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Fannie to Pay U.S. Nearly $60 Billion

May 10, 2013 at 7:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Fannie Mae “will make a $59.4 billion dividend payment to the U.S. Treasury, the company said Thursday after reporting a record first-quarter profit,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Fannie’s expected payment will bring to $95 billion the amount of dividends it has paid to the Treasury, compared to $116.1 billion in aid it absorbed between 2008 and 2011. If the profits of recent periods are sustained, Fannie could within the next year return more money to the Treasury than it has borrowed–though its payments aren’t going toward the actual repayment of its rescue funding.”

Wall Street Access to Insiders Under Scrutiny

May 10, 2013 at 6:50 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “Current and former congressional staffers say talking with investors is common, but ethics experts see potential problems, highlighted by the recent federal subpoenas issued in a case involving a Medicare funding decision.”

Email Demanded by Boehner Different Than He Claims

May 10, 2013 at 6:09 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) demanded the release of an e-mail that he said showed that State Department officials believed from the start that “Islamic terrorists” were linked to the Benghazi attack but have declined to say so publicly, the New York Times reports.

But a copy of the e-mail indicates that the senior State Department official who wrote it, referred to “Islamic extremists,” not terrorists.

“The distinction is important, administration officials said, because while the White House did not initially characterize the attack as terrorism, senior officials, including Ambassador Susan E. Rice, acknowledged the possibility that extremists had been involved in the assault.”

Former Daschle Aide to Run for Senate

May 9, 2013 at 9:47 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rick Weiland (D), a former Tom Daschle aide who ran for Congress in 1996 and 2002, told the Argus Leader that he will try to win the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD).

Roll Call: Will former Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD) run too?

90-Year Old Lawmaker Will Seek Another Term

May 9, 2013 at 9:41 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX) “has already smashed the record for the oldest member of the U.S. House of Representatives, but he doesn’t intend to quit now,” the Houston Chronicle reports.

The Republican lawmaker announced he will seek another term. He says it’s his mission to see to it there’s a Republican back in the White House in 2016.

Said Hall: “I want to take on President Obama at every turn until he leaves office and I want to help elect the next Republican president. We need a president that is fair with Texas, fair with energy, and gives us leadership for our children and grandchildren.”

Bonus Quote of the Day

May 9, 2013 at 9:29 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Progressivism is well-intentioned but it is also — in my humble opinion — arrogant and condescending.”

— Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), quoted by The Hill.

Minnesota on Track to Legalize Gay Marriage

May 9, 2013 at 6:03 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A pivotal vote Thursday in the Minnesota House positioned that state to become the 12th in the country to allow gay marriages and the first in the Midwest to pass such a law out of its Legislature,” the AP reports.

Obama’s Veep

May 9, 2013 at 6:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Douglas Brinkley: “Never before have a president and vice president been as close personally and professionally as Barack Obama and Joe Biden – just think about the past 80 years. FDR switched out VPs with the regularity of a farmer rotating his crops. Harry Truman had little use for the lightweight Alben Barkley. Dwight Eisenhower never really trusted Richard Nixon. Historian Robert Caro just published an award-winning 736-page biography – The Passage of Power – that essentially chronicles JFK’s deep aversion for LBJ. Nixon’s selection of the pugilist Spiro Agnew in 1968 as his vice president blew up in his face a few years later: A volcanic eruption of ethics charges were levied against Agnew, and he was forced to resign. Gerald Ford and his vice president, Nelson Rockefeller, never quite jelled. Ford, in fact, asked Bob Dole to run as the VP candidate in 1976 – an awful slap to Rockefeller. Although it’s true that Jimmy Carter was extraordinarily close to Walter Mondale, their relationship lacked the two-term gravitas of Obama and Biden’s ironclad bond. Ronald Reagan wasn’t particularly intimate with George H.W. Bush; their wives often feuded. And when Bush became president, he didn’t take Dan Quayle very seriously. (Nor did the country.)”

“Of course, Al Gore and Dick Cheney were formidable presences in the past two White Houses. But by the time both of those men left Washington, their relationships with their bosses were strained.”

Did the Ground Game Matter in 2012?

May 9, 2013 at 3:40 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

John Sides: “Yes, but to an extent far smaller than Obama’s winning margin. Other things equal, Obama’s vote share was about three-tenths of a point higher in counties where Obama had one field office and six-tenths of a point higher in counties where Obama had two or more field offices. (With relatively few counties having more than 2 offices, we did not try to estimate the effect of additional field offices beyond 2.) Romney’s field offices, by contrast, had an effect that was only half this size and could not be estimated with as much statistical confidence. This is consistent with the impression that Obama’s field operation was more effective than Romney’s. Essentially, our best guess is that Romney would have needed two offices in a county to match the effects of one of Obama’s offices, all else equal.”

