“If Rubio passes the vetting process, assuming he does, I think he’s the obvious choice. And if he says he doesn’t want the office, he’ll find a horse’s head in his bed. The next day he will accept. Romney’s not going to take no for an answer. We have ways, we Republicans.”
— Charles Krauthammer, on Inside Washington.
“Most millionaire politicians achieve wealth before winning office,” the Omaha World Herald notes.
But Nebraska U.S. Senate candidate Jon Bruning (R) “blazed a different path, one in which an ambition for affluence led to involvement and investment in at least 17 private companies, nearly all while serving as Nebraska’s attorney general.”
“Along the way, the Republican front-runner for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat built a multimillion-dollar net worth while drawing a salary that ranged between $75,000 and $95,000 as the state’s top lawyer. His business pursuits have emerged as an issue in the campaign, prompting critics to question how he could find the time to fulfill his public responsibilities.”
Former Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH): “The president is in full campaign mode. So is Congress. The federal government has been put into a holding pattern until the November elections… President Obama could go back to Chicago and campaign from there… Members of Congress could go back to their districts or wherever else it is they live, since everyone knows that nothing is going to happen.”
“If Washington was vacated, it would be a more honest expression of the reality of the status of governance for the next six months. It might help the American people believe that there is some integrity to the situation.”
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Rick Hasen notes an editorial by the conservative National Review against the federal prosecution of John Edwards is reminiscent of the Washington Post supporting Tom DeLay’s defense in his Texas criminal trial.
“It is no wonder then that liberals and conservatives have rallied around these politicians, despite the fact that most wouldn’t win any popularity contests… Each of these cases, which feature prosecutors relying on novel theories to criminally prosecute prominent political figures, raises two distinct dangers.”
“First, if the law is murky, prosecutors with a political agenda could use criminal prosecutions to take down their political enemies… Second, even if prosecutors are well-meaning and looking out solely for the public interest, there’s a fundamental unfairness in subjecting politicians to criminal liability for uncertain violations of campaign finance law. The threat of criminal liability can ruin a political career.”
Chris Cillizza thinks the fact that GOP insiders back Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) as Mitt Romney’s running mate may actually doom his chances.
The reason: “People really, really dislike politicians. They hate Washington. They think politics is broken — maybe irreparably. Congress’s approval rating in the latest Gallup poll was at 17 percent — and that was an improvement (!) from where it’s stood for most of the past few years… Choosing someone who is seen as the favorite of party insiders then could erode rather than bolster the contrast Romney is trying to drive against the incumbent.”
An improving economy is “swinging the pendulum” in President Obama’s favor “in the 14 states where the presidential election will likely be decided,” the AP reports.
“What’s made the difference is that unemployment has dropped more sharply in several swing states than in the nation as a whole. A resurgence in manufacturing is helping the economy — and Obama’s chances — in the industrial Midwestern states of Ohio and Michigan. And Arizona, Nevada and Florida, where unemployment remains high, are getting some relief from an uptick in tourism.”
Just published: The Rude Guide To Mitt by Alex Pareene.
The New York Times looks at President Obama’s shift from a senator who criticized George W. Bush’s use of executive power to a president who increasingly uses those same powers.
“Branding its unilateral efforts ‘We Can’t Wait,’ a slogan that aides said Mr. Obama coined at that strategy meeting, the White House has rolled out dozens of new policies — on creating jobs for veterans, preventing drug shortages, raising fuel economy standards, curbing domestic violence and more. Each time, Mr. Obama has emphasized the fact that he is bypassing lawmakers… Aides say many more such moves are coming.”
“Mr. Obama’s increasingly assertive use of executive action could foreshadow pitched battles over the separation of powers in his second term, should he win and Republicans consolidate their power in Congress.”
For the last six months, Bill Clinton has argued that the Obama re-election campaign should stop attacking Mitt Romney as a flip-flopper, Politico reports.
“A more effective strategy, Clinton has told anyone who would listen, would be to focus almost exclusively on Romney’s description of himself as a ‘severe conservative,’ to deny him any chance to tack back to the center.”
USA Today: “Millions of dollars flowing to independent political groups dominating this year’s presidential and congressional contests have come from mystery and hard-to-find donors, newly filed campaign reports show… Using undisclosed or hard-to-track money in politics is legal, under the patchwork of court decisions, campaign-disclosure regulations and IRS rules that govern federal elections.”
An example: “More than $8 out of every $10 collected during the first three months of this year by two conservative groups associated with Republican strategist Karl Rove, for instance, went to a non-profit branch that does not have to reveal its donors.”
As John Edwards’ campaign finance trial begins today, a new CBS News/New York Times poll finds that just 3% of registered voters hold a favorable view of him.
A USA Today survey of economists finds that “despite the headwinds of higher gas prices and Europe’s financial crisis” they think the U.S. economy will grow faster than expected this year.
Key findings: “The economy will grow 2.5% this year vs. their 2.3% forecast three months ago. Unemployment averaging 8% in the fourth quarter vs. 8.2% now.”
Mitt Romney’s effort to increase the amount of money wealthy backers can give to his campaign — by encouraging donations to state parties — “has hit a hurdle: new Securities and Exchange Commission rules that are making some Wall Street donors skittish about writing checks,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
At issue: “Presidential candidates in the past have asked donors to give money to state parties to help fund their election effort. But Mr. Romney’s inclusion of state campaigns has raised a red flag with some Wall Street firms because of new SEC rules enacted after ‘pay to play’ scandals.”
Jon Huntsman “took a battle axe to his own party, comparing it to China’s Communist Party and criticizing it’s standard bearer in a wide-ranging interview,” BuzzFeed reports.
He also “jokingly blamed his failed candidacy in part on his wife, Mary Kaye, who told him she’d leave him if he abandoned his principles.”
Said Huntsman: “She said if you pandered, if you sign any of those damn pledges, I’ll leave you. So I had to say I believe in science — and people on stage look at you quizzically as though you’re was an oddball.”
Huntsman added that Ronald Reagan would “likely not” be able to win the GOP nomination in this environment.
George Will says there’s no way Mitt Romney will pick former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) as his running mate:
“If Jeb Bush is to be Romney’s running mate, it would mean that in seven of nine presidential elections there would be a Bush on the Republican ticket. And it gets hard to argue that we’re not a tribal society at that point.”
French Socialist Francois Hollande won the most votes in the first round of the country’s presidential election, the BBC reports.
“He got about 28% of votes, according to projections based on partial results, against about 26% for centre-right incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy. The two men will face each other in a second-round run-off on 6 May.”
But the Financial Times notes the “shock of the night” was the 20% received by the National Front’s Marine Le Pen, who beat pollsters’ predictions.
Despite millions of dollars embezzled from her campaign and 21 challengers in a June primary, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) “isn’t a bit worried. Her campaign is on cruise control, her re-election all but certain — yet again,” the San Jose Mercury News reports.
“After holding elected office for all but five of the last 42 years, Feinstein is the doyenne of California Democrats. She’s so politically bulletproof that no A-list candidates are wasting their time and money trying to dethrone her.”
“I think a lot of Republicans in Congress want to cooperate and know better, but they’re in the thralls of this reign of terror from the Far Right that has dragged the party to the Right.”
— David Axelrod, in an interview on CNN.
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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