“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.”
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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.”
Associated Press: “Ever see a couple go through a nasty divorce, and then one side gets angry and starts bringing up old history as the other tries to move on in life with someone else? Well, that’s sort of what the Republican Party of Florida is going through with former Gov. Charlie Crist … When Crist says something nice about President Barack Obama, the state GOP immediately shoots out a press release with something not so nice Crist said about Obama when he was a Republican. If Crist endorses a Democratic candidate, the party reminds people Crist used to say he was a Ronald Reagan Republican. There’s strong speculation that Crist, 56, will challenge Gov. Rick Scott as a Democrat in 2014. He has dismissed talk of a potential return to politics, saying he won’t even think about his future until after Jan. 1.”
“The idea is this: defeat Crist before he can re-emerge as a political candidate with a D next to his name. The unusual part is Crist isn’t a candidate and the attacks began before the 2012 election was decided. It breaks traditional election strategy for a party to begin airing campaign ads for the next election cycle while in the middle of another.”
The Fix gives the award to Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) “for his remarkably poor presidential campaign.”
“Remember back to the late summer of 2011. Perry entered the race with what looked like a straight path to frontrunner status. He was a conservative’s conservative with a proven record of doing what he said in Texas. He was a fundraising powerhouse. He had a charisma that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney lacked. It was all there for the taking. Until, it became clear that the idea of Rick Perry running for president was very different than the reality of Rick Perry running for president.”
Runners up: Thad McCotter, Ric Sanchez, Todd Akin, and Pete Hoekstra.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) declined to tell GQ magazine how old he thought the earth was, saying it’s “one of those great mysteries.”
Said Rubio: “I’m not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I’m not a scientist. I don’t think I’m qualified to answer a question like that. At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all. I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says. Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to answer that. It’s one of the great mysteries.”
New Republic: “That perhaps the two most compelling politicians in America hail from the same state is dramatic enough. Now consider that soon they may be running against each other.”
“Visions of a Booker-Christie match-up make political junkies weak at the knees… There are no nationwide campaigns next year, and just two gubernatorial seats are up for grabs, so this race–hypothetical though it remains–would have America’s attention. Money would flow: Both are beloved by Wall Street and, having campaigned on other candidates’ behalf, are loaded with IOUs from political fundraisers around the country. Coverage would be nonstop: Both are extraordinarily talented at handling the microphone and delivering social media-optimized sound bites. And the stakes would be high: Both have designs on the presidency, and are aware of the benefits of handing the other a premature political death.”
Who would win? Take our poll.
Leading lawmakers expressed confidence that they could reach a deal to avert the “fiscal cliff” even as they laid down markers on taxes and spending that may make any agreement more difficult, Reuters reports.
“Republicans and Democratic leaders have agreed on a framework to reform the tax code and government benefit programs next year, but first need to prevent across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts due to begin in January that could push the economy back into recession.”
Wonk Wire: Time for the Obama tax cuts?
Mitt and Ann Romney were spotted at the new Twilight movie in California, TMZ reports.
Politico:
“Thirty-eight months before the next presidential vote is cast, Marco
Rubio on Saturday night became the first of the potential 2016
contestants to swoop in to this first caucus state and test the GOP’s
new rallying cry to broaden its appeal. Seven hundred people turned out
to see the Florida senator at the annual birthday fundraiser bash for
GOP Gov. Terry Branstad. Rubio had the spotlight all to himself — he
said he was merely here to help the governor mark his 66th birthday, but
no one believed it for a minute.”
“In his speech at Branstad’s
party, Rubio said he understood Republicans’ frustrations over their
electoral loss, but insisted that the country needed to return to its
traditional principles to remain a power and global role model.”
National Memo: GOP leaders already jockeying for 2016.
“We’re working on this budget, we’re going to need a lot of prayer for that.”
— President Obama, quoted by ABC News, visiting a Buddhist temple in Thailand.
Mike Allen: “The Obama campaign continues to refine, update and expand its vast database, working the muscle to increase its value for 2014 and 2016. The organization wants to avoid a post-2008 lull, when Obama’s high command was so focused on building a government and staving off a depression that some in the grassroots network felt neglected. This time, supporters are already being asked if they are interested in running for office, and “how many hours per week” they would be willing “to volunteer in your community as part of an Obama organization.”
“Republican governors are torn between essentially staying the course in the wake of Mitt Romney’s loss and a more proactive strategy aimed at radically shaking up their party in an effort to reach out to young and minority voters,” Politico reports.
“Some governors believe that Romney’s loss two weeks ago to President Barack Obama was just that — a loss by a single candidate who ran a defensive campaign pummeled by negative ads and lacking in vision… But other Republicans here attending the Republican Governors Association conference last week believe a more dramatic Republican makeover is in order.”
Daily Beast: How the Republicans can win again.
Paula Broadwell, “whose extramarital affair with CIA chief David Petraeus led to his resignation, is telling friends she is devastated by the fallout,” the AP reports.
“A person close to Broadwell said Sunday she deeply regrets the damage that’s been done to her family and everyone else’s, and she is trying to repair that and move forward. The friend spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.”
“A group of friends and neighbors welcomed Broadwell, her husband, Scott, and their young sons back to their home in Charlotte, N.C., after Broadwell spent more than a week being hounded by media while staying at her brother’s home in Washington. The family friend said she was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from her neighbors.”
The Week: The 9 strangest details of the Petraeus affair.
While the campaign trappings and the high profile of the national campaign are behind him, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) “now finds himself at the center of one of the biggest fiscal negotiations in a generation,” the New York Times reports.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has tapped Ryan “to help strike a deal to avoid big tax increases and spending cuts by the end of the year, and to bring along fellow Republicans.”
“The test will be whether Mr. Ryan — who declined last year to sit on another Congressional committee charged with taming the deficit, in large part because doing so might have hurt his prospects for national office — can make the transition from House budget philosopher to governing heavyweight who can help negotiate a bipartisan deal and sell it to his colleagues.”
Ballot Access News reports that 25 minor party and independent candidates were elected to state legislatures this month.
“Checking records of past elections reveals that this is the highest such number since 1942, when there were 31 such candidates elected. In 1944, there were 22 such candidates elected, and at no time since 1944 (until 2012) had there been any election with more than 17.”
Peggy Noonan: “Thank goodness… for Mitt Romney, who in a conference call with donors said he got beat and beat bad, that his campaign was lacking, that his gut on the big issues was probably off, that he shouldn’t have allowed his campaign to become (in the grandiose, faux-macho lingo of campaign…) an air war and not a ground war, and that they were smoked in get-out-the-vote. He added, with an eye to concerns larger than his own, that he wanted to help the party analyze and define what didn’t work in 2012 so it would be stronger in 2016. Sorry. Kidding! He didn’t say that.”
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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