Rolling Stone imagines lunch at the White House yesterday with President Obama and Mitt Romney.
Become a member to get many great benefits -- exclusive analysis, trending news, a private podcast, no ads and more!
Axelrod Will Shave His Mustache
David Axelrod said he would shave his mustache if one of Joe Scarborough’s election predictions came true: That Mitt Romney would win either Pennsylvania, Michigan or Minnesota.
Obama won all three states, but USA Today reports Axelrod also said he would submit to a shave if Scarborough and co-host Mika Brzezinski raised more than $1 million for Axelrod’s charity, Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy — and they did.
The shearing will take place Dec. 7 on Morning Joe.
Convicted Lawmaker Seeks to Return to Congress
Disgraced former Rep. Mel Reynolds (D-IL) “said he will ask voters to focus on his congressional experience rather than his state and federal criminal record as he announced his bid today for the seat held by Jesse Jackson Jr., who has resigned,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
Reynolds held the seat from 1993 until October 1995, when a jury convicted him of several sex-related charges, including having sex with an underage volunteer campaign worker. While serving time in state prison, Reynolds also was convicted on federal financial and campaign fraud charges.
Action Words on Twitter
Fast Company has a fascinating graphic that shows how Twitter might have helped Obama win the election.
Fiscal Cliff Talks Likely to Go Down to the Wire
“Government officials may well spend New Year’s Eve crunching budget numbers rather than clinking champagne glasses,” USA Today reports.
“There’s no real incentive for the parties to reach an agreement now. Markets may want an early settlement, but, as mentioned, but the fiscal doesn’t start until Jan. 1 — more than four weeks way, a near-eternity in politics. Even after Jan. 1, elements of the fiscal cliff phase in gradually, and a new Congress could always pass legislation retroactive to the start of the year…Expect pushes for last-minute concessions.”
However, Wonk Wire notes the talks aren’t going well.
Rove Reflects on Election Loss
Karl Rove joked that he is no longer suicidal after the November election — he’s merely despondent, KFDI reports.
Rove acknowledged the Republican party “is splintered because of intolerant and judgmental language and an unwillingness to acknowledge differences. He said the party needs to find the right language to talk about the
issues without being judgmental or harsh, and it needs to have leaders
who can create that kind of environment.”
He also called his Crossroads group the “worst volunteer job” he’s had his entire life.
Quinn Very Unpopular in Illinois
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Illinois finds that if Gov. Pat Quinn (D) is the Democratic nominee for governor in 2014 Democrats may have a hard time holding onto the office. His approval rate is a deadly 25% to 64%.
But Quinn may never make it to the general election. In a hypothetical primary match up against Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D), Quinn trails by 64% to 20%. Against Bill Daley (D), Quinn trails 37% to 34%.
Americans Split on Legalizing Marijuana
For the first time, a new CBS News poll finds as many Americans now think marijuana use should be legal as think it should not, 47% to 47%.
“This shift in public opinion was seen at the ballot box this month, when Colorado and Washington became the first states in the nation to approve of recreational marijuana use among adults over the age of 21. Marijuana use of any kind, however, is still illegal under federal law. It’s unclear at this point how the Obama administration intends to respond.”
Post-Election Forum Canceled
The public forum of campaign managers to recap the 2012 presidential election at Harvard last night was canceled due to a major power outage, the Boston Globe reports.
However, I attended the off-the-record sessions on Wednesday and Thursday and will have quite a bit to report once I’m allowed.
Why Romney Thought He Would Win
The New Republic obtained the final internal polling numbers from Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign for six key states, along with
additional breakdowns of the data, which were prepared by the
campaign’s chief pollster, Neil Newhouse.
“The first thing you notice is that New Hampshire and Colorado are pretty
far off the mark. In New Hampshire, the final internal polling average
has Romney up 3.5 points, whereas he lost by 5.6. In Colorado, the final
internal polling average has Romney up 2.5 points; he lost by 5.4… The Iowa number is also questionable, showing the
race tied even though Romney ended up losing by almost 6 points.”
“Together, New Hampshire, Colorado, and Iowa go most of the way toward
explaining why the Romney campaign believed it was so well-positioned. When combined with North Carolina, Florida, and Virginia–the trio of
states the Romney campaign assumed were largely in the bag–Romney would
bank 267 electoral votes, only three shy of the magic number.”
GOP Pushing Kerry for Secretary of State
As Susan Rice comes under increasing fire, the New York Times reports congressional Republicans appear to be coalescing around a familiar name as an alternative candidate for Secretary of State: their current colleague and former presidential foe, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA).
