Terry McAuliffe (D) continues to widen his campaign funding advantage over Ken Cuccinelli (R) in the Virginia governor’s race, the Richmond Times Dispatch reports.
McAuliffe had $6 million in cash on hand as of June 30, more than double Cuccinelli’s nearly $2.7 million.
Michelle Nunn (D) is expected to announce a U.S. Senate bid from Georgia but wasn’t talking about it at a White House event yesterday, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
Said Nunn: “I have been telling folks that I was focused on this event and I was going to do some thinking about (the Senate race), and I’ll be talking about it shortly. But I wanted to get through this event and focus on this.”
“The Senate inched closer to an eleventh-hour deal late Monday night in a bid to avert an unprecedented maneuver to change the chamber’s rules governing presidential appointees, with nearly all 100 senators spending more than three hours huddled in a rare bipartisan, closed-door caucus,” the Washington Post reports.
The New York Times reports senators “were confident that an agreement could be reached Tuesday to defuse the tense partisan standoff, though no deal had been struck in the closed session that went well into the night.”
However, Roll Call said senators “left without much optimism that an agreement would be reached by Tuesday
morning.”
Wonk Wire: Late night meeting produces no deal.
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Lawyers for disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) filed a long-awaited appeal of his conviction and 14-year sentence late last night, arguing that U.S. District Judge James Zagel’s “one-sided evidentiary rulings” favored prosecutors and that the stiff sentence he imposed was based on vague and speculative evidence, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) “have joined an upstart effort to remove the chain of command from military sexual assault cases,” Politico reports.
“The tea party favorites give the bill’s lead sponsor, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) , critical conservative cover as she battles the Pentagon and hawks in both parties on her proposal to create a new prosecution system for major military crimes.”
Roll Call: “If you had to pick a single event that brought Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to the brink of using the “nuclear option” for executive branch nominees, look no further than Valentine’s Day.”
“The Nevada Democrat’s plan to pressure Republicans on their various filibuster attempts has its roots in the nomination of former Nebraska GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel to be Defense secretary. After that floor fight, senior Democrats began telegraphing, as early as March, their intentions to force a floor showdown.”
The U.S. Capitol Police announced it arrested a legislative director for Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) in connection with a string of burglaries at the Rayburn House Office Building, The Hill reports.
NBC Washington reports they caught the aide in the middle of a theft with hidden cameras.
The former fiancee of San Diego Mayor Bob Filner (D) “says she ended her relationship with him because he became increasingly abusive toward her and began sending sexually explicit text messages to other women in her presence,” KPBS reports.
Bronwyn Ingram said she witnessed what she called a “severe deterioration in Bob’s ability to engage with anyone in a civil manner, myself included.”
A new Quinnipiac poll in New York City shows Anthony Weiner (D) leading the Democratic race for mayor with 25%, followed by Christine Quinn (D) at 22%, William Thompson (D) at 11%, Bill de Blasio (D) at 10% and John Liu (D) at 7%.
In the race for Comptroller, former Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) leads Scott Stringer (D), 48% to 33%.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D) announced she would skip a race for governor next year and run for re-election instead, Capitol Fax reports.
Madigan’s announcement is a big boost for Bill Daley (D) who already announced a primary challenge to Gov. Pat Quinn (D).
“I think that the president, even by executive order, could again wave his magic wand before 2014, and he’d say ‘Now, all new legal Americans are going to have voting rights.'”
— Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), in an interview with World Net Daily, explaining how House Republicans would risk losing their majority if they passed an immigration bill that contained a pathway to citizenship.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) “plans to use some procedural trickery Monday night — and it could get some senators arrested,” National Journal reports.
“In an effort to get all senators to the Senate chamber at 5:30 p.m., the Nevada Democrat is going to employ a rarely used procedure called a live quorum. Reid wants all the senators back to the Capitol to discuss potential rule changes to the filibuster… If it doesn’t work, however, that’s where things get dicey. The Senate can then direct the sergeant at arms to compel — or even arrest–senators to bring them to the floor.”
Sources tell CNN that Reid and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) “engaged in quiet negotiations over the weekend and got close to averting
the so-called nuclear option over a dispute surrounding President
Obama’s nominees, but they failed to seal the deal.”
Dan Balz asked Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) “lousy introduction to the national stage” during the 2012 presidential campagin would affect his chances if he were to run again.
Said Perry: “You mean in the way Bill Clinton’s introduction was bad?,” referring to Clinton’s infamous nomination speech for Michael Dukakis at the 1988 Democratic National Convention.
When it was noted that Clinton’s moment was just one speech, Perry added: “If one performance or a series of performances pretty much blackballs you, then it does. But I don’t think that’s what this country’s all about.”
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said he and Republicans are trying to strike a deal with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to avoid his threat of triggering the “nuclear option” and would either allow up-or-down votes on seven contentious nominees or at least find “replacements” for those nominees, Politico reports.
A new Public Policy Polling survey finds Gov. Bob McDonnell’s (R) job approval at just 36% with 41% disapproving. His net approval rating has dropped 12 points in the last month, and for the first time since taking office he’s under water.
Key finding: “McDonnell’s ethics issues seem to be driving this downturn in his popularity. Only 31% of voters in the state consider him to be an ethical politician, compared to 45% who do not.”
Just updated: The Death and Taxes Poster 2014 — the single most open and accessible record of government spending ever created.
Also worth checking out:
Coming later this year: The Gamble: Choice and Chance in the 2012 Presidential Election by John Sides and Lynn Vavrek.
I just received an advance copy and it looks fantastic.
New York points out there’s a compelling Establishment reason for Speaker John Boehner to pass an immigration-reform bill: “It has become a Washington truism that the party must expand its appeal to Latino and minority voters if it wants to remain viable in the future.”
“The trouble is that there is one group that emphatically doesn’t want immigration reform, at least in its current Senate iteration: a key, very conservative cohort of the House Republicans, which Boehner just happens to lead. Which means his speakership, of late, has become a case study in minefield walking, forcing him to balance one survival instinct against another. If he doesn’t make an attempt at a serious bill, he’ll have almost nothing to show for his leadership, suffering yet another humiliating defeat in a two-plus-year string of humiliating defeats. But if he tries to forge a deal with the Democrats and let the bill come to the floor (where it will need Democratic support to pass), he’ll face a revolt from his own rather large backbench–and he already survived one this winter, when twelve Republicans tried to oust him in a coup.”
“And so, faced with choosing between passing historic legislation and saving his own hide, John Boehner has spent most of this summer punting.”
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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