Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) “is facing heat back at home for using taxpayer dollars to pay for staff lunches while criticizing school-lunch programs for poor students,” The Hill reports.

“Kingston, who’s running for the Senate, stirred controversy in December for suggesting there ‘should be no such thing as a free lunch’ for poor children who receive federally-funded lunches at school, suggesting they ‘sweep the floor in the cafeteria’ in exchange for the food.”

Now, WSAV has found that Kingston’s staff “spent $4,200 of taxpayer money on free lunches in the last three years and $4,300 from outside groups, not counting expenses incurred on international trips.”

The Hill has an early except from HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes.

“Aides on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign kept a detailed list of party colleagues who staffers believed had betrayed her during the long and bitter primary battle with President Obama…The list included rankings, with those who were considered the most egregious traitors by Clinton loyalists receiving the worst possible score of 7 on a point scale.”

“Then-Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), who would ultimately succeed Clinton as Secretary of State in the Obama administration, was among those receiving the blackest of black marks… So too was Kerry’s Senate colleague from Massachusetts, Edward Kennedy, who died in 2009. Also on the political hit-list were Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Bob Casey (D-PA) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) as well as Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Rob Andrews (D-NJ) and Baron Hill (D-IN).”

Wall Street Journal: “Interviews with mayors and other New Jersey Democratic officials show that Mr. Christie’s allies in conversations that swung from friendly to persistent fostered a perception of better access to the governor’s office and state commissions for those who cooperated, while a few who stayed neutral or endorsed Mr. Christie’s opponent said they felt locked out. Others suffered no harm.”

“One question is whether carrot-and-stick political tactics by Christie aides played a role in a traffic scandal allegedly engineered as a political punishment for a Democratic mayor who didn’t endorse the governor.”

Politico: “It’s been framed as the clearest barometer of the public’s mood heading into this year’s midterms: a special election battle for a 50-50 congressional district in the famously 50-50 state of Florida. But upon closer inspection, the race for Florida’s 13th Congressional District, occupied by Republican Bill Young for more than four decades until his death in October, is not quite the bellwether it’s being portrayed as.”

“More than a dozen operatives and officials from both parties interviewed by Politico were almost unanimous that Democrat Alex Sink, her party’s 2010 nominee for Florida governor, has emerged as the unambiguous favorite in the race. The primary, in which Sink has run unopposed as a group of Republicans have slugged it out, is on Tuesday. The general election is on March 11.”

A new U-T San Diego/10News poll in San Diego finds Kevin Faulconer (R) has opened a commanding lead over David Alvarez (D) in the mayor’s race, 53% to 37%, with 10% still undecided.

Early voting begins Monday for the February 11 runoff.

The Huffington Post got an early copy of The Loudest Voice in the Room notes the book reports Fox News chief Roger Ailes blamed Gov. Chris Christie (R) for Mitt Romney’s loss in the 2012 presidential election:

“Around 5 p.m. on Election Day 2012, Fox News chief Roger Ailes realized that Mitt Romney would not make it to the White House. ‘Thank you, Chris Christie,’ Ailes groused.”

“Ailes was frustrated that the New Jersey governor appeared alongside President Barack Obama days earlier to survey the damage of Hurricane Sandy. When Ailes was told polling data suggested the incident hadn’t hurt the Republican Party’s chances, he responded: ‘Well, hugging the guy couldn’t help people feel good about Romney, either.'”