After months of speculation, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) announced he ”
won’t seek another term as governor, meaning whatever his political
future holds is likely be oriented around Washington rather than the
State Capitol,” the Virginian Pilot reports.
Said Warner: “I loved being Governor, but I have a different job now — and it’s here, in the United States Senate.”
Warner’s decision effectively makes
Terry McAuliffe the likely Democratic frontrunner for the 2013
gubernatorial nomination.
Greg Sargent: “Some leading liberals and Dems are hoping the White House — if the fiscal talks break down — will prove willing to let us all go over the fiscal cliff and let all the Bush tax cuts expire. That way Dems could return in 2013 and pass the tax cuts for those under $250,000 again — the Obama tax cuts for the middle class! — while leaving taxes on the rich at Clinton-era levels.”
However, the AP reports that the White House regards this idea “frostily.”
The Washington Post has an interesting report on the Obama campaign’s voter database which pairs voting records with political donation histories and vast amounts of personal but publicly available consumer data.
“Campaign workers added far more detail through a broad range of voter contacts — in person, on the phone, over e-mail or through visits to the campaign’s Web site. Those who used its Facebook app, for example, had their files updated with lists of their Facebook friends along with scores measuring the intensity of those relationships and whether they lived in swing states. If their last names seemed Hispanic, a key target group for the campaign, the database recorded that, too.”
“To maintain their advantage, Democrats say they must guard against the propensity of political data to deteriorate in off years, when funding and attention dwindles, while navigating the inevitable intra-party squabbles over who gets access now that the unifying forces of a billion-dollar presidential campaign are gone.”
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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that 2013 could be a “very good year” for the U.S. economy if politicians can strike a quick deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, Reuters reports.
“The powerful central bank chief called for a credible long-term framework to put the federal budget on a sound path, but warned against action that would needlessly add to the headwinds facing the economy.”
Wonk Wire: A fiscal cliff solution will avoid another recession.
“We’ve got to be a kind of pro-science and pro-technology party. And I think Marco Rubio is just that. On the Earth question, I guess I have to read more closely in terms of getting a better understanding, but, yeah, kind of a strange response, I guess.”
— Jeb Bush Jr., quoted by the Washington Post, saying Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) response to a question about the age of the Earth was a “head scratching type of answer.”
President Obama “is preparing to expand the fiscal cliff fight beyond the confines of Washington, travelling the country and leaning on Democratic activist groups to help apply political pressure,” the Huffington Post reports.
“The goal, organizers said, is to keep engaged the activists and followers who have stood with Obama through two campaigns, and to begin applying external pressure to the president’s negotiations with congressional Republicans.”
“And so, top Obama operatives are gaming out ways to squeeze political capital out of the 2012 elections, aiming to affect the lame-duck session in Congress. Obama previewed the strategy in a conference call with activists after the election, saying that a second term that will include some barnstorming across the country.”
BuzzFeed reports Obama “will not repeat what is widely seen as a mistake
of his first term: switching off his grassroots operation at the behest
of Congressional Democrats, who bridled at its organizing in their
districts.”
After watching Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) fell into the trap laid nicely by a reporter asking him about the age of the Earth, Marc Ambinder notes the answer is not a “mystery” as Rubio claimed. The Earth is “about 4.5 billion years old, give or take a few million.”
Nonetheless, “there’s a way for Christian conservatives who believe in the literal (or proximately literal) truth of the Bible to answer the question without denying science. Denying science is not just a position; it is fundamentally a denial of modernity, which is why it is so, well, stupid, to the ears of elites, and even to the ears of folks who just know that geology isn’t a just-so story.”
Matt Lewis: This was a problem Rubio could have easily avoided.
Smart Politics finds that when the 113th Congress convenes in January, 29.4% of the Democratic caucus will hail from either California or New York — up from a previous all-time high of 28.1% recorded after the Republican tsunami of 2010.
“While California and New York are two of the three most populous states in the country, it is important to note that the number of representatives from the two states collectively has remained relatively flat over the last 50 years. Since 1962, New York and California have accounted for between no less than 18.2 percent and no more than 19.1 percent of all seats in the nation’s lower legislative chamber.”
