Just hours before Daw Aung San Suu Kyi announced her return to politics, President Obama said he was sending Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on a visit to Myanmar next month, the New York Times reports.
“The twin events underscored the remarkable and sudden pace of change in Myanmar, which has stunned observers inside and outside the country, analysts said.”
The Washington Post notes “the two-day trip, starting Dec. 1, would mark the first visit by a U.S. secretary of state in 50 years.”
Supercommittee talks appeared to be on the brink of collapse, Politico reports, “with neither side hopeful that an agreement can be reached before next week’s deadline.”
Bloomberg: “Republicans and Democrats on Congress’s supercommittee are hardening their positions less than a week before a deadline to produce a U.S. deficit-cutting plan and challenging each other to make the first move toward compromise.”
The issue, of course, is the Bush tax cuts. The Wall Street Journal reports Republicans “are digging in against any agreement that does not
extend current income-tax rates, which are scheduled to expire at the
end of 2012.”
Rick Perry’s fundraising efforts have run into trouble amidst a series of debate gaffes and poor poll numbers, according to the Houston Chronicle.
“Perry’s
associates and supporters say his campaign has redoubled its
money-raising efforts in the past week to ensure that his campaign will
have enough money to survive the first three contests of the 2012
election calendar… But Perry’s loyal backers are running into
resistance from Republican donors. One Perry fundraiser, who asked not
to be named, said he received 15 RSVPs for a recent event from potential
donors saying they might attend. But after a gaffe-marred Perry debate
performance, none showed up… Another Perry fundraiser said he expects
the Texas governor to raise between $3 million and $5 million in the
final three months of 2012 — less than one-third of what he generated in
the first six weeks of his candidacy.”
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The Arizona Republic
reports that the Arizona Supreme Court reinstated the chair of the
state’s Independent Redistricting Commission Colleen Mathis, delivering a
rebuke to Gov. Jan Brewer (R) and the Republican-controlled state
Senate who ousted Mathis earlier this month.
Laurie Roberts:
“Personally, I think the redistricting commission got the congressional
maps wrong… Having said that, the remedy isn’t to go all banana
republic(an) on us and try to toss the chairman on some trumped up
charges. This not only makes the Republicans look desperate, it puts
their oself interest on display in a most unflattering fashion. The
Republicans should just do what every red-blooded, God fearing, flag
waving American does: Sue. Challenge the maps, once they’re finalized,
in court. And quit whining.”
A Smart Politics analysis “of the last seven nationally televised debates since Rick Perry entered the race finds that Newt Gingrich is the only candidate yet to be on the receiving end of the more than 150 verbal attacks that have been levied by the Republican field.”
As Herman Cain continues to stress that he is an outsider running an “unconventional” presidential campaign, Chris Cillizza argues that Cain’s approach may be too unconventional for its own good.
“Being
unconventional in terms of campaign messaging is one thing. Then
Illinois Sen.Barack Obama did that with much success in 2008… But,
Obama also put a very conventional campaign team and organization in
place to ensure that the skeleton that held up his message was
strong. Cain hasn’t done that. He continues to try to do things so
differently that his campaign has proven virtually incapable of getting
out of its own way. Cain is learning the hard way that unconventional
can only get you so far.”
The New Hampshire Union Leader reports Herman Cain “was a no-show” for an interview with the newspaper’s editorial board.
“The interview was scheduled last week and was supposed to last between an hour and about 75 minutes. Initially, the Cain campaign agreed to the full hour or more but then told the newspaper it did not want C-SPAN to tape the interview.”
Likely reason? Cain’s last editorial board meeting that was videotaped didn’t go so well.
A new Rasmussen survey in Iowa shows Newt Gingrich leading among likely GOP caucus-goers with 32%, followed by former Mitt Romney at 19%, Herman Cain at 13%, Ron Paul at 10%, Rick Perry at 6% and Michele Bachmann at 6%.
Cain led in a similar survey conducted just last month.
“He did ask if I could debate here in Washington on Monday. It is my understanding that such a letter has come in. Monday I’m going to be in Portland in the morning, I’m going to be visiting some of our labs. I’m in California in the afternoon, that’s two. I can’t remember what the third is.”
