Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) sounded a likely theme for his anticipated Democratic primary campaign against challenger Bill Daley (D), calling himself a man of the people and not “a champion of millionaires,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
Said Quinn: “I fight hard for folks who don’t have lobbyists, who don’t have political action committees, who aren’t in high places, but are the heart and soul of Illinois.”
A new Suffolk/Boston Herald poll in Boston finds City Councilor John Connolly (D) leading state Rep. Martin Walsh (D), 12-11%, with Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley (D) at 9%, City Councilor Rob Consalvo (D) at 8%, City Councilor Michael Ross (D) at 5%, Charlotte Golar Richie (D) at 5%, Councilor Felix Arroyo (D) at 4%, and several other candidates at 3% or less.
“It’s shaping up to be an unpleasant 2014 for Democrats in the U.S. Senate,” Time reports.
“Republicans need a net swing of six seats to regain the majority in 2014. That sounds like a lot, but it isn’t as hard as it appears. Democratic seats in South Dakota and West Virginia… appear certain to swing to the GOP. Republicans need to win three of four remaining competitive states with vulnerable incumbents — Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina and Alaska — to take the Senate. President Barack Obama lost all four states in 2012… Even the confidence with which many top Democrats have spoken of retaining the Senate has waned in recent days.”
“On Tuesday, Senate majority leader Harry Reid backed off a threat to utilize the so-called nuclear option to curtail the filibuster after weeks of escalating rhetoric. One reason may have been that Democrats knew they could soon find themselves in the minority instead of the majority, and thus becoming the victim, instead of the beneficiary, of Reid’s threatened reforms.”
Smart Politics: Will Democrats run a candidate in every Senate race?
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The National Rifle Association accused Attorney General Eric Holder of exploiting the death of Trayvon Martin to push the Obama administration’s gun-control agenda by calling for a review of “stand-your-ground” laws, The Hill reports.
Said NRA executive director Chris Cox: “The attorney general fails to understand that self-defense is not a concept, it’s a fundamental human right. To send a message that legitimate self-defense is to blame is unconscionable, and demonstrates once again that this administration will exploit tragedies to push their political agenda.”
First Read: “First, it was a pure-and-simple victory for Democrats and the Obama administration, which needed functioning heads for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and National Labor Relations Board. In particular, getting Richard Cordray to lead the CFPB — no longer being a recess appointee — helps locks in that agency. That’s a big deal. Second, we can’t understate the role that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) played in reaching the agreement. It’s been one of the more underreported stories of 2013, but McCain the dealmaker is back. And third, the 71-29 cloture vote on Cordray’s nomination highlighted a split between the Senate GOP’s old guard and new guard.”
Univision TV anchor Jorge Ramos says that all House Republicans have to do is vote “against immigration
reform or boycott the process… That’s enough to make your candidate lose
the presidential election in the United States in 2016.”
First Read: “Whether all Republican strategists are ready
to admit it or not, this is damaging to the Republican brand,
especially since the Spanish-language media so aggressively covers the
immigration debate. While many conservatives have convinced themselves
there’s no real political penalty in killing the Senate immigration
compromise (or something similar) as far as 2014 is concerned, it could
leave a long-term mark. Ramos’ warning shot is something that shouldn’t
be ignored and simply seen through the prism of ‘biased media.'”
House Republicans, “politically emboldened” by President Obama’s
delay of a key requirement of his health care law, “are taking another
run at scrapping his signature domestic policy,” the AP reports.
“The House has scheduled votes Wednesday to delay the law’s
individual and employer mandates, the 38th time the GOP majority has
tried to eliminate, defund or scale back the program since Republicans
took control of the House in January 2011.”
However, there’s good news for the White House in the New York Times: “Individuals buying health
insurance on their own will see their premiums tumble next year in New
York State as changes under the federal health care law take effect.”
National Journal:
“The biggest question in Pennsylvania politics right now isn’t whether
Gov. Tom Corbett will win reelection. It’s whether he’ll even get the
chance. Beset by legislative failures and bleak poll numbers, the
Republican looks like the country’s most vulnerable governor heading
into the 2014 election. And Republicans are questioning whether they
should let Corbett face a near-certain defeat when they could find a
ready replacement with a much better chance of winning.”
