Sandi Jackson, wife of recently resigned Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr (D-IL), told the Chicago Tribune that she will not run for her husband’s former seat.
Said Jackson: “No. I am not a candidate for Congress. I intend to remain an alderman.”
Jackson also said “she is undecided about whether to move back to Chicago full time from Washington, where she said her husband currently is staying with the couple’s children while continuing to see his doctors regularly.”
Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) “will follow the well-trod path of hitting the paid speaking circuit after his retirement from Congress — and will charge $50,000 per appearance,” BuzzFeed has learned.
“Paul’s rate puts him about in the middle of the field for former politicians. He’s making more than John Huntsman, Mike Huckabee, and Joe Scarborough, but much less than Al Gore and Arnold Schwarzenegger, each of whom command six-figure fees.”
The New York Times reports that “so many former American officials have returned to Kosovo for business — in coal and telecommunications, or for lobbying and other lucrative government contracts — that it is hard to keep them from colliding.”
“Kosovo is not the only nation where former officials have returned to
conduct business — Iraq is another example — but it presents an extreme
case, and perhaps a special ethical quandary, given the outsize American
influence here. Pristina, the capital, may be the only city in the
world where Bob Dole Street intersects Bill Clinton Boulevard.”
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“I don’t think you can draw any quick conclusions other than the fact that we lost and we know that.”
— RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, in an interview on CNN, saying it’s necessary “to a full autopsy of what happened.”
The company that made Bristol Palin’s reality TV show about raising her child has collected a $354,348 subsidy from the state of California, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports.
A new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds President Obama holds a substantial advantage over House Speaker John Boehner in handling budget negotiations to avoid the fiscal cliff: Nearly twice as many Americans approve of the president’s work on the issue so far as favor the speaker’s approach.
Meanwhile, a new Bloomberg poll finds Obama has won the public argument over taxes so decisively that almost half of Republicans now say he has an election mandate to raise rates on the rich.
New York Times: “With negotiations quickening on Tuesday to prevent a year-end fiscal crisis, White House officials once again are confronting a vexing question: Can Speaker John Boehner deliver enough Republican votes for whatever deficit-reduction plan he and President Obama might decide?”
“Eighteen months ago the White House was forced to answer in the negative after secret negotiations between the two leaders collapsed once word leaked of their tentative deal, with its proposed revenue increases. But once again, Mr. Obama must put his fate in Mr. Boehner’s hands on the issue that will help define the president’s second term, and his legacy.”
A new Bloomberg poll finds President Obama’s job approval has strengthened to 53%. The last time he enjoyed that level of public backing was December 2009, when his job approval was 54%.
A new Quinnipiac poll in New York finds Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) with a stunning 74% to 13% approval rating, his highest score ever and continuing his six-month string of 70+ percent ratings.
His approval is 68% to 18% among Republicans, 82% to 9% among Democrats and 70% to 12% among independent voters.
“I’m pretty confident that Republicans would not hold middle class taxes
hostage to trying to protect tax cuts for high-income individuals.”
— President Obama, in an interview with ABC News, on the fiscal cliff negotiations.
Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, who wrote the best seller Game Change, about the 2008 presidential campaign, will publish a book about the just-concluded election under the title Double Down: Game Change 2012, the New York Times reports.
The book will be out in fall 2013.
President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner “spoke by phone after exchanging new proposals to avert the ‘fiscal cliff’ as negotiations intensified ahead of the end-of-year deadline,” Reuters reports.
“The conversation and exchange of counteroffers over the last two days are the latest sign of possible progress in efforts to avert the automatic steep tax hikes and spending cuts set for January 1 unless Congress intervenes.”
Meanwhile, the the Wall Street Journal says the White House has told Republicans “it would include an overhaul of the corporate-tax code as part of any deal to reduce the deficit, people familiar with the talks said, putting a major priority for business groups on the table as part of the intensifying negotiations.”
Without ceremony, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) said he signed two bills tonight making Michigan the nation’s 24th right-to-work state, the Detroit News reports.
National Review reports the Koch brothers “will postpone their semi-annual meeting, which
was originally scheduled to be held next month. It will now be held in
April. In an e-mail to friends, Charles Koch says he wants to reflect on
the results, and on election data, before he huddles with fellow
business leaders.”
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Kentucky finds Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) with a lowly 37% to 55% approval rating, the worst favorable/unfavorable numbers of any senator the country.
Nonetheless, he leads all of the Democrats tested against him in a 2014 race: Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson (D), Attorney General Jack Conway (D), and actress Ashley Judd all trail McConnell by four points, 47% to 43%.
“The reason McConnell does decently well in the head to head match ups despite his poor approval numbers is that even though a lot of Republicans dislike him, most of them would still vote for him in a general election before they would support a Democrat.”
Nate Silver sees Hillary Clinton’s high favorability numbers falling if she moves to run for president in 2016 because Republicans “would begin to criticize her, delicately at first, and then more expressly as the election drew nearer.”
“None of this is to argue that Mrs. Clinton would not have some unique strengths as a candidate. For all the reasons I mentioned at the top, she seems like Democrats’ best bet, perhaps by some margin, to extend their winning streak to three or more terms in the White House. If she ran even a point or two stronger than a ‘generic’ Democrat, the odds would shift meaningfully in her favor, holding other circumstances equal.”
“Perhaps Mrs. Clinton’s most impressive attribute is her ability to withstand criticism — and often emerge the stronger from it. If she runs for president again, she will surely receive plenty of it.”
The Week: Why Republicans are really scared of Hillary Clinton.
In dramatic fashion, the Michigan House of
Representatives has approved the controversial right-to-work legislation
despite thousands of rowdy protesters outside the Capitol, the Detroit News reports.
The bill is expected to advance to Gov. Rick Snyder’s (R) desk soon, however, the Detroit Free Press says he’s not likely to sign the legislation today.
Greg Sargent: “But union operatives think there is another mechanism by which the law
can be challenged. According to one good government group’s analysis
of the state constitution, there exists the option of the ‘statutory
initiative,’ which would be forced by the collecting of signatures equal
to at least eight percent of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial
election.”
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) has whittled down the list of people she is considering for Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat to five people, CNN reports.
Her final choices: Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC), Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), former state Attorney General Henry McMaster (R), former South Carolina First Lady Jenny Sanford (R) and attorney Catherine Templeton (R).
“One thing they have in common: a warm personal relationship with the governor, who is known to prize loyalty.”
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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