Disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s (D-NY) dormant New York City mayoral campaign paid more than $100,000 to a polling firm, “suggesting the once-prominent Democrat whose career was derailed by allegations he sent salacious texts and photographs to various women online was contemplating a return to politics in this year’s elections,” National Journal reports.
Anti-Drug Lawmaker Arrested for Marijuana Possession
New York State assemblyman Steve Katz (R), who “has railed against illegal drugs and voted against the legalization of medical marijuana last year,” was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of marijuana after being pulled over for a traffic stop, Journal News reports.
Boehner Says He Can’t Imagine Flipping on Gay Marriage
Heller Loses Office Space
Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) has lost the office suite his staff tried so hard to keep to Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), Roll Call reports.
“Heller’s staff had been using bullying tactics to prevent more senior member offices from viewing the space, which includes an unusually large personal office. Several complaints had been lodged with the Senate Rules and Administration Committee about the behavior of Heller staffers through the course of the months-long lottery process.”
North Dakota Poised to Ban Abortions at 6 Weeks
The North Dakota Senate “approved banning abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, sending what would be the most stringent abortion restrictions in the U.S. to the state’s Republican governor for his signature,” the Fargo Forum reports.
“The measure would ban most abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, something that can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. The House already approved the measure. Gov. Jack Dalrymple generally opposes abortion but has not said whether he will sign the bill into law.”
Another Bonus Quote of the Day
“In my party, we play to win. We play for life and death. Your party has no problem playing the Washington Generals to the Harlem Globetrotters.”
— Democratic pollster Pat Caddell, quoted by NBC News, to Republicans at CPAC.
Romney Returns to CPAC
Mitt Romney “made a wistful but triumphant return” to the Conservative Political Action Conference, “receiving standing ovations from the audience as he expressed optimism about the Republican Party’s future and vowed to work with conservatives to achieve ‘larger victories’ after failing to win last year’s presidential election,” the Washington Post reports.
National Journal: “His first public speech since his November defeat was as lackluster as most of his stump speeches and as about as forgettable as his candidacy. He will be better remembered for what he did wrong (’47 percent’ and ‘self-deportation’) than what he did right (his first debate against President Obama). He was a transitional, not a transformational nominee.”
Romney acknowledged that himself: “As someone who just lost the last election, I’m probably not the person to chart the course for the next one.”
RNC Will Revamp GOTV Operation
The Republican National Committee “is moving forward with a comprehensive overhaul of its antiquated voter turnout operation, including a focus on fixing a collection of broken state parties,” Roll Call reports.
“The modernized national field operation will focus on improving voter registration, identification and turnout through a ‘bottom-up’ approach that reinvigorates the party organization at the precinct, congressional district and state levels.”
Dardenne Will Not Challenge Landrieu
Louisiana Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne (R) told LA Politics Weekly that he won’t challenge Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) in 2014.
Said Dardenne: “I’m not going to run for the U.S. Senate. This fell in my lap. I didn’t go out looking for it. So I’m not going to prolong the question any longer. I love what I’m doing and I will continue to do that for the balance of my term.”
West Says Scott is Vulnerable in Re-Election Bid
Former Rep. Allen West (R-FL) told the Tampa Bay Times that Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) is in trouble with the Tea Party for supporting expansion of Medicaid.
Said West: “I think when you say you’re gong to stand something then you kind of back off .. but there are other Republican governors who did the same thing. It’s kind of making people question, ‘Really, where is your backbone?'”
He added: “It does make him vulnerable. I’m being honest with you. Because it’s a fiscal conservative issue. Will the governor be able to go out and defend once he hits the campaign trail, we’ll have to see.”
Why Ashley Judd Probably Can’t Win
Harry Enten: “The chances for any Democrat to win a red state (or for a Republican to win in a blue one) have decreased dramatically over the past 20 years. If you’re challenging a candidate from the opposition party in a midterm, your chances drop to around 4%. If you’re also facing an incumbent, your odds inch even closer to nil. Thus, should she choose to run, don’t expect Ashley Judd to win. But I also don’t think any Democrat could win.”
Fact of the Day
Wonk Wire: Iraq war could end up costing $6 trillion.
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“One little lady got tired of the federal government telling her what to do. I’ve reached that point, Mr. Speaker, that I’m tired of giving in to the federal government.”
— Idaho state Rep. Brent Crane (R), quoted by the Idaho Statesman, botching a comparison of Rosa Parks’ arrest for violating a local law refusing to give up her seat on a bus to opposing a state-run health insurance exchange.
Obama’s Falling Approval Hasn’t Made Him Weaker Yet
Nate Cohn says that too much weight is given to President Obama’s approval rate sinking below the 50% threshold in recent polls.
“Falling below that mark might give the impression that the president is ‘weaker’ politically, but it hardly warrants notice. After all, the president entered his reelection campaign with similar numbers and ultimately won by a convincing margin. A larger decline in Obama’s approval ratings, to the low forties, would augur poorly for Obama’s second-term agenda, but not what we’re seeing now. The president’s legislative initiatives, including a debt deal and immigration reform, depend on cultivating organic Republican support for compromise, not the president’s ability coerce Republicans with his popularity. Even at the height of his post-election bounce, Obama’s mid-fifties approval ratings didn’t force Republicans to accept a balanced approach to reduce the debt.”
“But lower approval ratings, and the desire to raise them, could make the White House more interested in the long sought ‘grand bargain’–perhaps the only event, other than noticeably improved economic conditions, that might send the president’s approval rating back into the mid-fifties, or higher.”
GOP’s Edge in Redistricting Could Hurt Party for Decades
Charlie Cook argues that the GOP’s “arguably rigged House majority” — achieved through the power of redistricting — could be a curse disguised as a blessing.
“They clearly did everything they could to purge Democratic voters from their districts ahead of 2012, no matter whether those voters were white, black, Hispanic, left-handed, or right-minded–just as Democrats would have done had the roles been reversed. But in the process of quarantining Democrats, Republicans effectively purged millions of minority voters from their own districts, and that should raise a warning flag. By drawing themselves into safe, lily-white strongholds, have Republicans inadvertently boxed themselves into an alternate universe that bears little resemblance to the rest of the country?”
Why We’re at a Fiscal Impasse
Greg Sargent sums up in just two sentences why President Obama and Congress are stuck:
1. Obama can’t sell entitlement cuts to his base, or indeed Democrats in general, without Republicans agreeing to new revenues, and has offered them a straightforward compromise — one that would anger the base on both sides — based on the premise that total victory for the GOP is not an acceptable or realistic outcome.
2. Republican leaders can’t even begin to acknowledge that Obama has offered them a real compromise, because they can’t sell their base on the idea that the President is being flexible, let alone get them to seriously entertain accepting any compromise with him, because the base sees total victory over Obama as the only acceptable outcome.
Lawmaker Tries to Correct Her Mistake
In a moving video, Minnesota state Rep. Lynne Osterman (R) admits she made a “politically expedient” vote ten years ago. Now she’s trying to fix her mistake.
Bonus Quote of the Day
“The popular media narrative is that this country has shifted away from conservative ideas, as evidence by the last two presidential elections. That might be true if Republicans had actually nominated conservative candidates in 2008 and 2012.”
— Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), quoted by NBC News.