A new Gallup Poll finds 65% of Americans believe President Obama will make a sincere effort to work with the Republicans in Congress to find mutually acceptable solutions to the nation’s problems. In addition, 57% also expect the Democrats in Congress to try to work with the opposing party’s leaders, but just 48% say the same of the Republicans.
Rep. Allen West (R-FL) announced that he won’t challenge Patrick Murphy’s (D) narrow victory in their nationally watched battle for Florida’s 18th congressional district seat, the Palm Beach Post reports.
Said West: “While many questions remain unanswered, today I am announcing that I will take no further action to contest the outcome of this election.”
Nate Cohn: “If the two parties continue forward along the lines carved by the Bush and Obama years, then Texas would become quite competitive by the end of the next decade and Democrats will routinely approach 400 electoral votes in national elections. But between now and the mid-2020s, the Republican party will make adjustments to compensate for changing demographics and new issues will rejigger the electorate along unforseen lines. After Bill Clinton won West Virginia by 15 points and lost its eastern neighbor by 2, I suspect that few analysts in 1996 forseaw West Virginia becoming the fifth-most Republican state or Virginia voting more Democratic than the country. The ascent of Democrats in Texas is hardly inevitable and even if it is, it won’t be in 2016 or 2020, at least not in a close election.”
President Obama sent Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Middle East to try to defuse the conflict in Gaza, the New York Times reports.
“Mrs. Clinton, who accompanied Mr. Obama on his three-country Asia trip, left on her own plane immediately for the region, where she will stop first in Jerusalem to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, then head to the West Bank to meet with Palestinian leaders and finally to Cairo to consult with Egyptian officials.”
“Paula Broadwell, the biographer whose affair with former CIA chief David Petraeus led to his resignation, has hired a high-profile Washington communications firm, Glover Park Group, to represent her,” Reuters reports.
“Glover Park’s consultants include well-known names such as Dee Dee Myers, who served as White House press secretary during President Bill Clinton’s first term.”
BuzzFeed: “The surprise sweep for marriage equality efforts at the polls in 2012 came after a dramatic shift in the television ads their backers ran — a change that came about after a year-long research effort to crack the code of previously successful ads run by marriage equality opponents that focused on ‘gay marriage’ being taught in schools.”
“Among the key changes: A shift away from talk of ‘rights’ to a focus on committed relationships; a decision to address ‘values’ directly as being learned at home; and an attempt to give voters ‘permission’ to change their minds.”
“You all beat up on good people for doing good things. I’m not ever telling.”
— Washington, DC councilman Marion Barry, quoted by Washington City Paper, refusing to say who is paying for his Thanksgiving Turkey Giveaway, adding that it’s only “liberal white folks” who care.
An election in Minnesota that was decided by a single vote may have had 35 of its votes cast in error, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
State Rep. Mary Franson (R) edged challenger Bob Cunniff (D) by just one vote, but election officials discovered that poll workers mistakenly handed dozens of ballots to residents of a neighboring House district.
Forbes looks at the online petitions on the White House website and notes “some are sensible, some flirt with insanity, but all provide a
fascinating window into what some American want, as well as what they
want their government to do.”
The leader of Hamas “dared Israel to launch a ground invasion of Gaza and dismissed diplomatic efforts to broker a cease-fire in the six-day-old conflict, as the Israeli military conducted a new wave of deadly airstrikes on the besieged Palestinian enclave,” the New York Times reports.
First Read: “Here is where things stand right now: The primary players are Egypt (which negotiates with Hamas), Turkey (on speaking terms with both sides) and the United States. There is a sense in the White House that they need to get some sort of cease fire negotiated ASAP. Can Egypt convince Hamas it is in their best interests to stop the missile strikes? How much pressure will this new Egyptian government apply to Hamas? If Egypt can get something stopped, then can U.S. talk Israel into accepting? This is a real test of the fragile relationships this new Egyptian government inherited.”
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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