A Smart Politics analysis finds “Smith” is the most popular surname in U.S. House history with 115 Representatives, and, with the addition of Missouri’s Jason Smith to its rolls, the name now extends its lead to 50 over “Johnson” which comes in second with 65.
Coming this fall: Jefferson and Hamilton: The Rivalry That Forged a Nation by John Ferling.
The Week rounds up of the craziest things Virginia Lt. Gov. candidate E.W. Jackson (R) has said.
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A new Quinnipiac poll in Pennsylvania shows Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D) leading a pack of largely unknown Democratic challengers and tops Gov. Tom Corbett (R) by double-digits, 45% to 35%.
In another possible general election matchup, State Treasurer Rob McCord (D) tops Corbett 43% to 35%.
New York Times: “For years Moscow has been captivated by speculation about the apparently moribund marriage of President Vladimir V. Putin… The Kremlin and Mr. Putin vigorously denied that his marriage was in trouble, and a newspaper that suggested otherwise was shut down abruptly. But on Thursday night Mr. Putin made a rare public appearance with Lyudmila to announce that they were divorcing after nearly 30 years, the first time since Peter the Great in 1698 that a sitting leader of Russia has dissolved his marriage.”
“The federal government has been secretly collecting information on foreigners overseas for nearly six years from the nation’s largest Internet companies like Google, Facebook and, most recently, Apple, in search of national security threats,” the New York Times reports.
“The confirmation of the classified program came just hours after government officials acknowledged a separate seven-year effort to sweep up records of telephone calls inside the United States. Together, the unfolding revelations opened a window into the growth of government surveillance that began under the Bush administration after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and has clearly been embraced and even expanded under the Obama administration.”
“Government officials defended the two surveillance initiatives as authorized under law, known to Congress and necessary to guard the country against terrorist threats.”
“A national super PAC that backs progressive candidates of color is launching a seven-figure outside effort to elect Newark Mayor Cory Booker to the U.S. Senate seat occupied by the late Frank Lautenberg,” BuzzFeed reports.
A New York Times editorial: “The administration has now lost all credibility. Mr. Obama is proving the truism that the executive will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it.”
“There are a lot of Republicans that I know are not proud of this period that they’re going through. I predict the end of the Republican Party, maybe not in my lifetime, but soon.”
— Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), quoted by Politicker.
Politico: “The outrage over President Barack Obama’s authorization of a nearly limitless federal dive into Americans’ phone records obscures a hiding-in-plain-sight truth about the 44th president many of his supporters have overlooked for years: For all his campaign-trail talk of running the “most transparent administration” in U.S history, Obama never promised to reverse the 43rd president’s policies on domestic anti-terrorism surveillance — and he’s been good on his word.”
Florida Republican Party Chairman Lenny Curry told GOP lawmakers that “when it comes to the ongoing Internal Revenue Service scandal: Use it to your political advantage,” the Washington Post reports.
Said curry: “Let there be no mistake, the IRS wields considerable power. It touches the lives of millions of Americans. And once ObamaCare comes into effect, the IRS will have an even broader scope, affecting every American. We need to play big, bold hardball now. This is an opportunity where good politics and good policy intersect well.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) appointed state Attorney General Jeff Chiesa (R) to fill the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s (D) seat until the upcoming October special election, the Newark Star Ledger reports.
“Christie’s announcement at a hastily arranged news conference ended days of intense speculation over whom the Republican governor would appoint to serve nearly five months before voters elect a replacement for the 89-year-old Lautenberg, who died Monday. ”
“Earlier this year, John Kerry seemed to prevail over Susan Rice when President Obama selected him to be Secretary of State, a job they both coveted. On Wednesday, Rice regained the upper hand when she was appointed National Security Advisor, giving her a position that clearly outranks Kerry’s in the Obama power structure,” the Daily Beast reports.
“Now, in an administration where all foreign-policy decision making flows through the White House and the president makes key decisions personally, Rice and Kerry will be the two senior officials jockeying for influence over the remaining three-and-a-half years of Obama’s second term.”
Josh Romney told the Deseret News he “isn’t ruling out following in his father Mitt’s footsteps and running for office but for now will campaign again for GOP congressional candidate Mia Love.”
Terry McAuliffe (D) “has been trying to build an Obama-style, technologically savvy, grassroots campaign to crank out voters who helped the president carry the state twice but don’t normally vote in gubernatorial elections,” National Journal reports.
“The November vote will be the first statewide election since the 2012 vote to test whether the Obama campaign model can be applied to candidates other than the president.”
“In an institution where seniority has long been prized, Representative John D. Dingell Jr. of Michigan is about to set a new standard with 57 years, 5 months and 26 days of House service — a remarkable tenure that spans more than a quarter of the existence of Congress,” the New York Times reports.
Tom Bevan: “One need not be a term-limit zealot to feel unnerved at the idea that his Michigan district has been in the hands of the Dingell family for 80 straight years.”
President Obama’s signature health care reform law “remains unpopular with the American public just months before it fully goes into effect,” according to the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
“The poll shows 49% of Americans say they believe the Affordable Care Act is a bad idea. That’s the highest number recorded on this question since the poll began measuring it in 2009. Just 37% say the plan is a good idea.”
Tom Emmer, the Republican candidate for governor in 2010 who lost a close race to Mark Dayton, will likely make an announcement that he’s a likely candidate to run for the House seat being vacated by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), MinnPost reports.
Taegan 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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