Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN),” the anti-abortion Republican physician accused of encouraging his wife and mistress to have multiple abortions, raised just $39,000 in the second quarter,” Roll Call reports.
“It’s a paltry sum for an incumbent member and signals more trouble for his re-election prospects in 2014.”
“I thought we were friends.”
— Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), quoted by the Washington Post, on Liz Cheney’s announcement she would challenge him in a GOP primary.
Liz Cheney (R) announced she will run against Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) in next year’s Republican primary, the AP reports.
Cheney is the elder of Dick Cheney’s two daughters.
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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the U.S. should consider boycotting the 2014 Olympics Russia is set to host if Moscow grants NSA leaker Edward Snowden asylum, The Hill reports.
Said Graham: “I would. I would just send the Russians the most unequivocal signal I could send them.”
“The idea of forcing children to attend school is outdated and should be scrapped in favor of a system that encourages learning by choice, state Sen. Aaron Osmond (R) said in calling for an end to compulsory education in Utah,” the AP reports.
Harry Enten: “Quinn’s net favorable rating among Democrats is only +5pt. This is an amazing 50pt drop since January. It’s also a 16pt decline from just late June… Quinn’s weakness is not any personal life foible. Most likely, it’s because of outside campaigns linking her to Mayor Bloomberg, who is disliked by a substantial portion of the Democratic electorate, especially for her approval of a rule-changing extra term for Bloomberg. It will be difficult for her to unite the anti-Weiner vote in a runoff.”
Jonathan Chait: “Republicans threatened to change the Senate’s rules in 2005 to stop
Democrats from filibustering their judges, and it succeeded — Democrats
agreed to let pretty much any judges through with a majority vote. Once
again the majority party forced the minority into a total capitulation.
There is a lesson here, and it’s not that the Senate is a wonderfully
congenial place whose rules must not be touched.”
Markos Moulitsas: “True, today’s deal preserved the existing filibuster rule, but it really didn’t. Democrats established that they could bust through any filibuster with a simple majority anytime they wanted. Sure, it’s still a process to do so, full of blustery threats and hyperbolic doomsaying, but it’s a process.”
Wonk Wire: The threat of the nuclear option is the nuclear option.
A new Elway poll in Washington finds voters are not overly impressed with Gov. Jay Inslee’s (D) first six months in office.
Inslee’s job performance was rated “only fair” or “poor” by 49% of voters surveyed, compared to 40% who said he was doing a “good” or “excellent” job.
The first plane to be designated as Air Force One — first used by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on cross-country voyages — “now sits in a southern Arizona field decaying under the relentless glare of the sun,” the AP reports.
Said airport manager Steve Miller: “I think it’s one of these big secrets that, really, few people know that it’s out there. It’s sad that it’s just sitting out there, considering its history over the past 70 years.”
President Obama’s “low public profile on issues like immigration, Syria and health care underscores a calculated presidential approach that admirers consider nuanced and detractors call passive,” the New York Times reports.
“While other presidents have put the bully in the bully pulpit, Mr. Obama uses his megaphone, and the power that comes with it, sparingly, speaking out when he decides his voice can shape the trajectory of an issue and staying silent when he thinks it might be counterproductive. In his first year, the president seemed to be everywhere, talking about everything. In his fifth year, he is choosing his opportunities — even if it appears he is not always in command of events.”
Senators have reached a tentative deal on averting the constitutional showdown over confirming President Obama’s agency nominations, the Washington Post reports.
Said Majority Leader Harry Reid: “We may have a way forward on this, I feel fairly confident.”
A senior Democratic Senate aide tells Roll Call that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) “is freelancing outside of
GOP leadership in trying to stop his party from leading a filibuster
that might prompt Reid to act on his threat to change the Senate
filibuster rules by a simple majority vote.”
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Virginia shows Terry McAuliffe (D) leading Ken Cuccinelli (R) by four points in the race for governor, 41% to 37%.
Key findings: Both candidates are viewed more negatively than positively by voters: Cuccinelli has a 32% favorable rating compared with 47% unfavorable. McAuliffe’s margin is smaller: 34% view him favorably, compared with 36% who view him unfavorably.
Charlie Cook: “Democrats can do everything right during this 2014 election cycle, but they still don’t have much of a chance of capturing a majority due to the congressional district boundaries and recent voting patterns in Southern and border states in rural and small-town-dominated districts. However, if Republicans engage in enough self-destructive behavior of the type we’ve seen the past couple of years, voters might just reach a breaking point. Some in the Republican Party seem intent on seeing how far they can go in alienating as many female, young, minority, and self-described moderate voting blocs as possible, despite frequent warnings from party leaders and strategists to avoid that.”
The New York Times links Virignia gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli (R) to the Star Scientific gifts scandal embroiling Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R).
“He first bought the company’s stock after bunking down in its chief executive’s six-bedroom home. He added to his holdings soon after the rollout of a new product that the company hinted could be a cure for Alzheimer’s disease… For a relative novice at stock picking, Mr. Cuccinelli’s investment in Star Scientific was highly unusual. It is a thinly traded stock in a company that has lost money for a decade. It stayed afloat by selling stock at a discount in “private placements” to large investors, whose hopes were repeatedly raised by company promotions about big payoffs.”
Star Scientific’s chief executive “also gave the attorney general $18,000 worth of gifts, including frequent stays at Mr. Williams’s homes outside Richmond and in the Blue Ridge Mountains… Mr. Cuccinelli at first failed to report some gifts, as well as his Star Scientific stock, as required by law, which he has said was an oversight.”
“I’m not the guy who’s going to appoint a Supreme Court justice or anything stupid. But there were moments when I thought, ‘You know what, damn it, can I at least appoint the commission that I chair.'”
— California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), quoted by the Los Angeles Times, on the temptations he faces as acting governor when Gov. Jerry Brown (D) leaves the state, before adding, “I’m not going to do it.”
A new Monmouth University Poll finds Cory Booker (D) maintains a daunting lead in the Democratic nomination contest to fill the late Frank Lautenberg’s U.S. Senate seat.
Booker currently claims support of 49%, followed by Rep. Frank Pallone at 12%, Rep. Rush Holt at 8% and Sheila Oliver at 3%. Another 28% are still undecided.
Said pollster Patrick Murray: “Booker’s lead appears to be impregnable. There is very little in the poll that shows a path for the other candidates to overtake him.”
“After relentlessly defending an ambitious overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws for months,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) didn’t respond when House Republican leaders last week trashed it as a “flawed…massive, Obama-care like bill,” National Journal reports.
“The Florida senator’s office, which churned out countless press releases touting his interviews and speeches about the legislation, hasn’t said a word about immigration since the Senate passed the bill on June 27. The silence is a sign that, at least publicly, Rubio won’t try to dissuade the House from a piecemeal approach that excludes a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) commented on a meeting of conservatives last weekend who are trying to come up with a plan to defeat him in a GOP primary, the Columbia State reports.
Said Graham: “I expect them to mount a challenge, and I expect to fight back and push back. I feel good about my re-election.”
Meanwhile, the Huffington Post reports Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) said he would not challenge Graham.
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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