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Podesta’s Push for Executive Action Raises Stakes

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Bloomberg: “When the Republican victory in the 2010 midterm election raised the prospect of political gridlock, John Podesta was ready with an answer: The president should bypass Congress and wield the executive powers of his office.”

“Now, Podesta’s appointment as counselor to Obama adds a strong promoter of that strategy to the president’s inner circle as Republicans stand in the way of the White House agenda. The activist vision… could play out across the economy, encompassing matters such as greenhouse gas emission standards for power plants, food safety and border enforcement.”

Messina Not Interested in Senate Appointment

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Obama 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina said that he is not considering an appointment in the U.S. Senate to replace departing Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), The Hill reports.

“The Montanan was said by sources to be influential in Obama’s decision to nominate Baucus as envoy to China. Speculation on Gov. Steve Bullock’s appointment centered on Lt. Gov. John Walsh, who is running to succeed Baucus.”

Wall Street Journal: Do appointees often win Senate races?

Brown Says Move to New Hampshire is Personal

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Former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) told WMUR that his move to New Hampshire was “strictly personal” and said he had “nothing to announce with regard to my future political plans.”

Said Brown: “Once we get settled, we will do what many other people have done upon moving into New Hampshire. We will register to vote, get new licenses and enjoy the fact that there is no income or sales tax in New Hampshire.”

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White House Defense of NSA Spying May Be Unraveling

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Washington Post: “From the moment the government’s massive database of citizens’ call records was exposed this year, U.S. officials have clung to two main lines of defense: The secret surveillance program was constitutional and critical to keeping the nation safe. But six months into the controversy triggered by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the viability of those claims is no longer clear.”

“In a three-day span, those rationales were upended by a federal judge who declared that the program was probably unconstitutional and the release of a report by a White House panel utterly unconvinced that stockpiling such data had played any meaningful role in preventing terrorist attacks.”

Daily Beast: “Obama told his blue-ribbon panel on reforming the government’s domestic spying program that he didn’t want them to pull their punches. He got what he asked for and a good bit more.”

Putin Pardons Political Rival

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President Vladimir Putin issued a decree “to free Russia’s most famous prisoner, Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, the former chief executive of Yukos Oil whose arrest and imprisonment 10 years ago punctuated an authoritarian turn in Russia’s modern history,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Putin, who commands singular political authority here, now appears to have the confidence to risk freeing a man who even in prison has persisted as one of his harshest political critics and who still has the will and financial resources to challenge not only the seizure of his company’s assets but Mr. Putin’s power.”

Radel Exits Rehab

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Rep. Trey Radel (R-FL) “has left rehab and is ready to return to Capitol Hill, the Florida Republican announced in a news conference in his district office on Thursday night,” Roll Call reports.

“He didn’t, however, divulge whether he was prepared to announce whether he would seek re-election for a second term.”

Miami Herald: “While he declined to say whether he would run for re-election, he gave what amounted to a campaign speech, vigorously defending his legislative record and repeatedly addressing TV viewers.”

[Read more…]

New Mexico Affirms Gay Marriage

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The New Mexico Supreme Court “ruled in favor of same-sex couples, granting them all the same rights of marriage enjoyed by heterosexual couples,” the Albuquerque Journal reports.

From the opinion: “All rights, protections, and responsibilities that result from the marital relationship shall apply equally to both same-gender and opposite-gender married couples.”

“New Mexico joins 16 other states, the District of Columbia, and several Native American tribes in recognizing same-sex unions.”

GOP Senators Skip Final Votes

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“The Senate will vote through the weekend on pending nominations that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) would like to see completed before Christmas — just don’t expect most Republicans to be there for it,” Roll Call reports.

“Many GOP senators, still bristling from the rules changes enabling Democrats to proceed on said nominees, are planning to hit the exits for Christmas after Thursday night’s 11:15 defense bill vote. In the minds of these members, as long as one of their colleagues hangs behind to block consent requests from Democrats that would allow everyone regardless of party to go home, they apparently are cool skipping votes they have no power to defeat.”

Romney Staffers Were Paid Much More

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The Washington Post reports that Mitt Romney’s 10 highest-paid campaign staffers “all made more in 2012 than anyone on Obama’s campaign. That’s just one of the many notable findings in data complied by New Organizing Institute, a liberal group, which took a broad look at federal campaign staffers in their study.”

Bonus Quote of the Day

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“I met in the last few days with Rand Paul. I have spent a lot of time
with him, and I have grown to really like him. Even though he has some
set political views, he wants to get things done here.”

— Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), quoted by TPM.

Using the China Appointment for Political Purposes

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First Read notes that appointing Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) as ambassador to China “isn’t the first time the Obama White House has used the China ambassadorship for political reasons.”

“Remember, Obama’s first ambassador there was then-Utah Gov. John Huntsman (R), whom the president’s political team back in 2009 viewed as a potential threat in a 2012 general election. (Huntsman ran for president anyway, but having worked for Obama wasn’t seen as a positive by GOP primary voters.) And after Huntsman (who spoke Mandarin) and Gary Locke (a Chinese American), Baucus might seem like a curious choice for U.S. ambassador to China, arguably one of the most crucial relationships to the U.S. economy in particular. But don’t forget he’s been a powerful U.S. senator for years who has some experience when the issue of Most Favored Nation status for China was being shepherded through the Senate.”

About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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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