“I’ve got news for the president: Absolutes do exist. Words do have
specific meaning in language and in law. It’s the basis of all
civilization… Without those absolutes, without those protections,
democracy decays into nothing more than two wolves and one lamb voting
on, well, who to eat for lunch.”
— National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre, quoted by Politico, responding to President Obama’s inaugural address.
Nate Silver: “Mr. Obama ran for and won a second term, something only about half of the men to serve as president have done (the tally is 20 or 21 out of 43, depending on how you count Grover Cleveland). We can also note, however, that Mr. Obama’s re-election margin was relatively narrow. Do these simple facts provide any insight at all into how he might be regarded 20, 50 or 100 years from now?”
“Over all, there is a positive relationship between a president’s performance in the Electoral College when seeking a second term, and how the historians have ranked him. (The regression line in the chart below predicts that Mr. Obama will eventually come to be regarded as about the 17th-best president, somewhere on the boundary between good and average.) But it is an extremely rough guide — especially for the presidents who are successful in winning a second term, and who have an opportunity to enhance or undermine their reputations. Voters may judge a president’s first term, but history will judge his second.”
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Maine finds Gov. Paul LePage (R), with a 39% to 55% approval rating, is one of the most unpopular governors in the country.
But he could win re-election in 2014 anyway for the same reason that he won in the first place: He leads in all three-way races tested against a Democrat and an independent. But he loses handily in all two-way traditional match ups.
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A new Harper Polling survey in West Virginia finds Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) well-positioned in her run for the U.S. Senate seat held by retiring Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).
Capito leads Nick Rahall, 50% to 32%, tops Carte Goodwin (D), 53% to 19%, and beats Robin Davis (D), 51% to 24%.
Beth Reinhard:
“Even as Democrats relish President Obama’ second inauguration, some
party leaders are worried about whether the campaign’s decision to form
its own advocacy group will hamstring future generations of Democratic
candidates… Some activists foresee a power struggle between the national
party, which aims to elect Democrats above all else, and the new group,
which aims to build the president’s legacy — and may have to pressure
wavering swing-state Democrats to tow the unapologetically liberal
agenda laid out in his inauguration speech.”
As the Republican National Committee meets for their annual meeting, the Charlotte Observer sets the stage:
“For most Republicans, November was grim. They lost the White
House and all but one battleground state. They lost seats in Congress.
They saw America’s fastest-growing minority groups reject their party.
But in North Carolina it was a happier story… A presentation scheduled
for Thursday is called ‘Success in N.C.: A Blueprint for the Future.’
But how much of that blueprint can be replicated is debatable.”
NBC News:
“The political stakes will be high Wednesday morning when Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee about her role in the events leading up to the September
attack on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, that resulted
in the killing of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
The stakes will also be high for a Republican member of the committee,
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, whom some pundits see as a possible
presidential candidate in 2016. It will be a rare instance when one
potential White House hopeful gets an opportunity to interrogate a
potential rival from the opposing party. Clinton herself is thought to
be a strong contender for the Democratic nomination, should she chose to
throw her hat into the ring.”
Rick Klein: “It’s not the way she wanted to go out. After a two-decade career in the national political limelight — as first lady, as a senator, and now as secretary of state — Hillary Rodham Clinton’s final official act with a title in front of her name is likely to come today, as she testifies about a tragic embarrassment of an episode that left four Americans dead in Libya.”
Clinton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations at 9:00 am ET and
the House Foreign Affairs Committee at 2:00 pm ET.
Washington Post: “First, get those skeletons out of the closet pronto, says Tom Korologos, who shepherded many a nominee of Presidents Reagan and Bush I through the thorny thicket to confirmation. If anyone from the White House or a surrogate comes sniffing around, immediately disclose anything in your past that might prove embarrassing to the president (or whoever is doing the appointing)…”
“Then, once you’re on a list, it’s your public behavior that counts. In this phase, discretion isn’t just the better part of valor, experts say — it’s the whole thing. Lehane says the best course of action is to avoid talking to the press altogether (though it pains the Loop to pass on this advice).”
