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The 2012 Presidential Campaign in Verse
Just published: Dogfight: The 2012 Presidential Campaign in Verse by Calvin Trillin.
Hilarious.
Campaign Worker Got a Condom with His Check
Staffers for Linda McMahon’s (R) failed U.S. Senate campaign in Connecticut tell WTNH-TV they were not paid after Election Day.
One who complained publicly said he was later handed a check but also got a little something extra in his envelope.
Said the campaign worker: “Basically he handed me a check with a condom in it, told me I was screwed. That’s the rudest gesture you can ever do to a person, it’s like spitting in a person’s face.”
His check also bounced.
Chambliss Says He Won’t Be Bound by Tax Pledge
As Congress faces negotiations about averting the “fiscal cliff,” Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) told WMAZ-TV that he’s not willing to be bound by the anti-tax pledge he once signed.
Said Chambliss: “I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge.”
When asked if he thought anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist would hold it against him during his next re-election bid in 2014, he said he probably would.
“But I don’t worry about that because I care too much about my country. I care a lot more about it than I do Grover Norquist.”
How the Obama Campaign Polled
Mark Blumenthal takes a deep dive into the Obama campaign polling operation and notes they never conducted a nationwide survey.
Instead, it conducted polls across 11 battleground states (Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan,
Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and
Wisconsin) at regular intervals throughout the campaign. These were supplemented by state tracking polls and parallel surveys to refine its microtargeting models.
Campaign manager Jim Messina says this gave him a deeper understanding of
“how we were doing, where we were doing it, where we were moving —
which is why I knew that most of the public polls you were seeing were
completely ridiculous.”
Jill Kelley Recommended for Award by Petraeus
Jill Kelley — a central figure in the investigation of Gen. David Petraeus — in March 2011 was awarded a prestigious medal from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the New York Post reports.
The award, the country’s second-highest honor for a civilian, was given to acknowledge Kelley’s “selfless contributions” and “willingness to host engagements” for top pols and military brass. Petraeus recommended her for the award.
Quote of the Day
“It’s just something that’s gotten totally out of control. It’s been bad for years, but no one has had the guts to say it until now.”
— GOP strategist Charlie Black, quoted by the AP, on Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) coming out against the Ames Straw Poll.
Liberals Worry About Fights to Come
The Washington Post says although liberals “rejoiced over their strongest election showing in decades” many are now worried that “what seems like a liberal ‘morning in America’ could turn out to be a false dawn.”
“The focus of their distress is none other than Obama, who many left-leaning Democrats fear will go too far in reaching an accord with Republicans on the “fiscal cliff.” Liberal groups are gearing up media campaigns aimed at pressuring Obama and congressional Democrats to hold the line on proposed GOP cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlement programs.”
Jackson Resigns from Congress
Rep. Jesse Jackson (D-IL) has resigned from Congress,
submitting his letter of resignation to House Speaker John Boehner this afternoon, the Chicago Sun Times reports.
“Jackson is embroiled in a federal investigation into his campaign accounts, and multiple sources have said he is trying to negotiate a deal with the feds. No such deal is in place, however, a source said.”
Fiscal Cliff Deal Before Christmas?
Wonk Wire has the details of an emerging framework for compromise.
Quote of the Day
“I won’t say who they are. They know who they are. They were on television. I mean, it was unbelievable. It was five, six days later, absolutely eviscerating him.”
— Former Romney adviser Dan Senor, quoted by CNN, saying it was “stunning” how Romney staffers “preened for administration positions when they thought Romney would win but then turned on the candidate as soon as he lost the election.”
Deadline Artists
Just published: Deadline Artists: Scandals, Tragedies and Triumphs edited by John Avlon, Jesse Angelo and Errol Louis.
Booker Casts Deciding Vote at Chaotic City Council Meeting
A behind-the-scenes political maneuver by Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) to fill a vacant council seat with his choice “led to a near-riot in city hall tonight, with dozens of residents rushing the council stage and police responding with pepper-spray,” the Newark Star Ledger reports.
Booker made an unprecedented personal appearance to cast the deciding vote for Shanique Davis Speight to fill the seat of Rep.-elect Donald Payne Jr. (D), who was just elected to Congress. Booker’s opponents were pushing for John James, the son of former Newark mayor Sharpe James, who Booker beat in 2006.
Booker was able to cast the decisive vote when James allies on the city council stormed off in protest.
The power play was planned by Booker chief of staff Modia Bulter: “We did our research. We abided by the rules and guidelines. We didn’t run afoul of anything.”
Jackson Cancels Call with Staffers
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) “reportedly had planned to break his silence Wednesday during a morning conference call with staff but changed his mind,” NBC Chicago reports.
There apparently was some concern the media would join the call.
Jackson was last seen in June before he disappeared on medical leave. Since then he has been diagnosed with bipolar depression and has been the subject of a federal probe.
The Conservative Case for Same-Sex Marriage
Former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman writes in the Wall Street Journal:
“Some misperceive the issue of marriage equality as exclusively progressive. Yet what could be more conservative than support for more freedom and less government? And what freedom is more basic than the right to marry the person you love? Smaller, less intrusive government surely includes an individual deciding whom to marry. Allowing civil marriage for same-sex couples will cultivate community stability, encourage fidelity and commitment, and foster family values.”
More Still View Petraeus Favorably
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds Gen. David Petraeus’ popularity “has dropped since the scandal that’s forced him from directorship of the CIA, but still more Americans see him favorably than unfavorably – a better rating than the FBI’s for its handling of the investigation that unearthed his marital infidelity.”
Key findings: 45% see Petraeus favorably overall, while 32% see him unfavorably.
The Week: Should Obama rehire Petraeus?
How Conservative Media Lost the Election
McKay Coppins: “President Obama’s decisive reelection has promised the conservative new media four more years of fodder, but it’s also left some of its more earnest participants with a gnawing question: What went wrong?”
“The new online right came roaring out of 2008 convinced that the only reason Obama won was because John McCain’s weak-stomached campaign — cowed by the aura of the first black presidential nominee — had failed to document his ties to the radical left. Their mission would be to ‘vet’ the president as McCain hadn’t, and convince the American people to reject him.”
“Now the loose coalition of scrappy bloggers, advocacy journalists, and unrepentant trolls who spent four years writing about Jeremiah Wright and Saul Alinsky are coming to terms with reality: The polls weren’t skewed, and their narrative didn’t stick.”
Meanwhile, GOP strategist John Feehery tells Howard Kurtz: It’s time for his party to stand up to
“the Rush Limbaughs of the world.”
More Sore Losers Than Normal?
Joe Klein: “Has there ever been a less gracious presidential loser than Mitt Romney? I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt during the campaign. I figured he was just dialing for dollars when he massaged the Boca Raton fat cats’ fantasies about the lack of ‘responsibility’ on the part of the 47% who don’t pay income taxes. But it turns out he really believes that stuff.”
“There are sore losers in every election. But the quality of the carping is different this time. The sense that a ‘traditional’ America is being supplanted by something foreign–an amalgam of Greece and Kenya, perhaps–seems to have only intensified since the election.”
