A top Harvard University official told that more than half of the Harvard students investigated by a college board for cheating in a class — “Government 1310: Introduction to Congress” — have been ordered to withdraw from the school, the Boston Globe reports.
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Johanns Will Back Hagel
Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) told the Lincoln Journal-Star that he will vote to confirm former Sen. Chuck Hagel’s (R-NE) for secretary of defense.
“In the wake of Hagel’s contentious confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, the green light from Nebraska’s senior Republican senator could be timely and pivotal in helping pave the way for additional Republican support in the Senate.”
Romanoff Will Run for Congress
Andrew Romanoff (D), the former Speaker of the Colorado House, will make a run for the state’s 6th congressional district seat currently held by Rep. Mike Coffman (R), the Denver Post reports.
“Coffman, a three-term incumbent, resides in a district that is among
the most competitive in the nation, as it’s divided almost evenly among
Democrats, Republicans and unaffilated voters.”
Roll Call: “Romanoff’s entrance into the race will no doubt please the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He is well-known and has significant fundraising ability.”
Nebraska Lt. Gov. Resigns After Phone Calls Discovered
Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy (R) resigned his post abruptly after questions were raised by the Omaha World-Herald about improper cell phone calls to four women, other than his wife, during the past four years.
An investigation “discovered that Sheehy made thousands of late-night telephone calls to the women on his state-issued cell phone, many of them long conversations held in the wee hours of the night.”
Sheehy had been considered the frontrunner in the 2014 gubernatorial race and had already been endorsed by Gov. Dave Heineman (R).
McCarthy Seen as Top Choice for EPA
President Obama is leaning toward choosing Gina McCarthy, a top official in charge of air quality at the Environmental Protection Agency, to run the EPA in his second term, Reuters reports.
Ike and Dick
Out in a few days: Ike and Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage by Jeffrey Frank.
Jonathan Martin reviews this “engrossing history” and suggests the subtitle might well have been: “How Eisenhower Tormented Nixon Through the Years.”
Support for Texas Secession Rises After Obama Win
A new Public Policy Polling survey finds that 20% of Texans — including 35% of Republicans — would support their state seceding from the Union in the wake of President Obama’s re-election, up from 14% in September 2011.
America Slightly More Liberal in 2012
“America has become a slightly more liberal and a slightly less conservative nation than it was in 2011 — based on residents’ self-reports of their ideology — but conservatives still outnumber both moderates and liberals,” according to a new Gallup analysis. In all, more Americans identified as conservative than liberal in 2012, 38% to 23%, compared with 40% to 21% in 2011, a four-point swing in favor of liberals. The percentage of self-identified moderates remained unchanged, at 36%.
Meanwhile Alabama was the most conservative state in 2012, with 51% of residents identifying that way, followed by North Dakota and Wyoming with 49% each and Mississippi and Utah with 48% each. The District of Columbia was the most liberal, with 41% of residents identifying that way, followed by Massachusetts in a distant second with 31%, Oregon and Vermont with 29% each and a bunch of states clustered around 28% each.
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I can’t just live my life going on TV and being angry all the time.”
— Bay Buchanan, quoted by the Washington Examiner, on leaving politics to become a real estate agent.
What if Obama Had Reagan’s Spending?
Wonk Wire‘s “chart of the day” is especially interesting today.
Obama May Move Into New Oval Office
“In preparation for a major, two-year renovation of the West Wing, the government is undertaking extensive work to complete a new executive office for President Obama at the south end of the adjacent Eisenhower Executive Office Building,” Real Clear Politics reports.
“The president’s facsimile Oval Office, created as a nearly identical replica of the most famous ovoid room in the world, is slated to be ready for occupancy by August if Obama is ready to move and if design challenges are resolved… The timing of Obama’s move to a substitute executive suite is in part dependent on the president’s readiness to begin working in the temporary quarters for what could be as long as two years.”
Brown Will Not Run for Senate
Former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) will not run for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by John Kerry, a source tells the Boston Herald.
Washington Post: “Brown’s decision leaves Republicans without a top candidate for the seat
held by Kerry… On the Democratic side, longtime Rep. Ed
Markey is the frontrunner, but he faces a challenge from fellow
Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch, who is much more conservative.”
Koch’s Last Message for Cuomo
In a fascinating interview with the New York Times that was not to be made public until his death, former New York City mayor Ed Koch had final words for his 1977 mayoral opponent Mario Cuomo and called him a “prick.”
Said Koch: “Even though social relationships when we meet in public are good, underneath, he knows that I know what I’m thinking–‘you prick.'”
Troubled Nevada Lawmaker Says He’s “Lucid”
Nevada assemblyman Steven Brooks (D) was released following a mental evaluation and allegations that he threatened a state Democratic Assembly leader and told the AP he’ll serve his elected office when the state Legislature convenes again next week.
Brooks “spoke non-stop for about three minutes when reached Friday by telephone… Then he hung up.”
He declared himself “lucid” and said he’s “no longer on medication.”
What to Expect When No One’s Expecting
Out next week: What to Expect When No One’s Expecting: America’s Coming Demographic Disaster by Jonathan V. Last.
Corbett’s Son-in-Law Caught on Video Taking Money
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett’s (R) son-in-law, a narcotics officer with the Philadelphia police force, is under investigation after he “was caught on hidden camera, taking money out of a car he was told to search. What Gibson didn’t know, according to sources, is that that the money was planted in the car by investigators,” NBC Philadelphia reports.
Begich Holds Comfortable Leads in Alaska
A new Harper Polling survey in Alaska finds Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) leading a number of Republicans from the state in hypothetical matchups.
Begich leads Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell (R) by 44% to 34%, and crushes Joe Miller (R) 52% to 29%. He also leads Sarah Palin by 47% to 40%.
Why Obama Can Move Left
Ron Brownstein: “In his victory, Obama reshaped the Democratic coalition by both addition and subtraction. Because so many of the blue-collar and older whites who formerly anchored the conservative end of the Democratic base abandoned Obama, and because more-liberal voters took their place, the coalition that reelected him was much more ideologically unified around a left-leaning agenda than has been usual for a Democratic nominee.”
“That outcome, insiders acknowledge, gives the president greater confidence to move forward aggressively on these issues without fear of dividing his supporters. Equally important, the fact that Obama’s key groups are all expanding within the electorate has stirred optimism among his advisers that the coalition of the ascendant could provide Democrats a durable advantage in presidential elections.”