“We’re told it’s best to watch what you say — even to your friends. And to watch what your spouse says. Don’t talk about getting the job.”
Thomas Friedman: “First, my congratulations and condolences to John Kerry for being
nominated to be our next secretary of state. There is no one better for
the job today and no worse job to have today. It is no accident that
we’ve started measuring our secretaries of state more by miles traveled
than milestones achieved. It is bloody hard to do big diplomacy anymore.”
A new ABC News-Washington Post poll finds Hillary Clinton is significantly more popular than Joe BIden.
Clinton’s favorability rating is 67% as compared to Biden’s 48%. The outgoing secretary of state also outperforms the vice president in intensity of sentiment with more than twice as many Americans see Clinton “strongly” favorably than strongly unfavorably – 35% vs. 14% – while Biden breaks even, 22% vs. 23%, in this measure.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said it is “time for the British people to have their say” amid growing public discontent about the power of the European Union., the Daily Telegraph reports.
Cameron pledged an in-out referendum in the first half of the next parliament: “It is time to settle this European question in British politics. I say to the British people: this will be your decision.”
New York Times: “The speech was a defining moment in Mr. Cameron’s political career, reflecting a belief that by wresting some powers back from the E.U., he can win the support of a grudging British public which has long been ambivalent — or actively hostile — toward the idea of European integration.”
“We will look forward to interrogating him at his hearing next week, mercilessly. We will bring him back for only time waterboarding to get the truth out of him.”
— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), quoted by Politico, joking that he’ll get the truth out of Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) when he faces confirmation hearings next week to be the next Secretary of State.
“Joe Biden summoned more than 200 Democratic insiders to the vice presidential residence Sunday night to chat about the 2012 triumph — but many walked away convinced his rising 2016 ambitions were the real intent of the long, intimate night,” Politico reports.
“Biden, according to a number of advisers and Democrats who have spoken to him in recent months, wants to run, or at least be well positioned to run, if and when he decides to pull the trigger. Biden has expressed a clear sense of urgency, convinced the Democratic field will be defined quickly — and that it might very well come down to a private chat with Hillary Clinton about who should finish what Barack Obama started.”
AP:
“Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton remains the heavy favorite
of the Democratic party faithful, but Biden is making clear that he has
no intention of closing any doors that could lead to the White House —
especially if Clinton decides not to run.”
“The Constitution may promise President Obama another four years in the White House, but political reality calls for a far shorter time frame: he has perhaps as little as a year to accomplish his big-ticket goals for a second term,” the New York Times reports.
“Tensions are already emerging between the White House and some Democrats about how much emphasis the president and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. should give their gun control measures and whether a drawn-out debate over the Second Amendment could imperil the rest of the party’s initiatives, particularly on immigration.”
Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is the leading candidate to replace Steven Chu as energy secretary in President Obama’s second term, Bloomberg reports.
A new Quinnipiac poll in New Jersey finds voters think Gov. Chris Christie (R) deserves re-election by a stunning 68% to 24% margin, with even Democrats in favor by 47% to 43%.
Christie crushes his possible Democratic rivals. He tops Richard Codey (D), 59% to 30%, beats Barbara Buono (D), 63% to 22%, and is way ahead of Stephen Sweeney (D), 61% to 25%.
More than four years after Hillary Clinton lost the Democratic nomination for president, her 2008 presidential campaign is finally debt-free, Politico reports.
CNN: “A federal law known as the Hatch Act prohibited Clinton and other
federal government employees from personally soliciting or accepting
political contributions. The law does allow others to raise funds on
Clinton’s behalf, without her direct involvement. Former President Bill
Clinton periodically sent out fundraising appeals to his wife’s campaign
email list to help retire her debt.”
Peter Waldron, a former campaign aide for Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), claims the one-time presidential candidate hid thousands of dollars in payment to an Iowa state senator so he wouldn’t violate Senate ethics rules, the Quad City Times reports.
Waldron claims the payments were funneled through a third party. If true, the alleged scheme may violate the Senate ethics rule against state senators being employed by political campaigns.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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