gap.”