“Gone are the criticisms of Mr. Kerry as a waffler who tried to have it both ways on the Iraq war and the caricature of him as a windsurfing symbol of privileged East Coast liberalism. Instead, Mr. Kerry, a Democrat, is depicted as a deeply knowledgeable statesman who would breeze through confirmation on his way to Foggy Bottom.”
Cruz Speech Stokes 2016 Speculation
Texas Sen.-elect Ted Cruz (R-TX) advised the Republican Party to rebrand itself under a banner of “Opportunity Conservatism” during a sweeping speech that will only stoke speculation about a 2016 presidential run, Politico reports.
Said Cruz: “Why did we lose? It wasn’t as the media would tell you: because the American people embraced big government, Barack Obama’s spending and debt and taxes… That wasn’t what happened. I’m going to suggest to you a very simple reason why we lost the election: We didn’t win the argument. We didn’t even make the argument.”
First Read: “We’ve seen plenty of new senators come in with plenty of hype and
attention (Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Marco Rubio), but those worked
hard to keep expectations down. This is something else entirely.”
Fixing America, Not the World
The Economist: “By cynical tradition ‘abroad’ is where American presidents go to seek a legacy, after their domestic agendas have stalled. This is especially true of second-term presidents. As they lose momentum at home, the temptation is to head overseas in search of crises that only American clout can resolve.”
“At the outset of his second term, Barack Obama seems to be planning the opposite approach. Mr Obama and his team believe that his outstanding task is to secure a domestic legacy. Their fear is that foreign entanglements may threaten that goal. It may help that he secured something of a global legacy on the day he was elected four years ago amid worldwide adulation, peaking with a Nobel peace prize awarded after less than a year in office, essentially for not being George W. Bush.”
Is Cuomo the Conservative Democrat in 2016?
According to a statistical method that ranks candidates by ideology, Harry Enten notes New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) “simply doesn’t have that liberal allure” that Hillary Clinton or other popular Democrats mentioned as possible presidential candidates in 2016.
“If these numbers are to believed, the possible 2016 roster of candidates will position Cuomo and Warner as ideologically conservative Democrats, Biden and O’Malley as moderate Democrats, Clinton, Patrick, and Schweitzer as liberal Democrats, and Warren as a very liberal Democrat.”
GOP Rejects Obama Offer on Fiscal Cliff
The Wall Street Journal reports President Obama “made an opening bid in budget talks with Republicans that calls for a $1.6 trillion tax increase, $50 billion in infrastructure spending in 2013 and new power to raise the federal debt limit, a provocative set of demands that Republicans said represented a step backward in efforts to avoid looming tax increases and spending cuts.”
“The proposal marked an opening salvo in negotiations over the fiscal cliff and represented a particularly expansive version of the White House’s wish list, with a heavy focus on tax increases and spending proposals–including keeping in place a payroll-tax cut and extended unemployment benefits.”
“Republicans haven’t put any comparable offer on the table.”
Lawmaker Creates Best Excuse Yet for Ignoring Pledge
Rep. Chris Gibson (R-NY) “came up with what might be the most creative excuse yet” for breaking his pledge not to raise taxes, Politicker reports.
Gibson says “his district number changed from 19 to 20 during this year’s redistricting process and he reasoned that the pledge no longer applies to him as it was only to the constituents under the previous district number.”
Why Isn’t Obama Using His Email List?
Ben Smith: “President Obama and his victorious campaign team have signaled that they won’t repeat what many Democratic activists view as the signal mistake of 2009: Failing to deploy the campaign’s massive grassroots network, and particularly its email list, to help govern.”
“But the early indications are that, despite feisty emails and tough talk, Obama is again choosing private negotiations with Congressional leaders over public pressure on legislators. The most important indicator: The President has not taken the one step that really matters: Asking his millions of supporters to deluge their local members of Congress with demands that they pass the president’s policy agenda.”
Boehner Claims No Progress on Fiscal Cliff Talks
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said there had been “no substantive progress” in fiscal cliff negotiations in the two weeks since congressional leaders met with President Obama, The Hill reports.
Said Boehner: “Despite claims that the president supports a balanced approach, the Democrats have yet to get serious about real spending cuts. Secondly, no substantive progress has been made in the talks between the White House and the House in the last two weeks.”
Mark Halperin: “The most important thing to remember about White House-Hill budget
negotiations is that a deal among the leaders and the President won’t
necessarily have the votes to pass the House.”