Quote of the Day

May 9, 2013 at 3:36 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“”Daily exercise’ – if I kick the dog across the room every day, is that considered daily exercise? Euthanasia performed humanely’- should I choose the ax or the baseball bat?”

— North Carolina State Rep. Michael Speciale (R), quoted by WRAL-TV, arguing that care requirements in a bill to curb puppy mills were too ambiguous.

Most Say Obama Can’t Get Things Done

May 9, 2013 at 3:31 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Pew Research poll finds that just 49% of the public says President Obama is “able to get things done,” down from 57% in January and closer to his levels of confidence in 2012. But the vast majority of Americans, 67%, believe Obama is fighting hard for his policies, a quality that has been questioned in the wake of legislative setbacks.

White House Reaches Out to Ryan on Budget

May 9, 2013 at 12:21 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Michael Scherer reports on a secret meeting between White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).

“The nighttime beer with Ryan created no breakthroughs, but the two men informally talked about the possibility of a bargain later this year that could bring down the deficit. It was never meant to be a negotiating session, though. And as it wound down, Ryan felt obliged to warn his new acquaintance not to take it personally the following day, when he would appear on television again…. Ryan would say later that it was the first time anyone from the Obama Administration had reached out for a substantive conversation.”

GOP Gets Creative in Blocking Obama Agenda

May 9, 2013 at 12:08 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Republican resistance to President Obama’s second-term plans “intensified another couple of notches today,” David Hawkings reports.

House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “announced they would simply ignore a provision in the health care overhaul calling on each to pick someone for a new panel with the power to dictate Medicare spending reductions without fear of congressional reversal.”

“At the same time, all eight Republicans boycotted this morning’s meeting of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which under a wrinkle in the rules prevented the panel from advancing Gina McCarthy’s nomination to run the EPA.”

The Limits of Presidential Leadership

May 9, 2013 at 12:04 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Norm Ornstein:
“At nearly every speech I give, someone asks about President Obama’s
failure to lead. Of course, that question has been driven largely by the
media, perhaps most by Bob Woodward. When Woodward speaks, Washington
listens, and he has pushed the idea that Obama has failed in his
fundamental leadership task–not building relationships with key
congressional leaders the way Bill Clinton did, and not ‘working his
will’ the way LBJ or Ronald Reagan did. Now, after the failure to get
the background-check bill through the Senate, other reporters and
columnists have picked up on the same theme, and I have
grown increasingly frustrated with how the mythology of leadership has
been spread in recent weeks. I have yelled at the television
set, ‘Didn’t any of you ever read Richard Neustadt’s classic
Presidential Leadership? Haven’t any of you taken Politics 101 and read
about the limits of presidential power in a separation-of-powers
system?’ But the issue goes beyond that, to a willful ignorance of
history.”

GOP Turns Focus to Hillary

May 9, 2013 at 12:02 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

First Read: “Wednesday’s congressional hearing probing last year’s attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi revealed this political development: Key parts of the conservative movement are turning their attention from President Obama to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.”

“Yet as Democrats prepare for Hillary’spossible political comeback, so
are Republicans and conservatives. Consequently, the GOP’s shift in
focus shouldn’t be surprising, especially with 2016 on the horizon. But
what’s striking is how sudden the transition seemed yesterday. Also
striking is that it comes at a time when Clinton is enjoying her highest
polling numbers, even among Republicans.”

It’s Still Early for Recruiting Senate Candidates

May 9, 2013 at 11:46 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Roll Call: “Despite the numerous holes on the Senate race recruitment map, a
look back at last cycle offers some context for how far there still is
to go until the 2014 primaries… history shows it’s too early to declare recruitment failures for either party.”

Murder at City Hall

May 9, 2013 at 11:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

What if a Mayor seeking re-election was accused of . . . murder?

Find out in Murder at City Hall — the new political thriller about a new Mayor, a randy mistress, a dogged detective and a sleazy tabloid reporter. Available now at Kindle, Nook, iTunes and other fine online bookstores.

For details, visit www.philentz.com.

Graham Faces Down Primary Challenge

May 9, 2013 at 8:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“If any Senate Republican up for re-election next year would seem ripe for a primary defeat it’s Lindsey Graham,” Politico reports.

“Yet a year out from his primary, Graham is in surprisingly good shape. He had over $5.4 million in the bank at the end of March, second only to Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell among senators up in 2014, and his approval ratings remain solid if not spectacular. What’s more, the intensity on immigration has receded here and a set of issues has arisen that have benefited the incumbent.”