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Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) “new book is set for a January release, followed by a book tour that comes at a critical time for him as he weighs a presidential run,” the Tampa Bay Times reports.
“American Dreams: Restoring Economic Opportunity for Everyone is listed on Amazon with a Jan. 13 release date. It is Rubio’s second book; the first was a story of his upbringing as the son of Cuban immigrants and his political rise. The new book is more policy oriented.”
Senate Democrats are considering a vote in the lame-duck session to force approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, a move that may bolster Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) re-election chances in next month’s runoff election, Bloomberg reports.
“Landrieu, chairwoman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, in her campaign has sought to distance herself from Obama on energy issues, including his delay in approving the pipeline. She has backed the pipeline project.”
Gallup: “Following the midterm election that some have termed a Republican wave, the majority of Americans want the Republicans in Congress — rather than President Obama — to have more influence over the direction the country takes in the coming year. This is a switch from early 2012 when a slim plurality, 46%, wanted Obama to prevail in steering the nation.”
“Republicans’ 17-percentage-point edge over Obama on this measure exceeds what they earned after the 2010 midterm, when Americans favored Republicans by an eight-point margin (49% to 41%). It also eclipses the nine-point advantage Republicans had over Bill Clinton following the 1994 midterm in which Republicans captured the majority of both houses.”
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New York Times: “The relationship between George W. Bush and his father, George H. W. Bush, might just be the most dissected filial relationship in modern history — compared, variously, to Shakespearean history, Greek tragedy and opéra bouffe. In his new book, the 43rd president draws an affectionate portrait of the 41st president that’s short on factual revelations and long on emotion.”
“In 41, Mr. Bush sheds little new light on his fateful decision to invade Iraq in 2003 or on other pivotal moments of his presidency, nor does he tell us much about his father’s tenure in the White House that we didn’t already know. Instead, he’s written what he calls a “love story” about his dad. At its best, the book has the qualities of the younger Mr. Bush’s recent and much-talked-about paintings: It’s folksy, sharply observed and surprisingly affecting, especially for someone not exactly known for introspection. At its worst, the book reads like a banquet-dinner-type testimonial about his father, with transparent efforts to spin or sidestep important questions about his own time in office.”
“Kansas will collect $1 billion less in revenue in 2015 and 2016 than its projected expenses following massive income tax cuts signed into law by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback (R),” the Kansas City Star reports.
“The new figure raises the prospect of deep cuts in the state budget following controversial income tax cuts that Brownback vigorously defended during his re-election campaign against Democrat Paul Davis. Critics worry that schools, roads and social services will be among the areas cut in coming months.”
The Washington Post give the “award” to Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA), “who, through sheer force of personality, not only lost a very winnable open seat race but lost it badly. Some races are a failure of the campaign. This was a failure of the candidate.”
“Braley’s loss was so horrible for two reasons: 1) It was a seat that Democrats badly needed if they had any hope of holding the majority (they didn’t) and 2) it was so avoidable. Braley deserved what he got because he simply didn’t perform close to expectations as a candidate in a race with massive national import. And for that, he was the worst candidate of the 2014 election.”
Share your nominations in the comments.
President Obama “will have to get his nominee for attorney general past a Republican-controlled Senate, Democratic and Republican aides say,” The Hill reports.
“A packed schedule after the election is almost certain to push the vetting process for Loretta Lynch into January, when Republicans are set to take power in the upper chamber.”
“Michael Bloomberg’s $40 million spending splurge on politics for this year’s election taught him a lesson for 2016: You get a much better bang for your buck by trying to tip state and local elections than high-profile federal ones,” Politico reports.
“So as the former New York mayor turned activist for gun control, healthier food choices, education reform, and other issues makes his spending plans for the next two years, he plans to weight his contributions more toward ballot measures, governor and school-board candidates, and away from House and Senate races, which have become glutted with outside money.”
“This is a very outstanding young woman from everything that I can tell.”
— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), quoted by BuzzFeed, voicing support for 55-year old Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch.
“In 1989, Rep. Bobby L. Rush moved into an office space in Chicago’s South Side, while the Democrat was serving as an alderman on the city council. He has stayed there — rent-free — ever since, racking up $365,040 in unpaid rent, according to an Office of Congressional Ethics report made public Monday,” Roll Call reports.