The Hotline: “Lest anyone feared Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wasn’t taking his re-election bid seriously, his latest campaign finance report shows he’s fully staffed up. In fact, McConnell looks like he’s making his own personal effort to reduce the unemployment rate among political consultants.”
“McConnell’s campaign made payments to 20 different consulting firms over the last three months, the filings show, including to nine different fundraisers, three separate media firms and two Republican web consulting outfits. He’s hired some of the biggest Republican names in the business — Harris Media, Metzner Media, FLS Connect and Engage LLC, to name a few — in advance of what could be a difficult re-election bid against Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes.”
President Obama said that he “probably” cannot legalize undocumented workers by executive order — a decision he might be faced with if Congress fails to pass comprehensive immigration reform, the Washington Post reports.
Said Obama: “Probably not. I think that it is very important for us to recognize that the way to solve this problem has to be legislative. I can do some things and have done some things that make a difference in the lives of people by determining how our enforcement should focus.”
“Some on the left have argued that Obama could simply legalize illegal immigrants himself — pointing to his previous executive order on the matter.”
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) ruled out the possibility of running for president in 2016, the Boston Globe reports.
Said Patrick: “I am not running for president in 2016. I’m going to finish this second term, I’m going to go back into the private sector. And as Diane, my wife says, pay some attention to our family and friends while they are still willing to have us pay some attention.”
President Obama hoped that that his victory in 2012 would break the partisan ‘fever’ in Washington, but “behind closed doors, people close to the president tell Politico, Obama never quite bought his own rhetoric and was quietly planning for precisely the opposite scenario, perpetual gridlock, during West Wing strategy sessions in the weeks before and after beating Mitt Romney.”
Said one “The fever didn’t break. It turned into smallpox.”
“Nobody in Wyoming likes a long campaign, and anybody from Wyoming would know that.”
— Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), quoted by the Washington Examiner, taking a dig at primary rival Liz Cheney (R) who announced her bid yesterday.
A new Quinnipiac poll in Virginia finds the scandal surrounding gifts given to Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) and his family by a political donor haven’t derailed his governorship.
Voters still say by a 44% to 36% margin that McDonnell is honest and trustworthy and only 16% of voters, most of whom are Democrats, think he should resign.
Said pollster Peter Brown: “Almost 80 percent of voters are aware of the controversy and seem to be somewhat concerned. The bottom line seems to be that they view him as just another politician, but at this point they are not clamoring for his scalp.”
When he announced his unlikely return to political life, Eliot Spitzer “said the approval of his wife, a stalwart presence in his previous campaigns, was essential before he chose to pursue a potentially career-salvaging run for New York City comptroller,” the New York Times reports.
“But so far Ms. Wall Spitzer has been all but invisible, issuing no statement of support and not once appearing at her husband’s side… Mr. Spitzer’s attempted comeback has coincided with a difficult time for his marriage — the couple are currently living in separate apartments 18 blocks apart. Five years after Mr. Spitzer resigned as governor amid a prostitution scandal, friends say Ms. Wall Spitzer is deeply conflicted about her husband’s candidacy, offering assent but privately preferring he had not chosen to run.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin “gave his clearest signal yet that he will not let a dispute over the fate of former U.S. spy contractor Edward Snowden derail relations with the United States,” Reuters reports.
Said Putin: “Bilateral relations, in my opinion, are far more important than squabbles about the activities of the secret services.”
He added: “We warned Mr Snowden that any action by him that could cause damage to Russian-American relations is unacceptable for us.”
A new National Journal Poll finds that 67% of Americans support building the Keystone XL pipeline to carry Canadian oil to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast; that includes 56% of Democrats. Just 24% oppose the project.
Just published: The Road to War: Presidential Commitments Honored and Betrayed by Marvin Kalb.
“Not since Pearl Harbor has an American president gone to Congress to request a declaration of war. Nevertheless, since then, one president after another, from Truman to Obama, has ordered American troops into wars all over the world.”
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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