“I’m not going anywhere. I love this job… there has been no consideration of that.”
— Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R), in an interview with NBC Washington, on whether he’s ever considered resigning over the gift scandals swirling around him.
Weiner Messages Fit Pattern of Online Recklessness
“The racy online conversations now convulsing Anthony D. Weiner’s campaign for mayor began with an angry Facebook message,” the New York Times reports.
“Not long after Mr. Weiner resigned from Congress, the 22-year-old woman reached out to express her disappointment in him. Mr. Weiner responded and, within a week, their exchanges veered from politics to sex, with the pair trading dozens of explicit photographs.”
The account “fit his longstanding pattern. In rapid and reckless fashion, he sought to transform informal conversations with female fans into graphically sexually exchanges, frequently laced with lewd language and bawdy images.”
Carter is Most Threatened Former President
“Potential assassins have threatened the life of Jimmy Carter multiple times since he left the White House in 1981, making the one-term Georgian the most threatened former president in history,” the Washington Examiner reports.
“In The Kennedy Half Century: The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy, Carter told author Larry J. Sabato that he has faced at least three home-grown assassination attempts since returning to Georgia and is constantly warned by the U.S. Secret Service of personal threats during his frequent overseas travel.”
Brown Remains Very Popular in California
A new Field Poll in California finds that a majority of Californians, 51% to 33%, approve of the job done by Gov. Jerry Brown (D).
The survey “also finds that a 43% to 38% plurality of the overall electorate, and a 57% to 22% majority of Democrats, are inclined to support Brown in a re-election bid should he run for another term.”
Huma Channels Hillary
Eleanor Clift: “We all know that Anthony Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, learned from the master: she worked for Hillary Clinton in the late 1990s, when the first lady was humiliated by Bill during the Monica Lewinsky affair but nevertheless chose to stand by him. Now Abedin is soldiering her way through a similar situation. And at Tuesday’s press conference, where she spoke on her husband’s behalf in the wake of new allegations against him, it was clear that she was operating from the Hillary playbook. Her message to the public was simple: she loves him, she’s forgiven him, she believes in him, and they’re moving forward.”
“This strategy worked for the Clintons politically. But after this latest press conference, I’m pretty sure that Abedin has stretched the Hillary mantle past the breaking point.”
Christie’s Outsized Ego
Jonathan Martin looks at the chapter on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) flirtation with running for president in Dan Balz’s Collision 2012 noting that the author “relies on Mr. Christie to essentially narrate the tale, which the governor, a man of considerable ego, clearly relishes.”
“But Mr. Christie’s recounting of his role in 2012 also offers a reminder of his high — some would say excessive — self-regard, and why some in Mr. Romney’s campaign were so uneasy about possibly putting him on the Republican ticket last year. It is hardly unusual for a politician to have an outsized ego, but Mr. Christie lacks the masking subtlety possessed by many in his business.”
Cuccinelli Backed Anti-Adultery Laws
Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli (R) “once suggested that
society would benefit from enforcing anti-adultery laws,” Politico reports.
“Speaking to
Richmond’s Style Weekly magazine back in 2008, Cuccinelli defended laws
criminalizing extramarital sex, saying that such restrictions ‘ought to
stay on the books.’ “Frankly it wouldn’t hurt to enforce them more,”
Cuccinelli is quoted saying. The magazine paraphrased Cuccinelli drawing
a comparison to ‘perjury inasmuch as the occasional prosecution or two
would get people thinking twice.'”
Democratic Governors Push Party Left
Beth Reinhard: “While Republican governors elected during the party’s
historic wave in 2010 have drawn criticism for their unabashedly
conservative agendas to restrict abortion, rein in labor unions and
slash state spending, a number of Democratic governors are just as
aggressively pushing liberal policies like gay marriage and gun control.
Emboldened by President Obama’s re-election, a younger and more diverse
electorate, and an increasing number of state governments under
one-party control, these Democratic governors are crusading on issues
the party steered clear of until recently. It’s happening not just in
solidly-Democratic states like New York, Maryland, Delaware and
Connecticut but also in more competitive battlegrounds like Colorado,
where new gun laws are fueling two recall elections and threats of
secession from some rural counties.”
Markey Leads Brown in Possible Matchup
A new MassINC poll in Massachusetts shows that Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) leads former Sen. Scott Brown (R) in a possible 2014 race, 43% to 38%.
McConnell Up With a Negative Ad Already
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) isn’t waiting for primary challenger Matt Bevin (R) to formally launch his campaign today. He’s already got a negative ad running.
Quote of the Day
“I would have taken back the pond scum comment.”
— Failed Massachusetts Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez (R), in an interview with WBUR, reflecting on his campaign against Ed Markey (D), adding “I let my emotions get the better of me.”
Snowden Allowed to Leave Airport
Edward Snowden “has received documents allowing him to leave Moscow airport,” the BBC reports.
Meanwhile, an ABC News-Washington Post poll finds public attitudes have shifted against Snowden, “with more than half of Americans now supporting criminal charges against the former security contractor who’s disclosed details of surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency.”
The 7 Most Dysfunctional State Parties
Roll Call: “Traditionally, state parties have been the meeting point between the national political organizations and the local ground game. But in recent cycles, many of them have become so dysfunctional that they are now irrelevant — or even worse, detrimental, to the national party’s efforts.”
Faith in Congress Hits New Low
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds the American public’s dissatisfaction with Washington has reached new heights.
A whopping 83% of Americans disapprove of Congress’ job, which is an all-time high in the survey. And 57% voters say they would vote to defeat and replace every single member of Congress if they had such an option on their ballot – another all-time high.
Meanwhile, President Obama has seen his job-approval rating dip to its lowest level since August 2011, “when the debt-ceiling showdown wounded almost every Washington politician.”
Republicans Headed for Confrontation Over Spending
Congressional Republicans “are moving to gut many of President Obama’s top priorities with the sharpest spending cuts in a generation and a new push to hold government financing hostage unless the president’s signature health care law is stripped of money this fall,” the New York Times reports.
“As Mr. Obama prepares to deliver a major economic address on Wednesday in Illinois, Republicans in Washington are delivering blow after blow to programs he will promote as vital to a more robust economic recovery and a firmer economic future — from spending on infrastructure and health care to beefing up regulatory agencies. While Mr. Obama would like to keep the economic conversation lofty, his adversaries in Congress are already fighting in the trenches.”
Roll Call: Shutdown blame begins anew.
Republicans Kick Off Their Own ’50 State Strategy’
“After weaknesses in its ground game were badly exposed in 2012, the Republican National Committee is taking a page straight out of the Democratic playbook and launching an ambitious “50 state strategy” that will steer party resources and staffers to every corner of the country as it works to repair its voter contact effort before the next presidential election,” CNN reports.
Bevin Goes on Offensive Against McConnell
Even before he officially enters the GOP Senate primary race, Matthew Bevin (R) fired off a press release accusing Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “of misleading the public to avoid talking about his own record in the Senate,” the Louisville Courier Journal reports.
Said Bevin: “The 2014 U.S. Senate race has barely begun and already it’s the same old Mitch McConnell with nothing but smear tactics and misleading the public about his opponents.”
Rangel Tentatively Says He’ll Seek Another Term
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) told the New York Daily News that he is running for re-election in 2014 — at least for now.
But Rangel isn’t ruling out retirement and noted his plans could change “around October,” based on “what the community decides.”