“The House Ethics Committee simultaneously announced it will continue to gather facts in the case, without launching a formal investigation.”
Megyn Kelly embarrassingly mispronounced the name of Mike Huckabee’s Fox News show last night.
Catherine Rampell: “Voter suppression efforts may have changed the outcomes of some of the closest races last week. And if the Supreme Court lets these laws stand, they will continue to distort election results going forward.”
“The days of Jim Crow are officially over, but poll-tax equivalents are newly thriving, through restrictive voter registration and ID requirements, shorter poll hours and various other restrictions and red tape that cost Americans time and money if they wish to cast a ballot. As one study by a Harvard Law School researcher found, the price for obtaining a legally recognized voter identification card can range from $75 to $175, when you include the costs associated with documentation, travel and waiting time.”
Wonk Wire: The impact of voter ID laws on turnout.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) “has spent months fishing for a strategist to guide his potential 2016 presidential campaign. On Monday, he hooked a big one: Tad Devine, one of the Democratic Party’s leading consultants and a former high-level campaign aide to Al Gore, John Kerry, and Michael Dukakis,” the Washington Post reports.
“Devine and Sanders, who first worked together on Sanders’s campaigns in the 1990s, have been huddling in recent weeks, mapping out how the brusque progressive senator could navigate a primary and present a formidable challenge to Hillary Rodham Clinton, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination.”
USA Today: “Obama eschewed the Red Flag limousine service that ferried other leaders one by one from a nearby building to a banquet, cultural show and fireworks at the aquatic venue. Some Chinese went online to criticize his preference for the familiar security of a U.S.-supplied vehicle, while others understood his choice, but what happened next surprised many here.”
“Obama emerged from his car chewing gum; he’s a well-known user of Nicorette, the smoking-cessation gum. But Chinese Internet users, accustomed to the highly formal standards of their stiff party leadership, quickly characterized the leader of the world’s most powerful nation as an impolite ‘idler,’ or careless ‘rapper.'”
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) believes he has discovered a “new way of governing” that could revolutionize Washington, Business Insider reports.
“Throughout his political career, O’Malley has been obsessed with data. Now, he appears to be mulling whether to mount a potential primary challenger to 2016 front-runner Hillary Clinton. If he does run, it seems his devotion to performance metrics could become a major part of his platform.”
Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) “wants there to be no doubt he’s running for re-election,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
“Georgia’s soon-to-be senior senator is formally announcing he will seek a third term at 11 a.m. on Monday at the state capitol… Isakson has been eager to put to rest rumors that he wouldn’t run for another term – and scare off any potential GOP rivals. Among them is former Florida Rep. Allen West, though he has dismissed such talk, and a gaggle of ambitious up-and-coming Republicans.”
“Several rising Democratic contenders are also closely watching the race, though it’s unclear whether a marquee candidate would risk challenging Isakson.”
Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) insisted that he is still six to seven months away from making a decision on a second run for the GOP presidential nomination, NH Journal reports.
Said Perry: “May or June would be my guess when I’ll made a decision on whether I’m going to go forward.”
Rick Klein: “Granted, that’s earlier than the August 2011 start he chose last cycle, though we can probably stipulate that the problems with his candidacy couldn’t have been fixed with two extra months of campaigning. We’re looking at a dozen or more credible candidates on GOP debate stages in the fall, whether or not Perry chooses to join them. But the window for early-announcers is officially open. If Perry won’t be the first serious candidate in, there’s an opportunity for someone (Rand Paul? Ted Cruz?) not to wait for months to start outlining a vision for a party that wants a new voice.”
Morning Line: “We already know that the $4 billion spent on this midterm election was more than any other midterm in history. It was the most on congressional elections ever, including during a presidential year. What do the numbers really tell us? These two stats jumped out at us from a post-analysis done by the Center for Responsive Politics:
What that means is, as one of us noted on NewsHour Monday night money, more specifically who spends the most, is about as good a predictor that there is of who will win a race. Those numbers, by the way, are pretty close to the incumbent reelection rates.”
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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