Politico: “There’s a new gang of senators who ran their campaigns as unabashed progressives and won… But the question in a divided Senate is whether the new liberals will be hard-liners who refuse to compromise with the tea party types on the other side of the aisle or negotiators, like Kennedy, who made deals with Republicans ranging from Ronald Reagan to Rep. John Boehner to George W. Bush. In the modern Senate, it’s a lot harder to do the kind of work that won Kennedy fans on the Republican side.”
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Candidates Eye Potential Senate Vacancy in Massachusetts
Potential candidates in Massachusetts “are quietly scrambling to position themselves to run for Sen. John Kerry’s seat if President Obama appoints Kerry to be his next secretary of state, or secretary of defense,” the Boston Globe reports.
“A Senate vacancy would probably create a comeback scenario for Senator Scott Brown, the Republican who lost the seat to Democrat Elizabeth Warren in last week’s election. He has sent clear signals in his concession speech and in recent interviews that he has an eye on another run.”
“Among the high-profile Democratic officeholders who are expressing interest are three of the state’s congressmen: Edward J. Markey of Malden, the 66-year old dean of the congressional delegation; Michael E. Capuano of Somerville, who ran second to Martha Coakley in the 2009 Senate primary; and Stephen F. Lynch of South Boston, a conservative Democrat who won his seat in a 2001 special election in which several liberals divided the vote on the left.”
The Petraeus Scandal Timeline
The Week: “New twists and dime-novel characters pop up daily, but the basic story of the celebrated general’s downfall is falling into place.”
Warner Big Favorite for Virginia Governor
A new Quinnipiac poll in Virginia finds that if Sen. Mark Warner (D) wants his old job as governor back next year, he’s the overwhelmingly favorite.
Warner, who says he will decide whether to run for governor or remain in the U.S. Senate by Thanksgiving, beats Lt. Bill Gov. Bolling (R), 53% to 33%, and tops Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R), 52% to 34%.
If Terry McAuliffe (D) is the Democratic candidate, he edges Bolling, 38% to 36%, and Cuccinelli, 41% to 37%.
Lee Atwater on the Southern Strategy
The Nation dug up an interview with the infamous GOP strategist Lee Atwater explaining how Republicans can win the vote of racists without sounding racist themselves.
Said Atwater: “You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘Nigger, nigger, nigger.’ By 1968 you can’t say ‘nigger’ — that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites…. ‘We want to cut this,’ is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than ‘Nigger, nigger.'”
Most Support Path to Citizenship
A new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds most Americans support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, 57% to 39%, an issue that may be gaining traction in Congress in the aftermath of the elections.
Meanwhile, 51% support gay marriage, slightly more than half for the fifth time straight in ABC/Post polls since March 2011.
Obama Seeks $1.6 Trillion Tax Increase
President Obama “will begin budget negotiations with congressional leaders Friday by calling for $1.6 trillion in additional tax revenue over the next decade, far more than Republicans are likely to accept and double the $800 billion discussed in talks with GOP leaders during the summer of 2011, the Wall Street Journal reports.
A Confederacy of Takers
Dana Millbank notes that a “large number of patriotic Americans, mostly from states won by Mitt Romney last week, have petitioned the White House to let them secede. They should be careful about what they wish for.”
“Red states receive, on average, far more from the federal government in expenditures than they pay in taxes. The balance is the opposite in blue states. The secession petitions, therefore, give the opportunity to create what would be, in a fiscal sense, a far more perfect union.”
“Among those states with large numbers of petitioners asking out: Louisiana (more than 28,000 signatures at midday Tuesday), which gets about $1.45 in federal largess for every $1 it pays in taxes; Alabama (more than 20,000 signatures), which takes $1.71 for every $1 it puts in; South Carolina (26,000), which takes $1.38 for its dollar; and Missouri (22,000), which takes $1.29 for its dollar.”
Do Campaigns Really Matter?
Pacific Standard: “We all know that most voters decide who to vote for well before the campaigns begin. In political science research, this is called the ‘minimal effects’ thesis. Basically the vast majority of the voters vote how we would expect them to long before the election. The first study to investigate this phenomenon focused on voters during the 1940 election. Researchers found that only 8 percent of voters changed their preference over the course of the campaign. In 70 years, not much has changed.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“Why somebody would be personally indiscreet is their own problem. Why they would do it in email is beyond my imagination.”
— House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), quoted by National Journal sounding off on the sex scandal that forced out CIA Director David Petraeus.
Bloomberg Ramps Up Political Donations
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg “spent upwards of $9 million of his own money in the final ten days of the 2012 campaign in support of candidates who shared his views on gun control and political moderation, a sizable sum that portends how the billionaire envisions his life outside of the mayor’s office after his third term concludes in 2013,” the Washington Post reports.
Said aide Howard Wolfson: “This is just the beginning. On issues like guns and education, Mike Bloomberg is poised to play an even bigger role in advancing a mainstream agenda and influencing elections.”
Today’s Republicans Look Like Democrats in 1988
Jeff Greenfield: “You’re looking at a political party that has lost the popular vote in five of the past six elections; whose one winning presidential candidate achieved the White House thanks to a fluke; and whose prospects for the future seem doomed by demography and geography.”
“No, it’s not today’s Republican Party you’re looking at–it’s the Democratic Party after the 1988 elections. And the past (nearly) quarter-century is an object lesson in the peril of long-term assumptions about the nature and direction of our political path.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I think that there was a period of time when the Romney campaign was falling apart, people were not optimistic, nobody thought there was a chance of victory and I felt that it was my duty at that point to go out and say what I said.”
— Dick Morris, in an interview on Fox News, explaining why he predicted a landslide for Mitt Romney in the presidential election.
Pundit Shaming
A new website compiles bad 2012 election predictions. It’s a fun read.
Jackson Leaves Mayo Clinic
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) left the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota but it’s not clear if he’s returning to Washington, D.C. for votes scheduled later today, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Jackson is under federal investigation for alleged misuse of campaign funds and has been on a medical leave of absence from Congress since June while undergoing treatment for bipolar disorder.
King Will Make Caucus Decision Soon
Sen.-elect Angus King (I-ME) said that he could announce a decision on which caucus to join in time for tomorrow’s party leadership elections, Roll Call reports.
While King is widely expected to caucus with the Democratic majority, he still has not ruled out joining the Republicans.
Politico: “Angus King is gunning for a seat on the powerful Senate Finance Committee, using his leverage as the potential 55th vote for Democrats in a bid to win a spot that would otherwise be off-limits for a newly elected freshman.”
ABC Affiliate Runs Altered Cover of Petraeus Book
ABC’s Denver affiliate accidentally ran a fake cover of Paula Broadwell’s biography of General David Petraeus in a story on the burgeoning sex scandal, Americablog reports.
The book’s real title is All In. The doctored book cover read, All Up In My Snatch.
Lawmaker Wants to be Paid in Gold and Silver Coins
Montana state Rep. Jerry O’Neil (R) “is spooked enough about the country’s fiscal picture to request that his legislative pay come in the form of gold and silver coins,” the Daily Inter Lake reports.
O’Neil said he is largely trying to make a point and get “people to start thinking about what will happen if our money collapses. Also, I would like the state to think about the logistics of actually following the Constitution when it comes to gold and silver coin.”