— House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), quoted by Politico, rebuffing Rick Perry’s request for a debate on overhauling Washington, DC.
Democrats are celebrating former Surgeon General Richard Carmona’s
decision to run for the open Senate seat in Arizona in 2012, as The Hotline reports that one Arizona Democratic strategist called him “the Latino Jim Webb of the 2012 cycle.”
“There
are several similarities between Webb of Virginia, who is retiring
after one term, and Carmona. For starters, both men have accomplished
military backgrounds and are Vietnam veterans who earned Purple Hearts.
Webb served in the Marines; Carmona, the Army. When Webb ran in 2006, he
enjoyed strong support from veterans. Carmona is hoping that he can
count on something similar… Neither Carmona nor Webb had run for
elected office before mounting their first Senate campaigns, and both
had previously served in Republican administrations… The two share
something else in common: controversial events in their pasts that will
take some explaining.”
“Just before Mitt Romney left the Massachusetts governor’s office and first ran for president, 11 of his top aides purchased their state-issued computer hard drives, and the Romney administration’s e-mails were all wiped from a server,” the Boston Globe reports.
“Romney administration officials had the remaining computers in the governor’s office replaced just before Governor Deval Patrick’s staff showed up to take power in January 2007… As a result, Patrick’s office, which has been bombarded with inquiries for records from the Romney era, has no electronic record of any Romney administration e-mails.”
Ben Smith: “It’s also, perhaps, a mark of how dangerous is is for Romney that his old office is now occupied by one of Obama’s closest allies.”
The latest Economist/YouGov poll shows Newt Gingrich leading the Republican presidential race nationally with 23%, followed closely by Herman Cain at 21% and Mitt Romney at 19%.
The remainder of the field is far back: Ron Paul at 7%, Rick Perry at 6%, Michele Bachmann at 5%, Jon Huntsman at 5%, Rick Santorum at 2% and Gary Johnson at 1%.
The Albuquerque Journal reports a federal grand jury is investigating whether former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) violated campaign finance laws during his unsuccessful 2008 presidential bid by raising money to settle a threatened lawsuit by a woman who worked in state government.
“Several people familiar with some aspects of the investigation have mentioned similarities to pending criminal charges against former presidential candidate John Edwards on allegations that his campaign supporters paid to shield the candidate from a public scandal.”
A federal judge has set the trial of John
Edwards to begin January 30, a week earlier than the date prosecutors and
defense lawyers had sought, the AP reports.
Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff told David Gregory that Newt Gingrich’s $1.6 million consulting contract with Freddie Mac to provide “strategic advice” is an example of the corruption that’s taken over Washington politics.
Said Abramoff: “People who come to Washington who have public service, and they cash in on it. And they use their public service and their access to make money, and unfortunately Newt Gingrich is one of them who’s done it. I don’t know if he’ll survive this, to be honest with you.”
He added that Gingrich is “doing and engaging in the exact kind of corruption that America disdains. The very things that anger the Tea Party movement and the Occupy Wall Street movement and everybody who is not in a movement and watches Washington.”
“He’s a man with no ethical core whatsoever. There are a number of conservatives whom I
respect… Newt’s just never had any principles, so no I’m not surprised
about this at all.”
— Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), quoted by the Boston Globe, about Newt Gingrich’s $1.6 million contract with Freddie Mac for “strategic advice.”
A new Iowa State University/Gazette/KCRG poll in Iowa finds Herman Cain still leading the Republican field in the first presidential voting state.
Cain leads with 25%, followed by Ron Paul at 20%, Mitt Romney at 16%, Rick Perry at 8%, Michele Bachmann at 8%, Newt Gingrich at 5% and Rick Santorum at 5%.
However, the big story is that the race is really still up for grabs with just 17% firmly commited to a candidate, 30% leaning towards a candidate and 52% still undecided.
A new CNN/Opinion Research Poll indicates that only
44% of Americans believe that things will be going well in the country a
year from now. That’s down from last fall, when 55% were optimistic
about the coming year, and from November, 2009, when 63% felt that way.
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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